EliteFTS: When did you first start lifting weights?
JF: I first started lifting when I was about 11-years-old. I started doing little things before this time, but I entered a weight room when I was about 11-years-old. My mother used to lift and teach aerobics at a local fitness facility. She would take me with her, and at first, I would just swim, play basketball, or do other stuff. I started going into the weight room with her. Basically, I went around to all of the machines and did a couple sets on each. This was nothing special, but I do remember doing this on a regular basis without really even thinking about what I was doing.
Typically at my high school, kids would start lifting after their eighth grade year of football was over. Since I hit puberty when I was like five-years-old, I started training in high school after my seventh grade year of football. Seriously, I had a mustache playing fifth grade soccer.
Before this time, I never really had benched before—with free weights that is. So my brother took me in after my football season was completed and tested me on the bench. I ended up pushing 170 lbs for a single. I was hooked from there. I trained anywhere from 3–4 days a week at 6:00 a.m., and most times, I would go in after school as well. By the time my freshman year rolled around, I was the fourth strongest kid in the entire high school behind three seniors. I hit my peak my junior year weighing in at 230 lbs, benching 365 lbs, squatting 510 lbs, and deadlifting around 470 lbs. I push-pressed 295 lbs and cleaned around the same. I ran the 40-yard dash at 4.75 seconds and also ran the 100-yard dash with a best of 10.7 seconds. And yes, this was all unaided lifting. I didn’t use gear, except for a belt, and I didn’t do drugs, even though every other football coach out there accused me of it. The rest is history.
EliteFTS.com: So did you have a moustache in high school? Did you drive an Iroc-Z? You sound like you could have been into Molly Hatchet.
JF: Actually, I was driving my 79 Trans Am at the time, usually sporting the cut of jean shorts, mesh see through mid-drift shirt, and John Deere mesh hat. Those were the days.
Molly Hatchet was definitely in the cruising mix along with Def Leopard, Judist Priest, Sammy Hagar, ZZ Top, and others. I would have been rocking the mullet, but because I started going bald around the same time I grew facial hair, I could only roll with a skullet (see Brian Schwab).
EliteFTS: When did you begin powerlifting?
JF: My first powerlifting meet was my freshman year in high school. We just trained for the sports we were playing and didn’t worry about peaking for a meet. It was just something we did for fun. I believe I was in the 220-lb class and placed second to a junior from another school. After this meet, I continued to do a meet once a year, placing first from there on out.
I took a hiatus from competing when I entered college. I tried playing football for a year but didn’t stick with it due to a previous injury. Instead, I took up rugby and played for three years. I started powerlifting again my senior year of college, competing in the APA. I’ve been competing ever since.
EliteFTS: You weighed 220 lbs as a freshman in high school?
JF: I actually hit 210 lbs my eighth grade year of football. Needless to say, I didn’t look right out there with all the other players. The more I kept lifting, the leaner I became and typically stayed around the 220-lb mark, peaking at a svelte 230 lbs.
EliteFTS: What are your best lifts?
JF: My best at 220 lbs was a 788-lb squat, a 501-lb bench, and a 661-lb deadlift with a total of 1950 lbs. In the 242-lb class, my best lifts are a 1003-lb squat, a 771-lb bench, and a 804-lb deadlift with a 2579-lb total, which is second best in the world within the 242-lb class. I’ve also competed in the 275-lb class because I was unable to make weight. My best lifts are a 1036-lb squat, a 810-lb bench, and a 810-lb deadlift with a total of 2656 lbs. This total was also good for second best in the world within the 275-lb class.
EliteFTS: What was the hardest strength goal for you to achieve, and how did you overcome it?
JF: This one is hard for me to answer because I’ve always been smart in setting my strength goals. But if I had to say one thing, it would have to be benching 405 lbs for the first time.
