I love Max's description of willpower at the end of the interview: "Willpower is the most important factor in becoming successful at anything, especially lifting weights. Not just the willpower to fight through a hard squat workout, but the willpower to make smart choices... The willpower to have shitty days and not let it affect you. The willpower to do what you HAVE to do, not what you WANT to do."
Always love hearing anything from Max Aita. Had the pleasure of meeting him twice this year. What a nice, knowledgeable guy who really loves lifting. Can't wait to hear more from him. Thanks for sharing this interview JTS!!!!!!
This whole conversation, I liken to the the years of competitive swimming I did as a young athlete. In a way, this is why the U.S. is so dominant in swimming in particular. Certainly there is no "Bulgarian" system for swimming, but rather, the amount of volume and the intensity of training is what breeds such high quality lifters. I can recount training sessions where we would swim 100 repeats non-stop for 3 hours, racking up around 9,000, 10,000, 11,000 yards in a session. It was absolutely brutal, but it made us really tough.
Adam Palmer the old adage is true "you are what you repeatedly do". I had a friend on our Olympic wrestling team who was simply an alternate, and the amount of training volume they used was inhuman.
What he says around 43:00 is similar to Louie Simmons saying that west side lifters all train on the ragged edge of their max.so in a sense they are always ready to compete at anytime because there is no peaking they are always at their peak
What do you mean not funny/witty or motivational? Parafrasing a bit here but "If you need to get your motivation from a saying on a T-shirt, your motivation sucks." BOOM! You just killed two birds with one stone! Don't sell yourself short ;-) I'd buy that :D (even though strictly speaking I don't agree, but then I don't agree with most of those motivational sayings when you give them a little thought.)
Hey max, I have the exact same thing with my wrist. I shattered the lunate bone and it's now just permantely fucked(keinbochs disease). It's been over a year and I'm close grip benching.. much less weight unfortunately and it makes holding the bar on squats really difficult because it wont bend back properly. Any tips or suggestion on how you've dealt with it? Cheers man
you had mentioned high bar oly style is a great way to build strength and low bar is generally the best way to showcase. how would you suggest including them both into programming ?
+Jing Peng In short, high bar earlier in a training cycle for higher volumes to build more quad strength and muscle and low bar later in a training cycle for low volumes and high intensity to build technique and neural patterns.
What kind of stretching or prehab is involved with this type of workout? I did a Smolov cycle and my hips are wrecked. Impinged so severe I can't deadlift anymore than 400 for a few. Previous PR was 615
+pissremiss They were definitely doing stretching as part of the their daily routine but the warmup protocol for the actual session was very often Bar x5, 70kg x1, 120kg x1, 170kg x1, 220kg x1 and then take their max attempts.
Man sorry to hear that your hips are messed. Please be pro active, roll them out, stretch constantly, massage, physiotherapy.. YOGA. But you will heal and get back in there... I've been there... Give it time, and take care of your body.. Best of luck from YYC!
During those times in those countries, that was your life. You didnt have a job, you were an athlete by profession essentially. A lot of the Russians and other Eastern Euro countries do that now, Lovchev said he trains 6 days with only Sunday off. i think he said it was 2 times a day those days. Its very different from how most american lifters have a full time job and lift on the side, those guys got paid by the government to lift with the beleif they would bring home Euro/World/Olympics medals. so they didnt have much of a life after that, unless its going to clubs at night to party a bit
+Juggernaut Training Systems Thoughts on Carl Yngvar Christensen now that you guys weigh roughly the same. I know he's a geared lifter but whats your thoughts on him if he went raw
+ubermarine He is amazingly strong. I don't think there is any question about the raw strength of the IPF single ply lifters in the manner there is about many multiply lifters.
+Juggernaut Training Systems would you agree that even though CYC squats 5 days/week that its more like a conventional powerlifting program just with the volume cut up into more days than it is like a Bulgarian style high frequency/high intensity program that Max describes?
