Barbell Shrugged - Strategies for Cutting Weight, Prison, and How to be a Great Powerlifter w/ Jason Coker- The Barbell Life

Episode Date: September 8, 2019

Not many people have benched over 900 pounds. And not many people have been my good friend for over 20 years. Jason Coker’s done both, so he’s a pretty amazing guy.   He’s the go-to expert on cutting weight – and as a longtime lifter at Westside Barbell, Jason knows better than anyone what Westside is really like. This podcast has a lot of knowledge in it and a lot of perspective… and it’s also got a lot of great stories.   In this episode: Getting a job with me after prison and other wild stories from the past Dynamic days, max effort, and what Westside really does Passing out naked at a powerlifting meet… and how you can cut weight in a better way Truly great powerlifters and what so many get wrong Dealing with sciatica and still setting records and more…   Jason Coker on Instagram   Travis Mash on Instagram ------------------------------------------- Please Support Our Sponsors   Savage Barbell Apparel - Save 25% on your first order using the code “BARLIFE”   Organifi - Save 20% using code: “Shrugged” at organifi.com/shrugged -------------------------------------------- Join the One Ton Challenge    Registration is LIVE   12 Month Strength training program to increase your snatch, clean, jerk, squat, dead, bench.    Add them up to find your One Ton Total.    The goal is 2,000 pounds for men and 1,200 for women.    http://onetonchallenge.com/join   “What is the One Ton Challenge”   “How Strong is Strong Enough”   “How do I Start the One Ton Challenge” --------------------------------------------------- Show notes: https://shruggedcollective.com/tbl-coker ---------------------------------------------------     ► Travel thru Europe with us on the  Shrugged Voyage, more info here: https://www.theshruggedvoyage.com/ ► What is the Shrugged Collective?  Click below for more info: https://youtu.be/iUELlwmn57o ► Subscribe to Shrugged Collective's Channel Here http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedSubscribe 📲 🎧 Listen to the audio version on the Apple Podcast App or Stitcher for Android Here- http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedApple http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedStitcher Shrugged Collective is a network of fitness, health and performance shows that help people achieve their physical and mental health goals.  Usually in the gym, but outside as well. In 2012 they posted their first Barbell Shrugged podcast and have been putting out weekly free videos and podcasts ever since. Along the way we've created successful online coaching programs including The Shrugged Strength Challenge, The Muscle Gain Challenge, FLIGHT, Barbell Shredded, and Barbell Bikini. We're also dedicated to helping affiliate gym owners grow their businesses and better serve their members by providing owners tools and resources like the Barbell Business Podcast. Find Shrugged Collective and their flagship show Barbell Shrugged here: SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES ► http://bit.ly/ShruggedCollectiveiTunes WEBSITE ► https://www.ShruggedCollective.com INSTAGRAM ► https://instagram.com/shruggedcollective FACEBOOK ► https://facebook.com/barbellshruggedpodcast TWITTER ► http://twitter.com/barbellshrugged

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brain. Travis mash the barbell life. We are here today to talk to Jason Coker, one of the strongest bench pressers in the country of all time. And before we get started, we want to thank our sponsors over at Savage Barbell, the official apparel sponsor of the One Ton Challenge. You can head over to savagebarbell.com use the coupon code shrugged and you can use the coupon code shrugged to save 25% on your first order savagebarbell.com they have the coolest gear

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Now, this guy is one of the best benchers of all time, and he also has tons of great stories from the past with Travis. Jason opens up to us about everything from his strategies for cutting weight for competitions, to his history in prison, to what makes a truly great powerlifter. And look, if you want to get strong, part of Jason's success is that he didn't go it alone. He wasn't working out alone in a garage just doing his own thing and running programs that he found for free on the internet or in some magazine. He had a coach. He had people, experienced people, who helped him along the way. And that is what we excel at here at Mash Elite.

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slash join. That's mashelite.com slash join. And now I'm Loren Penalas joined by Crystal McAuliffe, Chris Oxmason, and Travis Mash as we talk with Jason Coker. Hey, what's up guys? Welcome back to the show. Today we have a very special guest. Someone who means a lot to me. Someone I love. Someone who has been in my life for over 20 years. Someone who has been there as a friend in the ups and downs when I was a jerk, when I wasn't.

Anyone who has survived friendship with me for 20 years deserves an award. We should get trophies, Jason. I'm still trying to figure out when he hasn't been a jerk. He said when he was a jerk and when he wasn't. I'm waiting for the when he wasn't. Today we have Jason Coker on our show, the world's best bench presser. What's up, man? What's going on, man? At least I think you're the world's best bench presser. What's up, man? What's going on, man?

At least I think you're the world's best bench presser. I guess as always. Can anyone ever say that? Once upon a time. Say what? I say once upon a time, maybe. I don't feel so much like it. I've been watching your videos.

You're like well on your way to being super strong, I think. Yeah, I don't see how you're still doing it, man. My hat's off to you yeah let me uh real quick let's let's talk about i want to tell the story when we first met um we met at world gym in colorado springs and eighth on eighth street and i was uh managing this gym and uh this young dude comes in super built you know obviously yeah obviously has like this a lot of confidence let's say that yeah and um i watch him bench press and i go over to him and i'm like man how long you been working out and at that point he just gotten out of prison he's like yeah i just started training again i think he was benching you know four or five and i'm like and

he wasn't weighing anything like he was he just got prison so he went, you know, four or five. And I'm like, and he wasn't weighing anything. Like, he was, he just got prison. So, you know, maybe 170 pounds. I mean. You mean there's no macros in prison? Like 150. Yeah. Holy moly. How tall?

How tall are you, man? Five, four and a half. Don't forget the half. Don't forget the half. Five and a half. And at that moment, so funny, I said, you know, dude, I think you could be the best bench presser ever. And lo and behold, he's like, all right, let's do it.

He's like, so, I mean, tell us about what it was like to, you know, go from prison. Like, what kept you out? You've been out since then, I think. Yeah, I've been out, I believe. I don't know if I went back after I met you or if that happened before. It was after I met you,

so I did go back for another two and a half, I think, on a three-year deal. But once I got out and stayed out, I mean, honestly, there's two things that I attribute that have kept me out. And the biggest thing has been Christine. And then next would be powerlifting. Those two things have been what's kept me, you know, on the straight and narrow.

