Barbell Shrugged - The Doctor of Deadlifts w/ Dr. Stefi Cohen - The Barbell Life

Starting point is 00:00:00 The doctor of deadlifts, Dr. Steffi Cohen. We're back with another episode of the Barbell Life with Dr. Steffi Cohen. Hey friends, if you're going to be at Mr. Olympia, the one-ton challenge hosted by FitAid is going off. We're going to be lifting all day long. A little bit different than the CrossFit Games this time, but we're going to have three lifters going all day long on one rack outside the FitAid tent. So make sure if you are at Mr. Olympia, September 12th through 15th, just get to Vegas. It's Vegas. Come watch people lift the weights. Mr. Olympia, FitAid one-ton challenge. I can't wait. People are going to be getting so strong. We've got a ton of cool names. I can't wait. People are going to be getting so strong.

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Starting point is 00:02:53 At about 120 pounds, she recently became the first woman to deadlift four times her body weight raw. And just a few weeks ago, she did even more than that, setting the all-time deadlift record for a weight class and breaking the all-time record for Wilk's score. But that is just the start with Steffi. She's also a successful businesswoman. Oh yeah, and by the way, she's now Dr. Steffi Cohen because she just got her doctor's degree in physical therapy. So we get into a ton on this podcast, from her training to how she fits it all in to the importance of staying injury-free. And that's the whole reason that Steffi wanted to be a physical therapist

Starting point is 00:03:25 in the first place, because in her own training, she realized that strength is a marathon and not a sprint. The dominant athlete is the one who can avoid injury, recover properly, and train harder for longer. And that is exactly what our guide, No Weaknesses, is all about. It is a massive 30-point test where you can discover your own muscular imbalances and then correct them so that you can perform better and you can avoid getting hurt.

Starting point is 00:03:51 Now you can learn more about that at www.mashellite.com slash no weaknesses. Again, that's mashellite.com slash no weaknesses. And now I'm Lauren Penelis joined by Crystal McAuliffe and Travis Madge as we talk with Steffi Cohen. Hey guys, welcome back to the show. And today we have a very extraordinary young woman who most of you know.

Starting point is 00:04:20 She's making waves. She's making massive waves for a little girl. She's lifting some big weights, man. So today we have Steffi Cohen to the show. Thanks for being on. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Steffi, number one, I'm jealous of your deadlift.

Starting point is 00:04:36 Of course, everyone in America is. That's right. Maybe the world. But today we're talking, first off, about something that, I mean, most people know who follows Steffi, but you're done with PT school. So you're now Doc Steffi? Correct. Oh, wow. That'll take some time to get used to.

Starting point is 00:04:55 So do I call you Dr. Cohen or Dr. Steffi? Or just Doc? I mean, what is it? Let's just keep it at Steffi for now. Steffi for now. Unless I go see you for physical therapy, then I'll say doctor. Dr. Cohen. Out of respect.

Starting point is 00:05:08 Dr. Cohen. You can call her Dr. Deadlift. No, there's already a Dr. Deadlift. I can't take that. Well, I mean. Go beat him up. Saying you're Dr. Deadlift and actually being Dr. Deadlift, that's two different things. The real Dr. Deadlift.

Starting point is 00:05:21 That's a good point. The real Dr. Deadlift. When you're, when you're, how much do you weigh, Steffi? Right now, I'm around 128 or so. What's your best deadlift? 545 currently.

Starting point is 00:05:34 So like four and a half times. I say that's Dr. Deadlift. I mean, no offense, but dang. But first, let's talk about PT school. What was it like

Starting point is 00:05:43 doing all these things together? How glad are you to be done? Go. You know, this is a really, really good question, especially since I got done just yesterday. I've been doing a lot of introspection, just kind of like trying to process what happened in the last three years, getting out of kind of like that cave and that

Starting point is 00:06:05 wave and that I was in um it was a great experience you know being here in Miami going to PT school while trying to compete and doing everything else um it was awesome mainly because it kind of uh it complimented my training in a way and it allowed me to see my own training and be able to program for other people and help other people out and myself a lot better. Tell me that. Like how – with going through physical therapy school, how did your training change the most? What are a couple of things that really affected your, from being in PT school? You know, mostly before PT school, I was, I had this mindset that I think a lot of people have that's more so how fast can I get strong? No pain, no gain kind of thing. But once I got into PT school and I learned a little bit, a little bit more about, you know, how the body works and what

Starting point is 00:07:03 smart training really is, my mindset shift from that to how long can I stay injury-free? Because at the end of the day, long-term consistency trumps short-term intensity. It's what I say all the time. For example, Ed Cohen. You don't remember Ed Cohen because he had one gut need. You remember Ed Cohen because he broke 70, however many, 72 all-time world records, right? He was able to stay in the game for such a long period of time that that's why people remember him. No doubt.

