5 Key Elements of Success in Powerlifting with Carlos Moran

Brett Scott 00:01
Welcome back to the barbell therapy podcast. I’m your host, Dr. Brett Scott. With me today is Carlos Moran, he is a pretty elite power lifter. And he’s someone I have worked with for a long time. And just seen something different in Carlos that you don’t see in a lot of athletes, especially in strength sports. So he is someone that has been at the top of his game for a long time. And someone who just has been chasing success for a long time. And there’s a lot of elements to success that I see that Carlos possesses to never give up on a goal and get there regardless of if everything always goes to plan or not. And so I wanted to bring Carlos on just to talk about kind of those mentalities and some of the elements that that both of us kind of see to success and just kind of discuss them of what are the things that’s really going to make someone successful with powerlifting in the long run, whether it be to get to an elite level, or just, you know, continually improve to better yourself in the sport as a person. Because Because powerlifting, and strength sports can can teach you a lot about yourself, too. And they can show yourself a lot of true character and, and others too. So I want to talk about that. So Carlos, you want to tell us about some of your accolades, and also welcome to the show.

01:32
Oh, well, thanks, Brett. I really appreciate that. That means a lot, hearing all that stuff from you. I’ve been a powerlifting for about half my life at this point. So I’m 33. I just turned 33. Last July. And I’ve been doing this since about 17 years old. So it’s it’s been a quite a long ride. And I think I’ve been at the top of my game since about 2014 with my first like, elite total. So it’s been about another eight years of being a world class pirate Ultrason is done. And recently, I just total 1960 at 198, which put me at the time, I think top four in all history. And I think that’s put me back top five as the records keep shifting back and forth between the top two to three guys, with the exception pack being like the front runner right now. And the one I need. So there wasn’t my most recent one. And then I think I’ve won like two or three usapl National Championships back in like 2012. And then I’ve won, like problems on and off since like 2015.

Brett Scott 02:27
So and there was a point in time to you were ranked number two in the world, correct?

02:32
Yeah, I was ranked number two, I believe in 2017 2018 and 2019. To hack officially.

Brett Scott 02:39
Yeah. And Carlos, you also now work with the Juggernaut training system crew there. And I think I think a lot of people are familiar with them. So it’s cool to see how you’ve gone from, you know, kind of little, not little man on the totem pole, but to be recognized by a big, you know, big person in the in the field and influence or like Chad Wesley Smith to have you as part of that team and see what you can do with someone like that as a coach. So yeah, so I want to go ahead.

03:18
No, I it’s just really funny that you bring that up, because I’ve known Chad since his first seminar back, I like total performance sports back in 2011. So it’s interesting that you put it that way, because one of the things that I did not want to do is become like a fitness influencer, or somebody that had to like live and die by Instagram. Because I’ve had Chad asked me to be one of his guys like a couple of times prior to that. And then there was a few opportunities where like SPD, and Elite FTS and a few other powerlifting brands really wanted me to take me under their wing, but I just felt like it wasn’t the right time or the right opportunity. You know, as you know, like I’ve had you as a coach, and even my PT for like the last few years. And I know that I haven’t seen you recently. But I do want to make it up there to take a look at some things. But one of the reasons why I didn’t want to pursue that until recently was because I do have a nine to five, I do work in the finance industry as an investment portfolio manager. And I didn’t want to make powerlifting a job because I feel like one of the things that made me really successful was passion. And I feel like once you make your passion into a job, there’s a high tendency for burnout, which I’ve even experienced a couple times myself when just taking powerlifting as a passion. So that was one of those things where I think his goals, my goals are really aligned. And when he gave me the sales pitch to join the team, it was really more of like a I don’t want to mess with anything that you already had. Because clearly you’ve already made some success. We just want to kind of like pinpoint where your short pins are and to try to make those weak points and strong points. And Chad’s been very respectful. He’s been a very down to earth guy. We’ve talked to you know, we talk regularly and one of the things that he was really adamant about is to make sure that like, the sponsorship doesn’t make me turn into something that I’m not which is to be someone that does like a lot of advertisements or do like Carlos 10 Discount code if you sign up, like there are bits of that, but it’s less of an emphasis on that. And really more, I’m just trying to create good quality content. So the information is really been paramount with that collaboration.

Brett Scott 05:09
So I have to ask, too. So I’ve discussed some of my experiences with you with other lifters that are maybe younger, so and just other people that have been in this industry. And a lot of people people don’t know you by name. They know you by the winter wolves. Like Carlos, like, I don’t know that I’m like, the winter was like, oh, yeah, I know him. But you’ve deleted your Instagram a bunch of times. And so did someone steal the name? Or did you just decide to change it to the wolves of winter,

05:39
it was originally supposed to be the wills of winter. So I’m just a really big Game of Thrones fan. And I’ve read the books when I was like, in my mid 20s. That’s originally what I wanted it to be, but it was already taken. So I went from the wolves of winter to winter rolls. But as soon as I found out that you could get that name back, I just switched it. Yeah, I have deleted my Instagram a couple times, mostly just because of burnout. I remember I went to the kern which was like the biggest pro Invitational meet in the world. And I had such a bad experience with it that I literally just said, like screw it. Like, I just want to just take like six months away from powerlifting. I want to like just not even think about competing because it was such a weird way in camaraderie, who was talking to other lifters, where we weren’t even talking about numbers or competition, we’re talking about like Instagram followers, and like following each other for clout that it just left a bad taste in my mouth, or I deleted it for quite a bit and needed to like turn my brain off from that part. So I’ve deleted it a couple times because of that, but the recent name change is literally because I’ve always wanted it to be that it just never had the chance to. And so.

Brett Scott 06:42
So that’s why I was wondering that a while ago, sometimes when I look and see your stuff pop up, I wonder. But anyways, let’s get into the nitty gritty here. So as I said, I think there’s, there’s a bunch of key elements we could take and look at and see what what it takes to be a successful powerlifter. But I want to talk about maybe five of them today. So one of the first things I’ve always seen is just, you know, there’s this drive that, that some people tend to have, that other people don’t. And you know, there’s a lot of things someone can do with their life. And powerlifting is one that is not always rewarding it, it doesn’t always have this great satisfaction to it. It’s not always fun to put yourself under heavy bar every day, especially when you know, some days aren’t good. And you still have to do it because it’s part of training. There’s plenty of pain that goes along with it. So there’s there’s some pain, there’s some some pleasure with it. And you know, there’s plenty of successful people in it. And I just I’ve seen three kind of main things with that. So I want to want to talk about that. So what is your drive to just like, what is it?

07:57
You know, I asked myself that a lot of quite recently, just because we have a juggernaut seminar at the end of the month at Cambridge strength. And that was one of the questions that even chat asked me was like, Why do you want to keep doing this, like in your 16 Year 70. And I think it has more to do with like, why not than why? I remember my first coach, his name was Steve DeLillo. It was at TPS. And he asked me what my ultimate goal was. And it was to be the best parent within the world, you know, and I had no idea that Cohen had no idea of any of the lifters prior to that I just thought that the sport was really cool, because I saw who it turns out to be Greg Norris squat 1000 pounds, like I think a year or two earlier. And I had no idea that powerlifting was sport, I was like, I want to do that at zero comprehension of what it took to squat. 1050, I believe was the actual weight. And I was just like, I just thought that that was super cool. And I wanted to say that I lifted 1000 pounds, because it was also really, and still to this day, like really into superheroes into the Marvel DC stuff. And I just thought it’d be cool to kind of be like a quasi superhero lifting like 1000 pounds. So 16 years later, I still have that passion to want to be the best because I figured, well, if someone else can do it, why not me? And that’s gonna be an always my, like, primal instinct to kind of keep going, because I don’t see why I can’t be anybody. I mean, people will talk about genetics, environment, training, all these other things, but I do think the number one thing that you have is to ask yourself, Well, why not me? And that’s kind of an always my thing.

Brett Scott 09:17
For sure. Yeah. Cuz regardless of how good your genetics are, that doesn’t matter if you’re not going to try hard with it.

09:25
Yeah, exactly. And I’ve, you know, I’ve actually won against people that definitely were genetically superior to me when it comes to powerlifting. Like, the former one at One World Record holder, who’s also a friend of mine, his name’s Ben Puccio. We’ve gone back and forth and it came down to like the last deadlift most of the time because I would get into his head mentally by just kind of like talking trash, and he would just crumble every single time and it was just really funny to see somebody that was like literally built pretty much like Ed Cohen play second to me not because of anything other than just like the mental game towards like the last athletes when he kind of was a back and forth because On paper, he should have told me about hundreds of pounds. But he didn’t just because it came down to the mental part of it when it comes to powerlifting. So there’s been times where like, I definitely should not have won meats. But because I was able to either mess with somebody or make it close enough or did come down to like the last poll, you know, you either get it or it’s gonna slip because the pressure gets to you. So I’ve been pretty proud of those types of moments to like my first World Championship was wrong unity, and I won against Joe Sullivan, who’s now like this awesome 222 42 guy, and it came down to the last deadlift, and we were close enough or like, if he missed it, on a second and third attempt, I would have had total them by like 50 pounds. So you had to do something uncomfortable in terms of like his out of his range a little bit for conventional and any missed a twice. And I basically went three for three, because there was no pressure on me to make those deadlifts, but it was up to him in order to, you know, win that weight loss. So there’s been times where like, someone like him has been a lot better on paper, but because it kind of came down to some pressure, either rice evocation or you don’t. And it’s been a lot of that too, as well. And that’s one of the things that I do like about powerlifting is that it’s not necessarily the strongest guy, but most of the time some of the most strategic or the most cerebral lifter.

