• E P C - 2 0 1 7 • Great weekend at the inaugural European Powerlifting Conference in Limerick. Great to meet and learn from some of the best coaches and athletes in the world of strength training... and a nice excuse to catch up with some old friends and put faces to names in the industry here in Ireland. Huge thanks to @dannylennon_sigmanutrition and @garbenn_cg for all their hard work in organising it - and to all the speakers for providing such top quality content. Look forward to the next one! •[[[[~~~]]]]• #EverStrength #EPC2017

Me - Talking about training, business, stuff and other things . Thank you Sean and Jason for having me on. I hope we mostly got through it without calling people cunts and alienating the fitfam 😊

• M O M E N T U M• 235kg deadlift ... The devil on my shoulder said keep pushing but reminded myself that these aren't the numbers I really want. What recently looked very far away is now moving back into sight though and that makes me happy. Back off sets 185kg (5x3), deficit speed deads 145kg + Chains (8x1), Pendlay Rows supersetted with Hamstring Curls (5x10) and 100 banded ab pulldowns to finish. •[[[[~~~]]]]• #EverStrength #Momentum #Happiness

• 2 - C O U N T - P A U S E - B E N C H • 160kg today for three singles... Goldilocks effect in full swing. First too hot... second too cold... third juuuust right (in vid). Back off triple sets with comp pause bench (130kg/120kg/110kg x8) > Neutral Grip DB Press (45s/40s/35s x8) > DB Flies (15s/12.5s/10s x15). #EverStrength #TrainHard #FightEasy

• P R O G R E S S • 230kg x2 squat w/wraps... back off set 180kg x10 then finished with some beltless speed deadlifts. Brain is hungry to compete - body taking a little longer to comply.... Soon. •[[[[~~~]]]]•

• W E E K S - M O N T H S - Y E A R S • Kate with her first ever triple digit squat... 102.5kg while most of the world was still tucked up in bed. We had a good chat about strength VS powerlifting. She's not a powerlifter, she hikes at the weekend, does things like spin classes, socialises, has a few drinks and knows that the numbers on the bar are part of the big picture without letting them become an all consuming endevour. After she racked the bar I she said 'well that only took three years, just have to perfect it now'. Legend. •[[[[~~~]]]]• #EverStrength

• C O M P E T I T I O N • Congratulations to @stevemanning15 in hitting big PRs on all three lifts in his first ever powerlifting competition this past weekend in Cork! ------------------------------------------------------------------ #repost - Not a bad day's work yesterday. A lot of lessons learnt the hard way. I'll take the total and move on. Squat 200 Bench 120 Dead 240 at a plumpness a Christmas ham would be proud of. A massive thank you to @everstrength_training for his continued patience and direction. He said to me 11 months ago "...and you'll probably want a 200 squat". I laughed. He didn't. Thanks boss!

Cogratulations to @maherrks on his almost perfect day at the IPF Open in Cork this past weekend despite an ongoing shoulder injury. To quote the man himself: Here are my three lifts from today 8/9 185PR, 117.5 and 235PR. Almost the perfect 9/9 3PR day save for a small mistake on my last bench. It'll just have to be there the next day! Thanks and congratulations to @stevemanning15 who took these videos and also managed to PR all three of his own lifts in his first competition. @kieranhegarty2 has almost somehow, despite my best efforts, turned me into a powerlifter. Now where's that 200 squat? @everstrength_training #powerlifting #squat #bench #deadlift #TGL #everstrength #IPF #irishpowerliftingfederation #itwasthereontheday -

• D E D I C A T I O N • Linda O Connor comes all the way from Kerry to train with me. Geographically speaking thats literally as far away as it gets in the entire country. Think about that next time you skip a workout because its raining/you're tired/there's traffic in the M50 etc. Here she is with a 135kg sumo deadlift (35kg PR on the training cycle and 25kg all time sumo PR) and a 105kg squat (25kg on the training cycle and 5kg all time) all while coming back from injury... Heaviest lifts in training this whole training cycle were 75kg squat and 95kg deadlift with a heavy emphasis the past few months on stability, training volume, tactical breathing and technique. Net result: Injury free, all time strong and most importantly the confidence that her best days are very much still ahead of her. •[[[[~~~]]]]• #EverStrength #SetBacks #ComeBacks

• M I S L O A D • 167.5kg/98.5% bench for an ugly single... thought I had 165kg on the bar but serves me right for using a heap of fractional plates to keep everything 'calibrated'. Bar speed good, tekkers bad. Main focus on bench training at the moment in general is to make ~160kg a nothing weight in psychological terms as it used to (and at times still does) represents the 'oh sh*t' point in training. Every week Im working up to a heavy(ish) single then supersetting the 75% back off sets with neutral grip dumbbell presses and flies. Done about 48hrs after a 5RM overhead press (50kg dumbbells) and a proceeding volume intensive shoulder/tricep workout so probably more there fresh. Long story short: This is a video of @dowlingmark 's glutes. •[[[[~~~]]]]• #EverStrength #BenchPress #MarksGlutes

• N E W - T O Y S • In this case a brand new 25kg Sakari Squat Bar AND a Sakari Deadlift bar. This place is basically like a Toys R Us for people who want to get strong... damn its good to be back training here •[[[[~~~]]]]• #EverStrength #HerculesClub #RawPowerlifting

• T E S T I N G • Maria Greenan with PRs in all three competition lifts... first time testing all three as they would be done on the day, first time going through a training cycle pausing the bench, first time using a stiff comp bar and calibrated plates. 115kg squat for a collossal 17.5kg all time PR, 70kg bench for a 5kg all time PR and finished off with a 145kg deadlift for a 5kg PR and going agonisingly close to pulling 150kg on final attempt. 3 lessons learnt: you train when its time to train and test when its time to test, the entire 8 week programme was performed at submaximal percentages focusing on technical proficiency. Yes, deadlifting after maxing out your squat and bench is a lot harder than testing it fresh... and yes, competiton standard equipment feels different to standard commercial gym bars/plates! Anyway - a holiday well earned for Maria and the next training blocks will lead to her eventual return to the powerlifting platform later this year •[[[[~~~]]]]• #EverStrength