Frankl's training:

Well, Saturday we squat. We usually use briefs only for the beginning weeks, depending on the length of the training cycle. We normally use real weight and sometimes reverse bands. We usually do many doubles and triples throughout the whole training cycle either on our way up to our max effort lift for that day or sometimes on the way down.

As far as the bench goes, we usually do raw work to the chest and try to increase that every week before putting our shirts on. However, we use shirts every week of our training cycle. We start out with 3-board presses, and as the weeks move on, we try to lower the boards. Usually, we never go over two reps. We do about 4–5 working sets per workout.

We do deadlifts every week. We usually stand on a one-inch board for the first several weeks using briefs only. We like to keep the reps to no more than two for our working sets. We sometimes stand on a box and do stiff legs, and sometimes we’ll do rack pulls from different heights depending on our weak points. This is a basic outline of our main lifts.

...I love doing reverse bands. You can really put a lot of weight on the bar, and it really helps your lockout. It mimics a bench shirt. I like doing heavy raw decline press also.

...For squats, we usually do a lot of doubles and singles through the whole training cycle. We try to get our raw squat up every week before putting briefs on and then likewise when we put the briefs on. Once we put our suits on, we will usually do about four working sets. Lately, we’ve been doing two weeks on and then taking one week off of doing reverse bands.

Whatever our heaviest set is that day we usually add 100 lbs and do a double with it with reverse bands. On the week that we don’t use bands, we will usually go one more extra heavy set and only do a single. I think it’s important to feel your opener on your back in some way or form almost every week. By the end of your training cycle, you’re feeling more weight on the top end than you can actually do full range. So when you get to the meet, nothing feels heavy on your back and you’re doing lighter weight than you’ve been doing.

...No box. We at Big Iron Gym use reverse bands pretty often. It allows our bodies to adapt to heavy weight. We also use them for speed and explosive power.

...we do deadlift every week.

Training at Big Iron Gym:


Well, words can’t really describe it. We have so many different lifters from so many different walks of life, but when we all get together, it works great. Rick Hussey, our coach, is an awesome coach. He can turn your weak areas into strong points, and it seems he always knows what to say at the right time to get you motivated. All of the training partners are behind you 100 percent and without each other it wouldn’t work. You can feel the motivation in the room. Let’s just put it that way. When you come to Big Iron, you can expect to have one of the hardest workouts that you'll ever have. Rick knows how to push you to the limit. I love it! We’re like a family, as weird as that may sound.

...Believe me when I say this—Rick keeps everyone very humble. He knows what everyone’s capable of doing, and even if you do have multiple world records, if he knows you can do more, he’s not satisfied. He wants all his lifters to reach the top of their potential. He is proud of his lifters though. You can see it on his face after you hit a big lift that you’ve been training for or if you win a big meet. You can just see it all over his face. Rick is an awesome guy with a lot of talent. He is as real as they come.

On bombing:

Well, I have had my day of bomb-outs. When I got back from Afghanistan, where I was for a year, I tried to come back too fast. I was anxious to get back on the platform so I bombed my first meet back and only trained in gear for about four weeks. I also went to the WPO Semi Finals in 2005 and bombed. This forced me to go to Finland two weeks later for the Semi Finals there so that I could make it to the Arnold Classic. I went and placed second. The only bad thing was that at the Arnold I bombed in the bench. I know about bomb-outs! I was just trying to come back too fast, and I’m hardheaded.

The key to moving big weights:


I would have to say form is one of the biggest keys. You might have the strength to do a lift, but if you get out of your groove, there is no way anyone can muscle up real heavy weight. I never think about the weight. I try to just focus on the form. To be constantly improving, I think you have to step back and look at where your weak points are and strengthen those areas. You need to know when you’re overtraining so that you don’t get hurt.