CHASE KARNES

HOW I TRAINED FOR...

the North American Strongman Nationals

JEREMY FREY
HOW I TRAINED FOR...
the XPC Coalition

DAVE KIRSCHEN
HOW I TRAINED FOR...
the 2014 XPC Finals

MARSHALL JOHNSON
HOW I TRAINED FOR...
the UPA Iron Battle on the
Mississippi
How I Trained For…the UPA Iron Battle
by Marshall Johnson

How I Trained For…my SPF Pro World Record Total

by Brian Schwab

How I Trained For…the North American

Strongman Nationals
by Chase Karnes

How I Trained For…the IFBB Mr. Olympia

(Under-220 class)
by Mark Dugdale

How I Trained For…America’s Strongest

Woman and the 2.5 Crush Grip Certification
by Amy Wattles
How I Trained For…the USAPL Raw Nationals
by Scott Yard

How I Trained For…Recovery Post-Hip Replacement

by Dave Tate

How I Trained For…the XPC Coalition

by Jeremy Frey

How I Trained For…a Ten Times Bodyweight Raw Total

by Brandon Smitley

How I Trained For…the 2014 XPC Finals

by Dave Kirschen
When your baby is diagnosed with cancer – life changes. Suddenly you are confronted with
the possibility that they won’t have ‘the rest of their lives’ to live out their hopes and dreams.
You hope and you pray that they will, but you are also confronted with the frailty of life in
a very real way. This is a rambling way of getting to my main point — how in the world do I
thank someone who gives her something that I couldn’t? I mean, if she wanted a webkinz,
I could and did get that for her. If she wanted pickles (or anything else for that matter!) at
11:30 p.m. in the hospital, her dad could and did do that. But for “Make-A Wish” to give her
the opportunity to think of one thing she would love to do in her lifetime and for elitefts™ to
offer such a huge donation to make that happen…there just are no words to fully express the
gratitude I have for them all. That is crazy love…I can’t think of another way to describe it.
Every one of them has a special place in my heart. I will never forget their kindness to a little
girl they had not even met when they agreed to give so generously.”
— Mother of a Wish Child
This was part of a letter elitefts received from the very first wish granted in 2008. I have kept this
quote on my phone even since. This one quote not only represents what Make-A-Wish® does,
but also what we do at elitefts.com. It was these common values that brought us together in
2007 and has solidified our relationship ever since.
This past year elitefts.com was presented with the Make-A-Wish, OH,
KY, IN Strength Award. This was in part for the 49 wishes we have helped
grant, the one wish we personally made come true, the hours of volun-
teer work, over a quarter of a million dollars donated and stepping up in
helping the chapter grow. When elitefts can partner with another orga-
nization and truly make a difference, that is something to be pound of.
Unlike most companies who donate to charities, elitefts doesn’t do
things in a selfish way, we truly do this as a team. The money that has
been raised has all been through work we do as staff, athletes, coaches,
columnists, and friends and then turned around and offered as seminars
and ebooks used to raise awareness and donations for Make-A-Wish®.
Your purchase of this manual completes the circle, involving everyone
that is a part of elitefts.com.
PLEASE suggest this manual and the others to everyone you know as
every cent made on these will go to granting even more wishes. You may not have realized this
when you purchased this manual but elitefts.com will not make one cent on these. All proceeds
will go to granting wishes.
As the mother above noted. There are no words we can use to express our
gratitude for you all, so I will end with another quote:
“From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however,
makes a life.”
— Arthur Ashe
July 22nd, 2012 UPA Iron Battle on the Mississippi. First meet while on Team elitefts and best meet
to date.

4 months leading up to the meet:

4/2/2012 Puking rally with the Prowler

and the 3rd Secret of Success.
Saturday was our second day hitting the sleds. Carley, Woody, Nasty, and I showed up in the parking
lot at 9am for some torture. Now for all my teammates at Elitefts pushing the prowler probably isn’t as
grand of an accomplishment as it is for us haha. This was just my second time, but I assure you it will
become routine for me as well. Our first two trips were on this rough concrete and the sled wouldn’t
budge haha, two trips of that and we were all destroyed. The parking lot over had nice, forgiving asphalt
so we decided to use that and get at least a good day out of it. My wife Kathy was inside hitting her
openers for Laura Phelps Pro/Am in two weeks. Kathy will open 400ish/240ish/365ish. I am very excited
for her to meet Laura and the other women competing. Especially my new teammates like Molly and
Julia. Kathy is just in this sport almost two years, and this is her first year in gear. Hopefully she picks
up a lot from the more seasoned female lifters. So ladies no “mean mugging” Kathy Johnson please ;)

Prowler Sled Push

-6 trips at 80 yards a piece. (I puked)

Ab rolls with bar loaded with a 45 on each side.

-4 sets of 8

The third secret to success is resistance. Never giving up on what your doing no matter what brick
walls there are or what obstacles are in your way. Never listening to anyone who tells you no. Never
taking no for an answer. Telling yourself I’m going to succeed, because I am different than everyone
You have two choices. You can say ehh its not 4/7/2012 DEATHLIFTS!
gonna be me, I’m not even gonna try. Or you can
say to yourself let me put in as much effort as Boooyah grandma time for some heavy a$$ raw
possible today, tommorrow and the day after that pulls against bands. We are in our 2nd week of
on an endless timeline and see where it takes me. our 4 week brutal ME assault on raw training. We
And if you come up short at least you know you keep our bar agaisnt heavy resistance for 4 weeks
gave it everything you had. Never underestimate straight whether it be chains or bands. I think that
what you are capable of. Because its all about hard it is extremely important to build a strong raw
work, and everyone has the ability to work hard. base and then get back into gear. “Are you getting
I hope you have it in you to be extraordinary. Do stronger or just testing your strength?” -Mark Bell
everything in your power to be LEGENDARY.
Rawdawg Sumo Deathlifts against new Elitefts
4/3/2012 I'd rather feel pain than Green Band
nothing at all. 135x10
135x10
Last night was a cardio and bench night. I haven’t
135x3(Band added)
trained dumbbells on bench for almost two years.
185x3
I figured since I am strengthening my weakness I
225x3
shouldn’t ignore this.
275x3
315x3
Flat bench DB
365x3
-60x12
405x3
-80x12
455x3
-100x10
495x3
-115x10
545x3
-130x10
585x3
Hanging GM w/GCB Green band doubled over bar
Incline bench DB
at waist height
-80x10
-100x10
-Bar(65)+Green Band x5
-110x10
-Bar+Green Band x5
-120x10
-115x5
-155x5
Plate loaded Hammer press
-205x5
-5 sets of 12
-245x5
-295x5
Machine Pec Fly
-335x5
-5 sets of 12
That was it for the day. The band tension from both
Considering it has been so long since I did DB work
lifts destroyed us by the time GM’s were done.
I was still happy I could throw them around.
In order to become the person that you want to be
Do everything in your power to be legendary, takes an extraordinary amount of time and effort
Marshall Johnson every single day. No one got to where they were
without hard work regardless of whether or not
they had talent. There is a huge misunderstanding
between talent and skill. Talent you have naturally,
skill is only developed after hours and hours of
beating on your craft. Everyone who got to where
they were not only had talent but the skill is the
overwhelming factor that got them to where they
were because they worked on it every single day.
Its this idea, this concept of delaying gratification
and taking each day as an opportunity to live up to
that one grand accomplishment that you envision.
You don’t start and set out to build a wall over
night. Instead you say I’m gonna lay this brick as
perfectly as a brick can be laid. You do that every
single day and soon enough you will have a wall. In
order to get to one thousand, you need a thousand
“ones”. Each “one” seems insignificant in terms of
what it represents, but you need each “one” to
add up to one thousand. So you might think its
ok to miss my workout today, one workout isn’t
going to kill me. But one day missed of training
takes one day longer to get better. Each day is an
opportunity to build and improve and carry out
the task you want to carry out to help build up to
that one grand accomplishment.
So what are you going to do today? But more
importantly, how are you going to do it?
Dare to Dream,
Marshall Johnson
4/7/2012 DEATHLIFTS! Part 2 haha
Rawdawg Conv Rack pull with 2red mini bands
around neck attatched to bench in front of me
225x5
225x5
275x5
275x5
275x5
315x5
315x5
-I stole these from Zane Geeting. The band around
your neck is pulling you down from the top. The
last couple meets I have had trouble falling forward
on my squats and not being able to bring it back.
This is why we are really stressing exercises that
pull you forward. Always find your weaknesses
and destroy them. That is how we get strong(er).
Dumbbell pull through/hip thrusts
50lb db 4 sets of 10
If you knew you couldn’t fail, that word risk would
be meaningless. There would just be reward.
So what is holding you back? Are you willing to
take that risk on, to follow your dreams, are you
willing to give it everything you’ve got, to do
something that you absolutely love? If you are
doing something that you love how can someone
possibly be better than you at it relying strictly on
talent alone? If you are passionate about it, willing
to put in the time and work every single day how
can they be better than you? The people who are
the best at their particular craft all took the risk
for something they were passionate about. They
never let anyone detour them from their goal.
When that opportunity comes your way, will you?
-Muscleprodigytv
Prevail by Daring to Fail,
Marshall Johnson
4/8/2012 Saturday Morning Cardio
at Southside Bully with the Nutters
Southside Bully is about an hour drive for us.
We take any opportunity to go train with Garth
Heckman and the Nutters. Southside recently
aquired a 400,500,700,800,960lb tires for flipping.
The prowler is great for cardio but we wanted
to change it up so we aren’t doing just the one
exercise for cardio days. I was amazed how much
technique was involved with flipping those tires.
I could muscle around the 400lb pound tire but
when I hit the 700lb tire that wasnt happening.
Brian Carley was an ex strongman so he showed
us the right way to get the tire moving. I was able
to eventually move the 700lb’r but not the 800 or
960lb tire.
400lb tire 5 flips just goes to show the only person holding you
400lb tire 5 flips back is you. He had his foot on the break for a year,
400lb tire 5 flips all’s it took was taking his foot off the break.
700lb tire 3 flips
700lb tire 3 flips Rawdawg Bench with 120lbs in chain
Barx10
I am sold on tires as a great cardio workout. It was a 95x10
different exhaustion than the prowler but we were Barx3(chains added)
all equally dead. I must say though it destroyed my 135x3
forearm flexors. Squeezing with my hands is very 185x3
pain full. Just means I was hitting muscles that 225x3
havent been hit before. My goal by the end of the 275x3
summer is to get that 960 pound tire. 315x3
345x3
Always train your weaknesses. You shouldn’t go 365x2
to the gym everyday and just smoke the lifts you
know you can dominate. You need to go and get Floor press
beat up to. Swallow your pride and lift the hard
lifts for you. You might not be the top dawg at the 225x5
time, but eventually you will build a game that is 225x5
flawless on any level. Do you want to go into war 275x5
with a handgun, or the whole fricken arsenal? 315x5
365x5
Train your weakness,
Marshall Johnson
Kennelly DB ext.
4/9/2012 Easter Sunday 50lb dumbbells 4 sets of 12
Bench Massacre!
Never Underestimate What You Are Capable Of,
I am very fortunate to have friends and family that Marshall Johnson
understand that a training day is a training day no
matter what the date. Easter is just another bench 4/9/2012 Carter’s Bracelet
day. We got our bench on and then Easter began.
My goal today was to hit my heaviest raw triple The Day before the Lexen XPC Pro Coalition meet
with 120lbs of chain. Woody followed me while Scott Nutter presented me with a special delivery
everyone else hit singles on the rev band. I was very package from my friend Carter. Carter is a seven
happy to see our new guy Brian finally hit bench year old boy fighting a brain tumor. I had met
without fear. He tore his pec, to what degree I have Carter at a Hopekids event in January. In the
no clue, over a year ago and didn’t bench since. package was a picture, drawn by Carter, of me
While at P-Town he had been neglecting bench lifting weights with the quotes “win for me”. Along
for the first month. Whether it was the constant with the picture was this frail, thin bracelet. It was
tough love from diesel or trusting we wouldn’t do made of three pieces of thread about the size of
anything to injure him he finally started hitting it. floss. It was pink, black, and brown. I wanted more
On Sunday he worked up to 425 with a light rev than anything to wear this bracelet for Carter
band for a single. After taking a year off and hitting but it looked like it would snap under minimal
that with ease I was very impressed with him. It
pressure. It looked weak, vulnerable, and likely 4/10/2012 Cardio and
to break. I said to myself I will wear this until the
day it falls off, even if it is tomorrow. The next day
Bloodflow Night
at the meet I was sure it would snap while taking
my wrist wraps on and off. I was sure that night it Something I started doing a couple months ago
would fall apart in the pool. I was sure a week later was making it a point to go to the gym on every
I would snag it on something in the gym or playing non-training day. I will hit 20-30min low impact
with my dogs. Here I am, a month later, and this cardio and then do a full body blood flow circuit.
thin, weak, and frail bracelet is still on and holding I usually hit machines instead of free weight. I hit
strong. It appears to be getting tougher the more I every muscle group(bi’s, tri’s, shoulders, hammies
wear it and the more elements it endures. etc...) with very minimal weight. Usually no more
Last night I realized this bracelet IS Carter. Carters that 10-20lbs according to the machine. I will do
tumor, and chemo treatments have left him bald, 1-3 sets of thirty. There is very minimal strain
extremely thin, with out proper use of his eyes and on the muscle and joints but it has made a huge
legs. Anyone looking at Carter sees this very thin, difference on recovery time. Also it just makes
very weak, very frail little boy that looks like a calm me feel better mentally too going to the gym and
breeze will knock him down leaving him unable to exercising. Its better than not going to the gym.
get up. Yet everyday Carter gets up, weathers the
-22min stationary bike
elements of his condition and everyday life, and
-Bloodflow circuit
is somehow getting stronger and healthier. It is
-Hot tub/swimming pool
extremely hard letting yourself get emotionally
5min in hot tub then 5 min swim for about 20
involved with a child who has a terminal condition.
minutes total.
I didn’t have a choice with Carter, his strength,
courage, and resiliency motivated me and moved “Every word has a thought that is tied to it. I think
me. Every day I look at this bracelet and think that thinking is an action. Its not something that
about how Carter, like this bracelet, have one goal,
is separate from the body. You expect as a result
one purpose, and that is to hang on. And I know of believing , not in just some place of foreign
that they will. thought, but the continuing application of thought
and effort everyday all day. Not the words of my
Anyone can be strong, but it takes courage to have mouth but by the manifestation of my heart, my
strength. An undying, unfettered believe that thinking cinder that is now able to be seen by the
they will overcome any adversity no matter how work that I do not just when the camera is on but
impossible. when the camera is off. What time I get up in the
morning, what are the things that I do throughout
Carter Strong,
the course of my day. Why is it that I am able to
Marshall Johnson
go to bed being able to say one thousand things
that I’ve been able to do in the course of this day
that makes this day an effective day or a day of
efficient action. Because those efficient actions
when we start adding them up not just today but
tomorrow the next day the day after that one
month two month three month its not a surprise
six months later when the world is able to see the
manifestation of that”. -Kai Greene
Thoughts become things,
Marshall Johnson
“Confidence comes from doing, no one can teach 4/15/2012 Where you begin has no
you wisdom.”-Oscar Ardon
bearing on where you will end up.
Prevail by Daring to Fail,
Marshall Johnson We usually hit the prowler on Saturday mornings
but our gym owners kids had a wresting meet. We
are big family at P-Town so we try to be involved
4/14/2012 Friday the 13th with each other outside of the gym too. Its quite a
DEATHLIFTS!!!!! sight because we get decked out in our P-Town gear
and hit the wrestling meet like a bunch of pierced
What better day to train Deathlifts than Friday the up, tattooed convicts haha. Everyone knows who
13th! Got some evil ju ju working for P-Town on is there to watch Kaleb haha. We watched the
Friday. We rounded up every last chain in the shop meet till noonish, Kaleb(12) got 2nd, Parker(7) had
and ended up with 140lbs of chain total. I pull a rough day. Prowler time! We hit our 8 trips really
sumo in meets but Shawn Frankl got me training fast and continued in the gym with core work. I
both deadlift stances. I need to be strong from any think we will start to add more than just 90lbs to
angle. the sled now that we got the hang of it.

