Latest / The Platform: a Michigan High School Powerlifting Association Podcast / Brian Litten, Dowagiac High School, MHSPLA B.O.D. | The Platform Episode 19
Transcript
- Chris Whittaker: Ladies and gentlemen, the bar is loaded. We are back with another episode of The Platform. I'm 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'm here with my regular cohost, his name. He is, well, for his name, his title. He's the Executive Director of the Michigan High School Powerlifting. Association. He's our leader in this venture and his name coach Chris Gillum. Coach Gillum good to see you again. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, thanks for having me. I always like doing this. Chris Whittaker: Yeah, it's a, we have a good time and this one here will be another good one. We have one of our newest members of the board. This man from day one when I met him, I knew we would be friends. Not just from our opinions on lifting technique, not just from our opinions on music, our opinions on energy drinks. I knew we had this this episode of the platform sponsored by Jack O'Fiel, Jack O'Fiel.com promo code coming soon. This gentleman is the powerlifting coach at Dowagiac High School. His name is Brian Linton. Brian, welcome to the podcast. Brian Litten: Thank you for having me. Chris Whittaker: And you know, this is one of those where we're spotlighting the board members, bringing the board members out, letting everybody get to know us. and of course have some fun. I'm sure this one will be a good time with that. I kick it to coach Gillum for question one. Chris Gilliam: All right, Brian, welcome. Thanks for being with us. I want to get a little bit of background on you. So tell us what your occupation is. Talk to us about some of your hobbies and interests besides powerlifting. If you're married, if you have kids, things like that, just give us some Brian Litten: Yeah. Chris Gilliam: background info. Brian Litten: Oh man. Well, I am here at the Wajec High School. This is my second year teaching here. I used to be a principal in Benton Harbor. I don't know if anybody knows where Benton Harbor, Michigan is, but I used to be a principal there for four years. Did not do anything with powerlifting then. Prior to that, I lived in Tennessee, coached a little football down in Tennessee, eventually became an assistant principal there and kind of went through the admin route and then decided I wanted to get back to teaching. So I'm back here as a government and econ teacher here at the Wajak. I've coached sports, I guess, for the last, it seems weird to say this, but the last 17 years, I started when I was 18. Coach Jennings, who I know you're gonna have on the podcast was my defensive line coach and good friend of mine. And he's the one who kind of started me in the whole powerlifting journey. So I went to Lake Oran High School. I don't know how much you want to go into detail there. I'm sure we're gonna talk about it. I got good memories of that time. Went to Lake Orrin High School, was a part of the state champion powerlifting teams back then. Had a blast doing it and eventually I knew that I wanted to coach powerlifting and it just kind of waited and waited because I coached when I was down at Lake I worked at Lake Orrin too. I coached there between 2015 and 16 and then I went to Tennessee. Didn't have any powerlifting there and then now I'm back at the Wajax. and working on a program here that's kind of been. I went back and did the history. I don't know if you guys have ever looked at the history of the program. Chris, I don't know when you started either, but apparently in 2011, we had a kid who went, he won back to back state titles in the 194 and 207 weight class. So I'm kind of interested to meet that guy. So just fun little facts Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Brian Litten: about Dwa Jack there. So, and we're trying to build that program here. So that's where we're at. Chris Gilliam: Awesome. Chris Whittaker: Yeah, that's a fun part for me, Brian, about doing these is like I'm you know, it always comes up at least once episode. I'm from New York, but Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Whittaker: I don't know where anything is right. Except for places that we've had meets at. I don't know who's Chris Gilliam: Hehehe. Chris Whittaker: been historically good, who's who was, you who was good and isn't who's always good, right? So that that's I think that stuff is cool because that also Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Whittaker: you are starting and building a tradition. there. And we talk about that a lot of meat, like tradition is a big thing to me. Being from Lake Orion, I know it is there too. Brian Litten: Yes. Chris Whittaker: So that's, to me, that means a lot. when the history and telling the stories to the current generation about what's come before you. So yeah, I think that's cool. Brian Litten: It's always interesting telling my kids about like the experience of being a dragon, if you will, Lake Orny Dragon and the power lifting tradition that was started in 2000. mean, I was now I was never good at power lifting. I'm better now that I've gotten older and I've learned the muscle groups and everything like that. But I was when I was younger, I didn't have the talent, right? I'm just the short fat guy and just trying to lift some weights, right? As we all say. And, you know, being then it was just. I tell the kids it's just interesting because like we brought so many kids those meets and we learned real