Like I stated previously, I benched 365 lbs in high school. Well, I didn’t touch 405 lbs until the summer of 2007, right before I got back into the powerlifting scene. I didn’t bench 405 lbs until this time due to many different factors including taking time off, focusing on rugby, and getting shoulder injuries as well as the fact that my bench just came along a lot slower. Reality is I just never really focused on my bench all that much. I knew this was something I would have to bring up to compete at the highest level so I changed my programming around. The first time I attempted 405 lbs I was able to rep it for three. So again, this wasn’t a hard goal for me to achieve because I didn’t focus on it as much, but it did take me awhile to accomplish this feat.
EliteFTS: Where do you coach at?
JF: I am the strength and conditioning coordinator at a Division III college within the Iowa conference. I cover all 19 varsity sports.
EliteFTS: When did you know you wanted to be a strength coach?
JF: It wasn’t until my senior year of college that I decided that being a strength coach was what I wanted to do. I started my college career enrolled in a lot of mixed classes that met the requirements for graduating from my liberal arts college of choice. At first, I thought about philosophy as my major. My advisor at the time, who was a philosophy nut, told me that I couldn’t lift for the rest of my life and that my best bet was to major in something else—philosophy. I got over that once I entered my sophomore year and took a coarse that totally turned me away from that path. Needless to say, I dropped the course and went into general education for a major. I started taking some exercise science courses, and I was hooked from there.
I ended up volunteering my senior year as an assistant strength coach under the tutelage of Jake Anderson. He taught me everything I needed to know at that time, and through that experience, I knew I wanted to continue to train athletes. Jake was pivotal in the process of my future career in strength and conditioning.
I continued on at Illinois State University as a graduate assistant strength coach while attaining my master’s degree in kinesiology and recreation. I worked underneath Rohrk Cutchlow during my stint at Illinois State. If it weren’t for Rohrk, I know I wouldn’t be the coach that I am today.
EliteFTS: Out of all the styles of training you have used for yourself over the year, what are the pros and cons of each?
JF: In high school, we used the Nebraska program for a training template. Looking back, I actually think this wasn’t a bad idea from the standpoint that at least it was structured. My coach made sure we had good form on everything.
Westside training (these are just my opinions and aren’t meant to sway anyone either way)
Pros:
· Brings structure to workouts, especially for novices who don’t know what they’re doing
· Addresses a lot of posterior chain deficiencies
· Utilizes different methods for increasing strength and explosive power (i.e. dynamic, max effort, repeated effort)
Cons:
· Little change in movements suggested/utilized
· Utilization of bands and chains for novices shouldn’t be suggested
· Utilizes ME movements way too often, which can be harmful to novice and experienced lifters alike
· Not specific to each individual’s needs/weaknesses
· Relies too much on compensatory acceleration, which isn’t specific to powerlifting
· Overtraining and injuries occur too often
Block periodization
Pros:
· Can be adapted to any sport
· Set up for individualistic needs
· Addresses all aspects of training including preparatory, competitive, and transitional
· Can be adapted for many training periods (quadrennial, macro-, meso-, and micro-cycles)
· Good for novices and experienced lifters alike
Cons:
· Knowledge of the modules must be obtained
· Not enough practical information present on the subject for the laymen
· Works best over longer periods of time (meso- and macro-cycles)
EliteFTS: How are you training now?
JF: I utilize the block periodization method of training. I typically train on my own three days per week, but I travel to do bench shirt training because this is something that typically can’t be done without help.
I train Sundays (bench/shirt), Mondays (main squat), Wednesdays (bench/accessory), and Fridays (deadlift/squat).
EliteFTS: How did you first hear about block periodization? Who has helped your development along the way?
JF: The first time I started using block periodization was with athletes at Illinois State University. The funny thing is I didn’t know that I was using it at the time. Knowing how training affected my performance as an athlete and competitive powerlifter, I already knew there had to be phases where you use a lot of different exercises at higher volumes and lower intensities to develop your GPP and general patterns of movement. This sets the stage for later, more intense phases where we could focus on higher intensity work, developing more specific abilities such as aerobic-anaerobic endurance. Ultimately you need to look at the outcome you would like and design the map to get you there. Block periodization is ideal for cultivating these outcomes.
