Latest / The Platform: a Michigan High School Powerlifting Association Podcast / Tod Miller, MHSPLA Founder, International Coach and Competitor, Pt 2 | The Platform Episode 16
Transcript
- Chris Whittaker: Welcome to the platform where the stories weigh a ton. This is where some of the MHS PLA's best tell real stories about what it takes to build themselves and their teams under the bar. I'm your co-host Chris Whitaker, and we're glad you're here. Hey, if you're enjoying this show, please make sure you subscribe and follow and leave a review on all major podcast hosts, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, Amazon Music, and many more. That support helps us continue to grow the show and bring the conversations that you want to hear right here to the platform. If you'd like to give us feedback or suggest the guest or topic of the show, please email info at mhspla.com and we'll get back to you. In today's episode, this is episode number 16, featuring part two of our interview with powerlifting coach and MHSPLA founder Todd Miller. In part one, Todd took us through his coaching philosophy and how he builds programs that work and the technical foundations that make equip lifting effective. In part two, we dig into the harder stuff, the mental game of powerlifting, staying composed under pressure. And what it takes to bounce back bounce back from a missed lift. Todd talks about reading what each individual lifter needs in the moment and adapting his coaching accordingly. He doesn't shy away from talking about the joy he generally finds in this work. We hear from the we hear from the mentors and influences who shaped his own coaching career and stories from representing the United States on the international stage and the cultural insights he picked up competing around the world. Todd even shares how 9-11 impacted planned international competition. And he opens up about the success stories of young lifters that mean the most to him. the ones he's most proud of. He gives honest advice for coaches just starting out, and we close it out with rapid fire speed set questions, touching on everything from kilo to pound plate conversions and international meets and his quick takes on the sport. Ladies and gentlemen, step up. Lock in. The bars loaded for episode 16. Part two with Todd Miller hit the intro music. Chris Gilliam: Well and then when you get into USAPL you you better remind them of the kilos. That was my biggest failure. Like now you gotta put a a plate on and you're thinking it's one hundred five and it's actually like one fifty something. Tod Miller: Yeah, the the red plates are one fifty five. You're one fifty four, so yeah. Now that's I'm in a gym right now that I it's a unique gym. I've never seen one like it. The first section is very large, but it's all where the coaches do all the stuff with the individuals and the foo foo stuff and all that. Then they got a midsection for the in-between type of person, and then they got the back where the music's playing and it's opened up and Chris Gilliam: Nuts. Tod Miller: ninety five degree heat and kilo plates and people are slinging them everywhere and it stinks and it's wonderful. I I phone heaven. But I've never seen a gym. Chris Gilliam: All three areas, that is. Tod Miller: I mean the first one is so if you some days you walk in and go, it smells so nice in here and you walk, I can't believe this is a gym. Then you walk through the next one, you go, Okay, this is getting a little more like a gym should be. And it's a little more they got all the SWAT racks, but they're all like CrossFit SWAT racks, okay? They got a ton of them so you can bench and that. And you go into the back and you got kilo plates and all the ER rack type stuff and I mean there's no air conditioning and it is Georgia and it's you know ninety degrees already down here, 95 every day. So man, it's it's just three different worlds. I walk through it and go, wow, this is interesting. I got I got the best of all three I can see. Chris Gilliam: No, yeah, I can see that. All right. I'm gonna skip down a little bit, Coach Whitaker. mental game. Powerlifting can be mentally taxing. How did you coach athletes through a meet day, like if they were having anxiety or if they had an unusual string of missed lifts? You know how that messes with kids, right? Yeah. So how did you deal with those lifters? Tod Miller: I think A is a cop-out answer, but I I really believe in it. It's the preparation beforehand. we did a lot of understanding how a meet would go. We we would sit in the dark in the wrestling room and go through what happens before a squat and your warm-ups and the what you need to do and we practice walking up to the rack and looking at it sounds but we did it. We did it. My best lifters, we always did visualize visualization practice. And it's a little crazy, but Louie believed in it, so I believed in it. So, I mean, he he got what he did out of it and sh talked about it all the time. You gotta visualize the lift, you gotta visualize what you're doing. So I just took it as extreme walkthrough of meat doing it. It took like twenty, twenty five minutes and you know, they focus it and you know, there's a little laughing now and then, you know, I made it funny at times and you know. Talked about people that screwed up before and they'd laugh about that. But I said, Now learn from it right now. We did that. Then comes meet day, prevention, seeing it. And I guess that's if I had one big strength, my strength was seeing the lifters on meat day and understanding if they were strong or weak. And those are the ones, you know, I always would take the hard cases, to be honest with you, the head cases. Because I'm a person that's I don't talk during the meets. We don't I don't know if you guys have noticed, but you didn't see our kids screaming, throwing belts, anything like that. Our kids were we talked about that's just a waste of energy. total waste of energy just getting out there running around flexing and screaming and all those types of things. And I talked about we have to be calm. We have to be under composed and we can't panic because something's bad's gonna happen. In your lifting career, something bad's gonna happen. It's happened to me. Okay. I've bombed out of a meat before and it's because I didn't listen to what I