Latest / The Platform: a Michigan High School Powerlifting Association Podcast / Nick Lusk, Troy Athens Powerlifting | The Platform Episode 3
Transcript
- Chris Whittaker: Hi, this Chris Whitaker, your co-host of The Platform, your Michigan High School Powerlifting Association podcast. Here to welcome you to episode three of our show, featuring the head coach of the Troy Athens powerlifting team, the multi-time state champion Troy Athens team, and this year's boys. Nick Lusk: you Chris Whittaker: and girls varsity state champions coach Nick Lusk joins us here for episode three. But before we get to coach Lusk, want to remind you please make sure that you subscribe here to the show on whatever your favorite podcast platform is. Apple podcast, Google's podcast, Spotify, YouTube. You can watch our show. You can also listen to it right here. And here we are. We're back with another episode of the platform where the stories weigh a ton. your cohost as always, Chris Whitaker, Dexter High School, Iron Dread, Strength and Conditioning, Iron Dread Powerlifting, and Michigan High School Powerlifting Association board member. I here with my cohost, Coach Chris our director of the MHSPLA. Coach Gillum, good to see you again. Excited for another episode. Chris Gilliam: Good to see you as always. Chris Whittaker: on Riverside. Whatever you do, please subscribe so you get updated information automatically sent. As soon as we drop the new episode, you'll get a notification that says, Hey, there's a new episode of the platform for me to listen to. Also give us a follow on social media at Michigan High School Powerlifting Association, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. If you search us out, you'll find us there. If have a And we have with us the head coach for both the boys and girls varsity state championship team. This man needs no introduction at meets. You can hear the growl from a long ways away when he's coaching lifters, right? He's a very successful coach, a good man. I'm excited to talk to him. Coach Nick Lusk. Welcome to the pub. Nick Lusk: Thanks for having me guys. Chris Whittaker: request of an episode you'd like to see here on the show, leave a comment on one of the different platforms or send us an email info at mhspla.com. If you'd like to be on the show yourself or know someone you think would be great, let us know. And we're looking to celebrate all the people, kids, coaches, programs in and around our program and around our association that make our association great. Cause it's the people within our association. And we got coach Lusk here and we have a ton of questions we want to get talking to him about this one easily could be a two-parter, right? You know, Nick, right? Talking to Nick and meets. again, we're really, really enjoy talking to them. but we're gonna, we're gonna run down through our list of questions and see what coach Lusk has for us. Coach Gillum, I'll kick it to you. Chris Gilliam: Mm-hmm. All right, coach, what drew you to the sport of powerlifting? Chris Whittaker: that would make this one the best things going for kids, we believe, in the state of Michigan. So that's really all I got for this intro. We want to get you to episode three with Coach Nick Lusk. Hit the intro music. Nick Lusk: I didn't even know what it was. I was teaching over at Bendel High School ⁓ I was just the teacher that would work out every morning before school ⁓ I had a group of three to four kids come up to me and they're like, you need to start a powerlifting team. I ⁓ what was that? I don't know. I was like, I don't even know what it is. They're like, well, you go in and you squat, bench and you deadlift, something like that. I was like, all right, that sounds cool. Let's get it started. So luckily ⁓ Brandon Chapman was the principal over there at Bendel at the time. was a former head football coach and powerlifting coach. he kind of showed me the ropes a little bit and we started working out training and our first meet ever was actually Birch Run meet when you were up there. So that's what brought me into the sport and then coached there for two years and then got hired over at Troy Athens. Chris Gilliam: Alright, awesome. Chris Whittaker: Awesome. So you said you started at bendle and I didn't catch what year was that? Nick Lusk: That would have been, what was that, the 2019 season. So right before COVID. Chris Whittaker: that's something I didn't know about us that we have in common. That was our first year too, when we went to ⁓ Grass on that 2019 ⁓ group. So didn't know that. I figured you've been doing this way longer than me. Nick Lusk: Nope, I'm a newbie. Six years in now. Or seven, I guess, yeah. Chris Whittaker: a very successful and a short amount of time. Nick Lusk: Thank you. