On February 17, 2001, Dave Tate opened up the Q&A section on the EFS server to find the following inquiry:

“Dave, I am an 18 year-old powerlifter in the 220 class. I have been doing the Westside routine for 6 months now and my bench has gone from 405 to 445. I have been using a Heavy Duty shirt for my competitions. However, I have lost 12 pounds since I bought the shirt and it is loose. My question is how long should I train with a novice shirt before I move to a better shirt, and secondly, how long will this shirt last(# of competitions). Thanks for your help. Scott Yard”

To say things have changed a bit since Scott Yard’s “novice” days would be drastically understating the case. Truth be told, Scott’s powerlifting career has evolved to the point where he’s considered by most to be one of the absolute best in the sport – an argument supported by his astounding 2605 total – 1050 squat, 840 bench and 715 deadlift – in the 275 lbs. class.

Always accessible to EFS readers and customers for rock-solid advice and wisdom – accessible even by powerlifting standards – Scott’s training log is one of the most popular on the EFS website, and his down-to-earth “good guy” style of answering questions on the Q&A is something you should definitely check out if you’re looking to maintain some perspective while moving your total northward.

What are you training for right now?

I’m training for a raw meet right now – the IPA Nationals in York, PA in November. I hate saying the word “raw,” but that’s how I’m training right now. There’s no really big, underlying reason why I’m doing this, other than just trying to get out of the monotony of spending all my time trying to get five more pounds out of every piece of equipment.

My goal for this meet is to total 2000 lbs raw, and I think I’m pretty much on track to do that. I’ve tripled 675 in the deadlift, a personal record for me, and I’ve doubled close to 700 in the squat. My bench is in the shitter, of course, but you can’t have everything.

As far as what I’m doing differently to train for a raw meet, you can see a lot of that if you compare what’s in my training log now to what I did before, lifting with equipment. I realized recently that I got caught up in the whole, “I gotta do this, I gotta do that” mentality, which doesn’t really help the process. What I’ve found is that I don’t need all the additional training I thought I’d need for a raw meet. That’s pretty much all just more crap to “justify the means.” I’ve decided not to try to reinvent the wheel, and I’ve had my best results thus far by simply scaling everything back.

The biggest difference for this meet will involve my weight. I’m going down a weight class, and I’ll be lifting at 242. In order to do this, I figure my goal, at this point, is to get down to around 255 by the time the meet comes up. That will entail doing a pretty simple 13 pound cut, which will be even less than what I had to cut when I lifted in the 275 lbs class. As an example of this, when I totaled 2605, my cut for that meet was 22 lbs. Compared to that, a 13 pound cut should be easy.

The way I look at it, I’m 5’8, 275 lbs right now, and I really don’t need to be any heavier than that. There’s no sense in walking around like a fat f—k all the time just because I’m a powerlifter. This is a hobby for me. I just had a daughter, and I think it would be best for my life if I’m not out of breath from just walking up a flight of stairs.

The gym is getting better, but there’re really nothing big going on lately other than me training for the raw meet. We have about eight guys who train on a regular basis, but it’s pretty much a hobby for all of them, too, and we don’t really expect it to be anything more then that. We’re not the guys who finish training and go right for a post-workout shake, unless you count sitting at the bar drinking something not quite so healthy after lifting. Everyone shows up, and that’s enough for me.

As for my personal life, the baby is one month old now, and she’s just been diagnosed with reflux, so that’s what I’m dealing with right now. She’s a little redhead, and she’s a handful. Neither one of us has red hair, but I’ve got a lot of Scottish on my parents’ side, so I think that’s where it came from.

Since I don’t get as much sleep as I used to, I’ve had to scale back to training two days a week, in kind of a mix and match kind of schedule where I make sure to prioritize and only do what I really need. This has been good and bad, I guess. To be honest with you, I really don’t like being in the gym. I like competing, and I like going up against the best people in the sport, but I don’t really like training all that much. For me, it’s a means to an end. If I could train twice a month and compete once a month, that would be okay with me.

Q&A

In a clip from Mark Bell’s DVD, he references the “Yard Program.” What is that, and will all the extra volume it seems to entail be helpful to me?

Mark may be referring to the 4-5 sets of doubles at 90% in a workout, to the chest. I am a big advocate of this, as it gives you a ton of work, and is in the weight range where the missing of weights is minimal, if not non-existent.

I am a fan of lots of reps. Just like basketball, if you only shoot for ten minutes, you’ll never make a free throw. You have to up the volume to get better. More reps = More practice = More PR’s.

When you do so many sets, you’ll screw up as expected, but you’ll end up finding ways to save a rep, or to adjust yourself mid-rep if needed.

Have you found any differences in your recovery now that you’ve been training raw?

I’m starting to see big differences. Before, with the gear, I could train minimally and get better. These past 6-8 weeks have been a trip. I’ve felt sore as hell, and have been sleeping shitty.

I’ve come to the realization that training this way has to come with a better lifestyle. I have to focus on my sleep, eat well, and actually take some supplements in order to get all the food in I need. I’m starting to come around and not feel like a bag of shit.

I’m taking this time as a way to improve everything in my lifting regime. Just showing up at the gym doesn’t work like it once did for me. Damn!

I’m finding that I don’t get a very good carryover from box squatting to free squatting. Is there anything I can do about this?

I’m stronger off the box myself than I am free squatting. They’re two different movements. Box squatting puts you in the best position to get stronger hips, hamstrings and lower back. Raw free squatting is more of a quad movement that needs a more moderate stance. Take the box out for a few weeks. You lose your stretch reflex going off the box all the time and you need to get that back if you’re going raw.

Get that box out of there and get your groove back like Stella!

Do you have any tips for a lifter who can’t keep his ass on the bench during meets?

Try pulling your feet under your body more. If you don’t like this, which I don’t, put your feet out in front of you and turn them sideways. We have a guy who’s 6’3”, and this works for him. If this doesn’t work, spray some Stickum on your ass, bench in deadlift socks to get your feet closer to the floor, and remember to push out, not up