Fortis After Hours Podcast
Welcome to the Fortis After Hours Podcast!
Join Nate and Liz as they dive into unfiltered conversations about fitness, mental health, relationships, powerlifting, and everything in between. From navigating life as a married couple running a business together, to chasing PRs and personal growth outside of the gym, no topic is off-limits.
Expect honest insights, practical advice, and plenty of healthy banter as we redefine what strong really means in and out of the gym.
Fortis After Hours Podcast
FIVE | Power Surge Pro Redemption
In this week’s episode, Nate and Liz recap their trip to Power Surge Pro, sharing stories from the platform, the energy of the meet, and what it means to compete at a high level while still having fun.
They also introduce a free 4-week pushup program, built to help you go from your first pushup to advanced progressions. To round things out, they dive into the age old concept of discipline over motivation. Consistency and discipline is what helped Liz stay in the game and make it back to the platform, and it can help you too! Start stacking small wins and moving towards your next goal.
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HOSTED BY
@lizribaudo_fortis
@nateribaudo_fortis
What's going on, you guys? Welcome to another episode of the Fortis After Hours podcast. I'm your co-host, nate, joined by my wife, liz hey, and we have another awesome episode playing for you guys, episode 5 Since our rebrand, and today we're gonna be checking in on where we've been past couple weeks. Hint, we've not just been sitting here doing nothing. Quite the opposite.
Speaker 2:Not quite.
Speaker 1:We've been all around the earth, specifically the united states sort of. I mean, we went to denver. That was so weird. That was um, so we're gonna break that down. Um, along with which was our trip to power surge pro, where liz competed. Uh, liz and lana competed and I competed for the best hair. Uh, it was a competition, uh, one on one myself, and I won.
Speaker 2:So crazy day for me as well, uh competed against a whole bunch of people that didn't know they were competing against exactly it was just me in the competition actually, so yeah perfect um, but anyways, yeah.
Speaker 1:So we're going to talk about that. We also are going to talk about our free push-up program. That is live now. You can get access to that. I will explain how to do that later on in the episode, so stick around. This is a great program for everybody. So if you're listening to that and you're like Nate push-ups are so easy try this program. You will not be disappointed and you will be sore, I guarantee it. If you're like Nate, I cannot do one push up. Or maybe you're just stuck and you're like almost at a push up or almost at five push ups, this program will be perfect for you as well. So stay tuned for that. We'll talk a little bit about that, and then we're also just going to touch on why consistency is important, and I can kind of like pull you through those lulls in motivation. We've talked about that many times on the podcast before, but it is a big kind of like theme that's important to us.
Speaker 2:It is, and it kind of ties in with the meat too.
Speaker 1:It does.
Speaker 2:For me.
Speaker 1:It does indeed.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And on that note, let's go ahead and get started. So, first things first, talking about our Power Surge Pro adventure. So we're just going to kind of go chronologically. So we flew out there, which we flew out there with Lena, which was cool. I kind of thought of it as we were like flying like. We were like flying like a team, you know.
Speaker 2:I just thought we were friends hanging out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay. So I was like, oh cool, like no one else hanging out, yeah, okay. So I was like cool, like we're all flying out and I like literally did think of someone brought this up the other day Cause we're going to do it uh, a big trip to nationals next year, like flying as a team, with like jerseys and stuff or like you know, shirts, which I actually thought of. I'm like, ooh, we should have had these on when we were flying.
Speaker 2:But so much.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Liz is not a fan of that, but anyways, we flew out there, flew up to Chicago, flight there Flight service super easy and chill. And then we landed, got ourselves settled. Did we go to Walmart that day?
Speaker 2:Jewel Osco.
Speaker 1:Whatever?
Speaker 2:But yes.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, we went to Jewel Osco which, like man, my wallet wasn't prepared for that. That shit was expensive, Like everything.
Speaker 2:It was expensive.
Speaker 1:This is why I shop at Walmart.
Speaker 2:There was no Walmart.
Speaker 1:Yeah, apparently there's no Walmart where we were in Illinois but we went to Jewel Osco. Fun fact, I used to work there and I didn't like it then and I still don't like it because I mean they had everything we needed.
Speaker 1:so they did and I will say the steaks were pretty good. So, anyways, we stocked up immediately, which is an important part of our journey because we don't stop. So had to get ready to go because the ladies needed their meal prep that following day and I needed some meals because I was going to train the next day. So right off the plane, right jules osco snagged the groceries.
Speaker 2:This is kind of important, like if you are someone who ever does want to travel for a meet to maybe like listen to what we did and take note of what we did, because what we did is actually pretty important for having a successful travel meet day.
Speaker 1:Well, that's kind of wanted to like walk it, walk through.
Speaker 2:I know that's why them through it, yeah, but you didn't say that, so I'm just making it very clear that if you are someone who either is planning on traveling or wants to travel, or maybe you've traveled and had not great times with traveling, um, there might be some things that you could like. I don't know learn some tips you could pick up along the way of listening just by listening to what we did yeah and there might be things you can learn also my first thing that you need to learn if you're planning on traveling and flying um, bring all of your meat stuff in your carry-on yeah, that is step one.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, we did that also. I didn't get stop by security, which I talked about before in one of the other podcasts. It didn't get stopped this time wore the same pants and stuff, so I don't know who knows?