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, for sure. so you didn't, you didn't lift in high school. You know, didn't compete in power lifting. You told us how you got started, with it. so seven years in the MHS PLA, share us briefly what, your experience has been like from when you started a bundle and through your five years now at Troy Athens High School. What's the experience been like for you? Nick Lusk: It's been the greatest coaching journey, honestly, anybody could ask for. At Bendal, we were kind of like Elk Rapids coach was talking about, right? Small numbers, seven to 10 kids going to a meet and you're just looking to get them ⁓ placed as high as you could. And then it ⁓ awesome those kids grow and develop, right? And then I got hired at Troy and- The seniors at Bendal were graduating the same year I got hired at Troy. So I came back and I coached them one more year. And then that COVID year hit and into just doing and conditioning at Troy, because there was really no ⁓ competitions or like that. So ⁓ got the room rocking and rolling over at Athens and me and Sean Tarabandi. I reached out to him. said, Hey, coach T, I know you've been doing this a long time. I'm new here. we do a little duel meet? So we set up two little platforms in our Ox gym. ⁓ and his crew kind of showed me how to run a little mini meet ⁓ it was a blast. The kids loved it. The parents, you know, at Athens, there's always been a team with a coach to veto, but it was very small. and know, I don't think parents really realized what the sport was. ⁓ So year of COVID, wasn't much going on. they. They took the time and they're like, yeah, let's try it out. And from there, it just, it exploded. I was, you know, 40 some kids the next year and then it was 60 and then shoot, I think it was two to three years in. had 180 kids show up the very first day. And I'm like, okay, I got to figure out how to do a tryout for powerlifting. Cause I can only run what 36 kids in the weight room at a time. So it was this wild, I'm just, I'm winging the whole thing. I, you know, trying to figure this out, but. ⁓ the journey to watch the kids grow and develop throughout the years though, has been fun, you know, to watch a group of freshmen come in, see them leave and graduate as seniors and just to see the sport grow too. Every year the sport gets bigger with better competition. And I just, future of powerlifting, I'm excited to see what happens because there's a lot of colleges starting to pop up teams, which If there's scholarships available, kids are more likely to try to compete in something to get to the next level. And I just, think it's in a really good spot right now. Chris Gilliam: for sure. Chris Whittaker: So if you had to summarize your experience this past season, as you guys built up into those state championship runs, kind of how did it go for you guys? Nick Lusk: So to summarize that, really with the boys, I'm so of these guys because ⁓ as know, I coach football for a little bit and then just stuck with power lifting these last few years. But we always tell kids, right, when they're freshmen, ⁓ stick it, stick with it, follow the process, right? Don't get distracted, do what you need to do for four years and you're to be so proud of what happens ⁓ by time you're a senior. And that's what these guys did. We were very senior heavy squad. And it was four years of those guys coming in the weight room, working hard, staying dedicated, doing what they needed to do in the off season. But more importantly, they built a brotherhood. This was the first year I really felt that big brotherhood aspect of our men's team. In the years past, had guys fit in here, here, here, and we were always a unit, we were a squad, but there was always that X factor missing. These guys had it this year. I knew The first day I walked into practice, it was just pure testosterone. was like, ⁓ yeah, there's something special going on here. I can't wait. And it's not like we have huge guys at Athens either, right? You know, we don't have the 275ers or the super heavyweights, you know, we're pretty split across the board from 114 up to like 207, it's kind of like our big guy, right? So, but they were just getting after it, lifting heavy and hard. So. Chris Gilliam: you Nick Lusk: For the guys, it was just sticking with the process. know, because we just, we also know how guys mature, right? Girls can mature much faster and kind of have quicker success there, where sometimes the guys, takes them a couple of years to grow, right? And then once they grow, then they can start putting on that muscle. And with the girls, ⁓ one ⁓ up year one. And since then, it's just kind of been almost a culture and a standard of. We work hard and we train hard. We're going to have each other's backs and we're going to do everything to the best of our abilities. We're not going to allow people to slack off and practice or not take it seriously. And, that's just, it's just kind of been rolling since then. Chris Gilliam: Well, how many times have the girls won the state title? Just for our viewers that may not Nick Lusk: Yeah, this is the fourth Unara. Chris Gilliam: fourth year in a row, I'd say the boys probably wanted to stop listening to the girls bragging. That would be my guess. I'm sure that that had to have been happening, you know, Hey, so we're three times state champs. When you guys going to step up? So get to share one together this year. ⁓ pretty awesome. I say this. The only school that I can think of that, ⁓ would have. Nick Lusk: Yeah, there is definitely some of that motivating for sure. Yeah. Chris Gilliam: had ⁓ teams in both genders that competitive in the past would have been cross-lecks. So like you guys are one of the schools that have done this