Hey, I’m seeing a lot of new faces here, so I wanted to give you a quick look into who I am, how I got here and how I can help you.
I started lifting at 99 lbs. I just lost a bunch of weight after my gym teacher told me I “clearly wasn’t in the best shape of my life”. I had recently started working out and was enjoying seeing some progress of any kind but was still REALLY unhappy with how I felt about my body… as if it was out of my control – even though I had just lost a bunch of weight.
That same day, I literally walked home after school and found my first program – a bodypart split.đ
Lifting quickly became the apple of my eye. The feeling of being able to control my success and build to being a stronger human even though I was never good at sports made me zero in my focus towards what I enjoyed seeing progress in: strength.đ€
It wasnât long before I signed up for my first meet⊠the worst I’d ever have – I was self-coached and even gave them my attempts in lbs rather than kgs. It wouldâve bombed out had it not been for some VERY understanding meet organizers.
With the goal of improving over that first meet flop, I kept competing – ending up at 2013 CPF Nats where I set a national squat record, followed by taking 1st in my category and winning best lifter at 2014 AAU Worlds.đ„
Little did I know, in 2018 I would do my last full power meet before dealing with 6 years worth of autoimmune problems that stop me from ever doing a comp squat or dl again.
Sometimes you don’t get to choose when you’re done.
But I’m not, and now that I have my health in order, I’m getting back to competing in bench only and making do with what I can.
Knowing I could have dialed things in more in the earlier years of my competing that would have brought me on the podium faster and more hurts though.. I have regrets. Those avoidable injuries and periods of slow progress cost me never reaching my true potential.
That’s why I started the Platform-Ready Blueprint: to show you how to prep for your 1st meet while:
â Adding 80-200 lbs to your total
â Building up your weak points in each lift
âSpending <5 hours/wk @ the gym
Anyways, glad to have you here. Talk soon!
– Coach Matt đ
1. Follow me on Instagram (@strongeryoupt) for free lifting advice, programs and more powerlifting content. You can DM me the word “BENCH GUIDE” and I’ll get you a copy of my bench variation PDF that outlines the programming style we used to add 40+ lbs to JR’s Bench.
OR
2. Apply to join my âPlatform-Ready Blueprintâ and become a case study. Weâll work with you 1-on-1 (in-person or online, depending on location) to consistently increase your PRs.
It takes less than 60 seconds to apply HERE in order to find out more information and see if youâd be a good fit.