Brett Scott 11:14
And so, would you so so you kind of said, it’s like, well, you know, someone’s gonna be the strongest guy in the world what, why not make? So would you say, so? So you truly believe in yourself that you can do this? And that, like you have a high sense of self and the fact that like, well, I have, I can do it, because I have the tools? I have the drive I have this correct?

11:40
Yeah, it’s a it’s a very, like specific, highly egotistical way of thinking, which if I let it out of that lake lane, it makes me become like the biggest, not fun person to be around. I’m gonna try not to swear, just because

Brett Scott 11:54
you can swear, that’s fine. There’s no, I just don’t want to be

11:57
a huge piece of shit. And I’ve definitely have let that type of thinking out of that lane. And if I let it into my personal life, it’s definitely very toxic. It’s a very toxic way of thinking. But I’ll put it to you like this. We have TPS, Titan barbell, we have your place up an architect, we have CSC, and we’ve had some, like people like Mick scallion people like Eric, people, like Nick can be Bernie diamond. At one point, when she looked around here, we have some of the best strength athletes in the whole world, just all within like 20 miles of each other. So I think excellence breeds excellence. And because I have had a lot of these people become training partners, or friends, or both, you get desensitized of what you think you’re capable of. Because if you see people lifting world records all the time, then you’re going to ask yourself, well, if they if these two or three people can do it, why not me? So like, I think a part of the reason why I do have that mentality is because I had been surrounded by so many great athletes. And they’ve all done well in their respective sports, like I saw CAMI for the first time, like in two, three years. And he’s one of the best 231 World strongest men and ever, and have them be like a former roommate, like drinking buddy back when we use live in Southie. To be in trading partners. It’s, it’d be weird to not think of myself being in the same room with some, even though we’re in different sports. So I say like, it came, we can do it. And we used to get like trashed, like on a Friday and it other than I don’t see why we I can’t do the same. So it’s kind of funny that like you see other successful lifters, and you see, those are not different than either their flesh and blood, they’re human, they all have their strengths or weaknesses, and you have to recognize your own as well, too. So I think being surrounded by a good training environment where you have that type of caliber lifter, you know, makes a difference as well to you.

Brett Scott 13:32
For sure. And so there’s actually, so it’s interesting. So I’ve been studying a lot about business now with the businesses I own. And something I came across is there’s three common traits. In the business world, at least this was considered in the business world of the three most common traits of successful people, and was high sense of self was one of them. And then paradoxically, the other one and I want to talk about this a little further is inferiority. So it’s like, we have this high sense, and I feel this way to about myself with business at least have like, yeah, I can do this, like, I want to be the best, I wanna have the best practice, I want to have the best gym on a coach, the best lifters I want to be the best coach, right? And, and I do believe that I can do that. However, at the same time. There’s this drive inside of me, whether it be fail of failure, and the sense of inferiority of like, nothing I do is good enough. Like, I never settle for what I do. Like, I could hit all my goals, and do exactly what I set up to do and do it. And I’ve done that in business too. And it’s like, it’s a blessing and a curse. And I see that with a lot of people in strength sports, too, right? It’s like, Yeah, I did that cool, but like, now I have this other goal. It’s like you did that. And then you know, it’s Bill Belichick would say we’re on Under buffalo?

15:00
Yeah. Yeah, no, I, it’s funny too, because I do have a build, or like a belly checking way of looking at things like don’t read the highs too high and read the lows too low, because I definitely was a lot more like I’m an emotional person in general. So I used to get very emotional with how well training one. So if it went really well, right at high as much as you can, then when you have a bad training session is the end of the world. And one of the things that I’ve been better at in terms of practicing, not just in training, but also in like, my personal life is I’ve been reading a lot of like, psychology stuff in regards to attachment theory where like, having an anxious attachment is very much who I am as a person. So like that whole not being good enough is also another like you’re saying, paradoxically a huge primal drive for me where like, even if it was to be the best powerlifter ever, I would also still feel like, well, that’s still not good enough, because I need to make now the space between first and second even bigger, because then I can truly say that I’m good enough. And but you can’t quantify that. So it’s always gonna be like this huge thing of like, just always trying to be good enough, whether in your eyes or in the eyes of your peers. So with that being said, I do think that it’s really funny that you bring that up, because that is like, like you said, the second thing that I think of after thinking, why not me, it’s like, then also like, I hope I’m good enough to be able to accomplish it. Because I do think it also comes down to environment as well too. Because not to like, talk about drama, or, or, or anything along those lines. But I also was like in a very toxic training environment I first started, where you kind of had this hierarchical, you need to prove yourself to be good enough to even train with the training group. And then because of that, I’ve always kind of had that mentality of like, I need to be sure that I’m good enough to even train with the people that I train with on a daily basis, let alone my own personal goal. So it’s always been this weird feedback loop of like, I hit a PR, and then I’m like, I hope this is still good enough that my peers want me to still be their trading partner, at the same time, so it’s kind of weird how that kind of works does like, I know that I’m good enough. But at the same time, I still want to have that external validation on my peers to make sure that I can still be part of the group or the or the trading group. I think you’ve seen that it’s been done when we used to train together, you know, and I’ve, you know, done that at CFC. And you know, now at Titan, you know, it’s very much like a push and pull of like, wanting to do well, but also at the same time wanting to also be good enough to be, you know, a good training partner, a good mentor, things of that nature.

Brett Scott 17:16
So, as we’re saying, you know, there, there’s a lot that there is positive to this drive, and would you say, there’s aspects of that, too, that’s has a negative impact on your life at all?

17:31
Oh, for sure. It’s something that I’ve been constantly working on, especially within like the last six months, I want to say, like, I’ve actually gone to see a therapist for like, my personal life. And then I want to go see, like peer counseling, with my relationship. And not that there’s anything necessarily wrong, but it just kind of stay on top of things. Because I think when you do have that mindset of like wanting to be the best, and if you let it out of that athletic endeavor, and you put it into your personal life, it is very toxic. And I’ve definitely seen how it could ruin interpersonal relationships and just trying to stay on top of, or being ahead of that as well to you. And being very mindful of like, there’s a reason why you’re doing this in terms of being an athlete, but also at the same time, it shouldn’t be the only thing that defines you as a person. And for a very long time separating Carlos the powerlifter versus Carlos ran the men was very much one to one. And now having some sort of, I don’t want to say separate identity, because powerlifting is a huge part of my life. But it’s not the only thing. And that I have a lot more to offer to not only myself, but to the people around me, other than just being powerlifter. Because for a very long time, I’ve definitely was not the best, you know, son, brother, friend, boyfriend, things of that nature to everybody around me, because I kind of let the whole persona of a powerlifter kind of get the best of me. So learning how to separate that. And literally just having a very single minded focus when I’m in the gym, versus when I’m not interesting. So it’s almost like flipping a switch now, as opposed to like, letting it affect the rest of my life. Because I think it’s a very good thing. But at the same time, too much of a good thing is also a bad thing as well, too.

Brett Scott 19:01
Yeah. And yeah, there’s this fact of like, being successful makes you happy. But it’s like, Well, how long does that make you happy for? It’s like, you train for this meet? Great. And you do it, even if you kill it, it’s like, okay, like, that’s over. Like, that makes you happy for a little bit of time. But it’s like, I still just, I don’t feel good enough, I want to do more. And that’s like this, this never ending cycle. And so that kind of brings us into the last part of your setup, like yes, this this is a good trait in some ways, but there’s also been a downside to it. So the last key that they’ve shown for all people, all successful people. The third and most common trait was a high sense of impulse control. And so I think that’s kind of that piece there that puts the glue together between having a high sense of self being, you know, having the thoughts of being able to do this, and then having this If not, it’s not good enough. And I think having that mental switch back and forth of this, like push pull between the two, and then the sense of impulse control to be like, okay, am I overstepping here? Am I taking this too far? And am I making brash decisions? Just because of the way I feel right now in the moment, which could be very high, it could be very low, we don’t know. I think that’s the part there. That really ties it all together. So could you touch on that within the realm of powerlifting, and success there of? What do we need to know about impulse control?