told you guys. And I'm never gonna let that happen again. so preventing it beforehand, seeing the lifters, understanding it. You know, a flaw of mine was when I pick certain lifters, I didn't take other certain lifters. I never coached my daughters until the end. till a deadlift to make sure they won or did what they were supposed to. Because I knew my daughters could take care of themselves. They'd been around me long enough. They'd been around the sport and they knew g they were good. And they knew they they caught people from before, behind. They knew that don't panic. You know, my better lifters knew don't panic what the s scoreboard says early, okay? That's what matters late. Don't don't care what the s happens in the squad if if you're bench and your deadlift are your two best lifts. Now if you're squatch your best lift and the you know the preparation is preparing them that second, third, or fourth is not a bad thing. Preparation is you get the best out of what you can do. If they miss lifts, that's where it becomes a head game with them. because if you're programmed alright, they're having a bad day. So a lot of it was like taking them, getting them quiet area, taking you know, even if you're A few minutes, you know, just relax, calm down, visualize. You know, and if they miss, it it depend on why they miss, you know. I've had that lifter be so anxious, they miss the commands twice. Like, okay. I mean, you gotta just slow down. you know, understand that you got a minute to get to the lift to take the lift before the squat command or the bench command. Take your time, get set, don't hurry, don't rush, look yourself and see it through, you know. If they miss two, good luck. We gotta make sure we get that third in some way, but Chris Gilliam: Yeah. What what's your philosophy if they missed a lift? D did you have them repeat the wave? Did you allow them to move up still? Tod Miller: Automatic repeat unless they missed it on a command they s and they got it easily. Then they could go up ten max. That was my rule. If you missed it 'cause of any reason other than a command, you're automatically retake it. If you missed it on a command, it depended on what you did. And if I if I say well how how'd you feel during the lift, they go, I don't know. Repeat it. Same lift, same amount. You know. A quick answer tells me where they're at with their head and what they're doing. So lot of say, Come on, coach, go up. I've been lifting for three years. No. Not doing it. Not doing it. I've seen us lose lifters before doing that. We're not doing it. We're gonna stick with the game plan coming in. Chris Gilliam: Awesome. Thank you. Chris Whittaker: Tech the total and keep scoring points. Tod Miller: Absolutely. Even if it's five. Sometimes. Even if it's five or ten. And so many people that don't understand that squat. Yeah, you got to bench in the deadlift. And if you're done after that one, you know, if you can get five pounds more, great. If you're done, I'm good. that's the other thing I do. I'm concerned by just scratching lifts too. I mean, if I know they don't have another in them, why waste the time trying to get five more pounds? It's just gonna I mean you got so much energy from the time you started the meet until the time you end this meet. And at the big meets like the USAPL meets where you got to weigh in 90 minutes before and you had to lose eight to ten pounds of water weight, you can't afford it even wasting one energy because you don't have your usual strength. So you know, often I would scratch a last third lift of a squatter bench for a lifter. I squatted that second deadlift for my daughter Kendra. her senior year when she won the women's nationals. I scratched it. So Dan Goodrow, you know Dan probably. Dan Goodrow, who's one of the who runs the coaching committee for the USAP L now. His wife, they thought they'd won it and didn't pay attention to my third lift and 'cause I thought I'd go and I put in like her lift was three eighty and and they put it in and I scratched that one. So they go, okay. And sh she needed like four fifteen to beat their his wife and I wanna bumped up to four fifteen, but I waited until she did her lift and all I needed to do was go to four fifteen cause she missed her third lift 'cause she thought we were that was over 'cause I already scratched one and bam, we got her. A lot of crying, a lot of throwing stuff, a lot of appeals. My daughter still won. It was true. My daughter Yeah, that's you know, that's you gotta portray what you wanted to portray. There's there I appealed right away. the lift because they said she didn't lock they gave the didn't lock out. I said she gave the command too early. You guys all saw that. They thought she's locked out and said down. I said anyway she was locked out and we got it. So Dan went absolutely nuts because his wife had lost. This is a women's national championship. And Kendra's like sorry I said Kendra stand up, s go in the back and stop crying. There's nothing to cry about. You won this. We're gonna wait it out. We had to wait like 15 minutes for all the arguing and fighting to get over. And they Larry Melee calls me back. I go, Yes, Larry. What's your final decision? He goes, Kendra won. You know that, right? Yes. Is she going to the world championships for women's or is she going to sub juniors? I go, sub juniors. Okay, that's gonna make it a little easier because she's gonna buy path, right? Because she did win. And that's gonna his wife will get to go. And I go, Yes, his wife's gonna get to go. You can make everybody happy here, Larry. Okay. Chris Gilliam: Smooth the heartbreak over a little bit. Tod Miller: Yeah. But you know, I to that day thinking back to that and how composed I was and how I immediately when they red light like shot one white and two red, I immediately appealed and they immediately turned over the jury quickly overturned it and then Dan went nuts and my daughter just thought that. Chris Gilliam: So Dan appealed your appeal. Tod Miller: yeah, he did, but you know, you ca when he appealed to the people that appealed to debate the judge, it usually doesn't go over very well. So Yeah. Chris Gilliam: I guess I don't blame him. If he didn't his wife would have been ticked off at him, right? Tod Miller: No kidding. That's he had to do it. He had to try