MB: Mr. Roberts, give me some background. Take us from the time that you were a little mate until now.

AJ: I grew up in Southampton, England, and moved to the US when I was 16-years-old. To cut a long story short, I came over to try and pursue a college basketball scholarship but ended up getting into powerlifting in my senior year. I was hooked.

I went to college at the University of Idaho, which is where I met Brent Mikesell. He lived about one and a half hours away, and I would travel up twice a week to squat with him. I have added over 1200 lbs to my total thanks to his guidance. During this time, I also volunteered in the varsity weight room and was lucky enough to work with nearly every sport, both male and female.

After I graduated, I was in Washington for a brief period of time while my wife finished up her degree. Recently, we moved to Kentucky, and I work for Pat Rigsby and Nick Berry (www.thefitnessconsultinggroup.com). I currently run the personal training department and youth fitness center at their health club and am also the marketing manager for their information products.

MB: AJ, it sounds like you are a busy man. I’m glad I can catch you between your restoration salt vinegar baths for this interview.

AJ: Well, you caught me while I was walking my dog for GPP so you have about 60 minutes before I have to get going.

JA: The question on everyone’s mind is how many American chicks did you bang with that annoying English accent?

AJ: Well, if I had a penny for every girl I hooked up with I’d have…well actually I’d be broke. I’ve been with the same girl since high school, and if it wasn’t for her support and amazing cooking skills, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

MB: What was your total in your last meet?

AJ: The total accumulation of my uppermost successful three lifts calculated out to be 2410 lbs.

MB: Wow, you’re quite the sportsman! What place did you come in?

AJ: Although these results ranked me as the highest level of sportsman attainable, my efforts were only good enough for the position of the first loser.

MB: Who beat you???

AJ: The leader of the Bearnation…Mark Bell.

MB: How tall are you, how much do you weigh, and what are you wearing? I mean what kind of gear do you wear and what size are they?

AJ: I’m approximately 72” and weigh somewhere between 132–136 kg, depending on whether it is a high carb, medium carb, or low carb day. As far as gear goes, I’m going to assume that you’re talking about supportive equipment for the power lifts. I’m currently stuffing my sexiness into the Metal Ace Pro Briefs (56) and Ace Pro Squatter (58), the Metal IPF King Presser (56), and the Metal King Pro Deadlift Suit.

MB: How old are you?

AJ: My biological age is 23-years-old, but my training age is six years.

MB: Damn, you’re only 23?! When did you get your first Elite total?

AJ: At the 2005 APF Senior Nations. I totaled 2003.1 lbs at 275.

MB: I have seen many young people come and go in this sport. Most lack the focus to make it to your level. What keeps you on track? How come you’re not out smoking pot and drinking while living with mom and dad?

AJ: That’s a very good question, and I often wonder this myself. I made many mistakes as a kid and was always in and out of trouble. I’ll never forget when I graduated my mum commented on how she was so proud of me that I didn’t end up in jail. Looking back, I guess I have always had a drive to be the best at whatever it was I was doing. When I was 14, I got to train with the England national team and practiced along side Luol Deng (Chicago Bulls). Luol was the best player on the team so I would try to mimic what he did.

When I began powerlifting, it was always my goal to be the best there is. I never looked at weight classes or federations or any of that crap. I wanted to know who had the biggest total and began chasing it. I sought out training partners who were better than me and tried to do what they did. Brent was the biggest squatter on the planet when I began training with him so I asked him what I needed to do to squat as much as him. He told me to gain weight, stay away from alcohol and drugs, and train my ass off. I did what he said and am where I am today because of it.

MB: How did you become part of Team EliteFTS?

AJ: The law of attraction. I just put it out to the universe that I wanted to be sponsored and the next thing I know Dave is emailing me saying that he’s going to put me on the team. I hear all this talk about taking action and working hard and I have to call it BS. I mean look at how you get strong. All you have to do is train once a month and buy the latest gear and your numbers instantly go up. Just ask Chad…

MB: Wait, wait, wait….my math is not very good. Did you get your Elite total as a teen?

