elitefts™ Sunday edition

My Epiphany of Strength

This article is a culmination of my 35 years of learning about strength, including the cliff notes to all my training logs and a brief look inside my mind. I hope to shed some light on the theories and principles that I used to gain my strength. These are the basic theories that I believe everyone can use to gain strength like mine and beyond.

I feel I should start by explaining a little about myself and who I am. Although I'm a fairly high-ranked powerlifter, many people still know very little about me. This whole journey really started with my fascination of strength, which began at a very young age. I still remember messing around at the Vic Tanny gym in St. Louis, Mo., while my dad was working out. Even then, I loved going with him and being at the gym. I daydreamed about the time when I would be able to train as hard as I could and become superhero strong. I wanted to be able to destroy people on the football field, throw a shot put half a mile, lift tons of weight, and win the world’s strongest man competition.

How I First Started Lifting

No real lifting started until my brother started his freshman year of high school football. He is about a year and a half older than me and needed a partner. I was more than willing to join. As it turned out, this was also my first lesson in how hard it would be to find a dedicated partner. We started with a crappy little old bench and a hodgepodge of weights. We even had some of the really bad plastic ones with the concrete in them. What the hell were they thinking when they made those and who came up with that idea? I loved working out, but it was on and off for awhile. I did not have much confidence in my ability to set up a program and was looking for someone to help after my brother quit.

Everything began to change after my freshman year of football. I was unable to hold a starting position on the team, and this completely set a fire in me. I was pissed and didn't like that one bit. I basically decided that I needed to just get off my ass and figure things out myself. I was going to learn strength training and come back better than ever. So, I started reading everything I could get my hands on. Unfortunately, most of that was bodybuilding information. Despite that, I still kept getting stronger and working harder.

One day, my dad came down to workout with me, and I was benching enough to make that little bench shake all over the place. My dad said the bench was starting to look unsafe, and so we began looking into new options. We looked into gym memberships and new equipment. Both were very expensive, and I knew it would be hard for my parents to afford either one. So every now and then, I would go hangout at the exercise equipment store and dream of the day I would save enough to buy some new equipment. The safety issue didn't really concern me too much. I had a goal, and I was going to accomplish it no matter what. I would just work with what I had.

On the Christmas of my sophomore year, I got the present of my life. I should mention that my parents were always very good at supporting hard work and dedication, even when it was difficult for them. Christmas morning I opened a box with a pair of collars in it. I thought, “Cool, I got a new Olympic bar.” But then I saw a note on the inside of the box. The note said, “Merry Christmas! Your new bench is in the shed.” The note explained that the equipment was very expensive, and I would have to pay for a portion of it whenever I could.

I don’t really remember how much I paid, but I do remember not caring anyway because it was worth it. To me, this was the best damn Christmas present in the world—a new bench, an Olympic weight set, a Texas power bar, and a bunch of attachments. I know it’s kind of gay, but I couldn’t even fight back the tears. I really wanted that bench, and I knew it wasn’t easy for my parents to afford. I definitely worked out that Christmas day and started a tradition of getting equipment every birthday and Christmas.

Training was going on at a very steady rate. During school, I lifted as much as possible during football and track, but I could never wait for summer—three months of solid training. Sometimes I trained three or four times a day. Eat, train, sleep, eat, train, sleep, and so on. I loved every minute of it. I remember eventually getting lectures from my dad because I wouldn't miss a workout for anything. One time he got tickets to a Cardinals baseball game, and I didn't want to go because I didn't work out yet that day. That says a lot because I loved going to the games.

My dad thought I might be getting too wrapped up in lifting and that there was more to life. I never really listened to that lecture! I also still have many fond memories of getting squished under a heavy squat, having to yell to my mom to help get me out from under a bar, or rolling a missed bench down my belly so I could get up. Ah yeah…good times.

Unsuccessful at Sports

As for sports, I usually finished near the back of the pack in my freshman year. This didn't sit well with me and was great motivation to improve. I wound up becoming pretty good on a local level by my senior year. I still take great pride in the fact that I finally dominated all the people who beat me during my earlier years. I won my conference, districts, and sectional meets in the shot put. I also did ok in football, but quit during my senior year. I had a conflict with the whole “team” philosophy. I wanted everyone else to want to win as bad as I did. I didn't do any weightlifting competitions, but could bench around 350, squat over 500, and deadlift over 500 pounds.