early. It's all about mathematics, but this was before the spreadsheets. And if you guys all know Chris Gilliam: with this. Brian Litten: he is a mathematician to like the nth degree that he was just sitting there over in the corner just playing with the numbers on his little tablet or on his piece of paper. He always used the yellow notebook paper. I always remember that. And he's just doing numbers. And then he's like, okay, you got to go do this so we can win this meet. It's like, yes, sir. Go do it. All right, done. And then It was just an amazing tradition that was started with Ian and Jason Larson. I don't know if you guys ever met Jason Larson, but him and Eric Jennings were the ones who kind of started that program. And it was just fun to be a part of. And I was one of the first freshmen to ever go to a meet for Lake Orion. Now, did I ever do any good? Not really, but I still had fun doing it, which is what I tell the kids. So yeah. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, that's awesome. Thanks for sharing that. So what years were you at Lake Orient as a student? Brian Litten: 2006 to 2009, get no Chris Gilliam: Okay. Brian Litten: 2005 to 2009. yeah. I'll Chris Gilliam: Gotcha. Brian Litten: always remember not to call out Clarkson the Clarkson wolves here, but they were always our rival. So you can edit this out if you need to. But 2007, Chris Gilliam: work. Chris Whittaker: So. Brian Litten: this is like my favorite story in terms of sports. know, 2007, like, no 2006 Clarkson beat us in the in the and we were like, third or fourth place and we're like, okay, all right, okay. Next year we show up and we bring a team, like we bring hundreds of kids it feels like, and we're just up in the crowd and they go, and second place, Clarkston and we went nuts. It was insane. Like we all knew right then that we won the state title and we rushed that floor and it was so much fun. You know, it's just, it's a fun time. And when you build that team and that tradition, like you said, Chris, it's like, you know, you just. want to go back to that time. just want to keep that thing going and just building on it. So I'm excited about the Wojtek and that's where I think we're getting to one day, hopefully. So building that tradition. Chris Gilliam: Oh, for sure. Yeah. I mean, and what's unique about our sport is, you know, as we've talked to some other coaches, you know, some of our JV state championship schools, Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: they have 200 or less kids in their building and they won Brian Litten: Yep. Chris Gilliam: the state title because they have, you know, a couple handfuls of boys or a couple handfuls of girls that are really good at what they do. And, uh, You know, they're able to capture a state title and hopefully they'll Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: build it from there. And they'll definitely be teams to keep an eye out on over the next two years as they enter varsity. yeah. Brian Litten: yeah. Chris Gilliam: So, what are the numbers like, for you? Brian Litten: last year we had 11 kids total. And then this year we had about 15 that went to meets. now interestingly enough, my biggest competitor is wrestling. If you'll call it a competitor. and our school has a deep tradition in wrestling. So I'm getting, I'm trying to get some of the wrestler kids to come out to the powerlifting meets. The hard thing is finding that time when they can go to a meet because they don't have a wrestling meet. And those things are hard. but I mean, in general, I mean, on paper we had about. 60 kids show up on day one and then they kind of just fizzled out a little bit So we're hoping that this year we can start out again with a big number and then go from there I need assistant coaches. So if anybody wants to come over to the Wajak I can't guarantee him a teaching job or anything, but I need assistant coaches. That's for sure. So that'll help me get more peak kids. So And it's unpaid, of course, you know, so yeah Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. But sometimes the challenges and just recruiting the kids is recruiting help, you know, because it's, it's not easy to keep your eye on everything that's going on. It takes a lot Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: of planning and organization, whether you have 15 kids or you got 50. I mean, there's a lot that goes into it. If you want to run it well, you know, Right. Brian Litten: Exactly. Chris Whittaker: I'm hoping to get one of those too on the assistant coach. At one point we got to 120 and that was not not good. Yeah, I got guys that volunteer to come help me at the meet, but managing that whole thing. So I'm with you. Brian Litten: Yeah. It's just it's it's almost doing a disservice to the kid if you can't coach them like be right there next to him the whole time. But then you got another kid four racks down. It's like I need to go help them because I I see something on their form and then you're bouncing all over the place. It's like the kids felt bad for me the first couple days. But then I think I honestly think that kind of also dropped the numbers a little bit because they're like OK, he's got he's got too many kids in here. I don't I'm getting overlooked and I felt bad about that and that's something. I'm sure that's everybody's issue though, and that's a thing with a club sport. So yeah, we'll get there. Chris Gilliam: for sure. Chris Whittaker: I've said mine with a packet, like a prepared, like here's your opening attempts. And then as you warm up, you have the freedom to adjust. And then this is how you adjust the other attempts down the list. And I think that that has helped. Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Whittaker: If you find yourself in the same situation next year, which I probably will as well, cause now too, they're going to go, Hey, you're on the board. We need your help at platform six. as Chris can tell you, having that plan for them Brian Litten: Enjoy. Chris Whittaker: and, and sending them with that, I think goes a long way just, and I do a Google form questionnaire after the fact. like, yeah, I talked to every kid or try to talk to every kid, but then they also give me some feedback. And that was something I started last year. Give me some Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Whittaker: feedback after the meet, to kind of Brian Litten: I like that. Chris Whittaker: help guide them and see what they thought of the day and where and all that. So. Chris Gilliam: Well, and we'll talk about it some price some other time. But you know the app that we're looking at at the state meet. I think that's going to coaches a ton. Do you agree with that Brian with your little experience with it? Brian Litten: Mm-hm. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I played with it and it was awesome. You could tell when your guys were up and everything. I'm excited about that. That's a I Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Brian Litten: mean, this is to me the first big technology breakthrough was just doing the spreadsheets because I remember when I think it was Mona Shores that Chris Gilliam: wallpaper. Brian Litten: did that first. I could be wrong, but this was my brother was powerlifting and I was coaching with E and I was like, what is this? Why are we everybody's on their phone? And I'm like following this thing. I'm like, this is insane. This changes everything. Now, I feel like he doesn't have as much of a job now because he doesn't have to calculate, you know, just kidding. Yeah, I love you. Chris Whittaker: you Chris Gilliam: Yeah. When we first started Chris Whittaker: He's got work in the numbers. Chris Gilliam: using spreadsheets, the spreadsheets Brian Litten: Yeah. Chris Gilliam: at first were different. And I'll be honest, Brian Litten: Uh-huh. Chris Gilliam: I'm an old school guy like, like he was, I was still clipboard with my sheets of paper. And I made a list of the kids that I knew that my kids would be competing against, you know, Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: and I kind of miss those days now and then. Brian Litten: Maybe we should do a no technology meet just to see how the younger guys deal with it. Yeah. Chris Gilliam: God advantage coach Jennings and coach Gillum. Cause that's how we cut our teeth. You know what I mean? Brian Litten: you Chris Gilliam: So I think everybody's too reliant on it now, but yeah, that's cool. Yeah. Yeah. You can go back to those. Yeah. Mona shores first, first time having like the current spreadsheet. Everybody Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: kind of had their own for a few years. And so then we've just, improved it from there. So yeah, it's pretty, pretty exciting stuff. Um, all right. So you're brand new to the board. All right. You've had experiences as a lifter and you helped out at, um, Lake Orion when you were first started coaching and stuff. Um, what's the difference, uh, being the main man, the only man technically compared to just being an assistant. Brian Litten: that's a good question. Being the assistant, I really tried to learn as much as I could. If that makes sense. You know, you had E obviously who's great with the whole power lifting concept. Jimmy Caritas. I don't know if you guys ever met Jimmy, but he was he was with me at Lake Orient for a couple of years and he was a phenomenal scientific guy. He played Division two football at Northern Michigan. I think he still has. It might be changed now, but he had the record for. most tackles in a game at 29. So he was pretty impressive as a linebacker. And I'm sure he's going to listen to this episode. He's going to make fun of me for saying that, but it is what it is. Yeah, Chris Gilliam: You Brian Litten: but he's a very scientific, analytical guy. Whereas Larson, the guy that I played under and coach and learned under, was more, you know, he kind of did the feel thing and then he would just go with it type stuff. And, you know, it's just interesting tying all of that together. Now that I'm in charge of my own program and being like, OK, I want to take this. I want to take this. I really want to institute this part, this part, this part and all that stuff and trying to build my own program that also works with our kids. So at Lake Orion, the kids were there and then they would come to practice after school or they would come before school here at the Wajek. This is interesting. I don't know if you guys experienced this in your districts or I'm sure there's other schools that do this as well. But our juniors and seniors are gone by 11 o'clock. and they're going to college classes or they're going to work based. So to get them back here is a pain for them to come back and try to practice. So I've got almost run an open weight room concept from 2.15 to 4.30 saying, OK, you got to get in here. Here's your workout. We got to get this thing going. Whereas I can't really do like a team warm up because I'd be warming up kids as they're coming into waves. And then I can't really