Speaker 1:anyways, um so, yeah, so we got the food. I want to continue this forward momentum got the food. That's very important. Uh, overlooked thing of travel. I see people all the time when they travel for powerlifting meets oh, I ate here, I ate there. We did eat out, but it was all carefully selected, especially until meat day carefully selected and then, after the meat was more, yeah, just whatever, yeah, until meat day, um, so, yeah, so that is definitely, I feel, like overrated.
Speaker 1:So got ourselves food water as well, um, just so that we had everything that we needed before, even like settling down for sleep that first night. That made the next day super easy. Got up Thursday, I think we cooked some breakfast, got some coffee and then I meal prepped and just did some basic meals, stuff that we were all used to eating. That's also important. Don't really want to change that. I don't know why, but I'm telling you a lot of people when they travel I don't know about other sports, but specifically for powerlifting, people like to change, like, what they're eating. I don't know why you should not do that. If you're cutting, that's a whole different thing. We're not talking about that today.
Speaker 1:But if you can try and stay as consistent with your meals as possible, um, it's a little bit of like a, I want to say. I mean, there's a little bit of science, um, making sure that you have the exact same kind of energy that you've been having throughout all your training. But there's also a little bit of bro science and that is their body just kind of gets used to like digesting. Let me rephrase this is actually science but I just don't know the specifics so I'm going to explain it on a very bro science level. And that is your body does get used to digesting the foods and nutrients and water and liquids, everything. So like it's easier literally for your body to recover and do everything else If you keep everything the same, if you introduce, you know, let's say, you never eat fish and you're like I'm going to eat fish for some reason, like that's just going to make it harder on your body.
Speaker 1:So you want to make it easy on your body, Do that by meal prepping, selecting the foods you're used to. That's what we did. Then we headed over to surge for quick training day. I did deadlifts, you guys did SPD Yep and photoshoot Impromptu, photoshoot, yep. And Liz forgot something kind of important, but less important because she switched to.
Speaker 2:I forgot my shoes.
Speaker 1:She switched to flats.
Speaker 2:So I did all of my lifts in just my socks. Yeah, but it's fine because my shoes are super flat and super thin and I mean they're grippy, which is nice, but I also wasn't going heavy. So it wasn't really like slipping or sliding anywhere.
Speaker 1:And I will say so again, just for like learning sake. Devil's advocate, let's just say she even was, you know, squatting in, not flats, and she needed those shoes. I would still have just said to go ahead and do the day without the shoes, because that day was more for you guys. Just a little bit of blood flow, kind of just like a, almost like a shakeout run If you're like running, you know, like just a quick shakeout, get some blood flow would have been a little more annoying if you were used to the squat shoes, Sure, but it would not have been worth in this case. Like the drive back, the drive back to the gym, uh, that like time stress, whatever. Um, so you know, just because we're talking about like keeping everything the same in this case, like in that example, I would actually just say moving is better than not moving and or than like all of that yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2:Obviously it depends on what your programming is if you have not us as a coach they might program your last week differently, so it might make more of a difference or less of a difference just depending on what you're doing, but if it is just a lighter, like blood flow day, you're probably good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that was Thursday, that was good. What did we do Thursday night? I?
Speaker 2:think we just chilled.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we just chilled. Went back to the house chilled.
Speaker 2:I was hungry.
Speaker 1:Yep. Oh yeah, I was a little hungry, but we had weigh-ins the next morning, so we kind of just drank water and chilled. We didn't have to do a water cut or anything.
Speaker 2:so it was nice I wasn't cutting, but I was also like right on the borderline and I wasn't 100% sure how my body was going to respond with flying, because that can cause water retention, things like that. So I was not 100% sure. So we were trying to not eat too much or anything extra that night, so I was a wee bit hungry yeah, uh, she was a wee bit hungry.
Speaker 1:I think I was just eating everything under the sun, but that's honestly usually how our life works, um, so yeah, so thursday, we just kind of went back to the house chilled, got things ready for Friday, which was weigh-in day. And before we start talking about weigh-ins, we're going to take a quick break because Liz is baking. So quick bread break. Ooh, I like that. We're going to call it a quick bread break. And while this is baking, I'm going to go ahead and tell you guys about our pushup program. So I'm pretty excited about this, uh, mainly because people actually downloaded it, which is crazy. So I'm super excited, um, because sometimes I make free programs and people can't figure out how to download it. I'll be it. It's been a little bit complicated in the past, but I tried to make it as simple as possible and if you've not yet checked it out, I encourage you guys to check it out. It's completely free. You get it within the train heroic app, so that's kind of nice because we pay for that and you get the benefit of that so you can track your progress along the way. It's a four week pushup program and it's designed to help anyone of all different levels, improve their push-ups. Now, if you're just starting out, this push-up program is going to take you from zero to hero and or from like an elevated push-up, maybe with a barbell on a rack, which you can see in the video that correlates with all this. That's on our Instagram at Fortis Fitness Studio, all the way down to the floor. So I kind of lay it out for you guys how you can go from you know not getting a full push up to getting full random motion push ups. No problem, if you're already really good at push ups, you can use this program to challenge yourself and improve the strength and the push ups that you may already have. So it's really designed for everybody. Like, different levels doesn't matter. Some of you'll see how I did that.
