Training Methods - Sheiko, WSB, And Others - Discussion, Arguments

Have you ever watched Krzysztof Wierzbicki’s training videos? He uses a squat stand - but one that is two separate stands - and no spotter ever. He does lots of heavy singles, doubles, and triples, fortunately he never fails or he might be dead by now. That is something I would definitely avoid, weightlifters can get away with it because they squat as upright as possible but when you fail a low bar squat normally you fold forward, dumping the bar is not going to be easy.

Bo Jackson

He’s obviously a very talented athlete, and it’s possible that he would have done even better if he had focused on one of the two sports. Also, the demands of football and baseball aren’t so drastically different that they would severely interfere with one another. Training for both an endurance-based sport like soccer or marathon running and a strength or power sport like PL, WL, or sprinting would be the worst combination by far.

How many other athletes have been able to play both baseball and football at the professional level? Only Deion Sanders comes to mind.

Not football, but Michael Jordan played professional basketball and baseball. (The minors still count as professional lol)

Sorry Boris!

You’re a genius, but 3 guys out of 6 billion people in the world prove you don’t know shit!

Did he get to a pro level with golf?

lol don’t get me wrong at all. I was definitely just fuckin around. I just immediately thought of Bo Jackson as soon as I read that lol. Sheiko’s the man

Freaks like Bo Jackson make everybody else look silly! Alabama Goal line defense, the Boz, Even Boris.

Who’s the strongest NFL player? Could any players break PL records?

Ray Williams tried out for the NFL and didn’t make it. Donnie Thompson played in some other league (don’t know the name, not CFL though). If they trained specifically for PL then I’m sure there are plenty who have the potential.

The record for the NFL combine 225 bench for reps is 51. I know at that high of reps a rep calculator is wildly inaccurate, but it does come out to over 600lbs. And that’s with no gear whatsoever

Sheiko probably thought the training equipment without safety aspects…

I saw him only on the competition videos. I don’t follow his training videos.

Donnie played in the AFL as a center, I believe.

You must not be so stupid and show a very rare exception in sports.

If I should show exceptions, I can mention Ester Ledecká. She won two gold medals at the Winter Olympics in completely different sports.

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Calm down big guy, it’s already been covered

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I don’t mean it offensive. It’s better to understand the context.

Should your raw squat be higher than your raw deadlift?

"Should your raw squat be higher than your raw deadlift?

Here’s the short answer – no.

It’s one of those Internet pieces of wisdom that as a beginner you initially should be able to deadlift more than you squat. But as you get more time under the bar that situation reverses and your squat eventually outstrips your deadlift. Just look at the records I’m told. Okay, so I did and here is what they show.


Exhibit 1 – Category +120kg results from IPF Men’s Open 2015 World Classic (Raw) Championships in Salo, Finland

I have a bit of a bias in powerlifting towards the +120kg category. I know what 200kg feels like sitting on my back but don’t have any experience with 400kg. When I want to see some mindboggling weights being moved I watch the +120′s lift. Well, it seems they squat more than they deadlift. Case closed? Not yet. We really need to look at everyone else and see if we can find more support for this conclusion. And now for a category a little closer to home.


Exhibit 2 – Category 83kg results from IPF Men’s Open 2015 World Classic (Raw) Championships in Salo, Finland

In exhibit 2 we can see the exact opposite trend – the deadlift exceeds the squat by a comfortable margin. In fact, if you look at all the other categories you’ll see the same thing you see with 83kg. The typical deadlift to squat ratio outside of the +120kg category is 1.14:1 (about 114%).

So what makes the +120kg category the exception to the rule? As body weight increases, so does body volume. While extra volume can assist the squat and bench, it can make the deadlift a bit more challenging.


Exhibit 4 – +120kg category deadlift

Okay, I can hear your objections. I just made an unsubstantiated statement about body volume affecting the deadlift. Is there any support for that? It appears there is a negative correlation between DL/SQ ratio and body weight (weight and volume are directly proportional).


Exhibit 5 – Deadlift to Squat ratio vs Body Weight (kg)

Notice that there is a bit of variation within the same weight category. Should you use the formula in exhibit 5 to calculate the exact ratio for your body weight? No. But you should deadlift more than you squat, unless you are in the +120kg category."

– Robert Frederick

@chris_ottawa @FlatsFarmer @blackchucks @Despade

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Does anybody have anything to say about “Deloads” or deloading in training?

Interview with the strongest IPF lifter in Australia Stephen Pritchard

Today’s guest on our website is a veteran of the sport who was recently coached by Sheiko to national and world championships. We asked him about his past experiences with powerlifting and more recently training under Sheiko.

Robert Frederick: How many years have you been powertlifting and why the IPF? Also, could you tell us why you recently moved to the classic division?

Stpephen Pritchard: I started powerlifting training in 1987 when I lived in New Zealand, but did not compete until 2004 because I did not think I was good enough. Because I started in New Zealand all of the lifters I knew were IPF lifters. In fact, the guy who introduced me to powerlifting in 1987 also coached two brothers who happened to be Wayne and Derek Pomana. I knew Wayne from rugby and he and his brother Derek were phenomenal. Derek is a 3 time IPF open world champion, who once held the world record in squat. They were so humble that I did not then realize how amazing they were, so I compared myself to them and decided I wasn’t good enough. So with them as my point of reference I followed their lead and went with the IPF. At the time I didn’t understand that there were many federations. I have always liked classic because it is so simple and straightforward. I love equipped lifting as well. I would like to continue with both, but recently I haven’t had the opportunity for equipped lifting.

R.F.: What are your best results in the classic and equipped divisions? Tell us your titles in powerlifting.