accomplishment. So congratulations on that. That's pretty impressive. ⁓ you probably, like you said, thought it could happen, but the reality of it actually happened and had to be pretty rewarding. So good job, coach. Nick Lusk: Thank you. Thank you. Chris Gilliam: what's one piece of advice for another coach that's looking to build their own program into one that can compete for a state championship? What's some words of wisdom, some things that you think, well, it can also be things to avoid because, know, through the process, you probably have made some mistakes or wish you wouldn't have done certain things. So what's some advice you'd give them? Nick Lusk: Okay Um, I'd say number one make sure you're Make sure you're taking care of your kids. Um, and what I mean by that is make sure you're getting to know them and They need to know that you're there for them and I think that's pretty common across powerlifting from what I've seen with our coaches talking to them at meets and whatnot. It's a unique sport where these coaches truly do care about their athletes. make sure you stay in that mindset and don't ever turn into like that transactional coaching where it's, okay, give in to you, you produce on the platform and then the moment you don't produce, all right, I'm moving on to somebody else. Like when they fail, that's where they need you even more because ⁓ we know is such a mental game. And they miss that opener, they miss that second attempt and they're all in their heads. So be there for your kids, that's the number one. Because then you build trust and they build buy-in to you. And from there, once they believe in you, they're willing to do crazy of work for you. I put kids through some rough, rugged workouts. They don't like me maybe at the time, but then afterwards, you know, when we're finishing practice, they're like, I got something good out of that coach. I appreciate that. other thing would be surround yourself with good coaches. We can't do this alone. if you're truly trying to build a big program where, you know, you're going to try to win a state title and that, that takes at least 10 people scoring right and scoring high. So. ⁓ surround yourself with good coaches. Cause you know, when it's me and 20 kids in the weight room, I can do a pretty good job coaching, but you still miss things, right? As those numbers start to grow though, you know, like right now, the way that we have it laid out is, know, we have 17 racks in our weight room and I got five, five coaches in there. So we all got just about three racks that we're coaching up at a time. ⁓ no way I could do that all by myself. And then the day of the meet, right? We know it's like you're running back and forth from platforms all over the place. Like, ⁓ shoot, this kid's going and they're going at the same time. How am I supposed to be in two places at one time? Right. So having good quality coaches there will definitely help you out. And don't forget coaches need to be coached too. I had no idea what I was doing the first time when I went to that birch run me. I had no idea what I was doing, right? I'm like, okay, we're going to do three squats, three bench, three deads, but I didn't understand how to gauge attempts. I didn't understand the point system. I, you know, I didn't know any of that. So we got to make sure that we build our coaches also and understand that, you know, like we were, we're competitive, right? We all want to win, but coaches are going to make mistakes too. Um, so. Make sure you're building them up the same way you would build the kids up. And then things not to do. Oh shoot. I've done so many of those. Let's see here. Always be organized. know, always, always have a plan in place. And for every school, this is going to be slightly different. And when I mean a plan, I'm not talking about just your programming, you know, and your daily practice schedule, but how are you going to fundraise? Right? I don't know. We don't, we, you know, we don't get varsity funding. at Athens so everything that we do we got a fundraise for you know so I have to have a plan for that. I have to have a plan on what coaches are going to coach what racks which kids are going to be at those racks like we have everything very structured and organized ⁓ I think that's a key part of us being successful. And before every meet, every meet I make the kids lifter cards where I put their three attempts and then each attempt I have confidence attempt. I have a this is kind of to be expected attempt and then I have we're just having an off day attempt right. So the opener is the opener but then from there every second and third attempt has three options you know and I give that to the kids before we get to the meet normally on Wednesday or Thursday I'll get those handed out I give them that I give them also like three little goals and pieces of advice for each individual kid and that that builds on their confidence too. They know their game plan going in. The coaches have those same game plans. So that really helps keep everybody organized, structured and on the same page. And where my failure came in before would be, you I didn't do that until a couple of years ago, you know? So all those coaches were kind of walking in there just like, what's