Speaker 1:I use time actually as a metric instead of reps. So, for example, if I'm, you know, pretty good at push ups and maybe I want to challenge myself and I'm doing for 30 seconds, maybe I'm trying to get like 30 and 30 seconds or something crazy like that. Or maybe I add weight and get, you know, 15 or 20 or something like that. If you're just starting out, you might just get like one or three or four, that's fine. So, anyways, check it out. It's got something for everybody.
Speaker 1:This pushup program is perfect to run alongside with, you know, any other workout plan that you may be doing, and you can also do, like, just the main part of it, if you have. You know, if you run another program, you can do just the main part of it and save yourself a little bit of time. So check it out. You guys Head to our Instagram at Fortis Fitness Studio and I think I'm going to pin it to the top by the time this goes live. But yeah, there's a push-up video. Watch the whole video. I explain more in depth how to properly do full range of motion push-ups and then at the end there is a code. Enter that into train heroic and boom, you've unlocked your free push-up program and we're back from our bread break, um, and back to our power surge recap. So so friday, weigh-in day liz's favorite day because she gets to eat all the treats afterwards I don't really eat a lot of treats.
Speaker 2:I I just eat a lot of food.
Speaker 1:That's true. Let's walk through it. So we rolled up to Wayne's and got to see. My parents were there at Wayne's, said hello to them. They were ready to go. Hopefully they weren't expecting any lifting to happen.
Speaker 2:Who knows?
Speaker 1:They're just trying to be part of the action, I think so said hi to them and then we uh just checked in, got the cool posters and cards which we'll use this little part to talk about. That uh, really awesome idea by sergio and his team, uh, to do these trading cards and poster kind of like promoting the meet. Uh, I thought it was pretty cool, really cool way to get the athletes involved and it actually worked. So they there was like a lot of athletes that got kickbacks from ticket sales, which is fantastic. Uh, really cool way to just kind of like grow the sport and to get the athletes involved a little bit in, you know, getting fans to the actual meet itself and getting fans to watch on the live stream.
Speaker 2:Yeah, builds up some spectators, makes it more fun for them too, Like oh, I got this cool trading card of either my favorite athlete or whoever.
Speaker 1:I don't know where they are. I need to find them Right there, I gotta start a trading card book, powerlifting trading cards Of me, yep, and anyways. So yeah, so we got those. That was super cool. How'd weigh-ins go?
Speaker 2:Good, nice and easy.
Speaker 1:Blayna was, like, well below her weight, so she was good to go you were.
Speaker 2:That was fine. I don't remember. I think it was like a pound and a half under.
Speaker 1:Yeah, none of us or our clients have ever missed weight, so we are on like a 100% streak on that. Good to go yeah, so that's no problem for us. So weighed in and then I think you guys did some athlete interviews.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they had the guy who is going to be the emcee for the meet the next day. He was doing some interviews with all the athletes just to kind of try and find out a little bit more about him. So he had some things to talk about on the meet day while he was emceeing, just to kind of again relate a little bit more to the spectators, make it a more relatable sport. Because, let's be real, sometimes powerlifting can be kind of boring, and that's from someone who loves powerlifting. Yeah, sometimes powerlifting can be kind of boring, um, and that's from someone who loves powerlifting. Um, yeah, but having some information about the athletes is always good and it makes it more relatable, more fun. You kind of hear their story or hear some things about them, which is nice. Um, he also designed these little what do you call them?
Speaker 2:brochures, pamphlets I don't know the right word for them, but they're like spectator pamphlets, spectator brochures yeah, they had just like a small educational brochure yeah, it was like cool they could get them when they got there, the people they're watching, and it kind of explained the basics of a powerlifting meet, like what you're looking for, what the lifts are um what the lights meant, I think, things like that.
Speaker 2:Um, and I just thought that was really cool, like another really cool addition that they did at this meet that I've never seen done before, to help kind of draw in those spectators and create a little bit more of a like spectator friendly kind of more of a story too.
Speaker 1:Like you don't, it's hard to understand um what's going on if you don't understand Exactly if you don't know.
Speaker 1:So it kind of provides a little bit of color, so to speak, for what you're watching in front of you, because otherwise you might just be sitting there like, oh my gosh, they're all yelling lifting weights. You have no idea how much they weigh things like this, because it's in kilos. So a lot of people don't know that, and you know the MC will usually just announce just the kilos. Sometimes they do the pounds as well, but it's kind of sometimes on the spectator. So that was also a really cool touch. I like that a lot. So we finished up with weigh-ins, headed right to McDonald's and then afterwards finish off with.
Speaker 1:Taco Bell and a milkshake.
Speaker 2:False.
Speaker 1:Yeah no, so finish up with weigh-ins. We had a meal packed with us already. A fun fact there's usually microwaves at these things. If there's not, there's probably a microwave somewhere close. I've heard they have them at gas stations.
Speaker 2:Supposedly.
Speaker 1:I've still yet to do that, but everyone says they have them at gas stations.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So, anyways, we came ready with a meal. Also, if you know there's not going to be a microwave, come ready with a meal and a thermos. We have done that before Yep thermoses are sold basically everywhere, so if you're traveling and you don't have one, go buy one.
Speaker 2:We have also done that before.
Speaker 1:Yep. So that way, you know, you can just start kind of like refeeding the body. Neither of them cut, so it really wasn't like about refeeding as much as it was about just making sure we were fueled and ready to perform Saturday, because they did have a very early day, so it was actually kind of important to start eating and drinking immediately. Uh, just because you're looking at about a 24 hour ish window, um, and you want to make sure you're ready to rock and roll.
