Some time ago, way back when he had a YouTube channel, I became a fan of Clint Darden. I found his videos to be informative, hilarious, and motivational. One day he posted an throwback video and was wearing a Sigma Pi shirt. From that day on I have been mildly obsessed a big supporter of his. The day that it was announced that he would be hosting a seminar at EliteFTS, I had no less than two people instantly telling me about it and I was website checking it out (but definitely not on my work computer haha). It took me a day or two to actually sign up, I’m glad I did because it sold out the very next morning.
After arriving at the S4 compound and exchanging pleasantries with everyone, Clint gave an outline for the day. Everyone was split in to two groups. One group was to be coached by Sheri and Ken Whetham and Bruce Mason while the other group would be working with Matt Ladewski and Brian King. I chose to work with the Whethams and Bruce (well, it was the closest monolift so I chose to walk the least amount of distance).
Any time getting hands on coaching from people way better and more seasoned than you is an amazing experience. Though I’ve been powerlifting for 13 years, Ken had to show me how to properly unrack the bar in a monolift. I do not usually train in a mono, only if someone is in the squat cage already at my gym. So this is something I’ve never really practiced nor even thought about. Everyone got practice on working the mono, loading, and spotting. It always amazes me the amount of people who don’t know some of what I consider the simpler aspects of lifting. But that’s why we go to seminars like this, to learn! Not everyone there was an experienced powerlifter. Some where newer to the sport, some were strongman competitors. There was also a rumor that there was a crossfitter there!
There was some miscommunication with the planning for the day. I talked to Clint and I figured that I would use this day as a substitute for my max effort lower day. But the way the day didn’t go as planned so I just rolled with it. I was going to work up to a two rep max with a two second pause and three chains on either side. I worked up to a bar, two red plates and a green plate on either side. They were in kilograms so no one knows how many pounds it was. It felt like the bar was moving fast! But then squat time was over and I hadn’t worked up to my max yet. But it was awesome just to use top of the line equipment…a good monolift with a bar that wasn’t bent, chains of uniform length, EZ loaders that were super easy to hook the chains to. Things that my small gym doesn’t have. I don’t think I got heavy enough to where my form would start to break down so I didn’t receive a lot of critiques. I’ve been really focusing on upper back tightness and speed. The rotation of lifters started out moving along slowly until Sheri started to yell at us. I can see why she is affectionately referred to as Mama Bear. I was also told that she wrestles alligators, but I won’t believe it until I see it.
Next we moved on to bench. My weakness on bench has been similar to squat (and deadlift) with a lack of upper back and lat tightness. My other main focus right now that I’m trying to fix is a lack of leg drive. Since my max effort lower day was kind of shot, I knew I was going to hit some modest number on bench and just concentrate on getting the coaching. I think throughout the session, my upper back was doing quite well. The only major mistake I kept getting queued on was my foot placement for leg drive. I modeled my set up somewhat after Chris Duffin, who goes very wide. Bruce Mason was the leg drive guru for this day, moving everyone’s feet around so they could get as much out of their legs as possible. He moved mine forward a little bit and it felt like it was helping. Brian King came over to show how to wrap wrists better. I finished with 320 for a quick double.
Although I wasn’t gunning for any kinds of PRs, one of Clint’s former clients hit a HUGE 35 lb PR with 405 lb in a single ply shirt. He failed at hist first attempt and most of the participants had gone to lunch. Just about the only people in the gym were Clint, Brian, Joe Sullivan and I who were spotting. To me, that’s what makes the sport beautiful, as with most things in life. People with a common interest supporting each other so we all can reach our individual goals. Joe and I had no real interest in this stranger’s accomplishment, but I knew he and I were going to stick around as long as he needed us.
After lunch we moved to deadlifts. These seemed to take forever, I felt like I did about 100 warm up reps and I think I could tell by the end. I pretty much did triples all the way up to 405 and I failed to budge either 475 or 495. Again, I wasn’t out to set any records but I was pretty angry that a sub-500 deadlift got the best of me. As deadlift is my worst lift, I made sure to try and pull every rep perfectly…lats tight, shoulders back, pull the slack out of the bar. My biggest coaching queue was to not use a Spud belt, so I guess that’s a good thing? I’ve had trouble deadlifting in my level belt and I’ve been thinking about buying a new one. I’ll have to try some things out before I decide for sure.
When we finished up with deadlifts, the coaches broke up in to individual stations for accessory work. I got to use a cambered bar for the first time. We worked on good morning variations. If you ever get to train somewhere that has a variety of bars, take advantage of it! I’ve done good mornings for years, but using the cambered bar for them was a whole new ball game. We were supposed to rotate to the next station but somehow the rest of my group got broken up and I don’t know where everyone went.
I ended up going to Matt Ladewski to listen to hear him talk about some awesome life stuff. He talked about making decisions in life, and simplifying things down to being either a 1 or a 10. Make everything in your life a 9 or a 10, if it’s not a 9 or a 10 then it’s a 1. Pretty simple stuff! It’s very similar to the quote I heard from Dan John which he attributed to Olympic gold medalist Dan Gable: “If it is important, do it every day, if it isn’t, don’t do it at all.” Priorities and stress can muck up your day to day life, try and keep it simple!
The seminar finished with a Q&A, and as usual my mind had a thousand things going through it but none of them worth sharing with the world. One thing I did pick up on, was that Dave Tate is really freakin’ wise. Someone asked Clint about business and Clint deferred to Dave who gave a 10 minute answer. Even though I have no interest in starting my own business, everything Dave said made perfect sense.
Clint gave a brief example of how he sets up his programming with a simple triangle. Major lifts go towards the top, prehab/rehab goes to the bottom, and everything has a place. It’s one of those things that’s so simple that it’s brilliant.
I am beyond lucky just to live where I do. This was my third trip to EliteFTS, a whopping 45 minute drive, and each time has been beyond helpful. If you ever want to learn from the best, you have to make the effort to do so! I wish more people would go to more seminars. It doesn’t even have to be about lifting, just whatever you’re passionate about!
A big thank you to EliteFTS, Clint Darden (who took most of the pictures seen), Ken and Sheri Whetham, Bruce Mason, Brian King, Matt Ladewski, and Dave Tate for all the help!
Ben Balthaser 