Landon Evans, once the assistant at Illinois State, is the one who introduced me to the concept that block periodization could be adapted to work for powerlifters. Until this time, I believed it wouldn’t be applicable and that Westside was the way to go. I was obviously wrong. Landon wrote up how we needed to attack my training, and the rest is history. I look to Landon when it comes to my training. Without his guidance and without the trust and respect I have for him, there is no way I would have gotten to where I am today so quickly. Who knows if I would have ever gotten here.
To go along with that last statement, I know I wouldn’t be where I am without the help of Dave Tate and Jim Wendler of Elite Fitness Systems. The support they have provided over the past year has been incredible. I can’t express my appreciation enough toward both of them and the entire company.
EliteFTS: How do you set up the training programs for the teams you work with?
JF: I utilize the block periodization method when training my athletes as well. Submaximal and repetition work is mostly what my athletes perform, peaking them for their competitions when needed. This has worked very well for both my novice athletes and experienced athletes.
They will usually follow a two or three day per week program with the occasional four day per week schedule at different times with specific teams. This will always depend upon skill level, preparation level, and needs.
EliteFTS: Give me an honest view of assessments.
JF: An honest view? Okay, here it goes. Now, some will disagree and some will understand what I mean here. Either way, I really don’t care. When I assess an athlete, I don’t take him through a spreadsheet of eight million different exercises that may or may not tell me if he is messed up or not. I’m not going to have him perform overhead squats while standing on a Bosu ball or watch him get buried on a glute ham raise because he’s weak. I’m not going to worry about gluteal amnesia or opposite erector spinae contraction, at least not yet.
No matter what, when I receive a new athlete, I assume he’s weak and f@#%ed up. I first will do a visual evaluation—posture, walking, shoulder flexibility, shoulder positioning, and hand positioning (hopefully neutral position). Basically, I look him up and down, scrutinizing his appearance. After that, I will test his GPP by having him do push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, box jumps, and other movements. I watch him perform exercises.
Based on these findings, I will set up a program. This evaluation will tell me a bit more about how much he is f@#%ed up, but I basically start every athlete off the same by having him master basic callisthenic movements while teaching proper technique. This takes longer for some to master than others. After the athletes have mastered general movements (i.e. lunges, push-ups, body weight exercises), we move onto more complex movements.
Now, understand something here. I get some athletes in that can’t even handle their own body weight. If I have athletes who can’t do a proper body weight squat, why in the world would I try to put a load on their spine? If they can’t do a simple box jump without their knees knocking together or going to their toes, why would I have them doing hang cleans? Deficiencies need to be addressed before we can just take an athlete to the next level. Now, this doesn’t mean we can’t progress them unless they meet X criteria. While we are bringing up their deficiencies, we can teach them how to squat properly or teach them the starting phase of a clean or Olympic movement. We just won’t start adding significant resistance until they’re ready.
Most progression and evaluation needs to happen on the floor while training your athletes or whoever you are working with. Watching them do the workouts and movements and seeing their abilities in action is the only way you’ll be able to truly progress your client. Just bringing them in and throwing them underneath the bar isn’t the way to start. If I have an athlete who comes in, smokes the evaluation, and demonstrates good motor control and strength, he will move onto a more advanced program. It’s going to depend upon ability, preparedness, and as a coach/trainer, knowing your shit.
EliteFTS: Tell us about a few of the kids you have worked with who have impressed you the most and why?
JF: I’ll be more general with this. Most teams that I work with impress me. Anyone who is willing to show up at 6:00 a.m., doesn’t miss a training session, and works his butt off has my respect. I love working with athletes and individuals who want to achieve success at whatever they do. The most satisfying thing that comes from working with these individuals is seeing them achieve that success no matter what level of competition, sport, or gender. It doesn’t matter to me.