Conv Rawdawg Deads with 140lbs chain Prowler+2 Plates

135x10 -8 trips at 80yards a shot
135x5(chains added) Standing Cable Crunches
225x3 -4 sets of 15
315x3
405x3 Sit ups on the GHR machine
495x3 -4 sets of 12
585x3-725 at the top ;)
635x1.5 jumped to high, I should have taken a
smaller jump and hit the solid set of 3 Where you begin in this sport, or any, has no
bearing on where you end up. We all started out
Vogel-Pullz struggling to press the bar, we all had to start
Safety Bar+Plate/225 Bar in Hand Weight curling the five pound dumbbells. Your goals and
4 sets of 5 your dreams go as far as you let them. You cannot
get discouraged because you are not as strong as
Goodmornings with bands people around you. Do not compare yourself to
-Stand on band and loop band over head. Looks others. They may have talent and opportunities
like an evil triangle. you don’t, but then again you may possess talent
-4 sets of 12 and opportunities they don’t. It all starts with
desire, drive, and the willingness to sacrifice. Yes
Dare to Dream, someone may be better than you now, but if your
Marshall Johnson willing to put in the time and effort every single
day all day every day then eventually you will be
just as strong or strong(er). If someone were to
tell me, you will squat a thousand pounds some
day but you will have to squat 50,000 times over
the course of years to get there, that might be
discouraging to me as a beginner struggling with
the bar. Each squat, each set, each day is a piece
of that frame, that foundation that will one day be
completed 10, 20, 30 years from now. No matter
how pointless that last rep, that last exercise, that
last protein shake may feel at the time, it holds
significant value to how and when you achieve
your goals and dreams. It all starts with DESIRE!

Friend Stan Efferding is a great example of where

you start has no bearing on where you end:
Dare to Dream,
Marshall Johnson

4/15/2012 CONGRATULATIONS!
I wanted to give a quick shout out to my wife
Kathy and very good friend Rachel Nutter. These
two ladies competed yesterday in Laura Phelps
Womens Pro/Am. Rachel had an amazing day.
She is a bench only lifter from Southside Bully in
Burnsville, MN. Rachel hit a PR of 450lbs! Amazing
Rachel! My wife Kathy finally had her “break out”
meet. She went 8 for 9 with a 455 squat, 300
bench, 405 deathlift. The 1160 is a 70lb total PR
for her. This was pretty amazing considering this
was Kathy’s third full power multi-ply meet in a
month and a half. This is not a normal schedule
for Kathy but 3 meets that she really wanted to be
apart of were lined up close. The XPC, Relentless,
and The Womens Pro/Am. This was the first meet
that I was not at for Kathy, but it was by far her
best performance. It makes me wonder, do I make
her nervous when I am there, do I take the meet
to seriously when I handle w I can’t hels but
think something I y den
es p 405
Metal Ace Pro
-275x3
-315x3
-365x3
-405x3

3-Board Pinky Grip

-275x5
-315x5
to know is hey it can be done. How you go about We added fifty pounds to what we normally do.
getting there is entirely up to you. Now with that Lets just say I didn’t get my usual core work in
said though if you realize hey it starts with desire afterwords. I was choking down vomit for about
then that’s really where it starts, ultimately that’s 45mins.
whats gonna take you to where you want to go.”
-Kai Greene When we train at P-Town, or when we go to meets
Jeff’s son Kaleb(12) is always with us. If we are
Rise Against, benching he is on his little bench copying us, or
Marshall Johnson deathlifting. I decided to record him last night
during one of his “training” sessions haha.
4/19/2012 Prowler Session and
New P-Town Talent “Be encouraged when you see someone
else achieve something. In this moment I am
My reasons for starting prowler work were to encouraging each and everyone of you to
become more cardiovascular prepared in meets. understand and acknowledge the power of mind.
After squats I feel just so worn out I don’t know The power and ability to make decisions. The
how I could finish the meet. Also I am trying to power to decide and to be and tap into my better
drop 15lbs for my next meet in July. With that resources, are at the core of my success today. I
being said I have started my diet for this training challenge you to take that home with yourselves”.
cycle. I take a 70/30 approach. The majority of -Kai Greene
my time I eat clean. Monday through Friday my Thoughts become things,
diet is clean. A lot of ground beef, steak, venison, Marshall Johnson
chicken, and tuna. For carbs I try to stick with
slow cook brown rice and assorted pastas. On the
weekends if I want a pizza or a soda I don’t beat 4/20/2012 “You can’t climb the
myself up over it. It is very hard, at least for me, to ladder of success with your hands in
keep up my calories eating 100% strict 24-7. When your pockets”
I stayed with Stan Efferdnig in February he made
me follow his diet for three days. We had a full It gets easier to do something that is difficult, or
meal every two fricken hours. He would cook us inconvenient when you start to see the results of
a meal, then take a nap, wake up cook us a meal, that task. I was 269 in the am yesterday. Cardio is
repeat all day. I suppose if I wanted to drop 300$ getting easier and easier to do and the diet doesn’t
a week on groceries I could accomplish getting seem so terrible. I spent some time on the eliptical
in my calories eating 100% clean. But Stan is a and then did my usual blood flow night.
professional bodybuilder. Eating is part of his job.
The majority of us don’t have the time or money Eliptical 30min
to live like that. Since my last meet about a month
ago I am down 8lbs. I wake up at 271ish, my goal is Full Body Blood Flow Circuit
to get down to 260. I have until July to accomplish
this so I can take it slow and not sacrifice strength Hot tub/Pool 5 minutes a piece for 20 minutes
by cutting weight to fast.
Every day, every mundane task, no matter how
Prowler Pulls with 140lbs insignificant they seem at the time are all a
-8 trips at 80 yards a peice significant part of the foundation built under your
one grand accomplishment.
“A successful person can lay a firm foundation Conv rack pull against blue mini around neck
with the bricks others throw at them”. -Kai Greene and bar at low shins
-135x5
“One major thing that stands between you and -225x5
the fulfillment of your dream is the willingness to -315x5
start, the courage to move ahead, and the faith to -405x5
finish”. -495x5
-545x5
Prevail by Daring to Fail,
Marshall Johnson Barbell Hip trusts
-115lbs 4 sets of 12
4/21/2012 DEATHLIFT FRIDAY!!!!
“There’s no easy way around it, no matter how
Nothing makes me happier than to see my talented you are your talent is going to fail you if
teammates making gains and progress. I have had you are not skilled. If you don’t study, don’t work
two partners Woody, and Brian Carley following really hard and dedicate yourself to being better
me through this meet prep using my chaos every single day.”-unknown
method.We are a month into this and all three of
us are already showing signs of strength increase. You will never regret working hard,
In March, Woody (59) had said he couldn’t pull Marshall Johnson
435 raw off the ground. Last night, a month later,
he was tripling it against a brand new green EFS 4/21/2012 Finally got that 960lb tire
bands. To me that is absolutely amazing. Still and an injured teammate today :(
getting strong(er) at 59! As for Carley and I we have
been making it through our work outs without
feeling totally destroyed each week. Each week we We piled into the car this morning and hit the
feel strong(er) and put up more weight that the hour drive to SouthSide Bully in Burnsville, MN. If
week before. I knew this training method worked your in the Minneapolis area and need an amazing
for me, its just exciting to see it work for someone and well equipt gym to train at hit up SouthSide.
else. But we still have a little under 3 months left Last time we went to flip tires for cardio we all got
so anything can happen. I am confident though we owned by the 960lb tire. Or like Carley said, “I put
all will PR on stage in July. the fear of god into it though!” hahaha rrrrrrright.
Today was a different story though! We spanked
DEATHLIFTS! Rawgdawg sumo against green that 960lb tire. I know to committed strongmen
band like my new teammate Andy Deck, a 960lb tire is
-135x10 used for hoola hooping but for us it was a great
-135x10(band added) victory!!
-225x3
-315x3 Tire Flips
-405x3 500lb x5
-495x3 600lb x5
-585x3 700lb x5
-615x3(70lbs more than 2 weeks ago!) 800lb x5
960lb x1 one is allllll I needed BOOOYAH
On a more sad note our teammate Neil Heisick Floor press with 2 chains
aka “Nasty Neil” completely ruptured his bicep -225x5
tendon while attempting the 960lb tire. As soon -225x5+chain
as it happened it got him rapping it with ice asap. -225x5+2chains
We got him to the doctor about an hour later and -275x5
he found out it needs surgery to repair it. Lame -315x5
but I know Neil will do what he needs to do to -365x not quite 5
recover and comeback strong(er) than ever. These
setbacks are not there to keep us down, they are Tricep Pressdown
there to signify how bad we want our goals and -5 sets of 12
dreams.
Pec Fly Machine
“The brick walls that are in our way are there for -5 sets of 12
a reason. They are not there to keep us out. They
are there to give us the way, the way to show us Dare to Dream,
how bad we wanted it”. Marshall Johnson
-Unknown
4/23/2012
Perseverance,
Marshall Johnson
Do you just want a bite? Or are you starving for it?
“So you wanna be successful huh? Well there’s on
4/22/2012 Our Last Rawdawg thing in this world that has the ability to change
ME Day! your whole life in an instant. Do you know what it
is? Its action. So first step, you just need to make
Finally the day has come, we are finished with our a decision. Ask yourself this, a year from now, five
raw training. I do enjoy it, but I am also happy to years from now, what are you gonna wish you did
be done. This next week is a deload week for us. today? The secret to getting ahead in this world
Our next phase of the training cycle is ME doubles is first getting started. You can’t let fear stand in
in just our briefs and as for bench we are getting the way of your dreams. You cannot think, oh
accustomed to being in our shirts again. what if this doesn’t work. If you believe enough in
the process and the end result success is going to
Rawdawg ME Bench with 140lbs in chain come to you. It will, you just gotta be willing to see
-135x10 it through to the end. But first you just gotta jump
-135x10+90lbs chain in the deep end. Once something goes into motion
-185x3 it stays in motion. The process itself feeds the fire.
-225x3 You can’t be trapped by fear. Limits like fear are
-225x3+50lbs more chain just illusions, disregard them. If your passionate
-275x3 about it and you go full throttle there’s no doubt,
-315x3 your gonna be good at it.

Woody at 59yrs old hitting 245+140lbs chain:

