A Powerlifter's Unraveling Perplexity of Training & Life
An Interview with Jason Pegg
by John Izzo JOHN: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview with me. Why don't you begin by telling me and the readers a little about yourself----how you got into power-lifting competition, how you got involved in Elite Fitness Systems, and just a brief history on your involvement with iron? Jason: I appreciate you having me John. As for a bit about me? Kind of hard to guess where to start. I'm assuming you don't want me to start at birth, unless you don't want people to read past the first question! Right now I am (trying) to work as a personal trainer/strength coach. I live in I originally got into powerlifting in high school. We had a guy, Mike Jones, who came into our program and was a DB/WR coach. He was a little guy 5'9, 170 or so, but was strong as hell. He was my introduction to powerlifting. He had a powerlifting team at the high school he went to, and continued to do it when he was in college. He would take us to do an " As for getting involved with EFS, I'm not sure exactly what brought it to fruition, but I feel extremely honored that it happened. I know that Dave was looking for some people to fill some niche spots he was looking to fill in his training logs. I don't know why they picked me over anyone else, but I am very fortunate to be in the place that I am with them. Dave and Jim have been very good to me, and it has provided me access to some great opportunities and great people that I wouldn't have had access to otherwise. The knowledge base of the guys there is amazing, and everyone is more than willing to help. Being a part of Team EFS is a HUGE deal to me. JOHN: I recently wrote a 10-part blog series on the 10 most influential people in my life. Who did you look up to growing up and who do you look up to now? I think it’s important that people have mentors in life, but at the same time you have to forge your own path. Based on your influences and beliefs, what makes you different than other power-lifters? JOHN: I just started reading more and more from Dave Tate, maybe in the last year and a half, and I have been more and intrigued with his business development from what I have read. I noticed you said you are "trying" to work as a personal trainer/strength coach. What types of obstacles are you running into? What business tactics have you picked up from Dave and Jim from EFS? JOHN: What is your best lift? And is it your favorite? JOHN: Many young lifters are always in a RUSH to lift the most weight early in their lifting career. I remember, I went through the same notion of trying to bench 315 as soon as I learned how to bench. Back then, I wasn't even benching correctly (so I learned through EFS). Why do you think so many young men are eager to put up big numbers and what tips can you give for them to be more patient with "muscle maturity"? Is it necessary? No, but why work hard for something and not show it off? Kids don't have lots of money, so they use what they have. I think that some of it comes from being naive as well. As a kid, you think that if you have a big bench, or a big squat, you are heads and shoulders above. I know for a fact, because I played football in college with some guys that were ridiculously strong, but absolutely sucked at the game of football. I guess what I’m getting at, from an athletic standpoint, is that kids don't understand that there is so much more than limit strength that goes into being an elite level athlete. You could take the guys with the top 3 totals in every weight class ever, put pads on them, play them against the worst team in college football, and they would lose by 100. Why? Because there are a hundred different attributes that a football player needs to BE a football player, and limit strength is only ONE of them. A lot of times too, as a kid, the strength is the only aspect you focus on in the off-season. I was HUGELY guilty of this in high school. Once football was over, I did absolutely no conditioning from the time the pads got turned in until conditioning started the next summer. I was a pretty good player in high school, and wonder what would have happened to me if I had known then what I know now with regards to proper training and preparation. Bear with me here for a second.
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Who on earth is Jason Pegg, you ask? Is he some guru, some expert, some know-it-all ready to tell you its his way or its crap? Jason Pegg is part of an elite team--literally...and he is a regular guy like you and me. Back from a dramatic stint with the US Military, Jason joined Elite Fitness Training Systems to lift the heaviest weights possible and conjure up as much learning experience a man can take from some of iron's smartest people, as well as some simple--yet effective business advice from his mentors. As a guy starting up in the fitness business, Jason is weathering the economy and creating his angles in an effort to get his personal training and fitness business running successfully.