Everyone that I’ve worked with has always achieved success in the weight room. From getting stronger to increasing size, speed, lateral agility, or explosiveness, the majority of my athletes have impressed me by achieving it.
So this doesn’t seem like a cop out answer, I’ve worked with 5–6 athletes who were sent to the NFL, a couple who went to the arena league, and a few who became national champions. Those are individuals who had some God given talent. Did they impress me? Most did, but the athletes who don’t have that chance and still never miss a training session are the ones who will always have my respect and admiration.
EliteFTS: How do you define the different blocks of training that you use?
JF: Accumulation: This is a period devoted to developing the more basic abilities with a focus on muscle strength and GPP utilizing general movement patterns. Lower intensities are used with a higher volume of reps and exercises.
Transformation or transmutation: This is where we focus on more specific abilities. We are talking about event-specific technique. We use an increased intensity with a moderate volume and a decrease in general, specific exercises.
Realization: This is the pre-competitive phase of training where we are still working with event-specific technique, attaining maximal strength. The volume will be low while intensity will be at its highest. General specific exercises are very limited during this time.
Recovery or restoration: The main focus is on recovery either prior to initiating another phase of training or a forthcoming competition. We use moderate intensity and low volume on sport-specific lifts. Accessory lifts are cut in half.
EliteFTS: When are these blocks used?
JF: Accumulation is always the first block that you need to start with. This is where you set the base for all other training down the line. The amount of time you have until your next meet will determine how much time you need to devote to this phase, but I recommend nothing shorter than 12–16 weeks.
Sometimes, not always, you might throw a restorative week in between an accumulation and transmutation block. This is really based upon if your body needs one or not and again how much time you have.
Again, the amount of time between meets will determine how many and how long your transmutation block will last. This phase is performed following your accumulation phase. As stated above, this is where intensity within your event-specific movements will increase with an overall decrease in volume on the main exercises as well as with your accessory lifts. A restorative block is needed following this phase as well.
Realization is your final pre-competition phase. This puts everything together to peak your performance. Typically, this is 2–3 weeks in length with a restoration week at the end prior to competition.
There are many different variables that can and will cause you to sometime switch back and forth between phases, mostly transmutation and accumulation blocks. Again, this is dependant upon body preparedness and amount of time between competitions.
EliteFTS: If you’re having a bad day in the gym, when do you know to shut it down?
JF: I go off of how I feel and what I did the previous day. Sometimes when you’re having a bad day in the gym, it’s just your attitude. If you can recognize this, all you need is a kick in the ass to get back to work. Most times what happens here is people tend to think that is the problem all the time and they keep pushing on. By not knowing why you’re having a bad day, you can push yourself right into overtraining the body.
Key factors to know if I need to shut it down are resting heart rate, motivation, body aches, warm ups, and bar speed. If my resting heart rate is up, my central nervous system (CNS) might not be ready for a hard workout. Now, there are many reasons why it could be increased such as caffeine consumption and stress, but I know when it’s a CNS problem that I will not be able to push past. If my motivation is in the shitter, I might just put it off until later in the day or the next day, depending on what I need to accomplish that week. Most times, once I get warmed up, I’m good to go. If I do a warm up and my body is aching and the motivation is still not there, I will do one or two sets and see where I’m at, but it might be a no go. If my bar speed is absolute crap and lighter weights seem like the heavier weights, I will call it a day. I don’t always do this. My ego will still rear its ugly head, and I will push on. Sometimes this is good, and sometimes it’s bad. I know my body well enough now to know what I’m looking for out of my workouts.
EliteFTS: You have been pretty much injury free. What have you done to stay this way?
JF: Simple, smart, and sound training. There is something to say about having a little luck on your side as well, but I really believe that the smarter you are about your training and the more technically sound you are with your lifts, the better off you will be. Luck has nothing to do with being smart.