More so her powerlifting just giving me something to focus on and kind of, I guess, channel my aggressions or take my aggressions out on or, you know, just a release for me instead of being in the streets doing stuff I shouldn't be doing. Yeah, there was, let me, I got to tell this story. There was a time, here's what happened. So I met him and we instantly became friends and I hired him at World Gym. You know, he's like, hey, will you give me a job?

And the policy was, you know, we weren't allowed to hire people with criminal records. But I just didn't tell anybody. I hired him. I was like, don't get me in trouble, man. So he does a great job. We had so much fun working together. But one day he was missing. I'm like, where's Jason?

Somebody's like, there was a, wasn't it eight pocket? eight pocket there's a there's a quarter pocket that's right yeah there's a quarter yeah and uh somebody's like i think i saw him walking towards the corner pocket which is a bar and i'm like oh no i just i was like oh no here we go i walk over there and he's like he's posted up on the pool table staring this dude down. He's getting ready to obliterate some poor dude, you know. And I'm like, I was like, come on, man. Let's get out of here. And he's like, nope. This dude disrespected me.

And like, I don't know what I said, but I was like, no, you're coming. You're getting out of here. I didn't want to go back to jail. Like, I wasn't trying to. He's like, you don't punk me. And I was like, I'll be honest. Like, I'm not afraid of many people. But Coker is the one dude I'm like, please, God, don't punk me. And I was like, I'll be honest. I'm not afraid of many people, but Coker's the one dude I'm like,

I'm like, please God, don't make me fight this guy. But I was like, look, man. I was like, if you're going to beat somebody up, beat me up then. And I was like, inside, I'm like, oh my God. Please don't call my bluff. Yeah. But he's like, okay.

And he leaves. He's like, don't you ever punk me like that again. Yeah, I'm like, whew. Let's go back to work. Let's go to work, man. But, I mean, I just didn't want to get in trouble. I mean, I love this dude. And, you know, we started training together.

Was that before or after the bounty hunter showed up there looking for art? Remember that? Oh, the dude you blasted? Yep. Yes. Some dude yeah dude so there's so many stories there's a bounty hunter that showed up for one of our fellow employees there and Jason goes out there and anyway like the bounty hunter did not leave with anybody what yeah Jason I mean it looked like the bounty hunter did not leave with anybody but yeah jason i mean it looked like the dude was getting shot with a machine gun but it was fits i mean i've never

seen anything like that hey is he still weighing a buck 50 at this point uh no he's probably we've been training then he's starting to get jacked so but i don't care i think even at 150 yeah still it wouldn't matter yeah anyway so we met back up like we you know i left and went back home my dad got cancer and i moved back to north carolina and we met back up when the wpo came about that's right and uh so when did you like we had powerless a little bit like he went to some meet in Nebraska, Becca Swanson's meet. He did pretty good. Go ahead. I went there and then that was in, I believe, 2000 or 2001.

Christine and I competed there. And after that, all I did was a couple, you know, like local or right there in Colorado, bench-only meets. We moved to Dallas. I decided, because we were still training, we were training in 24-hour fitness. I got the itch to compete in powerlifting, full power. I told her and a guy that worked there, I said I wanted to compete in nationals because I knew nationals was coming up. And I didn't know, you know, how you had to do it and anything. So they said, well, you got to qualify.

So Christine and I, there was a meet. We found a meet there in Texas to go and compete at, to qualify, you know, hopefully qualify to go to national championships, which would have been, that was Vegas in 2006. And it was about three or four months prior to nationals. So, uh, I went there, I went up to house of pain cause it was about 30 minutes away and we bought a shirt just to close back ends or, uh, rage X bought it, took it to the meet, had never had it on, put it on at the meet. And I think I benched like 563 or something like that i squatted i probably if i remember it was like five five hundred five fifty and i'm sure i probably pulled the same as i pull now five five but uh i qualified for nationals

and nationals was a couple months later i started training jason at house of pain he was one of the guys there that was kind of running the show at the time he uh got a hold of enzer and had had made me up a a uh open back with velcro ray jacks i wore that to nationals i trained in it you know because i never really trained in a shirt all i ever did was put one on and go lift started training in that for a couple months and I went and to Vegas and that's when I benched my first all-time record at 198 which was 711 at the time the previous before that the record was 633 which if I remember correctly was my opener and then I jumped to 7-11 uh took it on a second because and I still kind of have this philosophy I like to take you know records either on a first or a second because

I'm usually if I'm going to take a world record attempt in the bench I'm always really confident you know because I've usually hit it several times in the gym so I take them on either an opener on a second attempt that way if something goes wrong and it's just technical i got a couple chances to go ahead and get it which was a smart play because i missed it on my second and turned around and i got it on my third that's awesome and that was that that's kind of the rest is history i've been going ever Like, how old are you now? 43. I just turned 43. How did you get, you know, to Westside?

Like, when was your first day? How did it go? How'd that happen? I screwed my back up really bad in 2009. I was in the hospital for, I believe, like a week, week and a half, something like that. And I talked to Louie at one point. I called Louie up.

I talked to him at Senior Nationals in Vegas. Other than that, I'd never spoke to him before. I called him and asked him what I needed to do. And he said, first thing was, you need to get out of the hospital. Good advice. They were trying to get, yeah. So, you know, he told me don't which we weren't going to go through with surgery anyway they kept trying to force me into it and say i had

to have it if i didn't have it you know i probably wouldn't walk normal again and there was a good chance i wouldn't lift heavy weight again and then they said even with the surgery there was a good chance that uh my competition days were over and I remember you'd have thought somebody died because I grabbed Christine's hand and I bawled like a little baby. It just devastated me, the thought of not being able to lift again. So like I said, I called him and he told me to get out of the hospital and gave me a bunch of different things to start doing. I started doing those.