Speaker 2:Yeah, now, if we or anyone were to have cut, it would look a little different in what you would need to do that day. But um, we thankfully didn't cut. Um, so basically, right away we ate our meal, started drinking water because, again, we're trying to be as hydrated and fueled as possible for the next day. So my plan was definitely eat a little bit more than I usually eat, but not like crazy amounts more, because I didn't want to feel like too full or too whatever on meat day, eating so much extra that I wasn't used to eating.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so had the initial meal. Then, I think, we went out and got some gluten-free pancakes, aka one that Liz ate.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:I had just regular breakfast.
Speaker 2:I was, like most people, had regular breakfast. It didn't really matter that they were gluten-free pancakes. That's just what makes my tummy happier.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what Liz has to have. So, anyways, got a simple breakfast, then headed back and just kind of chilled for a while and then afterwards we went out and got some food. Oh yeah, we went out and went to get some hibachi, which was good Again, kind of selecting foods that we usually eat, so rice and some sort of meat Place was good. Food was great. We had a nice group of people that came out to support us, which was super nice, and then we basically went home and rested up because the girls had an early day. Uh, the next day we had to get up at 6 am, I think, 5 am, 5 am. Um, had to get up at 5 am so that way we could be ready to roll and ready to start competition, which started at 8 am. Uh, now I I know for Liz, honestly, this might have been the earliest she's ever squatted 363 pounds in her life, like literally.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm not a morning person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, usually.
Speaker 2:Well, no, probably actually that meat prep before showdown. We were training at 5 am.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I forgot about that.
Speaker 2:I had technique that was back in 2021 back in the day um way back in the day. Um, not a morning person not a morning lifter, not a morning awake person at all.
Speaker 1:So that was quite the experience if liz could skip the morning and just enter at like noon, that'd be probably ideal for her. Uh, anyways, so we had an early day, so I had to go to bed. We literally just like eight and then went back, got ready for bed yeah, um, and that's so another just a little tip we went on lots of walks that day we did.
Speaker 1:We went on lots of walks. Honestly, we went on more walks than we go on these weekends, which is crazy because liz likes to sit on the regular weekends yeah like today, yeah, okay lots of sitting but I convinced her to go on walks then.
Speaker 1:So, anyways, we'll see, maybe we can go on walks here too. But yeah, we went on lots of walks to make sure we're staying active. Uh, that is actually super important because we generally are pretty active people and with the travel we weren't really doing anything. Um, I mean, of course you're traveling, but yeah, so we did a bunch of walks, which was good, um, and got ready for the next day, aka meat day. So for the meat day, um, we woke up early, which I strongly recommend.
Speaker 1:People do, I don't't? I never understood that. It's kind of like this like old school mentality of like power thing. Some people I guess not everybody, but some people where it's just like you try and like sleep as much as possible. There's like diminishing returns to that. It's called stress, so like if you wake up late and then you're stressed and you're like, oh, like, like, it's much better meat day wake up, like we. So we had a 40 minute drive, so we took that into account. We woke up at 5 am and the meat started at 8 am, so that was about three hours. So, minus the 40 minute drive, so it's like two hours and 20 minutes of time now, of course, they needed to be there to warm up, so really they need to be there seven, so it's about an hour 20 of excess time that allowed us to get everything ready.
Speaker 1:Eat, not be rushed, like you know. Eat a meal, do whatever they needed to do, stop and get some coffee. Do our normal routine. I strongly recommend you do that. If you are traveling for meets or if you're doing a meet locally, prepare adequately, make sure you guys have enough time, make sure you go to bed early, early enough and, to be honest, because at the end of the day, once it's meat day and the day before, even if you didn't go to bed early and you just got to get up a little earlier, it's better to do that than to be, you know, sleeping in and rushed and barely make it to the meat. It's just going to set up your day that way. Uh, you know there's no stress, or as minimal stress as possible, because let's be, let's be real powerlifting.
Speaker 1:Meets are pretty stressful environments, um, so, anyways, we headed out to the meet. Um, it was kind of cool. There was like some thunder in the background. It's cool. Liz probably didn't even see it. Um, and then trying not to throw up. Oh yeah, liz was a little nervous at this point, but anyways made it to the meet, which is really I didn't even see it.
Speaker 2:I was just trying not to throw up.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, Liz was a little nervous at this point, but anyways made it to the meet.
Speaker 2:Which is really funny, because I wasn't nervous at all the entire time. And then we got in the car and I yeah, at some point it's going to hit though. I thought I was going to lose it.
Speaker 1:That's funny, so anyways. So made it to the meet and that is basically it the end.
Speaker 2:I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, made it to the meet and then started warming up. They were in the first flight, first few lifters, so started warming up on the monolift because that's what they were using and it was available. So I'm like let's go. We got a lot more comfortable with monolifts. I quick little tidbit, uh, I don't know like turns out. As you use them more and more, you get better at them here's my quick little tidbit if you don't train on a monolith and you're competing with a monolith.
Speaker 2:You should still walk out your squat just walk it out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, let me. Yeah, good, good clarification. I did not mean we're warming up with the monolith, like using the actual monolith, both of our lifters, so both liz and lana both walk out usually.
