Mike Durham is a client of mine. He is 38 years old and married with a daughter. He started training at a young age and has competed in the USAPL, WNPF, UPA, AAU, and APF. His best raw total is 1530 in the 242 class. He is a graduate of The Citadel and Clemson University and served as a Marine Corps Infantry Officer for 10 years.
I always
thought training was choice between heavy and short or lighter with more
volume. I wanted to be strong so I chose
heavy and short. Most workouts were usually a warm up, a couple of hard sets on
the Big Three and then some lighter bodybuilding assistance. I got stronger and gained muscle but I
eventually hit a plateau. I read some
stuff on Bulgarian training so I thought I would give it a go. Multiple short sessions a week on the squat
and bench resulted in some quick gains but I quickly stalled again. After a short bout of full time Olympic
lifting, I was looking for something new. I read Jim’s E book and liked his
training philosophy and thought I would give it a go. I thought I was training hard before but I
found out fast that I was entering an uncharted territory.
The Process
The first six
weeks were rough. I would get nervous
the night before a squat session and usually break into a cold sweat
during. Each session consisted of me
walking around between sets having the same conversation with myself over and
over. “You can do one more set.” or
“Just one more and you can stop, that’s enough”. I would get through that one and the whole
process would start over again. I
started bringing a pad of paper with me and I would make slashes for all the
sets I was supposed to do. After I did
one, then I drew a line through it.
I cant tell
you how many times the first set would feel really heavy and I would somehow
make it through 10 more. What probably
got me through it was I took every session as a challenge. I wasn’t going to wimp out and have to report
back that I failed. I stuck through
those first six weeks and thing started to change.
Mental
The first
thing I noticed was my mindset of what I was capable of totally changed. I started powering through workouts that I
just flat out couldn’t do in the past.
My second week of squatting was 445 12x2 and I barely made it. Week 8 I squatted 460 for 6x5 and it was just
another workout. I started enjoying the
workouts and added more work in after I hit Jim’s prescribed set and reps. You learn that you can always do one more
rep or set and that your mind will shut you down way before the body hits
something its not capable of doing.
Physical
I started
this type of training weighing 230 pounds with a 520 squat , a 355 bench, and a
235 Press. After 14 weeks, I am 238 and
have hit a 540 squat (Just a belt) after one of Johns Marathon squat sessions, 400-pause
bench, and a 260 strict press. I also
managed to Front Squat 405 for a triple and Push Press 280. I have hit countless rep and set Prs in the
squat and bench from 485 for 20 singles to 335 for 7 sets of 3.
My body
composition has changed without any focus on it. My waist is down and I gained 8 pounds. I have to eat a large amount of calories to
get through the workouts. I actually
don’t think it would be possible to eat enough to gain a lot of fat with these
type workouts.
Conclusion
My
experience has altered the way I will train forever and I can’t recommend it
highly enough. It’s not for everybody but if you care about your lifting then
there is no better way to train. It will
be hard at first and you will question why you are putting yourself through
it. Stay mentally tough and take it a
workout, a rep and a set at a time. Your
body and mind will adapt and you will reap the gains that only true hard work
can give.
Squat: 495x2 525x1 3 cycles 540x1