20:36
It’s probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to learn to be perfectly frank like that piece. And like, you know, personally, that I’m very impulsive. When it comes to training where I’m like, fuck it, let’s do it live in terms of like, going for a PR, or doing a meet or things of that nature. So this is still something that I’m still wrapping my head around. So I can’t say that I’ve really mastered but I do think what’s different this time around versus like, the last few years has been as long as it been the hamstring, because when I, you know, I blow my hamstring squatting, trying to attempt to squat Ito five. And for up until very recently, like the hamstring has been giving me issues, it could be very hard to squat sometimes. And sometimes it’s completely pain free. And it’s been very back and forth. But just realizing that like and having a self awareness that this can all be taken away in an instant, although it’s very terrifying to think of it that way. But it’s also very refreshing to realize that like, you have to have some self awareness of like, how much are you willing to give up in order to keep going? And are you okay with that decision. So drawing that line in the sand of like, All right, I’ve literally have given up my life to powerlifting, quite literally, because I’ve not to be overdramatic, but I could have died in under five pounds is enough to kill a person or two. And just realizing that you can walk away from it and all those crutches in a wheelchair for a month afterwards, realizing that if I was going to keep doing it, that I really, really, really want this and not just because I only kind of want it. So having that switch of like, if I’m going to do this, I have to make sure that it’s very precise, very direct in terms of myopic focus. But realizing that myopic focus has to be just me in the gym, because if I let it consume me like I have in the past, then I’m going to be overthinking the hamstring every single time. So not saying that everybody should get injured necessarily, but having that self awareness that this can all be taken away. And you have to realize that like if it does, what are you going to do when it’s over, as well. So having that switch back and forth, and having other things that enrich your life as well to outside of powerlifting is also not only just very healthy, but it’s a lot easier to flip that switch on? Because I think it’s a very, like you said very careful balance between pushing and pulling in that regard.

Brett Scott 22:35
Yeah. And so looking back at your powerlifting career thus far, would you say that impulse control? Or maybe you haven’t thought about it? But would you say because you’ve said that’s like the hardest thing you’ve had to learn? Would you say that’s been maybe the denominator that’s given you? Maybe not the success you’ve wanted for yourself in the sport?

23:01
No, I think I just have too much of a high sense of self. My ego is a lot bigger than I think I even let it show. And even when I do, let it out. You know, I’ve wanted a 2000 pounds total for like the last five years. And I think I’ve been capable that for the last five years, I just haven’t put it together because I don’t. I wasn’t as attentive to detail until the last couple of years. So I think trying to put a meet all together. And then just trusting the coaching that I have, because I’m very skeptical of everybody that has coached me and to a degree, I’m still skeptical, Chad, I feel like having a healthy sense of skepticism in terms of your training is still a good thing. But I do feel like the difference now between five years ago and today is that I try to let people do their jobs better. So if I have a coach, let the coach do their job. If I have a PT, let the PT do his job, you know, and just kind of stay in your lane and realize that like as an athlete, if you question too much, instead of just like general questions like should I do skull crushers that are push downs? Or should I do, you know, extended pause bench versus like incline like self like that’s okay. But I think it’d be questioned the overall periodization plan of your coach or the overall pyramid or rehab plan of your PT or so on and so forth, then you’re not going to be able to put everything together. And I think the number one thing is to just trust the people that you surround yourself with. Because if you can’t trust the people that are supposed to be in your side, then how are you going to do well, and I feel like one of the biggest hurdles that I had to overcome was just to let people in and be vulnerable as an athlete, and just let the coach do his thing. Like, you know, you do your thing. And then the people that are there to handle me or to support me and just let them do that instead of just like overthinking everything. So I think that that was my biggest enemy or my worst enemy was myself in that regard. Because I had some minor success, but I never was truly happy because I think I overcompensated these lofty goals that I had that were probably 5% more than what I was capable of. And also at the same time thinking that I had to do everything myself because I couldn’t even trust my own coaches.

Brett Scott 24:59
You He. And so practical skepticism is a nother trait I see in a lot of people. And it’s, it’s a balance, like you said, like, I was thinking the other day, like, we just have this kid in the gym that just, he’s an awesome client. And he’s had so much success, like, he’s not the most skilled or talented person in the world. But he’s just, he’s made an incredible amount of progress. And one of the things is, I was just like, you know, he just comes in every day, and does exactly what what he’s told to do. Like, he doesn’t question the coaches, like, if something’s bugging him, or something hurts whenever he lets us know, is like, what, but it’s like, what should I do? And so it’s like, go to the steel guy, and just goes and does it. And when he sticks to the plan, and he just communicates with us about how he’s feeling, how things are going, what’s working well, what’s working, not like, it suck and go and great. And it’s just like, in the past eight months, I think he’s put like, you know, he’s kind of doing super total training, and he’s put like, probably 200 pounds on his total in like eight months. And it’s yeah, it’s like, he just keeps getting better. And it’s like, he just shows up every day. He’s consistent. He does what he’s told, and he sticks to the plan. And he doesn’t have the highest sense of self, which I think he could be even stronger if he did. But when I tell him, he can do something, he’s like, Oh, I can do this. Okay, I trust him. And then it’s like, he does it. Like if I had skeptical, a sense of Skeptic feelings in my voice of like, yeah, I don’t know if you can do this, like, he probably wouldn’t hit it. But when I’m like, Yeah, you can do this. He does it. So it’s, it’s having a belief in someone but also like, believing in the coaches around you that that they know what they’re doing in that trust. But also like, you know, there is a side to have like, and I see this a lot in powerlifting of like, the grass is always greener, there’s, you know, social media, there’s so much and I talk about this a lot, too, is like, the grass isn’t always greener, like when it comes down to it. powerlifting is is fairly simple. And if you do the work, you’ll typically see some results to a certain degree, right? But everyone always thinks there’s something better. It’s like, we need to make sure what we’re doing is right and makes sense. But other than that, like, yeah, let let the people around you that are there to support you to do their jobs, and just trust the process. Yeah, I think that’s one of the biggest things that a lot of people that that aren’t successful in the sport are the ones that, that they don’t want to put that on on themselves. They, you know, they have a bad meeting. And that’s like, two weeks later, you see they have a new coach, and then you know, and then they do another mate, and then it’s another coach, or back to the old coach, or, like, sometimes you need that. Sometimes it’s like, yeah, this just isn’t working for me. But I’ve seen it a lot with some athletes were just like, bounce, bounce, bounce, try this, try that, try this and never stick to anything long enough to actually see it through to make it work. And so you’ve bounced around from coach to coach to but you’ve also like, I know, you worked with Mike for years. Yeah. And then like we did some work together to kind of rehab you from some injuries and get you better. And then you went back to Mike, you knew you knew how he worked. You knew that process was like, that’s, that’s cool, that’s fine. But it’s like people never want to take, take it to themselves of like, okay, this is what I need to do better next time, instead of blaming the program or the coach. It’s like, there’s so many factors to it that we need to look at.

28:38
Yeah, and I think you’re having like a very, you have to have that sense of skepticism on yourself as well too, as I will, because it’s an individual sport. So as much as you know, there’s a lot of people that are there to support you, you still have to do it. And I think the biggest thing that I’ve seen at least with and not to make this like making fun of Zoomers, and because, you know, as millennials, we’re just gonna be like all these kids these days, you know, they don’t know how good they have it. I do think, generally speaking from what I’ve seen at Cambridge, and then I tighten and just from all the gyms because I like to change the scenery as well to like, I don’t like sticking to one place for years on end, because I do like seeing other people and I’ve had made a lot of friends through the sport. But generally speaking, the younger crowd that I’ve seen do not they don’t take as much ownership on themselves for putting in the work. And I’m General I’m over generalizing it. Because I think when they see influencer coaches, not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, but like taking the example like say Shawn Noriega, he coaches, hundreds and hundreds of hundreds of different athletes, a lot of them are gonna have a lot of similar programming, if not almost the same exact programs. There’s only so many SPD days that a powerlifter can do, right. And I think when you have lifters that live and die by those SBD training days, and then they expect that they expect that just because they can do that in the gym that they can just kind of replicate that type of day. Add a meat not realizing that meats have their own thing, they’re their own different animal that’s gonna be a lot different from like a regular gym day. And not realizing that like, just because it was perfect in the gym was in the sermon, you’re gonna exactly replicate it, it’s hard to, I think you have to look inwards with your that type of lifter to realize that like, not everything is gonna be perfect, you have to realize the attention to detail on a meal, it’s gonna be a lot different than, say, at the gym. Whereas like somebody like myself, who’s been doing this for a really long time, I was anticipate things to go wrong, because meats never tend to go right, you know, or perfect. And I think having that experience of realizing you can best prepare for yourself. But things do happen you need, you have to recognize that like one, you still have to take responsibility, even if things are out of your control, and then to recognize that it’s never going to be perfect. And I think a lot of younger lifters that are similar to baseball players in terms of like if they don’t have like the right gloves, the right backstroke, the right stance, and in this case, you know, a bar, you know, combo rack, if they don’t have the fat pad or select the small pad, or whatever, you know, whatever it may be, then they’re not going to have their best day ever, because they’re so acclimated to having it exactly the way that it wants you that realizing that there’s always going to be some sort of miss out on me. And I think I think I think younger lifters have to recognize that like, things are never going to go perfect. So don’t anticipate perfect just anticipate being really good. Because I think Perfection is the enemy of good as the cliche goes, because, you know, almost almost never happens to have a perfect day, I’ve only had one nine for nine day back in 2018. And even then, that wasn’t a perfect day. Like I did things to make sure that I had a nine for nine day, but it wasn’t exactly hitting perfect goals either. So, you know, I do think that, you know, realizing that you have to take some personal responsibility and recognizing like things are probably going to go wrong even when things do go right.