Jason: My Mom and Dad were huge influences on me as a kid, much as they are for anyone. My Dad was huge when I was growing up. He worked in the auto industry, so his job went as car sales did, and he was laid off sometimes. Rather than sit around and mope, he was always out doing something to help make ends meet. He was pretty self sufficient with a lot of things as well. He would rather chop wood for the fireplace than pay the gas bill, go kill animals and eat them as opposed to buying stuff at the grocery store, etc. I still don’t think he has ever paid for an oil change or to get the brakes done on his truck. He also didn’t bullshit you when you asked his opinion. I can remember after a high school football game we won big; he was riding me about missing tackles and blocks. He was never a dick about it, it was never a "you suck" type of deal, but when he gave opinions that were usually confirmed the next day in the film room!
Mom was the exact opposite. That was always awesome. Like most moms, no matter how bad you sucked or fucked something up, she gave you a "good game” compliment. It was good for the psyche if nothing else. She also got out of a shit job when I was in high school. She went back to college as an old woman and now works as a nurse in a neurologist’s office. That was hugely inspirational, even now as I am getting ready to restart college as a 30 year old man.
Dave Tate is another one, especially now. He has proven that you can run a business with no formal training in it. He could be an asshole and not talk to people, because I know he doesn't really have the time, but he still does it. Jim Wendler is another guy. Lives his life as he wants to and isn’t worried about what anyone thinks or says about it. I can’t lie John, this is a hard question. I would have to really sit down and think about it. There are so many guys who do things that seem to work so well for them.
As for their influences on my lifting? I would say that the work ethic is there. They also helped infuse a large dose of reality to it for me as well. If I’m hurt, or sicker than a dog, or something else is going on, I’m not scared to take a day off. It doesn't bother me. I know that missing workouts kills some guys. I also try to remember that there are a million ways to get strong, and one isn't necessarily better than the other. I am probably one of the few guys who realize, and it is starting to really sway toward this type of thinking, but that you don’t have to use maximal weights to get stronger. If more guys realized this, you would probably see a lot fewer sore shoulders and backs.
Jason: Right now, my biggest obstacle is trying to find clients! Hahaha. I know it sounds lame, but the industry is big here, and they have been laying off left, right, and center. I don’t want to be, nor can I afford to be, that guy that starts out great, training people and getting results, but goes off half cocked and runs into a shit storm in 6 months. I can focus what I'm good at, and pass along the stuff that I suck at, or don't want to be good at to the guys I have on the team.
As for Jim and Dave, and what I’ve learned from them? When I was talking to Jim about it, he gave a standard “Wendler” answer. Almost verbatim, it was "fuck business. If you sell a good product, people will buy it." I know that this is VERY oversimplified, but it brought to the forefront something that is pretty important. Don't sell a shit product. You might see some good sales initially, but once people figure out that its shit, you're done. Just look how some of these 'revolutionary" products and programs go. Marketing will only carry it so far, but as the saying goes, “you can't polish a turd”.
I almost feel bad about admitting it, but Dave has taught me so much simple shit. Things that for whatever reason seem to be what you would think as common sense, but I was completely unaware of. They have been on all sorts of different levels, but so many of them I'm thinking to myself while we're talking "How in the hell did I not know that??" It was expressed to me when I was talking to another guy on the team as "learning." I guess he was right, and I'm showing how long it has been since I’ve been in an environment where some concepts were so completely foreign to me.
Other than that, one of the biggest things that Dave has done, along with a couple of other guys, is turning me on to Alwyn Cosgrove. It seems that right now, everything I read from him I should be paying for! All of his concepts and ideas are amazing. I have actually implemented quite a few of the things that Alwyn and Dave have recommended. I would have been deep in a hole had I not known about these things now. I can't lie. I'm as lazy as I can be when the situation allows for it. One thing that I learned when I was in the Army is that, on the lowest imaginable level, there are only two ways to do anything. The smart way, and the hard way. I like to use the smart way as much as possible, especially when you consider that I learned this lesson the hard way!
All of the things that I am taking from these guys are simple things, but in the end, they end up being HUGE. I am very thankful that I have these guys behind me as I dive into the business side of this. I'm also fortunate these guys give like they do.
Jason: My best lift is far and away my squat. I’ve hit 915 in competition, and don’t think I'm anywhere near where I could end up, assuming everything goes as it should, and I don’t run into any major injuries. Is it my favorite? Hell no! Squatting big weights the right way is hard. I would rather do some pull downs or something like that. Those are easy. I'm kidding. I wouldn't say that I have a favorite exercise. I could tell you my least favorite exercise.