Starting point is 00:07:35 What were some specifics that you caught in your own training? I mean, did you catch anything? Was there a revelation that, oh, I need to maybe change the way I'm doing this? Yeah, absolutely. Last year, around January, I was preparing for this powerlifting meet. It's called the U.S. Open. It's kind of the biggest powerlifting meet of the year. There's a huge cash prize, so people are driven by money and winning,

Starting point is 00:07:59 and there's a lot of pressure that comes with it because I think they only select the five best lifters in in the in the world to go there and you know it's this just huge thing and when I was training for it I started having a little bit of low back pain and that little bit of low back pain quickly snowballed into a lot of low back pain and kind of translated into other areas of my life not just not just having that pain when I was training but also at school or when I was driving, et cetera. And I ignored it. I chose to ignore it, even though it was very clear to me that I should have done something about it. And I ended up competing, ended up bombing out,

Starting point is 00:08:39 having the worst meet of my life, having to take two or three months away from the barbell. And that to me was just kind of like that moment that I was like, all right, something needs to change. You know, definitely no pain, no gain doesn't work. I need to take a different approach and I need to think about longevity and not only about the present moment, breaking world records today, but how long can I stay in this sport and thinking about the future? You know, I want to be able to pick up my dogs from the floor and my kids or whatever.

Starting point is 00:09:07 That's just not something we think about. That's intriguing right now to me because obviously you watch a lot of people that are very high intensity and their frequency is up more than it used to be. When I was competing, I was that generation right behind Ed Cohen. Our paths kind of crossed, but he was slightly before me. But he was very traditional. Twice a week type. Twice a week.

Starting point is 00:09:35 Squat twice a week. Bench twice a week. Linear periodization. And obviously did really well with it. But nowadays it seems very high frequency, high intensity. However, it does appear, you know, this is just from me looking, I have no concrete evidence that a lot of injuries are occurring a lot sooner. Like, people are getting hurt in their early 20s, mid-20s.

Starting point is 00:09:58 My first injury, I was in my 30s. And so Ed Cohn didn't get hurt at all until he was older. You know, I think the first time he got hurt was that terrible, his knee blew, you know, like while he was squatting. It was terrible. But, so what are your thoughts about, you know, frequency, high intensity? Like, how do you think now? That is a really good observation that you just made because, yeah, I can agree with that.

Starting point is 00:10:42 I think as far as frequency and intensity goes and tonnage, it's more personal depending on what each individual can handle and what they do, you know, how their recovery is, how their nutrition is, how their sleep is. Those are all things that can impact someone's performance in the short and long term but yeah i think it's more individualized than anything some people can handle more volume than others some people you know for example i was talking to kevin nook the other day and i think he only and how many times did kevin say that he squatted like two he only trains three times a week and it's working pretty well it's pretty well for him i train five to six days a week and it's also working pretty well for me i haven't had any injuries since last year since that low back injury that was minor but so training five days a week you know how often are those days would be heavy squats and deadlifts? The way I've been training, at least for the last year and a half or so,

Starting point is 00:11:30 is I don't have prescribed RP or percentage, but it's more so going to max in a particular rep scheme. So let's say I very rarely do one rep maxes, but I have five rep maxes, four rep maxes, six rep maxes, and that kind of stuff. And every day I come in and I try to lift the most amount of weight. Obviously, not every day I'm able to even come close to what my best is, but I push it as hard as I can every day. Do you squat every day? I squat four times a week currently. And deadlift? Dead four times a week currently. And deadlift?

Starting point is 00:12:07 Deadlift twice a week. All right. I could definitely see that. What about bench? And I'm right now I'm benching four times a week. I'm trying to fix my bench. It's my weakest lift. So I wish your weakest lift was how much I pinched.

