First, a little about me. I am currently in the 242 pound masters I class for lifting. I have been married for 15 years and we have two young boys, ages 5 and 10. I have been employed in the law enforcement community since 1997, working as a security manager, a corrections officer and a forensic firearms/toolmarks examiner. I am currently a Deputy Probation Officer and have been with Alameda County Probation for 4 years. I am also a drilling Navy Reservist with 16 years of service, currently holding the position of Aviation Warfare Systems Operator First Class. I have three college degrees, the highest being a Master of Forensic Sciences.
If you are a member of the MySpace community, you can check out my page at: Dalen's MySpace
I first started lifting weights at the age of 12, but did not become interested in powerlifting until the mid 1990’s. I had been reading about Westside Barbell and the conjugate training method for several years. I had tried some of the training, but had never committed to the system. I was a periodization junkie. I trained at the famous Iron Island in Alameda, CA, until it closed down, and learned quite a bit from the bench only guys. I then moved over to a military gym with a couple of guys to train with until they slowly transferred out. I was left without anyone to train with. This went on for a few months and I stalled to frustration. I had been hearing about Diablo Barbell from a few people, but was hesitant because of the travel distance from my home (33 miles each way). But curiosity overcame and I called to make an appointment to check it out.
My first venture
into Diablo was a Max Effort Squat day.
In store was giant cambered bar box squats. Ted paired me up with Garrett and, try as I might, I couldn’t
keep up. My form was terrible. I started to realize that my limited
experience with box squatting had taught me nothing. But from watching my attempts, Ted stated that he could have me
squatting 800 in one year. Although the
thoughts that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t entered my
mind, I spent the better part of two hours finishing the workout with Garrett
and talking to him. I absorbed the
atmosphere, the intensity in the training, which I had not really been exposed
to before. Everyone was there with a
purpose – train, learn, share and help.
There was some good natured smack talking and somewhat of a locker room
atmosphere, often politically incorrect, but not mean spirited – a bonding of
people. My kind of place! The atmosphere and the specialized equipment
got me started. I started at Diablo on
September 9, 2005. My best meet lifts
were 551 squat, 501 bench, 586 deadlift and 1553 total - all in the 220 or 242
weight classes.
And the training began. I decided that if I was going to be driving the distance, paying the money and being exposed to the system, I needed to close my mouth, open my ears and do as I was told. I checked my ego at the door and came to each workout prepared to do exactly what I was told. No more, no less. It often felt during the workouts that I wasn’t doing enough volume. I didn’t try to do anything extra, because I wasn’t told to – no matter how tempting it was. I had read enough to realize that Louie’s system had been tested over many, many years by people far smarter than myself. Who was I to challenge it! And I began to see results. I am blessed with very good proprioception, and the gym atmosphere encourages coaching and correcting others. I have been able to absorb this feedback rapidly.
Although I came with pretty good bench form, it got better. My lats were weak. My triceps were weak. I focused on bringing these muscles up. I really didn’t know what dynamic effort meant. And what the hell is contrast? After one month, I benched 551 at a meet – a 50 pound best. After five months, I benched 606 at a meet. And with what I’ve learned and the progress I keep making, the bench is still what I feel is my best lift – there will be more to come. I was very disappointed that I bombed on the bench at Senior Nationals 2006, but there were mitigating factors behind it and I think I have figured out what I need to do when I am preparing just before a meet. I need more shirt work. We rarely train in gear, other than belt, wrist wraps (and squat briefs on MES/DES days).
I was quick to learn that my squat form sucked. I was a quad squatter and this did nothing for me. I had stalled and I knew it. I started learning how to open up my stance and using my hips and glutes. These were very weak at first. I remember my first experience on the Glute/Ham Raise – I couldn’t do a single rep. I started pounding my weak spots – hamstrings, glutes, ab/core strength. And listening. Arch your back. Get your butt back. Sit back. Get the bar lower. Head up, chest up. Open up your hips and spread your knees. Spread the floor. Big air. Squeeze the bar out with your hips. Crush the bar. Piece by piece, each of these bits of feedback are falling into place. I was starting to understand – I was getting to the place where I actually understood what each of these things meant. I had read about them, thought I understood, but I didn’t. I’m beginning to. And getting help with my habit of getting too much inside my head. The first time I suit tested my new Metal Pro Squatter, I kept trying to go back to old form. I was having problems with the suit compressing me when I did this and I whined about it. The reply from Jesse Burdick, who was back spotting me, “Shut the fuck up. Trust the spotters and just fucking squat.” It worked. Sometimes you hear exactly what you need to hear at the right time. Each meet, I was getting personal records: first 639, then 666, then 738 and after eleven months I squatted 804. It was easy. That may sound arrogant, but it didn’t feel heavy – before I came to Diablo, 600 felt heavier. I heard Big Thad say at the last meet after he squatted over 900 that he felt that was his first real squat. I feel I am getting closer to that point, but haven’t had that “real squat” yet in competition.
