Last weekend I took a trip to Las Vegas and worked with my friend Stan Efferding (Worlds Strongest Bodybuilder) and also Eric Spoto (worlds strongest raw bench presser). I have been working with Eric Spoto on his rotator cuff surgery rehab plan over the last several months. Eric has been working with his physical therapist on his rehab plan while I was guiding him on his training in the gym and other recuperative movements that fell within those parameters. With Eric’s progress he had reached a point that we could begin incorporating the ShouldeRok to deal with some of the root issues that could have led to his surgery to begin with. It was time to build the platform for ongoing strength and shoulder health for his continued dominance in the bench press, prompting this trip.

Upon learning that I was coming down I received a text from Stan asking if I could help him dial in some changes to his deadlift. At least the text was sent to my phone, but I was confused as he was referencing the “mad scientist” for assistance. Upon arriving at the Iron House gym Stan cleared up that he was indeed talking about me, as you will see in the following video. Upon reflection the nickname is fitting given my tendency to tinker with and improve everything including my machining, 4 wheeling rigs, gym devices, and human movement.

Don’t worry the actual coaching videos will follow in coming weeks: “The Mad Scientist of Powerlifting”? Stan Efferding w/Chris Duffin

If you get a chance to checkout the new EliteFTS website do so. I post detailed training log’s with Dave Tate and EliteFTS. The other featured athletes I have the opportunity to share this with are phenomenal, world class and strong. Take a look around, engage EliteFTS and the community we serve. Join in and take part to increase the amount of good information we share (via tweets, reposts, links etc…) to keep our community of athletes growing, mobile, healthy and STRONG!

Don’t forget to checkout our Whiskey & Deadlifts article and t-shirts.

Originally posted on EliteFTS.com

The following program is built to rapidly grow one’s work capacity while maintaining strength. There will still be gains in strength at this time but the goal is to make substantial gains in work capacity without sacrificing strength, as often happens. It may take a full cycle to ramp up to where you are able to work at full capacity as written in the Week 1-3 phase.

To do this, use smaller loads on the prowler, grappler, swings, or reps on the rope so that you can complete the entire HIIT session. Then over the first three weeks of the cycle, ramp these loads up as your capacity increases. In following cycles your goal is to start at that higher load immediately at week one and maintain through week three. From there, use the same weights/reps/time-on but cycle down as prescribed by dropping circuits or sessions.

[Editor’s Note: The information you see on this piece of paper is straight from the mind of Chris Duffin. Dave gave Chris a call one afternoon and asked that he help contribute to the Make-A-Wish Holiday Manuals. Immediately, and without pause, Chris sat down and recorded the precise methods he has used to help himself and other lifters at Elite Performance Center. There is no second-hand recreation or low-level journalism tactics to make this appealing. It is simply the thoughts of an all-time world record holder.]

Here is some more information about how I usually train. Based on the above workout and the basic tenants of my training methods, you can get a good idea of how you can put these techniques to use.

• The most important thing for any lifter (0:07)
• Duffin’s training protocol (0:25)
• How and why does Duffin measure the speed of trainings lifts? (3:05)
• How does Duffin adjust his training parameters based on the speed of his lifts? (5:06)
• How do Duffin’s training methods change when in preparation for a meet? (6:36)
• What allows Duffin to recover from heavy training more easily than most lifters are able? (8:12)
• How Duffin coaches at Elite Performance Center (9:53)

This post isn’t just about the rehab process. It also gives you a view into the mindset that it takes to never give up and not only overcome a major setup back. And to do so coming back stronger and more motivated than before.

In October of 2010 I tore BOTH the Sternal and Clavicular head of my left pec off their attachment to the humerus. This required surgery and installation of 3 titanium studs followed by rehab. Since that time I have continued to receive multiple emails, Facebook messages, and YouTube questions due to my rapid recovery prompting me to put this piece together. The typical recovery takes 12 months before getting a full release to train heavy, along with the caveat that you will never be 100% again. In the process I’m sharing with you here I had regained mobility within a matter of weeks and had progressed enough that I was training to compete at a powerlifting meet at 6 months. At 9 months I was in competition setting not only a personal record for a total but also landing a Top10 All-Time Powerlifting total. Given the standard rehab process and the experiences of other lifters this was a significant achievement.