What makes someone good at something? Its 4/25/2012 DE Squat
dedication, hard work, and its doing it with the
proper direction and methodology. It simply It was oh so nice to get back into my Jack Briefs
comes down to how hungry you are, how hungry last night. We had a DE night so I decided to put
are you to improve, how big is your appetite for briefs on to lighten the load on my hips even
success? What are you willing to do to reach your more. I am always trying to find a way to eliminate
dreams? Whats the difference between you and my weaknesses so I was trying some new things
them? The professionals are the ones that knock with my squat form. I have had a problem falling
on the door of exhaustion every single day. Let me forward on squats so we have been doing a lot of
define exhaustion for you. Exhaustion is that very exercises that pull you forward to help balance
point where it is just so damn painful that you just that out. Also last night I played around with the
cant push anymore, that it hurts so bad that you bar placement on my back. I usually place the bar
cant even think straight. Its in reaching that point lower on my back. This makes me have to lean
that you know deep down, you know that you did forward to get the bar in line with my hips. This
everything in your power, there wasn’t one more could be one reason why I fall forward. Also I have
thing that you could have done. So whats the trouble with the bar rolling off my back too. I has
difference between them and you? never happened but is getting very close to that. I
positioned the bar higher on my back forcing me
What are you doing at this present moment in to stand more upright. The bar fit very nicely into
time. Ask yourselves, are you moving closer to this groove on my rear delts. The bar was solid
your goals or are you moving away from them. and I think I could have squatted with no hands.
Are you knocking on the door of exhaustion or Everything felt very good, but then again we didn’t
are you just uncomfortable. Being uncomfortable go above 405. When I am back up to 900-1000lbs
is not being exhausted. Being uncomfortable this may be a different story.
is your mind quitting before your body. Its just
saying no to trying again. Achieving greatness is High Box Deload triples
doing something that will kill you just to make you 145x5
better. Not living up to your potential, well that 145x5
weight weighs on your shoulders for a lifetime. 195x3
235x3
No one ever said that being successful was going 285x3(Jack Pro Briefs+Dammsilly Slippers)
to be easy. But I’ll tell ya what, it sure as hell is 325x3
worth it. You are your own maker in this world, 375x3
there is no such thing as failure in this world, you 405x3 4 sets
just gotta tell it no. Not this time, not with me.
I’m gonna try again, and again, and again, and You can see the bar sits nicely in my rear delt
look failure straight in the face and tell it that I am groove:
willing to go through all these struggles to reach
my dreams.Without struggle there is never gonna I wanted to do a set to a low box to see how the
be any progress. Its all in how bad you want it. form tweaks felt at depth:
How big is your appetite for success? Do you just
want a bite or are you starving for it?” Woody(59) with 405 in Metal Pro Briefs:
-muscleprodigyTV
GHR
Prevail by daring to fail,
-4 sets of 12
Marshall Johnson
Calf raises
-4 sets of 30
“Do not worry at all about negative thoughts, and
do not try to control them. All you have to do is
begin to think good thoughts each day. Plant as
many good thoughts as you can in each day. As
you begin to think good thoughts you will attract
more and more good thoughts and eventually
the thoughts will wipe out the negative thoughts
altogether.” -The Secret
Built to endure,
Marshall Johnson
4/26/2012 Prowler with a Dash
of Hatebreed
Time for another prowler session out in the sun.
I have actually gone from dreading this day, to,
well not dreading it as much. Every day with the
sled, every pass, every step is all building to a
bigger and better total, a better foundation. On
those days when you want to stop, do one less
set, use less weight, just realize that every step,
no matter how insignificant each step may seem,
plays a huge role in how fast you reach your goals.
When you want to quit just think, did Chuck V quit
one rep short? Did Ed Coan skip a set? That last
set, rep, is only going to last a matter of seconds,
but the ripple it sends forward will echo forever!
Never forget that! There is always someone out
there willing to hit that last rep, do that last set
when you want to quit.
Prowler Push 80 yard trips
-2 trips empty sled
-2 trips 90lbs
-6 trips 140lbs
My training partner Carley had suggested that
I may be falling over on squats not because of a
weakness in my back, but maybe a weakness in
my abs.
Standing Cable Crunches
-4 sets of 12 increasing weight
Crunches off the GHR
-4 sets of 12
If you know what you are doing is right, no matter
how against the grain it may be, keep on that
path. There is no amount of resistance that should
distract you, or steer you off you path, or divert
you from your game plan. Never lower yourself to
the words and games of others. Remain stedfast
and unphased. The people who talk will never be
anything more than talk. The people who do, will
never be anything less than do’rs. When faced
with adversity know that what you are doing is on
a higher level.
“Straight to your face with the truth
The longer it takes for you to achieve
The faster they want to see you break
It’s in their nature to try to destroy
What they know they could not help create
I’ve seen it for years and I know first hand
Who is genuine and who is fake
The rest of the leeches will come and go
Good riddance, we hated you anyway
Straight to your face with the truth!
Sometimes it gets hard
When the road to the future take you back
To a better day, you wonder and ask yourself
Where the time went and why some people
Had lost their faith
Through some memories and the friendships we
had over time have begun to fade
We’re still right here and we’re stronger than ever
What we’ve done can never be taken away”
Built to Endure,
Marshall Johnson
4/27/2012 “Those who say they 4/29/2012 DE DEATHLIFTS!
can, and those who say they cannot
are both usually right” This is our week of deload because we just finished
a 4 week raw 3 rep ME cycle. We needed a little
break. I decided to work in some speed pullz with
Time to drop some weight. Last night was cardio my new DEATHLIFT gear. My suit of choice for pullz
and blood flow circuit. I have found the easiest is the Metal Pro Squatter. As far as thickness goes
way to make it through thirty plus minutes on the it is right between the King Pro and The Ace Pro.
eliptical is to watch videos on my geek phone. I This suit is extremely comfortable to wear and
usually watch Kai Greene, Evan Centaponi, and provides me with a ton of rebound off the floor
Branch Warren videos. These people share a when loaded. The only disadvantage is that it does
similar mental approach to training as I do. “Your not come with velcro straps, but I just get that
mind is your most powerful weapon”. “Its all about altered when I get the gear. I can get that suit as
hard work, and everyone has the ability to work tight as a 300lb man can get it and I can still get to
hard”. the bar.
Also I got my care package from EFS this week! Its
official, I am on the team. I got my gear in the mail. DEATHLIFT! Sumo
I am very excited to try my Jack Pro Shirt and Squat -135x10
Suit(sold only in the US by EFS). It felt so good to -135x10
see that box sitting in front of my door this week. -185x3
Thank you to everyone at EFS. -225x3
-275x3(Metal Pro Squatter straps down)
Eliptical 315x3
-30 minutes 365x3
Full Body Blood flow circuit 405x3x4sets

Yeah I know this is a boring training log but its all Raw conv rack pull bar under knee agaisnt quad
these mundane tasks, these extra little efforts that mini red band
build unbreakable foundations under your game. -135x5
-225x5
“Nothing great ever comes without a sacrifice. -315x5
All these successful people were willing to do -405x5
whatever it took to get there. But its something -495x5
more than just putting in the work and the effort. -545x5
It all starts with your mind. The first step before
anyone else believes it, is you have to believe it. Rope Pull Through on Cable Machine
Its all about your belief system, and your thought -4 sets of 12
process of how you are going to succeed by
carrying out the activities you carryout to reach “I will try one hundred times to get back up and if I
the ultimate goal that you envision. You have to try one hundred times and fail, if I fail and I give up
believe that this is what I am gonna do, this is do you think I will ever get back up? If I fail I will try
how I am going to do it, and no one or nothing is again and again and again. Integrity, that’s called
going to stop me from reaching that goal. You’ve courage!”-Unknown
gotta say to yourself, I thought of it and its done, Death by Lift!
the world just has to wait and see the finished Marshall Johnson
product”. -muscleprodigytv
4/29/2012 Prowler and Core Work lifter in bench gear. I know that he and I will get
my bench on track, in time, but eventually it will
We had a pretty big crew this time around for the be strong!
prowler, usually it is just me, Woody, and Carley.
There were 7 of us this time. I have to take the Bench
opportunity to poke at my wife a little, she was -135x10
so excited to hit the sled with us Saturday but -185x5
was TKO’d after 4 of the 8 trips. But she will get -225x3
acclimated, this was just her first time. Now that -275x3(giant chest rubberband added)
we are getting the hang of it Kaleb times our trips. -315x3
This new competition is helping us drive through -365x3
this faster. -405x3
-455x3
Prowler Push with 140lbs 80yard sprints
-2 trips empty sled Jack Pro Shirt triples
-8 trips -315x3
-405x3 4board
Cable Standing Crunch -495x3 3board
-4 sets of 12 -just a few sets in the shirt to get a feel

Crunches off the GHR Pec Deck Rear Delt

-4 sets of 12 -4 sets of 20

“In life man your always gonna have certain
obstacles, you’ll always have certain doubters and
people that will try to steer you in a direction that
your not accustomed to or try to take you out of
your game plan. Never let someone chase you
away from your goals. If there’s anything in this
life you put your mind too you can accomplish it.”-
unknown
As you can see I am struggling to get the bar to
move at all, or keep any type of groove. But that is
just me, I will get this shirt learned and be smoking
700+ by the end of the year:
These words could not be more truly spoken, and
really reach out to my first 3 months here in a new
town.

Prevail by Daring to Fail, “What am I doing with my life? Am I living it or

Marshall Johnson
4/29/2012 New Jack Pro Shirt
Adventure!
I am definitely not used to a tight and stiff bench
shirt. Learning how to bench again will definitely
be a huge hill for me to climb this year. Learning
bench gear is not exactly my strong point. But
luckily I have Jeff Adkins at my disposal. Jeff is my
training partner and he is a smart and talented
am I just going to some hum drum job that I don’t
really want to be at. Doing some miniscule task,
getting paid to be some mindless drone. Or am I
out there living life, on my own terms, the way I
want to live it, doing the things that I want to do.
Make no mistake as hard as this is, as hard as this
is this is what I want to do. Some people can make
fun of it, they can crack jokes, they can sit back
and analyze ya know and criticize and make all the
fun they want but I’m living my life, I’m doing it,
what are you? Life is for the living. Stress, stress
is a part of it, but stress makes us better, stress
makes us live, stress is how we know we’re alive. If
we don’t know what stress is then we don’t know
what feels good. Your dreams are always gonna
be more important to you than they will be to
anyone else. So keep dreaming, keep believing,
keep pressing forward. So to all you warriors out
there be encouraged.”-Kai Green
Be Encouraged,
Marshall Johnson
5/1/2012 Cardio Two-a-Days and
Curls, Curls, Curls
Its time to get serious about this weight loss. There
will be a few days a week where I will be hitting
cardio twice a day. I just started a job at GNC. I
am pretty excited about it. I can talk training and
supplements with people all day long. I couldn’t
be happier. Just being in the store and interacting
with the customers gives me that extra drive also
to eat one more meal, do one more cardio session,
or get up a little earlier in the morning.
A.M. Cardio
-30min eliptical
DB Bicep Curls
-7 sets of 20 increasing weight
Curl Bar
-5 sets of 20 increasing weight
Preacher DB Curl
-20lbs 5 sets of 20
Machine Curl
-4 sets of 20
Cable Curl
-4 sets of 20
P.M. Cardio
-30 min stationary bike
“When there is a big change of energy which affects
our lives, we often label it as “bad” and cause
ourselves sorrow, pain, and suffering by resisting
that change. But you always have a choice. In the
Universe there is never just one way, and you are
never trapped with no way out, no matter what
has occurred. In every circumstance and moment
of your life there are two paths available to you.
The two paths are the positive and the negative,
and YOU are the one who chooses which path
YOU will take.”-The Secret
Prevail by Daring to Fail,
Marshall Johnson
5/2/2012 ME Triples in my NEW
Jack Pro Squatter!
Last night was a great first night in the gear.
Everyone did a great job. Most of all I am proud
of Woody. He hit 600 for a triple in just briefs. His
best full gear squat is 700 and he just tripled 600
in just briefs! Awsome! Carley had a solid night.
He is waiting for his Jack briefs so he had to use
some loaners. He had a great night considering
we couldn’t find briefs that fit him. I used my Jack
Pro Suit as just briefs tonight, suit felt great, lots of
pop out of the hole. I still feel like depth is a little
sketchy. I will film from the side next time. Its hard
to judge depth from the front.
A.M. Cardio
-30 eliptical
Squats in just briefs
-145x10
-235x3
-325x3
-415x3
-505x3(jack suit as briefs)
-595x3
-685x3
-735x3(super heavy duty knee wraps)
Full range GM’s “A lot of people in this world search endlessly for
-155x5 some complex, magical formula to understand
-205x5 why some people are successful and why others
-245x5 are not. It really boils down to this concept of
-295x5 productivity. Your gonna apply the most amount
of effort the best of your ability in the given
Leg Press time that you have. All successful people realize
-4 sets of 12 increasing weight that time is the most precious commodity out
there. Its the one thing that you cant ever buy or
“Work as hard as you possibly can with the time buy back. These successful people realize they
you are given to accomplish your given task. Time have an allotted time to perform a given task.
is something that cannot be bought or bought Because going through the motions is the most
back. Every second, every minute, every hour, disadvantageous thing that you can do. When you
everyday is an opportunity to get one step closer do something wrong the first time you have to go
to achieving your dreams.”-MPTV back and do it again the second time. Where as if
Never Dead!
Marshall Johnson

5/3/2012 Cardio and “Secrets of

Successful People”

Wednesday was the first day in 5 weeks I missed a

cardio night with the team. I feel bad, but I had to
work. I made sure to hit the gym twice for cardio
sessions to somewhat make up for it. Last night
they flipped a tire for 40yards and then sprinted
the prowler back 40. I am very much looking
forward to that on Saturday. My job is going great
so far. I am getting a handle on the little things
like the register and such. Last night I finally had
the chance to just talk nutrition and training with
customers, it was fun. I don’t remember the last
time I used work and fun in the same sentence.
A.M. Cardio
-Eliptical 30min
-Stationary Bike 20min

P.M. Cardio
-Eliptical 30 min
Weight is down to 266 when I wake up in the
morning! Watch out, your gonna see abs through
my bench shirt! Well maybe not.
5/6/2012 Saturday Cardio
and Core Work
I like flipping tires as well as using the prowler so
we decided to mix the two in a mini cardio relay.
Tire Flip with Prowler Sprint
10 flips then sprint to prowler for a 50yard sprint
with 90lbs added
-4 trips(each circuit was a trip)
I finally got the shirt moving and feeling strong.
545 was my strongest set. 585 i tried to hard to
bench aggressive and the set was a little reckless
but I pressed all three. Thank you Jeff and Joey
for helping me make this a productive bench day.
I had to leave a little early to I stopped after my
shirt work.
“All men are created equal, some just work harder
in the off season.” -Emit Smith

Standing cable abs Confidence comes from doing,

-4 sets of 12 Marshall Johnson

Sit ups on the GHR 5/9/2012 “Pain is temporary, but if I

-4 sets of 12
quit, that is forever”-ET
I like the tire flip and prowler combo. I was just as
gassed and my knees didn’t hurt as much. The 12week mark has passed, I have all my new
gear, I have my entry form, I have a job, I have
Prevail by Daring to Fail, the most solid and dependable group of training
Marshall Johnson partners out there, I have my diet right, its on , its
official, it just went from Seek to Destroy Mode!
5/6/2012 Getting the Hang of the 11 weeks to bring something to the stage in Iowa
that no one has ever seen before. Its time, time to
Jack Pro Shirt get it on!

Today I was bound and determined to get this shirt A.M. Cardio
figured out. I took some advice from Joey Smith -30min eliptical
and sprayed the shirt down with water and really
focused on squeezing my shoulder blades together P.M. Cardio
and staying arched. Jeff did a great job as well as -30min seated bike
keeping me aggressive in the shirt.