Starting point is 00:12:24 Yeah. All right. So I pinched. Yeah. All right. So I get that. And so, um, yeah. What about accessory work? Do you try to, you know,

Starting point is 00:12:30 do you try to overcome imbalances with, um, you know, accessory movements or, or what? Yeah. As far as it depends on what, uh,

Starting point is 00:12:40 how close you are to a certain competition, the closer you are, the less accessories you do, the further you are, the less accessories you do. The further you are, the more kind of room there is for play. But, you know, let's say we're 16 weeks out. At that time, I'm doing more compound accessory movements like kettlebell swings and sled drags and yoke carries and farmer carries and overhead carries and

Starting point is 00:13:05 that kind of stuff. You get kind of like a more systemic effect. And then as I get closer to the meet, let's say 12 weeks out or nine weeks out, I do more traditional bodybuilding type stuff that has less risks, to put it a certain way. More progressive girls, more lateral races, that kind of stuff, a certain way more girls more lateral races that kind of stuff a little bit more specific and then as the meet gets closer i start uh letting go of most of the accessories all right i can see that now here's the big question and um one i'm intrigued about as a guy who you know i get i'm lucky i get to coach a lot of great men and women but what would you

Starting point is 00:13:42 say are there are there differences in training men and women. What would you say are there differences in training men versus women? 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're in the market or barbells, plates, dumbbells, all sorts of equipment, make sure to check out what Intech Strength has to offer. You can see all they've got over at IntekStrength.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 non-profit

Starting point is 00:14:22 weightlifting team without great sponsors like these, so thanks for supporting them. And now, back to the podcast. As a guy who, you know, I'm lucky I get to coach a lot of great men and women, what would you say are there differences in training men versus women? There is a difference, and I think it boils down to uh how much volume a person a woman versus a man can handle as far as physiology goes women have a higher proportion of type 1 muscle fibers that basically just means that they're more oxidative and they're more reliant on fat which means they burn more fat than glycogen, and they spare more glycogen. So anecdotally and based on physiology, women can do more work than guys at a given percentage

Starting point is 00:15:13 of their one rep max, for example. But men, on the other hand, have higher glycolytic capacity it's called so they can burn they can burn through more glucose and that results on them being able to do more short in terms intense bursts of efforts or lift more intensely but that also means that they are gonna take a longer time to recover so that's something to take into consideration guys will take longer to recover from a training session. Women might recover faster and might be able to handle more volume. Yeah, I mean, I found the same thing. You know, I've written, you know, a few articles about the thing. I'm definitely intrigued and, like, I feel like over the last few years

Starting point is 00:15:57 there's been so much more information out there about training women. It's really affected the way as it, you know, the results, obviously, you know, lately, you know lately you know with our women weightlifters with hunter with um december that we've had some great results mainly because of just getting information like that and understanding the differences and like and even with you crystal you know crystal by the way is a powerlifter too um and uh steffy and she's killing it so she was yet to have a meet where she didn't pr so that's good yeah what what changes have you observed i guess as men and women age yeah what's the question as

Starting point is 00:16:31 far as age goes yeah as far as age go i mean does the training for men and women continue to vary as they age do women age differently than than men what's kind of been your observation? You know, I haven't had the chance to train many older, I guess, people, but I can speak from a physical therapy standpoint as far as coming back from injuries goes. And, you know, the older you are, the more difficult it becomes to recover, bounce back from injury. So as far as like tissue tolerance goes that decreases as well so it's more of a matter of playing with recovery at that point how fast can you recover from sessions how fast can you bounce back from injuries and that kind of stuff all right so here's my big question as your your friend, you have so many opportunities right now.

Starting point is 00:17:25 Obviously, we all know you're ruling the female world in palatine. You've got hybrid performance, and it's killing it. And now you're a doctor PT. So now where do you go? You have a lot of options. So what's in store for Steffi? That's a million-dollar question. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:17:45 And for the first time in my life, I feel okay with that. You know, before PT school, I graduated, I got my undergrad degree from UM and my mom was pressuring me, you know, what are you going to do? You have to apply to grad school.

Starting point is 00:17:58 You have to do this, do that. And I felt like I've always been in a rush my whole life to do the next thing. But now, you know, yeah, I have my doctorate degree and of course I want to practice, but I'm not in a rush to do anything yet. I'm in a very good position as far as finances go because I already have a business. So I'm not desperate to find a job. So I get to, you know, just spend a little bit of time doing some introspection and figuring out what my goals are for the future and what I want to do.

Starting point is 00:18:28 But definitely, definitely I'm going to practice and put into practice all the things that I learned in PT school. How, I still don't know. Well, at least you have an opportunity to sit back and kind of decide what you want to do and not jump into something. Oh, yeah, that's huge. I mean, all of my classmates are freaking out about paying back their student loans, about signing a job, about taking their board exam early. Yeah, and you go to school for all that time and you don't even do a job you like because you have to do it.