My deadlift has been more stubborn. I tried sumo, but got little success with it. I will try it again as I get stronger. The most entertaining thing about me and deadlifting is my habit of passing out. I have now passed out during deadlift training 3 times… I thought I had cured this vasovagal response by taking a half breath during set up rather than a full breath. And the fact that I have a thing for very tight deadlift suits. I gave the suits up for now. The last time I tried, I apparently spoke in tongues as my forehead massaged the floor. So I concentrated on correcting form deficiencies, keeping the bar in closer to my legs and being explosive. The dynamic work helped. Plus the concept that deadlifting for me requires intensity and anger.
I came to Diablo
weighing in at 238 pounds. The training
has extensively changed by body composition.
My peak weight has been 256, but by body fat has changed
significantly. About two years ago, I
tested it through hydrostatic immersion (water dunk test) and I was 23%. I plan to get it tested through the same
method soon and have every confidence that it has dropped significantly. I will update this after I do the test. I am physically larger and markedly
stronger.
A word or two about some of the history behind my bombing at Seniors. I don’t like to make excuses, but El Diablo told me to write more about what happened. About 7 weeks prior to the meet, I was told by my superiors in the Navy Reserves that if I didn’t pass the body fat portion of the physical readiness test that I would likely be processed out of the reserves – after 16 years of service and only 4 to go to be eligible for retirement. So the push was on. I had to lose 9 inches off my waist to be within standards - in 6 weeks. I tripled my sled work to 18 trips per day and added in regular cardio – in addition to keeping on top of my regular workouts to get ready for Seniors. I cleaned my diet up and ate every two hours like clockwork. I dropped those 9 inches and lost 30 pounds at weigh in the week prior to Seniors, some of it in part due to body weight manipulation… That gave me a week to put weight back on so my gear fit me prior to the meet. I was able to put back on about 20 pounds. I realize that is an awful lot of stress on my body, but I was determined to go to Seniors anyway. Ted briefly tried to talk me out of it, but I wasn’t having any of that. So, I went. I PR’d the squat and then bombed in the bench. My first bomb…
In less than a year, 11 months to be exact, I have added 253 pounds to my squat, 105 pounds to my bench (shoulda been more…!), 47 pounds to my deadlift and 470 pounds to my total. Ted, you delivered what you promised when I joined - there are the numbers to prove it. Diablo is an awesome place to train!! This info was up to date as of August 2006.
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Here are some links to video's of Dalen in competition.
804 squat at Diablo NorCal Open 2006
584 bench at Diablo NorCal Open 2006
633 Deadlift at Diablo NorCal Open 2006
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Below is a history of my competitions:
9/6/03 WABDL Westcoast Championships (220)
Bench 362 - first place
Deadlift 562.5 - first place
6/5/04 WABDL Capitol City (220)
Bench 446 - first place
Deadlift 545 - first place
11/11/04 WABDL World Championships (220)
Bench 457 - second place
Deadlift 573 - second place
3/8/05 WABDL California Championships Monterey (220)
Bench 501.5 - first place – California state record
Deadlift 586 - first place – California state record
8/13/05 USAPL Southern California Regional Sylmar (242)
Squat 551
Bench 451
Deadlift 551
Total 1553 - first place
11/12/05 APF Diablo NorCal Open (242)
Squat 639
Bench 551
Deadlift 567
Total 1757 - first place
2/18/06 APF California State Championships (242)
Squat 666
Bench 606
Deadlift 562
Total 1834 - second place
6/4/06 APF Senior Nationals (242)
Squat 733
Bench Bomb with 3 tries at 584, failed on technicalities.
8/12/06 APF Diablo NorCal Open (242)
Squat 804
Bench 584
Deadlift 633
Total 2023 - first place and first APF elite total
12/16/06 APF Diablo Cold Weather Fiesta (275)
Squat 810
Bench 633
Deadlift 639
Total 2082 - second place and second APF elite total