Couldn't squat. I couldn't even stand up or walk for more than 20 seconds at a time before because my L4, L5, it was a complete rupture and it blew out on my right side, blew against my sciatic nerve. So it was, I mean, I have sciatic pain now periodically, but it was nothing compared to what it was then. I mean, it was excruciating, something like I've never felt before. So I'd have to crouch down or sit down. That was the only way to relieve it. So I lived my life basically in 20 seconds at a time. It was, that was August of 2009. And then January of 2010, five months later, I went to Los Angeles and benched 903 for the all-time world record at 220. And that was after they said I would never lift heavy again.

So you're telling us you could barely walk, but you could still bench press 900 pounds. Yeah. And honestly, for the longest, up until i think we moved here to columbus permanently i've had issues like i pretty much dragged my uh my right leg yeah i remember last time i saw you you were dragging that leg yeah yeah people have made comments through the years about me squatting you know and dragging a leg up onto the platform and squatting and then hobbling back off the platform because my back is just so jacked. But that's been one of the biggest things is my lower back health

is a lot better since moving here than it was. I mean, it's the difference between night and day. So tell us what you've done to rehab your back. What, Louie, have you done? The biggest two things, honestly, is the belt squat machine and the reverse hyper. Yeah. Those two things. I mean, you can use them both or, you know, prehab, rehab.

The belt squat's great for so many different things, but one of them, and a lot of people don't know, you know, a lot of people, they just don't know, but you can traction your back really, really well with that belt squat. And it doesn't even have to be lightweight. I mean, heavyweight, you can do it with lightweight. Just sit there and, you know, walk and you'll traction your back out. I do it every day. Yeah. Yep.

So those two things have been, I mean, the biggest two things right there. The belt squat is the first thing in a long time that has led me to believe I'm going to compete, FYI. In March, I'm going to make my comeback. We'll see, but I'm going to do a meet. It's the belt squat, Jason. Without that, there's no... Last year, I was about to get hip surgery and then started actually...

I had the belt squat, but I just didn't use it. Being stubborn, like we all are. Started using it, but I just didn't use it. And being stubborn, you know, like we all are, and I started using it, and I'm like, it's a miracle. My hip can be killing me. I can move on the belt squat a little bit, and then I can go lift. Yeah, I was having similar trouble to you, Jason. I wasn't having full leg drop, but I had foot drop if I'd squat over 225. So, you know, I've been retired 10 years now.

Haven't really lifted heavy in eight years. And we got the reverse hyper here. And after three workouts, I squatted well over 400 today. Oh, only three. Wow. That's crazy. Both of them are amazing, you know. And I still, like you, Travis, I'm still, I'm real stubborn, you know.

And really, we get into it all the time and I'll be hurting. And he'll tell me, you need to go there and get the belt squatter. You need to go do this. And I do it. I just won't let him see me do it because I don't want him to win and feel like he got to be able to tell me what to do. You know, so as far as he goes, I don't do it. But I do it, you know, and I don't do it as much as I should at all now. And I need to, you know, now that we're talking about it, it's something I need to get back into doing because it's, like I said,

it's great for rehab and prehab. It'll prevent injury, and if you have injury, it'll help, you know, rehab it. Drive it. Do you do it pre- and post-workout, or do you have a method? It varies. It varies. When I do it, it's usually post-workout you know louis admi asked me to do it you know pre-workout and i do that sometimes especially if it's a

monday and i'm going to do a pool movement there's times when i'll go get in the belt squat machine if nothing else just to loosen my back up and get my hips and glutes kind of warmed up because uh i always i found over the years i pull better after i squat well i mean obviously it's because i'm warmed up and everything's firing if i go in and i just start warming up for a deadlift and then try to pull a max it'll be 50 pounds off right from what it normally would be which for me that's a lot you know 50 pounds makes puts me down into the 400s again they're close to it so i got to uh pull out all the tricks and do everything i can let me ask you this here's an important question a lot of people you know west side barbell is a mystery to most people you know some people hate it some people love it i don't think anybody in the strength

industry world is indifferent they're like one or the other. People talk about it all the time. You've been there. You've lived it. I know that you and Louie are very close, like father-son almost. It's a different relationship we have, definitely. What is Westside Barbell? What is it?

What is Westside Barbell? What is it? What is Westside Barbell? As far as I'm concerned, Westside Barbell, I mean, it's Westside Barbell. That's enough said right there. But it's, you know, I've talked about this on that Instagram thing in the past. It's people want to say, you know, it's more than just that gym and those four walls. It's a it's a mentality. You know gym and those four walls. It's a mentality. It's the mentality. It's the training environment. It's the camaraderie. And I know every gym has camaraderie.

Anytime you spend four days a week with a bunch of dudes for a couple hours, there's going to be some sort of camaraderie. But it's energy. It's all of the above. It's energy. It's all of the above. You know, it's a mentality. It's a willingness to do everything and anything, pretty much for the sake of strength. And I'm not saying that's a good thing in some, you know,

because it cannot be. Sometimes it may not be a good thing, but that's what Westside is. That's what it is i mean i obviously yeah i totally as a powerlifter too like i love that i mean like every i've only visited so i you know you're not really i heard it's a it's a prison yard sometimes they or similar to it. Really? So it's just, it's the energy in there. You know, people that come there, they always, that's the first thing they say when they come there, especially on a Friday. You know, a Friday or a Monday.

Those two days probably are the most intense days. It's just the environment there. Even if you're not training, it makes you want to train. You know, you want to start lifting weights and getting in there and getting your hands dirty so to speak it's just there's a whole different energy at that gym than any gym that i've ever been in what is the that record board at westside what does that mean to you everything that record board is uh i think i've said this before it's not that record board is not ordinary people with ordinary numbers that record board has extraordinary people on it with extraordinary numbers and you know anybody that's on that is they're they're privileged to be on it

so it's not a i've said this it's not a, I've said this, it's not a right. It's a, you know, you're borrowing that space because someday somewhere down the line, somebody is going to take you off that board. Just like a world record. Nobody owns them. We all borrow them because someday they, you know, they get taken. Yeah. I totally agree. So it's a cool way of looking at it. Yeah. Yeah. so what do you know what are your top numbers like what are the records you hold on that board

um hold on man i got to look i've got the squat at 198 let's see on the squat is 1040. At the 198, I've got the bench, which is 900. At 220, I have the bench, which is 860. At 242, I have the bench bench which is 850 at 181 I have the total and it's blocks in this picture so I'm not sure what it is, 2435. Let's see. And 181, I've got the squat also, and that's 950 at 181. Hey, man. So how many weight classes have you competed in?