Starting point is 00:18:54 Exactly. She's just on the beach sipping pina coladas. She's laughing at you guys. I started a multi-million dollar business while I was in school. Are you going to stay in Miami? For the foreseeable future, yes. Like at least the next five years. So while we're speaking of everything that you've accomplished,

Starting point is 00:19:12 a lot of people are wondering like, how do you do it all? How do you balance it all? Because, you know, there's business, there's personal relationships, there's school, there's your own training. I mean, you've got a lot on your plate. So what do you say to the really busy person out there? What tips have you found to balance it all? You know, it's funny that it's the perception of people of what I do is so,

Starting point is 00:19:36 and how I do it is extremely skewed, especially because of social media. You know, it gives you a false perception of reality and what someone's going through and how someone does things etc you know on social media it might seem like i cruised through bt school that i was crushing training that you know i am a master of my time and i'm great at time management and i have no struggles but you know reality is i struggled a lot through PT school. I'm not the most organized person. I'm not one to stick to a schedule. I have a really hard time studying and, you know, sitting down for long periods of time.

Starting point is 00:20:17 So it was really challenging. For me, it became more of a matter of staying, being present and doing what I needed to do at that time and being okay with pushing other things aside for example before PT school training was my number one priority it's always been I've been playing sports since I was eight and it's the only thing that's ever mattered to me so going into PT school where in such a high level program where for example at um if you get anything less than a 75 in any test you get kicked out oh gosh on any one test and not just like any test doesn't matter what test so you can't have a bad day a bad week a bad yeah that doesn't exist so you know that's a lot of freaking pressure and it was hard for me to turn my brain from, you know, training is the priority. It's the thing I need to do to.

Starting point is 00:21:10 All right. The first priority in my life is to not fail any test. And in my second semester of PT school, I got a 74 in one of my tests that I didn't even expect it. You know, I didn't even check my grades. And my mom calls me a week later. She's like, I think you failed a class. And then I checked my email. And yep, I had a message from the school saying that,

Starting point is 00:21:34 thank you, but no thank you. If you want, you can sit down to write an appeal about what happened. But that they needed to have a conversation. Well, obviously you won out on whatever you did, right? What did you do? Yeah, now you're getting left as hangover. Cliffhanger there. Tune in next week.

Starting point is 00:21:49 Yeah, so I had a meeting, the most terrifying meeting of my entire life in a room with 18 professors from the school that were waiting for me to pitch them why I should stay in the program and what happened in that one test. So I gave them my pitch, I gave him my story and they let me, they gave me an opportunity and then let me the chance, allowed me a chance to stay in the program. And that, that was the moment,

Starting point is 00:22:16 that was the, the most eye-opening time in PT school that I said, all right, like I was taking this seriously, but maybe I need to actually take it a little bit more seriously. So did you change up like your volume? Like, did you decrease it during times of stress? Like, did you kind of let your school stress dictate some of your training sessions? Not so much the stress, but more so the workload. So for me, you know, workload in PT school comes in waves. It's you're busy most of the time, but obviously when you have midterms or finals, that's the most, the most amount of workload you'll have. So for me, it became more of a matter of, okay, you know, when I'm not in midterms or finals, I'm going to come into the gym every day or six days a week. When I am in

Starting point is 00:23:01 midterms or finals, I'm going to come in as many times as I can. But I'm going to prioritize study in those particular time frames. So that's what it came down to, you know, doing what I had to do when I had to do it and try to stay as present as possible and do what I can. And not freaking out about what I'm not doing, but enjoying the fact that I could come to the gym that one day and that I could train and that I finished my homework and that I finished studying. You know, it's interesting how, um, as you train, you know, and as you lift heavier and heavier weights, you kind of get a confidence about you. And I think the same thing happens

Starting point is 00:23:40 when you have to go through really busy times. Like now having gone through PT school, having survived, you know, having a business and training and, and managing all that. Does that kind of affect your, you know, your confidence level now going out through the rest of your life and with whatever the future may bring? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Mostly the lifting weights part. I think lifting weights is the most empowering thing I've done for myself, for sure. All right.

