Wednesday 240827 Back Squat 5×5

From a decade of competing as an elite power lifter to revamping his training to become a competitive bodybuilder for a season about 4 years ago, Mark Bell, has become known for his flexibility in thinking and acting when it comes to being a professional athlete. Tuesday and Wednesday this week our workouts focus on increasing foundational strength of the body- like the sport of powerlifting. The “slow lifts” because while working on the goal to develop muscle mass, tendon and joint capsule strength, and range of motion- the heavier the load- the slower the bar moves… even despite TRYING to be fast. This leads to the acquisition of strength that cannot be replicated in any other way. Get under the bar- push, pull, lift, squat it for load. Rest and repeat. This leads to strength.

Mark, in recent years, has become a huge advocate of running (slowly at first- actually so slow that it is more like walking!) and has worked on longer distances to build health in his cardio vascular game but also in short sprints to access his powerful muscles, which are not used to the speed/strength that he developed over the years competing in slow lifts. He has done a few half marathons and even broke the 2 hour time at 228 pounds (small for him) and ran the Boston Marathon last year in 6 hours. Not bad at all for someone who is still top 10 of all time powerlifters with bests of 1,080# back squat, 854 bench, 766 deadlift. Point being- he has altered his training and competition protocol to become more fit and healthy rather than only being concerned about amount of load lifted.

And yes, he has used steroids, and doesn’t try to hide it. Check out the Bell Brothers 2008 documentary Bigger Faster Stronger: Is it still cheating if everyone is doing it?