Many of you may remember a post a year or two ago about my good friend Justin. We’ve known each other for many years, and came up powerlifting together while at Ball State University.
After many years of powerlifting and bodybuilding training, when Justin and I started training together about a year ago, the guy was a mess. His hips were stiff, his back hurt all the time, and his shoulders were an absolute wreck.
Needless to say, he needed some work.
When Justin started training at IFAST full time, we made it our first and foremost goal to get him healthy – anything after that was gravy. For a guy that had basically been injured for years, this was no small feat. Here’s a brief recap of everything we did with Justin.
For his hip mobility, we used all the basic drills from Magnificent Mobility. In the beginning we really empahsized single-leg work, and as things got better we got into more and more bilateral work. The key with Justin was the squat and pull – he didn’t understand the concept of neutral spine when “in the hole,” and that caused a lot of pain and discomfort. So we drilled neutral spine in his head, while simultaneously working to improve total hip mobility.
For the upper body we used Inside-Out for mobility, warm-ups and activation. Over the first 6-7 months, Justin did no heavy pressing, outside of resisted push-up variations. The reason for this was two-fold:
1 – His scapulae were very unstable, and bench press variations always caused him pain
2 – His serratus anterior was REALLY weak
In this case we did tons of upper back work, focusing on proper scapular stability. The crazy thing was, his back thickness really improved, even in the initial months when his program was almost entirely “corrective!”
So after almost 8 months, here’s what Justin did in the gym last week:
Deadlift from floor, 405×3
Front Squat to Parallel Box, 255×5, 275×3
Neutral Grip DB Bench, 90×5, 95×5, 100×3
Keep in mind, we weren’t actively chasing those numbers – but as he got healthier and his confidence grew, they kind of fell into place. It’s going to be scary in the next year when we actually start training to get him stronger!
The next step in the program is a serious fat loss phase. I’ll be taking before pictures today, with some after pictures to come in the next few months. Stay tuned!
Stay strong
MR
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Congratulations on the success. I know you didn't have any doubts about the outcome in the beginning but it's always nice to see the efforts of hard work.
Congratulations on the success. I know you didn’t have any doubts about the outcome in the beginning but it’s always nice to see the efforts of hard work.
Great job guys!
Actually, I have a question. I've just purchased 'Magnificent Mobility', and am starting to go through the exercises.
My question to you is – Are benefits of these exercises diminished in any way, if your joints are 'hyper-mobile'? Mine are, and I have better than average range of motion in my joints, so standard stretches don't give me adequate results where I am feeling it – I usualy have to increase the degree of movement. Also, I've only just been told by my physio that because my joints are hypermobile, as I age, it's important for me to 'stabilise' the joints. Will these mobilisation exercises support the strengthening and stability of the joints?
Kerry,
Magnificent Mobility is great – it addresses mobilisation AND stabilisation exercises.
It might be worth speaking to your physio about a suitable weight training programme as stability requires strength as well.
This Justin Ware guy sounds like a total tool. I know women that are stronger than him
This dude sounds like a big bad ass.
That's just the motivation I needed before my training session this afternoon.
Keep up the great work Jason/Mike!
-Eric