Starting point is 00:24:12 I got a question. Like, you have been known to use straps on deadlifts a lot, you know, and it's obviously working. So tell me, do you use straps to just save the hands or to overload the deadlift like what is it you know like what is the strategy when it comes to straps when should people use them when shouldn't they um you know i never for me it's more of a matter of uh comfort than anything i'm a i'm a huge how do you how can you say sissy in a different world word sissy yeah a huge sissy when it comes to my hands so if i'm doing anything more than three reps i'm probably grabbing the straps um but i have noticed that especially doing um more reps let's say I can do five reps at 505 with

Starting point is 00:25:06 straps, I can probably only get it for three or four without. So I can still do it, but it's definitely decreased. So I mean, it's a great way to overload though. And when it comes to hypertrophy and mechanical loading, that's a great way to

Starting point is 00:25:21 build some strength. Yeah, absolutely. And also if people if there's people that pull mixed grip, loading that's a great way to you know build some strength yeah absolutely and also if people if there's people that pull up make script it's good so that you don't develop imbalances a lot of people that pulled me that pull mix and never use straps and never change their grip end up doing what do you call it like helicopter you know when you live it starts like spinning right or or issues with their back or Are the most common thing? I'm sure you've seen this but like the bicep tears It's like, you know, obviously when you supernate your you know, your grip, you know

Starting point is 00:25:56 The hand that's supernated you engage the bicep and it's only I mean from what I've noticed only matter of time before it's it's scary man I've seen like YouTube clips of just 20 dudes in a row. Popping a bicep. Just popping a bicep doing that. It's the most gnarly thing. Why do you even watch that? So when you don't, I don't even remember ever watching

Starting point is 00:26:20 because I'm so fascinated when you deadlift five something. When you don't use straps, are you double a ran hook or do you do the I mix grip. You mix grip. Yeah. So you'll do mix grip with straps or do you ever do like double over with straps? With straps

Starting point is 00:26:38 I just double over. I got you. Alright. Alright. And then let me ask you this. Like if you're pulling a single, is there a difference? Can you pull more just for one rep with straps or does it matter? Honestly, it didn't matter up until recently, which is weird. Before, I've usually trained with straps all the way until the meet. And then my meets go way better than my training and I end up hitting PRs on the platform, obviously, without straps.

Starting point is 00:27:07 Right. But the last, so I competed last year. September was my last meet. Record breakers. I didn't match my best in straps. Came like 20 pounds under. And then I haven't maxed out since, but last time I maxed out was with straps too.

Starting point is 00:27:24 I'm competing in three weeks so I guess we'll see. Where are you competing? The US Open this year. Oh, yeah, yeah. That is coming up. It's funny, one of my powerlifters here is a fan of you. Before the show, he wanted me to ask you. Yeah, so I'll tell him

Starting point is 00:27:40 that you'll definitely be there. Now my next question would be be how does one gain because lately it's not just your deadlift your squat is gone through the roof so how you know putting those two together it's like a it's like a magical equation so when you're trying to do squatting and deadlifting together what's the magical way of putting them together and increasing both at the same time or can you yeah yeah you definitely can i we always at hybrid and for my own training too we always prioritize the squat

Starting point is 00:28:12 over the deadlift just because i found personally that increasing more the deadlift the frequency or the intensity doesn't necessarily correlate with a bigger squat but the other way around does so if you're getting your your back and your legs strong through the squat you can see an increase in the deadlift even if you drop your frequency down like even if you go from that lifting twice to once and then increasing your squat volume you'll see most likely a carryover effect from from the increase in like strength in the squats now when do, you said you squat like four times a week, is that right?

Starting point is 00:28:48 Yeah, four times. All right, so in those four times, is it always low bar? Do you mix it up? Do you do any kind of conjugates? Is it always just a basic competition squat? No, I actually love using different bars and different variations of the squat. So you'll see me doing box squats, safety bar squats, duffel squats, cambered bar, all kinds of chains, bands, whatever.

Starting point is 00:29:14 I love adding variation to the lifts. It takes away kind of like the mental component. You know, whenever I grab a bar and I'm going to squat, I already have a set expectation of what I'm supposed to do in a particular rep scheme. Whereas if I just add a different variation, first of all, I don't care that much. I don't care how much I can do with chains. I don't care what I can do in a safety bar. So that's freeing on its own. So that's a darn great point. You know, like I know, you know, when I was competing, but just changing the bar, like I didn't have to squat 800 pounds. You know, I could squat whatever I squatted with that bar, you know, and do what you're supposed to do. Yeah. You know, in like any competitor, when you start, you know, reaching those all time numbers.

Starting point is 00:29:58 I mean, you know, when you're like Steffi, she's like best it's ever been. So now, you know, when you're starting to beat those numbers, that's a lot of stress on the body and the mind. I mean, my gosh. Yeah, Steffi, what is your total? Because we talked about your deadlift. What's your total? My best total?