135x10 PAIN IS TEMPORARY! These three words will be

185x5 repeated over and over and over again for the
225x3 next 11 weeks. More sweat lost in training is less
275x3 failure felt in battle!
315x3
365x3 PAIN IS TEMPORARY!
405x3 Marshall Johnson
455x3(large chest rubberband)
Jack Pro shirt
405x3 4bd
495x3 3bd
545x3 2bd
585x3 2bd
5/9/2012 P-Town Skwatz! “If tomorrow wasn’t promised, what would you
do with today?” -RL
and Ray Lewis
If tomorrow wasn’t promised, what would you do
Max effort squats last night for triples. I was feeling with today,
concerned about my squat depth, even though Marshall Johnson
you can’t really judge depth from the front, so we
took vid from the side and I am resting easy. My
depth is right were it needs to be. I know what
5/11/2012 Wed night cardio
depth feels like, so no more insecurities about with tires and kegs
depth. I know where its at and I know I hit it. I
might change our training bit. Normally we would I like to add different variations of our cardio
pick a rep range, and hit our max weight at that rep training. It keeps cardio day from getting stale and
range. I will try picking a weight that is hard, and keeps the body always guessing. My weight is still
do multiple sets at that weight. For example on hovering around 264 in the a.m. but my gear is
deathlifts on Friday we are hitting triples, I will pick staying tight. Hopefully this means I am dropping
a weight, 675ish, and hit 3-5 triples at that weight. some fat and adding a little muscle.
I feel like we need to be hitting more volume, while
keeping the weight relatively high. For example Keg Toss
I did 12 reps total in my gear last night. That to -empty keg 5 sets of 10
me once I look at it seems insufficient. I feel that
if I squat(briefs) 3-5 sets of three at 650lbs that Tire Flip
would be more beneficial than hitting one set of -4 sets of ten
3 at 750lbs. 15reps versus 3? I would increase my
workload greatly. We are far enough out to where Standing cable crunch
we can still play around with our training. -4 sets of 12 increasing weight

Skwatz Sit ups on GHR

-145x10 -4 sets of 15
-235x5
-325x3 Leg Press Calf raise
-415x3 -4 sets till failure
-505x3(Jack Suit straps down)
-595x3
-685x3
-775x3

Leg press+2 children on top

-2 platesx12
-3 platesx12
-4 platesx12
-5 platesx12

Cable Pull Thru

-4 sets of 12 increasing weight
Stability Press Machine curl
-Two 25lb plates hung on each side by a red mini
band. This makes the bar shake pretty violently. P.M. Cardio
-4 sets of 10 -30 eliptical

Rear Delt Machine I was watching a muscle prodigy video, shocker I

-4 sets of 20 know, they talked about comparing talent and skill
to a hundred yard sprint. People with natural born
Do everything in your power to be legendary, talent are those that can start the sprint on the 50
Marshall Johnson or 60 yard line. People with less born talent start
at the 1, the 10 or the 20 yard line. To the outside
viewer one would assume the person starting on
5/15/2012 Back and Bi’s Day with the 60 yard line will easily win the race. They have
Cardio. The Difference Between such an advantage. Those competitors starting
Skill and Talent at the one yard line seeing the others 60 yards
up can get easily discouraged. Just because you
start 60 yards ahead of me, does not mean that
As deeply involved as I am in powerlifting, I am you will beat me to the 100 yard line. The people
still a bodybuilder down deep. I still like to hit the we look up to as hero’s, the legends in the sport
gym when I am not training the Big 3. I want to be realize that were you start, has no bearing what so
bigger and better in every way. My bench is my ever on how you will end. They had talent yes, but
weak point so I make sure I do everything I can to the overwhelming factor that got them to where
strengthen it. A strong back helps bench. And as they were was skill. Hours and hours and days and
far as biceps, big guns gives a guy that extra hitch days for weeks for months for years beating on
in his step haha. their craft that got them to where they were. So
just remember this always, to anyone who has a
A.M. Cardio dream or ambition, just because someone has a
-30 seated bike head start, an advantage or edge on you means
Back and Bi training absolutely nothing. Hard work will always beat
-4 warm up sets talent, “passion trumps everything”.
-1 set maximal weight till failure followed
by drop set. Similar to HIT made famous by “Passion Trumps Everything”,
Dorian Yates. Each rep is squeezed and help at Marshall Johnson
contraction.
5/18/2012 Virgin Run with Jack
Lat Pulldown
on Jack
Seated Row
Tuesday night was a volume night in our suit and
One arm db row briefs straps down. We picked a heavy weight
and hit 3 sets of 2, added a another plate and
Cambered bar cable pull down/thru rev band hit a double, then dropped down for
another double. We have 8 squat days left until
Straight bar curl Bill Carpenters Iron Battle on the Mississippi July
21st in Dubuque IA. I went Jack on Jack. The
DB curl combo was very tight, so tight to where it felt like
my form would be comprimised. The heavier the
weights got the better the suit worked though. 5/18/2012 Prowler, Core, and Eric
Although the suit was tight, it was very forgiving
and provided a lot of rebound out the hole. I only
Thomas
went up to 800 rev band but that was by far the
Carley came up with the genius idea of pushing
easiest set. I am very excited to hit singles straps
the prowler from the low handles. Thanks Carley.
up. Cuz the heavier the weights got the easier it
was to squat it. I think the Jack on Jack will be a
Prowler sprints
sik combo.
-50 yard sprint top handle, turn around 50 yard
sprint low handle. This was one set. We did four
Squat
of these with 90lbs added. Ya I puked.
-145x10
-235x5
Cable crunch
-325x3
-4 sets of 12 increasing weight
-415x2
-505x2(Jack Briefs)
GHR Sit Up
-605x2(Jack suit straps down)
-4 sets of 12
-705x2
-705x2
Calf Raise on Leg Press
-705x2
-1platex30
-805x2 rev band
-2platex30
-665x2
-3platex30
-4platex30
805 rev band
-Drop set from 4plates to one plate till failure.
705 str8 w8 they were high but I wasn’t worried
It is so important that you treat every training
about that today
session like it is the most important session of your
This is my wife Kathy hitting 415 in just briefs. Jeff
training cycle. Train like tomorrow isn’t promised,
in the background I think was just upset because
like this day will reflect how your goal will play out.
he wears the same size gear as my wife.
You train to level you wish to perform at. More
sweat lost in training is less failure felt in battle.
Leg press
-1platex10
“Passion Trumps Everything”,
-2platex10
Marshall Johnson
-3platex10
-4platex10
-5platex10 5/18/2012
-6platex10
-7platex10 Delts, Triceps, and Cardio
A.M. Cardio
GM with EFS blue band -30 bike
-4 sets of 12
P.M. Cardio
“Passion Trumps Everything”, -30 min eliptical
Marshall Johnson
Delts and Triceps are trained with 4 warm up sets
then one set with maximal weight to failure. Each
rep is held and squeezed at contraction.
DB Front Raise -585x2
-700x2
Machine Military Press -700x2
-700x2
DB Side Raise
Vogel-Pullz:155lbs on Safety Bar, Bar weight 3in
DB Military Press off ground
-135x5
Machine Rear Delt -225x5
-315x5
Cable Rear Delt -315x5
-I love this lift, it makes your deathlift so much
Cable Wide Grip Push Down harder. You build up so much strength in your pull

Weighted Dips Another lift I saw Chuck V doing

-conv pull but on the way down stop at lock out
Tricep Machine and go back up. Rep and a half count as one rep.
We did sets of 5.
Close Grip Cable Pressdown -135x5
-185x5
Again I am always looking for a way to increase my -225x5
bench. Strong shoulders and triceps aid in a big -315x5
bench.
Effort is whats gonna get you noticed, effort is
“Passion Trumps Everything”, whats going to take you to where you want to be.
Marshall Johnson
Passion trumps everything,
Marshall Johnson
5/19/2012 DEATHLIFTS!
Last night was a volume night for us. Shawn Frankl 5/21/2012
told me that conditioning your deathlift was
extremely important. Your dl is the last thing you Sunday looked to be a crappy training session.
do after 6 attempts at a max effort between squat Saturday night my mind and body were definitely
and bench. You need to condition your back so not ready for war on Sunday. Sunday morning I
when its time to seal the deal on deads you can woke to see a message that our good friend Dan
do it. from Iowa was driving 3 hours starting at 5 in the
morning just to bench with us. This absolutely
A.M. Cardio motivated me to rise above the body and get my
-30min eliptical mind clear. I actually had one of my best bench
days this year. So for that Dan I thank you buddy.
DEATHLIFTS! Jeff is doing a great job of getting me accustomed
-135x10 to the Jack Pro shirt. Hopefully next weekend I can
-225x5 touch weight in the shirt.
-315x2
-405x2
-495x2(metal pro squatter straps down)
Bench 5/22/2012 Prowler Time!
-135x10
-185x5
Carley saved the day this time. I had to work in
-225x3
the morning till night and was thinking I was
-275x2
gonna skip cardio. But Carley said lets just do it
-315x1
at 7am. Well great that means I gotta wake up
-365x1 1board noodle
at 6am on a Saturday morning and kill my self
-405x1 1board noodle
on the prowler then go work a full day. This is
-455x3 4board (Jack Pro Shirt)
why it is very important to have great training
-495x3 3board
partners. Surround yourself with people who
-545x3 2board
want to improve. So on those days when your not
-585x2 2board
superman, they are there to help you through. I
-615x1 1board(never been this strong in a shirt
felt much better about myself because I did do
this far out from a meet)
it. Thank you Carley and Kathy for being there
Saturday morning.
615lbs
Tire Flip+Prowler Sprint
Floor Press
-10 flips then run to prowler for 60yard push/
-225x3
sprint. Prowler had 90lbs added
-275x3
-4 sets of these
-315x3
-365x3
I had to get going to get ready for work so I missed
-405x3
my abs and calves for the day.
-425x3
-455x3(large chest rubberband added) Obstacles are their to show us how bad we really
-475x1 want something,
-500x1(Never ever done this before!!) Marshall Johnson

500lbs
5/29/2012 Learn to Train Seminar:
This was an amazing bench day for me. I never Part 1
usually walk away saying bench went amazing.
I must finally be starting to learn the ol bench. I So many good things happened this weekend at
have a lot of great help at my disposal at P-Town. the Learn to Train Seminar in London Ohio I am
It truly showed me that you mind can overcome gonna have to break it into parts.
pain if you really unlock it. Mind is everything!
My Friend Jason and I hit the road for London at
You mind is your most powerful weapon! 9pm Thursday night and drove through the night
Marshall Johnson arriving in London at about 11am the next morning.
Nothing like a 14hour drive to start your day. We
quickly got showered and changed and headed
back to the LTTS. Steve Colescott with Elitefts was
kind enough to put us up for the weekend in his
apartment. He provided us with a bed and food in
the fridge. Steve has been a big supporter of mine are also extremely different too haha. Harry was
and I can’t say enough good things about him. The awsome, short, super tan, ripped, and barefoot
seminar broke at 12:30 I believe for lunch. When the whole damn time. He genuinely cares about
everyone was done eating some kick ass BBQ everyone no matter their status, or “importance”
provided by EFS we headed to our training sessions in life. He makes you feel like you are someone
for the hands on portion of the LTTS. Jason and special, like you are worth something. This kind of
I were paired with Jeremy Frey to teach bench. I treatment to complete strangers makes for a great
was quite nervous to be honest, this was my first human being. Harry, your awsome!
LTTS and I had no clue what we were supposed
to do. Luckily for us Frey is a strength coach at a Saturday morning cam and it was time to squat at
D1 school and has a wealth of knowledge from the Compound! This was a huge dream of mine,
both education and personal experience. Frey I can only compare it to a bodybuilder getting
took over the station and ran the whole training to train at Temple Gym with Dorian Yates, or a
session. Jason and I did our best to keep up and football player getting to walk onto the field at
help how we could. Bench also isn’t exactly either the Super Bowl. It meant more to me than anyone
of ours specialty so it was better having Frey will know. As a group we decided to train at 7 in
behind the wheel. It took me a long time to warm the morning. Frey wanted to train at 6 but Frey is
up to the group because of some personal issues a fricken robot. There is no “time” for him, there
with social anxiety but towards the end of the day is just flip the switch and train. For the rest of us
I was getting in somewhat of a comfort zone giving mortals we decided 7 was as early as we wanted
advice and helping the attendees. The Seminar to train. ME squat the Compound! Jason and I
was done around 5:30 that Friday night. We went had the privilege of training with the great Joey
right from the compound to the Grand Dutchman Smith and his partner Time, Dave Kirschen and
for dinner with the members of elitefts. The food his training partner. Brandon Lilly showed up to
was amazing and the company was entertaining help us on squats. I learned more from Brandon
but Jason and I had not slept in two days so we that whole weekend about my squat than from
were crashing hard. We got to bed around 9 that anyone else. Brandon was giving me squat ques
night because we had to be up super early to eat and stayed in my face from 135 to 1005. I can’t
before squats at 7:00 the next morning. thank you enough Brandon. Dave K was machine.
Flawless form all day long. Dave really impressed
Thats all for now, I have so much more to tell. I met me with his technique. Jason and I had a great
so many awsome people from both EFS and the squat day, matching weight for weight and rep
people attending the seminar. for rep all the way up to 1005. Jason really turned
some heads. He is a squat monster!
Amazing weekend,
Marshall Johnson We had to cut our training off at 10 because the
lecture part of the LTTS was starting. We took
5/30/2012 Learn to Train Seminar: the opportunity to leave the sauna that was the
Part 2 compound and shower up and change. After
the lunch break it was time to teach squat and
I had forgot to mention that Friday during our deathlift. Jason and I don’t particularly like bench a
lunch period I had the great pleasure of meeting whole lot so we welcomed the squat and deathlift
the excentric Harry Selkow. I was of course hiding stations. We were paired with Frey again. Again
away from the general public and Harry came I had no problems with Frey running the show. I
right up and introduced himself and we chatted was able to come out of my shell this day. A lot of
for a while. Harry is extremely intelligent, but the attendees were struggling with the concept of
with most people who are extremely smart they sitting back and not allowing their knees to come
forward. I remembered a trick my training partner 5/31/2012 Learn To Train Seminar:
Neil taught me, wall squats. One by one I took
them outside and had them working through wall
Part 3
squats. What you do is you have someone face
Sunday was the final day for Jason and I at the
a wall, take a normal stance for squat, start with
compound. All of the people attending the seminar
their feet touching the wall and squat down to
were gone so Sunday was a bonus day to train
depth without their body touching the wall. This is
with the other sponsored lifters. I had the great
a great technique for teaching people to open up,
privilege of benching with Joey, Tim, Dave K, Dave’s
sit back, and stay upright. Half way through squats
partner, Brandon Lilly, Mick, and Matt Ladewski. Al
I was summoned to the dungeon for an interview
was there helping me out a lot giving verbal ques
with Steve Colescott and Matt Kroc. Steve knows
and holding the boards. As usual Joey was a brute
I hate all things public speaking, being put on the
and Dave was a technical wizard. Sunday was the
spot with interviews, and all things related. I get
first day I had touched in that brand new Jack Pro
nervous and freeze up. After a few questions I
shirt. I was very happy with the results. We did
started warming up and quit stuttering and saying
have a scare though when Ladewski let 500 or
ummmm so much. I had about 5-6 questions
so free fall from lockout. His hand I believe was
with Kroc, then about 4 on my own. When the
numb and caused some slippage. Luckily Matt was
interview was over was when I was finally getting
unharmed. Jason was not able to bench because
comfortable, go figure!
of a nagging shoulder injury but he had his hands
full with lift offs and getting Joeys popeye forearms
Time for Deathlifts! Frey told me to take over
out of his shirt. It was actually quite funny for me
because he said I knew what I was talking about.
watching Joey squirm like a little girl with Jason’s
This to me was a huge honor because I have
fingers digging into Joey’s forearms. I finished
looked up to Frey my whole powerlifting journey.
up with my usual accessory stuff then watched
Frey is very particular and doesn’t want the
Tate and Meadows finish one of their insane leg
attendees getting fed crap, so for him to let me run
days. Meadows is a freak! His conditioning and
it meant he believed I was capable. I ran through
size is unlike anything I have seen before. And
how to pull sumo and Jason helped people with
Tate always looks so intense he could make a
conventional. Its a great feeling to know that when
woman’s eggs curdle just by starring into his eyes
you teach someone they understand it and can
before squat. I had some time to bs with Kirschen
apply it physically too. I was on cloud 9! At around
which I enjoyed, Dave is good shit! After the leg
6ish the whole seminar was finished. Dave Tate
workout Tate gingerly walked over to our group
had the final lecture about business. The day was
and just started shooting the shit with us, like
over, some people hung around to bs, others had
normal people! I was happier than a pig in shit!
flights to catch. It was nice just hanging around
I was bullshitting with Dave motha f#ckin Tate!
and talking with the attendees. It was then dinner
And keeping a conversation to boot. That was one
time with my new team at elitefts. After eating I
of my more favorite moments talking with Dave.
had the opportunity to talk with one of my original
After I was done drooling we said our goodbyes
powerlifting crushes Molly Edwards. Whoa whoa
and headed to lunch with Will and Emily, local
easy now, Kathy and Luke. There is just something
elitefts enthusiasts. After destroying Bob Evans we
attractive abut a woman that is strong and driven.
said our goodbyes to our most gracious host Steve
That’s probably why I married one. I wouldn’t give
Colescott and hit the road for a 14-hour drive.
my Kathy up for anyone.