All of them, pretty much, yeah. Yeah, all the way from, I've competed from 181 all the way up to 242. Wait, you know that first meet in Nebraska, were you 181 or were you 165? Oh, yeah, that's right. I forgot about that. No, I was either 148 or 165. Probably 148. You're definitely one of those. You're definitely not 181.

Yeah, no, I wasn't. I wasn't 181 then i was it was either 148 you might remember what was i in nebraska 140 uh 165 is what i was so yeah i forgot about that so yeah 165 yep she knows everything really fortunately for every record every accolade that this dude has christ Christine should get two for putting up with this dude. That's right. I agree. So let's get to the nitty gritty of Westside Barbell. All right.

Do you guys really stick with the whole dynamic effort, max effort? What does it really look like? Absolutely. But here's the thing that people don't realize. They read everything in a book. They see things on video. And you've heard this a million times. You don't train Westside unless you're at Westside.

It's always changing. And it's a competitive environment with us, and we're trying to compete against other gyms so in all honesty just like a football team do you think louis is going to put out every single thing that we do no he's not gonna so there's you know it changes all the time but yes we do uh dynamic days and max effort days sometimes the dynamic days turn into a max effort um Most of the time with you, bro. I know you. Have you, honestly, let me ask you a question. Have you, Jason Coker, ever truly done a real dynamic effort workout? Have I done a real dynamic effort workout?

He's got to think about it. Probably a couple times. Without going heavy. I did dynamic work work that's usually my dynamic is working up dynamic work is working up to a max effort yeah exactly exactly we knew better yeah yeah we knew better it's the same as yeah when i when i was competing same thing like when you're competing we still do it now yeah yeah i've never i don't think i've ever really done like Stop it Yeah it's called a day right there It's fun lifting heavy

And that's the way I've always lifted And it's always worked Unfortunately I'm to a point now where I'm old And I'm beat up My body's pretty much destroyed So I'm actually having to Taper things back a little bit And learn how to either stay out

of the gym or you know go in there and do next to nothing some days because i just drive myself into the ground we understand a bit yeah welcome to the club i mean but do you think no i'm just no i was just gonna ask how many days a week do you train? Four, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Yep. Do you think you can still make progress? Can you still break records? Can I still break records? Absolutely.

I plan on it. If all goes well, that's my plan. I'm not done yet. So as long as you play it smart, you can do it. Yes, sir. What weight class is you going towards now jason uh 220 220 that's possibly 198 too before it's all said and done yeah now that we're getting older man it's it's uh smarter for us to compete in a lighter weight class yeah you know so see with me it's i stay kind of of heavy, so it's the weight cuts. They're not near.

They're a lot harder than what they used to. They've always been hard because I've always made ridiculous cuts. I remember that cut you made up in, what was that place in New York we were at? Yeah, Lake George, New York. Lake George, yeah, man. They made me cut twice. You looked half dead that morning at that. It was a Waffle House or diner or whatever it was.

Yeah, and then that's the one i bombed out of that mean and then they gave me i want to say because didn't you miss hours didn't you miss weight like a couple times and you had to keep like we were eating and you were still sitting there spitting in a cup because you had to go away because you missed 48 hour and then they gave you to 24 hours to make it again right no they gave me three hours after i bombed out they said i could compete in the bench only the next day but i had they gave me three hours after I bombed out. They said I could compete in the bench only the next day, but I had, they gave me three hours to remake weight. That's right. I didn't. Yep. So Dick Zin, awesome dude. He told me, go down to the YMCA,

put some baby oil on and jump in there and just cook myself. And he said it would just melt off. I had seven pounds to get off of me. We didn't know how I was going to get down there. We took a shuttle to the airport. We never met this guy before. He said, well, how are we going to get there? He goes, I'll give you the car. I'll give you my car.

She has to drive, though. So she took me down there. I coated myself in baby oil and jumped in the steam sauna. And I don't remember anything after that. Apparently, she had to get people to help me out of the car to get me to the into the hotel and then she told me go into the room and get ready she'd go find a judge and she said when she came back the doors were wide open and i mean it was a crowded venue there's people everywhere doors are wide open and i was passed out in the middle of the floor butt naked so so let's you know for the listeners like because of all the people i know like if i ever have a weight cut um question i always go to you so what are some of your best you know

weight cut strategies and rehydration strategies we'll get back to the podcast in just a minute but really quickly i wanted to thank cut strategies and rehydration strategies. We'll get back to the podcast in just a minute, but really quickly, I wanted to thank some of the sponsors of our nonprofit weightlifting team. If you are in the market or barbells, plates, dumbbells, all sorts of equipment, make sure to check out what in tech strength has to offer. You can see all they've got over in tech strength.com. And if you want to experience the boost in performance you can get from an awesome pre-workout or post-workout supplement,

pay a visit to our good friends at Hack Nutrition. That's over at H-A-K Nutrition.com. We couldn't have this nonprofit weightlifting team without great sponsors like these. So thanks for supporting them. And now back to the podcast. For the listeners, like, cause of all the people I know, like if I ever have a weight cut, um,

question, I always go to you. So what are some of your best, you know, weight cut strategies and rehydration strategies? Oh man, the water loading works great, but here's where people screw up.

