j_lucero89

j_lucero89 Personal Training and Online Coaching

06/18/2026

700-pound trap bar deadlift đŸ’„

People often see the final lift, but they rarely see the work that goes into building it.

To reach a 700-pound trap bar deadlift, I focused on developing strength, power, and position through a series of exercises that complemented one another.

The first movement was band-resisted Hatfield squats. These allowed me to overload my lower body while maintaining stability and aggressively biasing the hip joint. The accommodating resistance from the bands forced me to accelerate through the entire range of motion while building the hip strength needed for a bigger pull.

Next came band-resisted vertical jumps. Strength is important, but the ability to rapidly produce force is just as critical. These jumps helped improve my rate of force development, teaching me to apply force quickly and explosively. The stronger and faster you can recruit muscle fibers, the more potential you have to move heavy weights.

The final piece was paused front squats. Holding the weight in front of my body challenged my posture, upper back, core, and bracing mechanics. The pause eliminated momentum and forced me to stay in strong positions under load. This carried over directly to my deadlift setup and helped me maintain better posture when attacking heavy weights.

The lesson? Big lifts are rarely built by only doing the lift itself. Strategic accessory work that addresses strength, power, and positioning can make all the difference when you’re chasing a new PR.

Want to learn more about strength development and powerlifting performance? Visit 👉 www.harvestingstrength.com

06/17/2026

Sneaky man! He snuck in a comp, DURING OUR OFFSEASON, and qualified for Las Vegas to compete in worlds! He had a small window, and I guess the risk was worth the reward! Hell of a day, I’ll see you in the city that don’t sleep!
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06/17/2026

BIG SAVINGS đŸ’”USE THE LINK IN THIS VIDEO OR USE MY PROMO CODE “JOSEPHL” for 25% OFF
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squat benchpress deadlift strength fitness musclebuilding fitnesstips gymmyths fitnesstruths trainingtips buildmuscle

06/17/2026

Training your hip flexors for the yoke walk is one of the most overlooked ways to improve your efficiency in strongman. Most athletes focus on the posterior chain
glutes, hamstrings, lower back
but forget that strong hip flexors are what help drive the knees forward quickly and efficiently under heavy load. During a yoke walk, every step requires rapid hip flexion, trunk stability, and force transfer through the pelvis. If your hip flexors are weak, you waste energy, slow your foot speed, and lose position as the weight gets heavier. Research on yoke walk biomechanics shows the movement relies on short, rapid strides with controlled hip motion and high stability demands.

The stronger your hip flexors become, the more efficient your gait pattern becomes under maximal load. That means faster transitions, smoother foot placement, less swinging of the yoke, and better posture throughout the run. In strongman, efficiency matters just as much as brute strength. Events like yoke walks, farmer carries, sandbag carries, and medleys all demand the ability to stabilize the hip joint while repeatedly producing force through each step. Hip flexor work can help improve stride recovery, pelvic control, and force transfer from the ground to the upper body.

Exercises like hanging leg raises, resisted marches, sled drags, banded hip flexion, and single-leg carries can all build stronger and more resilient hip flexors for strongman performance. The goal is not just mobility , its strength, coordination, and the ability to maintain powerful movement patterns while fatigued.

If you want to move heavier weights faster and become more efficient in strongman, don’t neglect your hip flexors.

www.harvestingstrength.com

06/16/2026

Great job by my client mindylunsford29 last week at masters nationals! Hitting some solid lifts, as she dropped a weight class, and that includes this stellar squat at 286 pounds! We ain’t done yet, sky is the limit!
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06/16/2026

FIRST COMPETITION and he loaded 1100lbs on the wheelbarrow deadlift! A little sunshine, a barnyard in small town Idaho and my client Rob showcases some great potential to be a monster in this sport, congrats man!
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06/15/2026

Shout out to my client Sam Goetz for finishing 3rd overall in his first competition! He had a big task in front of him, and he delivered in all facets of competition! It’s not the last, and it’s all UP from here! Proud of you man!
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06/15/2026

I just wanna be strong, always. No special equipment, just me and some comfortable clothes I used to clean the house all damn day! Had a celebratory whiskey afterwards. LIFE IS GOOD!
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06/13/2026

One of the biggest mistakes lifters make is focusing only on producing force, instead of producing force quickly.

That’s why we’ve been using clap push-ups with this athlete.

The clap push-up is a plyometric exercise designed to improve the rate of force development (RFD), which is your ability to generate force in the shortest amount of time possible. Strength is important, but in many sports and maximal lifts, the athlete who can recruit muscle fibers faster often performs better.

When you perform a clap push-up, you must push so aggressively into the ground that your hands leave the floor. This teaches the nervous system to recruit high-threshold motor units more rapidly and produce a more explosive muscular contraction. The goal isn’t simply creating a strong contraction—it’s creating a powerful contraction as quickly as possible.

This becomes especially valuable during the final 6-8 weeks before testing max strength. As we peak, we want to maintain strength while improving the athlete’s ability to express that strength with greater speed and intent.

The great thing about plyometric push-ups is that they can be scaled to almost any athlete:

✅ Feet elevated on a bench for advanced athletes who need more resistance
✅ Standard clap push-ups on the floor
✅ Plyometric push-ups from the knees for beginners or athletes building confidence and power

My preferred prescription is 3 sets of 3 reps. The low rep count keeps every repetition explosive and high quality. If needed, you can also perform 3 sets of 5 reps, but once speed drops off, the training effect decreases.

Remember: power is strength expressed quickly. If you want to be stronger, sometimes you need to train faster.

🌐 www.harvestingstrength.com

06/13/2026

The Reverse Band Deadlift is one of the most underrated tools for building elite deadlift strength, especially for powerlifters and strongman athletes looking to dominate the top end of the lift.

Most lifters spend all their time trying to break the bar from the floor, but competitions are won when you can finish heavy attempts. The reverse band setup allows you to overload the lockout while still maintaining proper positions throughout the movement. Because the bands provide the most assistance at the bottom and progressively less assistance as you stand up, you’re forced to handle heavier and heavier loads through every inch of the pull.

One of the biggest benefits is developing bottom-end speed. Since the bands help accelerate the bar from the floor, athletes learn to attack the pull aggressively and build momentum early. This teaches force production and reinforces the habit of being explosive from the start.

As the band tension decreases, the load increases exponentially throughout the range of motion. This creates a unique stimulus that few exercises can replicate. Every inch higher means more weight in your hands, forcing your body to adapt to increasing demands throughout the lift. The nervous system learns to coordinate under massive loads, while the muscles, tendons, and connective tissues acclimate to weights that would normally be impossible to handle.

For strongman competitors and powerlifters alike, this overload effect builds confidence, strengthens the lockout, and prepares the body for maximal attempts. When you return to straight-weight deadlifts, those competition weights often feel far more manageable because you’ve already experienced something heavier.

Train hard. Train smart. Get stronger.

www.harvestingstrength.com

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