Brett Scott 31:45
Yeah, for sure. And, yeah, meats are totally for Monster and you know, between the adrenaline of being on a stage in front of people. It’s the, the depending on which sport, weightlifting, powerlifting, six or nine lifts that really matter. Like you’ve been training for six months to a year for this, it’s like it comes down to, you know, two to three minutes of actual doing something total. That makes a big difference. And then like, you know, you’re dieting, you’re cutting weight, you’re doing a water cut. So Yeah, no shit you didn’t like, hit 100% of your max. And this meat is, you know, it takes three or four hours when like, how often do we train for four hours in the gym, we don’t, with an hour break in between, it’s a very different atmosphere. But you brought up another good point there of training environment. So as you said, and and what I’ve learned to whether it be my own training business, the way I work, like being in an environment that stimulates you, right, so for me, I love my gym. I, I work out there four days a week, but there are days where I’ve been there since seven o’clock. And when I get on the Florida train at 530 at night, that environment to me isn’t always stimulating. I don’t always have the best workouts because it’s just like, Okay, I’ve been here like, the excitement is dampens. Like I get jealous. When my people that work nine to five at a desk come into the gym, because it’s like bright eyed and bushy tailed, like a bright lights around, there’s all these shiny toys, I got to move instead of sitting at a desk all day. And I think for a lot of people that’s very stimulating, and that’s what stimulates me to do better, and be a better athlete myself. So I, I wanted to talk about that a little more. Because watching your training is very interesting. Like it always seems like the environment you have behind you is very motivating and stimuli oh my god, like I wish I like. And sometimes you train super late at night, which like I would never want to do. But it’s almost like I get FOMO sometimes watching your videos because it’s like, there’s just there’s such like a high energy behind you as like a driving force. Well, I

34:00
appreciate that. I missed you too, Brad, I can’t wait to train together at some point. But in all seriousness, it’s funny that you mentioned because I’ve actually been going the other way lately, I’ve actually liked being more of an introvert and actually training alone in my condo, because I have like an office space that I converted into a personal gym, where I have my alone time because I feel like I’ve had too much time trying to be with other people and trying to push them to be the best versions of themselves in the gym where sometimes I need to take a step back and be like, Hey, listen, I need to have some focus on myself. And then so when you see those videos of you know, the same five to 10 people that have been spotting me on my heavy squats or you know, on my deadlifts, you know, so on and so forth. It’s almost like it’s too much for me where it’s like I prefer like the weightlifter mentality of like everything being just really quiet so I can just kind of get to work and just kind of not treat the weight so seriously sometimes, because I do think there is an overstimulation factor especially when it comes to deadlifts because I’m not the best deadlift in the world where I’ve had too many people watch me, deadlift you Heavy I, I’ve mentally broke down because I’m just like, why are you guys watching, like, get like, Stop looking at me, that whole type of mentality. So I kind of like doing the whole home gym stuff. But when it comes to the group training environments and the you know, the yelling and the screaming and the all the hype and stuff like that, I think one of the good things that I can say, as a lifter, and as a mentor as well, is to cultivate that environment where like, regardless of it’s somebody that’s 2135, or 770 pounds, we all treat that lifter with that same decent amount of respect and positive reinforcement. Because coming from a gym prior to that, where it was very different and very hierarchical, you know, everybody should have like their, you know, two seconds on the sun to really kind of like, take it all in and enjoy that PR go for that time, because you worked really hard for it. So as much as people are like, you know, screaming and trying to hype me up to make sure that I don’t die squatting. That’s kind of in the mentality for every lifter there. And that’s just something that I like to cultivate, because I do think that when we push other people up, you push yourself up as well, too. And I do think finding service and helping others is also where I get some satisfaction to get myself stronger. Because if I can make the people that are more of a beginner, intermediate stronger than the gap between those people, and myself, even if they’re slightly smaller, makes me want to kind of go this way and push the window towards eyewear where I want to kind of keep getting myself stronger, because I don’t want those kids to catch up to me either. So it’s kind of like this cool feedback loop of like, they’re pushing me because even if they’re squatting 500 pounds, and like, well, that’s 250 pounds closer to my squat, I gotta make sure that the distance is 300 pounds now, so they hype me up. And I do the same for them. Because we’re trying to progressively overload both, you know, both parties here. And that’s kind of been kind of the mentality at CSC especially is like, you know, I can’t let the kids get stronger than me or get close to getting stronger than me because that means that I’m taking a backseat to my training when I don’t want that. So that’s kind of how it works.

Brett Scott 36:52
Interesting. Yeah, there’s definitely times to like, I, I’m gonna, I’m working with people all day and everything. So it’s like, there are times I do like that, like, you know, chill, no one in the gym, or me and my headphones on kind of keeping to myself. But then there are days to like, I go back and forth with the both but it depends what I’m doing. It depends on the intent of the day and everything to like, I don’t know about you, but like, I never want to max out with, you know, with like you would with like 750 on your back in my garage gym by myself. Like, that doesn’t seem fun to me. That’s not the environment I would want for that. But if I’m doing like accessory work, and just some simple movement, mobility stuff, like Yeah, I want a quiet environment like the lights down, though almost, to just kind of relax a little bit more and tone down the sympathetic nervous system.

37:47
Oh, for sure. Yeah, one of the good things that I’ve recently really enjoyed with, with Laura, my girlfriend is that we, when we train together because she was a personal trainer for 10 years before she left the industry is that we both are very serious when it comes to training. But at the same time, we don’t really talk a lot to each other. If anything, I probably annoy her more often than not, because I’m more of the talker in between sets. So even though we might have different days, one of the fun training centers I have is like I have like for this one accessory punch Day, which takes about 45 minutes that if I was at CSC would take two hours, just because of the music, the simulation, everything like that. But we’ll go to a Lifetime Fitness together that’s, you know, five minutes away from where she lives. And we just get to work 45 minutes. And if I need a hand off, she’s more than happy to spot me and things of that nature. But we’re in we’re in and it’s super hyperfocus we both have our headphones. And there’s not a lot of verbal communication, but our nonverbal communications to the point where like, we kind of can feed off each other’s you know, serious tone. So even though she’s not competing, or, or I don’t wanna say not taking training seriously anymore, she’s just not not competing in anything. It’s still nice to have that like back and forth where like, you go, I go, you go, I go. And even we’re doing different moments. You know, I know that she keeps an eye on me and I keep an eye on her to make sure that you know, either us in a position to get hurt. But at the same time, it’s kind of nice to kind of turn your brain off, have some, you know, meantime, but at the same time, if you need that support, that person is right there for you, too. So that’s been something I rather enjoyed as well too. Because if you try to get hyped up for every single session, and I trained five days a week, and I have like another seven weeks of training to go before my next meet, I’m gonna get myself exhausted just burnt out even before I get to the platform.

Brett Scott 39:23
Yeah, like you mentally can only put so much energy into it. And there is that stage of mental burnout with training and I we just did a I did a meet down in Rhode Island. And there was it was like a memorial for a football coach. And so this whole football team that this powerlifting powerlifting meet, and there’s a bunch of high school kids and these kids were like, there was one kid that was so amped up for every lift. And it was like part of me wishes I had them like Dude, you’re if you do this every day like you’re gonna, you’re gonna be Bad plays pretty soon. And I don’t know where that’s gonna be. But it’s, it’s interesting to see like, how hype some of these kids get like the more and more high level people get, the more kind of even keeled. I’ve noticed these people get like, it’s like nothing throws them for a loop, like you said, kind of cerebral. And just say, Yep, this is it. This is what I’m doing today. And you know, I don’t need to scream, I don’t need to stop and do this and that like once in a while when you need it to like redline the engine. But other than that, it doesn’t need to be that way. Absolutely. And so, so that kind of actually, this is a very well flowing conversation here. So so my next point that I’ve always noticed, and I forget which coach said it, but I listened to a podcast not too long ago, is about weightlifting. But he said he was asked, you know, what is? What is the number one thing that all your successful people do, and it was, and he’s coached a couple people that have made it to the Olympics. And His thing was thrive on the mundane. Right? So it’s like, these sports are boring. There’s, you know, for us, there’s three movements, you know, clean jerk, and then snatch. And then for powerlifting, it’s squat bench deadlift. So for a lot of people, these things can get very boring. For me, they don’t I am obsessed with, with the weightlifting movements, like, it’s always that, like, I like I said, like this inferiority of, there’s always something I could do better, I’m never happy with the progress I had, like, Yes, I’ll have good days, and I’ll be satisfied with that. But there’s still I still want a higher total, I still want to place higher and meets, I still want to go farther with my career. So it’s just really seeing like simple works, we need to master the fundamentals. And I think a lot of people don’t want to work on those basic prerequisites, you know, a lot of people just want to put heavy weight on the bar and squat as much as they can. And, and like, you know, we see this with these high school kids and kids want to impress people and, and do this a nap. Like, if you want to really be true to the sport, like, the higher higher level you get, it’s like the more and more non impressive most of your training gets, would you agree?