They don't take into consideration every single time you cut, it gets harder and your body changes. And then your body starts figuring out what you're doing and it'll start hanging on to things. It'll start hanging on to weight. It'll start just holding on to things because it's rebelling. It doesn't want to do what you're fixing to do. So it gets harder every time so i say the biggest mistake people make is thinking that the same thing they did six months ago to cut weight is going to work this time things always change and that's when it kind of you have to have somebody in my and you know with me it's christine she's awesome at doing all this and putting it

together and because i get to where i'm so delirious because no matter what I end up having to sweat but uh she knows how to manipulate the stuff and do it even better than I do I've learned because of her but it's that's the biggest thing right there is just know that your body's going to change every cut's going to be different you got to learn how to adjust things but water loading sodium loading you know uh carb depletion, things like that. That's the smart and easiest way to do it. I just, I hated doing it that way for the longest. Brian Carroll and Frank Will and they used to always tell me for years that I was doing it the hard way, but I'm stubborn and I was afraid that if I did it their way, it was going to screw me up. So I suffered and, you know, I'd sweat off 25 30 pounds and did it a lot um Christine finally got me to do the water loading and salt loading and carb depleting it uh it's a different kind of suffering

because I hate drinking that much water but it is easier you're just kind of a different state a different level of miserable for several days versus being about to die for 24 hours you have a full bladder for like five days oh it's horrible i hate it i hate water loading what about when you do your water load what does it look like like on average on average what does it look like uh i usually it's two gallons the first day uh depending you know and this is where is where it changes, you know, depending on because I start dropping. Everyone's different. I start dropping weight as soon as I start the water loading. The water just I should weigh lighter that night. So if everything's going accordingly, she'll have me drink another two to a gallon and a half to the next day.

And then the third day it's down to from anywhere from a gallon to a gallon and a half. It just again, it depends on how the weight's coming off, where my body's at that night. And you just, you have to learn to adjust things. But two, two gallons the first day, a gallon and a half, ideally, the second day if everything's going well. And then a gallon the third day. And then you weigh in the fourth? No, the fourth day would be thursday right so thursday you know you're hoping to be real close to weight to where you can maybe even sip a little water

um some people will take in a gallon i mean a half a gallon before noon uh it just again that depends on where you're at if you get up and you're really heavy you probably need to go ahead and start your natural diuretics and let those kick in and see your sip water, sip water so that you're, you know, you're still expelling it. Come that afternoon, you need to start checking the scale and seeing where you're at, because there's a good chance you're going to have to start sweating. Right. So, I mean, ideally you want to be down there low enough or at weight, either at weight or low enough that you don't have to spend much time sweating because you actually, when you're drinking all that water, you end up feeling dehydrated.

You feel like crap because you're pissing out all your electrolytes. And I mean, it's just, it's, you're pretty miserable. So you hope to be where you need to be Thursday, Thursday evening. Cool. So what about rehydration? Rehydration. I take in glycogen right off the bat. As soon as I get off the scale, usually it's a, you know, a tablespoon of honey. And then there's these go gels, goos, I think they're called, that are full of carbs.

I'll take in a couple of those start sipping fluid you know don't I try to take a small container of fluid because when you're that dehydrated the first thing you want to do is just start downing it well if you do that now you don't have room for food and you've got to get food in you so sip fluids and my my whole ritual is always cracker barrel if there's a cracker barrel which usually there is uh that's where i'm going for my first meal but uh and that changes too you know christine we she read something about taking in warm fluids because you retain everything better um starting with real warm fluids whether that's soup you know or even just warm gatorade, start warm and then slowly go to cold and start adding in your carbs and your food.

And then, of course, sometime during the day, if need be, if it's been a weight cut, then, you know, a big weight cut, I'll run an IV. Right, yeah. Is there something like when you rehydrate and reconstitute, like you need to wait so long before you start introducing too much fat? Too much fat. You mean like before you start eating too much fat? Right. After you. After once you're trying to put you when you're trying to recall.

Yeah. They say like I think six hours before you want to really start introducing the fat. And I try to weight that because any time I start eating fatty foods, because I've done it both ways, especially when I first started recompin, I thought I was just supposed to eat everything I could get my hands on. But if you started, you know, putting fats in too early, you're going to start feeling lethargic. I mean, you feel horrible so you definitely do want to wait you know anywhere from four to six hours sweet so Jason I hear the WPOs coming back this year are you throwing your hat in the

ring next year 2018 yes what do you think? Don't your hands ring? Absolutely. If nothing else, it's going to be awesome because there's going to be, it should draw all of the big lifters. It's going to be a platform where it hasn't been that way in a long time where the best of the best go and

compete against each other to find out who really is the best. I think it's going to be a humbling experience for a lot of people actually i do too you know especially like you know everybody in the same room with the same rules you know under the same circumstances and then you see really who is the best i mean that was the best thing about the wpo originally when you had ed Cohen, Jesse Killam, Bogle Poole, me all in the same room. It was awesome. When you walked out of there,

if you won, you were the best in the world. If you didn't, you weren't. It ended all the talk. Yeah. Exactly. I'm looking forward to that. I'm hoping they do it. Do a big do a big show, make it a show, because that's what drew everybody was the fact that it was a place that had a lot of energy.

You know, it was a spectacle. So it had the best of the best. Have you talked to Wayne? Do you know, are you excited about the way that they're doing it? I actually haven't. I got my invite. I haven't spoken to Wayne. I'm not sure I even know who he is by name.

I would imagine if I seen him by face, I would know. But I'm not sure what the format is. I know this year there's a lot of people that have been invited. So I think if it takes off, it's going to go back to the old format where you've got to qualify be it through nationals and then world championships as the semis and then uh you know go to the wpo would be the finals but i'm not sure on that either that's just what i've heard so it's kind of hearsay at this point i don't know how they're going to do it i think that's the way to do it because it should be the best of the best i don't feel like it should be a free fall for just anybody to show up

at no absolutely not you know even back then there was a qualifying total you had to meet and then you know then you know then there was a semi-finals and you had to do so well the semi-finals to get to the finals and you know didn't, you didn't. Yep. I'm excited. I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, I'm excited to see. Is that your plan, Trev? Are you planning on throwing your hat in there? I mean, we'll see.

I'm going to do one meet at a time and just see where it goes. I don't know that I would do – I think I'll go and I want to go and be a part of it and watch you guys. But I might go to the you know the other thing you know the um what's it called crystal the wpc no no no no the the raw one that's like the uspa yeah the uspa um you know the whatever oh the net the world the open the u.s open or what yeah yeah yeah i'll go to one or the other you know like if my body can stay together I would rather

go do that I mean with them so busy it's easier you know it's like you know like equipment always adds the whole element you gotta put the suit on another hour hour and a half to your training time yeah and so I got you know I got three kids Jason you know I'm just trying to

maybe I don't know but like first step was do this first meet So, I got three kids, Jason. I'm just trying to maybe. I don't know. But, like, first step was do this first meet, make sure that I can stay together, and then one meet at a time. I'd like to. You know, there was a time last year where I talked about doing both, like do the raw, do the oven. But, first off, I got to do this.