Starting point is 00:30:18 Yeah. I think it's 1,080, 1,090. Okay, so what is your best squat and your best bench? I know everybody talks about your deadlift, but. My best squat is 415 in sleeves. And recently I hit 440 for three in wraps. Which is what you'll use at the open, right? At the open, yeah.

Starting point is 00:30:43 And my bench, I hit two 24, two, which was my previous best. So you, so you doubled your best. So it's about to be, you should, it sounds like you're about to have a great meet at the U S open.

Starting point is 00:30:58 I should. So have you started thinking about what your openers are going to be and what your goals are? Or is that top secret? No, no, it's not top secret. Yeah, absolutely. Um, Have you started thinking about what your openers are going to be and what your goals are with the U.S. Open? Not a top secret. Yeah, absolutely. Well, the goal is to win, obviously.

Starting point is 00:31:18 But see, here's the thing about the U.S. Open in particular. The U.S. Open is a meet of strategy. It's obviously as much as I would love a 700 Wilks it's not about that it's about beating your competitors so that's going to be the number one goal just strategizing and beating everyone else i'm sorry my eyes are bugging because you said a 700 will like steffy um is the is the us open is it judged by the Wilks or by just total? Or how do they judge that thing? Yeah, it's Wilks. It's Wilks.

Starting point is 00:31:49 So, like, Wilks is a big part of it, right? It's the main part of it. Yeah. So, like, so a 700 Wilks, that is a good goal to shoot for, it sounds like. Yeah. I mean. So what you're saying, though, is on the deadlift, if you could go lighter and know you could get it and still win, you would do that as opposed to trying to PR and hit that wilks that you don't necessarily

Starting point is 00:32:07 have to have especially for first and second attempts you know i'm gonna i'm gonna hit what i need to win rather than taking a huge risk and not hitting and not winning no it's great i see i noticed a lot of the competitors that come there even even like, you know, Uri Belkin, who's my favorite, by the way. Like, you know, he comes there and he does what he has to win. He's not, like, necessarily going for all-out numbers sometimes. Yeah. But I guess you guys always have that ace up your sleeve that if you have to, you know, you can drop it out.

Starting point is 00:32:39 Yeah, put 600 on there. Let's just do it. Do what you got to do. Yeah, that's the beauty of having a big deadlift. Yeah. Yeah. I'm telling you, it's always good to have that big ace up your sleeve, like I just said, but knowing that you could like –

Starting point is 00:32:55 and if someone's got a great deadlift, they can always pull something more than they have ever pulled if they have to pull it. Yes, I agree. Or they don't because they don't have to. Right. Or they don't because that don't have to right or they don't that's exactly that's that's exactly right that's a very good point like i know in

Starting point is 00:33:09 the deadlift is there's a lot of him to me the deadlift has always been an emotional deadlift the first time i pulled 800 pounds i mean prior to that my best ever was 730 wow it was out of meat i was it was i needed it to total 2,300. So it was like – because I'd already hit 750, so like do I go 770? I'm like, that's gay. Total 2,270. Or do I go big and have a shot at 2,300? So I went big and pulled 800.

Starting point is 00:33:40 So like you never know. Did doubt ever cross your mind before that attempt? I don't think I've ever – it's sad, maybe sounds arrogant, I don't think I ever doubted anything I've ever tried. I'm a very confident person. So no, I don't think I've ever doubted anything I've ever tried. In weightlifting maybe, but not in powerlifting. If I ever put it on the bar, I thought I was going to get it. But weightlifting, I doubt it.

Starting point is 00:34:07 The snatch is always like, I hope I can get this. I'm going to pull as hard as I can and dive under it. I'm that way with my squat and my deadlift, but my bench, that's the one I doubt. Bench is like, I don't know. So you just lay on your back and push your bar. That's probably different for women. I don't know. Maybe. Being a bro, it's kind of of like it's what you do i guess so here's my question i have a you know something

Starting point is 00:34:31 bigger let's talk about the rise of hybrid performance like um i remember you and hayden coming to my house and we podcasted in my house and And at that point, you guys were, you know, it was a new thing. And now, you know, a few years later, like the world knows about hybrid. Like what happened? That's a good question. I don't know. I guess we had a good idea that was different and that was well executed and it was at the right time and I always think that it's

Starting point is 00:35:08 because it was something that people needed more so than anything you know when we first started training hybrid style we used to get so many questions about it and that's kind of the the opportunity that we saw you're like okay people are interested in what we're doing so maybe we should provide a service for them um and then it just became a matter of doing things professionally and better than the competition yeah i mean i've noticed everything you guys have ever done has been top-notch like um you know the beauty of your website your Instagram posts, everything seems to be like you don't just do anything. It's always perfect. Exactly.