That is it for Saturday, tune in for the exciting

conclusion of the LTTS weekend!
I met so many amazing people, Julia Ladewski
and I hit it off immediately like siblings. Joey and
I already have solid bond, its a damn shame you
create this clicks with people who live so damn
far away. Julia and Joey were my favorites, well I
have to throw Selkow in there too. I want to give a
very special thank you to Matt Goodwin and Steve
Colescott. They have sacrificed so much of their
own personal time and energy helping me achieve
my dreams and goals, without them I would have
never been at the compound that weekend living
my dreams! I cannot thank you enough, from the
bottom of my heart thank you. Most of all thank
you Dave Tate for taking the risk and adding my
to you team. Its a dream come true for me, I will
never take this for granite. Also thank you for all
the meals, drinks, porta-potties and anything else
we could have needed that weekend. Thank you
to everyone who attended. I hope you had as
much fun as I did because I loved every minute of
it. Plus it went to a great cause Make a Wish. Well,
I’m gonna make like a fetus and head out.
Now time to DESTROY!,
Marshall Johnson
5/31/2012
I can even begin to describe to you the feelings I
felt walking into the compound with my gym bag
in hand. I made it to the big show! To quote an
awsome football movie from the 90’s “Place at the
table!” Although I did refrain from head butting
peoples car windows out. Saturday was supposed
to be a ME straps down double day. I didn’t go
into the weekend planning to squat what it did,
but with the crowd, the lights, Dave Tate watching
you, I was jacked up to another level! Shit got
crazy!
Squat
-Bar(55lb)x10
-145x10
-235x5
-325x2
-415x2
-505x2(Jack Pro Briefs)
-595x2
-685x2(Jack Pro Suit Straps Down)
-775x2
-865x2 Big PR!
-955x1 revband
-1005x1 revband
I have to owe a lot of that squat day to Brandon
Lilly. He gave me many helpful little tweaks to
tighten up my form. Chest up, chin up, high bar
placement, flex the lats hard, elbows under the
bar. He was there every set from 135-1005 yelling
at. Thank you Brandon.
Another view courtesy of Dave motha f#ckin Tate!
I had the great opportunity to show my
appreciation to my squat mentor Jason Ehlert by
bringing him to the compound to squat. I got a lot
of who the hell is this guy and where the hell did
you find him haha. Jason is a Squat Monsta! He
worked up to 1005 straps down revband same as
me, only his looked a lot easier!
we didn’t have any time to get assistance work
in because the seminar started right as we were
finishing up squats.
I wanna squat like Ehlert,
Marshall Johnson
6/1/2012
ME Bench at the Compound
I was obviously excited to squat at the compound
but I was very eager to bench there. My bench is
my weak lift. I have been trying to learn the Metal
Jack Pro shirt so what better place to get pointers
than at elitefts. Joey, Lilly, and Kirschen were all
very helpful in getting me a touch in that shirt for
the first time. The touch moved slow, but its the
strongest I have been in a shirt this far out from a
meet ever, so I am very happy with the results so
far.
Bench To many people lose sight of that. You follow any
-Bar(60lbs)x10 desire no matter how obscure it may seem to the
-150x10 outside eye. The only person than can deny you
-200x3 those desires is you. Stay true to yourself and your
-240x3 dreams and you will accomplish anything.
-290x2
-330x1 Dare to Dream,
-380x1 1bd Marshall Johnson
-420x1 1bd
-470x3 4bd(Jack Pro shirt added) 6/1/2012 Never Change Just To
-510x3 3bd Be Accepted
-560x1 2bd
-600x1 1bd
-630x1 touch Embrace what’s inside of you,never change just to
be accepted.
I missed assistance work after squat so there Stay true And tell the world I know who I am. I am
wasn’t anyway I was missing assistance work 2 not ashamed. I will never change.
days in a row I will not change for you! I will not change for you!

Floor Press Be proud of who you are. Be yourself and you’ll

-225x3 reach the stars.
-275x3 Don’t pretend to be something you’re not,be
-315x3 proud of who you are!
-365x3 Be proud
-405x3 Of who you are!
-435x3
I know who I am! I am not ashamed!
Tricep Cable Pressdown I will never change!
-sets of 20 till the stack This is who I was born to be!
-drop set from stack to bottom This is who I will always be!
-The Browning
Machine Dips I know who I am!
-7 sets of 12 working up to heaviest 12 Marshall Johnson

Isolation Rear Delts

-I watched Meadows doing this
6/4/2012 DEATHLIFTS
-Lay on your stomach on an incline bench and
do rear delt db raises. DEATHLIFTS! We are past the halfway mark here
-Don’t allow your body to raise off the bench for our meet in Iowa and it is time to get re-
-4 sets of 12 accustomed to straps up pulling. To often I make
the mistake of training the majority of my death
This weekend was living proof that the old adage lifts straps down. I feel that I am strong(er) straps
about hard work will pay off is nothing but true. down and I can pull the way I want to pull. But I
I have killed myself for three years so far just to find myself close to meet day scrambling to figure
get to this moment here. Every rep, set, lift, pain out my suit straps up. We put in some volume work
endured, and discomfort felt was completely straps up and started the straps at a low weight
100% worth it. Never, never forget how to dream.
Deathlifts! time I put it on I would have told you you were
-135x10 on crack! I have a great coach and friend in Jeff
-135x10 Adkins. Joey Smith has been helping me over the
-225x5 phone as well. I worked up as heavy as I could raw
-315x3 and then hit 4board lockout as heavy as I could go.
-365x2(jak briefs)
-405x2(metal king pro straps up) Bench
-455x2 -140x10
-495x2 -190x5
-545x2 -230x3
-585x2 -280x2
-635x2 -320x1
-675x2 -370x1
-725x2 -410x1
-675x2(rev band added) -430x1
-765x2 -450xmiss Jeff had to give a few finger bumps
-830x1
4board Lockout
725x2 -370x3
-410x3
830x1 revband -430x3
-450x3
Rack pull Sumo Raw Below Knee -470x3
-225x10
-315x10 Floor DB Extensions
-315x10 -30lb dbs
-315x10 -2 sets of 20

P-Towns youngest member 10yr old Kaleb The Get in the Zone,
Anvil Adkins laying the hammer down on a 137lb Marshall Johnson
death lift! Proud of you little buddy.

Dumbbell Pull Through

-80lb db 4 sets of 10
Death by Lifts!
Marshall Johnson

6/5/2012 ME Raw Bench at

SouthSide Bully

I have been in my new Jack Pro shirt for about

4 week straight to break it in so it was definitely
time for a week out. Things are progressing very
nicely in this new shirt. I have been able to touch
in it, which if you would have asked me the first
conspiracy theorist? Apparently I made this guy Cable pull through
feel comfortable enough to extend an invitation -4 sets of 12
to his following. WTF man! I am definitely never
going to that coffee shop again haha. Getting Its about being STRONG(ER)
probed and fed killer coolaid is definitely not on Marshall Johnson
my “to do” list.
I come in piece! 6/11/2012 ME Bench
Marshall Johnson
My raw bench is finally feeling strong again. I
always know I bench is coming around when
6/9/2012 DEATHLIFTS! I can finally move 405 raw easy. I can always do
it but it doesn’t always feel “easy”. I had a lot of
Coming into this training day I really had no clue issues once I got into my shirt though. It was about
how training was going to go or what my approach 95-100 degrees in the gym and I was sweating
was going to be. I have been battling a nagging profusely. I usually don’t sweat a whole lot but
back injury that has been hindering my squats and for some reason I was sweating way more than
deaths. I found a chiro that thinks he can fix my usual. When I got to my second to last working set
problem. I went as heavy and as hard as I could no matter how much I wiped the sweat off I kept
and it turned out to be a pretty damn productive sliding right out of my arch, to where I was almost
night flat back. I tried my planned final set with the
same result. I was very frustrated but I had to tell
Deathlifts myself it wasn’t a strength or technique issue this
-135x10 time. I really put some work in on my accessories
-225x5 afterwords to make up.
-315x2
-405x2 Bench
-405x1(Jack Pro Briefs) 135x10
-495x1 225x3
-585x1(king pro deadlifter straps down) 275x2
-675x1(straps up) 315x1
-765x1 had an annoying little stick about 3/4 365x1
the way up but was able to lock it out 405x1
495x3(Jack Pro Shirt)
I was so proud of my training partner Brian Carley. 565x1
He hit a PR of 705 615xmiss
635xmiss
Rack Pull Sumo Below knee
-225x3 Floor press
-315x3 225x3
-405x3 275x3
-495x3 315x3
-585x3 365x3
-675x3 405x3
-765x3 435x3
465x1(slingshot)
485x1(slingshot)
it faster so that thought makes me happy. I know
once I let this heal my strength will be back up to
BEAST MODE!
Satisfaction is the death of desire,
Marshall Johnson
6/18/2012 North Dakota
Powerlifting Championships
This weekend I had the privelage and pleasure
to help out at the North Dakota APF Powerlifting
Championships. The meet was in my hometown
Fargo, ND. We just moved from Fargo about five
months ago. I do miss my home, but I am where I
need to be to take power lifting to the next level.
The meet was ran by Anthony Carlquist and Jason
Ehlert. There were a lot of people I knew competing
and attending. My duty for the day was to handle
two old training partners and good friends Nick
Boll and Frank Tekautz. The meet went smoothly
and went off with out an injury despite a couple
face dumps on bench.
My old training partner and roomate Nick Boll had
an amazing day. Nick has taken a year off from
competing and has lost over fifty pounds in the
process. Bench used to come very easily for Nick
and bench was a struggle, after the weight loss it
has reversed. Probably the biggest lift effected by
the weight loss was squat. His weights are down
considerably but the form is now excellent. It will
be just a matter of time before he is back squatting
900-1000lbs. Nick had an amazing day, 9 for 9 with
26 out of 27 white lights! His final numbers were
733-606-705. The deadlift was a 100lb PR which
is awesome! Also Frank, who has been by my side
in power lifting since the beginning had a great
day as well. Frank entered deadlift only because
he is doing The Iron Battle on the Mississippi with
me full meet in July. Frank pulled a PR deadlift of
716lbs at the ripe old age of 42. Great works my
friends!
One of the most impressive lifters of the day
was a young man named Phillip Pease. This kid
impressed the hell out of me! He is 23years old,
weighed 136lbs on meet day, and was competing
in only his 2nd meet. He went 440.7-264.5-402.2
finishing with a 1107lb total. This kid was just as
cool as the other side of the pillow, not one ounce
of fear in that kids eyes, he’s my little micro mini
freak! Expect big things from this kid in the future.
He did this meet in old used gear that was to big
for him. Oh, and on his final squat, which was a
60lb pr, he forgot to latch belt, so he pretty much
did it beltless. Keep killing it Phil.
I had a great time at the meet and got to hang out
with many great friends that I unfortunately only
get to see on meet days. Time to get home and get
back to training now!
Pease Power!
Marshall Johnson
6/18/2012 Fat Man Floor Press
I needed to find a way to get a good bench day
in without arching my back. The arch really
aggravates my back, which I am still trying to let
heal. I got some great advice from my great friend
Scott Nutter. He said after his hernia surgery he
couldn’t arch either, but still wanted to bench.
Floor presses would work great but getting up and
down off the ground was not good for his surgery
recovery. What he did was place a chair in front of
the bench and when he laid down he put his feet
up on the chair. Fat mans floor press he called it
haha. You can get the advantages of doing the floor
press with out actually having to get up and down
off the floor. This was great because my mobility
is still pretty limited. I forgot how hard it was to
bench without an arch. I worked up to a three rep
max, and then went to a few three board sets. This
was an amazing exercise because it isolated your
bench a great deal. It made the bench movement
a lot harder to do. I highly recommend it to anyone
looking to get through a sticking point on bench or
are limited because of an injury.
Fat Man Floor Press As long as this fruit doesn’t try to talk to me I am
135x10 loving it haha.
185x5
225x3 Back update: I am one week into a two week
275x3 stretch of rest to heal up my back. I can finally
315x3 hold my own torso up with out severe pain. I can
365x3 even bend over to put my shoes on, and touch
405x2 1bd noodle my toes! I have been spending a lot of time at
405x3 3bd my chiropractor working with ultra sound, laser
therapy, electrode stimulation, and physical
Pec Dec Fly adjustment. It all seems to be helping me. He even
4 sets of 20 said I could start squatting and deathlifting again
this week as long as I keep it extremely light. I will
Rack pull hit some high box squats tonight with a light green
I needed to keep my back loose so I decided to band. Hopefully by next Tuesday I will be able to
do some light rack pulls to keep my back from get back at squat and deathlifts.
staying stiff
135x10 4 sets “If you constantly remind yourself after every
defeat, after every set back, every time you get
Perseverance: Because, in time, even water can knocked down you land on your back because if
wear stone. you can look up you can get up. You will fail your
way to success, you will fail your way to success it
Satisfaction is the death of desire, doesn’t matter how many times you fail, it doesn’t
Marshall Johnson matter how many times people tell you you can’t
do it, it doesn’t matter if you don’t have a dime
6/19/2012 Alien Man Update and to your name, you will fail your way to success.
Back Update Whats very important is do you really want to win,
do you really want to win? If you really want to
So the alien that contacted me, whose human win in life you’ve got to believe in yourself when
name is George, still comes to the coffee shop but no one else does, you’ve got to believe in yourself.
has yet to talk to me after slipping me the YouTube You see its easy to believe in yourself when you’ve
website about conspiracy. Lucky for me he talks got a clean bill of health, when your relationship is
really loud and I was able to get some more intel working out fine, if you have money in the bank, if
on him today. He has started his own church in you have a secure job, if your mortgage payment is
Venezuela and lives there in the winter. current, if you go to the doctor and he tells you oh
yeah your doing really good I’ll see you in a year.
He was complaining today about how he is sick of Its easy to believe in yourself then. Let me tell you
the government trying to poison him. He said he when its really tough to have faith. When you lose
keeps going to the doctor and telling the doctors your job, when you lose your retirement, when
that he is poisoned and that the government is you go to the doctor and he looks at you and says
doing it. The funny part is, that he said he doesn’t you have cancer. That’s when its tough to believe
understand why they keep trying to admit him to a in yourself. That’s when you need to call on your
mental institution haha. He was also upset that he faith and say to yourself its possible, its possible
was tired of people calling the cops on him when I’m going to get through this, I am not going to
he to pass on the conspiracy that is going around. allow this to get the best of me. I don’t know what
your up against, I don’t know what your facing
but here’s what I do know. You’ve got something
special, you’ve got greatness in you and I know its
possible that you can live your dream.”-YouTube
vid
Fail your way to success,
Marshall Johnson
6/20/2012 Squat day and Huge
Team PRs
Squats were feeling better last night. It still hurt
unracking a reracking the weight but I didn’t feel
like I was gonna cry and pee myself. Its starting to
feel like normal pain which is a very good sign in my
book. And no Frank its not all in my head ;) Brian
Carley and Woody have been following my training
method for the most part and I am so happy to see
it working for them. They’re hard work is really
paying off. They are both PR’ing weekly. Its really
a great feeling to see your teammates getting
strong(er). My wife Kathy was just 5lbs away from
a PR last night too with a lot left in the tank. She hit
an easy 495lb squat. I can’t she her vids because
she is lifting with the darkside of the force haha.
Next week I should be back to some real weight, I
am very excited!
Squat with Green band High Box
Bar(55)x10
Barx10
145x10
145x10(green band added)
195x10
195x10
235x3
235x3
235x3
Big Easy Brian Carley 885lb PR!
Woody with an all time PR 700lbs! Woody just got
the new Jack Pro Squatter. This was his first time in
the suit and PR’d by 15lbs with no briefs! Previous
PR was suit and briefs. Looks like we are on to
something with this Jack Pro Gear
Leg press
1platex10
2platex5
3platex5
4platex5
5platex5
6platex5
7platex5
Leg Press
2 sets of 20 then Neil broke it
Prevail by Daring to Fail,
Marshall Johnson
6/21/2012 Gunz Night and Another
Simp that Came in to Work.
Things have been going well, I am feeling better
and ready to squat again on Tuesday. The
damndest thing happened last night though. I was
still feeling the sharp pain between my shoulder
blades last night and I wanted to roll on something.
I had forgotten my EFS foam roller at P-Town so I
decided to roll on this rock solid medicine ball the
size of a basketball. It took just one roll and I heard
about 7 big cracks and instant pain relief. WTF!
Why the hell didn’t I do that 5 weeks ago!
So this guy comes in to the store, beer belly, trailer
park looking, he wants a pre workout. I suggest an
average one, popular, and he asks a lot of questions
about it. First question, “I see on the back it says do
not consume with alcohol, does that mean I can’t
go get shit faced after I take this?” I tell him I am
sure it means do not take at the same time. After
ten minutes of reading the label he’s like “wow
man, this looks really unhealthy, everything in
here looks bad for my health.” Yeah, okay... go out
and kill your last 37 brain cells getting hammered
you dolt. When and how did supplements get such
a bad wrap? I could care less if people are taking
supplements or not, I just don’t get how you can
think your booze and smoke habit is ok.
Last night was just a volume day, a lift for liftings 6/23/2012 Deathlifts
sake day. I hit my arms pretty hard ending with
some speed bench. With any luck this should have been my last day
going light. Man I gotta tell ya it straight up blows
Straight Bar Curl training half-assed, no going to the wall, hitting
-6 sets, pyramid starting with 20 reps ending failure. Its more mentally straining than anything
with 10 else. I want so bad to train but if I keep telling
-Drop set: 3 drops all till failure myself this will make me strong(er) it helps a little,
that and oreo delight cupcakes! So this was my
Machine Curl last light training day. I did some raw work with
-5 sets of 20 chains while Carley got to have all the fun and go
full battle gear. When your training throws you
DB Curl some punches and it knocks you down, you gotta
-6 sets pyramid starting with 20 reps ending at learn to roll with it and get back up.
10
-drop set: 3 sets till failure Deathlifts with 90lbs in chain
-135x10
Standing Cable Curl -135x10
-4 sets of 20 -135x10
-135x10 chains added
Tricep Press Down -225x3
-5 sets of 20 -315x3
-225x3
Overhead Tricep cable press -225x3
-4 sets of 20 -225x3