anyway. So Yeah. But yeah, that was you know, just your demeanor. I I never was upset that I remember where I flew off the handle ever at a meet. You know, I just and my kids learned that that's the composure you gotta have, you know. Use your energy in the meet in the lifts, not in the what's going around outside of it. So Chris Gilliam: but Tod Miller: I don't know if you remember Chris Whittaker: coach, keeping moving down the questions here, but we talked a lot about kind of how you structure your training and your periodization stuff. So I think you talked about How each guy or girl you would program their accessory movements, you know, based on what they needed. Was there a system, and I don't think you touched on this fully, right? How did you diagnose the need of the lifter and then spin the accessories to address that need? Tod Miller: I had to luckily I got to watch every lifter continually lift, so that helped out with being in the class as a teacher. But let's use the bench as an example, okay? I'm trying to the easiest one, okay? We all know that it the bench to get it started once they have to get the press command. You're right, you gotta hit fully you should have your lath ready to or already engaged anyway, but that's the first part of the lift, okay? So if they're having trouble getting it off their chest here, the first few inches, I know to work their back. You know, I know they're really weak in that area. Okay. If in the mid area here that's where they struggle, you know, and even with a I put on a brick for an auxiliary and I see that they're really weak there. You know, I know it's a shoulder problem. Okay, so we add more shoulder auxiliaries then. the front of the shoulder is so important for athletes. diverging the answer for a second here. Make sure I get back on track, okay? But my athletic director or my athletic trainer and I started lifting and started all the lifting before we got into power lifting because we wanted to eliminate all the ACL injuries or knee injuries we were having in football. Okay. Well, this war this is probably the biggest Louis Simmons thing that I you may hear him talk about nowadays, but I don't hear him talk about like he told me. Okay. And this is how he told me. So maybe they just do the same thing and don't talk about another way, but when I was there, I picked up something that I could take forever. And that was, he goes, You gotta armor up the joints. Okay. Your joints have to be armored up like you got knee wraps on them all the time. So he talked about that's why the muscle structure around the knee has to be. You know, you gotta work the quad low, you gotta work the calf high, you gotta work, you know, all the types of things. The hamstring, you gotta make sure you get a full stretch on the hamstring so you're working the lower part of the hamstring, 'cause you wanna armor up that joint. Right now we're not doing that. Okay. And I thought about that. I thought about the shoulder. We're not armoring up the shoulder joints either. We're not protecting the joints, building them up the right way. You know. I'm a betr big huge Detroit Lions fan. I really wanna just email Dan Campbell and tell you, dude, your string coach is hurting you because you're having way too many injuries and they're all the same recurring injuries. He's not protecting your athletes. You need to, you know, and probably hear this podcast, maybe I'll call me and hire me. I don't know. Make sure he listens to it now. but anyway we talked about we gotta arm him up, but our front shoulders We started to develop. That's why our bench presses were so good because I didn't want any injuries from the front shoulders in football, especially with our lockouts and all the things we do. We really him and I developed a program that took care of the joints. And we went from having and we did he kept track of it. I didn't, but we went from having five or six of the knees in two years when we started. One week after three years, we had n only one. knee surgery in the next seven, which I was pretty proud of. We had no shoulder surgeries. So lifting if done the right way is that purpose. But that's why we're so strong on the bench. But I knew if we were weak we got somebody in that hadn't been on our program or whatever and they got stuck in that middle range, it was a shoulder. And of course the tops, the lockouts and triceps. So we I just know based on where they're getting stuck or what they're doing, you know. squat, I don't care if you're a low bar, high bar squatter wide stance, narrow stance, you gotta figure out what's best for your leverage system. We all have different lengths in our femures. We all have different lengths in our arms. We all have different lengths, structure in our back. It's got different lengths from the top of the back to the lower part of the back. And can you lock it? Can you get in certain areas? So I w I didn't get into high bar, low bar like everybody is now. I got in what works best for you. And the best thing that everybody's doing now and I would give it to every high school Is those wooden triangles, you know, where you see where they put their heels on the triangle and squat. That's teaching people how to squat right and that tells me, okay, the old Chuck Taylors are the wrong shoes to wear. All these guys trying to squat in their deadlift shoes or low flats are wrong. We want to get the heels up as high as we can, unless you're a really good squatter. So and on the squat I could look at and dissect, you know, where they're getting stuck, you know. W could they even get out of the hole? They have any hamstring stretch. Were their hamstrings even built to do that? Okay. Did they have that top lockout ability? You know, how strong were their quads once they overtook their hamstring coming out of the hole? You know, we just learned how to do that. And I'm now am I talking like stupid or is it making sense to you guys? So we you know, I started from before we even started powerlifting because we just had too many football injuries. It was just you know, it's five surgeries in two years, had to do something different. And we really our girls' soccer team would not do it, and they were having two or three knee injuries a year, many that required surgery, and it just became okay. Chris Whittaker: Bun. Tod Miller: This makes total sense. And we tried to get all the coaches on board and our soccer coaches didn't want to listen. They just you know, we tried to get every athlete and every team on board, but the soccer teams just did not want to squat. They did not want to squat to full depth, which you need to do. So and just the difference. So they always wondered why we were so so few injuries in football and why they had so many in soccer. Yeah. because we don't have equipment to protect us. okay. Good army. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Chris Whittaker: Amazing how they justify their their ignorance, right? Yeah. Tod Miller: Yes, sir. Anyway, that does that answer that a little bit? Chris Whittaker: Absolutely. You broke down two different movements and showed based on where the failure point is, which is what all those guys talk about, is based on where the failure point is. That's where then you know that that's the weak point in the chain and that's where you need to develop to get over the next plateau. Tod Miller: Louis one one. Louis one one on that one. So and he's the one that taught me I told him why I came there and he was the one that told me about how to armor up the joints. So that's how he called it. But that's why he asked me why I came there and I said I told him that and I said, you know, we're too many, we're trying to figure out what kind of program we want to do and we're looking at, you know, yours. I heard about it and so yeah. He told me specifically those words came out of his mouth and I've used them ever since. Gotta armor up those joints. Chris Gilliam: That's awesome. coach, what do you miss most about your experiences in the sport as a coach? Obviously you're still lifting, you said, and you're still competing. But what do you miss as a coach? Tod Miller: I t I miss seeing the k the kids just surprise themselves. I miss seeing them from the time they start to the time they end and the confidence they gain that they'll use later for whether they be school, college, work. You just can see it, you know, that how they come out of their shell. but I just I enjoy sitting there watching them do the best they could and surprising themselves and coming off like Coach, did you see that? That's what I missed. I miss the kids and miss the whole part of it. So I don't know if you know. I still have one lifter lifting yet. I don't know if you know Shoon Jabril, USAP L. He's in Michigan. He just lifted into me. He deadlifts, he's a one eighty-one, he deadlifts eight twenty-eight. What? He did eight eight in the Michigan meet. You can look it up just what happened here, the USAPL meet. You know, he's like a six or seven hundred squat six hundred in squatter in some and his bench press sucks, but he's about a hot four eight on that, you know, at a one eighty one, but but he's it it does compare to an eight eight deadlift. Come on, you guys. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, but I don't care. He he's over four hundred and bench and that that sucks. All right, I got you go. Tod Miller: I trained with him a coup a few year a couple of years ago and I got him and I both filming filming each other and we both were hitting like four eight on that day. So it was a it was a fun day to you know I can send you those videos. Proof, proof. I have proof of that stuff. So but anyway, no, he's still lifting. So and he still texts me and calls me or you know, every time Meety's in, you know, I tell him good luck. So I still live a little vicariously through him. So it's been fun, you know, with that. So Chris Gilliam: Well, g give some shout outs to some of the people like your assistant coaches over through all the schools you were at that helped you. Obviously you talked about, you know, being influenced by Louie and stuff. Were there any other coaches in the Michigan High School powerlifting or USAPL that were an influence on your coaching style and stuff? Tod Miller: And I wanna shout out, you know, just you know, the original guys. I mean, I d I I came in after them. I'm like the the the stepchild, you know, whatever whatever, the stepbrother that came in and did really well. But you know, I really you know Dennis Reinhardt's always been good to me. So even now he talks to me. I want you guys to do something. Look up the two two twenty the two thousand twenty-three Look up Todd T. O. D. Miller when you get off the phone. Yeah. And look where I'm at and where Dennis Reinhardt's at, and just go bench only, okay, for 2023. All right. You'll see Denny and I, we still compete. And that was the year we were in the same weight class again. So I think I hit a I hit a three eighty or three eighty six in a meet and he had a three sixty eight in a meet that year. So we're four and seven in the world. Not just no, so Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Yeah. Tod Miller: But Dennis was a you know, he helped me out a b a while. I mean, after a while they really didn't like me because we won. I mean, we we had our differences. I mean, Noel and I'm Chris Gilliam: Got a lot much larger than his. I mean, he dominated the early nineties. Yeah. You started taking over in the late nineties. That's just how it was. Tod Miller: He was good and you know, Tony and Nece have always had kind words for me, you know. He's still in my resume as a reference, you know. We still talk probably once a year or so, you know, or hook up or somehow see each other, say something to each other. So, you know, it's been nice. as far as I should thank my assistants, you know, Mike Poyer. He was with me almost the whole time. Brian C, Chuck Hadley, who you've talked about where Chuck was a coach for me near the end of the time. Jason Kaminsky helped me at Manisty. You know, Mike McGuire and Tony Bikework and Pete Skirmahorn at Portage Northern. I couldn't do it without all the people on listening. I mean, I play well, we did it with a skeleton crew until our lifters got older. And they all s that was part of the responsibility is come back and help. So They did. as far as the as far as the national level, it was Larry Melee. I mean, honest to God, he was his son was the one that helped us. You know, he I think is he still the executive director of that, or he'd give it up. He is yet. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, I believe he is, yeah. Okay. Tod Miller: but he talked to me about openers. That was basically his philosophy. What I told you. I mean I his are a little higher yet than I what I used, but he dealt with a little more higher end lifters all the time, so he could do that. But he really did help me. he got me let me do the sub junior be the head coach until my ath my athletic new athletic director and new Superintendent came in and didn't think I should be leaving during a track season or missing three days during a football season to do world championships. They didn't understand the level I was at. And I kept doing it and you know, we had a big falling out and she fired me and Long story short, I got even with her eventually by being successful at everything. Yeah. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Well, and that's that's the thing. Like some of those meets were like smack dab in the middle of football season, right? Yeah. Tod Miller: They were I mean I went I left a you know, two or three of to go to the sub junior world championships to be the head coach and couple of them I you know, they were in the United States. I'd try to dismiss three days and coach and all, but if I did it again I probably would quit football, to be honest with you, because my daughters I it was unfair. I didn't get to travel with them and see all their world championships. So I only got to see the beginning of my older daughter. 'cause as the ones before I got told no. So in hindsight, if I had if there's something I really regret about the sport, regret about it, I should have quit football for my daughters, to be honest with you. I mean, football's important. I love football, but I've come to realize that if I wish I could take it back and watch them lift at those championships. So you know. But my ex wife went and, you know, some of my assistants always got to be he coaches that with it. So I did I did like the world championship in Taiwan, the first one I went to 'cause we finished second but four plain little girls. Not four US girls, four plain little girls meddled in the gold, silver, bronze and that meat. So Chris Gilliam: Yeah, I'm gonna talk to you about that a little bit more specific in a second, but okay. yeah, that's awesome. I appreciate that. Chris, you wanna start our like speed round? Chris Whittaker: Yeah, but I did do the quick research here, right? In twenty twenty-three, Todd Miller versus Dennis Reinhardt. there was a five kilo difference in in twenty twenty-three, hundred and seventy kilos for Mr. Miller and 165 kilos for Mr. Reinhardt. Tod Miller: Yes, sir. I got it. I got you, Denny. You're listening to this. Chris Gilliam: We're gonna be interviewing Dunny in a next week actually. So it'll be we'll have to have that conversation with Dunny too. Chris Whittaker: Same dad. Tod Miller: You tell him I'm back, but I'm one ninety eight. So let's see where he's at. It's on again, okay? Chris Gilliam: That's awesome. Chris Whittaker: All right, Todd. So we do speed sets here on the show. We like the quick answer questions. Some of these things you might have touched on a little bit already, but just quick first, right off the top of your brain, with these. which lift do you prefer? Squat, bench press, or deadlift? Tod Miller: deadlift. Chris Gilliam: Are you a low bar or high bar squatter personally? Chris Whittaker: Sumo deadlift or conventional deadlift? Tod Miller: Done both and I'm exactly the same on both. Back in my peak, I could do 540 or 550 either way. And a recent meet, I didn't assume I missed the first one because I didn't have strength. Turned around and pulled the same weight, the second one conventional, and did the third one conventional. I trained both ways. Chris Gilliam: Gotcha. Do you prefer a max out rep or a rep PR? Tod Miller: Say that one more time, please. Chris Gilliam: Are you do you care like w what weight can I do for three or four reps? Or are you hey, let's see what I can get for just that one rep max? Tod Miller: Now let's see what we can get for that one rep max. Chris Gilliam: All right. Chris Whittaker: That's a Louis way too. Tod Miller: Ha ha ha. Chris Whittaker: Your best accessory exercise for the squat. Chris Gilliam: So Tod Miller: More deadlift. Chris Gilliam: All right. No, not at all. How about the bench press? What's your best accessory for the bench press? Tod Miller: Didn't expect that, did you? The block, whether it be wherever you're weak at, using a block. Chris Gilliam: like board process? Tod Miller: Yeah, board presses, but they got the new block that's got four different things you rotate around it. Wherever you're weak at, I use that as my number two auxiliary for the bench. Chris Whittaker: Nice. That what is that? Late FTS calls it a a shoulder saber, right? And it moves. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. I've got one. I just I'm not using it yet. I've been trying to fiddle for it with it, so Tod Miller: I actually that's my number one. Number two two would be incline. Chris Gilliam: Okay. Well I'm gonna have to integrate it into my own program now that you recommend it. Tod Miller: I would wherever you're weak at that point. Chris Whittaker: Best accessory for the deadlift. Tod Miller: I just think it's either sumo or de conventional, whatever one you're doing, flip it. I really do. I mean I'm I'm honest. If you see me work out, if I'm doing my percentages of five by three of and I doing traditional, which I usu which I do am now, I like it much better. I'll flip around and do that and then I count that as partial on my leg days. It's my number two leg day, okay, you guys? Chris Gilliam: I like it. Sure, I got it. right. Tod Miller: You know what? I really used to like the speed that lift of Louis Simmons and I still will I still do that myself, okay, with chains or bands. All right. There's bands on my platform all the time. So and I'm doing as many I I've got it down path with a six week thing just like all my other stuff. But I have a six week where the band rotation, how many reps I do and how the speed I have I always have to do it in thirty seconds, so bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. I don't even use a minute. But I've got different size bands for different parts of the program. So Nice. And I yeah. So that's I think that's