Known as the “Mad Scientist Strength” Chris is an Ex Corporate Executive turned Inventor and Movement professional. He has positioned himself uniquely in the fitness world bridging the gap between (and working with both) the top clinical rehab and sports professionals in the world and the in the trenches athletes and S&C coaches. He promotes and uses evidence-based approaches in developing his coaching and cueing methodologies and strength training equipment. Chris keeps it simple with reinforcing clean natural movement patterns and then focusing on building strength.
He is the only person in the world today squatting and deadlifting over 900lbs at his bodyweight and is one of the best Powerlifters of our age, and one of the most respected strength coaches in the industry. Chris’s professional background prior to his current roles includes 18 years of diverse operations management experience in running aerospace, automotive, and hi-tech companies or divisions, utilizing his BS in Engineering and MBA. Chris also co-owns the Kabuki Strength Lab in Portland Oregon and is CEO/Co-Founder of Kabuki Strength Equipment providing innovative equipment and methodologies to the S&C field.
Still keeping it under wraps as to exactly what I want to do in the Animal Cage at the Arnold. But I am excited for it. This marks the first week of training for a very short prep period. It will also delay my 1000lb squat goal but I've got a pretty interesting plan for the year for my goals. Ready to get moving forward on it.Below is the training plan for the week. ...
Some highlights of my shoulder work this last week that I thought would be worth posting independent of my training log. This is some old school strength training methods indicative of strongman training of the 1800's and early 1900's. Highly effective for both scapular stability and mobility, but also just plain fun....
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....
Here is my training from this last week. You can view both the videos as read the weekly log details embedded below.Here is the 800lb pull session as well. https://youtu.be/QUTHWkLf3j4...
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! ...
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....
#GrandGoals is a double-edged sword, for most of us the meaning of grand goals can universally apply to those big dreams and goals we aim to achieve in life. For Chris Duffin, it stands for that as well as a goal he set out to accomplish of deadlifting and squatting 1000 pounds as the lightest man in history ever to do so. This post and compilation video follows along as he discusses details relating to training leading into the 1000lb deadlift attempt. Make sure to subscribe to Chris' YouTube channel and FB/IG pages and follow along! Reflecting on what has been accomplished over the course of this training cycle its pretty incredible to see what I've pushed through. Here is the tail end of the last several weeks of the training cycle over-layed with a discussion by Coach Brandon and myself. We touch on the approach used over the last 6 months to give you and understanding of the process. Future articles detailing the specifics of these approaches will be released in the coming months as well by both of us. We have been collecting data along this whole process and are working to come up with a unified approach and article describing the unique training methods and programming decisions we made with the #GrandGoals training plan. Please enjoy the video and don't be afraid to share. The training itself is pretty epic as noted in the title, but the value in the information shared will be of incredible benefit. This video also articulates the value of a coach and the iterative approach to developing and managing a training plan between a coach and an athlete, something oft forgotten in today's age of "internet coaches". Enjoy and stay strong!...
In the following training log I walk through my training over the last month following the 980x1+ pull and to the 900x5 and 855 conventional deadlift that was recently posted.Instead of just showing the lifts please listen to the audio and here how I’m managing my required daily volume via sets and reps with VBT. This specific approach I’m using is not what we typically employ but was put in place to manage the specific demands of this program. I also walk through what I’ve done with squats, pressing, and accessory days as I lead into the final phases of #GrandGoals. Training has been quite intense and I’ve never put myself through grueling sessions like this before. But if I’m going to attempt to do epic things I need to put the work in, all while being smart. In fact yesterday in a podcast with Kelly Starrett were talking about my massive 2x a week deadlifts. And in reflection I noted that there is no way I would be able to pull this off well without the tools I use on Kabuki.MS to assess and quickly correct issues. So that I can keep moving cleanly and deal with any issue before it spirals out of control.That combined with specifically managed volumes and intensity that we manage in our VBT based auto regulation program keep me out of trouble. Head Virtual Coach Brandon is reviewing the statistics based on our models and updating all aspect of my program.I hope you enjoy the following video and learn something along the way.You can read more about our coaching services here or sign up below:// Buy Virtual Coaching with Chris Duffin & Kabuki Strength Team...
Chris Duffin making progress on his #GRANDGOALS plans with a crazy deadlift workout. He hit 935lb for 3, and then 960lb for 2. Both lifts being huge all-time PRs. Video below[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"]_vav1sUziig[/wpdevart_youtube]...
Solid week of training this week with lots of PR's. In addition to what was listed in the title I also hit a 350x20 Reverse grip bench after the 225 rep out.Here is my training log from this las week. You can see the plan, any deviation from the plan, velocity numbers driving the load for auto regulation purposes, and my subjective workout feedback. Learn more about our training methods here.All the weights used are listed in the document below as well.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr_6uQV3FqE...
Well training was pretty damn minimal this week. With all the travel, work, and filming I was struggling to get some good training in. Lack of sleep really hits me hard and I was struggling with this all week on top of that and after the first couple days realized I essentially wasn't going to get much to any training in. What you see in the following video is pretty much it. I had some big lifts but not many of them.On the bright side you will be seeing a ton of new content over the next month!Deadlift Tutorial Video @ SupertrainingBench tutorial Video @ SupertrainingKelly Starrett Interviews about the future of strength coach and clinical practice and where these areas collideAnd tons of new content for WWW.Kabuk.MS Lifts this week855x6 Deadlift on Wagon Wheels225x58 Reverse Grip Bench followed by340x20 Reverse Grip Bench625x2 no Hands front squathttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsGvYOUdGMo...
