[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Vouillot[/url]
Has anyone ever heard of him? From what I gather he seems like an overlooked, though influential pioneer in European powerlifting.
And judging by this interview, he seems like an alright kind of guy, too.
What are/were his methods?
He’s written a book, but in French. I found an article based on an interview with him on the superphysique website, but likewise in French. I translated what seemed to me his key ideas about training below. Also, he hates equipped lifting and isn’t a big fan of PEDs, although in his own words he know sees drugs as a matter of personal preference.
He’s learned from Ed Coan, Fred Hatfield, Mike Mentzer and others and also trained once with Tom Platz. His background is in weightlifting and Judo (1st dan black belt). He’s also been absolutely successful bodybuilder at national level.
Here’s what I translated:
the heavier you go, the more recovery becomes a major problem. Recovery capacity does not increase in line with strength.
I came to a very simple conclusion: when training for powerlifting, it is generally best to train three times a week and for some to train three times a fortnight. I have known too many athletes who never understood the reality of heavy training and who did too much, far too much, to the point of overtraining.
I saw champions who could have been much better if they had done less and better planned their training.
powerlifting training is not done with a multitude of movements, one must be strong in three movements and the other exercises are nothing but assistance.
powerlifting training is planned according to the objectives of the season.
the permission of stretching and a well conducted warm-up results sooner or later in a loss of mobility that does nothing good for our joints. One must always be slightly more mobile, more supple, than is required by our workloads.
knowing that we are not made to put such heavy loads on out backs, our shoulders and our joints we must take into account all this preventative work that is extremely important to not end up completely destroyed.
the goal is to get out of bed feeling good.
Thank you mate, that’s exactly what I was looking for. Remarkable interview between Mr Marc Vouillot and Dr Emmanuel Legeard, who is one of the world’s foremost experts on performance nutrition for strength athletes and one of the world’s foremost conditioning coaches, whose programs obviously helped quite a few Olympic athletes reach the top of their games in pro sports like Oly lifting, Alpine skiing or Shot put! I’m proud to say that I was there when Dr Legeard made his brilliant conference at the U.S. Olympic Center in Lake Placid, almost ten years ago. Marc Vouillot and Emmanuel Legeard: these two men deserve respect. As for the rest of the French, I couldn’t care less.
Paul