An Introduction to “Powerlifting: Year 1″

I love powerlifting.

I love every aspect of it, whether it’s the training, the competition, the camaraderie, or the gear. Oh, how I love the gear. Outside of family, there is absolutely nothing I would rather devote my time and energy towards. In the past few years though, I’ve been taking just as much, if not more pleasure in coaching than even my own lifting.

The clear high point to my career has been my addition to the elitefts™ team. While the exposure and free stuff have been awesome (have I mentioned how much I love gear?), the single greatest aspect has been the ability to help other lifters, both through my articles and the Q&A.

Since coming on to the site, I’ve become much more conscious of how many beginning lifters there are out there who don’t have access to the guidance they need for a successful start to their career. Personally, I’ve been lucky and have always had access to better lifters to guide me along the way. Unfortunately, most beginning lifters do not have this luxury. Worse yet, many find themselves listening to powerlifting “experts” who do more harm than good.

When I made up my mind to start a project for this site, I wanted to come up with something that:

1. There was a clear need for.
2. Was not already offered on elitefts™ (at least not in book form).

First, I went back and looked at the Q&A questions to see what readers were asking. As you might expect, the majority of the powerlifting questions were geared towards the novice/beginner level, so I knew that this would be where I needed to direct my efforts.

Next, I looked over what was already offered on elitefts.com. There are already tons of great programs like 5/3/1 and Juggernaut. You can also find broader-scope projects like Under the Bar and Extraordinary Resolve, written by guys far more interesting than myself.

It occurred to me that what I have not seen, on elitefts.com (or anywhere for that matter), is a single, all-inclusive beginner’s guide to competitive powerlifting. At least not one that covers the sport in its current incarnation.

Quite simply, I wanted to write the book that I wish I had when I was starting out.

Three months, 106 Monster energy drinks and 232 pages later, Powerlifting: Year 1 was finished. I named it this because the first year of a lifter’s career tends to be make or break. Either they will be successful and want to stick with it, or they will become frustrated, and never move on to fulfill their potential on the platform. After 15 years of attending and lifting in meets, I’ve seen way more lifters come and go than persevere. I’m convinced that many of them would still be at it today if they had started out right in the first place.

The book not only covers, but goes far beyond the basics of the sport. While I knew I needed to include essentials, like how to perform a squat, I also wanted to cover things that lifters typically have to learn the hard way.

For example:

• How to choose the right gym/lifting club. Can you tell the difference between a group of accomplished lifters and a bunch of guys who just play the role?
• What to do (and what not to do) when walking into a powerlifting club for the first time. This chapter may save you from hours of abuse.
• What really makes a lifter hardcore (it’s probably not what you think).
• A step-by-step guide to preparing and getting through your first meet. I cover EVERYTHING from how to choose your attempts, to the ideal time to wrap your knees.

The book also covers such fundamentals as:

• A detailed list of lifts and exercises with illustrations and descriptions.
• Several tried and true powerlifting programs for raw and geared lifters.
• The most important pieces of equipment to the powerlifter, ranked in order of importance.
• How to know when it’s time to use gear, as well as detailed instructions on how to get the most out of it.

I’m extremely proud of this e-book, and I’m excited at the opportunity it might provide for tomorrow’s powerlifters. I also recommend the book for more experienced lifters who are in the position to coach/mentor a beginner, but might not know where to start.

If you are considering getting into the sport but don’t know where to start, save yourself some time and setbacks. Pick up Powerlifting Year 1!

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