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Athlete, Powerlifting, Strength Sports

September 4, 2017

Written by Joseph Sullivan, a Kabuki Strength sponsored athlete and one of the top 220 powerlifters in the world. Along with this piece we have released a "Sully Strong" special edition shirt which can be purchased on our store or via the links below.Death and darkness. The only things we are guaranteed or entitled to out of life. You might view that as cynical, but I view it as empowering! To accept the fact that we are nothing in the grand scheme of things, lends so much power to every one of our decisions and passions in this life because it is our ONLY life. So you may as well stand for something and let a passion consume you because by accepting the fact that we are nothing except a blink in the grand scheme of time, means we must find substance in our existence because that is all we can attach ourselves to.Powerlifting is an ego driven endeavor but by detaching yourself from your ego, and by considering your success and your forward progress as nothing but an INEVITABLY you may move past the fear, the distraught, and the failure of a missed lift. If you know what you are capable of and have shown that in the completion of your training with machine like precision, you know that whatever you call for on a third attempt WILL be there. It's simply an inevitability that you move the weight.I have been competing in powerlifting for 10 years now. I have always expected great things from myself, and held myself to a high standard. I hit my first "elite" total at 1725lbs at 198lbs in 2015. I took NO time off between then and now, but had many setbacks along the way. I will save you a list but no shortage...

Kabuki Strength
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Athlete, Chris' Training

December 9, 2016

Here is this last weeks training.  A lot more missed training as you will see in my training log snapshot than I would like to see.  But its hard to keep up when traveling and speaking for sure!  Considering that I'm quite happy with the work I did get in however.  Things are progressing nicely.  Will be working on improving the formatting for the training log for those not familiar with how we track training.  But below is the weekly plan, performance, and deviation....

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Athlete

November 28, 2016

Last weeks leading into the meet[wpdevart_youtube width="640" height="385" autoplay="0" theme="dark" loop_video="0" enable_fullscreen="1" show_related="1" show_popup="0" thumb_popup_width="213" thumb_popup_height="128" show_title="1" show_youtube_icon="1" show_annotations="1" show_progress_bar_color="red" autohide_parameters="1" set_initial_volume="false" initial_volume="100" disable_keyboard="0"]muIuT3FjSsc[/wpdevart_youtube]Here is a quick meet recap and the lessons I learned[wpdevart_youtube width="640" height="385" autoplay="0" theme="dark" loop_video="0" enable_fullscreen="1" show_related="1" show_popup="0" thumb_popup_width="213" thumb_popup_height="128" show_title="1" show_youtube_icon="1" show_annotations="1" show_progress_bar_color="red" autohide_parameters="1" set_initial_volume="false" initial_volume="100" disable_keyboard="0"]e-rlAlCqweY[/wpdevart_youtube]...

Kabuki Strength
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Athlete, Chris' Training, News

November 25, 2016

Ok folks, here we go! For our Black Friday promotion this year, here are the deals we are offering! $50 off the Shoulderok, price is now $139.99! FREE Shoulderok with purchase of a Duffalo Performance Squat and Bench Bar, OR $139.99 credit if you buy a Duffalo Bar + Boomstick or Pain Pill $60 in free mobility tools with purchase of any tempering products (Boomstick, Pain Pill, or Geisha) 15% off the ENTIRE REST OF THE STORE!Click the store link above and go get them before they're gone! ...

Kabuki Strength
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Athlete, Chris' Training

November 20, 2016

This path may be a little confusing to most.  But I'm taking some time off from heavy lifting right now and making sure I'm functioning well and setup to perform well to hit my 1000lb Squat goal.  While I do this I have an interim goal to do a one-arm barbell snatch of 225lbs.  I might not hit this at this point but its a good time to work on that as a slowly transition back into squat training....

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Athlete

October 27, 2016

I am sitting at 4 weeks out at the end of week 8 and besides my shoulder, everything is moving along. I am still hitting the weights I need to for bench so I can't complain and it is getting progressively better thanks to 1-2 hours a day of dedicated work. Squats and deads are going really well and I am expecting them to carry my total. I am hitting singles for most of my competition lifts to really dial in form and to maximize recovery. I am not saying reps are bad, but since I am going into PR weights I need to be perfect and practice makes perfect. This is new to me so we will see how it all plays out on Nov 19th. Getting very excited for this meet and leading up to the meet are some huge meets that will showcase some of the best lifters in my weight class and in the 308 plus weight class. Watching the top guys perform really pumps me up and gets me ready for training and the platform. Some people see them and get down, I see them and get excited because I know I will be there soon. Here is week 7 training recap:SundayBackMondayLow Bar Squats w/ Wraps- 715lbs for 2 RepsBelt Squats- 4x6Sumo Pulls- 515lbslbs 6x1Ab Wheel- 4x10WednesdayOff to rest shoulder pain FridaySumo Deads- 650lbslbs x1RDL's- 455lbs x6, 495lbs x5Belt Squats- 4x6Band Abs- 3x12SaturdayPause  BP-  470lbs x3x3 Couldn't move my arm so I called it quits[wpdevart_youtube width="640" height="385" autoplay="0" theme="dark" loop_video="0" enable_fullscreen="1" show_related="1" show_popup="0" thumb_popup_width="213" thumb_popup_height="128" show_title="1" show_youtube_icon="1" show_annotations="1" show_progress_bar_color="red" autohide_parameters="1" set_initial_volume="false" initial_volume="100" disable_keyboard="0"]LVokRp2_5C8[/wpdevart_youtube]Here is week 8 training recap:SundayBackMondayLow Bar Squats w/ Wraps- 745lbs for 1 RepSumo Pulls- 535lbs 4x1Belt Squats- 4x6Ab Wheel- 4x10WednesdayPause BP-  440lbs x4x1JM Press- 6x8FridaySumo Deads- 676lbs for 3 singlesRDL's- 405lbs 4x6Belt Squats- 4x6Band Abs- 3x12SaturdayPause  BP-  485lbs x1 JM...

Kabuki Strength
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Athlete

October 21, 2016

The meet is getting closer and closer and as the weights get heavier and fatigue grows injuries are almost always going to occur. Some people quit and call it when that happens, but good lifters figure out a way to push through and work around the injuries to keep steady progress and still be ready for the meet. It is about taking the time to diagnose the issue, find people who can help you solve, and do exercises that work around it but still build up those areas. Other times you just have to pop some ibuprofen and do the best you can until the meet is over, but the worst thing you can do is quit when things aren't going your way. This meet prep for me has been good in the sense that all my lifts are improving but bad in that this has been the most injury-plagued prep yet. Normally I can make it through a prep just fine a few bumps and bruises along the way but this one has been trying, to say the least. So far I've popped a rib out, injured my right shoulder to the point where I couldn't even raise my hand up and just recently had a slight strain in my calf. This has forced me to look into different modalities of training and it has allowed me to look long term how can I prevent this from happening again, now if I just quit I would have never gotten better in those aspects and I wouldn't have grown as a coach and athlete all things I try to do on a daily basis, so what better way to do that than under the bar. Things are on the up and up and I couldn't be happier with where I am...

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