42:17
Oh, 100%. This is really funny, because you remind me of a quote that I’ve either stole or changed slightly to make it my own. I always tell people just take what the barbell gives you that day, like whether it’s like an RPE, seven day, you know, you’re going for like a 90%, double whatever the training requires of you to do just take what the barbell gives you, especially when things are not optimal. Like say you didn’t sleep well, you didn’t eat or you didn’t hydrate, whatever it may be, you know, if you have to go for a PRD, or some sort of number, just do it the best you can for that certain day. And just realize that like that’s what you’re capable of, for that particular training session, and that you don’t live and die by it. So it’s very interesting that that weightlifter from that podcast said something kind of similar to like kind of live in the mundane. But I think you also have to realize that, you know, at least from a pilot’s perspective, like, you just have to do what you’re capable of that day as well too. And don’t over stress or over, extend yourself to do something there you may be capable of on paper, but in the intermediate long term, it might actually ruin your whole block of training. And I do think, you know, it’s really funny to bring up the eurosense. For those members, I am obsessed with all three women. So to say like, I don’t normally talk about how much I love to see people squat bench and deadlift, or to make pick or pick apart every single thing. And, you know, as much as I enjoy the company, my girlfriend, you know, there’s definitely some times where I’ve seen her at the gym where there’s like, three or four things that I just want to like just kind of fix. And that’s because that’s kind of where my brain goes. Or like any of my training partners were like, there’s one thing with like their either their ankle, their foot position, their foot pressure, the way that they’re holding the bar, the way they even approach the bar, where it’s like it’s always comes down to technical, muscular, or what are the technical, muscular or mental. And there’s always these three different pillars of approaches that I noticed whenever somebody approaches the bar that like there could always be something better. And I still look at my own technique as mediocre at best because I don’t think I’m the most technically savvy squat or bench or deadlift or I do muscle things up a lot. And a lot of the things that I wish I could do better is to be more of a much of a technician especially when it comes to like the deadlift and bench because although I’m a decent squatter, I think that has more to do with more proportions and with anything with my technique. And I feel like I can add like another 20 or 30 pounds on both my bench and deadlift if I was just a little bit more technically savvy and that’s like the first thing I see whenever I see my lifts was like that could have been so much prettier. Like I try and teach an ugly lifter when it comes to those two movements especially.

Brett Scott 44:43
I tried to lead the horse to water but I couldn’t make them drink it. Yeah,

44:47
exactly. And it’s just so annoying to like see like ah, like I looked at my bench video from like this morning. I’m like dude, like why are your feet on even like they could be they could if they’re even you could have made that lift a whole lot easier than it needed to you know that That should have been, you know, I worked up to like 434 40 for a triple today. And it was an RPE nine when it should have been a seven just because I could tell them my foot position was off. But you can’t do that in the moment. But afterwards, you’re like, Dude, I need to be better eventually, like, I just have to kind of not reinvent the wheel, but there’s always something that you can clean up. And that’s also something that drives me to be a better lifters. Like, if I want to bench 601 day, it’s got to be like the most perfect bench because there’s no way in hell I have any business touching that weight. Unless my technique is 50% better than what it currently is.

Brett Scott 45:30
Yeah, and that, you know, This all brings up a lot of like, you know, there is an art to coaching in the longer I coach, I think through reflection and trial and error things like I get better as a coach, and there’s so many different pieces to it. And I think that’s what separates the best from the good or the great is being able to take it and see it for what it is and being attentive to it, but maybe not like going overzealous with it. Right? Like you as a lifter, for example, as we said, like, are you self admitted? Right? Like, maybe you’re not the most technical lifter? Are there things I would still like to see better with your technique? Yeah. But you also like, there’s a certain aspect of movement quality that’s like just isn’t always there, like, your hips are really stiff. Your T spine doesn’t rotate, right? Your pecs are really tight. And some of that is just adaptation of sport to. So it’s like there’s this positive trait. Maybe we have some upside to it and some downside. But we want to get all these things better. But at the same time, like if we just focus on what we can do with it, and what we have, like, we’ll be okay. And we can still still make progress yet. Having the having the mindfulness to be like, Yeah, I need to focus on this a little bit more. Because some people just look at the squat like, yeah, that’s simple, like, you know, bodybuilder browser, I was like, Yeah, I’ll just, you know, squat, it’s up and down, bend the knees, like, no, now there’s a whole lot that goes into this right? Of, yeah, foot pressure, hip position, intention with the hip intention with the ankle intention with the foot and tension with the upper back versus the core. That’s all. There’s all so many little pieces that like look so simple. Yet, as a lifter. Throughout training, we’re always trying to do something with it. And it’s being attentive to those details where I think a lot of people like, yeah, I got it, like, I’m good. He’s like, Okay, but what if you focused on this piece a little more. And that’s like a lot of what we did together to have, like, we worked on your deadlift, like your left foot, like, you didn’t have an arch to your foot that you knew how to use and like rooted. Something that like, small little details that can like make a big difference in someone at your level that I think separates a lot of people from you is those little things of like you’re mindful of like, yes, do we get the optimal outcome all the time? No, but we’re attentive to it. And we make progress on it through and through, which is the cool part of that.

48:11
Oh, no, for sure. And they give you some props as well to like the way that you look at things in a non binary fashion, I look at it more as a spectrum between stability and mobility and trying to find what’s optimal, maybe not necessarily in terms of the long term, but at least optimal for that day. You know, when I do any sort of, I’m gonna say mobility work and heavy quotes here, because I know that that could be a YouTube rabbit hole and a half and another podcast episode in its entirety. The things that we have worked on the past are things that like, I mean, I put on my social media unnecessarily, but they’re the things I still do, whether it is a lot of the foot stuff, or a lot of the calf or ankle mobility stuff that you had me do, or even the T spine stuff, some of that because that’s what’s made me better in terms of making any progress on top of the program than I do. And then realizing that like, you know, sleep quality, nutrition, quality, hydration quality, they play a huge factor in terms of like, my T spine, like, If I don’t drink enough water, I can tell that I’m going to be really stiff, you know, it’s a conventional poll, and then, you know, my upper back is not in the best position ever. And then I’m more of an affliction as opposed to being a little bit more extension, and just working on things to kind of whether or not it’s like a toothbrush or a little pickaxe, where you kind of like brush it a little bit to make sure that you kind of open up certain positions or move in quality or even tissues for that day, makes a huge difference. Just not in terms of like just lifting miniatures feeling good. Like I had a crappy deadlift day, on Wednesday, because I was forcing myself to pull sumo when my left abductor was just really annoying. And it probably comes down from the foot just because that’s always been the case whenever the my left foot as you know, tends to go to shit, so does the rest of my leg. I did a couple of different drills that we worked on and then switch back to conventional and I had one of the best conventional days in a while, right, you know, pause deadlifted like 620 for doubles, and then ended up doing 660 for double at the end. And one of my best days because I was just not in pain. And one of the things that I did learn from it was like, do the things that don’t hurt me Don’t try to force things that may be good on paper. But if you’re in pain all the time, though the Why are you doing it? You know, there’s the difference between torture and training. And I think a lot of people forget that, like, it’s supposed to be uncomfortable, but you should never be like bracing yourself to be like, this is really going to hurt, I really hope something’s on the tear. And even at this day and age, like, I still worry about that stuff. And then that should be sending red flags to me and be like, Brett would tell you stop, do something different and be in a position where you’re not in pain, because that should be the feedback of telling you to stop to begin with. And that is something that I did learn from him that I still, you know, stick to to this

Brett Scott 50:36
day. Yeah. And sometimes that just comes down to mastering the fundamentals of like, and this is where people don’t want to look and go to it’s like, well, you know, can we just shift your weight a little bit? Like, if it’s a demo? Can you feel your hamstring? Like, can we sit back and mourn your heels? Are we too far in your heels? Do we need to shift forward? Like, do we have the the sensory integration there to feel what that difference could be that like, one might not be better than the other per se? They might be the same, it’s just different. But do we know what different is and how to change it and manipulate it? And that’s comes down to like, have we done enough work with the basic prerequisites of, of joint control to do that? So it’s just one one big thing of like, it’s simple, but there’s so much to the simple, that it can become very complex. And I think too many people just overlook it. Oh, absolutely.