Speaker 2:So that's exactly what we did if you know how to use a monolith you can definitely like take advantage of that. There's nothing wrong with using a monolith, but it is different and if you don't know how to do it, you shouldn't do it. On meat day, yeah, and it's not necessary, you don't need to do it.
Speaker 1:There's plenty of top squatters that literally just walk out of their squad, so that's what we did. Um, as far as the actual meat, I'll kind of like cruise through this stuff because I don't know, we've already recapped it a million times. If you have not seen the videos, check it out on Liz's Instagram. It's also on Ford's Fitness Studios Instagram, but we recapped them pretty good and we'll just kind of run through it. Squats warmups went nice and smooth, really no problems at all. There Worked in with our friend Ronald and his client Tammy. It was good to see a familiar face and good to have somebody in the warmup room to work off of, because sometimes I'd be just out there or Liz is out there just cruising solo, so it was always nice to have a friend. So shout out to Ronald for helping me run the racks. But yeah, squat warmups went nice. Everyone was looking good, primed and ready to go opener. What'd you hit?
Speaker 2:I don't remember 341.
Speaker 1:That's what I'm saying what the numbers you guys check out I can tell you what I ended up with.
Speaker 1:I don't remember all of my attempts, though so, anyways, yeah, the full recaps, like I said, they're up, but we'll just go off of the top numbers. So liz was able to secure a 363, 165 kilo back squat, um, which is good. We had just done 358 at the meet that she did a few weeks ago, a month ago now, uh, so it's good just to get a little bit there. And also, she probably had a little bit more in the tank, um, I listened to the live stream guy and he's like a little bit of a grind there. He's like, yeah, but she got it like full confidence and that was about I would say the exact same thing like she definitely had a little bit more.
Speaker 2:It would have been more grindy fun fact, I am good at grinding squats though which most people don't know about. Like, if you don't know me, you don't know that, like, some people are good at grinding squats and some people aren't. Like I'm pretty good at it, so yes, like that was definitely easier and less of a grind than even the 358 was so meaning I probably could have done like the next jump up, but we wanted to.
Speaker 1:Well, the goal was to work on securing a total yeah, the goal was to work on securing the biggest total, so we want to save a little bit of energy for the deadlifts. Um, lana did good as well. She missed her on depth. But I made kind of a tactical decision to split the difference and go up anyways, cause there was plenty of strength, Um. But you know, at the end of the day you miss it. So, uh, you don't want to go too crazy when you're jumping like that. So I took kind of a tactical jump, just a five kilo jump. Um, I was going to take a 10 kilo jump but we went with a five kilo jump and that worked nicely. She was able to smoke that and save plenty of room for the deadlift.
Speaker 2:Also squatted 363.
Speaker 1:Yep Also squatted 363. So bench press, which there was a break. Where was the break? Was it break the big break in between this? So there was like a 20 minute break. This is a quick tidbit. Make sure you guys are in communication with the meat director If you're traveling. Every meat director is different and even within meats sometimes breaks can be different. So make sure you guys check with the meat director, especially when it's a smaller meat, like a pro type meat like this, where it's a smaller, more condensed meat. Uh, oftentimes they'll take breaks in between the squat and the bench events. So make sure you guys check, check in with them. Sometimes they announce it, sometimes they do not. Uh, so, as a coach or a handler or an athlete, if you're by yourself, make sure you guys check in so that way you time your warm-ups appropriately. Um, we did just that and found out there was a 20-minute break between squat and bench. So we had a little bit of time, which was nice, warmed up for bench, which is super easy for her.
Speaker 1:Real quick, real quick Bench is not that strong Warmed up for bench real quick and then went out and did good. Liz went two for three.
Speaker 2:That's her favorite style of benching, per the usual.
Speaker 1:Yep Lena went three for three. That's her favorite style of benching.
Speaker 2:Per the usual, yep Lena went three for three on the bench. Did she hit a PR?
Speaker 1:Yep, what was it?
Speaker 2:187.
Speaker 1:All right, 187 PR for Lena. Very good, we did just kind of like small jumps for her. Knocked one down at a time.
Speaker 2:Fun fact about her bench which I would never recommend doing this, but we did it. We completely changed her bench about one week before the meet, maybe 10 days, I don't know, somewhere around there. Seven to 10 days we completely changed her grip for bench and it paid off because she was able to hit a PR with a brand new grip, so that's cool.
Speaker 2:Again, I wouldn't necessarily recommend that, but sometimes you got to do what you got to do and she was able to make the adjustment and then was able to get a nice little PR out of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, was able to capitalize on that adjustment and get a PR. And that just goes to one of the biggest morals of the story of powerlifting in general, which is if you're strong, you're strong. So sometimes you got to make adjustments. She did a great job as an athlete, not, like you know, overthinking or doing like yeah, and also, but also sometimes, like you just have to lift, like yeah you got to listen to your coach, listen to your body and just lift regardless of you.
Speaker 2:Haven't been training it for months, but maybe it feels better this way or stronger this way. For whatever reason, at that moment, like sometimes, you just have to do things.
Speaker 1:That's what I'm saying. She did a great job, not questioning it, and was able to go in full confidence and snag that PR on the bench press, which is good. Liz did we got 87 again. Um 90 kilos soon, soon. Um. This one was, I will say the 90 was closer it was weird.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I. Usually she gets stuck like kind of really low off the chest. Uh, this like kind of looked like she had it and then just didn't have enough gas in the tank that day. Um, no problem though, it was 2.5 kilos, so we were prepared for that either way, all right. So we finished up bench. Then we had deadlifts, which were a little bit less of a break it was a 10-minute break.