the most common question you ask a kid? Like, what's the most you've ever lifted before? You know, what's your max on this? You know? So on those cards though, I have each kid's best or their PR, right? and then the meets prior what they did. You know, I kind of keep it all tracked on this coaching spreadsheet that I have. And for me, that's huge because I can't remember things that well. I got to put reminders in my phone, probably just take out the trash. You know, I know that's every Wednesday night, but if I don't put the reminder in, I'm going to forget it. So I know the day of a meet, I'm not remembering 20 kids as PRs, know. But yeah, my biggest failure, I would say. Make sure the kids are ready for the moment. ⁓ this is, I still get angry about this. it was 2024. We had a really solid squad for the varsity girls. And we went down to Baton Rouge for the nationals. and I was like, man, I think we might have a shot to try to take this thing this year. And Nina has been winning it year after year after year. They're out of Wisconsin. They're just Joe Lewis. so good. Like he is a really good coach and has a solid program going on. and we got And day one went great. Kata, she's a senior this year. Like she went out as a little sophomore and just had a great day, better than we expected. So we were starting out strong and then we did good in like the 123, the 132, but then the middleweight classes, the moment was too big for him. And that was the first time I've ever coached a team where I didn't have them fully prepared for the environment. And if you've never been to the national stage, It's an absolute show. It's to four platforms ⁓ there's a big curtain behind them and there's lights and music and ⁓ ⁓ Gino, he's announcing everything. It is a show. And, know, it's kind of hard to do that in a high school gym the way that we designed it. Like there's no way we could replicate that. So they've never seen that before. And am I going to some of them are just shell shocked and we end up we end up losing We lost to Nina by three points. was, Raya was the national champion that year. if three kids would have placed just a little bit higher, we would have won the tiebreaker even, you know? So, so then I had to jet and I had to go to a training for a month. So I'm on this plane flying and I'm just, you know, you re rehash the meat in your head. And I'm like, man, we weren't ready. Like the moment was too big. And then I'm like, this is all my fault. Like I'm the coach, right? So. ⁓ This is my fault. My team was not ready for this. the whole plane ride, I'm like, okay, how can I do this better next year? So in this, you know, in this training that I'm at and I'm a member of the reserves, right? So we're in this like live role play, sim round shooting training, and it's just boom, boom, shooting and running and gunning. I'm like, in the middle of this, ⁓ you this is how much of a coach and a meet him. It ⁓ clicked me. I gotta put them through a stress test like I'm going through right now. running and gunning, right? So then the year following, right? In 2025, I ⁓ up the Friday before States, a stress test practice. So we're just gonna come in, we're gonna hit heavy singles by your second attempt is what we'd end up working to. So ⁓ would do them, we'd run it just like a meet. Okay, you're gonna hit your opener, you're gonna run your second attempt and then we're gonna stop there. You're only doing two for each lift. But what I did is, Once they were done warming up for squats and I'm all into the oxygen because our weight room and Ox gym are connected so I shut the door and turned off all the lights. We have a little skylight. So it wasn't pitch black, you know, but we started putting up all these Flashing lights and this little strobe right and ⁓ you know brought it like coaches had their whistles going and I'm just blaring like ⁓ old-school heavy rock and roll like that Deadliest type of music you can think of right I tell the coaches alright I'm gonna open this door and I'm gonna get after them like a drill instructor like I'm back at boot camp ⁓ when they come running through you tell them to run through right get to their spotlight give them as much stress as you possibly can and That's what we did so we ran out there that come flying in whistles are blowing air horns going like it was just nuts right it's insane But the whole purpose of that is them when they go to states the following Saturday easy. They've already felt the stress and the pressure that they're going to feel when they step onto that platform. So for the state level, it was the nerves and the jitter that they're going to naturally have. They could be a four-year lifter, stud, right? Stud lifter. When they go to hit that opener on squat, they're still going to have butterflies. But we put them in that stressful situation to help prepare for that. ⁓ and I add For every missed attempt we have, whether it be a command or a failed lift or anything like that, we got burpees. So we were tallying them, right? So now there's a reason of I can't fail because I'm going to have this consequence. So that prepared them for states in that aspect. But then when we did go to the national level again this year, they've seen it before. And we did