51:33
I think most people don’t even think about it at all. I think that’s like, the number one thing that makes the difference between a beginner and intermediate advanced lifter, is having even those thoughts to begin with, because I didn’t have those thoughts until I was, you know, maybe, like I said, like, like a, an elite lifter, because like, well, if I can’t put on like another 50 pounds of body weight, or muscle or whatever, because I’m gonna stay in this weight class, how am I gonna get stronger, and that’s going to be more, you know, neuro muscular, as opposed to just putting size on, and things of that nature as well, too. And same old technique. So like, you have to maximize what you have as well, too. And I do think technique, or proper technique for what works at a time is going to come down to, like you said, like joint control, you know, body awareness, and just realizing what’s optimal in terms of foot pressure, or foot placement, hand placement, etc, etc. because I’m only weighing 205 to 210 Nowadays, and I’m lifting just as much weight if not more than I was 15 to 20 pounds heavier. And I think a lot of that has to do with just having really good body awareness and knowing when to activate or use certain parts of my body versus not from before. And I do think that does come down to like a very high level sense of body awareness.

Brett Scott 52:41
Yeah. And just the approach, the high level lifter has to the bar, right? It’s like, you guys know your stuff. So like, if I’m working with someone that’s newer, and, you know, a lot of times nowadays, I’m working on injury rehab, or prevention or whatever, it’s like, you know, we’ll get someone back to getting on the barn like, okay, when you squat, what do you think about? And someone on the newer novice side would be like, I just, I don’t know, I just squat. It’s like, well, what are your steps? You know, what steps like, the steps you take to get under the bar? How do you set yourself up? So I don’t know, I just do it. Where, when I work with someone more high level like you, it’s like, okay, yeah, I take three steps into the bar, I get myself under it, I put my hands here, I wiggle my back into it. And then I walk out and then I think x, y, z, z, the other? And then my descent, I start with thinking about this, that the other, right, right? A lot of it comes down to that setup, but there’s so many details in that setup, which like someone looks at, it’s like, oh, that looks really simple. He’s just getting under the bar walk. No, it’s like, there are so many thought processes in this. But then like, you know, and then the detail of knowing, you know, 60 to 70%. For you and training, you might have three or four keys, you’re thinking about when over 90%, like you have one thing you you get to think about really, and it’s knowing that detail of that if I think about two things, this might not go as well as if I only think about one thing. So it’s just really interesting to see how much detail goes into these things. And

54:15
I recently did a video for juggernaut about just a walkout for the squat, even the spa part but like literally just focusing on just a one step or three step walkout. And it was like a 15 minute video where I basically nerd it out about my approach and how I set up everything to make sure that regardless of the proposition, whether it’s high bar, medium or low bar that this is should be approached when you walk away out because it’s going to make or break a max attempt. And I think you would enjoy that video because that’s stuff that you’re really into, but most lifters overlook that part. And you see it at meets to where everybody overlooks or walkouts where it I think that that’s literally how you can tell if a lifter is going to make or not make their attempt at all is the way that they even approach it.

Brett Scott 54:55
Yeah, it’s funny and it’s it’s that and then When someone high level changes something, it’s like the little most finite detail. And it’s like, well, I’ve been working at this for three months, it’s like working out what it’s like, I turned my toes up to more degrees. It’s like, okay, cool. But like, those are the details that sometimes do matter. If you’ve been having hip pain and hip impingement and your hip doesn’t move, well, sometimes that little detail and attention to it will be like, Oh, maybe that’s what this making this happen, and, versus moving him out makes it not happen. So let’s keep doing that. And be cognizant of it. You know,

55:33
for me, it’s like just externally rotating a little bit more like maybe two degrees more than I normally have more of a straight knee to have a squat, or I don’t really push my knees out. And now that I have a little bit more space in the head, where I don’t feel pain as I, you know, externally rotate my hips a little bit. Now I’m like, Oh, that was a lot easier. Whereas like, before, I think used to make fun of me, it’s like, you know, it takes like three or 400 pounds for me to even hit up just because I let my hip flexor be so jacked up that I need that type of weight in order to hit that which is just like a walk injury waiting to happen. And just having that like little bit of awareness of like, okay, maybe I don’t necessarily hit that, but just the bar for like, if we can get like, you know, 135 to depth, I think we’re going to be okay, as opposed to three or four dropouts, because that’s those are also warning signs of like, maybe you should probably rethink your approach a little bit,

Brett Scott 56:19
too. Yeah, exactly. So those are five, the last one I had on here, because we kind of added one in the middle of our conversation here was, and I think we’ve kind of touched on this a little bit was just being humbled. Knowing there are always people that are out there that are better than you and know more than you. And not only that, but it’s the saying, Yeah, screw that guy hate that guy. Like, because he’s more successful than you ever gonna be having the ability to walk up and ask that person questions about how they got to where they are.

56:54
Yeah, I mean, I was the annoying kid. And I’d probably still me like it in some respects. When I first walked into TPS, I literally walked up to the strongest biggest dude at the gym, which was a bad idea in hindsight, and asked him like, how do I how do I become like you? And from the get go, I’ve always just been always asking somebody stronger than me. Or when I had training partners that were stronger than me, like, I took notes, I wrote down on my training journals back when we had pen and paper to write everything I thought on apps necessarily, and just wrote what they said, or anything passed by, or I saw somebody that was really strong in a particular lift, like even it was like the overhead press. I just wanted to ask them, like, how do you do it? Or like, how do you approach it? And nowadays, um, you know, when it comes to like, my personal relationship, like, you know, whenever I talk to a lawyer about something like I asked her, like, does this look right to you, because when she has a couple of minutes of free time at the gym, and stuff like that, like I asked her, like, how does my upper back look? Because, you know, I’m feeling this and this and this, do you see that? And even if it’s not somebody that’s stronger than me, necessarily, they have expert eyes. You know, the same thing with you, if I ever asked you to look at something, you know, I want your expert opinion on it, because you not only can see movement better than I can, but also, you’re going to give me something as unbiased as possible as well, too. And I think when you rely on other people in that regard for support, you know, you’re asking them, not only Hey, where do I suck, but also what can we do to make it better? And I think a lot of lifters make the mistake of finding coaches that are just stronger than them, because they’re like, Well, if he’s stronger than me, so he definitely knows how to get me to where I want to be. Or they look at people like

Brett Scott 58:24
some people, some people are just strong. Yeah,

58:28
exactly. And you have to separate and have that awareness of like, is this person strong? Because they they’re technically savvy, they’ve done all I don’t wanna say the right way of going about it. But did they do every single thing and left no stone unturned to get stronger? Are they just like bull strong, and they’re just gonna be squatting 500 pounds the first time they ever squatted? You know, and recognizing those differences, like, who got here because of technique and nutrition and training versus somebody that’s just, you know, hold strong. And I think a lot of people make those mistakes in terms of find other coaches. And the same thing in terms of finding the the lifting partners, because I’ve definitely tried with some people that are just naturally gifted and fast. I’m like, Hey, how do you do your bench or like, I don’t know, I just take the bar and I just bring it down and press it. And there’s no finesse to it are no take home points. Other than like, I just eat a lot. And I just bench a lot, because that’s how I got my bench to be where it’s at. So recognizing those those differences makes a huge help in terms of like being a better lifter, and then also finding a good coach and being better training partner as well, too. So I think, when I think of terms of humility, or humbleness, that’s where I tend to gravitate to because I know that like on paper, I’m not going to find many people stronger than me, unless they’re like a super heavyweight. But I’m humbled in the sense of like when I ask somebody that is better than me in different ways, because you know, I’m only good for three things. I take them as seriously if not more seriously than say another power lifter. Like I take you way more seriously than any of my training partners because like your expert opinion means a lot more weighted to me than them Most people I meet in the strength conditioning world, you know, for example,

Brett Scott 1:00:04
and you know that that’s something interesting too. And suddenly, I kind of seen that and, you know, a lot of people look at me like, Yeah, I’m not the strongest person. I’ve never been the best athlete. I, I got into this, I think part of my drive was that this comes back to my inferiority complex, right. I knew I wasn’t the best athlete, I wanted to be better. I want to be the best. I always kind of know, like, I never will be the best like just, you know, genetically, I didn’t get that gift. Like, yeah, I got a really smart brand. I got a doctorate in school when like, it wasn’t that hard for me to achieve. But genetically physically, I just, you know, I don’t have what some people are wired with. And I’m okay with that. Because what it’s given me is the the effort to work harder. And like, when I was in high school, I started on as a on the varsity football team, not because I was the best, it’s like, I was the only freshman eighth grader and yeah, eighth grader, freshman and sophomore, there was in the weight room five days a week, lifting and learning how to be faster, be stronger than like, I got obsessed with that, of like, I got done there. And I’d go home and I start reading articles. How do I get bigger? What’s creating? And do? How does that work? What do I drink it with? You know, do I would drink with grape juice, coffee, orange juice or water? What? How much protein do I need? All those little details that I got into? And then and then it stemmed into movement and working out of like, how do I? How do I get my bench stronger? How do I get my deadlift stronger? What am I going to do with this and that and this, and it’s like, and then start exercise fiscal is like, well, this is enough. I want to know, not just how to do it, but more of the why behind what happens when it breaks down. And it was a doctorate. So it’s like, okay, now now I need to know this. And I’m still like, not where I want to be with my doctorate name and all things I’ve been able to accomplish. I still want more. And for someone like you to look at me who I’ve squatted 405, once I can tell a 500. But I kept shitty hips basically, I think they’re worse than yours. But um, yeah, no excuses. No excuses there. But like a lot of people like you and be like, Why is he choosing him as a coach, like, he’s not nearly as strong as him. He’s not on the same level. But just comes down to like, I’ve taken the time to put a lot of attention into the details to know what it takes. And I’m still learning to like, you know, we I think we learned a lot together. And even now, like, it’s been three years since we had that experience. Yeah, it’s probably 2019.