Jason: Is there any way we could take this question and turn it into an e-book? I could go on forever about this. Either way, and I'm speaking from experience here, I would say it’s an ego thing. The same reason that guys drive Bentleys, and wear Breitling watches, etc.
As far as tips to younger guys who want to get strong, I would say to emphasize 4 things. Technique, technique, technique, and programming! For one, it does wonders for injury prevention, especially in the weight room. There is NO EXCUSE for a 17 year old kid to blow a pec or trash his shoulder benching. NONE. Secondly, if getting strong is something that they want to do, or end up doing for a long time, there comes a point when poor technique will halt your gains.
I'll give you an example of a guy that is in our gym right now who is finding this out the hard way. The guy in our gym is an amazing deadlifter. He actually holds an amateur world record in the lift. His back is strong as fuck, and for a long time, his back strength was enough to overpower his technique deficiencies in his squat. His squat is to the point now though that his upper back strength isn’t enough to overcome the weight on the bar, and in his last meet, he bombed out because he couldn’t hold the weight in the proper position to stand up with it. It’s not a lack of strength; it’s a lack of technique. He is working hard at fixing it now, because he now knows what his problem is. He also has a team of guys with Exercise Science degrees who eat, sleep, and breathe powerlifting around him helping coach him. Do you think that 95% of the lifters in the world have guys like this? Do you think that the old man who wears his belt for every rep of every set every day of his 6 day a week program could look at his squat and see where the deficiency was? I would bet that a lot of trainers couldn't look at his squat and see what was wrong with his squat. They would go off, fire out a new program, and see the same result. These are guys who do this for a living too. You have to seek people out who know what’s going on and have the ability to teach it. Once you have your technique down, and are able to do it consistently good, it makes it so much easier to be able to FEEL what the issue is. Is there too much weight on the bar, or was your head down some? If it’s too much weight, you know. If your head is down too much, you feel your back start to fold up, and you can feel your hips shoot up faster. This is where the technique comes in big too. Coaching yourself.
Solid programming is something else younger athletes should try to find. It doesn’t have to be the most advanced, because at their age, everything works. Even the bad programs. There is no reason that a 17 year old kid should be worried about loading in an accumulation block because he wants to do block periodization. He also shouldn't get a program from someone who has no experience with his goals. I think this is why you are starting to see high schools hiring strength and conditioning coaches. They realize the guy who has been the head coach for the last 35 years probably isn’t the most up to date on physical preparation of athletes. This is where you see both the good and bad side of the internet.
The internet is a great tool for learning. There is a wealth of information, free information, and a lot of it is very good. There are a lot of people who are extremely knowledgeable about training and physical preparation. However, the converse of that is also true. There are a million guys who have websites and "programs" that are fucking terrible. Now you and I, having been in the strength world for a long time, have well tuned bullshit meters, and are able to sniff out the bad programs and ideas, and toss them aside as shit. The issue with a kid doing it is he has no idea what’s good, and what isn't. This is where they run into trouble. They will Google "get stronger for football" and print off and do everything that comes up in the first link. They go from being a kid who can’t do 20 proper pushups to a kid who is doing max effort reverse band bench pressing twice a week literally overnight. This is something that I try to be aware of when I write "general" programs. Kids don’t know anything about training, and they think that if one day of benching a week is good, two days of benching is better. I try to base the programs off of that, because I know that for the 2 kids who do it the right way, there are 10 who will bastardize the shit out of it. I also know that the 2 kids who do it right will contact me and we will go from there. It’s another reason that I try to make contacts with schools here in the local community. These kids may, for whatever reason, choose not to work with me as a coach, but the relationships are mutually beneficial, and I know that if players ask the coaches, they will steer them to me, or to someplace like EliteFTS.com. These are the guys that they should try to seek out. A lot of kids do. I see some of the most basic training related questions you could ever imagine. I could be a dick, and blow them off, but what purpose does that serve? None. I try to answer as many of these questions as best I can. It serves a couple of purposes that I’m not going to go into, as it could be another e-book, but it is mutually beneficial for everyone involved.
Continue to Part 2 of this interview...
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