like, know, if you know what I mean. So I've got to go back and forth. So it's just it's trying to find. So it. The difference between being an assistant is like I'm got a I'm the only one in charge of the whole thing trying to figure out how exactly we're to do this compared to I could just rely on E or Jimmy or Larson back in the day just to get me. You know I could just OK I'm going to go work on the squat kids and they're just going to focus on them Chris Gilliam: Okay Brian Litten: the whole time. Whereas now I gotta be like OK I got waves coming in here. You gotta stretch. OK I've also got to watch 14 kids over there squatting and 10 kids over there deadlifting and all that stuff. So it's it's a it's a fun time and it's a headache that I enjoy having. as weird as it sounds because I'm trying to find the best solution to be as strategic as possible in this case. So if that all makes sense, I don't know. So. Chris Gilliam: No, I mean, chances are there's a, coach in the state that has something similar and maybe Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: they've found a thing that works for them. You know, maybe they can reach out to you and give you a little bit. Cause yeah, that is a unique situation that you have with, you know, the open practice. mean, I've done open practices before, but I've done it based on the holidays and stuff like that. Brian Litten: Yeah, that yeah, I was going to say at Lake Orney, we would do them on, you know, Christmas break, something like that. You could come in and Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Brian Litten: get your lift in and we'll be here for three hours. This is like every day I've got to, you know, try to strategically have this plan. And then the other thing is, is like some of them, you got to bring them back because once they're gone from the building, what's going to bring, do we, really want to go back to school, you know, and then you got to find that fire in them to, Hey, if you come back, you can, you know, working toward championships here, we're working toward. getting you better. that's the, you know, it's a challenge in itself right there. So. Chris Gilliam: for sure. So he is definitely one of your mentors. Brian Litten: yeah, absolutely. Chris Gilliam: Who, what was the name of the other gentleman? Brian Litten: I would say Jay, I mean in terms of powerlifting Jason Larson and Eric Jennings and then Jimmy Caritas would be my three mentors in powerlifting. You should get all three Chris Gilliam: Awesome. Brian Litten: of them on the podcast. I know Eric Jennings is going to be but Jason Larson would be a very interesting perspective. He's now the principal Chris Gilliam: Okay. Brian Litten: at Lapeer High School. So Chris Gilliam: hell. Brian Litten: yeah, but he was like my father figure in high school. So but yeah, he's an awesome guy, great powerlifting coach and really pushed us to be very competitive. above everything else. He always used to say the old quote of, hate losing more than I like to win. And that kind of insinuated in us in football and in powerlifting. Chris Gilliam: Awesome. Chris Whittaker: So, mean, we've kind of bounced all around, like Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Chris Whittaker: where you've answered a lot of our questions. So you're keeping us on our toes here trying to, because, we're becoming professional, semi-professional amateur, Chris Gilliam: Ha ha ha ha. Chris Whittaker: closer to amateur broadcasters here where we're trying to not step on each other. And don't ask the same question. Cause with my luck, I will ask the same question that Chris asked already. But I know he did not ask this one. What's one piece of advice? you'd give for another coach looking to start or improve their powerlifting team. Brian Litten: Um is just get the kids there. I always say to the kids if you show up to one meet you will be hooked for life. And that's that's honestly been my thing. Um ever since like when I was at orient it was like we try to get our friends to come to the meets and then you know I went to I coached the Sacred Heart for five years when I was I went to Central Michigan. Um they're up in Mount Pleasant and you know I would just get the kids to go to the meet and then they wouldn't want to leave. They'd be like okay this is fun. I like doing this. Um We never had in Tennessee, but here it's like if I could get you to go to one meet, I've got you hooked and then you're on the team. So you just gotta, you just gotta trust the process. I know the old adage of trust the process kind of gets annoying sometimes, but in powerlifting it's a big deal. You've just gotta trust it. Get the kids to go to one meet and they'll be hooked. That's how you start a program. I mean, you can't start something if you don't actually get them there. So that's kind of my, mean, and especially you got to go yourself too. If it's a coach who's never even seen something like this, you got to try and go yourself and see what it's like. And don't be afraid of it too. And then fight for it too. That's the other thing. I think it should be a varsity sport in all schools. And I know it's not. I know it's not in our school. It's a club sport. And it's not even necessarily MHSAA part of it. It's just we just got to fight to get it to that level of respect. And it's going to be there. It's just a matter of time. We keep on fighting for it. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, there's more and more schools that it is a sport now. They're getting letters for it. Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: coaches are getting paid stipends, you know, and it wasn't that long ago. There wasn't many, you know, Brian Litten: Correct, yeah. Chris Gilliam: so I know it's starting to grow, throughout the state. cause there's teams popping up. mean, what we had like around 80 different schools represented at the state meet. I mean, that's the Brian Litten: That's insane. Chris Gilliam: most I can remember. Now they're not all the same size. Every school has a different number of roster sizes, but yeah. Going back to like your, your experience in time and the MHS PLA, whether it was Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: lifting coaching or whatever, besides the technology, what's something else that you've noticed that has changed or shifted a lot from when you participated to now when you're coaching. Brian Litten: I mean, the biggest one is the number of girls lifters. It's amazing. When I, I don't remember, there might've been two platforms worth when I first started. That's what I'm, I just wasn't, I feel old saying about 20 years ago. And now it's, you got a whole separate meat form. So that's the biggest change is just the growth in the girls sport. And here, you know, girls are easier to convince at the object to join them. And the boys are, feels like, cause they're like, I don't have to be really strong and buff to go lift. No. You just got to try and we'll go from there. So like I got a girl who's, she didn't do a meet this year just because her schedule is kind of weird, but she weighs 97 pounds soaking wet. And she's super athletic, used to be a cheerleader. And I'm excited for her to go to a meet because she's going to realize real fast like, I could do this. So that's the fun part about it. And I think seeing the girls progress has been an interesting aspect. In terms of the whole program in general, think you said it, the technology, but that is a huge change just from when I was younger doing it. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. I mean, there's back in the old days we had the hand score every day and that took a while. Yeah. It was, it was a challenge for sure. So yeah, definitely the girls have expanded. mean, that went from, you know, now there's JV and Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: varsity women. So that that's still fairly new. People don't think it is, but that, that just means they haven't been involved since two. 2017 season was the first year with JV women. I mean, in the big picture, that's not that long ago. Brian Litten: No, it's not at all. That's less than 10 years ago. Yeah. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's fairly new. And I think that's why we keep seeing so many records getting broken at that division because. You know, they're more involved, you know, so a lot more girls, a lot more competition. And, we talked about it with, Darren. mean, I think the girls numbers have exploded in, participation and their performance since COVID. Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: That's went up a lot since COVID for the girls especially. Chris Whittaker: So we kind of already talked about the numbers that you've had in your program. So that brings us to this one here. And this is, I think I know probably one of my favorite questions that we have here. Powerlifting is a sport that many experience failures. What is your favorite failure or a setback that ultimately set you up for success later, either in the sport or in life? Brian Litten: You know, I've listened to you ask this question now for the last two podcasts and that is a great question. In terms of my Chris Whittaker: Gellermorde Brian Litten: greatest, Gillum wrote it. Kudos to you, Gillum. That's a good question. Chris Whittaker: you Chris Gilliam: it. Brian Litten: In terms of powerlifting, think missing my last deadlift my senior year, I think it was like six something. It was something to qualify for states and I'd missed it. I got it to like halfway up my knees and then, you know, I couldn't pull through. you know, going back in time and thinking about that, that has push me to realize, OK, how important is it for us to as a team or as kids is we've got to push through the last lift. We got to keep on pushing. So just teaching them that personally, I mean, I'm a Dave Ramsey guy. I teach economics. So I don't know if you guys know who Dave Ramsey is. you know, I teach my kids all the time about debt. I teach drivers that on the weekend. So I can't say that my biggest failure is having so much student loans. I have to say this. So sorry, guys. But having so many student loans that I miss. A lot of my like right now I'm doing driver's ed and I'm missing my girls. So I have two young. I don't think I mentioned this at beginning, but I have a six or a five year old and a three year old and I'm missing like her softball because I'm teaching driver's ed. So you know, that's like one of my biggest failures and I use that as a driving point with the kids all the time when I'm teaching economics. So, you know, sorry, I know it's not power lifting, but it is my biggest failure in my opinion. It's the student loan aspect. So sorry. But anyway, that last deadlift missing that and then teaching the kids with that aspect of Hey, we've got to push through the last one. You never know when your last lift is going to be. You you want to make it count and all that stuff. So yeah. Chris Gilliam: Good. Thank you for sharing that. Those are Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: good lessons. mean, I think, and you know what? You're not the only dad that's had to do extra stuff to make ends meet for whatever reason. I've missed a lot of stuff too. And yeah, you're not lonely when it comes to that. So good night. Brian Litten: It still sucks and it's a failure that I try to the kids is, know, don't do what I did. So, but I wouldn't be here Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Brian Litten: to teach them if I didn't do what I did. you know. Chris Gilliam: for sure. Well, chances are, know, you keep doing this long enough, your kids, you'll get to coach them in the sport possibly, you know. Brian Litten: I'm okay with that. Now teaching them how to drive, I don't want to have to do that, but yeah. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, well, that's, you'll have to talk to my wife about that because she, she does drivers training in the past as well. And yeah, so she had to do, some work. Okay. I will. You guys are looking, Brian Litten: If she wants a job, ever contact me. Yeah. yeah, absolutely. you know, we're always looking, I'm one of the owners of our business and we definitely need some more. not to promote, Chris Gilliam: Okay. Brian Litten: you know, also brought to you by Jocko Fuel, but also brought to you by West Coast Chris Gilliam: You Brian Litten: Driving School in Southwest Michigan. yeah. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, that's, that's the last thing we need is a bunch of teenagers hopped up on Jaco doing Brian Litten: Yeah. Chris Gilliam: their driving test. So, all Brian Litten: you Chris Gilliam: right. yeah, definitely. Chris Whittaker: Nerves of steel. Drivers, Ed, and instructors. Chris Gilliam: What do you think's the hardest thing to coach or teach in the sport of powerlifting? Brian Litten: I also love this question. Emotional control is the hardest thing to control or hardest thing to teach. The kids in today's world, and you guys have seen this too as coaches, it's the instant gratification society that we have to deal with with social media. And they want to look cool and all that stuff. they see kids and they see professional athletes. And not to knock any professional athletes, but anytime that I see, and I always tell kids, if I see the hands up, that's the mindset of a loser in my book. If you're blaming somebody else, then we got a problem. know, we're jock. mean, Chris and I are jockel guys, you know, extreme ownership, right? That's the whole concept there. If you mess up and it's on you, you've got to figure out how you can fix it in that mentality. And I think one of the downsides of power, there it is. Yeah, exactly. One of the downsides of power lifting that I've seen since I've come back to the sport is when kids miss a lift, you know, they'll like throw their headphones and stuff like that. Now, mind you, I don't think it's as bad as when I first was in there or in 2005, 2006 and stuff like that. But still you see that and it's like, okay, that is not the sign of a winner and we need to stop that in our sport. Because you've also got young kids watching and all that. maybe it sounds corny and all that stuff, but I don't want my kids seeing somebody throwing stuff because they missed a lift. They need to turn that back on themselves and be like, okay, what can I do next time? So. You know, I think emotional control is something that is valuable, extremely valuable. And Jaco would say it all the time. If you can't control your emotions, then you're basically worthless out there. We got to make sure that we're controlling those emotions. mean, Whitaker, yeah, Chris Gilliam: yeah, for sure. Brian Litten: yeah. So, you know, they got to, that's what I tell my kids is if you're going to act a fool out there, I'm not going to take you to meets. I don't want kids who are going to represent the wall jack in a negative way or represent our sport in a negative way. Like we're here to try to. Yes, improve ourselves. that's joy of powerlifting is you're trying to get better with every lift. But if you're to go out there and chuck your headphones and get mad and go off and like pout, then this isn't the sport for you. Mind you, I don't know if any sport really is for you in that case. But, you know, that's Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Brian Litten: something that we've got to work on. And that's something that I always tell my kids. That's one of my number one priorities. When I first start with them is I don't deal with cussing. Like if you cuss around me, you're doing push ups right away. And if you're going to throw things, we got a problem. It's not happening. So, yeah. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. I can totally respect that. You know, bringing up the emotional control. I, I run the leadership conference for the football coach association, and that was Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: one of our topics this year with the breakout rooms with the kids is emotional control. And so it's interesting that you bring that up because I mean, it's important in every sport and it's important in life. mean, we all have emotions and we're Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: going to let them get the best of us from time to time. You know, your ability to control them in moments, you know, teaching a young kid that, that it doesn't make you who you are, but it makes you who you could end up being if you don't Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: get control