S.P.: My best results in equipped competition are squat 375kg, bench press 300kg, and deadlift 305kg. My best results in classic are 335kg squat, 222.5kg bench press and deadlift 320kg.

I was Australian champion 8 times and in the last 5 national championships I have been best lifter. Since 2012 I have been the #1 ranked classic lifter on Wilks points. I also won Oceania bench press in 2006, Commonwealth championships in 2007 and in 2010 I won Oceania bench press and took best lifter. At worlds my best results are 6th at 2010 world bench press, 3rd place 2012 World Classic and 5th place 2014 World classic.

R.F.: Where do you work? How do you manage to find time for 4 workouts per week?

S.P.: I work as an advisor for the Victorian state government in Melbourne. I leave to work early and get home around 6:30pm and then eat and train, come home, shower, sleep and repeat. I spend a lot of time training, working, sleeping and eating. I don’t get to go out to party or go crazy.

R.F.: How were you introduced to the methods of Russian coaches? Whose system do you like? Which Russian coaches do you know? Which Russian lifters do you know?

S.P.: In 2008 I tore my bicep and was in a sling for 12 weeks with no training. I took a lot of time thinking about my training and my research led me to Sheiko. I had previously tried Smolov, but did not do well with that. I started researching more about Sheiko and as soon as I was able to train I was doing some of the Sheiko templates I found online. I made fantastic progress. This led me to more research and I spoke with many people and read a lot. In 2013 I also travelled to Russia for the classic world champs. I met a few Russians, including Russian coaches and talked a lot about training with them and received a lot of help. I worked for a while with Denis Basov. He helped me a lot and helped me learn a lot of new things. Then, of course, I was lucky to make contact with Boris Sheiko. I have met many Russian lifters — Bondarenko, Kazakov, Lebedko, Malanichev, Sarychev and others, but language differences have always made things difficult. I am a little crazy about Russia and things Russian, I have some Russian ancestry and Russian lifters are my heroes, so I look up to Russian lifters and coaches.

R.F.: What is the difference between Russian powerlifting methodology and Australian/American ones?

S.P.: I think many lifters in Australia and elsewhere train as individuals, following ideas from the internet and simply follow programs blindly. In Russia I saw organized training, with lifters training under coaches, more like athletes training in an institute of sport than individuals training away in a gym. To get better you need a coach — to improve technique and provide guidance. This doesn’t happen a lot in Australia. Lifters mostly ‘coach’ themselves — but they don’t have the knowledge or resources to make the changes to their training themselves — they just keep doing whatever they find on the internet.

R.F.: When you started working with Sheiko what was your first impressions?

S.P.: It was different than I expected. Sheiko was extremely generous and helpful with his time. He told me off at the start because I wasn’t giving him enough information. The more I gave him the better the relationship became. He adjusted the program based on my reports and kept making suggestions and recommendations with technique. I have never learnt so much. Sheiko programs are not just plans for people to follow. I know this now. The plan is specially designed and adjusted based on my own specific needs.

R.F.: Have you had times when you thought that Sheiko was doing something wrong with your training, i.e. too hard, too easy, or you wanted to change something?

S.P.: To be honest — no. I had complete confidence in him. The only time I questioned the plan was when he had deficit deadlifts at 90% x 2 and I said is that really what I should do? He said “No, sorry, I meant block pulls”. Lucky I asked. I was going to try.

R.F.: What new did you learn from Sheiko since your cooperation with him?

S.P.: He has improved my technique a lot. That’s pretty good considering how long I have trained. He also taught me that training in this way must be adapted and changed based on how you feel.

R.F.: How did you manage to cut so much weight to be in the 120kg category? Why did you do that?

S.P.: When I was in Russia I was 143kg. I decided when I got back I would cut back. I am too small to be a superheavyweight and I didn’t feel very fit or healthy. So I just cut out carbs. In 9 months I dropped 23kg. It made training hard, but that’s ok — I like hard work. I feel much better now. I have more energy.

R.F.: Was it easy to preserve your sporting form after the competition in Australia and still be in good condition at the World Championships?

S.P.: No, it was hard. Coach Sheiko told me to get straight back into training, which was a good decision I believe. Training was good because I held my bodyweight, which meant I could eat more, but it was hard because we didn’t have many weeks to prepare for the world champs.

R.F.: Is it easy to progress after 40 years of age?

S.P.: So far I am still improving, so it seems that age is no problem. However, I think slowly I am finding it takes a little longer to recover.

R.F.: When did you make the biggest progress/breakthrough? After applying which methods or principles, etc?

S.P.: Definitely with Sheiko. I think to diet down from 143kg to 119.15kg in 9 months and put up close to personal best numbers is amazing. I think under Sheiko my training has been the best ever.

R.F.: What are the main myths about Russian powerlifters in Australia?

S.P.: People used to tell me — Russian lifters are mostly on drugs so it is no use trying to copy their ways. Of course as soon as I was successful they either accuse me of being on drugs (I’m life time drug-free) or they start copying what I do.

R.F.: What are the most common mistakes of Australian lifters (beginners/intermediate/advanced)?

S.P.: Lack of coaching. There are now some good coaches in Australia, but we still have so much to learn from Russians. People do not get good advice on technique and they just blindly follow programs they find on the internet. I also think most people do not train hard enough.

R.F.: What is your analysis of the world of powerliftng now?

S.P.: To me powerlifting seems better than it has ever been. It is very exciting to see people like Sheiko sharing their knowledge with people around the world and the sport seems to be growing. I know there are problems between federations, I think that’s the main problem with the sport. I like to just focus on the lifting and leave the politics for the politicians.

If you use wave periodization like me, then the deload phase should take a maximum of one week. A longer phase of deloading is negative for the lifter in the accumulation phase.