Starting point is 00:35:50 And it's worked super well. Have there been any challenges along the way? What have you guys run into? The biggest challenge has been to maintain a good customer service when the rise of clients keeps escalating the way it is. So right now we are at over 5,000 members. It has to be somewhere close to 5,500 right now. And we have a private Facebook group that we advertise that we do form checks and answer questions and help members find substitutions for exercises, et cetera. And obviously when there's over 4,000 members in a group, there's no way that Hayden and I can answer those questions and keep up with

Starting point is 00:36:35 the emails that come into the main inbox and program and put out content and go do seminars and all these things. So the biggest challenge was to find people that we trusted enough to sit behind a computer and a phone to answer questions and to help us out with the logistics of running hybrid. How many employees do you guys have now? We have over 15, I think 17 right now. I'm curious, what is like the hiring process? Do you guys have like a big, you know, some people talk to Barbell Shrug and they have this massive process they go through. But like, what do you guys do to hire?

Starting point is 00:37:15 So far for us, we've only hired friends of ours. So. Luckily, you got a lot of friends. Yeah. At least 15. of friends at least 15 yeah they're all our friends and it's worked out

Starting point is 00:37:30 what is the future like what are your goals with hybrid yeah right now the newest project is hybrid nutrition it's fairly new we're still making development changes to the website so that's kind of been our focus for now.

Starting point is 00:37:48 And eventually in the future would be I love teaching and I would love to develop more hybrid seminars and travel more and grow that part of the business more. Oh, that sounds cool. Yeah. So how did you what was the motivation for going to pt school in the first place uh the real answer is my mom my mom forced me forced me to i had no idea what i wanted to do i i graduated with an with a degree in exercise science and that pretty much gives you no opportunities at all like the only thing i could have done was be a manager at a gym, which wasn't what I was interested in doing. I tried, I even tried looking for a job at hospitals doing fitness tests, but I couldn't even find that. So that was my mom's idea. She said,

Starting point is 00:38:35 you know, you're into sports, you're into science, this seems like the best option for you. I hadn't even, I hadn't even considered PT school ever in my life. It was my mom's idea and I kind of just went with it. You know, I'm curious about one more. This is totally off of what we've been talking about. Let's talk about Venezuela now.

Starting point is 00:38:58 I know you used to post, and we talked about it on the first podcast. I remember that, yeah. Tell me, what's it like there now? What are your people facing? Well, so after last year, I think last year was when they had the last elections. Obviously, the power remained with Nicolás Maduro, which was President Chávez's successor, which is not a good thing. And right now, all the power belongs to the government and they're taking control of mostly everything.

Starting point is 00:39:34 You know, we have food stamps. Businesses are controlled. There's just, you know, there's just no freedom right now. And with that, they control also the drug market. So people are just starving on the streets. Kids don't have – I'm trying to find a nice way to say this, but it's just complete chaos. People don't have food. Kids don't have food or drugs.

Starting point is 00:40:02 There's a lot of crime as a result of that. Business owners can't import anything because the government is blocking the ports. So my dad is one of those people who used to import and export. He can't do anything because his stuff is all being blocked by the military in the port. It's just going on the same path as Cuba. So your family is still there? My dad is. And my dad used to be one of those people that was super optimistic about it.

Starting point is 00:40:36 Every year you would ask him and he's like, oh, no, I think next year is going to be the year where things get better or next year, next year. And that's been the same story for the last 10 years. And I think right now he's gonna end up moving because there's just not nothing else for him to do there how hard is it to get out of it can you can anyone just leave or yeah for now yes but i think that's another thing they're trying to control so i wanted to go visit this year and and my dad said that it's not a good idea because there's been

Starting point is 00:41:05 occasions of venezuelans coming into the country and having a hard time leaving the airport wow oh my gosh i don't know what can be done like that is just terrible i mean that is like makes me kind of thankful that we're in America right now. Absolutely. I know that you were very vocal for a while about Venezuela. You made some comments. Do you have any personal goals as far as affecting your country or just leaving it alone? At this point, there's really nothing that can be done at least for the for immediate for the immediate benefits of the country you know the someone needs to take the president down and

Starting point is 00:41:55 everyone behind him which is a lot of people and then it's going to take years and years and years of healing because what happened was it's not just a matter of power, but a matter of the mindset of everyone that lives there. The president before that instilled a lot of hate in lower class people and pretty much started this war between high class and low class. And that's why you're seeing the increase in violence and crimes. So it will take so many years for that country to heal from the government and from the thoughts that have been instilled in them.

