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Getting Ready for Meet Day
by Dane Miller
A lot of people ask me for meet day tips, so I thought it would be helpful to write out a guide for meet day preparation. I’m going to cover quite a bit of ground, so I’ll organize this article into a couple of sections: Pre-meet (night before), day of the meet, and during the meet. Within those sections, I’ll also be covering tips for mental and physical prep, so read closely.
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Weightlifting is Unbeatable for Sports Performance
by Dane Miller
Those of you who are familiar with my coaching style know that I base almost all of my programming around the Olympic weightlifting movements--and not just for my weightlifters and throwers. The majority of the clients at my gym will learn to perform the snatch, clean, and jerk during their time here. I thought it might be helpful to outline some of the “why’s” behind using weightlifting as the basis for athletic development here at Garage Strength.
- olympic weightlifting
- Sports Performance
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Medals and Records from Garage Strength lifters!
by Dane Miller
This past weekend was a super exciting weekend for Hayley Kate, and Jules posting huge totals at the AO Finals. Jake, Jess, and DJ all earning medals. That is 1/2 of our team earning medals!!

Special thanks to John Giacalone, DJ, and Dan Marrone coaching along with me this weekend.We had certain sessions with 2 different athletes lifting at the same time, and I am extremely grateful for their help!
- Community
- olympic weightlifting
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Applied Breath Training for Weightlifting
by Dane Miller
Wim Hof is considered, "The Ice Man." He has studied extensively on using breathing techniques to increase the bodies capacity to handle uncomfortable situations. Try this breathing technique on a daily basis for best results.
- olympic weightlifting
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DROP SETS AND DOWN SETS: Are they effective and how do you use them?
by Dane Miller

Drop Sets, Down Sets, Finishers...call them whatever you want, they are the shit!!!

When athletes first start training with me, the first question they ask me is, “Why do we have to do drop sets?” First, let’s go over exactly what I mean by drop sets.
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Recap of the 2016 American Open
by Dane Miller
The Garage Strength Weightlifting went down to Orlando with a few goals in mind. We wanted to get our junior lifters in a strong position on the first ranking for the Junior World team. We also wanted to get a bunch of rookie lifters to feel comfortable on the national stage. We accomplished just about every goal we had set out to do. I am extremely proud of our results and will go lifter by lifter. I will also rant about the horrible officiating I witnessed that could place a serious damper on our sport if it is not dealt with properly.
- Community
- olympic weightlifting
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What To Do When You Fail ...
by Dane Miller

When You Fail…

Have a prepared list of questions. Checkdown each option and see what happened to cause a failed lift.
1. Did you miss because of a technical error or mental error?

2. Were you focused prior to the rep?

3. Were you focused on hitting positions or just blasting through the lift?
- olympic weightlifting
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Youth Worlds in Malaysia with Dane Miller
by Dane Miller
The first half of this trip has been incredible. I've learned so much from being around these elite athletes and top notch coaches. Our travel wa...
- Community
- olympic weightlifting
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Under-25 Nationals and University Championships
by Dane Miller
Garage Strength Weightlifting sent four lifters to the Inaugural Under-25 Nationals and University Championships in New Orleans, Louisiana. Three o...
- olympic weightlifting
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Dane Coaches Olympians
by Dane Miller
Dane Miller coached Norik Vardanian at the Olympic Trials in 2016. You can read about his experience at the trials here. Norik placed second at th...
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Coaching at the 2016 USA Weightlifting Olympic Trials Part 1
by Dane Miller
First, I want to get this off my mind. Looking back over the past year’s competition schedule, I believe USAW could have done a better job with their athletes (specifically male athletes) by planning out a better schedule to ensure proper peaking for the Olympic Qualifier (Pan Ams). I believe they could have used the Junior Nationals Trials session or the Arnold Classic as a qualifier for the Pan Am team, which in turn would have given the athletes more time to train and recover and provide
- Ghostface
- olympic weightlifting
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Peaking and Tapering
by Dane Miller

There are many ways to set up a taper for individual athletes. It is important to comprehend that each athlete will peak or taper in a different manner. During the last program prior to competition, dropping volume is a very simple way to trigger a peak, but many questions need to be answered prior to setting up the competing athlete.

-What is the event in question?

-How important is this meet?

-What is my current training volume?
- olympic weightlifting
- Sports Performance
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