I haven't even done this first one yet. So, like, I might break down before that but you know I'm gonna try you had a retirement six weeks right yeah one one workout at a time one workout at a time I definitely you know I definitely miss you know up there banging with you guys and I miss

the feeling of being you know super humanly strong and super jazz watching that trailer you know all the time that we uh we've known each other i don't believe we've shared the platform together no other than you know that um time in nebraska but like but you know you were like you know like you're a 65 and i was like 220 or 90 i don't know i might have been a little bit like that by then so but um not since you got good and I was, you know,

not since you got to the level that you're at, no. So I've been at the meet with you at the bench. I was your handler at that bench, the bench bash for cash, remember, at the Arnold Classic. Yeah, at the Arnold. Yep. That was a crazy meet. It was you and the other dude going back and forth.

Yep. Brad Heck, They beat me. He beat me by one of my best friends beat me by 1.1 pounds. And if I'm not mistaken, that's the only time I've been beat in a bench only meet. If I'm not mistaken now, if I had been beat, then it would be by Sean Frankel. But I don't know that we ever actually went head to head in a bench only. Because you guys went back and forth breaking the record. It was like, you broke it, he broke it, you broke it, he broke it.

It went back and forth. It was like, it was Power of the Deans version of Demos. You know, there's Demos versus Mark Huster, this German guy. They used to go back and forth breaking world records. And Jason and this dude, Brad Heck, were going back and forth breaking world records. Jason and this dude, Brad Heck, were going back and forth breaking world records. It was the craziest thing. That was

the biggest bench battle I'd ever had. Remember, we kept making attempts because my whole plan was to open up heavy enough that everybody was chasing me. Rick Hussey, RIP, he coached right ahead and they kept just every every attempt I made was a world record so

they would chip every single attempt yeah then he beat me on a fourth by one but I still to this day I get random texts from him and it'll say 1.1 pounds or he'll say I tell me he can send he can send what he beat me by in the mail and won't even have to pay extra postage oh man he's digging a little deeper yeah that's the way it goes you know i mean it's a victory i hate to say that it's kind of funny but like i always like you know if you're if you're on the giving end it would be pretty funny yeah so let me ask you a very awesome let me ask you a very important question, and I want you to think about this one.

But what does powerlifting truly mean to you? What does powerlifting mean to me? Everything. Everything. I mean, it's a big, huge part of who I am. Oh, um, I can't imagine. I mean, I look at powerlifting the same way as Christine. I can't imagine life without her and I can't imagine not powerlifting. And I know the day's coming sooner than later. And I dread the day when that happens, but it happens to all of us eventually.

But it's everything. I mean, I love it. It's been a huge part of my life now since 2006. You know, I've given up a lot. I've made choices because of powerlifting and just like a lot of other lifters, Christine and I haven't taken an actual vacation because anytime we've left, I take a gym bag full of

my equipment and I'm training. I don't take days off. If I take a day off, I'm sick or that's pretty much it. I'm just too sick to be in the gym. In the hospital for a week and you're back. Right, yeah.

Or yeah, yeah, or in the hospital. All right, let me ask you this question. If I told you you could break the all-time record of your choice that would never be broken again in the history of the world, but to do that you would subtract 20 years from your life, would you do it? Subtract. If I could break any record that I wanted,

and it would never, ever, ever go away, be cemented. Yes. Well, my first answer would be there's a good chance I may have already done that. My second point is, it'd take off 20 years of my life. Would I be willing to do it? Man, that's a tough one. It is.

I bet 30-year-old Jason wouldn't have to think about it this time. I don't know, man, because I don't know if I got 20 years left, so I might end up dropping dead tomorrow if I made that deal. I don't know on that one, man. That's a tough one. At this point in my life, I think I'd have to, I think honestly, I'd have to pass because I don't want to walk away from the sport. And I don't plan on it right now.

But I have, and I don't mean this to sound egotistical, I, for myself, I know that I can walk away from the sport where if something happens, knock on wood, and I can't no longer compete. I've done things in the sport since 2006, and I've made history, and I've left my mark, and that was, in the beginning, that was what I wanted to do. You know, my biggest thing was I wanted to leave my mark. I wanted to have all-time records you know I wanted to be in the top five of the world I wanted to have a top five total and I've done everything you know I've held an all-time world record since 2006 in one weight class or another consistently I've not went without an all-time world record so I don't think I think I'd pass on it. No, man.

Someone asked me that same question, you know, like kind of early on, maybe 2004 when I was first like breaking news. Absolutely. If you'd asked me then, I'd have said, yeah. I did say, yeah. Now I'm like, I wish I hadn't said that. Every night I pray, I'm like, God, you know I was just kidding. I won't take it back.

Yeah. So I was just curious if at our age would you still say that but I mean I'll tell you right now that's definitely the answer I'd give oh at 30 definitely yeah oh yeah yeah 30 definitely but today I'd be like no chance no chance so all you 20 and 30 year olds don't do it don't

answer that question that's a trick question it could be the devil asking you that's what i think lifters now you know and i was guilty of it too for a long time but there's more to life than power lifting and i've learned that and even more so just in the last year i've learned a lot and matured in a lot of ways just from life experiences and things that have happened and you know christine actually has matured me a lot but uh there's there's more to life you know i mean now i'm working on getting a company going and things are going well for us financially and um i i enjoy what

i do um i like like i say you have to be a man first and a powerlifter second. A truly good powerlifter can also bust his ass at work all day long and still go to the gym and still go to a meet and set world records. That's actually a truly good powerlifter. It's easy to do when you don't work. And when you're a kid or you're in your 20s and 30s and you know you hardly have any bills and i mean it's easy to do you can spend you can devote your whole life to it and you you know you just that's what you do but at some point you've got to grow up you know you got to be a man first powerlifting should be uh secondary because unless you're just loaded you know in that case well do what you want.