I was offered some partial scholarships to throw the shot put back in Missouri, but I wanted to move out to Nevada and throw at UNR. This meant I had to work almost full-time, go to school full-time, and train to throw. My days were very crazy, and it was difficult to keep my head above water. My freshman year pretty much sucked and so did my throwing. By my sophomore year, the problem I had in my lower legs since high school became unbearable. I finally found a doctor who diagnosed the problem as chronic compartment syndrome. My choices were basically surgery, quit throwing, or keep at the same pace and take the chance of eventually losing my legs. Easy answer for me—schedule the surgery.

Surgery

Unfortunately the surgery didn't work, and I was forced to quit throwing. This was not a very good time for me. Basically, I floundered around for seven years or so. I would workout for awhile, take some time off, and so forth. I always thought about trying powerlifting, but I was one of those guys who thought I should get so strong before I ever competed, and I didn't really see too much information about it.

Then, my little journey took a very good turn while I was living in a small town in rural Nevada. Two friends of mine (Raul Lopez and Wade Jensen) talked me into competing in a bench meet. Reluctantly, I did the meet and finished second with a raw 405 pounds. A new chapter had begun. I had a blast and was hooked. The first couple of years were messed up with moves, life in general, and learning about the sport. I did my first full power meet with a 1700-pound total. This was just what I needed to get serious. I didn't know how good I could get, but I wanted to see. I directed all my energy into powerlifting and whatever it took to get to my best. This meant leaving jobs because they wouldn’t work with me, selling vehicles to pay for powerlifting, and moving back home for awhile to save money for powerlifting.

I started contacting elitefts™ to learn everything I could. Within 8 or 9 years, I increased my total to 2733 pounds with an 1173 squat, an 821 bench press, and a 755-pound deadlift. I won multiple amateur nation and world titles. I broke the three-lift bench World Record (WR) in my first professional meet. I was ranked as high as No. 2 in Powerlifting USA and put up the fourth highest total of all time. I'm currently chasing the all-time squat and total records.

I managed to accomplish everything I did while having some pretty bad medical issues to deal with, too. Along with my chronic compartment syndrome, I developed sleep problems around fifth grade. I got to the point where I was basically unable to stay awake in class. This was even in the classes that I liked. Every time I stopped, I would fall asleep. Luckily, by the time I was in high school, I was fairly big and mean so most of the teachers would leave me alone. I would just take my books home and learn it myself at night. It was much faster and easier for me to stay awake.

Sleep Problems

By my later high school years, I yelled at teachers if they tried to wake me up. I know it's a jerk thing to do, but it pissed me off. I wasn’t disrupting class, and I had good grades so I was doing fine myself...well at least that was the way that I figured it. Somehow, I managed to stay on the honor roll and graduate with a "B" average. This became much harder in college with my hectic schedule, and my first semester was very bad. I only finished 2.5 years, but had my GPA up to a B average. Then, when I started working as a physical therapy assistant, I struggled to stay awake every time I sat down to work with a patient. I tried to stay moving as much as possible.

During this time when I was not training regularly, I knew I would have to cancel all plans for every other weekend. If I didn't try to get as much sleep as I could every other weekend, my world would go very wrong. I started getting insane headaches, nasty depression, and become totally exhausted. On top of that problem, I developed sleep apnea because I started getting bigger from powerlifting. At first, I didn't know that was the problem. All I knew was that things were getting worse. After a trip to California with some of my team members, I figured out the problem. We all stayed in one room to cut costs, and all I heard about the next day was the fact that I sounded like a freight train. Oh yeah, Ethan almost lost it getting up every time I quit breathing. I still haven’t figured out if it was to help me...or to go and stuff a pillow in my face.

That night led to a lot of sleep studies and CPAP machines. The CPAP stopped the apnea, and the studies were still helping me figure out my other sleep problem. I was diagnosed with narcolepsy, but disagree with that. My studies show that I don't get any stage three or four delta sleep. This is when all the recovery happens in the body. I am currently researching alpha delta sleep disorders and hope to try some new medications to help.

I know there are a few people out there who will complain that I'm bragging or something, but that isn't my intent at all. It's true that I am very proud of everything I achieved. I'm proud that I started with nothing and that I overcame the problems I have. My intent in talking about all this is simple, it's to show where I came from and what I did. I know there are a few people out there who say I got where I am because I'm a genetic freak or something. They say that I'll get strong no matter what I do, and they must think I don’t really work at it. These people won't give my advice a second thought and may even criticize it. If people don’t like my advice or think it is wrong, that’s ok with me. However, I don’t want it to be because of a misunderstanding.