The primary content of this article is the video series itself. It is important to note that there is significant risk of re-injury if you pursue these aggressive methods without the proper knowledge or supervision. If you choose to take that risk you can significantly reduce your overall recovery time, yield greater long term recovery, and develop a cascade of other injury due to overcompensation patterns.

With my current knowledge and resources I would take a little bit different approach in regards to the specific details of my recovery. However the overall process would still center on the same core concepts:

Mobility and Range of Motion

• Begin mobilizing the area and work on regaining your range of motion as soon as possible. But stay inside the pain threshold and listen to your body. Every day try to take it a little further. Find a great therapist or other practitioner that can assist you with mobility drills.

Work the Movement Patterns

• Begin utilizing and working the muscle through the movement patterns it is used in. Find a great therapist or other practitioner that can assist you with proper movement patterns.

Recovery Methods

• I spoke extensively about the use of Super Cissus in this video series.
• Also incorporate other recover methods such as foam rolling, trigger point, active release, deep tissue, graston, or stecco fascial to name a few. (I used nearly all of them and then some)

Stay Active

• Train what you can, you will be surprised how even training one side of the body will help you retain your strength and power overall.
• Don’t go INTO pain but play on the edges and continually move that boundary.

Other key points include setting aside the time and potentially money to invest in this being a primary focus. You need to be working on recovery every single day and multiple times a day. You will be pushing the limits of potentially re-injuring the area so you MUST connect with and listen to your body.

Due to the extensive number of video’s I will only embed a few of them. The rest will be linked.

The original injury was done by just being stupid and playing around. After a 2 hour bench press workout I decided I would attempt and iron cross… after never having done one before.

Week 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9bOlcROYx8

Week 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r_jdiAG1ho

Week 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEu4YRU2_8s

Week 5&6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrRrkg7ZklI

Week 20 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl3uEoKfyOk

Week 26 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQN986InL4Y

Week 26 Bench pressing with Slingshot http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBw1bfG4mco

Here are some excerpts of how I trained just one side of body or didn’t let my arm being in a sling hold me back. Mind you these methods are bordering on the side of ‘stupid’ in on some occasions… but it does dive home the point of don’t let anything stand in your way. I was squatting and doing 1-arm deadlifts just days/weeks after surgery

500×6 No arm squat

One arm deadlifts in a sling

Tire flips only weeks out

And finally my meet at 9 months post surgery. That 1008lb squat took a significant toll on my pec otherwise I believe I would have benched in the low to mid 700’s at this meet.

Don’t every give in and thing your done. Giving up just means your taking the easy path out. Use your obstacle to overcome as motivation to dig even deeper.

By Chris Duffin

If you watch my weekly video’s you have likely seen my hanging by one hand from a pull-up bar and asked “why”. Its’ not because I’m hoping someone will toss a banana at me, although with my current diet I would probably be quiet happy about that. As with most things I do there is a reason and it may be something of relevance to you as well.

In seeking to overcome some long standing elbow issues that were beginning to significantly impact my deadlift I was referred to Ido Portal. Ido has some interesting concepts worth exploring. One of which is hanging. This is primarily done for shoulder health, which in my case with the use of the ShouldeRök™ is not necessary.

However the tractioning on the elbow from both directions was worth exploring. I had already been doing static holds with a barbell for the last couple years to work on my grip strength and desensitize my thumb for the hook grip. With that in mind I wasn’t expecting much from the hangs and was surprised at the difference I found. In this case I began doing full passive hangs letting everything relax and hang. Doing so I found that even the grip became more challenging than when just holding on in an active movement such as a pull-up. With the passive hang everything is stretched from lats, scap, tricpes, biceps, and all the muscle of the lower arm and fingers.

I quickly transitioned from doing static holds to doing passive hangs and within a month had switched to one arm hangs. It wasn’t until the single arm hangs that I began really feeling a difference in my arm. The extra force as well as the dynamics of the hang put a lot more force and traction on my elbow from both directions. Grip also made a dramatic leap forward as I progressed with the one arm hangs. There has to be something with pulling on everything through that entire chain that helps over working the grip in isolation. This has been the first time I’ve made significant progress on regaining my grip strength since the first of my elbow surgeries 3 years ago.