They can't all be great. Not only was there nothing much to write home about this week but my only real good workout came following a day I completely bagged it. It is rare this happens...
Did some Work with Chad Aichs and Jesse Anderson then Traveled to Texas and trained at MetroFlex Fort Worth while presenting at CSCCa Seminar. In my training plan you can see how the core lifts are being managed via velocity measurements. These velocity measurements are built off of my individual profiling sessions of these lifts. Then using a reps in reserve to manage my accessory work as well as tracking of the perceived workout difficulty which are all visible in the training log.Here is my training log from this las week. You can see the plan, any deviation from the plan, velocity numbers driving the load for auto regulation purposes, and my subjective workout feedback. Learn more about our training methods here.All the weights used are listed in the document below as well.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq7JDD2mz5Y ...
Here is my training log from this las week. You can see the plan, any deviation from the plan, velocity numbers driving the load for auto regulation purposes, and my subjective workout feedback. Learn more about our training methods here.All the weights used are listed in the document below as well.This week Chad Aichs and Jesse Anderson came into town but most of that footage will be in next weeks log. If you didn't see our wheeling trip see it here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA-s72nwltw...
January 12, 2015Meet Chris Duffin Part 1 - EliteFTS interview - Chris discusses growing up, school, sports, philosophy, and success.Listen to Podcast...
CLACKAMAS, OREGON - Mar 16, 2014 - Chris Duffin, owner of Elite Performance Center, sumo-style dead-lifted a total of 17,010 pounds in a minute, shattering the current Guinness record of 10,535 pounds. Adrian Larsen attempted to break the record for heaviest bench press in one minute. The powerlifting event benefitted powerlifter and bouncer Brian Rizzo, who was shot on Jan. 11, 2014 while working at the Mystic Gentleman's Club. Emily Jan/The Oregonian...
Well after the dieting to get into range of making the 220 class this last meet I've decided to just keep rolling with it. Its been a year since I've done a photo shoot for marketing of my products and services and the images are getting a little to recycled.Since I was already down quite a bit the dieting has essentially been consisting of carb depletion workouts. So I have not been tracking exactly what I've been doing as its just high rep volume work in place of doing low intensity cardio which i hate.In these last two weeks I'm down around 1800kcal a day to pull the last bit of fat off. My estrogen levels have been very high following this last meet so removing the lower abdominal fat has been a struggle and probably won't get it all off. At the moment I'm on a full keto diet which I do not prefer for performance reasons. But its prep work for getting the muscles to refill when I carb load for the shoot and keep the water off.Training 6 days a week basically following a 3 day repeating pattern.Day 1 - Legs and related Day 2 - Back Day 3 - Pressing Day 4 - Legs and related Day 5 - Back Day 6 - Pressingarms are mixed in daily or every other day.Here are some shots of what I'm looking like right now. I'm very flat and depleted so I look far from great. but confident that will turn around when I pull the water off and fill the muscles back out....
Well this last week was an incredibly challenging week. I finished off my cut and did a photo shoot on Tuesday followed immediately by flying out to the Arnold on Wednesday. What made this challenging is the fact I was incredibly sick all week so the travel, lack of sleep, and long NON-STOP days at the Arnold killed me. However I couldn’t have had a better week honestly. It was an incredible time meeting and interacting with fans, customers, and friends I don’t see very often. Dave allowed me and my team into the compound to get some training in as well so big thanks to him and EliteFTS.
For this photo shoot my goal was to come in much more filled out than the last one. The one I did last year I got quite lean for but my face was so drawn I was not that recognizable. So we were unable to use a lot of the images for marketing material because I didn’t look like me or looked scary. This time I started the carb up early and hit it pretty hard after the 2 week carb depletion I did running into the shoot. While this did result in a lot more spillover and soft loping appearance of he abdominal area than I would have liked to have seen I’m quite pleased wight the results. Got some great images and I look like myself. And considering this is only the second time I have done this with very little experience to pull from I’m pleased.
Injury Prevention, Wisdom, Longevity - You're Not as Broken as You Think You AreChris Duffin is a dominant force in both raw and multi-ply lifting, He currently held the all-time raw (with wraps) world record with a 881-pound squat at 220-pounds bodyweight. In 2014, he posted a raw total of 2061 pounds in the 220-pound class. In addition to his own competitive success, he has been the owner and coach of Kabuki Strength in Portland, Oregon since 2008. Chris Duffin holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from The Oregon Institute of Technology and an MBA from The University of Phoenix. Duffin approaches powerlifting at a level of technical efficiency that is unsurpassed. His insight into training has helped many of his students go on to success beyond their expectations.My wife is convinced that it is my goal to break something when I go extreme rock crawling and off-roading. While she isn’t right, she isn’t entirely wrong.A big piece of the rock crawling/off-roading sport for me is trying to anticipate every failure point and then find a way to make it unbreakable. The goal is to make it out unscathed, but you never find out if you succeeded or what you overlooked unless you push past the limits. Training isn’t much different. The exception is that you try to stay within the limits or you risk actually breaking your body. It is the same that we try to anticipate failure points and build an unbreakable machine of a body.You constantly analyze your body’s strengths, weaknesses, imbalances, and technical flaws, then develop a strategic game plan to address them. This plan is tested at a meet or in the gym testing a new PR. Good lifters gather more information from these testing experiences and go back to the drawing board to begin anew and...
The next DMS course has been scheduled! Details on our webstore! Come visit EPC for the Seminar and get some training in if you can fit it into your schedule. ...