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Hi, my name is Jordan. If you don't know much about me or my training history here is the run down:
2005-2008
I started lifting weights for the first time including squats, bench, and deadlift. I benched a few times in high school where I was able to press a monstrous 135lbs. As I recall, I would hit the big lift 1x/wk and then do a bunch of bodybuilding type stuff. I was misguided, at best, but really the only things on the Internet were about Westside, DC training, and other weird things. I'm sure I tried a bunch of stuff that sounds exciting to a 19-21 year old guy.
Sometime early in 2006 I ended up squatting 500 a few inches above parallel in knee wraps, sumo deadlifting 545, and benching 365 x 2. My body weight had gone from 165lbs to 210'ish in that time period. Maybe more because I know that at some point in college I was a "220", but I never got any stronger than those numbers from 2006-2008. In hindsight, it was probably the programming and my lack of insight as a lifter at the time. I didn't have lifting shoes, a coach, or anything like that, but I was fortunate enough to pal around with some guys from the powerlifting club who made sure I didn't kill myself. Interestingly, some of them are now muckity-mucks at the USAPL and IPF. Things could've been much worse.
2008-Spring 2012
I had 3 jobs right out of school. First job took a job as a microbiology lab tech pouring agar plates and streaking cultures right out of school. Another job I had was working as a scrub tech at an oral surgeon's office with the pie-in-the-sky idea that I'd maybe apply to dental school at some point. The third "job" I started about 2 months after graduating was as a personal trainer for a St. Louis-based company called Dynamic Fitness Management (DFM), which at the time was one of the largest PT companies in the United States. Turns out, I loved training more than the other two jobs I had and about 4 months later I quit both of them so I could coach full time.
My main issue at the time was feeling like I didn't "know" enough to really coach someone - at least not for the money that was being charged anyway. However, I also knew I would do a better job than the other trainers who never had their clients lift anything and whose "training sessions" looked more like Jazzercise or Boxing Aerobics than anything else. So, while wrestling with ethical dilemmas I coached folks anyway. I also figured if I obtained enough certifications that I could remedy the situation and so I went out and got as many certifications as possible: CSCS, HFS, CISSN, USAW, and yes...CrossFit.
I think I discovered CrossFit in late 2008 or early 2009 and at the time if you were a person who lifted weights, but didn't compete in anything formally it was pretty attractive. Lots of barbell training? Check. Good looking people? Check. Underground? Check. Lots of material that sounded scientific on the Internet? Check. *Shrugs*
I'm embarrassed to reflect on that time and see how gullible I was, as I would've assumed I had developed more critical thinking skills in college. I was "doing CrossFit" in a commercial gym for most of 2009 with another buddy of mine, Cody (now an SSC). The plus side was we both got exposed to the lifts a lot more including things we'd never done before like the Olympic lifts and variants, kettlebell work, gymnastics, etc. and through that I came across Rip, Pendlay, Starr, John Welbourn, The Tight Slacks of Deszo Ban (and all that comes with that), Siff and Zatsiorsky, etc. and I voraciously consumed everything I could.
By the Fall of 2009, Cody and I were doing one of Starr's programs because we both liked lifting way more than anything else CF had for us. The exposure to CF was invaluable, however, as the workouts and programming for my clients improved drastically. Where I would previously have my clients squat, bench, press, deadlift, etc.- I was now a better coach with better tools. I also now had planned progressions for loading, reps, etc. and things started taking off with their results, my business, etc. I ended up becoming the director of trainer education for that company in 2010, but that's for another story.
In 2010 I was still regaining strength from the CF phase and as I remember I was squatting in the low 400's, benching in the low 300's, and deadlifting 500 (conventional), but my bodyweight was in the high 170's-180's. Yea, I know. I started my master's program in Fall 2010 and did a variation of 5/3/1 from then until spring 2011 where I competed for the first time. It was a "100% RAW" meet and I don't recall my exact numbers other than they were 4xx/3xx/5xx as a 181 and I ended up winning my division. A little under a year later in the Spring of 2012 I was still doing a variant of 5/3/1 and signed up for my first USAPL meet. I ended up going 440/303.5/540 at 176lbs and got 3rd behind 2 guys whose names I have forgotten. The main thing I remember from that meet was meeting Nick Weite and Brad GIllingham, both of whom put up monstrous numbers. As I recall, Brad casually pulled an 800lb + deadlift hook grip. I couldn't believe this was possible! I remember shaking his hand and thinking, "This is the largest hand I've ever seen." That still might be true.
Spring 2012-Fall 2015
In any event, 5/3/1 obviously wasn't doing me any favors at the time so I decided to switch to a 4 day split version of the Texas Method. I actually had a consult with Andy Baker about how to set it up in preparation for USAPL Raw Nationals that year. It worked..ummm...not so well. I ended up weighing-in a little heavier- 181.0 on the dot- and went 440/319/550, which mostly were the results of picking better attempts (thanks Justin Lascek for the help at the meet). A few months later I went down to WFAC to get my SSC, which I passed as well and a few months later I was placed on SS coaching staff after interning at a seminar in Atlanta.
