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Building a 900lb Squat
By Matt R.
Wenning
Head Ball State powerlifting coach
Hello gentlemen and ladies. I would first like to start off with
some background information to get the ball rolling in the right
direction. When I was 13, like most young boys, I wanted to be the
strongest man around. Be able to lift and do things that others
thought was impossible. Well, that’s how the journey began to the
quest for a 900lb squat.
It all started in a small gym in my town of Muncie Indiana. In case
your not aware of the town, please let me shed some light. My first
trainers were all national champions in powerlifting, and we are
also known for holding our own in our town with, a 739 deadlift by
the Great Jim Dawson, and 1900 totals by Sonny Runyon, and numerous
titles achieved by Tim Smith. So as I was saying, all these people
around me all the time, their was no other thing to do but get
strong, and that’s exactly what I set to do.
In the beginning workouts were grueling. Many hours in the gym were
spent perfecting technique. Hell, I remember on Sundays squatting,
yes squatting for 2-3 hours in the afternoon. Little did I know,
that later on, this would develop my technique into something
extraordinary. My squatting technique at first was a fairly narrow
stance, with quads doing most of the work, no heels off the ground
or anything, just knees forward very upright stances. In about 2
years, my squat went from a grinder 315 at 14 years old to a 500 at
the age of 16. No special work was employed accept for the
occasional leg press, the old nautilus extension machines, leg
curls, and walkouts. At this time, being trained by old school
lifters, if you wanted to squat more, then you need to squat more,
nothing fancy just plain and simple. I guess you could say at this
time I was always analyzing workouts, and fascinated with getting
stronger, but the workouts stayed the same.
At the age of 17 I entered my first national meet, in Chicago
Illinois. I don’t remember the numbers exactly, but they were close
to 525, 365, 515. At this point I was beaten, and received 2nd place
in the meet. I guess this was really a turn around factor. I
thought, “Damn if I’m training this hard and people are beating me,
something is wrong”. I never made excuses that the guy was stronger
than me, because I knew that I was the strongest, I just hadn’t
figured my training or my body out yet. At the age of 18 my training
was still moving slow, I was in the mid 5s on squat, but nothing
drastic. It took me until I was 19 to finally hit the 600 mark.
Then I arrived in College, and everything changed. My life was
different in so many ways. I would go to my undergraduate exercise
science classes and listen to teachers talk and explain simple
training ideas, and from then on, I was a student of the game. I
would stay late ask crazy question about things the teachers didn’t
even know about. Then I ran into a professor that directed me down
to the weight room. I met a small 148-165 guy named JC. This little
bastard let me tell you, thought he was king shit. So at first, I
hated the man. But slowly we got to talking and becoming friends.
After I found out about our powerlifting team through him, the rest
is history. My squat went from 600 to 675 in 1 year. This was all
possible by training in way I never thought a powerlifter should
train. We would stretch; do insane amounts of sets, but lower reps
than I was used to (old pyramid style, you know the drill), and had
many new training apparatuses. Then we would hit muscles that I
didn’t even know existed. After a while, my body started to
transform from a slightly stronger than average collegiate lifter to
an elite level powerlifter. Lifts went to 700, 475, 600 at 21.
At this point I was a sophomore, but I think both JC and myself knew
we had maxed out our knowledge to get me stronger. At this point I
was familiar with Westside barbell. Having read articles Mr. Simmons
had wrote, to hearing stories from Jim Dawson on how Louie was a
crazy dude who did very unorthodox training back in the early 70s. I
went to the Arnold classic that year, and low and behold, Mr.
Simmons was walking out the door after the bench contest. My buddy
goes “there is Louie, go talk to him”. I rushed to meet him before
he disappeared, but I was scared to approach the man. He was
surrounded by the Westside crew, which if famous for being some
stout boys. But I took a big gulp and said screw it. We talked and
he gave me his number and told me to come and visit him sometime.
Within a few weeks I was down at the famous gym. Now this is where
I’m really not sure how strong I would be now, if that day hadn’t
happened. Everything I thought I knew about training was lost;
everything that had worked so marginally in the past was discarded.
He was so impressed with my lifting, as well as some others on the
team, that he gave us some equipment that we so desperately needed.
This is where the dynamic method, max effort method, bands and
chains were all starting to enter my training realm. Which I will
have to say, got me weaker at first because I didn’t quite
understand the concepts, but the learning curve of a meathead is a
little skewed I will admit. Many new things were entering my
workouts; many new ways to train were complicating my brain. After a
while, I started to wonder where Westside were getting these ideas.
I asked him about books and training methods, and he led me to all
the translated texts from Russia. After reading these books, my eyes
were wide open with what seemed to be ideas that really made sense
after reading them front to back a few times a piece. I don’t know
how these eastern block countries figured this stuff out, but they
did and in most ways, are still much more advanced than our programs
are today (guess that some of the reason there is no gym to match
Westside on strength across the board). Now the only thing that
stays the same is change.
By the time I completely transferred to Westside methods at around
the age of 22 my lifts were 750-530-and 675 and just grew from
there. Now my workouts are planned but the only thing that that
stays the same is change. Change keeps your mind healthy, keeps your
ego strong, and makes you a better all around lifter due to your
varied abilities. Also with change comes better balance between
muscle groups and less nagging pains due to overuse.
Remember that change is the most important thing in a training
cycle, or yearly plan. If you want to get stronger, you must change.
Change you’re thought patterns, change your knowledge, and this will
lead to a change in your body. Learn from the best, and the
strongest. Don’t waste your time on book experts; there are plenty
of those. Learn from people that have done it themselves, lived the
life, and made the sacrifices to become great. Bar experience means
more than any book. Due your share of reading but remember that the
bar doesn’t lie, the old riddle of steel as Conan would say.
Now, my lifts are growing more and more each year, with a hope of
being one of the best lifters of all time. I intend to move to
Westside in the spring and take my knowledge and strength to new
levels. I hope that this story helps you to pursue your dreams (as
my dream started, to be one of the strongest men ever), and see
where it takes you.
Matt Wenning
Ball State Powerlifting head coach
Sport Biomechanics Masters student
903 squat, 585 bench, 700 DL 2175 total |