In summary there are three things the single arm hangs to do for me all with one movement:

• Elbow Traction / Elbow Rehab
• Grip Strength development
• Pain tolerance development
• Hook grip maintenance (keeping thumb desensitized)

If you’re not a ShouldeRök™ user it will also benefit your shoulder health as well

From a logistics standpoint I did the single arm passive hangs 3-4 days a week for 3-4 sets of approximately 20-35 seconds each. Essentially till I had a dramatic drop off in grip strength or increase in pain levels beyond tolerance. To develop to that point I was doing 2 arm hangs until I could consistently hit 2-3minute holds with 5-7minutes total per session. I was doing this on the same frequency as noted. According to Ido some people may need to start with an Active Hang which he describes if they have shoulder health or mobility issues.

Currently I am disappointed in myself as I have fallen out of the habit of doing them after GPA worlds and the following Holidays. I will be adding a pull-up bar at my home to facilitate working these consistently into my program again.

A thanks goes out to Dr. Philip Snell for pointing out this path to me. Make sure to check out his websites myrehabexercise and fixyourownback.

Whiskey & Deadlifts
(aka - Powerlifting: Experimentation and Logic behind Intra-Workout Alcohol Consumption)
by powerlifter Chris Duffin

Are you looking for an excuse to get drunk or abuse alcohol? If yes than go away! This is most definitely not an article for you. Without a doubt the negative long term and short term effects of alcohol are very well documented. Particularly as an athlete, excess and even moderate alcohol use can have a detrimental effect on your powerlifting and strongman performance. From negative hormonal factors such as lowering testosterone, lowering HGH, lowering ADP generation, and increasing cortisol to dietary impacts of reducing protein syntheses, containing 7cal/g of energy, and interfering with absorption of other nutrients - all of these factors make it clear that alcohol is something to avoid as a strength athlete (or consume in very minimal quantities). The short term depressant effect, slowing both cognitive ability as well as coordination, and reducing decision making abilities makes it hard to understand how there would be any value in alcohol at all – particularly when it comes to strength sports.

Unfortunately for us, much of the research we have access to is incomplete. It looks at the short term and long term effects of alcohol on the body. There is plenty of positive research on minimal to moderate long-term alcohol use and the positive effects on cardiovascular health and free radical scavenging properties – This might be something for us to explore at another time.

The exception and interesting thing to note is in the lack of research on the IMMEDIATE effects of low-dose alcohol consumption on the athlete.

The proposed hypothesis is that alcohol used in small and properly timed doses allows for harnessing some of the immediate psychoactive effects that can have a net positive impact on performance. Before reading further I would like to state that the use of alcohol is banned by WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency), so if you are thinking of using it in tested competitive events – please don’t. Interestingly enough, the very first athlete to be disqualified from the Olympic Games was for alcohol use at 1968 games in Mexico City (Hans-Grunner Liljenwall). This was only one year following the death of Tom Simpson, a Tour de France athlete that died from excessive use of Brandy and Amphetamines during the race. It was this 1967 death that caused the IOC (International Olympic Committee) to kick off its anti-doping efforts. The use of alcohol in athletics has been around for some time. How long exactly is a historical mystery, but it is well documented that the challenging 1904 Olympic Marathon was won by Thom Hicks who was ready to give up at the 16mile mark due to exhaustion. After that point, at every stop his handlers gave him brandy for recovery and he went on to finish and win the race. The ancient Greeks in the original Olympic Games used a number of psychoactive drugs, including wine consumption, to enhance performance. Even today many Russian strength athletes are rumored to enjoy drinking vodka before deadlifting. I believe this is not just because they like vodka but the actual immediate performance enhancing effects.

To explain my logic I invite you to first imagine a scenario that many may be familiar with – an individual in a bar. In that bar you notice someone at another table you find very attractive and want to strike up a conversation with, but most of us in this classic scenario are nervous. You friend suggests you have a shot of “liquid courage”. Yes, we know some of the positive psychoactive effects of alcohol from our own experiences without having to see any hard research. That quick shot of liquid courage does several things – first, it reduces inhibition and fear, then it can also shut down the many thoughts that run through your mind; thoughts of second-guessing yourself and of overthinking the situation. It quiets the mind and calms the nerves – effectively reducing anxiety in the short term. One interesting anecdote is that alcohol is banned in the sport of competitive shooting for exactly these reasons. Alcohol can be a performance enhancer that can reduce tremors, improve balance (yes…immediate but not long term), and thus ultimately improving accuracy. In addition to calming the nerves, reducing inhibition, and reducing fear, it also heightens whatever mood you’re in – including aggression or sociability.