From here, I moved across the country to start medical school and found a great gym at Brute Strength in Norfolk, VA. I ended up hiring Reynolds to do my programming at this time to get ready for another meet, this time in Philadelphia about 6 months after Raw Nationals. In fairness to him, my prep was going okay and there was only enough time to do a single 12 week program (or so) before the meet, so if something didn't work well- we wouldn't be able to fix it in time for the meet with how the program was constructed. Well, I ended up going to the meet with a sweet mustache made weight at 181 on the nose. I did have to travel to Philly the day before to get there and did have a few pounds to lose-so those things may have negatively influenced my performance, which was abysmal. I ended up going 425/308/518, missing my 3rd squat the 2nd and 3rd attempts for both my bench and deadlift. My girlfriend was also there so that was neat to shit the bed in front of her....moving on.
I had qualified for the Arnold (Spring 2013) and the plan was to continue with Reynolds through this time. Again, training went pretty well- even pulling 585 while weighing 183lbs. That said, the meet was another downer. The weight class had increased from 82.5kg to 83kg, which was nice since I was only a pound over, but the early AM start and likely some programming variables just didn't work well for me. I ended up going 3/3 with a new meet squat PR of 451, benching a meet PR of 341, but the deadlift just wasn't there. I opened at 540 and it was pretty quick, but on 561 (my 2nd) I ended up hitching a little bit and got red lighted. My 3rd didn't budge off the ground. I also may have accidentally trusted some flatus on that second pull, which was yet another mistake.
All in all, I had not really performed well (in my estimation) for my past 3 meets and it was impressed upon me that this was due to my bodyweight being too low. I've been 5'10.5 since I was 18 and weighed everything from 165-220 (or so), but had stayed in the 181 weight class for unknown reasons. In any event, I decided to move up to the 198's because I really did want to get stronger and since I wasn't breaking any records as a 181, it didn't really make a difference to me. Things started getting fun about this time....
Summer 2013, USAPL Raw Nats in Orlando- still running programming by Reynolds. I weighed in at 199 at 2pm in the afternoon and went 500/352/622.
Fall 2013 SPF Halloween Howl- Weighed in at 198 (24hr weigh in, probably closer to 205 walking around) and went 565/385/655 (knee wraps, DL bar)
From there I wanted something different in programming for a number of reasons I won't get into here. I think the introduction to block periodization in this style was useful, but I had been reading a lot of Mike T's stuff for the past year or so and wanted to play with it. Additionally, there was already some RPE in my previous programming (I know, an SSC using RPE- the horror) so I wanted to learn more. From Fall of 2013 through Summer 2015, Mike T wrote my programming.
2005-2008
I started lifting weights for the first time including squats, bench, and deadlift. I benched a few times in high school where I was able to press a monstrous 135lbs. As I recall, I would hit the big lift 1x/wk and then do a bunch of bodybuilding type stuff. I was misguided, at best, but really the only things on the Internet were about Westside, DC training, and other weird things. I'm sure I tried a bunch of stuff that sounds exciting to a 19-21 year old guy.
Sometime early in 2006 I ended up squatting 500 a few inches above parallel in knee wraps, sumo deadlifting 545, and benching 365 x 2. My body weight had gone from 165lbs to 210'ish in that time period. Maybe more because I know that at some point in college I was a "220", but I never got any stronger than those numbers from 2006-2008. In hindsight, it was probably the programming and my lack of insight as a lifter at the time. I didn't have lifting shoes, a coach, or anything like that, but I was fortunate enough to pal around with some guys from the powerlifting club who made sure I didn't kill myself. Interestingly, some of them are now muckity-mucks at the USAPL and IPF. Things could've been much worse.
2008-Spring 2012
I had 3 jobs right out of school. First job took a job as a microbiology lab tech pouring agar plates and streaking cultures right out of school. Another job I had was working as a scrub tech at an oral surgeon's office with the pie-in-the-sky idea that I'd maybe apply to dental school at some point. The third "job" I started about 2 months after graduating was as a personal trainer for a St. Louis-based company called Dynamic Fitness Management (DFM), which at the time was one of the largest PT companies in the United States. Turns out, I loved training more than the other two jobs I had and about 4 months later I quit both of them so I could coach full time.
My main issue at the time was feeling like I didn't "know" enough to really coach someone - at least not for the money that was being charged anyway. However, I also knew I would do a better job than the other trainers who never had their clients lift anything and whose "training sessions" looked more like Jazzercise or Boxing Aerobics than anything else. So, while wrestling with ethical dilemmas I coached folks anyway. I also figured if I obtained enough certifications that I could remedy the situation and so I went out and got as many certifications as possible: CSCS, HFS, CISSN, USAW, and yes...CrossFit.