the same thing again this year. And it's just as a coach. You know, my biggest failure was that that nationals right there not getting them prepared for the moment, not just from a physical standpoint, but from a mental standpoint too. Chris Gilliam: It's awesome. Chris Whittaker: great stories. ⁓ This is why this is why we had to have him on here. Getting these stories. Chris Gilliam: Very good. I want to be in that room with the strobe lights. I think I might like get jacked and ready to set a PR. Chris Whittaker: Yeah. Nick Lusk: Good. be smart though too like make sure you have waivers. I about that this year. I was like, ⁓ I got to have waivers just in case you know something happens. So always always protect yourself too. ⁓ Chris Gilliam: Sure. Chris Whittaker: Yeah, you gotta have a safety waiver. ⁓ So lot of our next few questions you already answered, I'm assuming powerlifting ⁓ ⁓ based on what you said, not a varsity sport at Troy Athens. Nick Lusk: This is it. It is not. It's still a club. Chris Whittaker: Yeah, yeah. And you talked a little bit about numbers and you guys had 180 kids try out this year. Talked about your biggest failure. He hit all these questions already coach on our way down. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, I know. So as a coach, you know, you, you, you shared a failure like that. You are, least you felt like you were, you failed the kids. Um, but personally, what's a failure you've had besides coaching that, um, that failure helped you end up having success down the road. Nick Lusk: Mm. Chris Gilliam: It could be another sport, you know, could be anything. Nick Lusk: Yeah. say in my mid-20s was probably I went through this like I went through a really tough time in my mid-20s. And when this all happened, like right before it happened, I was feeling really good too. Like, you know, you're a mid-20 year old dude. I just got done playing college football. I'm beefed up, right? know, every life is good. You know, I'm starting to coach and I got a teaching job. So like I'm on my way up and yeah. And all of sudden then life just rocked me, right? I a couple of things happen in my life and. You know, I've always been a pretty good person my whole life, but there was a point where I was like, man, maybe I'm not that good of a person. Like, how could this happen to a good person? Right. And. Then I realized the biggest question is not why did it happen, but what happened? Right? Or what do I need to see from this? Not why, but what? And then I started looking back at, you know, choices I made, ways I handled situations, you know. There's been times in my life where I've had my temper get the best of me, you know, and I look back now and I'm like, man, you know, if I would have just calmed down, just... just a little bit before I said that that could have went a lot better or acted a certain way. So through that, know, and I'm a big religious guy. So I dug into the spiritual side of it and that really helped me get through it. But as far as those failures go, it's really that temper and that pride that got me got the best of me in my mid ⁓ 20s. And actually that now ⁓ in some of coaching, you know. Obviously the boys get jacked up at a meet. You know, they fail if they're throwing the belt, they're dropping an F bomb something. I'm like, Hey, you gotta, you gotta calm down, right? Cause we got a whole meet ahead of us. You got six more attempts. It was your third squad. It's all good. You know? but we do on Tuesdays, we do some core work and we add in Tabata's. So, you know, 20 seconds on 10 second break, 20 second again. And I came up with this 22nd, ⁓ kind of ⁓ like the 22nd speech. Like I give it every year, but. I tell the kids, know, when you're doing an exercise, know, 20 seconds can feel like a really long time, right? But at the end of the day, it's not. But it's the same way when you're in life, when you're in life and I'm really mad at somebody or I'm really mad about a situation, trying to calm my temper for 20 seconds can be very, very hard. But if I can do that. I can make sure I don't mess something up in my life, but 20 seconds is easily enough time to give into my temper or temptations and ruin my life. You know, and I talk about texting, right? Okay, you're texting while driving 20 seconds with your eyes off the road. That could really end in a lot of fatalities, right? You know, so having that discipline to not do that when you're super angry at, know, your boyfriend or your girlfriend or your brother, you know, something like that. Losing your temper and saying something you don't want to say could ruin that relationship. You can't We can ask for forgiveness, but we can't always take our words back, right? So my biggest failure in life with my pride and my anger, I've tried to use in my coaching so that the kids can learn from my failures and not have to go through it themselves. Chris Gilliam: Awesome, thanks for sharing. Chris Whittaker: So hardest thing ⁓ ⁓ had to coach or teach in the sport, ⁓ is it? What's the hardest thing to coach or teach? Nick Lusk: Ego. Leave your ego at the door. know, and I would, you know, it's funny too, because when I say that everybody's thinking about the me headed football guys, right? You know, trying