I love Max's description of willpower at the end of the interview:
"Willpower is the most important factor in becoming successful at anything, especially lifting weights. Not just the willpower to fight through a hard squat workout, but the willpower to make smart choices... The willpower to have shitty days and not let it affect you. The willpower to do what you HAVE to do, not what you WANT to do."
Gav Gray he will be a significant coach.
Man I could listen to Max talk all day.
Agree 100%. (Very) intelligent squat talk!
"If you're going to get motivated by a saying on a shirt, you'll suck"... That should go on a shirt.
That intro was pure straight up gold Chad, I love it!
Always love hearing anything from Max Aita. Had the pleasure of meeting him twice this year. What a nice, knowledgeable guy who really loves lifting. Can't wait to hear more from him. Thanks for sharing this interview JTS!!!!!!
34:30 Best relationship advice I've ever heard and it's from a weightlifting coach
This whole conversation, I liken to the the years of competitive swimming I did as a young athlete. In a way, this is why the U.S. is so dominant in swimming in particular. Certainly there is no "Bulgarian" system for swimming, but rather, the amount of volume and the intensity of training is what breeds such high quality lifters. I can recount training sessions where we would swim 100 repeats non-stop for 3 hours, racking up around 9,000, 10,000, 11,000 yards in a session. It was absolutely brutal, but it made us really tough.
Adam Palmer the old adage is true "you are what you repeatedly do". I had a friend on our Olympic wrestling team who was simply an alternate, and the amount of training volume they used was inhuman.
Adam Palmer which has now been disspelled as simply garbage yardage.
'If you're gonna get motivated by a saying on a t shirt, you're gonna suck' I laughed.. A lot.
+BORN Maybe they could put that on their next shirt....
+stefano bit Would buy lol
Definitely would haha
+stefano bit shut up and take my money lol :D
He's a lot more jacked here then he looked on the power cast. Mark must've deliberately out angled him.
Smelly and his goddemn tricks
For real he always positions himself so his arms look huge.
this was back in 2015 when he was powerlifting. i dont think hes as jacked now as when he was training for powerlifting.
he is obv on juice that's why. Nothign wrong with that tho
Max looking jacked.
video corrupted and the audio got totally out of sync - not sure if anyone else has the same experience?
Thought it might have just been me. Was definitely worth watching nonetheless, IMO.
Old school! Is this the miracle Max Montana with a gun show.....?????? ❤️ I could listen to Max all damn day!
He has some great stories to share :')
What he says around 43:00 is similar to Louie Simmons saying that west side lifters all train on the ragged edge of their max.so in a sense they are always ready to compete at anytime because there is no peaking they are always at their peak
Max has such cool stories! You could make a small movie about it haha
34:55 How to get good at squatting.
Thanks Max! I appreciate it!
Great interview, really. Thanks for uploading. Max seems to have shed some significant weight... looking good.
9:50 how did Chad do that conversion in his head that fast, jesus christ. he spat out "518 at 176" like he didn't even have to think about it o.O
R.I.P. Ivan
This is awesome. Thanks Chad
Great video
awesome video! but yes my audio was out of sync too.
Really enjoyed this!
Great stuff here!
Should rename the gym to Gym Aita or Aita's Gym; his last name is more iconic. If you happen to care about branding.
+D3rrty D4n Gym Aita sounds pretty badass
whole thing was great
Best video ever
Chad looks so blazed
Max Aita. "Max" is in the name, how cool is that?
Yeah man! :)
I just can't wrap my head around doing the same exercise for 12 years and nothing else.
Damn Max! Them arms!
What do you mean not funny/witty or motivational? Parafrasing a bit here but "If you need to get your motivation from a saying on a T-shirt, your motivation sucks." BOOM! You just killed two birds with one stone! Don't sell yourself short ;-) I'd buy that :D (even though strictly speaking I don't agree, but then I don't agree with most of those motivational sayings when you give them a little thought.)