Speaker 2:10-minute break Surprise.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was interesting, but still plenty of time to warm up, get everything squared away. Deadlift forms were going good until Liz came over and was like yo, I think I'm going to be sick and I was like what? So at Surge there is no AC. They got a bunch of fans, but there's no AC.
Speaker 2:My bougie-ass self is used to air conditioning and I got hot yeah.
Speaker 1:Liz is used to AC and not used to sports.
Speaker 2:I didn't realize that I was hot and she couldn't.
Speaker 1:She's like I don't know why. I'm like you're just hot. Do you need to go outside, or do you need to stand in front of a fan or something?
Speaker 2:I didn't really have time to go outside yeah. So I just went and stood in front of a fan for a minute or two and it helped.
Speaker 1:And she was magically fine.
Speaker 2:It was a little concerning, though I kind of thought I was going to throw up like mid-deadlift.
Speaker 1:At least one of us has played sports and recognizes the beginning stages of like heat stroke. So anyways, but yeah, no, honestly, it wasn't that bad in there.
Speaker 2:I just think, like Liz said, she's not used to it. That's why I didn't even realize that I was hot, Like I mean, I knew I was warm, like that thought didn't really even like cross my mind that I was just like too hot like what is wrong? Because, like I didn't really feel that hot, which sounds really dumb saying.
Speaker 1:I understand that that happens, but clearly I was hot, yes, um, so sitting in front of the fan, we were good to go in the warm-ups. Warm-ups were looking really good for both ladies, um, and we're ready to rock on deadlifts. Uh, for deadlifts. You got your favorite number to hit on deadlifts as well. Oh my God.
Speaker 2:It's so dumb.
Speaker 1:Liz locked in a 424 deadlift, which got her the 981 total, and then we went for basically what she needed to hit the 1,000 total, which is like her tertiary goal and, unfortunately, exactly. Toby, Unfortunately it was not there that day but she didn't get hurt, lived to fight another day and we've definitely like re-secured that like upper 900 total. You're basically knocking on the door of 1,000.
Speaker 2:I think which is what I've said afterwards was obviously it's just a one of those coulda woulda like maybe this like taking different jumps on squats and or a different jump on deadlifts. I might have been able to get like a little bit closer I still don't think like a thousand could, like would have been I agree we probably left like maybe maybe, possibly if bench would have like got it shit together, but that's per the usual um.
Speaker 2:But I think with some different jumps or different attempts might have been a little closer to the thousand. Still don't know that it was quite there all in one day yet, but that should be coming soon yes, no, it's for sure coming soon.
Speaker 1:Um, and I do think, yeah, maybe a little bit closer, but probably just not there on the day. Um, but that was good. Your main two goals were have fun and then beat your total from last time you went to surge correct which you crushed. Both of those correct. That's probably the most fun liz has ever had at a meet. You can see a video. That's also on instagram if you want a visual of that. Uh, it starts off with crying, but then it is quite a happy dance.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a happy dance.
Speaker 1:I've never seen my wife do that um, anyways. So this is how to blast fit is strong. Uh, accomplished both of her main goals, and which was have fun and then beat the total from last time she competed on the Surge Pro platform. And then Elena had one goal which she hit, which was total 1,000 pounds. Yep, so that's good. She hit exactly 1,003 pounds, which was that's like basically the lowest possible you can hit, like the closest to 1,000 you can hit. She had to pull 451 to secure that um and she did a great job, crushed it. Uh, it was funny she said after the fact she was like it was kind of like slow in the middle, and then she's like I need to stand this up right now. Um, and that's about right when you're, when you're double thing those kind of weights that was a big pr.
Speaker 2:It was like a 20 pound, yeah huge pr.
Speaker 1:so again, she did a great job, just trusting us on the coaching and just going out and executing. And that just goes to show you the power of that. Because I could tell you for a fact, on specifically the third squat and the third deadlift, those probably would not have happened, or it would have been much more difficult if she didn't have full faith in us and she just went out and did her thing. So basically, if she was out there second guessing stuff like this, I don't think either of those would have worked. So she did a great job. And then with the bench press, like you said, great job just listening and executing, because same thing, I mean you know you went and changed. I mean that could have been disastrous.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, it could have.
Speaker 1:But we know our athletes.
Speaker 2:Well, we know them, and also for people that have been lifting, at least for a little while, and I mean she does a lot of physical things for her job and stuff too. She's very aware of her body too, so she knows how things feel, like it feels good, or bad. Sometimes I'll train people, which is fair. So I'm not saying this is wrong, necessarily, but I'll be like how does it feel? Does this feel better, does it feel worse? And like they can't tell me that or they can't articulate that um, but she was very aware.
Speaker 2:And as soon as we like switch to this new grip, like immediately, she's like oh, this feels so much better I feel more engaged.
