Advise for a friend

[Xellarz]

So I've been trying to figure out if I should post this or not and obviously you know what I finally decided.

I've got this friend from the gym. He's ridiculously strong...I mean, it literally is not human what he can do. I'll tell you more, but my base question is - how can I help him? or rather, how SHOULD I help him?

I wouldn't be surprised if he reads/posts on here, but I don't actually know.

Description:
He's 20 years old and competes in track and field stuff - like hammer throw, discus, shot put, javelin and possibly 1 other event. When he's finally done with track and field (in a few years when he's done with college) he tells me he'd like to try to compete in powerlifting. He has almost no good nutritional habits - he tries to eat a lot, but it ends up being mostly junk. He doesn't have any peri-workout nutrition (definitely nothing during his workout). He lifts 7 days a week...so he probably doesn't even recover properly. He also has no coach, etc and doesn't really follow a plan - he just goes in and does what he feels like. So you can see he's got a LOT he can improve on...YET

The kid just squatted 800 pounds to parallel...with NO belt...and NO wraps. Just in his shorts and t-shirt. What the HELL? He weighs about 275-280 and is (now this is a guess) about 6' 3" maybe 6' 2".

While squat is his best lift (I think), he IS VERY good at basically everything I've seen him do. But seriously, 800 completely raw...no belt even?

What I'd like to do, is convince him to go visit one of the powerlifting-friendly gyms in the area. I (we) live in the Chicago suburbs - specifically by like...Schaumburg, Lake Zurich, Crystal Lake, Barrington area. So I'd like him to go to like...Velocity Sports Performance (for Eric Stone), Frantz Gym (for Ernie Frantz), or Quads Gym (for Ed Coan). What do you guys think?

And I wont be surprised or offended if you don't believe me - that's fine. But I'd appreciate it if your comments just assumed I was telling the truth because I already agree that I should have video.

[Clifford Gillmore]

So what if he eats crap? He is STONG. Get him into a gym with some experience lifters, he'll probally relish in the other lifters experience. And research has proven, albiet I'm recalling from a MD magazine - so ignore it, that training what you feel like has fantastic results.

[mikesbench]

If he ever wants to coe up to southeast WI I'd be more than happy to work with him on preparing to compete in PL.

[Rob Luyando]

Have him get a hold of Dick Zenzin. Zenzin Barbell is out of Dekalb IL. He will benifit alot more from Dick then he would Stone and depending on what type of equipment he uses he may not be let in the door at Frantz Gym.

[chris mason]

If he is as strong as you say and he competes in track one might think he would want to further improve his power such that he might be able to take his track accomplishments to the next level?

If that were the case one might think he would be seeking the best strength coaches etc. Does he just not care? Is he not competitive at all?

[TankofZenzenBB]

I agree with Rob. I didn't benefit as much as i would with Stones Team. I learned a lot more training and technique with Zenzen. I just needed a bigger step forward from Stones team. I liked everyone on the team, but I needed to move on. When I'm at NIU it's only like 5 minutes away so it's very beneficial for me. I read where you are from on chicagopowerlifting. Where do you and this kid train at. I live like 2 minutes away from where you live.

[Xellarz]

Where do you and this kid train at. I live like 2 minutes away from where you live.

We don't lift together but we run into eachother all the time. We lift at Fitness 19 in Lake Zurich (on the corner of rt.22 & rt.12). I go to NIU, now. I'll have to check out Zenzen BB for myself, too! I used to lift with the Illini powerlifting team.

The kid is most focused on his track performance at the moment. I do not know why he doesn't look for a better coach (I THINK he has a track coach...or had). I don't know if he's competitive in his events. I think he mentioned something about going to DePaul in the fall. He said he hopes they have a good strength coach...

I'm definitely gonna try to get him to go to Zenzen. And I'm also gonna try to get him to go to the APF Summer Bash - I heard Coan will be there, too (to support some guys, not lift).

[TankofZenzenBB]

Get a hold of Dick Zenzen if you need his number, look at powerliftingwatch.com or else i got it. For your friend, I think he will benefit from powerlifting a lot and can use it for his field events. I know a few good strength coaches in the crystal lake/lake in the hills area. He could do powerlifting in the offseason, once preseason comes along he can take it easy.