While alcohol is listed as a depressant it is an interesting drug in that that it can also have stimulant-like effects. Part of this effect may or may not be related to the fast acting metabolic action it has as a calorically-dense substance. Alcohol absorbs faster than simple carbohydrates yet has almost the same caloric density as fats while also being absorbed and used by the body with a higher priority than the other macronutrients. This may not be what causes stimulant like effects under some conditions, but it certainly has an impact as an on-demand intra-workout calorie source. Think back to the recovery of that marathon runner. We can anecdotally guess that if he had used alcohol before the race it would have had a negative impact on his performance. But in this specific application it was effective in the immediate, short term as an intra-workout energy source.

Additionally, alcohol has an immediate hypertensive effect on the heart – it effectively causes blood pressure to increase. While this effect is not typically considered beneficial, short-term spikes in blood pressure can make heavy weights feel lighter. Elevated blood pressure, reduced fear, less jitters/tremors, more focus (shutting down the overthinking mind), mood enhancement, reduced pain perception, fast absorbing caloric energy it is easy to now see how this popular psychoactive drug can be used as a specific targeted tool by which athletes can improve performance. As long as the amounts are kept to an absolute minimum - mitigating both the short term and long term negative effects – it is not a far reach at all to consider alcohol as a performance enhancer, particularly for strength athletes.

Due to the negative short term and long-term effects of alcohol its use in training should be very limited; perhaps saved for that heavy Squat or Bench Press PR when you need an extra boost. Think about being at the bar and having walked up and started a conversation with that person. With a shot or two in you, you are likely unaffected, have your wits about you, and can engage this person successfully. However, if you continue to drink, everything is going to go downhill quickly as you become inebriated. In the gym it needs to be the same way - a shot or two before that big lift of the week (or month) is all that is needed. Harness that big PR set and take it a step farther next time.

What you don’t want to do is to negatively affect the rest of your workout, the next days training, or your recovery in any way. As the Russians are rumored to do, it also seems wise to only use alcohol as a performance enhancer for movements you can walk away from – the deadlift being a perfect example. You don’t want to get stuck under a squat or bench because of reduced coordination, even if this isn’t likely with the amounts we’ve discussed. Additionally, if you chose to use this substance for performance enhancement at a (non-tested) powerlifting meet, you wouldn’t want to drink before squats or bench as this would leave you with the negative effects later in the day on the subsequent lifts.

I have only been experimenting with timing and amounts of alcohol in training for the last month or so. As suggested above, I have only done this on deadlift days. Currently I am deadlifting twice a week, and that puts me at 2-4 shots a week. I have found a shot 2-3min before my last pull to be most effective. Sometimes it is before the last two pulls. I have also found that lifting after the shot causes the alcohol to burn out of my system very quickly. I usually feel no negative effects of the alcohol before the set but as I walk away from the bar I can feel it hit rapidly and then it quickly goes away.

Since I deadlift at the beginning of a workout I was worried about the alcohol affecting me negatively while hitting all my volume work after pulling. I have found this not to be the case with how rapidly the alcohol wears off after a set. While my frequency of use has been high in employing this method on a weekly or twice weekly basis, that has been solely due to the fact that this is an experimentation phase. Once I have the effects, amounts, and timing dialed in I will add this to my tool kit for when I need the extra boost. This approach most definitely should not be utilized in every training session or even every week in my opinion.

**Disclaimer You will note that absolutely no documented research was presented for this article as it was written for entertainment purposes and is not meant in any way to be any sort of recommendation. Please take it as such and understand that I only wanted to share my thoughts on a subject for which very little research and written material (even anecdotal or experiential) exists.

Authors Note:

Chris Duffin has hit a PR in every single workout in every instance he tested this method. These sessions were all done while in the middle of a caloric deficit. Unlike the Russians and their Vodka… He’s sticking with an American alternative, Kentucky Whisky. We suggest Knob Creek or Bulleit because it’s good. There are of course many others. Enjoy your pick of the litter!

As always, if you’re looking for a great strength tool to add into your arsenal of daily work to increase you Bench Press, core strength, mobility and reduce the chance of shoulder injury than be sure to check out our ShouldeRok!

Whiskey & Deadlift shirts coming available now!!!