my number one auxiliary, even though I always flip and do the other one first, okay? Chris Gilliam: Okay. That's good. Chris Whittaker: So you're not using your bands based on like a per a percentage, based as far as the tension. You're you're just Tod Miller: I am yes. I explained that wrong. I'm using a yes, correct. Okay. But the bands are like on the new platforms where you can just go across the bar and put on. I don't know. Yep. Yep. They got little clips in the floor. Yeah. They are. So that's what I've been using with it. So I had to figure out the percentages I'm supposed be using, you know, and based on demand tension, but you know, 'cause you Chris Whittaker: So like like They clip into the floor, those Those are pretty sweet. Tod Miller: platforms are different sizes. So every time I go a platform seems to be a foot longer or a foot shorter, like, okay. That does make a difference. Chris Whittaker: Gotta carry one of those deer scales with you to pull. Tod Miller: Yeah, exactly what you do. There's one in the gym. I have one in my truck, okay? Chris Whittaker: Yep. Chris Gilliam: That's awesome. All right. So I want to talk to you more specifically about your USAPL national teams. All right. I know there's more to talk about. We could be here forever, but in September of two thousand, all right, you're coaching the US junior national team in Taiwan. Your men placed second and the women placed third in the meet. What do you remember specifically about that event? Tod Miller: First of all, he ate donut holes, which I thought were donut holes, but had bugs in the middle of Pompute. When I had turtle soup at the banquet and you get up you gotta have some turtle soup and the head comes up in your spoon. Chris Whittaker: Yeah. Chris Gilliam: Okay. So the phone Tod Miller: Food was horrible. Horrible. Thank God they had McDonald's. We found that on the second day, okay? That's what I remember both. Chris Gilliam: That is so awesome. That's a great that's great information. Tod Miller: Guys, they got duckheads along and stands. They got duckheads. I don't even know what you eat left of the duckhead on the neck. Okay? Honest to God, I mean the food is we walked to the venue. It's a bit a joke with all the lifters that went there 'cause if if you ever heard a lifter go meow, meow to me, this was gonna be the joke, okay? We we walked to the venue. We had about a half mile walk to the menu every day, 'cause transportation they was sparse that they had it coming for us. And we walked by and there's all these cats on this porch one day. And we walk by the next day and there's a skinned cat hanging over the clothesline. We just looked at each other and go, is anybody surprised after the donut hole? So there's a things the food was horrendous. What I remember most about it was Taiwan trying to put it make it into a pageantry, even though it was just a junior national they had Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Tod Miller: the walkthrough of the champion the flags and with flag bearers and all that stuff, which they didn't do it all in chan all the powerlifting championships. And they brought in, you know, two thousand school children every day to watch us lift and, you know, powerlifting was pretty big in Taiwan. So that was my first experience with it. Where you I was only what I was only the assistant coach for that, wasn't I? Or was I the head coach? Chris Gilliam: I that's what I'm asking. I couldn't tell if you were n nothing said if you were the head or assistant, but it was your first one, so I'm assuming you were probably the assistant. Tod Miller: I was the assistant. I never th they split it up after the couple of years I was there to the sub juniors when I went fourteen to eighteen year olds and nineteen to twenty three and you know, they asked me what age group I wanted and I said the youngsters because that's where all my lifters are. Yeah, once in a while I had a lifter in the juniors, but I got to coach and see there too. So But I r you know, it's the same thing. I mean it it was Chris Gilliam: Yeah, yeah. Awesome. Tod Miller: What happened my my memory about USAPL is with the Russians because they tried to take the platform one day and that was the wrong move by me. The warm up platforms they were scarce and they tried to take our warm up platform and I sort of threw off and we almost had a a brawl with that and Chris Gilliam: You were drawing on your inner Rocky Balboa. Tod Miller: I was drawing a my a Rocky Bell Bola. I was out in Alberta. They were a lot bigger than me and I stunk and they were Chris Gilliam: That's awesome. Well Tod Miller: So that was the you know, that was the starting of a relationship we had between their respect for both of me because our lifters did really well and them. you know, Ask me about the world champion, the world games in Germany. What happened there? That's all I want you to do. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, I'm I'm gonna actually get to that in a second. I wanted Chris and the rest of the viewers to know that in late September two thousand one you were supposed to coach the US sub junior national team in Russia. Yep. But that got canceled due to nine eleven. All right. How upsetting was that? I mean, did you have Plainwell kids on that team? Tod Miller: Horrible. So brutal because we were you know everything's in tech w you know, we had the visas, we had, you know, plane tickets, everything. And, you know, we only had about I can't remember, you probably have looked it up, but 'cause you get more dates and things than I do, but we only had a few days to make a decision if we're going or not. And we made a decision as a no brainer. We get over there, are we gonna be able to get back? And, you know, that was that was really what we truly We thought ahead, Larry and I, and we said that things may get hot and they may ground planes and they may not, you know, we don't know what's gonna happen, but the United States may not air traffic may come to a halt, so we may be stuck over there. And that's exactly what happened to some of the other teams around the world. They couldn't get out of there and they got stuck there for three weeks. It was de it was devastating to me. It was devastating to my lifters. Chris Gilliam: So I'm not Okay, so how many how many