AJ: I got my first Elite total two months after I turned 20. Before that, my best total had been 1790 lbs at 242.

MB: Where did you get that gay accent?

AJ: What you talking about? Look, if we hadn’t let you win the American war of independence, you would sound like me, too. Plus, I hear it makes you deadlift big weights.

MB: Well, with your manly double body pull, that accent ain’t working for you.

AJ: I’m blaming it on adrenal fatigue.

MB: What did it take to squat 1003 pounds in your last meet? Was this a big breakthrough for you?

AJ: It was a huge breakthrough. I was on track to hit it back at the APF Nationals in 2006 but had issues balancing and only managed my opener. After that, I tore my hamstring getting ready for the worlds, and it took me six months to get back to where I was before. Then I bombed out of my next meet, took seven months off of competition, and then finally hit it in December at the UPA California State Powerlifting Championships. The only thing that really changed was that I began implementing a mental skills training program. I must have squatted 1000 lbs over a million times in my mind before I actually did it.

JA: One thousand pounds, one million times….damn! That must equal like 20,000 lbs! I would sell my soul to the devil if it made me stronger. Tell me more about this mental skills training. How do you implement it? Can I buy it on elitefts.com? What does it smell like?

AJ: Mental skills training is an organized way of practicing imagery, concentration, self-confidence, goal setting, arousal control and other mental skills. There are several books available on EliteFTS.com, but I was lucky enough to have Dr. Damon Burton (one of the world’s top sport psychology experts) as a professor during my time at the university and learned from him how to use these methods correctly to enhance my performance. Most people would agree that the mental side of sports plays a huge role in success but very few spend the time practicing it. These methods are just like any other skill and can be learned and improved constantly. It just takes practice.

JA: Arousal control? I was doing that a while back and I totally got in trouble from my wife. I think Micky said it best when he said, “You see yourself doing well and you do well.” How do you use these Jedi mind tricks in training?

AJ: I used to fail to achieve a high level of concentration because I would have excessive activation and get overly tense before my lifts. Thoughts would run through my head about failing with a weight. When I began using basic arousal control techniques, I found that it lowered my activation levels and reduced physical anxiety. I was able to obtain a higher level of concentration needed for top performance.

JA: It is kind of funny that this topic has come up because I practice this all the time. During accessory work I picture myself hitting big lifts. For example, I’ll do kettlebell extensions and I’ll think about nailing a big bench. Is this kind of what you try to practice?

AJ: I create what I would call mini movies in my head. I run through every aspect of the lift from the sounds of the weights being loaded onto the bar all the way through to the white lights coming on. I’ll do this while I’m training, but I also spend much time outside the gym running these movies through my mind.

JA: To total 2500 plus, I wrote 2500 on my bathroom mirror EVERY day. My wife asked me two weeks into my new habit, do you have to write it down every day? I looked at her and said, “Yes, yes I do!”

AJ: Right now, I have 1100, 800, and 800 written on my bathroom mirror. These are my goals for the year, and every day I see this first thing when I get up. It’s also the last thing when I go to bed. I have done this with every weight I have hit for the previous three years, and so far, I have achieved every number I wrote down.

JA: What is your current routine like? Write out a week of your training for us.

AJ: As far as lifting goes, here’s my current routine:

Monday: ME bench

Wednesday: Supplemental lower body

Friday: RE bench

Saturday: ME squat/deadlift

As you can see, I do no dynamic work. Over the years, I have found that my upper body responds better to sub max and repetition work and so I’ve tailored my program based on this. As far as the lower body training, I’ve found that I just don’t need to squat twice a week to make progress. So I save it all for Saturday sessions.

JA: I’ve done something similar on speed day. I used a little more weight than normal speed work and it was less painful on the shoulders and elbows. My theory on this is that by adding more weight you slow down the bar speed and make the lift a little less stressful. Is this something that you have employed? Tell us a little more about your version of speed day.