So, Jason, my question for you is, like, when does it end? Like, when is enough records enough records? When's enough enough? When does it end? I don't want to answer this with Christine sitting right here. We won't tell her. And I have my eyes set on a couple things that I want to do, and there's a couple records that I still would like, and I'm focusing now.

I'm putting a lot of time into coaching people online and building that business. So when that day comes, I can't give an honest answer because I really don't know. I don't know. Not now, I can't give an honest answer. Cause I really don't know. I don't know. Not now. I can say that. Fair enough.

But I, I don't know the answer to that. You know, Dave Tate told me a long time ago, you know, he asked me or someone asked me that question and I asked Dave, I'm like, you know, when do you think I should retire? And he said, Travis, he's like, he's like he's like you will never retire from powerlifting it will retire you I'm like fair enough that's true

powerlifting it's going to always be a part of my life be it coaching I'd like to hopefully sooner than later Christine and I would like to have our own gym that's going to, you know, obviously have powerlifting in it, geared to powerlifting, CrossFit, things like that. But there's things that we're working on, but it's going to always be a part of my life until the day I die. Knowing what you know now, what kind of advice would you give for new powerlifters out there?

Man, the same that was given to me by somebody sitting in this conversation. It's a marathon. It's not a race. And you see a lot of freaks out there that they come in and they're phenomenal right out the gate. It's easy then. When you get strong, every workout, it seems like you're hitting prs it's real easy to want to be a power lifter enjoy being a power lifter a lot of those same freaks

that you see they're they're they're a flash in the pan they disappear because at some point everybody has to work and when it's easy in the beginning that just means that eventually it's going to get hard um and a lot of people they means that eventually it's going to get hard. A lot of people, they don't realize it's going to get hard. When it does, they quit. That's the truth for weightlifting and powerlifting. Weightlifting, it's happened a lot at our gym. When it gets hard and you've got to actually grind and you've got to figure out something new,

you've got to look at your routine, maybe you've got to change it. Something's got to change to get that progress when when you're a real weightlifter now or a real powerlifter that's when you're real that's when people will choose it's a fork in the road you go down one route and you take the easy way and you go on with your life or you go down the other way and then now you're for life. Now you're a weightlifter. Now you're a powerlifter. That's a wrap. Is it crazy that I like the grind? No, because you're sitting around full of people that have given their hips, back, quads, calves, spine to the sport.

So no, you're in the wrong room if you think it's crazy. I remember Ox and I training and going and, like, filling the tub full of ice and sitting in it just so we could, like, not grimace, you know, in our forearms. You know, when you bench, you know, Jason has gone to places neither one of us have gone. But, you know, when you are a 220 or lighter man and you put 700, 800 pounds in your hand this is not meant to be and

so your very bones are starting to chip away and like yeah yeah we had stress we had stress fractures in our forearms from that so yes i have to several yep it's torn my arms up that's i'd say my that's that's the the lift it's done a lot of damage as far as my arms up. That's, I'd say my, that's, that's the, the lift. It's done a lot of damage as far as my arms, my shoulders, and my wrist has been all the heavy benches for years and years and years. We used to help us up until a year and a half ago from about early 2007, up until,

I guess it's been two years ago. I didn't open with anything less than 800 pounds once I hit 804 for years was my opener was 804 more you do that years and years and years it just tears you apart

I remember the era where people for the longest time were trying to get 800 anybody I remember clearly when like Dead or Sea where people for the longest time were trying to get 800. Everybody, anybody. I remember clearly when Ted R.C., Anthony Clark, Grant Pitts, there was several powerlifters that were trying to bench 800 for the first time ever. And the minute someone did it, it was just like. Everybody did it.

It was the four-minute mile. When someone crossed it, it was just like everybody did it it was the four-minute mile someone crossed it was a wrap and so Jason tell me tell me about what we we used when we worked together a world gym it was god I'm regretting this now but it's gonna sound people would come in you know scrub boys we benching you know and then dumb or we'd be sitting over there and hollering and yelling and screaming. They'd have two plates on the bar, but, uh, Trav and I would go over,

I mean, just as arrogant and cocky as they were really, because we'd walk over there and get on a bench and throw four plates on, you know, and just start doing it with no warmup or anything. Matter of fact, Travis blames me for his shoulder problems for the longest and said that was all my fault yeah man i'm sure he was a willing participant

he was probably egging you on next thing you know there's four plates on the bar all right now let's talk absolutely let's talk about uh something very serious like we just i was just showing the video of your 900-pound bench accident. I was showing my weightlifters, and they were just horrified. But tell us about what happened, what it was like, what went wrong. It's just the one where it bounced off my face. Yeah, that's the one. Knocked you out.

Was there more than one bench incident? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which one? Yeah. Yeah, oh, yeah. There's been a few. Man, I don't know. I was close to locking out, if I remember. And I just, I think my wrist buckled. And one second it was in my hands.

The next second it went across my face. It's a good thing I've got a real hard head. I remember I flashed.ed you know as soon as it hit me i flashed it was kind of went out for a second and came right back to as i was rolling off the bench and by that time christina made her way over and i just i remember looking up at her and i thought i went blind or something because i told her i said baby i can't see anything and she said she's all calm and collective like nothing had happened and she goes well that's because you got blood all in your eyes and

started wiping the blood away and I looked over at Jesse and asked him I said did I get it and he just started laughing he said Coker you want me to call an ambulance it looked like the most horrific thing ever for all that don't know just google you know jason coker yeah bench gone bad oh and you'll see the most horrific accident ever witnessed in the gym and so i don't know how you live from that man yeah like yeah i don't either because it literally bounced off of my face. Yeah, 900 pounds. Without any resistance. It was just literally like a falling barbell with 900 pounds.

Like right now. It was like you lay down and it dropped 900 pounds in your face. No, I just had, I guess, what, a year ago, about a little over a year ago, seven, I think it was 755 went across my throat in Tennessee. The pins, the face savers, they had them set too low. And I lost it. It shot back over my face. It ended up on my throat, literally.