plainwall kids were on that team? Four. Yep. Okay. That's a that's a good accomplishment, but they you know, obviously that opportunity was lost for them. Yep. so the following year, September two thousand twenty two, you're the head coach again of the US sub junior national team. This time you're going back to Taiwan. wonderful. Tod Miller: Me as a egg coach. Chris Gilliam: What I found out in my research is that five Plainwell girls were on that team. Okay. So can you remember the the young ladies that made it on that team from Plainwell? Tod Miller: You got all the names there? Chris Gilliam: I do not. I w I wanna know who they are. Tod Miller: Aaron Dickey, Caitlin Miller, Carly Noggle, Molly Denony, Chris Gilliam: Okay. Tod Miller: Could be amber messic. What That's my five guests. I know I got four of them right. Chris Gilliam: All right, awesome. No, I'm we're just curious. I mean, if if you at any point have contact information, we would like to reach out to these young ladies and maybe talk to them about their experiences. Tod Miller: Yeah, I got all I talked to two of today about this, so Chris Gilliam: Yeah, nice. That's awesome. what can you briefly tell us about some of those young ladies? Like what what made them so good at powerlifting? Tod Miller: Well there's a little difference for Erin Dickey was the ninety seven pounder I referred to earlier that she had given up cross country for. She really did give up cross country afterward. so she was just trying to prove, I think to everybody that she made a right choice because she's a really good she's not a r she wasn't one of th gonna finish first in the state me, but she might have placed in the state meet in cross country, okay? But she wasn't one of those superstars. So but she just worked hard. she was just never had Chris Gilliam: okay. Tod Miller: a whole lot of success, I don't think, in sports along the way. And this was something that she really excelled at and was proud at. She qualified for women's a couple one of the time or a couple of times. After one time when I coached in Dresden and another time after that. So She just was I don't know. She's a good person, always treated me right. Where Carly Noggle and my daughter were just intense lifters. I mean, they just they weren't gonna lose, you know. They they just weren't gonna lose and they're gonna lift and you know, both of them lifted like four twenty-eight at one twenty-three and one thirty-two. So I mean they both squatted four hundred probably at some point of their career, and then both two hundred. I don't know if they ever put what they put together in meets it's been so long, but I think Carly hit a thousand at one point. I was looking at Caitlin's numbers today and she she had like a nine fifty eight at one of the meets at one tw thirty two. So so that's you know yeah they were pretty they were good lifters, you know. Kendra came along and blew everybody away, but Molly Denny just I I re I remember Molly came from nothing and just really excelled. I don't know. They all had different traits, but they all they were one great family. It was the greatest unique seeing them together that I've ever seen in any sports team or any group of individuals. So just how they took care of each other and how there's never gonna let anybody down and just the determination to do the best they could as a group. It was fun. Chris Gilliam: Well, it's unique because I mean, you know, we look through the history of stuff. Plainwell women, like eight straight state titles. And then, you know, Whitmore Lake ends up winning four or five in a row. And then Cros Lux wins, I think, nine in a row. Yeah. But it's like when women get something going, man, they keep it going, you know. They do. Pretty unique. And The thing that stand out and co Coach Whitaker can attest to this, like the growth in the women have changed so much. And I'm sure you've seen it from your early playing well days to be kept away after Manisty, but even since 2016, this year, our state meet, we had more women compete than boys. Wow. At the state meet this year. It's just become so huge on the part. Tod Miller: And you're saying exactly what I said when I left in two thousand sixteen. So it's you know, it's just unbelievable to hear you say that since that time. So Chris Gilliam: It's crazy. So, you know, and let's your plainwell teams laid the groundwork in my opinion, because they showed up in numbers and they showed up with performance. And I just think as more girls seen that at other schools, they kind of wanted to mimic that at their own school. And you could see that with Whitmore Lake and then Croswell Lex. And now we're starting to get Troy Athens is just one their fourth in a row. It's like These girls' teams go on runs. You know, or the guys, the guys I think you're the last boys team at Portage Northern to win it back to back year. Yeah, and you won it three times in a row. I mean, usually the boys, it's one year and then it changes the next year. So Tod Miller: Back to back. And the third year I really can't count as mine. It really was my assistant coaches at former lifters that did it. So because I was coaching in Manisty and helping Northern at the same time coaching both teams. So trying trying to get one going and one to win a state championship. So those those two guys, Julie and Ben Powers, they actually were the ones that I I'll give them. They were the coaches, they were the state champion. So they did a great Chris Gilliam: You got hired at Manisty like in the winter time? Tod Miller: I got hired no, I got hired at the winter job. Yeah, I did get hired in the winter. You're right. I got hired in the wintertime, didn't I? Chris Gilliam: Okay. Yeah. That's crazy. Tod Miller: My wife just said that, correct? Yeah. They got hired in the winter. So All right, cool. Those they know they were the coaches. They took over and they won it without me there. So I wasn't physically there. Except at the meets I came and helped and was there and you know, I wasn't coaching Man of C I was coaching Portage Northern kids, so Chris Gilliam: I gotcha. All right, go ahead, Chris. Chris Whittaker: coach, we're getting we're getting close to the end here, but for anybody listening to this, you know, any coaches that are looking to start or build up their program, what's