I'm not a genetic freak. I put up "OK" numbers in high school and did "OK" in high school sports. I don’t recall any Big 10 schools knocking down my door to play for them. I don’t recall being nationally ranked in the shot put. Since when is a 350-pound high school bench press all that great, especially after I busted my ass to get there? I wasn’t goofing off in high school. I trained as hard as I could. The only thing I ever really wanted to be was a professional athlete, and I knew I had to work my ass off for it.

Well, I worked my ass off (obviously I'm talking hypothetically because my ass is huge), but I work in a warehouse. That’s crap! So the point I'm trying to make is that I'm no different or better than most of the other people out there. I just happened to figure out what worked for me, and maybe I can help some people get where I'm at or better. Hell, what would've happened if I could sleep right? Maybe someone else who can sleep will take my advice and it will work for them.

I can hear the comments now.

Is this guy for real? Why would he want to help make someone better than himself? Isn’t he a competitor? Or this guy is full of shit.

Well, all I have to say is think what you want. Anyone who knows me or reads the stuff that I write knows that I say what’s on my mind and in my heart. I'm very big on morals and living with integrity. Words like pride, truth, honor, respect, and justice (my kind of justice) mean a lot to me.

What it Takes to be a Champion

One of the lessons that really helped sink these ideas in my head was when I finally got the chance to meet one of the strength athletes from when I was a kid. He was a guy whom I really looked up to and aspired to be. Well, after I was able to meet and spent a little time with him, I thought he was a d@#$. This guy who I looked up to was one of the greatest strength athletes in the world, but he was a jerk. I lost all respect for him and think being a true champion is more than just winning.

If I'm ever lucky enough to be considered one of the best in the world or to have people look up to me, I damn well better be enough of a man to handle it. I do strive to be one of the greatest lifters ever and by my own definition, that means I need to be more than the best lifter. Of course, I'll always attack the competition with everything I have and never leave anything on the platform. I also need to be a person who loves the sport and wants it to progress. This means I should want someone to eventually break my records and that I shouldn't criticize new lifters or bag on them for the changes that happen in the sport.

There are ways to talk about what you don’t like without being negative. These things make the sport grow, and it has to be that way. I need to be positive and help other lifters, especially the beginners. I don’t care if someone eventually beats my records if I helped them do it. That would make me proud to know that I helped.

Basically, I live my life the way I do and think the way I do because I know I have to look at myself in the mirror, and I want to be proud. I want my friends and family to be proud to say that they're my friends or family. I want my niece, nephew, and all the kids around me to be proud to have me in their lives, and hopefully, I'll have a positive effect on theirs. It really doesn’t matter what everyone else thinks. Yes, I do hope these people see me for what I am, but I won't put up a front or act untrue to myself to make people think differently about me.

So I feel as though I learned a lot of strength lessons over the last 8 or 9 years, and it would be great if I could help other people avoid some of the pitfalls that I fell into. Lately, it seems as though everyone is looking too deeply into strength training. It seems as though they can’t see the big picture or they can’t see the forest through the trees, so to speak. One of my greatest lessons is that the simpler I keep it, the stronger I get. Strength is not some hugely complicated equation. I know there are a lot of strength trainers, strength specialists, strength coaches, and highly educated professors out there who would try to make you think differently. I even have a few friends that are like this. They can talk for days about philosophies, training tables, percentages, and theories. Some of these guys may even have helped train some really good athletes.

Intelligence

Still, my main problem with these intellectual types is why they dedicated so much of their lives to strength, but never use their own advice to get strong themselves. If these guys are so into studying and theories, why not become a physicist and make some real money. I never met anyone who wanted to know everything about strength, but not be strong themselves.

I actually fell right into this trap at one point, studying all the books and taking courses in college. Most of it was complete crap. The more of that shit I forget, the stronger I get. How can one style of program be suited to meet so many different people’s needs anyway? Just look around at everyone. We're all so different. We have different recovery rates, different muscle mass, different amounts of muscle types, and different muscle densities. I'm sure all of our central nervous systems have minor differences too. Then, there are all the different mentalities. I keep hearing about the European programs from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, but I never heard anyone talk about how maybe these programs they designed are only good for one type of person. Think about it. I know a lot of those countries were testing the children, and if they met the right expectations, they were in the program. So maybe those programs are just meant for those specific types of people. Well, I really don’t care that much about the true genetic freaks. They already have a leg up. I care more about the regular people who did not get that gift. I'm not saying you shouldn’t study or learn new information about strength training. Just think about it for yourself and don’t accept it as gospel.