AJ: Every time I tried to do traditional speed work, I would find that it didn’t carry over to the competition lifts. I always found that the faster I tried to move a lighter weight, the worse my form became. So, instead I would just work up to sub max weight. As long as it didn’t turn into a max effort day, I would make progress. After a while, I began doing the repetition method for bench and saw even bigger gains. So I’ve stuck with it.

JA: What are some general rules to adhere to while training?

AJ: I think you have to have a plan. You need to have an idea of what numbers you’re going to hit each week. This gets easier the longer you lift because you can look back and see what you did going into the last meet and then replicate it. For beginners, it is hit and miss, but I still believe they should have weekly goals. The other important thing is to listen to your body. Everything is not going to go according to plan all the time and sometimes it is better to call it quits if it is one of those days. The important thing is to come back the following week and do what you’re supposed to do. We can’t let one bad training session change our whole cycle.

JA: What are your favorite upper body exercises?

AJ: Two-boards, floor press, and reverse band bench.

JA: What are your favorite lower body exercises?

AJ: For my main exercises, I’d say cambered bar box squat with chain, safety squat bar good mornings, and deadlift against quaded minis. Accessories would be glute ham raise and kettlebell swings.

JA: What injuries have you run into?

AJ: The only serious injury I’ve had was going into the 2006 WPC Worlds. I tore my semitendinosus eight weeks out doing glute ham raises on a deload day. I didn’t full squat at all going into the meet and somehow managed to pull off my 881 opener.

JA: Do you stretch?

AJ: I do a lot of static stretching mainly after training sessions and on my off days. I also foam roll and do dynamic warm ups before every training session. Eric Cressey actually suggested this to me a few years back because I was having some serious lower back issues. I got a copy of his Magnificent Mobility DVD and started implementing this into my training immediately. After a few weeks of performing the various exercises, I felt better than I ever had, and I’ve been doing them ever since.

JA: Do you eat healthy? From the looks of the blood that shoots out of your face while you tie your shoe, I’d guess no.

AJ: It all depends on where my body weight is. I have a very difficult time keeping my weight above 290 lbs so I do whatever I have to do to make sure it doesn’t drop below that. I try to stay away from fast food as long as possible, but the closer a meet gets the more I find myself eating out. I also eat a lot of candy bars and cookies.

JA: Does England really need a king and queen? I mean, come on now!

AJ: It has something to do with keeping history alive, but I’ve always seen them as nothing more than a tourist attraction.

JA: Is David Beckham your idol?

AJ: Beckham is one of the smartest players alive. The guy is past his prime but comes to the U.S. to play and makes more than he ever has before.

JA: When you’re not on the pitch drinking pints with your mates, what do you like to do?

AJ: I seem to go to the movies a lot, and I also go to many concerts. However, mainly, I just work, train, and hang out with my wife.

JA: What does it mean to you to be selected to be part of Team EliteFTS.com?

AJ: I’m honored to be a part of Team EliteFTS.com. I know many people think it’s just free gear, but to me, it is much more than that. I’ve always believed that to be the best you have to surround yourself with the best. Now, I have access to some of the very best in this entire industry. If I have business questions, I can talk to Dave. If I have nutrition questions, I can shoot Justin an email and so on. Also, being a part of the Q&A team is a way to give back to those who make all of this possible.

JA: After watching my Pop Tart eating video, you probably realize that I’m staying as fat as ever. That means you and I will be going belly to belly in the 308s at the UPA Nationals. I hope that you bomb and no one else shows up in the 308s so I can win a big meet and get ready to make big time bucks as a powerlifter! Seriously though, I hope you get the numbers you’re training for. It would be awesome if we could both work towards 2600 lbs.

AJ: As long as it isn’t like Chad and Spud’s belly to belly, then that’s ok. Seriously, that shit was disturbing. It has been fun interviewing for EliteFTS.com. I learned a lot and hopefully the readers did as well.

JA: Even though you are foreign, I don’t think much was lost in the translation from English to American.