One thing I know I do that many lifters avoid is warming up. I take at least 15–20 minutes to warm my body up, stretch out, and get my body prepared to train. Most powerlifters’ warm ups include putting 135 lbs on the bar and doing it for 10 reps or less. That isn’t going to cut it. I don’t care who you are. It will catch up to you eventually.
I also focus on the smaller exercises that help to prevent injuries such as shoulder girdle exercises, abductors, lower hamstrings, and cardio. I don’t do these all the time, but I do them when they are necessary in my program, which is usually early on in my training block. These things help the body prepare for the increased stresses you will be putting yourself through later on in your programming.
Also, being able to read your body is key. Knowing when I need to back off has always helped. A lot of times lifters don’t read their bodies right and just push on, overstressing the body and making it more susceptible to injury. Knowing when to take a break and when to push on can make all the difference.
EliteFTS: What are your views on cardio for powerlifters?
JF: Necessity! The more in shape our heart and cardiovascular system is the better.
Pros:
· Increased cardiac output
· Increased HDL levels
· Decreased resting heart rate and blood pressure
· Ability to recover faster
· Ability to sustain longer, more intense workouts
· Increased virility in the bedroom
Need I say more?
EliteFTS: What are the top three strength resources that you have found and refer back to?
JF: Supertraining by Mel C. Siff, Starting Strength by Rippetoe and Kilgore, and Block Periodization by Valdimir Issurin.
These have been the top three reads and the ones I revert back to the most. Starting Strength is just something I think every coach or lifter should read.
EliteFTS: When did you first stumble upon EliteFTS, and how did you hear about us?
JF: I was introduced to EliteFTS back in my senior year of college. This is when I first was introduced to Westside training and began using Dave Tate’s beginner program. I was hooked from there. I would read the logs of Dave, Jim, Mike Ruggeria, McDonald, Paul, and others. These were guys who I wanted to be as strong as and who I looked up to. I think I visited the website at least five times a day.
EliteFTS: What does your diet look like?
JF: Right now, I pretty much eat whatever I want. If I feel I’m putting on bad weight, I clean up my diet. If I’m just beginning a training phase, I don’t really worry about what I’m eating as long as I get in the calories. This is something that has changed recently and will continue to change in the future.
Sadly enough, I don’t really eat as much as you would think. I probably on average only get 150 grams of protein per day and typically way too many carbs and fat. What I think is amazing is the fact that I’ve been able to do as well as I have eating like this. This is something I definitely wouldn’t recommend. I just struggle getting in what I need with the time constraints of being a strength coach. If I don’t prepare my food before my day starts, I’m pretty much going to have a really bad day nutritionally. As locked in as I am with my training, you would think that nutrition would be up there as well. This is something I’ve been struggling with but have recently started to rectify. Nutrition is everything. Without it, the body can’t work as efficiently as it could.
EliteFTS: What is one of the biggest career mistakes you have made?
JF: Not reading everything I could get my hands on while I was in college. I truly never read a book in college. I bought all the books I needed as they pertained to class, but I never used them. I just took great notes and studied those, which was easier for me to do. Now, this isn’t the mistake I’m talking about. I wish I would have read more strength and conditioning books early on and learned as much as I could. I’ve been playing catch-up ever since. It hasn’t ruined anything from a career standpoint, but I definitely should have read more in my undergraduate years.
EliteFTS: What advice would you give to those aspiring to become strength and conditioning coaches?
JF: Put in your time as a volunteer. Even if you work for nothing, volunteer your time, get into the weight room of a successful/knowledgeable staff, and learn as much as you can. You can’t learn in the classroom what you truly need to know out on the weight room floor training student athletes. Practical knowledge will always surpass book regurgitation, which leads me to say that though I didn’t read as much as I wanted to early on, I got 60–80 hours per week on the floor training athletes. The knowledge I received from that was priceless and has led me to be as successful as I’ve been.
EliteFTS: What advice would you have for a novice in the sport of powerlifting?