Like, it scuffed my throat up. My throat was sore. I mean, it hurt me for about a week. But the face savers were set just high enough that it didn't kill me. But it sat there for a split second on my throat before the spotters got it off of me. Holy cow. There's been a few of them. I think that one's on my Instagram.

Oof. All right. Let's talk about the present state of powerlifting. What are your thoughts? Raw gear, WPO coming back. What's your thoughts i think the wpo coming back is gonna uh i think you're gonna see a lot more geared lifters come out of the woodworks afterwards if everything goes the way it's predicted to go because everybody just like

before is going to want to be a part of it it's gonna if they do it right it's gonna end up being the biggest meet there is of the year with the best lifters, which is going to attract other people to get into gear. I think right now, raw is the big thing. Raw is awesome, man. Every top level, if you want to call us that, geared lifter respects the raw guys. Most of the raw guys that are top level respect the uh the geared lifters you don't see us bashing each other it's the guys that just come into the sport it's just like louis says strong is strong you know um i think what they do is

amazing you know some of these big guys i can't imagine putting a thousand pounds on my back without a squat suit i just i can't even imagine it and trying to break my knees and go down and come back up with it so i guarantee you i'd smoke it right to the floor and that'd be that so you know the vanilla gorilla blaine sumner he visited west side did you get to hang out with him at all yeah blaine's awesome yeah yep i had a lot of laughs with him he's a he's a good dude man he was on the podcast it was so good I think him going to Westside like solidified you know that

Westside is still legitimate and still the place to go it just the other raw USAPL people needed to see that you know I've been talking about it forever I wrote a book you know conjugate for for weightlifting. Right.

But, like, when Blaine did it, it wasn't just me, the ex-powerlifter. You know, it was like the USAPL powerlifter, the raw single-ply guy going there and loving you guys. It's hard to argue now. Like, that ruined everyone's argument. Yeah, he's awesome he was awesome man i think uh meeting him was was really cool he's a he's a good guy and strong strong strong so that was definitely a highlight was meeting him i think that and then i gotta say

it man one of the best things as far as for me at westside, what's happened there has been Chuck Vogelkul coming back. That's helped with my squad and several other people in their squad immensely because he's such a technician and he's a phenomenal coach. Just having him there and his willingness to help people out and coach people, that's been awesome. What do you mean coming back? Is he coming back just to train or is he coming back, coming back? No, he's, he's, he comes in usually on Mondays, Wednesdays,

and sometimes Fridays if he can, you know, he's a prison guard. So it just kind of depends on his stuff, his, his schedule, but he's there Mondays and Wednesdays now. And that dude is it's, it's amazing. It's unbelievable watching him do some of the things he does i've i've never seen anything like it especially you know i think he's 52 and he just he destroys weights still is he coming back is he gonna compete oh man i don't know i have no clue. I'll let him answer that question if you get him on a podcast. Would he do a podcast? Would he?

Yeah. Man, I don't know. Probably not, honestly. I doubt it, but you might could talk him into it. Would you ask him? Would I ask him? Yeah, I'll ask him. Obviously, I would love to have him on our podcast.

Yeah, that'd be great. Yeah, I'll ask him. I, I would love to have him on our podcast. Yeah, that'd be great. Yeah, I'll ask him. I'll see if he'd do one. There's a whole lot of knowledge. That's the one thing I was real grateful. I took him off the board at 220, and I told him that if it wasn't for him, his name would still be up there because it was his help with my squat that put me in a position that i was able to squat the

numbers that took him off the board so it uh i didn't feel a sense of who i took chuck vogelpool off the board i felt honored that i was actually up there in a spot that he had that's cool i mean it's very cool to hear you say that so all right, man. Parting words. I'm going to, you know, what do you want to say to the people coming up? And, you know, like what's the thing that you want to leave as far as a legacy in powerlifting? What do you want these dudes to know? When you're done, what do you want to have taught all the other powerlifters? Man, don't get discouraged. You know, talent gets you a long way. know talent gets you a long way genetics gets you a long way but

in my opinion heart and determination will get you even further you know you got a lot of people that have that are genetically gifted um more people aren't than are so if you're one of the ones that has a hard time making those PRs, just stick with it and don't let it beat you. Be willing to push through it. Grind it. Grind it if you have to, just like life. Don't give up on it.

And heart and determination will take you a real long way in this sport. I'd say that you are a great example. Bench press-wise, you're genetically, you're a freak. But the fact that you've taken your squat where it is now, you weren't this natural, amazing squatter, but now you're unbelievable. You still got to work on that deadlift, though. Yeah.

Other than that, we'll stretch his arms out. We're working on it. I might surprise a few people here shortly, hopefully. So it's a work. I haven't given up on it I might surprise a few people here shortly hopefully I haven't given up on it I've thought about it a few times but I haven't so it's just

tell people where they can find out more about what you and Christine have going on you can go to CokerStrength.com there's some things in there. We've got a website that we're actually working on. It's up and going. I'm actually starting to put more material in there. So go there and you can check out what we're doing. If you're interested in online training, you can email me at jcokercoaching at gmail.com

and we can work something out awesome cool yeah thanks for being on with us Jason it's been a privilege and we appreciate it absolutely thanks for having me well thanks so much to Jason for being on with us I hope you guys got a kick out of this one now look if you want to check out more podcasts like this

check out our free articles. We've also got e-books and coaching for you as well. You can see all of that over at mashelite.com. That's mashelite.com. Well, thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time. That's a wrap!

If you haven't followed Jason Coker on Instagram, yo, you gotta go check him out. That dude lives so much weight. He's so aggressive. Not just bench presses, but holy crap. Dude squats a ton. These powerlifter guys from Westside Barbell are not normal. Make sure you get over 20 rep back squat program.

Grow them legs, grow them abs, grow your brain. Get strong as hell between the ears at shrugcollective.com forward slash 20. Shrugcollective.com forward slash 20 shrugcollective.com forward slash 20 and want to thank our sponsors over at savage barbell savagebarbell.com forward slash shrug save 25 on your first order and then organifi.com forward slash shrug saving 20 on the green the red and the gold juices get your vitamins and minerals the micros are important friends we'll see you next week