over it. So, I appreciate that. That's great. Chris Whittaker: Just don't make me do pushups if I curse near you. Brian Litten: Yeah Chris Whittaker: I am from again in New York. It's Brian Litten: You Chris Whittaker: sometimes the F word use it as a comma. I promise I won't do it in public. Chris Gilliam: Ha ha ha ha. Chris Whittaker: But from the discipline equals freedom field manual, the only person you can control is you. So focus on making yourself who you want to be faster, stronger, smarter, more humble, less ego controlling it all and controlling. Brian Litten: That's a great book. Chris Whittaker: controlling our emotions Chris Gilliam: That's awesome. Chris Whittaker: as a. Chris Gilliam: I had a coach Brian Litten: I was Chris Gilliam: in college. Sorry. Go ahead, Brian. Brian Litten: gonna say, Whit, think we need to give Gillum that book too. And so we can get as many Jaco fans as we can right there. So yeah. Chris Whittaker: Well, Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Chris Whittaker: it's a I have I got leadership strategies and tactics. A lot Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Whittaker: of the other ones I did were and we could go on a whole podcast about our Jocko Brian Litten: you Chris Whittaker: fandom, but I did a lot of them on audiobook. Brian Litten: Yeah, I've listed to probably extreme ownership like one. I make it a goal of listening to it once a year, so I've read it a couple of times, but listening to it is, you know, when you're running or lifting is always good too, so. Chris Gilliam: I got you. Chris Whittaker: do to go back to it. You'll like it, Gillum. Hey, if you don't Brian Litten: you Chris Whittaker: have an Audible account, I'll send you a link and you can listen to it for free. You know, like every good drug Chris Gilliam: Okay. Awesome. Chris Whittaker: dealer, Audible gives you your first book free. Chris Gilliam: Get you hooked. No, what Chris Whittaker: Yeah, they get you. Chris Gilliam: you were talking about earlier, Chris, like plugging that book and stuff. But I had a coach in college and it just made such an impact on me. The, you know, he just, you know, kids, emotional control or excuse Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: making things like that. He just, in a subtle way, he just said, gentlemen, you only have control of two things ever in your life. Everything else you have no control over. So why waste time and energy getting upset over it? But he's like, you can control your own attitude and your own effort. Brian Litten: That's good stuff. Chris Gilliam: You always have control of your own attitude and your own offer. Nothing else. You can't control taxes. You can't control the weather, you know, and he went on a spiel and that always sat in with me. Like, you know, there's times I had to remind myself of that because, know, you know, stuff doesn't go the way you want or plan. I don't care what age you are. Sometimes it gets you ruffled, you know, because Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: especially if you invested a lot of time into it. So. You want to start off the rapid fire here, coach? Chris Whittaker: Yeah, I'm just say just one more thing on that, know, Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Whittaker: controlling your emotions. This is another good one. I'm not gonna say the title of it. Brian Litten: you Chris Whittaker: It's not a Jaco book, but this is another great one if we're talking about books. And then of course you have, it's Chris Gilliam: My daughter has that book. Chris Whittaker: the companion book to it that came out after that. Brian Litten: You're gonna owe me some pushups there, Whit. Chris Whittaker: Two very good ones right there. But yes, we'll Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Chris Whittaker: get started with the speed questions here. These are real quick, Brian, like fast, like you've heard our other episodes. So you kind of see how that works. Just real quick off the top of your head, how you would answer these, which you prefer as a coach and as a lifter in your case, squat, bench press or deadlift. Brian Litten: squat hands down Chris Gilliam: Are you a low bar or high bar squatter personally and Brian Litten: I Chris Gilliam: what do you teach? Brian Litten: personally, I've always done high bar, but I'm trying to learn more low bar to teach the kids. yeah. Chris Whittaker: Sumo or conventional deadlift? Brian Litten: I grew up sumo and then I got transformed into conventional so and I even do conventional on my own too, so Chris Gilliam: Do you prefer for your kids a one rep max or a rep PR? Brian Litten: One rep max. Chris Gilliam: How about personally? Brian Litten: Personally, I still do the one rep maxes on my own. And then, I mean, the biggest thing is the rep outs after that. So, but yeah. Chris Gilliam: Gotcha. As I've told Whitaker, the one rep max, it'll disappear with age. Brian Litten: I'm not there yet, so, yeah. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, I know you're not. Chris Whittaker: I'm not willing to give it up either. Chris Gilliam: Well, we'll see you in 15 years. Yeah, Chris Whittaker: No more than five. No more on max ever day. No more than five. Brian Litten: Yeah. Chris Gilliam: I got you. Chris Whittaker: your best accessory exercise for the squat. Brian Litten: honestly, as old school as this is, step ups. Chris Gilliam: I like that. Chris Whittaker: Mm-hmm. Brian Litten: Yeah. Chris Gilliam: Is that a personal choice? Brian Litten: No, actually I like doing with the kids too, because it forces them to keep their good arch with their back to as they're going up and down. So and it kind of focuses. I mean, the biggest thing for me is the arch at all times is trying to maybe try to make them walk the hallways in the arch. You know, having that arch in their back and having that good posture. And I think the step ups is a as the kids would say a low key way to get him to do it as much as possible. Yes. Chris Gilliam: Do you teach it with dumbbells or barbells? Brian Litten: dumbbells we had we just started getting kettlebells so yes getting Chris Gilliam: Okay. Brian Litten: there Chris Gilliam: Nice. What's the best accessory exercise for bench press? Brian Litten: I love dumbbell rows. think those are hands down, in my opinion, very important. Flies are important, but they're more of a stretch in my book, whereas the dumbbell rows really works the alternative muscles and anything with triceps. Sorry, I know these are supposed to be rapid fire. Chris Gilliam: No, you're good. Chris Whittaker: best accessory exercise for the deadlift. Brian Litten: Box jumps. So something that's going to make you explode in my book. something that's going to make you pop. Even doing just getting on your knees and jumping to your feet, the knees to feet, just doing that a bunch I think helps with the deadlift. that last, like going back to that 600 deadlift that I missed, it's that last hip motion that I couldn't get it through. So I always kind of come back to that in my head. Like we got to get those, that hit, that fast hip motion at the end has got to be big. So yeah. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, I'm with you. mean, to me, I deadlift. always looked at it. Where do they need the most help? it off the floor? Is it at lockout? So depending Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: on the kid, the, their best accessory could be different because they struggle with lockout or they struggle out the floor. So same with squad. Are they slow out of the hole or are they Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: slow at lockout? So awesome. Well, thanks for being with us, man. This was fun. It's getting Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: getting to know you a little bit more each day and that we get a chance to talk to you. I appreciate you being here. Brian Litten: Well, thank you. It's been fun. So, yeah. Chris Whittaker: Anything Brian that we haven't talked about that you'd like to share with our audience? Brian Litten: Well, I believe I'm the Zone 6. Is that correct? Chris Gilliam: Yes. Brian Litten: OK, so I'm the Zone 6 board member. I've never been on the board before. This is my first, you know, year with it, so I'm excited about that and I just want to help all everybody in Southwest Michigan. So I want to try to grow the sport over here, because I think there's a sleeping giant if you will down here. We got a lot of farm kids and it'll be interesting if we can grow this sport. So hopefully with me being here in Dewajak we can kind of get that thing going. And then just, think it's, I gotta say, I love E, Coach E. I wouldn't be here without him. Being a board member, being a power lifter, he completely changed my life. Eric Jennings has got to get a lot of credit, so yeah. Chris Gilliam: Awesome. Chris Whittaker: plenty of love for Coach Eric Jennings. Brian Litten: Yeah. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, we'll probably have another episode explaining the zones that you mentioned because we've divided the state into zones Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: for registration purposes and to have a liaison within those zones. And so you're representing basically Southwest Michigan is what zone six does. Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: So thanks for mentioning them. I appreciate it. Brian Litten: one more thing. It is a teacher appreciation week, so I got to say thank you to all the teachers out there. I don't know when this Chris Gilliam: yes it is. Brian Litten: episode is going to get released, but it's coming out and those power lifters, they need to get their grades up in order to lift. know, it comes down to those teachers are helpful. teachers, thank you. Yeah. Chris Gilliam: yeah, definitely. Chris Whittaker: 15 % off at Texas Roadhouse this week for Brian Litten: Nice. Chris Whittaker: teachers. Yeah, Chris Gilliam: Go sleep. Chris Whittaker: rumor has it. I think it's 15. I don't know. My wife told me. Brian Litten: You Chris Whittaker: I got enough stuff. We don't need to go to Texas Roadhouse this week. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Chris Whittaker: So Chris, anything else for Brian before we sign off? Chris Gilliam: Well, we're excited to have you on the board. You know, I appreciate it. You came highly recommended from Eric Jennings and to have somebody that has experience as a lifter and coaching is gonna be very beneficial to our board of directors so that our association can keep growing into the future, you just, you know, in the little bit of time, like there's more changes coming. Brian Litten: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: You know, and so and I think they're all positive and exciting. So thank you for being with us and it was good to talk to you a little bit more and get to know you better. Brian Litten: Well, thank you for having me. Chris Whittaker: All right, this has been another episode of The Platform, where the story's way a ton.