JF: Start out slow and work on the basics. Too many times you see a novice lifter try and lift as much as they can every workout regardless of how it looks. Form is everything when it comes down to the sport of powerlifting and injury prevention. Take your time, build your strength up using submaximal weights at higher volumes, address your weaknesses early, and concentrate on technique. Everyone wants to get from point A to point D, skipping B and C along the way. But the fact of the matter is skipping those steps along the way will keep you from going much further down the road.
Also, get a plan and execute it. Too many times, most lifters just hit the weights without having a plan of action written up. Even if it’s just an outline, at least it’s something. Ask others who have been there. This doesn’t mean you should rely on them, but questions never hurt, especially if you are clueless.
EliteFTS: What are the biggest mistakes you see powerlifters making in their training, and what advice would you offer them?
JF: No warm ups. As I addressed earlier, most powerlifters don’t warm up, and when I say warm up, it doesn’t mean swing your arms back and forth before you start pressing or put 135 lbs on the bar and squat it for 10 reps or less. A warm up should include a general warm up to get the blood circulating and the muscles warm (i.e. bike for five minutes), dynamic flexibility movements (i.e. leg swings, spinal flossing, groin), and some foam rolling and static stretches (i.e. neck, hip flexors, abductors).
Too heavy, too often. Many powerlifters think that if they don’t do max effort twice a week they aren’t working hard enough and will not get stronger. Most strength gains come from using submaximal weights at moderate to high volumes. Use your heaviest weights about four weeks prior to your competition. Until then, use lighter weights at higher reps. Now, obviously the higher the weight, the fewer reps you will be able to get. Use overall volume as your guide. Say you want to do 80 percent for 15–20 reps. Do 5–6 sets of 3 reps. You will achieve the volume you want but only use triples to achieve this.
Worry about the process more than the outcome. There are many lifters who worry about how hard their workouts are as opposed to what they need to achieve with their workouts to attain their goals (i.e. competition). These are guys who if they don’t do X amount of reps for X amount of sets for X amount of exercises, they didn’t do enough. They would rather bury themselves and overtrain their bodies rather than take it easy because they need to. They will tend to not listen to their bodies, make small gains over longer periods of time, and have reoccurring injuries, sometimes major.
My advice here would be know what your goals are and do whatever is necessary to achieve those goals (outcome-based). If that means backing off, using submaximal weights, or taking it easy with more volume, then do so. Don’t get caught up in the process. Worry about the outcome. If your goals are to kill yourself every workout, then get after it. Just don’t be pissed when you don’t see progress being made over a longer period of time.
EliteFTS: What is the manual you are working on right now, and what can people expect from it?
JF: Landon Evans and I are collaborating on a block periodization manual, the same training method that I’ve been using for the past year now. Since I started this type of training method, I’ve been able to put 316 lbs on my overall total in 11 months. Needless to say, I’m more than convinced that block periodization is applicable to powerlifting.
What the manual will entail is a brief biography of Landon as well as information on my background. We will be discussing the different phases of block periodization as it pertains to accumulation, transmutation, realization, and restoration, giving both a scientific definition and description as well as a lifter’s perspective on these phases. You will know when and why you should implement each phase, what each phase should include, the intensity ranges you will need to be within, and how these phases will feel to the lifter. The more knowledge that we can provide from this and help those to understand what the purpose is of each phase is, the more successful you will and can become.
We will also provide when and how to use gear within the program, though block periodization is for everyone (bench only, full power, raw, gear, athlete, whomever). We want to provide the knowledge to adapt a program to whatever the need may be. While a general template will be provided, it will be only a template. There are too many variables that are specific to each individual to write up one solid and unified program.
Also, we will lay out what I did to achieve what I have been able to over the past year. This will hopefully give some better insight into how things can operate within a program. We are trying to keep things as simple as possible when writing this, but as anyone who writes something knows, it can be hard to determine what to include and what to skip over. We will hopefully be finished with this by the end of the summer at the latest.