I was very fortunate to talk with many top-level powerlifters, and I'm always looking for good ideas to change things up. In talking with all these top athletes, I noticed that they all train differently. I can probably tell you at least one top powerlifter for every different style of training. I heard some people say that you should ignore what all the top athletes do because they are the genetic freaks and will gain no matter what. I don’t think I'm the only exception to this case, and it logically leads me to think that the training program may not be the true key to strength. Maybe there's a specific training program for each type of person.

What I observed in my own team leads me to believe that the program isn't as important as everyone believes. I'm not saying that you can just go workout doing whatever whenever and get strong. I'm saying that there's no miracle program set up to met everyone’s needs. I think the answer is a program like the Westside program, even though it's often misunderstood. The reason I like the Westside program is because it's basically just an outline. It's based on the very sound principles of force. Force = mass x acceleration. These are two keys that can help everyone.

As far as the workout schedule, it can be adjusted. The band tensions can be adjusted, accessory work can be adjusted, percentages can be adjusted, and just about everything can be adjusted to a person’s specific needs. It basically consists of a max effort bench workout, a max effort squat workout, a dynamic effort bench workout, and a dynamic effort squat workout. You can start on the basic outline and adjust the workout schedule to meet your recovery or live schedule needs. Then, you can find your weak points and adjust your accessory work to strengthen those. You can check your bar speed and adjust the band tension or percentages to get what you need the most. One of the things most people don’t understand is that when a group is training Westside, they'll often do the main movement together but then split off to meet their own individual needs for the rest of the workout.

Top Athletes

I guess one of the things that I tried to do the most is to see if I can’t figure out what the common thread is between all the top athletes. One of the things I noticed the most about all top athletes is that they really know their bodies, and they're confident in their training decisions. I mainly see this when it comes to overtraining. They'll comfortably take time off or back off their workouts. Many of them will just leave a workout if they don’t feel right. I also saw this in a lot of top bodybuilders but don’t ever remember reading about that. I always read that they stick to their strict schedules. They know what their body needs and how it will react.

It’s funny to look at new lifters or even look back at myself and see how I stressed out about workouts. I would freak if I missed one and do everything to try and make it up. If I was sick for a couple days, I went nuts. I even tried to workout if I was sick. The workout would suck and just break me down more, but in my head, it made sense. I was such a dumbass. Now I see these professional bodybuilders or powerlifters and something comes up in their lives, so they miss a workout. It’s no big deal. They don’t freak out. They don’t even make it up. I hear about them going into workouts, and they start to warm-up. Then, all the sudden they're leaving. It didn’t feel right, so they're done. They'll be back on the next scheduled day. I'm not saying a novice should necessarily train that way, but be aware that you should get to that point.

Strength Tips

I compiled a short list with some of the philosophies I think are the most important for gaining big-time strength.

1. Training breaks down muscle. This means you actually get weaker in the gym.
2. You get stronger when your muscle recovers. This mean you actually get stronger out of the gym.
3. Your body is designed to adapt to stimulus. If you keep doing the same exercises and training, your body will become accustomed to it. It will gain only enough to deal with that stress and then quit improving. If you keep changing the exercises and training, your body will have to keep adapting and growing. It’s like a carpenter who swings a hammer for 20 years of his life. His forearms did not keep growing the whole time. They grew enough to handle that stress and then quit growing.
4. You’re only as strong as your weakest link. If you focus on always making your weakest muscle groups stronger, you will make much faster gains.
5. There is no miracle training program, no miracle drug, or no miracle exercise!
6. Technique is one of the best and easiest ways to lift more weight. In fact, with proper technique, you can lift more weight without even getting stronger. It's the best way to optimize what you were given genetically, and it will help reduce injuries. Understanding and executing proper technique will also help in finding what your weak points are.
7. Four of the most important words to remember about getting stronger are DEDICATION, HARD WORK, and SACRIFICE.
8. Your heart is the strongest muscle in your body. I don’t mean this literally. This is the most important aspect of gaining strength and the most important thing I can tell you. The HEART is the strongest presence in your body.

I think this pretty much sums up the philosophies that I use in my training and life. It's kind of funny to think it only took seven or so pages. These are the basics of what I base my training on. To find out more about what my actual training looks like, visit the elitefts.com™ articles.

I also recommend reading the other training logs on the site. I know some of these athletes, and this is the only place you'll ever get to see what athletes of this caliber actually do for their training. To learn more about me, visit www.chadaichs.com. You may ask questions from my website or the Q&A on www.elitefts.com. I also recommend everyone signs up for the elitefts™ newletter and read the articles on the site. They have an enormous amount of useful information. I sincerely hope that this article helps everyone out there achieve a greater level of strength.