one piece of advice you give them? Tod Miller: Teach respect of the sport. Teach respect of you know, when I mean that I mean each individual can't be the best. They can't be the first place. You know, if the if a ninth place is the best they can do, pat on the back and, you know, teach about how the sport actually is good, how it came about, you know, how each person can excel at their own abilities and, you know. Don't don't make a mockery of the sport. Don't come in and yell and scream. It's you're not a football coach here. You're a powerlifting coach. And there's a different ad with there's a different need and respect you need to have for the sport and for the kids and all that. So I think, you know, treat everything with respect from the beginning of the time you walk into a gym until the time you got no need to swear. There's no need to throw a fit. There's no need to throw belts. Whether it be coaches, you know, coaches sometimes are the, you know. I've been young, I know. I I I I've made mistakes, so I've done some of the things I'm telling you don't do. Okay, but you know don't come in being crazy. Don't come in screaming and yelling and whatever else, you know. Sure. Just my Chris Gilliam: Sure. Yeah, I sorry if I cut you off there, Coach. so you had mentioned Aaron Dickey, and I was gonna bring this up. So I'm glad that you mentioned her name. Cause her name kept popping up when I was doing some research on you. you know, they kept referencing her and so looked up a little bit of information, looked up the database for her ninety-seven pound girl. You gave us her backstory on a cross country runner. But I want all of our listeners to know that like at seventeen years old. She was competing in the open division, which which means she's competing against women between the ages of twenty three and up. And you know, she was first in the country as a seventeen year old. Tod Miller: And and second or third in the world. So Chris Gilliam: Yeah, and that and so I seen in two thousand two was the one I found. She placed sixth in the world against, you know, women and she's s seventeen years old. Like that to me is amazing. and so is that is Aaron somebody you you keep contact with still? Yep. Tod Miller: Yeah, I could show you a string of Texas. She gave me more information today and made more jokes than anybody did about lifting and our about us and things that went on. So yeah, definitely keeping trunks with her. Chris Gilliam: All right, that's cool. I I appreciate the you sharing that information. I'm gonna let Coach Whitaker end this off for us and we appreciate your time, Coach. It was awesome, great stories. We know now not to eat the donut holes in Taiwan. Tod Miller: not eat a donut hole in Taiwan even though they look may look good. It's a beetle too. It's a big hard shelled beetle, okay? Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Yeah. Not the surprise you want, that's for sure. Chris Whittaker: No thanks. So coach, before before we let you go here, anything that you would like to share or talk about that we haven't discussed already. Tod Miller: What do we need? No, I don't think so. I could talk forever. So I mean I just we're good. I can talk, bring up any subject about h this stuff I can talk forever, okay? Chris Whittaker: and we may and we may. Tod Miller: I don't think I've explained programming because it is complex. I don't know if I explained it in Chris Gilliam: I think you gave good information and honestly I you know we're gonna do some more episodes and one of the ones I would like to have you involved in down the road is you know the art of deadlift because your lifters were extremely good deadlifters. I remember that specifically. Sounds like you personally are a pretty darn good deadlifter in your own right. And so we definitely would like to have you involved in an episode about the art of deadlifting down the road. we'll talk more. Cypher's Lan. Tod Miller: Sounds good. I'll gladly help with it. Whatever I can do. Just you know, I just appreciate you guys. This is a this is like fun to have this. I'm glad you guys are doing it. I hope I hope it flies. I hope a lot of people listen to it. So I mean, thank you for doing it. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, no problem. We're enjoying it ourselves. Chris Whittaker: so you called Tod Miller: You tell d and don't forget to tell Danny Reinhardt he lost to me by five kilos. I don't even know if he knows how to look that up, okay? You tell him that, okay? Chris Whittaker: We'll share with We'll share it with any you kind of shouted out and thanked your assistant coaches and some of your lifters. Anybody that anybody that you might have missed that you want to give a shout out to here on the show? Tod Miller: I'm good. My wonderful wife for putting up with me. How's that? Chris Gilliam: That's a good call. Nice save. Yeah. Nice save. Good one. Chris Whittaker: Good one. And and then the the last thing, do you have any public facing social media that if people want to follow you or connect with you, they can access? Tod Miller: Yeah, I'm on Instagram at Todd Miller, T O D Miller. It shows up until I haven't put anything on for you know, probably about eight months. I got very frustrated and stopped putting stuff on it, but I just filmed myself again yesterday mentioned. So I'm gonna start putting it on. All my meats are on there, so you can see how I lift and you can see the last two meets and how proud I am. I guess I we didn't talk about that, but nine for nine is a big thing. My last two meets I went nine for nine, so I've really really, really one the last two really ten for ten because I've got a a second bench, a w world record bench in for the USPA on my second bench or fourth benches, so but they don't record those. But yeah, so pretty happy that I went ten for ten on the last two meets. Chris Gilliam: Well, good job, coach. Tod Miller: Thank you. Chris Whittaker: Yeah. And again, give Coach Miller a follow on Instagram. Yep. For gentlemen, it this one's been great, informative to the end. Like if you don't listen to this and learn something, go back and listen to again. because you're you didn't pay attention enough. Coach, we can't thank you enough for being here. until next time. This has been the platform with the stories. Way a ton.