Body Weight Dips Sumo rack pulls below the knee

-4 sets of 20 -135x10
-225x10
DB Floor Press -275x10
-4 sets of 20 -315x10
-315x3
Close Grip Speed Bench
-5 sets of 3 Cable pull thru
-4 sets of 12 increasing weight
Giant Bouncy Ball Sit ups
-4 sets of 20
Standing Cable Crunches
-4 sets of 20

Confidence comes from doing,

Marshall Johnson
6/25/2012 ME Bench Work in the 335lbs, and Big Easy hit another PR of 585! We are
definitely gonna have a great meet in Dubuque!
Jack Pro
At the end of pain is success,
It felt so good to go heavy again. I am not a believer
Marshall Johnson
yet but my bench felt really strong after taking
some time off of heavy. The true test will be after
squats and deathlifts. I always know its gonna be a 6/25/2012
good bench day when 405 raw feels easy. The last
couple training cycles for bench I have not used Advanced techniques for bigger arms. Weak not
boards and it worked extremely well for me. For dare attempt
the Jack I started out using boards to break it in I have discovered the secret to bigger badder
and things had been going so smoothly for me I GUNZ! If you can handle this intense 37 second
have decided to finish out the training cycle with workout you will be on the road to god like GUNZ
boards. I don’t think one way boards or no boards and Fabio like Machismo.
is superior to the other but I do feel its important
to utilize both ways. On this day I believe I tied my PREPARE YOURSELF!
biggest training bench ever, and it was also my
Boom! That just happened,
biggest bench in a shirt this far out from a meet.
Marshall Johnson
to me that’s a good sign.

Bench 6/26/2012 Squat-O-Matic

135x10
185x5 I came up in powerlifting under the watch of Jason
225x3 Ehlert. I have mimicked his squat since day one. He
275x2 has always been a huge inspiration to me. Jason
315x1 and I will be going head to head at the up coming
365x1 Iron Battle on the Mississippi held by Bill Carpenter.
405x1 Jason recently attended the last LTTS with me and
500x3 4bd (Jack Pro Shirt added) we squatted together at the compound. In this vid
550x3 3bd Jason works up to 1015 straight weight which is
600x1 2bd really exciting and I will tell you why. Jason always
625x1 1bd trains super conservative in regards to what he is
650x1 touch gonna attempt in a meet. So if he is hitting 1015
in training that means he has something HUGE in
This bench was a slow painful grinder haha but it store for Iowa!
was all me. My main problem is I am in no way
an aggressive bencher. I don’t throw it off my Death by Squat!
chest, I kind of ease it up and off until I get back Marshall Johnson
to a “normal” bench range, which in a shirt for me
feels like about a 1 or 2 board. I need to be more
aggressive and just throw that bar back.

I would very much love to show vids of my

teamates but unfortunately they bench with the
dark side of the force. My wife hit an awsome PR of
6/27/2012 P-Town Killing it on 6/28/2012 Squat Detox and
Squat Night Bloodflow
Last night felt amazing, who knew time off to Last night was a squat detox and bloodflow night.
heal would help? Some times ya just gotta learn My friend Barzeen turned me onto this. The day
the hard way, and that’s usually the way I learn. after every squat session he would hits squats
Squats felt amazing for the first time in a long again. The point was to hit extremely light weight
time. Everyone else hit huge PR’s. Woody, Big Easy, off a box for reps. I did about 10 sets of 10 with
and I are all sporting our Jack Pro squatters and very light weight. This keeps you from tightening
are making huge gains in them. I am becoming up and keeps blood flowing to the muscles you
more of a fan of this suit, I wear it with ace pro just destroyed the night before. My wife has been
briefs. I still like having the stopping power so I doing this for the whole training cycle and it is
wear the ace briefs to compliment the awsome keeping her fresh and she is hitting pr’s non stop
rebound I get from the Jack suit. For me its a great this cycle. My body feels pretty fresh today, so
combination. My wife had an amazing day as well, maybe Barzeen is on to something.
she hit a PR of 505lbs!
Raw Box Squat
Squat Barx10
145x10 Barx10
145x10 Barx10
235x3 95x10
325x2 95x10
415x1 135x10
505x1 (Ace Pro briefs) 135x10
605x1 185x10
705x1 185x10
805x1(Jack pro suit straps down) 225x10
900x1 straps up
955x1 Boom smoke show! Full Body Blood Flow
-I have never unracked and squatted 955 that easily -Every body part
before, to say I’m excited is an understatement. -Machines
-2 sets of extremely light weights
Big Easy hitting yet another PR breaking the 900lb -sets of 30
barrier with only being a powerlifter for 3 months!
And only in gear for about 2! Speak it into existence,
Marshall Johnson
59year old Woody hitting a 35lb pr in just his 2nd
time in the Jack Pro suit, and the first time adding 7/2/2012 DEATHLIFTS!
the Jack briefs to the mix
BOOM! DEATHLIFT ENGAGED! Time to get freaky, the
Marshall Johnson meet is almost here. Only three weeks left, which
means its time to push it into overdrive! My goal
that night was to hit something in between my
first and second planned attempt at the meet. I
am thinking I want to open very conservative
because the last time I was on that platform in
Iowa I bombed on deads. I am thinking something
doable like a 730ish, I can do that straps down
so theres no way it should be a problem. Then
from there probably a 770ish then hopefully a PR
around 820ish. I worked up to a 750 which was
smooth, I was very happy. I shut it down after that.
Normally I would have tried to go balls out and hit
my absolute best. I am starting to wise up a little I
think. The only lift that matters is on the platform.
Carley was working on doubles rev band and my
wife hit an awesome 405 raw sumo! Here comes
P-Town Lilliebridges! JK I like the Lillies, they are
strong as hell and good people to boot!
DEATHLIFTS!
135x10
225x5
315x2
405x1
505x1(Jack Pro Briefs)
605x1(King Pro Deathlifter)
705x1
750x1
Death by Lift!
Marshall Johnson
7/2/2012 Huge Bench Day for Me,
Personal Victory!
I had the great privilege of training with our good
friends the Nutters at their gym Southside Bully on
Saturday. I needed to hit a heavy bench, get a little
outside my comfort zone and I did just that! This
was the first day in my career as a power lifter that
my shirted bench felt amazing! I am really starting
to take off with my new Jack Pro Bencher. It took
forever it seemed to get it broke in but now it just
keeps getting sweeter every time I use it! I have
never experienced in a bench shirt the same kind
of “pop” or rebound you get from say a squat suit.
But on Saturday every bench shot off my chest,
its was truly an amazing feeling. I felt invincible
on bench for the first time ever! I hit my biggest
training PR by about 30lbs and I am still 3 weeks
out! This Jack shirt is honestly pretty cool! Thank
you Scott and Rachel Nutter, oh and Beefy too!
Also Jay Ragalie, Jessie Arnold, and Paul Bayleot
came in last minute to help get my last attempt
dialed in too.
Bench
Bar(50)x10
140x10
190x5
230x3
280x2
320x1
370x1
410x1
505x3(shirt no boards)
590x1
640x1
680x1 miss slid out of arch at touch
680x1 miss slid out of arch at touch (getting
extremely pissed) Paul sprayed sticky tack on
my back
680x1 boom! Smoked it! Well as much as I
smoke a bench haha, felt amazing!
I want to give a shout out to my training partner
Brian Carley, he just hit his first 600lb bench with
only being in a bench shirt for a month and a half.
Big easy is going to tear powerlifting up!
Boom! That just happened,
Marshall Johnson
7/5/2012 Meet Rehearsal Squats
at South Side Bully
The humidity in MN is getting outrageous. If
anyone was at the LTTS this year it was like that,
maybe a little worse. We don’t have AC at P-Town
so squatting at home was out of the question. We
traveled to South Side Bully to train with Nutter
and his crew. The heat wasn’t much better but at
least there was fans. It was supposed to be a meet
rehearsal day but my back was starting to give out
again. I smoked 905 but my back just struggled
holding the weight upright so it was a bit of a good
morning. I tried 965 to get an idea of where my
opener would be but it was slow and painful. I think
I am done squatting and deathlifting now until the
meet. Rest and no spinal compression is what my
back needs. I have never been so physically strong
before a meet ever but cannot do a thing about
it because of my back. Its frustrating but I know
if I take these two weeks to heal and rest I will
have a great meet. Carley and Woody had another
amazing day both hitting PR’s again.
Squat
Bar(55)x10
145x10
255x5
345x3
435x2
525x1(ace pro breifs)
615x1
705x1
805x1(Jack pro suit straps down)
905x1 straps up
965x1
Thoughts become things,
Marshall Johnson
7/6/2012 “Your dreams are always
gonna mean more to you than they
will to anyone else”
From the LA Times Blog (“Schwarzenegger Speaks
at USC Graduation”).
Arnold’s 6 Rules to Success:
The first rule is: Trust yourself. Arnold
Schwarzenegger as Conan the Barbarian And what
I mean by that is, so many young people are getting
so much advice from their parents and from their
teachers and from everyone. But what is most
important is that you have to dig deep down, dig
deep down and ask yourselves, who do you want
to be? Not what, but who.
And I’m talking about not what your parents and
teachers want you to be, but you. I’m talking about
figuring out for yourselves what makes you happy,
no matter how crazy it may sound to other people.
I was lucky growing up because I did not have
television or didn’t have telephones, I didn’t have
the computers and the iPods. And, of course,
Twitter was then something that birds did outside
the window. I didn’t have all these distractions
and all this.
I spent a lot of time by myself, so I could figure out
and listen to what is inside my heart and inside my
head.
And I recognized very quickly that inside my head
and heart were a burning desire to leave my small
village in Austria -- not that there was something
wrong with Austria, it’s a beautiful country. But
I wanted to leave that little place and I wanted
to be part of something big, the United States
of America, a powerful nation, the place where
dreams can come true.
I knew when I came over here I could realize my
dreams. And I decided that the best way for me to
come to America was to become a bodybuilding
champion, because I knew that was ticket the
instant that I saw a magazine cover of my idol,
Reg Park. He was Mr. Universe, he was starring in
Hercules movies, he looked strong and powerful,
he was so confident.
So when I found out how he got that way I became
obsessed, and I went home and I said to my family,
“I want to be a bodybuilding champion.”
Now, you can imagine how that went over in my
home in Austria. My parents, they couldn’t believe
it. They would have been just happy if I would
have become a police officer like my father, or
married someone like Heidi, had a bunch of kids
and ran around like the von Trapp family in Sound
of Music.
That’s what my family had in mind for me, but
something else burned inside me. Something
burned inside me. I wanted to be different; I was 7/7/2012 Lower Training and
determined to be unique. I was driven to think
big and to dream big. Everyone else thought
Arnold’s 2nd Rule of Success
that I was crazy. My friends said, “If you want to
be a champion in a sport, why don’t you go and I needed to figure out a way to keep my hips
become a bicycle champion or a skiing champion fresh with out squatting or deathlifting for the
or a soccer champion? Those are the Austrian next 2 weeks. I was watching Mark Bartley’s
sports.” youtube channel and I saw them doing squats
with a squd belt. This looked like using a squat
But I didn’t care. I wanted to be a bodybuilding belt machine. I did not have access to the spud
champion and use that to come to America, and belt but there was an old weighted dip belt at the
use that to go into the movies and make millions gym so I used that instead. I hung weights from
of dollars. So, of course, for extra motivation I read the belt and stood on a couple plates to get more
books on strongmen and on bodybuilding and range of motion and I squatted. It was exactly
looked at magazines. And one of the things I did what I needed to find, a way to squat without
was, I decorated my bedroom wall. putting weight on my back. I will do this one
more time between now and the meet to keep
Right next to my bed there was this big wall that my hips fresh.
I decorated all with pictures. I hung up pictures
of strongmen and bodybuilders and wrestlers Weighted dip belt squats
and boxers and so on. And I was so excited about bodyweightx15
this great decoration that I took my mother to bodyweightx15
the bedroom and I showed her. And she shook 45lbsx12
her head. She was absolutely in shock and tears 90x12
started running down her eyes. 135x12
180x12
And she called the doctor, she called our house 200x12
doctor and she brought him in and she explained to 245x12
him, “There’s something wrong here.” She looked
at the wall with the doctor and she said, “Where Leg press
did I go wrong? I mean, all of Arnold’s friends have 8 sets of 12
pictures on the wall of girls, and Arnold has all
these men. Leg Ext
4 sets of 30
But it’s not just men, they’re half naked and
they’re oiled up with baby oil. What is going on Leg Curl
here? Where did I go wrong?” So you can imagine, 4 sets of 30
the doctor shook his head and he said, “There’s
nothing wrong. At this age you have idols and you Seated Calf Raise
go and have those -- this is just quite normal.” 4 sets of 30

