I Am Proud of PPS: Not Just for Smashing Weights

Written by: Kevin Cann

The month of April was huge for PPS.  We had 2 competitions that saw 13 of us compete.  The first one was on April 8thand it was our beginners’ meet (plus Grace). I am proud of everyone that had the guts to step on the platform for the first time and lift.

Val, Kelly, Amanda, Evan, and Kevin you guys did PPS well.  I don’t care what people hit in the gym, if they don’t step on the platform their total is 0.  There are 325.7 million people in America.  You are in the top 20,000 of the population for strength.  That is way into the top 1%.  It was truly my pleasure to be there for your first meet. I can’t wait to watch you guys take the next steps.

Grace, I can’t believe the progress you made from December to April.  You have put yourself in a position to qualify for Nationals in August. That is faster progress than even I expected.  This is a direct reflection of your hard work.  It is not easy to train alone.

This past weekend we had 7 people compete; Danielle Bond, Danielle Garcia, Danielle Nguyen, Alex Kilgore, Mike Agius, and Nick Santangelo.  People fucking noticed us this past weekend!  I had multiple people reach out asking about us.  Even got handed cash on Sunday to start coaching someone.

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You guys put on a show. Alyssa, I am proud of you for finally putting the meet together to punch your ticket to Nationals.  It was a long time coming.  Danielle Garcia, you trained through a lot and still hit a qualifying total with ease.  Danielle Nguyen, you came off a pretty bad meet to execute to the best of your abilities, that is not easy.  Alex, you competed like a pro.  Definitely didn’t look like your first meet.  Glad I experienced your first huff in person as well!

Danielle Bond!  You trained through a caloric deficit for 6 months. I felt like we were winging your training block the whole time.  We didn’t test, used a different peak and taper, and you still went 9/9 qualifying for Nats by 22.5kg in a lower weight class. Just wait until you start eating a bit more and we can handle more volume.  You are going to be a force in the 84s.

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Holy shit Nick Santangelo! 730kg total at 93kg is HUGE.  You put everything together on that one day. This wasn’t luck.  You got your nutrition under wraps and you are the definition of consistency in the gym.  Fun to watch that consistent hard work pays off.

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I am proud of everyone’s performances.  However, I am prouder for how our team handles ourselves at meets.  I had someone come up to me to thank me for how nice and helpful team PPS was in the warmup room.  That to me is just as important as big totals.

I am proud of how supportive everyone is of each other.  We roll deep at meets and it is one of things that makes me the happiest.  This past meet was almost 2 hours away and we had a crew! Thank you guys for making PPS a fun and supportive community.

We hare 36 vastly different personalities that come together to form a team.  It is amazing to watch how powerlifting brings us all together. We have gone through a lot.  Only 3.5 months ago I was fired, and we were without a place to train.

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We were lucky to find Jeff and RX.  Training environment is not about the equipment.  It is about training with a group of people that push you and support you. There is no coincidence that we have seen such larger success once we moved.  The training environment is more positive and suited to PRs.  I am proud of how you guys have managed to do this.

Everyone keep doing what you are doing.  This group is amazing and there will be big things to come for every single one of you. Regardless of total, you are all as important to each other’s success for all of those things I mentioned above. For that I am most proud.

About Kevin Cann 33 Articles
Precision Powerlifting Systems is based out of Boston, Mass. Head Coach Kevin Cann leads the raw and single ply powerlifting team through individualized programming leading up to local, regional, national, and international level USA Powerlifting meets. Coach Kevin has worked as a nutritionist and strength coach for several facilities in the greater Boston area including Harvard University and Total Performance Sports. He holds a master’s degree in kinesiology from A.T. Still University and a bachelor’s degree in health and wellness from Kaplan University. Currently, Coach Kevin competes in the 105kg class in USA Powerlifting as both a raw and equipped open lifter and was under the tutelage of former team Russia powerlifting coach and coaching legend, Boris Sheiko, from 2015-2018. Kevin utilizes many of Sheiko’s legendary methods in his programs. This includes the belief that technique is the most important aspect of training. Not only has Kevin been a long term student of Sheiko’s, he also possesses his Master’s Degree in Kinesiology, the science of human movement. The combination of his Master’s degree and time spent working with the legendary coach has awarded him with the skills to thoroughly analyze your lifts and utilize the right variations, weights, and repetitions to improve your technique and continue to steadily progress over time. Through Kevin’s experiences coaching, he has made many adjustments to the program to allow for the success of his lifters. PPS has had an Arnold qualifier every year in its existence, a top 5 national total, 2 top 10 totals, and many top 20 totals nationally. Kevin combined what he learned from Sheiko with a conjugate trining style. He learned that nothing builds 1RM strength like practicing singles. He uses a constraints-led approach with the singles. The variation allows for the athlete to continually take max singles without seeing a decrease in performance. Kevin will use variations that punish technical inefficiency and only leaves room to complete the task with a more technically efficient strategy. Heavy singles also works the psychological components of the sport. Oftentimes this goes untrained and is the largest weakness in a lifter. Along with the max effort work, PPS lifters perform sub maximal work to continue to increase technical proficiency within the lifts. Some of this technique work utilizes special exercises that Kevin learned from Boris Sheiko himself. PPS supports raw, drug free powerlifting. Kevin has coached numerous athletes that have qualified for USAPL Nationals as well as the USAPL competitions at the Arnold Sports Festival. Cost for coaching is tiered and ranges from $125 to $200 per month depending on the services required. This includes an individualized program based around your needs as an athlete as well as feedback on your lifts from videos. Text support as you are training, weekly voice memos explaining details about the upcoming week, and bi-weekly training meetings with the team to discuss training concepts is part of the tier 1 service. For more information email Kevin directly at kevin@precisionpowerlifting.com