Episode: #42 Chad Wesley Smith on how to become a Juggernaut man
Who: Today’s guest is Chad Wesley Smith who is the owner of Juggernaut Training Systems, a top 20 Ranked raw powerlifter of all-time, author, speaker & coach.
As his about page outlines: Chad is one of the most accomplished strength athletes of recent years. With a background in track and field, Smith took his 2 collegiate national championships and continued his success in powerlifting and strongman.
In powerlifting, Smith owns current PRs of 435kg/959# squat with wraps, 380kg/848# squat in sleeves, 257.5kg/567# bench press and 367.5kg/810# deadlift, as well as Top 10 totals all-time with wraps and without at 1050kg/2314# and 1010kg/2226# respectively. Smith also earned his professional status in Strongman by a landslide victory at the 2012 North American Strongman Championships.
As a coach, Smith has helped over 50 athletes earn Division 1 athletic scholarships and worked with athletes in NFL, UFC, MLB and Olympics, as well as having numerous world-class powerlifters.
Who better to discuss how to become a Juggernaut in our own lives. In this interview, we discuss masculinity, weight lifting, skill development, jiu-jitsu and how to be a man everyone would want to have a pint with.
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I hope you have as much fun listening to this one as I did interviewing Chad … enjoy!
Listen here
What we cover
- Who he is
- What got him into lifting iron as a child
- How does he define masculinity as a child and now?
- Where does he see modern day men going wrong
- What makes a good friendship as a man
- Why has he been so successful compared to other lifters in his generation?
- Where does he see guys going wrong in the gym?
- The best methods for improving lifting technique and Chad's method for learning new techniques
- Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and lifting - how has he found learning BJJ compared to weight lifting
- Any routines or processes that work well for him when lifting
- How to start lifting when strength is not the main focus of the outcome
- How can we learn to leave the ego at the gym and properly lift in the gym
- How does he lift such heavy weights? What goes through his mind during his heavy lifts?
- Where does his motivation come from? What keeps him pushing hard in the gym
- Why does he tend to move towards single person sports compared to team sports
- How has he turned his lifting career into a business and a brand
- Does he have a typical day?
- Where does his creativity come from for video production, product building etc come from?
- How to switch the mindset from competing to coaching
- His adoption and does he feel it affected him in anyway
- How can we raise strong - in all sense of the word - males?
- What does he want guys listening to take from this interview?
- What is an unusual fact about him
- How you can keep in touch with him
- And so much more
Some things to reflect on
- Chad became strong when he was younger by trying, he didn't know why things worked when he was younger but to the tried. Start now and begin, learn as you go You don't need to know everything before you start to succeed.
- Quality of relationships and integrity and thoughtfulness and all that is more important than how much you can lift
- Season of life by Jeffery Marx
- Be open, vulnerable and able to share to build a strong friendship with other males
- Stop trying to find the easy or quick solution for strength - learn to master the concept to truly learn and reach your goal - it takes months and years to chase mastery, not 30 days like the magazine covers say
- "Go into each session, with one thing to focus on" and record details of the training session
- If you cannot explain it, do you understand it? Learn the technique, do not rely on your strength only
- Focus on the process of the technique - its impossible to go from step a to step z with none of the steps in between
- Use movement progression - pick specific goals and build towards these, do the exercise well and progress to the more advanced versions of the movement
- It's easy to let the day slip by if you don't have a plan
- John Donaghue podcast with Joe Rogan
- Money can make life more comfortable but family are the most important thing
- Goals are achievable - have the courage to go for your goal like Chad did, attack them with your full heart so you do not live an unfulfilled life
- Juggernaut Performance Summit
Connect with the Guest
- Visit the Juggernaut Training Systems website
- Attend the 2018 Juggernaut Performance Summit
- Subscribe to the Jugglife podcast
- Chad's Instagram
- Team Juggernaut on Facebook
- Team Juggernaut on Twitter
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