So this is rule number one. I wanted to become a Abductor Machine

champion; I was on a mission. So rule number one 4 sets of 30
is, of course, trust yourself, no matter how and
what anyone else thinks.
Rule #2 of Arnold’s 6 Secrets to Success
We have so many rules in life about everything.
I say break the rules. Not the law, but break
the rules. My wife has a t-shirt that says, “Well-
behaved women rarely make history.” Well, you
know, I don’t want to burst her bubble, but the
same is true with men.
It is impossible to be a maverick or a true original
if you’re too well behaved and don’t want to break
the rules. You have to think outside the box. That’s
what I believe. After all, what is the point of being
on this earth if all you want to do is be liked by
everyone and avoid trouble?
a wrestler or a bouncer. Oh, maybe with your
German accent we can get you to be a Nazi officer
in Hogan’s Heroes or something like that.”
But I didn’t listen to all this. Those were their
rules, not my rules. I was convinced I could do it
if I worked as hard as I did in bodybuilding, five
hours a day. And I started getting to work, I started
taking acting classes. I took English classes, took
speech classes, dialogue classes. A e removt

The only way that I ever got anyplace was by

breaking some of the rules. After all, I remember
that after I was finished with my bodybuilding
career I wanted to get into acting and I wanted to
be a star in films.

You can imagine what the agents said when I went

to meet all those agents. Everyone had the same
line, that it can’t be done, the rules are different
here. They said, “Look at your body. You have this
huge monstrous body, overly developed. That
doesn’t fit into the movies. You don’t understand.

And yes, I can imagine with your name, Arnold

Schwartzenschnitzel, or whatever the name, is,
on a billboard. Yeah, that’s going to draw a lot of
tickets and sell a lot of tickets. Yeah, right.” So this
is the kind of negative attitude they had.This was
20 years ago, the Hercules movies. Now the little
guys are in, Dustin Hoffman, Woody Allen, Jack
Nicholson.” Before he gained weight, of course,
that is. But anyway, those are the guys that were
in. And the agents also complained about my
accent. They said, “No one ever became a star with
an accent like that, especially not with a German
accent.

But I didn’t listen to those rules, even though they

were very nice and they said, “Look, we can get
you some bit parts. We can get you to be playing
7/11/2012 Final Squat Day Before
the Meet
What are you going to do today, but more
importantly how are you going to do it?
Tuesday night was the last night of squats for
this training cycle. My wife Kathy hit an easy 465
opener and Carley hit 865 squat opener and 650
dead opener, both easy as well. Those two are
gonna throw around some serious numbers next
weekend. Normally I too would be hitting openers
but I took it off to let my back heal. I worked up
to 405 raw off a box. I cannot describe how easy
the weight felt, it felt like a I have a band pulling
me back up. My hips are the strongest they have
7/16/2012 Bench Opener 7/18/2012 Bloodflow
and Meet Song
Tuesday night was my last night in the gym. I did
a full body blood flow session. I hit every body
Sunday was the final day of my training cycle for part, 3 sets of 30 with light weight. I think that it
my meet. I worked up to my bench opener. I was is very important to keep blood pumping through
very happy to work through the rep even though your muscles to help keep you fresh when you are
I slipped out of my arch. I have been having a lot not training. I am feeling prepared for this meet. I
of problems slipping out of my arch this training trained as hard as I possibly could in the time I was
cycle. On the days I can stay in my arch my bench given to do so. Yes I am nervous, but this is normal,
is the strongest it has ever been. I hope its just the once I get the bar on my back and start warming
fact that we were benching in 100+ weather. On up squats those nerves start to fade a little. We
stage I should be cool and dry. Kathy and Carley plan to leave tomorrow morning for Dubuque, it is
both hit their openers easy too. I think that I have about a 5 or so hour drive for us.
gained a lot of strength while still staying lighter
than previous meets, which is what my goal was. I am very excited to see what Kathy, Frank, and
Usually I come in too heavy and have to cut weight Carley do, they have had an amazing training
and then feel like shit the day of the meet. This is cycle. Jason Ehlert is going to make a huge squat
going to be a great meet, everyone is ready and attempt and Anthony Carlquist is coming off the
theres going to be some great lifters there. best meet I have seen him in, hopefully he can
keep that momentum going. My buddy Dan G is
Bench looking to secure his name in the books of 800lb
Barx10 benchers. The Lilliebridges will bring a couple of
135x10 2000+ raw totals. I get to compete with my new
185x5 EFS teammates Julia and Mick. And not to mention
225x3 this is my first meet representing EFS. This is gonna
275x1 be awsome, fun meet with great people.
315x1
365x1 Actions are a reflection of your thoughts,
405x1 Marshall Johnson
495x3(Metal Jack Pro Shirt)
585x1 7/18/2012 Arnold’s 5th Rule of
635x1 touch(opener)
Success
I think I will request to squat to this song on
Saturday. Arnold’s 5th, and most important Rule of Success,
Work Your Butt Off!
Prevail by Daring to Fail,
Marshall Johnson You never want to fail because you didn’t work
hard enough. I never wanted to lose a competition
or lose an election because I didn’t work hard
enough. I always believed leaving no stone
unturned.

Mohammed Ali, one of my great heroes, had a

great line in the ’70s when he was asked, “How
many sit-ups do you do?” He said, “I don’t count
my sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts
hurting. When I feel pain, that’s when I start
counting, because that’s when it really counts.”

That’s what makes you a champion. Arnold

Scvhwarzenegger in Kindergarten
the wa
7/24/2012 2012 Iron Battle on the that I was the most prepared for a meet I have ever
been, and as long as I got to depth I could squat
Mississippi Meet Write Up any weight that day. My first squat was 950ish and
it was a night and day difference from warm ups. I
We got into Dubuque Thursday afternoon and
am a platform lifter for sure, luckily when its time
checked into the ghetto Days Inn. One of those
to lift everything else fades away and I just do it. I
creepy motels, not hotel, where your scared to
got to depth easy and fast and hit the weight. Next
look at the bottom side of the mattress. I was
squat was 1014ish and it was stronger and faster
283 so it was an easy cut to 275. I had my last
than the opener. Final squat was 1052 and it was
meal at about 6 and didn’t eat or drink anything
the smoothest and strongest squat ever. It was a
again until weigh in. I turned the heat up in the
pr for me and a national UPA record.
room and slept under all the covers. I ended up
weighing in at 273. I spent the day eating and
Bench:
hanging out poolside with a pedialite. I woke up
at about 6 Saturday morning and we hit Perkins
Bench for me this training cycle showed the most
for breakfast. If you would have told me when
improvement so I was a little more confident.
we got to the site that I was gonna have a good
Warm ups felt strong and then it was time to
day I would have told you you were an idiot. This
put the shirt on. Once again it was to tight and I
was by far the worst I have ever felt at a meet in
couldn’t get it on all the way. We tried every trick in
my life. I was hyperventilating from 7am to 5pm.
the book to get it on and also got it soaking wet so
I was walking around like a zombie, on the brink of
it would stretch more. Touching seemed like a mile
passing out the whole day. It was the worst feeling
down. I didn’t get close to touching in warm ups.
ever, in constant dread for 9 hours straight. If
But the way training went I knew that if I could just
anyone out there has any experience with anxiety
touch any way I could I could press the weight. My
and panic attacks they know how frustrating it
opener was 630ish and the shirt wasn’t budging.
is. You aren’t scared for any reason, you are just
It forced my elbows in early causing me to touch
scared. Its super frustrating being scared for no
lower than I ever have. I had to touch so low I ended
reason. Then only thing I could keep telling myself
up resorting to opening my hands and letting it
was that I was prepared for the meet today and
roll to my palms, very stupid and I shouldn’t have
had to make it to the platform.
done it but I was desperate. It teetered there for
what seemed like forever and almost fell out twice
Squats:
but I was able to get a quick press call because
the bar was pretty much motionless the whole
For the last two weeks leading up to the meet I
time. There was instant relief when I heard press
wasn’t in my squat or dead gear to let my back heal.
because I knew it was gonna be ok. I pressed it and
Usually I will squat right up until the meet. This
could breathe because my squat was safe, at least
time off helped me greatly and my back was fresh.
until deads haha. My second attempt was 670ish
But there was a down side, usually I gain weight
and it didn’t take quite as long to touch because
and I can tell because I am in the gear. When meet
there was more weight. It was a grinder but I got
day came all my gear was so ridiculously tight
it. I have been wanting a 700lb bench for so long I
I couldn’t get it on all the way and my legs were
knew this was the meet. 705 was my last attempt
numb. All of my warm ups were horrific, no where
and it was a slow, agonizing grinder but I finally got
near depth. My knees kept caving in because my
my 700!
gear wasn’t up all the way. Depth and knees are
never my problem so you could say panic mode
was screaming at full tilt! I just kept telling myself
Deathlifts! There were many things I did wrong this cycle,
and many things I did very right. I will make a few
Deathlifts are always a toss up in a full meet. Its videos explaining what these things were. I want
hard to hit the same numbers in a meet that you others to learn from my mistakes so they don’t
hit in training because you are so exhausted. I have to live them too. Thank you to everyone who
actually lowered my opener from 730ish to ensure has believed in me and stood by my side!
my squat and bench pr’s. 700ish was my opener
and my gear was too tight and we put the straps Livin the Dream!
up to tight so I pretty much straight leg deadlifted Marshall Johnson
my opener. It was a lot harder then it had to be.
My second attempt was 750ish and we loosened 7/24/2012 My elitefts Teammates
the straps and I was able to get my ass down into this weekend
position and pulled it easy. My final attempt came
down to two choices. Take something under 800 I wanted to say congrats to Julia Ladewski and
to ensure best lifter, or go for the pr and national Mick Manley on their performances this weekend
record. I knew I had 810 in me so that’s what we at the Iron Battle on the Mississippi. Both lifters hit
chose. It cam off the weight easy but got stuck pr’s on the day. They did a great job of representing
at lock out for a few seconds until I could get my elitefts. Also I would like to congratulate Shelby
hips through. This lift I felt could have gone either Starnes for earning his IFBB Pro Card. That is
way. Sometimes when I look at the video it looks so huge, not many people realize how big of an
like the bar goes up and down, and other times it accomplishment that is. He is now apart of that 1%
looks like the bar stays neutral. This was just my of the bodybuilding population that has achieved
day I guess, I got the lift! a pro card. Congrats to you all, you did great!