Hey max, I have the exact same thing with my wrist. I shattered the lunate bone and it's now just permantely fucked(keinbochs disease). It's been over a year and I'm close grip benching.. much less weight unfortunately and it makes holding the bar on squats really difficult because it wont bend back properly. Any tips or suggestion on how you've dealt with it? Cheers man
Rofl. that intro totally ripped on elitefts.
wait so whiskey for deadlifts and cigars and vodka for oly lifts
The only motivation we need is those eyes
i didnt know max had those juicy delts
you had mentioned high bar oly style is a great way to build strength and low bar is generally the best way to showcase. how would you suggest including them both into programming ?
+Jing Peng In short, high bar earlier in a training cycle for higher volumes to build more quad strength and muscle and low bar later in a training cycle for low volumes and high intensity to build technique and neural patterns.
Hooray for lunge Tuesday!!
The interview where their love life started
What kind of stretching or prehab is involved with this type of workout? I did a Smolov cycle and my hips are wrecked. Impinged so severe I can't deadlift anymore than 400 for a few. Previous PR was 615
+pissremiss They were definitely doing stretching as part of the their daily routine but the warmup protocol for the actual session was very often Bar x5, 70kg x1, 120kg x1, 170kg x1, 220kg x1 and then take their max attempts.
Man sorry to hear that your hips are messed. Please be pro active, roll them out, stretch constantly, massage, physiotherapy.. YOGA. But you will heal and get back in there... I've been there... Give it time, and take care of your body.. Best of luck from YYC!
Loved this video. I do wish y'all talked a little more on a preferred programming opposed to a Bulgarian methodology.
+adam crawford That would be covered pretty in depth here: th-cam.com/video/SICmP8_irsI/w-d-xo.html
+Juggernaut Training Systems and here: th-cam.com/video/eBIInwyXIfA/w-d-xo.html
+Juggernaut Training Systems and here: th-cam.com/video/onpnlCNGzlA/w-d-xo.html
+Juggernaut Training Systems and here: store.jtsstrength.com/products/juggernaut-training-a-thoughtful-pursuit-of-strength
+Juggernaut Training Systems and here: store.jtsstrength.com/products/scientific-principles-of-strength-training
if you trained 2 times a day, 7 days a week, how would you do other stuff outside of the gym? were you sponsored?
During those times in those countries, that was your life. You didnt have a job, you were an athlete by profession essentially. A lot of the Russians and other Eastern Euro countries do that now, Lovchev said he trains 6 days with only Sunday off. i think he said it was 2 times a day those days.
Its very different from how most american lifters have a full time job and lift on the side, those guys got paid by the government to lift with the beleif they would bring home Euro/World/Olympics medals.
so they didnt have much of a life after that, unless its going to clubs at night to party a bit
Vitaly I figured the same thing but still wondering how much the athelete was paid to basically giving up a lot of things in his/her life.
+Juggernaut Training Systems Thoughts on Carl Yngvar Christensen now that you guys weigh roughly the same. I know he's a geared lifter but whats your thoughts on him if he went raw
+ubermarine He is amazingly strong. I don't think there is any question about the raw strength of the IPF single ply lifters in the manner there is about many multiply lifters.
+Juggernaut Training Systems would you agree that even though CYC squats 5 days/week that its more like a conventional powerlifting program just with the volume cut up into more days than it is like a Bulgarian style high frequency/high intensity program that Max describes?
+Juggernaut Training Systems especially considering he's only actually back squatting 2-3 days/week.
wew lad
Chad's face at 10:52, haha.
35 squat workouts in a week 🤯
One like for that intro
'no amount of mashed potatoes can recover your soul'...unless there's gravy involved
I started to scream LIAR when you said your lifestyle isn't all about food.
26:30
and I thought I was a bad ass squatting twice a day.
Max Delts Aita here
Wow, Max is looking lean!
I first saw Max in the pendley row video, and I thought at the time he was fat...I'm ashamed of myself
Chas looks like Brent Mikesell,lol
Jacked Aita
Get a robot hand ;)
Jacked Aita.
whole thing was great