Speaker 1:I feel like my back is like active and working now, which is great that you're able to like understand that about yourself so no, she did a great job with that um, which is good, so, so, yeah, so both the ladies closed out a great day lifting on a pro stage, and this is significant for a couple reasons. One, they were able to accomplish their main goals. They had um with traveling, with competing on the big pro stage, which has comes with a lot more like expectations, a lot more pressure, um, a lot more lights, quite literally, uh, like spotlights. It's a little bit different than just competing at a local meet. Uh, and the people that you're surrounded by. These are some of the best lifters in the world, and they both rose to the occasion and did a great job. So you guys killed it. Yeah, it was fun, and then after that was just party time. We don't really need to recap that.
Speaker 2:Pizza.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we got pizza, which was fun. I got some Chicago deep dish. There was a bunch of people that hadn't had Chicago deep dish ever, so got to share that with them. My favorite Chicago deep dish is Lou Malnati's. If you've not had it, check it out. If you're ever in Chicago, there's many options to go for, including Giordano's, gino's, east Uno's, things like this. The best is Luma Matti's. They have the best crust, the best pizza. It was phenomenal, everybody loved it and it was a good little refueling for everybody. So did that? I somehow ate half a large pizza. I'm not sure how I did that, but I did. It's probably the most pizza I've eaten in my life.
Speaker 2:It was a lot it was.
Speaker 1:And then after that that we headed back and watched the other sessions or session kind of like on and off. It was really hot in there, uh it was a little toasty yeah, so we watched some uh other lifts.
Speaker 1:uh, most notable in the afternoon was john hack's world record deadlift. Uh, that was crazy. It was like 9. I think he weighed it like below 198. Like it was like 193 body weight Crazy. So that was insane to watch and I'm trying to think who else in the afternoon I can't really think of anything else Any other people.
Speaker 2:I don't know. I mean, there's a ton of people yeah there's a lot of lists, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I mean, there's a ton of people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a lot of lists. I don't want to go through and name all of them. It's probably still on YouTube if you want to go watch it.
Speaker 1:So you guys can check it out. Power Surge Pro-Am again shout out to Sergio and his team really good meet and it was fun and well run and it was a good time. So, yeah, and I think like the one of the things with this meet that was really cool to see is just like the like community aspect of powerlifting. Like it was nice to in the warm room, everyone was kind of like working together well, which is nice. Sometimes you go to these meets and people are not working together as well. Yeah, so that was nice to see. There were also some interesting complaints about this meet, which is just wild, but I feel like that happens with all meets and I think it's important as powerlifters to understand that it's a growing sport. No meet is going to be absolutely perfect and as long as you you're doing your best, that's really all you can do as an athlete.
Speaker 2:Um yeah, and it's not the end of the world that's facts.
Speaker 1:There's always another meat, um, so yeah, so it was a great, it was a great time, great trip for all of us. Yep, I could see us going back. We'll see For Power Surge 10.
Speaker 2:Oh and it's good to see some friends too. Yeah, friends, family, good time.
Speaker 1:Good to see some friends, good to see family. It was a good time overall, so yeah. So that kind of concludes the recap, and I already talked about the push-up program while you're baking bread I know, I heard so I'm gonna skip over that.
Speaker 1:But in case you guys didn't know, free push-up program, check it out. Uh, you can download it for free, but you have to uh, download train heroic, and then you got to watch the video and then you can see the code at the end um, all right. So last but not least, then we'll kind of wrap it up, which is just want to touch a little bit on like consistency, our old consistency over motivation. I think I need to do a revamp of that design for a shirt because it's just so important it is important.
Speaker 1:And I think for you and your story it's kind of relevant.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean. That's essentially the only reason I got through these last two years and was able to step back onto the platform.
Speaker 1:Um yeah, you weren't like especially this stage, or like this platform.
Speaker 2:Um well, eventually I was motivated to like go back and get a little redemption, but for a good solid, probably year and a half yeah there was no motivation, um not really, for any type of training, competing, doing anything we were just kind of like going through the process, which is not great no but um, still was consistency though, because, like, if I would have stopped that one, I definitely wouldn't be back where I am now absolutely not um, because there was no motivation at all.
Speaker 2:So if I would not have also had the consistency, I would not be where I am now. Um, I also would probably be in a much worse spot mentally if I would have stopped, because exercise and training is good for you, regardless of how you feel at that moment yeah um, but just continuing to go like months and months and months a couple years of you know, not really ever feeling great, not really feeling super excited.
Speaker 2:I mean there would be like good days here and there of like cool, like that was, that was a good whatever strong lifting day, but definitely not overly motivated, um, throughout the last couple years of training, but just continuing to show up and do what I need to do.
Speaker 1:And execute yeah.
Speaker 2:Has helped me get back to where I am now, which means hopefully I will be able to get past this soon. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think so, because as you stack consistency day after day, month after month, year after year, you are going to really kind of like cement your strength and your results. And I think that's exactly what you've done You've gotten back to kind of like where you were, or close to where you were.
Speaker 1:You've gotten back to kind of like where you were, or close to where you were, and you're kind of nearing the peak, if you will again of like hitting, getting close to PR totals, hitting a PR total and I think that that's something that you said, like recently. You're like I can actually like envision myself doing that potentially, versus before.
Speaker 1:Like I mean, we talked about that before and it was like a hard no, like you're like there's no way, yeah um, and now you can kind of see yourself getting back to that peak strength that you were at before um and perhaps beyond, and I think that's a big testament to the power of just consistency, because that's I mean pretty much like what you did you know, I mean like there wasn't there wasn't any secret thing, uh, it literally was just.