to get them to actually squat the depth, right? You know what I mean? But it's been lately the girls too. You know, these, these Athens girls, you know, Oh, we're three times state chance. We got it. I'm like, you have not won a thing yet. We've had that talk a couple of times this year, but, but yeah, no ego at the door. You got to leave it at the door. Chris Gilliam: Thank you. Nick Lusk: Whether it's the amount of weight you're moving or if you think you're hitting depth or you're not, know, listen to your coaches. Your coaches aren't going to lie to you. They're not going to say, hey, you got to get lower in your squat when you don't need to. You know, that gives us a disadvantage if you're squatting below, you know, below parallel all the time. You know, we can lose weight on the bar. So I'd say leave your ego at the. Chris Gilliam: Good. Chris Whittaker: All right, so this is going to bring us into our our speed set questions here. These are just quick rapid fire, quick answers on these things. And Coach Gillum will kick us off with the first one. Chris Gilliam: All right, so this is based on preference, whether you for yourself or for how you coach favorite lift squat, bench or deadlift. Nick Lusk: I deadlifting. Chris Whittaker: a low bar squat or a high bar squat. Nick Lusk: Buh-bye. Chris Gilliam: Sumo or conventional deadlift. Nick Lusk: personally conventional but if you got the hip mobility and the limb length go sumo. Chris Whittaker: 1 rep max or rep PR Nick Lusk: Ooh, I'm getting old now. I love heavy singles, but I should probably only do rep maxes. Chris Whittaker: you Chris Gilliam: Yeah, you get old enough the rep maxes are ⁓ more feasible because me I can speak in from experience. ⁓ Best accessory exercise for squats. Nick Lusk: You specific. split squats ⁓ front squat. Chris Whittaker: those Bulgarians. Best accessory exercise for the bench. Nick Lusk: ⁓ Spado press and dips Chris Gilliam: and best accessory exercise for deadlift. Nick Lusk: ⁓ rack pulls or deficit deadlift. I will say though all of them if you got a good strong back that's the best accessory you can do that in your court. Chris Gilliam: there. Chris Whittaker: hold up through the midsection to be able to exert force through the limbs. Nick Lusk: There we go. Chris Whittaker: ⁓ So we're getting we're getting towards the end here. And we give you the floor to kind of talk about anything that we haven't discussed, this is the part of the show where I always get to coach Gillum for any final comments or questions from him of you. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, I mean, I think you've done a fabulous job at Troy Athens. And two, I do remember when you first started off ⁓ Bundle. We did not know that you were from Lakeville until we talked to Lundquist. So I was not aware of that. So what year did you graduate from Lakeville? Nick Lusk: ⁓ wait. Chris Gilliam: ⁓ wait. Okay. So you're roughly the same age as him. Okay. Yeah. So you coached him when he was in school. All right. Good. Yeah. Cause he seems like he's pretty, pretty much younger. you're, what is there like an eight, year gap? Nick Lusk: I actually coached him his freshman year in basketball. ⁓ ⁓ yeah, something like that. Chris Gilliam: Okay, awesome. do you remember about him since we've ⁓ him ⁓ an episode that'll be released? What do you remember about Nick? Nick Lusk: Nick, as a freshman athlete, I loved Nick. was awesome, man. We would show up every morning in the weight room. There'd be about four to five of those guys, because I was coaching football over there too. So we'd do off-season training, and then he would be there every day, and he would get after it. Just working hard, pushing himself, and then in basketball. Me and that team, we were the perfect mix because we were not basketball people by any stretch, but we were just a bunch of bruisers out there playing. And I remember one day Nick's like, all right, we're going to warm up. was like, okay, what do you got for the music mix? And he had like, you know, Eminem and all these other rap artists. I was like, are you sure? He's like, yeah, yeah. We went out and lost by like 50. So then the next day he's like, okay, I got a new mix. And he comes out and says, ACGC, Metallica, much more our standard, you know what I mean? They went out and dominated, but Nick was so much fun to coach and to watch him and watch his success as a coach now, it's incredible. He's doing a great job at Nickville. They're everybody's radar now. They're going be very, very good. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's yeah. He had a, it was a fairly unexpected result, by a lot of people just because Lakeville's had some solid lifters in the past, but you know, they kind of came out of nowhere. I thought this year, I mean, and we talked about, ⁓ beating that team up North from them for the state title. And I'm sure being Lakeville, you know who I'm talking about. ⁓ So. Nick Lusk: ⁓ yeah, the old big ⁓ there, Millington. Hurts to say it. ⁓ Chris Gilliam: Yeah, I gotcha. But yeah, for sure. With your experience, you know, in the roughly seven years you've been coaching powerlifting, who are some people that you may have approached to ask questions that were helpful to you during your time? Because as you said, you know, Chris Whittaker: Shout out Lenny Danté. You Chris Gilliam: You had a small group of guys at Bondo, you coach, you learn, and then all of sudden you're getting an explosion of numbers. Who are some people you reached out to and were able to get some help that acted maybe as a mentor to you? Nick Lusk: Yeah, no, ⁓ actually, this is a great question. Some I should have talked about when I had advice for other coaches being humble. We got to always be learning. I'm always asking people for help and learning from others. So ⁓ stay humble to and continue to learn. ⁓ But but yeah, no, I've had so many mentors. Brandon Chapman up at Bendal helped me got started, right? He kind of showed me the ropes. And then my next mentor would have been Mike DeVito. He was the Athens head coach the year I got hired in there and he was running the squad. And then when COVID hit, just to his age is when he had to step out a little bit, right? Because of the virus. I learned so much about powerlifting from DeVito. Like I knew strength and conditioning as a football coach, right? ⁓ But is its own monster. And he really helped me understand the programming side of powerlifting. ⁓ and how to better make attempt selections. So ⁓ would not be anywhere I am right now without his mentorship for sure. And then Sean Tarabandi, Coach T, he's mentored me so many different ways. He's mentored me on to be a better coach, just in general, how to better coach and running a meet. Him and his crew came over that year of COVID, helped us with that dual meet. And then the year we were back up and running, what was that? 2022, I think was the first season again, where we were running regional meets and whatnot. They did the same thing. They came over to Athens that year. They showed us, they did a walkthrough with us the week before of, you hey, put your scales here, place this here. They really, they guided us through the whole process. And then... We've been able to run them since then, but yeah, he was a huge mentor in that aspect too. Yeah. So really though, if I had to say who were my powerlifting mentors, I would say it'd those three guys. Chris Gilliam: Awesome. Yeah, good. All good guys and yeah coach Devito. I still think he might have some of the biggest hands I've met and tries He's a big dude. I love that guy and About probably the only guy with a rougher gruffer voice than you I think neck to be honest Chris Whittaker: and triceps. Nick Lusk: You Yeah, the two of us walking into a weight room talking to each other. The kids are like, we need an interpreter. We can't understand either of these guys. Chris Gilliam: Bye. you know, just recently the Hulk Hogan thing was released on Netflix and every time I see you guys, I just start, I'm waiting for the brothers, you know, Hey brother, ⁓ wait you guys. ⁓ Cause guys are just like, ⁓ yeah. that's great. Good guys. I'm glad that they had a positive impact and influence on you. So that's, that's good information to know. Thank you. Nick Lusk: Hey brother, we ready to go? Oh yeah, it's meat day baby, yeah! Chris Whittaker: We got to get to Vito on the podcast, but we might have to do that one in person when he's at a meet. I'm not confident in his technology ability. I'm talking to him. Yeah. all Nick. So ⁓ now at the part where it's, know, anything that we haven't talked yet about yet that you want to bring, ⁓ to our listening audience. ⁓ Chris Gilliam: Yeah. He's old school. Nick Lusk: Um, I would just say if you're a, if you're a parent or a kid that's heard about powerlifting or slightly interested in it, just do it. Just do it, give it a shot. And I promise you're not going to look back. I've never met somebody that said, I wish I didn't do powerlifting. Everybody is so grateful and happy that they did. Um, and, um, Honestly, you guys are doing a great job with the association. Thank you for everything you're doing. I like the changes coming down the pipeline. So just thank you for what you're doing. And then I got to give a huge shout out to my staff. know, obviously my lifters, thank you all for ⁓ hard and doing what we need to do to be competitive. But without my coaching staff and without my meat director, Carrie, you ⁓ we we would not be where we are. I owe everything to them, them and my family. My wife's a trooper, man. She's at home with three kids, a four-year-old, two-year-old, five-month-old, and she's very selfless too, because she sees it too. She sees how great this sport is for kids. So she's always been there, day one, supporting it. So I just, a whole lot of thank yous, because you can't do this thing on your own. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. I mean, when I look at the trajectory of when you started to where you're at right now, I mean, I don't know, what do they call it? Meteoric rise. mean, cause you to go from small numbers and like four straight years of winning a state championship with the females. Um, and then adding the boys in this year, I mean, that's, that's pretty impressive. And we know as coaches, it takes everybody. ⁓ it takes the parents and the lifters and, ⁓ all your assistant coaches, but, know, and the athletes too, cause they're the ones that have to perform, but ⁓ pretty, pretty impressive, Nick. So don't sell yourself. Sure. You've done an amazing job there. And, know, what do you think is next for Athens? Do you think like they can continue this run of dominance? Cause that's pretty much what it is. ⁓ think ⁓ years in a row might be a record in the Michigan High School Powerlifting Association. Is that feasible? Nick Lusk: ⁓ I'll be honest with you. This, this sophomore group of girls we brought, we brought up between, there was one freshmen we brought up was four to five sophomores up to varsity this year for the state meet. And there's solid ones that were competing still at the JV level. ⁓ I truly this sophomore class, if they stay focused, know, they do what they need to do. I think. ⁓ think they can make a run for a year five and then there's another year I mean but but there's a lot of good coaches out there too to be completely honest I mean I see a lot of programs growing you know and I don't want to say any names because like I don't want to leave one out because I what you know when I'm scouting and I'm like projecting in my mind of okay I gotta watch this guy and this guy but ⁓ this guy came out of nowhere too and you know but there are so many good coaches out there raising up some good programs and Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Yeah. Nick Lusk: We were a nobody and we came out of nowhere and look what Nick did at Lakeville. All it takes is a couple seeds to get planted and next thing you know, it's just sprouting into a big old oak tree, man. So yeah, they have the potential to do it, but there's a lot of good teams out there. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. ⁓ yeah, for sure. But what I, what I'm finding as a, as a trend, at least it appears, especially on the female side of things. It's like, it goes and runs, you know, like cross-legged dominated for years. Now it's Troy Athens dominating, you know, and where the boys kind of go back and forth a little more frequently, you know, I, I personally don't know exactly why, but I do know this. for any program to have success year after year at that level, there has to be a great program in place, not only just training, but like the development of team chemistry and camaraderie because everybody has to sacrifice. Some kids got to move into different weight classes to make the team more balanced. And that's not always the easiest thing to do. but you know, so that's a big to you guys at Troy Athens for doing that. And you know, maybe, maybe five years in a row happens. I don't, I can't remember if anybody doing it that many years in a row, I'd have to go back and look in the record books. But, ⁓ you know, that's, that's pretty impressive. Congratulations on all that to you and your assistant coaches and all your lifters. Nick Lusk: Thank Thank you. Chris Whittaker: All right. Well, I think we'll, bring this one in for a landing, and ⁓ this one a show, ⁓ ⁓ thing, Nick, if people want to keep up with you or your program on social media, where can they find you? Nick Lusk: ⁓ the Athens, there's an Athens, geez, I'm so not social media. So we do have an Instagram. think it's Athens powerlifting. I think you just looked that up. And then ⁓ I'm just, I got one, but there ain't nothing special. I barely post anything. So don't worry about following me. Chris Whittaker: So give Athens powerlifting follow to up with their program. I'm sure if you send ⁓ them DM that can that message can get delivered to coach Lusk if you have a have a question on anything. Chris Gilliam: Hey, one last thing coach. How many of your girls have went on to compete collegially? Cause we just talked to somebody about one. Wasn't it one of his girls that just dead lifted collegiate nationally over 500 pounds. Nick Lusk: Mmm. Kayla? Yeah. Chris Gilliam: That is incredible. Nick Lusk: Mm-hmm Michaela I guess and she she didn't even start till her junior year. I Remember seeing her in sophomore, know, you find that one at you're like, ⁓ come on You got to come out you and she she did it and then yeah, but she's she's a phenomenal athlete. But ⁓ Yeah, no, I think she is is the first one to go off to college and now we got a couple more that are starting to go off ⁓ So yeah, she was the first one to go Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right, awesome. And I believe that we were informed and I don't know if you even know, but she received like the female athlete of the year at the college. Nick Lusk: That's great! Good for her! Chris Gilliam: Yeah. And she's a freshman at college, right? That's phenomenal. So congrats to her ⁓ training that she got for the one year with you and she's at defines college. Correct. Yeah, that's awesome. Good for her and good for you guys. Those are things you got to highlight coach and your program. You know, I think you do a really good job of highlighting those things. ⁓ and Nick Lusk: Yup. Cheers. Correct, yep. Chris Gilliam: creating that pride in your program and it shows, because your kids are good kids and they're very good lifters. So once again, thanks for being with us. We appreciate you and continued good luck. Nick Lusk: Thank you guys. Chris Whittaker: This has been another episode of The Platform where the stories weigh a ton. We'll see you next time.