A Product of Your Environment

This topic gets covered in great detail by everyone and their mother in this industry. You want to get strong? Find the best and most bad ass powerlifting club in your area and join. Want to get lean? Find the best and most bad ass fat loss program and do it. Why is that you might say? Well, people become a product of their environment.

Yet still some people do not believe what we have to say. You might hear something like "oh, those guys just listen to loud, heavy music (yes they do by the way.....), I can't be like them".

Why not? If you want to get strong, you can and will if you train hard and almost every gym I have been to where power, speed and strength's are the focus, those pep's are damn strong.

This past weekend I got to experience first hand what its like to train with (in my humble opinion) the most bad ass powerlifters in the game. Thats right, I made a pit stop in London, Ohio to train at EliteFTS.

First off, holy shit. That is what I call a gym. There is no better sound than that of clanging metal plates, loud heavy metal music and good amounts of swear words.

I walk in to met the patriarch of Elite, Mr. Dave Tate. I got there a little early and walked in the front door with the look of a deer in the headlights. I stood out like a sore thumb. Good thing is, Jim Wendler was there and he welcomed me in. While he looks uber scary, he is one hell of a nice guy and was dropping knowledge bombs all over the place. I just asked some questions and listened intently.

Then, the door swings open and in he walks. I knew it was him from the minute he walked in, just the presence he brings with him makes it unmistakable as to who he is.

After making the rounds, he walks over and sticks out his hand, "You Alwyn's guy?" I'm not sure what I said, maybe something stupid but I dropped my name and said it was an honor to meet you and he walks away. I continue my training and just watch and listen. He goes around to everyone and talks to them, coaches them and encourages them. After 20 minutes or so, he comes back over and starts telling me why he has them doing what they are doing since they are 5 weeks out from a big meet. I never really get to ask a question because he is talking and was not going to do anything to interrupt.

As I finish my session (5x5 glute/ ham raise, 5 warm up sets on deads, 5x3 speed pulls @ 315 with chains, 5x3 deads @ 405, 6x3 back squat @ 315) I walk over to ask a question and he is intently watching two of his lifters doing speed work on their squats. Nothing misses his eye and when he see's something he doesn't like, he lets everyone know. We talk shop for a bit, mostly about meets, Westside style training, why he hates having them train in their suits versus raw etc......

After about 2 hours in there, I had to go. While I didn't get as much time as I would have liked with Dave, when he shook my hand as I left, he flashed me a huge smile and said "you are welcome here anytime".

See those lifters, both male and female, train with Dave because they know he will bring the best out of them. That the environment he has instilled out there creates some of the strongest lifters around.

I have never wanted to live in Ohio so bad in my life.