At the end of the day I walked away with three
national records, and the best lifter award. I got a
sick Spartan Helmet for best lifter. This was the first
time I have ever gone 9 for 9. This really could not
have been a more perfect day for me. What a great
way to start out representing Elitefts, showing
them they didn’t make a mistake in believing in me.
This was a very emotional meet for me. The last
time I was on that platform was the lowest point in
my powerlifting career. I competed in November
and I bombed out on deads. Myself and everyone
around me had such high expectations for me at
that meet and I felt like the worlds biggest failure.
I stood behind the stage and cried for like a half
hour because I felt like I let everyone I loved down.
I also knew that elitefts at the time was keeping
tabs on me and I thought I had blown my dream.
To come back to this venue and go 9 for 9 and win
best lifter was such an amazing feeling for me, I
will never forget it. I went back stage again, to the
same spot I went in November but this time I cried
tears of joy!
Boom that just happened!
Marshall Johnson
7/24/2012 P-Town Barbell Meet
Recap
A couple of my P-Town teammates came down to
IA to compete as well. I will start with my wife, for
my safety’s sake ;)
Lethal: Kathy hit a pr in the squat, a 460 something,
a pr in bench a 330 something, and struggled on
deads but was able to stay in the meet and pr on
total as well. Kathy actually pressed 350 on her
third bench attempt but her butt just barely raised
off the bench. It was an easy press so 400 will be a
possibly this year.
Big Easy: Brian Carley had probably the most
idealistic first meet than anyone could ever hope
to have. As a lot of you know this was Brian’s first
meet and has only been training for 3 months.
Brian competed in UPA-AD the drug tested deathlifts. It feels great making a plan and actually
division. All of his opening attempts were at least having it workout.
200lbs heavier than the current national record!
Big Easy ended with a 940ish squat, 600ish bench, Weight:
and a 720ish deadlift. He went 9 for 9 and walked
away with 10 national records. Well 4, depends on In the past three meets I have started training
how you look at it. He damn near totaled pro at around 275 and when it came to weigh-ins I was in
275 in his first meet. He has only been training in the 290’s(296 at my heaviest). I would have to take
gear for a month and a half! I am so proud of what drastic measures to make weight. The extreme
he has accomplished, he has a bright future in this dehydration had a huge effect on me when the
sport. Here are his lifts. meet came around. Also My gear fit me at 275/280
so when I tried to compete at 290 my gear was way
Frankie: Frank has been with me in powerlifting to tight. My plan was to start my training as close
since day one. He is one of my biggest supporters to 260 as I could get and hopefully when meet
and best friends. He went 8 for 8 on the day. I time came around I would be at about 275/280. I
can’t remember his numbers exactly but he pr’d started out taking Roxy-Lean from BPI and hitting
in squat with a mid 600, pr’d in bench with 450+, 2 a days cardio sessions. My cardio was very low
and had a huge pr on deads with 740 something. intensity. It was mostly the elyptical at the lowest
setting. I stuck to mainly a bodybuilding type diet.
Everyone from P-Town did amazing, I am so proud I ate mainly Cod, Ground Venison, eggs, chicken
of you all. breast, bround rice, and green beans. I made sure
to eat every two hours and drink plenty of water.
P-Town Baby! In a month and a half I was able to drop from 285
Marshall Johnson to 262. Suprisingly my strength wasn’t affected
a whole lot. When the weights got heavier I just
7/26/2012 What I Did Wrong and added more calories via anything I could grab
What I Did Right (Part 1) and eventually the last 3-4weeks of the cycle I
was eating the normal craptastic powerlifter diet
I know that in my meet write up I said that I was again. I got the meet the night before the weigh-
going to make some videos talking about this but ins and I was 283. It was an easy cut to 275 without
come on, did you really think I would go through extreme dehydration. Success!
with that. I chickened out, no one needs to hear my
munchkin voice. I think I sound like the Undertaker Falling forward:
in the movie Suburban Commando. You know the
part when he says “Your a dead man Ramsey” in The last two meets I was having a lot of problems
that little elf voice. Thanks how I think I sound to with losing my balance and falling forward on squat
people haha. So I will just stick with writing out my and deathlift. I was stumped, there was no pain or I
thoughts. wasn’t dizzy so I figured there must be a weakness
somewhere. Chuck V has always been a hero of
I will start with the things that I did that went right mine in powerlifting. His strength is inhuman. I’ve
for this training cycle. seen him fall forward on so many 1100+ squats
and good morning it back up and smoke it. I knew
When I started training for this meet I had a couple I had to do what ever he was doing in training.
goals in mind. I wanted to lose weight and come Chuck sometimes uses “out of position” training.
in closer to 275 and I had to address a problem I He performs squats, good mornings, deadlifts,
was having with falling forward on the squats and or rack pulls with some sort of force pulling him
forward. One of the main exercises I incorporated 7/28/2012 Arnold’s 6th and Final
was what I called Vogel-pullz. I did deadlifts and
rack pulls with a safety squat bar on my back.
Rule of Success
The bar for the most part will stay on your back
Whatever path that you take in your lives,
without even touching it. The bar pulls you down
you must always find time to give something
and forward putting a lot of stress towards the
back, something back to your community, give
top of your back. It really makes you fight to stay
something back to your state or to your country.
upright and keep from falling forward. Doing this
alone would be hard but I combined them with
My father-in-law, Sargent Shriver — who is a great
rack pulls making the lift extremely hard. You can’t
American, a truly great American who started the
really use a lot of weight on either bar. You have
Peace Corps, the Job Corps, Legal Aid to the Poor
to focus and stay very tight to keep yourself from
— he said at Yale University to the students at a
just collapsing. Another lift I stole from my elitefts
commencement speech, “Tear down that mirror.
teammate Zane Geeting. We put a bench in front
Tear down that mirror that makes you always look
of the deadlift and hooked a mini band to the
at yourself, and you will be able to look beyond
bottom of the bench. We then wrapped the other
that mirror and you will see the millions of people
end around the back of our necks. The band would
that need your help.
constantly be pulling your down and forward. We
mostly did rack pulls with the band around our
And let me tell you something, reaching out and
necks. I quit doing these assistance lifts about a
helping people will bring you more satisfaction
month and half out of the meet. When I went full
than anything else you have ever done. As a
gear and squatted in training and in the meet I had
matter of fact today, after having worked for
not one issue falling forward on either the squat
Special Olympics and having started After School
or deathlift. I pr’d by almost 20lbs on the squat
Programs, I’ve promoted fitness, and now with my
and almost 10lbs on the deadlift. My squat had a
job as governor, I can tell you, playing a game of
lot left in the tank but the deads were tapped out
chess with an eight-year-old kid in an inner city
haha. But now the question is, do I continue to
school is far more exciting for me than walking
add out of position training or leave it until there is
down another red carpet or a movie premiere.
a problem? I will have to ask around and see what
others think because I really don’t know.
So let me tell you, as you prepare to go off into the
world, remember those six rules:
These were two main problems that I was having
and I was able to remedy them. It felt pretty damn
Trust yourself, Break some rules, Don’t be afraid to
good to see a problem, assess it, and solve it.
fail, Ignore the naysayers, Work like hell, and Give
There are other things that I did right as well that I
something back.
will address at another time.
-smartonlinesuccess
Prevail by daring to fail,
Marshall Johnson
7/30/2012 Strong(er) Via Mark
Morway
“We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just
a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes
up...discovering we have the strength to stare it
down.”
- Elenor Roosevelt
The Meat-head version of this quote means that
you don’t and can’t expect to be bigger, stronger
or faster tomorrow or next week. These things
take time, dedication and effort.
I think most people understand this....
What they forget is this dedication and effort has
to continue to happen even when they DON’T feel
like it.
It’s when life gets hard or temptation is calling our
names that we have to find the strength to “stare
it down” and keep moving forward.
This is how getting strong(er) is done,
Marshall Johnson
7/30/2012 elitefts Crew This
Weekend
Congratulations to Matt Ladewski hitting a bench of thousands of squats in training since I started.
pr this weekend at his bench meet. Also congrats There are some of you out there that can relate to
to Vinny D winning the last man standing bench that statement. But when meet time came around
competition with an 850lb bench. Great work my back was completely fresh and I actually ended
guys, way to rep elitefts!
7/31/2012 What I did right: (Part 3) good
Well my computer is officially completely useless.
I had made a video for this but I couldn’t get it to
load. It sat for 5 hours and got to 90% and then
froze. I about threw it against the wall. So I am just
gonna write this stuff out.
I wanted to talk a bit about some of the things that
I did right in this training cycle.
Time off:
This was the first time I have ever taken two weeks
off in training. I actually took two weeks off two
separate times. This was the worst that my back
has ever been messed up. I knew that it wasn’t
going to get any better if I didn’t take time off so
I looked at it like this. My main goal is to make it
to the Arnold in March for the XPC. In order to
get to March I have to compete in October and
qualify. I was already qualified for October so I
thought if there ever was a time when I could be
ok with taking two weeks off now would be the
time. I wouldn’t say that the July meet wasn’t
important, but I wasn’t under the gun to perform.
So I took the time off, I didn’t squat or deadlift for
two weeks and when I came back I was shocked.
I had worked up to 955 and it was the easiest,
fastest squat I had ever done, and it was pain free.
I was a believer. The following week was supposed
to be a meet rehearsal but I ended up tweaking
my back again and was forced to take the last two
weeks off before the meet off. To anyone who is
as crazy as I am can relate to how I felt going two
weeks without training. Especially that close to
a meet. As stupid as this sounds I felt like I was
going to forget how to squat. Even though I have
squatted hundreds and thousands and hundreds
up hitting a big PR and having the biggest squat
at the meet. This time off the last two weeks as
but it was also bad too. I usually squat right
up until the meet. I always usually gain weight the
last month as well. But I always know I am getting
bigger because I am in gear and I can feel it getting
tighter. When it came time to get my gear on that
morning I was horrified to find that my gear was
way way to tight. I couldn’t get it up all the way and
was forcing my knees to cave in really bad in warm
ups. Luckily for me I am a complete nervous wreck
off the platform but once I get up there everything shoulder and tapered down towards the Viking
fades away and I just “do”. What I learned was that logo on the back of the arm. This line makes a “fin”
I can take time off, even the last few weeks before on the back of your arm, up and down your tricep.
a meet if I have to. I need to listen to Adkins and Doing this will tighten your shirt up around your
Nutter more often and train smarter because now shoulders and will also tighten your chest plate.
I have seen, I have proven to myself that time off Those were the only alterations I had made.
isn’t going to hurt me. This I believe will help me
get to the next level of powerlifting because I will Breaking the Jack Shirt in:
hopefully be able to quit hurting myself and come
in the best that I can. I have talked to other people that have been using
their Jack for the first time and we all came to
7/31/2012 Tricks I learned for the same agreement. The brand new Jack shirt
was ridiculously unforgiving. It was so stiff and
getting the most out of your Jack solid that I couldnt budge any weight. It forced
Pro Bencher. my elbows in to fast and hurt a lot. One of the
techniques I used to overcome this was actually
I am in no way the authority on benching. Everyone a contradictory to how I shirt train. When I came
who reads me knows its my worst lift. I just wanted to P-Town everyone was doing full range triples,
to share some of things I have learned about the no boards, and no elbow tucking. Metal Mulisha
Jack Shirt in the short time I have used it. I was style. This took me from a 500lb bencher to a 650lb
never a believer in Metal Bench gear before. I used bencher almost immediately. But anyway back to
Metal Squat and Dead Suits but never a Metal the Jack, my shirt was being so stubborn I had to
Shirt. I was not a fan at all, until I tried the Jack that think of a way to make progress to my chest. I
is. I had been chasing the 700lb barrier for some started using boards again. I would start at a 4 or 5
time now and have come close a few times but it board and faught just to get there. But eventually
wasn’t until I came on with EFS and used a Jack I was getting to the lower boards faster and easier.
Pro that I finally passed that barrier. I understand It helped me tremendously to have a target to
that some of what I am going to share is common aim at that wasn’t my stomach. After a little over
knowledge to the elite level bencher, but I feel a month I was finally getting to a one board and
its some great advice for lifters like myself that eventually a touch. When I knew touching was a
struggle with the bench. possibility I went back to full range with no boards.
I was shirt benching strong and comfortably for
Altering: the first time ever. The Jack, in my opinion, has a
great combination of stiff support, but rebound as
First and most obvious, the sleeves. Anyone who well. Something else I did to help break it in was
has a Jack knows that the sleeves are cone shaped. getting the shirt soaking wet. This helped me get
Extremely tight at the elbow and very loose around to those lower boards and eventually touch. It
the shoulder. The first thing I did, at the request of loosens the shirt up just enough to give you play
Scott Nutter, was to trim some of the sleeve off. without hurting the support.
We cut a quarter of an inch off the sleeves. This
helped make the opening of the sleeve a little Patience:
wider. The sleeves come very long actually so
trimming some off didn’t hurt the shirt. Second at I know a lot of people who wanted to give up
the request of Nutter, and Adkins we finned the on the shirt after a month or so, just as I did,
sleeves. If you don’t know what finning is I will tell but eventually the shirt broke in more and more
you. I took my shirt to a seamstress and she made and became one with my shape. After that every
a pinch of about a quarter inch that started at the
Brian Schwab-SPF Pro World Record Total of 2,020 lbs. in 165 lb.
11/28- Equipped Deadlifts and Speed Squats
class

14 Weeks out from the SPF Ironman

5 mins. treadmill

Wide-grip pulldowns- 150x10, 181x10, 195x10

Deadlifts off 4” Blocks- 135x3, 225x3, 315x3

w/looser Ace briefs- 405x3
495+40 lbs of chains x 3
495+80 lbs of chains x 3

Low Box Squats w/Buffalo Bar w/light bands, choked (added approx. 60 lbs of tension)
145x3
235x3
325x2x4
375x2x2
11/29- Equipped Bench
14 Weeks out from the SPF Ironman Pro/Am

5 mins. Treadmill

DB front/lateral/rear delt raise warm up- 10x8x3

External shoulder rotation x15x2

Flat Bench- 95x5, 135x5, 185x3, 225x2, 275x1

w/dd-
405x1/2
3 Board-
495x1
585x2
605x2

I’m still basing my percentages off of 90% of my

projected max (which is right around where my
current max is if not a little below) until we’re 12
weeks out. My numbers have been right on so
far, but I’m looking forward to cranking things up
soon.

Flat DB Press- 80x10, 90x10

Cable pressdowns w/EZ bar- 75x10, 90x10, 105x10

Seated DB Lateral Raises- 30x10, 35x10, 40x10