Speaker 1:She just kept going day after day, week after week, didn't really want to be there, but we had systems and, like you know, training programs and nutrition and sleep, all these things on board and you just kind of stuck to it and I think the results really paid off for the. For you the past. Uh, two meets you did really good. You're able to win a meet, a local meet that we just kind of use as a training meet, and then you're able to go back to surge and accomplish both of your goals. Yeah, so it was pretty cool, great example of consistency, even when you weren't really motivated, and how it paid off in the long run.
Speaker 2:Long, long run.
Speaker 1:Yeah, long, long run, I think that's the thing that people forget. Yes.
Speaker 2:So it's not that it was consistent for like a month or two. This was literally years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was talking.
Speaker 2:Not being overly motivated at all Years. Yeah, there's not really any PRs, there's not really anything like nothing. Crazy, just staying consistent for years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I think, I think that's important, important, uh, just to make that a point, that it was years took, you know, a lot longer than I think. Most things that people think are going to take like, oh, just just a little bit, just like double or triple that time. Uh, things just take time and if you want to be great, you want to be strong, it's going to take some time. Um, so, yeah, liz did a great job with that consistency. And if you're listening to this and you're like, okay, but that's Liz, like how do I do that? Here's a couple tips.
Speaker 1:Number one take a bigger goal that you have for yourself. Break it down all the way down to something you can do today. That's a big thing. People come up with these goals but you have no plan. If you have no plan, then you just kind of have like an idea, okay, so like you need to have a plan and it needs to be down to the day, not like, oh, next week I'm going to do this. No, no, like what can you do today? So that's number one, if you're struggling with consistency.
Speaker 1:Number one take a bigger goal. Break it down into a bunch of little goals. It might be 10 little goals. It might be five, it might be 500 little goals, but the point is is that you have like an actionable step that you can do today to get you towards that goal. Maybe tomorrow, whatever Um, that would be number one.
Speaker 1:Number two is, uh, doing them. So that's another thing is, I feel, like a lot of people, I feel like a 2025 with the um. I don't know how long chat GPT has actually been around, but with the popularization of chat GPT any GPT, whatever, um there is a lot of people out there that are talking about their goals and talking to ChatsGPT about their goals, and not a lot of people that are doing, and I think that that is something that needs to be I don't know, brought back into society. So, if you're struggling to hit your goals and you're struggling to be consistent, you got to start doing doing. So talking is great, but without action, again, it's just ideas floating around. So, start doing. See what you can do today.
Speaker 1:Um, like I said, it might not be. Maybe you're trying to do the pushup thing, maybe you can't do the full workout because you got to pick up your kid or whatever. Uh, that's fine, just do a little bit of it and then tomorrow, maybe, you can do the full workout. So stuff like that Do what you can. That way, you can get the ball rolling, and then, slowly but surely, you're going to build momentum, and that's going to create consistency, and then, all of a sudden, you're going to be achieving goals. So, if you're listening to this, you're like Liz is doing this. How can I do it, though? Those are two ways to get you kickstarted, and then the third one, literally, is just like like.
Speaker 1:The third thing I was gonna say is just momentum, like. Momentum is real. So you know, if you can just start stacking wins one after another, after another, your body and your brain is going to get used to that, and it's going to be easier for you to head into the gym the next time that maybe you don't feel motivated, you're like, well, like, because you start seeing the results. You know what I mean. Like, if you go off the push-up thing, since that's all I've been talking about this episode like you know, week one you can only do three push-ups, and then you kind of follow the plan and you do what you can, even though you got to maybe alter it here and there for life and work, and then next week you do five push-ups.
Speaker 1:Well, then you're like, hmm, I guess I'll just keep going, because most of us are pretty rational beings, and you're going to think, well, I did three, I could do five. I guess, if I keep going, maybe I could do six. And then you keep going from there. And that's kind of how momentum works. Same thing in powerlifting and you know everyday life as well. So those three things would be three ways that I would suggest that you check out if you want to build some consistency in your life. And then the other, just like kind of pro tip consistency, does not feel like, yes, oh my gosh, I'm hitting my goals. That's not how it feels. Sometimes it's like, okay, I did it.
Speaker 2:What.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sometimes that's how it feels when you're busy, but yeah, so anyways, I think that kind of wraps up this episode. You got anything else you want to talk about?
Speaker 2:I think that's good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think so as well. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this little recap of our trip up to Chicago. Oh yeah, I forgot to talk about the fact we went to Denver. Really it's not that big of a deal, but we flew to Denver on the way back so weird. And then we flew to Florida.
Speaker 2:We just had to lay over there. We didn't purposely fly to Denver, yeah.
Speaker 1:I know, but it was still weird.
Speaker 2:It was weird.
Speaker 1:We flew three hours one way and then three hours the other way. I was like what? It was very weird, it was strange, but anyways, we made it back safe. So that's all I really care about when I'm flying, and yeah. So, anyways, hopefully you guys enjoyed this episode. If you did, please remember to subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a comment, leave us a like, share it with your friends so we can continue to grow the podcast. We should be back next week with another episode. Should be back on track, should be. We got more traveling coming up later this year, but for now it should be good to go. So we'll see you guys next week for another episode of the Fortis After Hours podcast. Hopefully you guys have an awesome week and we'll see you then. Peace.
Speaker 2:Bye.