Starting point is 00:42:35 Do people make money in Venezuela? I heard you say food stamps. Are they allowed to make any money at all? Yeah, people can make money. They just don't make much at all. I think minimum wage right now is $20 a month. Oh, my God. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:42:51 And so, I mean, so how do people become, like you said, you know, low class and upper class? Like, you know, how do you become upper class? And you're born that way? You're born rich? Yeah, you're born that way. Right now, I think it's impossible. So it's like no land of opportunity. It's just kind of what you're born that way. Right now, I think it's impossible. So it's like no land of opportunity. It's just kind of what you're born into.

Starting point is 00:43:08 Exactly. And, you know, I have a couple of friends from the national weightlifting team there. I traveled to Venezuela last year, and I trained with them a couple of days. And we went to eat, and I made a couple of friends. I stayed in touch. And just recently, I helped two of them to get out of there. One of them was a 77-kilo lifter. He told me that he lost 25 pounds.

Starting point is 00:43:36 He's like, I can't even find anything to eat. I can't train. Obviously, I don't have money to even take a bus to go train. I don't have the money to eat. I can't stay here. And he moved to Peru, and now he's not training. Really, really talented weightlifter. And then another girl who's a 53, also on the same boat, she's like, I can't do it anymore.

Starting point is 00:43:57 So she's leaving. I mean, so that's so sad, man. So did you get on – are they in America? No, they're both in South America. One of them went to Colombia, and one of them went to peru i'll be in colombia in a few weeks maybe i can that would be cool to meet up with them but yeah we'll be in you know for the youth pretty big place youth pennant it's not big one is not that big not how big is it we're in colombia is it um palmyra yeah okay i think we're flying into the Cali airport maybe.

Starting point is 00:44:26 Okay, yeah. Yeah. Are they anywhere near that? I don't know. I'm not sure what state she's in right now. Yeah, because it's really not very big. I know last time we had Mason that was down there on our team. He was training with the Columbians, and when they went, he just came.

Starting point is 00:44:44 It's not that far. But we'll see. It'd be cool though. Well, Steffi, thanks for being on our show. I really appreciate you. I know you're busy. But of course, like you said, no you're not, so never mind.

Starting point is 00:44:56 She just graduated. Dr. Cohen. She's like chilling on the couch right now. She's just getting ready to see a patient. You know, write a dissertation or whatever. But I appreciate you being on my show. It was very nice to meet you. Likewise. Oh, tell people where they can find out about

Starting point is 00:45:11 Hybrid Performance. Oh yeah, you can sign up online at www.hybridperformancemethod.com You can also find us on Instagram the same place or me at Steffi Cohen. They'll even give you a sample free week of any of their programs. I see the advertisements.

Starting point is 00:45:33 Anyway, thanks for being on. Tell Hayden I said what's up. I'll get him on next time. I will. All right, Matt. All right. Thanks. All right.

Starting point is 00:45:38 Thanks. Well, thanks so much to Steffi for coming on with us. It was definitely impressive just hearing all that she's got going on. I hope you guys learned a lot from this one. To listen to more podcasts like this and check out our articles, plus we've got e-books and coaching for you as well. To see all of that, you can head on over to mashelite.com again. That's mashelite.com.

Starting point is 00:46:02 Well, thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time. That's a wrap, friends. Dr. Stephanie Cohen. Can you imagine deadlifting 500 pounds, weighing 130? It's unbelievable. I want to thank our sponsors, savagebarbell.com. Use the coupon code BARLIFE, B-A-R-L-I-F-E, to save 25% on your first order. And then Organifi.com. Use the coupon code BarLife, B-A-R-L-I-F-E, to save 25% on your first order. And then Organifi.com forward slash shrugged to save 20% on the greens, the reds, the golds, all the juices to make your life better.

Starting point is 00:46:37 Vitamins and minerals, I take them every morning. I take them in the midday. I take them in the afternoon. That is the midday. How about at night? Yeah, that time. Organifi.com forward slash drug to save 20%. Friends, we'll see you guys next week.

Barbell Shrugged - The Doctor of Deadlifts w/ Dr. Stefi Cohen - The Barbell Life

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