1:02:38
Yeah. Right before the pandemic, yeah, it’s just one of those things where, like, I just think, not that having a PhD necessarily means that like, you know, everything. But I do think that like, the work that takes into that is going to be it that’s more weighted to me, and maybe because I’m, you know, secretly want to be an academic for the rest of my life as well, too. So there’s that bias. But like, I just for, you know, for whatever reason, like I look at someone like you, and then I look at like, say, you know, average, Joe, PT, or average personal trainer, and like, I’ve know, you’ve sought out all this stuff. You know, it’s similar to how I saw like, when I first started training, like I went to a bunch of seminars, I taught a bunch of CrossFit seminars at one point, when it came to like learning the power lifts or teaching the parallels. So I have a lot of experience in that stuff. So when I do when I used to do more coaching, you know, a few years ago, you know, I stuck to my lane in terms of being a powerlifting. Coach, but I sought out people like you, I sought out like, say, like I said, Zack, for my hamstring. And when I asked him, you know, well, what can I do right now to make things better, not just the bare minimum, and you gave me a checklist, and I did a lot of those things. So I respect guys like that, who constantly seek out information. You know, I may not necessarily agree with every single powerlifting coach in the area around here, because I know a few of them are a little polarizing, but I still want to hear what they have to say, because they’re always constantly seeking out information. They don’t just stay stagnant. And for me, when I find people like that, whether it’s like I said Erica Titan, or even Steve Brown at CSC, like, you know, Steve has been, he’s 70, you know, 7577 years old, and he’s still learning how to power lift. And like, you don’t get to where he’s our he’s still squatting, you know, 400 pounds at that age. Because you just kind of get complacent. And I think that’s the most important thing for me, when I look at somebody that I want to hire or, or examined me or try to look, look at my training is like, are they still constantly learning? You know, chat is still very much like, constantly trying to find the next big thing in terms of like the app in terms of like, training, you know, in terms of, you know, Jujitsu, you know, not necessarily even just powerlifting because like, he’s pretty much mastered that area. But there’s still a lot of things that I know that he still wants to learn from a coaching perspective that like, he wants to fill those gaps as well, too. And that’s one of the reasons why I like him as a coach as well. It’s because he’s just constantly trying to learn as much as possible. And I think that that drive makes me feel comfortable knowing that like you may not know the answer now, but you’re going to and to me, that’s more and more important than just being strong.

Brett Scott 1:04:59
Yeah, That was that was one of my key moments in learning about being successful too was I had a professor who taught me, you know, a lot of what I know, come back and be a client of mine. I was like, I don’t want to be a client of mine. She’s like, she’s like you. She’s like, you’re always just posted, like, I see, you’re like a course that seems like every other weekend, you’re always posting about what you’re learning, I want to surround myself with people that are on the front edge of that. So I think that’s, that’s probably you know, another bit is, find the people that are always seeking self improvement for themselves. That can help you too.

1:05:40
Oh, for sure. And to me, that’s like way more important than whether or not you ever squatted more than 400 pounds. Like, you know, that’s just like, I always think of like the barbell lifting. Regardless of its parallels, or anything of that. It’s just like, it’s like a physical manifestation of just where you are currently in life. And, you know, I know that you don’t necessarily take the parallel. So seriously, say weightlifting, but that’s because like, those aren’t your priorities too. So I know that too. So I think having context and nuance of like, where you’re talking to you is also really important. I think, you know, if I asked you like, Hey, can you help me get more mobile so I can get into a full SAS position. I’ve been working with you every single day for like, a year, you know, years on end until I do. Because that one a decade, yeah, probably more like 10 years. But like, that’s one of those things were like, you know, you and I both know how to get stronger in terms of that powerlift. But I don’t necessarily know how to get more mobile and athletic to do until full snap decision to so just like understanding like, not necessarily that the pros are your weaknesses, per se, but I just know how much you love weightlifting, that like it comes down to like, if I’m going to ask somebody to like fix my body in terms of that, in terms of those two positions, I’ll be going to you because I know that you’d be looking at everything with like, through a fine comb, and brushing it back and forth to make sure like, alright, what this crowd needs to do to get him into this full stack position, even with just a broomstick, let alone like a barbell. And, and that type of obsession and, and commitment and investment to a person, you’re not going to find many people like that outside of like, you know, the weightlifting facilities at the Olympic Training Center. You know, so like having people like that in your life. And like I said, I’m very lucky that I have someone like you close by, you know, relatively speaking, and I don’t have to go to like California or Washington, you know, on the other side of the country to have that same type of quality accessibility as well too. So I think just understanding that, like, we have a lot of resources in this area were very, I’m very thankful that we have as many strong people as we do, we also have just as many if not more smart people that are really obsessed with this stuff that like you can drive 2030 minutes any direction in the greater Boston area. And you’re going to find really good quality expert and content to make your better athletes so I think not taking advantage of talking to you talking to other gym owners talking to other PTAs like I do think excellence breeds excellence and I think that a rising wave brings up all chips and I think having all these options is a great thing too because I know if I you know once I go to archetype there’s probably gonna be a whole can of new people that I’ve never met that are very talented, very smart and know their stuff and it’s gonna make me want to be even stronger or more talented or more smart to get to stay on top of my game because although I may be parallel you know, I don’t know what the next phase of my life is gonna look like once I hang up the singlet and you know, I want to be sure that like no matter what I do next for passion is going to be something that can still stay on top of and still keep on learning as well too.

Brett Scott 1:08:23
Yeah. And I don’t care about training powerless myself but for everyone out there. I do obsess over the powerless I do still coach powerlifting and inferiority and so that’s one of my drives is like when someone tells me I can’t do something I’m gonna do it for sure so someone out there someone out there told me I can’t coach powerlifting and just so happens we made it to the podium at Mega Nationals this year with one of my lifters and then I have another one that’s just out on injury that will hopefully be there next year but also just took third and our first weightlifting mate so Oh that’s awesome. Yeah, so I still obsess over the powerless I just I don’t I don’t love training them as much as I love mice my self how technical and mental and everything weightlifting is I actually I like coaching powerlifting more than I like coaching weightlifting sometimes it’s just a whole different beast of like it’s just a different mental state

1:09:27
to and what further record when I said that I met you personally I know that we’re coaching it’s a very

Brett Scott 1:09:32
good come on Carlos don’t put me down on my own shell and they’ll put

1:09:35
you down No I meant to say you personally like I know that you get like more horny for clean and jerk or snatch than like you going for like a max squat attempt you know low bar anyway I mean that’s a different story but you know

Brett Scott 1:09:48
Max squat anything just hurts my hips these days.