I think I discovered CrossFit in late 2008 or early 2009 and at the time if you were a person who lifted weights, but didn't compete in anything formally it was pretty attractive. Lots of barbell training? Check. Good looking people? Check. Underground? Check. Lots of material that sounded scientific on the Internet? Check. *Shrugs*
I'm embarrassed to reflect on that time and see how gullible I was, as I would've assumed I had developed more critical thinking skills in college. I was "doing CrossFit" in a commercial gym for most of 2009 with another buddy of mine, Cody (now an SSC). The plus side was we both got exposed to the lifts a lot more including things we'd never done before like the Olympic lifts and variants, kettlebell work, gymnastics, etc. and through that I came across Rip, Pendlay, Starr, John Welbourn, The Tight Slacks of Deszo Ban (and all that comes with that), Siff and Zatsiorsky, etc. and I voraciously consumed everything I could.
By the Fall of 2009, Cody and I were doing one of Starr's programs because we both liked lifting way more than anything else CF had for us. The exposure to CF was invaluable, however, as the workouts and programming for my clients improved drastically. Where I would previously have my clients squat, bench, press, deadlift, etc.- I was now a better coach with better tools. I also now had planned progressions for loading, reps, etc. and things started taking off with their results, my business, etc. I ended up becoming the director of trainer education for that company in 2010, but that's for another story.
In 2010 I was still regaining strength from the CF phase and as I remember I was squatting in the low 400's, benching in the low 300's, and deadlifting 500 (conventional), but my bodyweight was in the high 170's-180's. Yea, I know. I started my master's program in Fall 2010 and did a variation of 5/3/1 from then until spring 2011 where I competed for the first time. It was a "100% RAW" meet and I don't recall my exact numbers other than they were 4xx/3xx/5xx as a 181 and I ended up winning my division. A little under a year later in the Spring of 2012 I was still doing a variant of 5/3/1 and signed up for my first USAPL meet. I ended up going 440/303.5/540 at 176lbs and got 3rd behind 2 guys whose names I have forgotten. The main thing I remember from that meet was meeting Nick Weite and Brad GIllingham, both of whom put up monstrous numbers. As I recall, Brad casually pulled an 800lb + deadlift hook grip. I couldn't believe this was possible! I remember shaking his hand and thinking, "This is the largest hand I've ever seen." That still might be true.
Spring 2012-Fall 2015
In any event, 5/3/1 obviously wasn't doing me any favors at the time so I decided to switch to a 4 day split version of the Texas Method. I actually had a consult with Andy Baker about how to set it up in preparation for USAPL Raw Nationals that year. It worked..ummm...not so well. I ended up weighing-in a little heavier- 181.0 on the dot- and went 440/319/550, which mostly were the results of picking better attempts (thanks Justin Lascek for the help at the meet). A few months later I went down to WFAC to get my SSC, which I passed as well and a few months later I was placed on SS coaching staff after interning at a seminar in Atlanta.
From here, I moved across the country to start medical school and found a great gym at Brute Strength in Norfolk, VA. I ended up hiring Reynolds to do my programming at this time to get ready for another meet, this time in Philadelphia about 6 months after Raw Nationals. In fairness to him, my prep was going okay and there was only enough time to do a single 12 week program (or so) before the meet, so if something didn't work well- we wouldn't be able to fix it in time for the meet with how the program was constructed. Well, I ended up going to the meet with a sweet mustache made weight at 181 on the nose. I did have to travel to Philly the day before to get there and did have a few pounds to lose-so those things may have negatively influenced my performance, which was abysmal. I ended up going 425/308/518, missing my 3rd squat the 2nd and 3rd attempts for both my bench and deadlift. My girlfriend was also there so that was neat to shit the bed in front of her....moving on.
I had qualified for the Arnold (Spring 2013) and the plan was to continue with Reynolds through this time. Again, training went pretty well- even pulling 585 while weighing 183lbs. That said, the meet was another downer. The weight class had increased from 82.5kg to 83kg, which was nice since I was only a pound over, but the early AM start and likely some programming variables just didn't work well for me. I ended up going 3/3 with a new meet squat PR of 451, benching a meet PR of 341, but the deadlift just wasn't there. I opened at 540 and it was pretty quick, but on 561 (my 2nd) I ended up hitching a little bit and got red lighted. My 3rd didn't budge off the ground. I also may have accidentally trusted some flatus on that second pull, which was yet another mistake.
All in all, I had not really performed well (in my estimation) for my past 3 meets and it was impressed upon me that this was due to my bodyweight being too low. I've been 5'10.5 since I was 18 and weighed everything from 165-220 (or so), but had stayed in the 181 weight class for unknown reasons. In any event, I decided to move up to the 198's because I really did want to get stronger and since I wasn't breaking any records as a 181, it didn't really make a difference to me. Things started getting fun about this time....
Summer 2013, USAPL Raw Nats in Orlando- still running programming by Reynolds. I weighed in at 199 at 2pm in the afternoon and went 500/352/622.
Fall 2013 SPF Halloween Howl- Weighed in at 198 (24hr weigh in, probably closer to 205 walking around) and went 565/385/655 (knee wraps, DL bar)
From there I wanted something different in programming for a number of reasons I won't get into here. I think the introduction to block periodization in this style was useful, but I had been reading a lot of Mike T's stuff for the past year or so and wanted to play with it. Additionally, there was already some RPE in my previous programming (I know, an SSC using RPE- the horror) so I wanted to learn more. From Fall of 2013 through Summer 2015, Mike T wrote my programming.
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