Written by: Kevin Cann About a month ago I decided to switch up my training a bit. I was getting burnt-out coaching. I do not think people realize how difficult this can be sometimes. You shoulder the burdens of an entire team. This can weigh heavily on you at times. My training had been going poorly for quite some time up to this point and I knew I needed to make some adjustments to get some momentum back and Read More
Where is powerlifting heading? With many high-level meets becoming more competitive and more prize money meets popping up, coaches and athletes are going to change their strategies for training and competing. In this video, I break down some of my thoughts of where I think the sport of powerlifting is heading as far as game day handling and the training leading into these high-level meets. What I discuss in this video includes things I’ve already Read More
In this video, I go over why someone may wear a belt for the bench press. In the gym or in a competition, you may see some people wear a belt while they bench press while some others don’t. A lifter could wear a belt for various reasons but I break down some of the most common reasons which are, 1. They’re an equipped lifter. 2. They want some active feedback for technical improvements. 3. Read More
Written by: Kevin Cann This was an important realization for me, to coach the person and not the lifts. At some point everyone will hit a period of stagnation. This is inevitable. The key to overcoming these periods of stagnation is in understanding the person. Of course, identifying weaknesses and all that is important, but in my experiences, it is only half of it. I will use a real-life example to explain my point. Mike D’Amico had been hitting very Read More
Written by: Kevin Cann It has been a while since I wrote a blog post. I have been building out Strength School, an online classroom where coaches, lifters, and trainers can learn the fundamentals of strength development. If interested that can be found here. Meets are starting to come at us quickly here and I feel it is a good time to discuss how to build success on the platform. Too often we see beginners jump on a Read More
Written by: Kevin Cann Anders Ericcson was the researcher who came up with the idea of deliberate practice for skill development. In his book he gave a quote tat stated, “Greatness is achieved by standing on the shoulders of giants.” This was in relation to him saying that developing high level skill begins with seeing what the other high performers are doing. In the current climate of powerlifting, coaches and athletes seem to have missed this step. There Read More
Written by: Kevin Cann I have seen a lot of posts recently discussing training frequency. I posted a video on the Precision Powerlifting YouTube page discussing what makes a quality coach. I discussed the importance of formal education in this field and experience as an athlete. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, but as I witness more and more of what occurs on the internet with “coaches” the more I believe the exceptions are few Read More
Written by: Kevin Cann We all know that progressive overload is necessary to force adaptations. However, this does not mean that every week we need to add something to training in order to drive progress. I think in many cases that is nothing more than the coach becoming nervous about the lifter developing and rushing things a bit. Arkady Vorobyov was a 3-time Olympic medalist and sport scientist from Russia. He found that mixing training with high, medium, Read More
Written by: Kevin Cann I am going to begin this article by telling a story that is titled “A Cup of Tea.” An important man traveled far to seek out the guidance of a Zen master. This Zen master was said to be the best of all of the Zen masters. People would seek him out from far and wide for guidance. This important man meets with the Zen master and tells him that he is there for Read More
Written by: Kevin Cann My daughter is a big fan of the Marvel movies. We were watching the original Spiderman movies recently and in one of these moves, Spiderman is so stressed with work, school, and his duties as a superhero that he loses his powers. This made me think quite a bit about powerlifting. The first couple of years can lead to you feeling invincible as your numbers just continue to climb. These beginner gains can really Read More