1:09:51
Yeah, that’s what I meant by but no, that’s that’s awesome, too that you have some talented people coming up the ranks as well too. I mean, that’s that’s pretty sweet. Yeah. It’s it’s kind of cool to talk about people that are up and coming and then, you know, when I was watching the Reese’s like retirement stuff, you know at her last IPF worlds and everything like that and seeing it on the other end of that aspect. That was also very humbling because I know that I’ve talked about retirement like at least six times, or she would have retired six times, yeah, I have retired CCENT. But it’s also one of those things that when we’re talking about being humbled, I know that I’m in the last few years of few prime years of training, because like I said, you know, because I’ve had this conversation recently, as well, too. Like, I don’t want to be a master’s lifter, like, if I ever sign up as a masters like, or some masters, put me out to put me out to pasture basically. So I told myself, you know, 35, if I’m still relatively really healthy, I’ll keep going me by me. But 35 is sort of like the outline of like, okay, if I accomplished my goal by then great, if not, if I’m starting to feel a little broken, maybe assign the hanging up, because even at some point, I need to change change goals and shift a little bit where it’s like, you know, I want to be as passionate about my, the other things that are going on in my personal life outside of powerlifting that I need to not ignore anymore, because I’ve spent the last 1617 years already obsessive over the sport that like, I have to draw the line for myself, otherwise, I’m going to be in this infantile state of like, staying in the same rut, because as much as I don’t like stagnation, or being in terms of training, in terms of like, not making PRs, I think from a more bigger perspective, in terms of like, what I want to do with my life, I don’t want to be in the same type of rut that I’m kind of in purposely with powerlifting. But that’s because I’m still in love with it. But I also know that like, I want to do a lot of traveling a lot of other things that don’t require me to have a barbell every other day to accomplish and I have to kind of put that on the back burner. So you know, when I saw Marisa, talking about retirement, and moving on to other things, as well to is also very humbling that like, you know, I maybe have anywhere from two to five years left of like, really solid competition level training, but realizing that it’s not a scary thing to walk away from this, because it’s always going to be there. And it’s pretty cool that it’s always gonna be a part of my life. And that it’s okay, if I don’t become the next job on Hacker beach on hack, although that is still my ultimate goal, and very unlikely, but I’m still gonna go for it, because why not me. But at the same time, also realize that like, seeing somebody that as great as Marissa is, retire, you know, I don’t remember all her best PRs are all her best all time numbers, I just remember that she was the one of the consistent, high level women power lifters of all time, and she’s in my personal Hall of Fame. And for me, that’s kind of where I want to be where like, hopefully, if I do enough, in the next few years, that hopefully, I can maybe not be considered the best of all time, but at least be in the conversation or like somebody that’s been consistently good for a very long time and compete at a high level. And maybe people won’t necessarily know my best numbers, but they know that like I was one of the best or better lifters of this era. And for me, that’s that’s kind of like a cool thing to think about. Because although like I said, number one is still the ultimate goal, just being considered in that conversation would be not just humbling in and of itself, but like a really cool thing to be proud of, as well to, you know, seeing it from both as an intermediate or beginner and now seeing, you know, someone has high levels, her, you know, walk away from it and be proud of what she’s told it. Because I kind of want to end my powerlifting career ends on the similar time where it’s like, not necessarily gonna be broken. But at the same time, I can walk away on my own two feet and not have to be in a wheelchair.

Brett Scott 1:13:27
Yeah, because 800 pounds could kill a couple of people.

1:13:30
Yeah, I could kill a couple of people. So I mean, we’ll see in October, because that’s, that’s ultimately what I want to do. In my next meet is the squat 804 Because as long as John doesn’t break it up for the week beforehand, at the program, I’m going to try to attempt the world record squat in Chicago, because that’s when my next meet is, is that going to be 198? Yeah, I’m, like I said, I’ve been purposely walking around a 207. I know, Jon’s been keeping his weight at like 212. So I know, he’s going to try to attempt it again in September 24. And then, I think the following weekend, or two weekends after that is October 7, which is on a Friday, and that’s when I’m going to be competing next. So I know he wants to get 804. And if he doesn’t, I’m going to try to go for myself.

Brett Scott 1:14:13
Now. What Federation is that? They’re both USPA.

1:14:18
So he’s doing the program in Kansas City. And I’m doing another program the search program in Chicago October 7. And the owner is I’m not doing the same meet as him is because two of my juggernaut teammates are also doing the one in Chicago. So Chad offer to handle and coach all three of us. And I can’t say no to that. Yeah, that’s pretty

Brett Scott 1:14:39
cool. Yeah. Now, you just recently did a meet too. And it was at a PF.

1:14:48
Oh, yeah. It was an EPFP to May. That was like, that wasn’t me that I wasn’t too keen. Like, in retrospect, I wasn’t too proud of because like my squat was kind of mad. And then my deadlift was kind of a gift. So actually redid that redid basically those same numbers at 198. It’s up to 20. Because I didn’t make weight. Because I was fat. I’ll be honest with you, I was just fat cutting from 228 to 205. And then, six weeks later, I did an RPS me kind of on a whim, because then even told Chad, he was kind of not mad. He was like, Don’t do that again. Because it just, I’ve never had a gifted meet before where like, I knew that I should not have total what I told that day. And I just left such a bad taste in my mouth. And I want to have some respectability when I compete. Because I don’t want gifted lifts that I did some dieting, I’ve tweaked my training, did some more work on the hamstring, because like, my hamster was still kind of bothering me even up to me, and did another meet medfit on July 10, and I did seven senators are the same numbers 760 507 100 on the deadlift. And I just did that at 198, as opposed to 220. And it was the depth. Because I was like the number one thing that kept watching at this APFT was like I was borderline if not a little high. And I just don’t want to do me questioning my credibility.

Brett Scott 1:16:02
I saw your deadlift, and I saw they gave you your last deadlift. And I was like, Oh, I don’t know exactly.

1:16:09
I don’t want that. Because I even saw that. I was like, Oh, that was a gift. So you know, no one. I mean, not that I do meats for the YouTube comments, or for people being like, hey, that was a shit meet. But like I like as soon as I looked at everything, I was like this, this isn’t what I’m capable of like, this is this is shit, to be honest with you. So I wanted to kind of give myself a another shot at it before I turned 33 Because my birthday is July 17. So there was a meet literally the Sunday beforehand. And I said, You know what, I want to make sure that I end my 32nd year of life on a good note, basically do a do over and do a meet where I can actually be proud of even if I don’t necessarily hit prs. And like I said, I hit 1960 The same way at a lower weight class. And like I said, my deadlifts, bench and squat were all technically sound. And I’m much more proud of that meat than I was at May. And I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that like I was still kind of nervous with the hamstring. And then just having a camera crew there was kind of interesting that I need to kind of like wrap my head around a little bit more. Because like I said, guys are really cool. But like the content creation aspect of it definitely feels a little weird to be talking to a camera. I’m a lot better with it now. But at that meet, I was like trying to be meet mode, Carlos and then trying to do the whole. switching back and forth. flipping the switch was just a little too much for

Brett Scott 1:17:26
nothing else to get used to.

1:17:27
Yeah, the whole influencer thing is a little it’s still a little weird to me. But in a good way, you know, because there’s things that you didn’t necessarily have to think about the you have to think about now that I’m competing that I have to just be mindful. So that just comes with experience, just like anything else. Yeah, for sure.

Brett Scott 1:17:43
So I think that’s everything we have for today. So that was a pretty good talk. And we’re pretty in depth on some of these things. So Carlos, where can people find you? Do you do? Are you offering coaching to anyone right now or anything through?

1:17:58
I’m not. Because I don’t want to step on Chad’s toes, there’s a couple things coming up ahead with the app that I’m not necessarily that hopefully, there’s a collaboration between him and a friend of mine that hopefully that will make the app a little bit more for the general public as well, too. I really can’t say because they literally just started talking this past week about it. But I’ve kind of stopped coaching for now, because my nine to five has been pretty much all encompassing. And then like I said, I’ve had some pretty radical personal life changes. Like I said, like, you know, I’m in Linfield at the moment, and I live in Chelsea. So trying to take care of the family life has been my number one priority when it doesn’t come to priority in my career. So you can talk to me and ask me questions about training in general through the lens of winter through my Instagram. You can also email me at Carlos w moran@icloud.com, if you want to, with general questions, and especially if you’re using the Juggernaut app, you know, I’m going to help you with all that stuff as much as possible. But in terms of coaching, I’m going to wait until I retire to kind of dip my toes into it. Because like I said, I have a personal condo gym. I’m going to hopefully that could be the start of a actual gym at some point. But you know, that’s too far in the future. So really say much more than that.

Brett Scott 1:19:11
Gotcha. All right. Well, Carlos, thank you for coming on. It’s been good talking to you. And yeah, we gotta get you in the clinic soon. Because if your hamstring is still bugging you to that new device, will that shock wave device like, Dude, it’s like annihilating everything in a good way. Yeah.

1:19:29
I can always make a trip up there. I know. I have the seminar. The 27th for juggernaut. I mean, I can go up there either next Friday or Saturday. I mean, I work from home Mondays and Fridays. I can even go on a Monday to

Brett Scott 1:19:43
Yeah, Monday nights. Actually. I’m in Cancun, and that’s But anyways, we’ll save that. We’ll talk about this after. Well, we’ll just we’ll pause this we could talk after for a minute but for everyone else, thank you for tuning in. If you have any Be back for us, whether it be guests you want to have on questions you want answered. Just topics you want me and a guest to ramble about, feel free to reach out. You can reach me at Brett Bre TT at barbell therapy and performance.com. or shoot us a message to the website or find us on Instagram, at barbell, dup therapy. Or you can check out our new gym architect fitness as well. And for those that don’t know, we also have a new location for barbell therapy coming to Barrington, New Jersey, actually we just opened, so if anyone needs rehab down there as well, we have that for you out there. So thanks for listening and tune in next time. We have a couple more guests coming on the next few weeks. So I’ve actually got quite a few guests lined up for the podcast. So I hope to say stay consistent with this and give you guys more information. So thanks for tuning in and take care for now.

1:20:55
Please