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The Rise of Jules
by Dane Miller
If you follow Garage Strength or Jules on social media you will have noticed over the last 5-6 months that she has really been coming into form. Her technique has improved, her consistency in meets has improved dramatically and her energy levels are always seaping through her pores. IN training, she has smoked a 104k snatch and a 126k clean and jerk, while back squatting 160k as a 19 year old. We knew Jules was in good shape, especially after her last meet, a local competition where she went 6/6 and hit 100/122 at her new weight class, 90k.
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Offseason Blog: Back at it
by Noah Kennedy White
We're back again! After a week of semi-activity following the end of my season, I started up training again. During these early stages of offseason training, the hardest thing for me is always just staying in it mentally. Early offseason training isn't particularly fun--when it's 90 degrees outside every day, the gym doesn't have AC, and you have some pretty high reps in your program. So that's easily been my biggest challenge so far, but I still think I've made some decent improvements in and out of the circle.
- discus
- GS Throws
- offseason
- throwing
- weightlifting
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Uzbekistan: The Country
by Dane Miller
This trip was very interesting. The Eurasian Steppe is a region of considerable interest for Americans because we typically do not earn much about the region in parochial schooling. The silk road, Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan all have had influence here, yet for some reason Americans know next to nothing about the country (myself included). Here is a quick debriefing.
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Meet Recap: Hayley at Junior Worlds
by Dane Miller
This blog is just a simple write up of my analysis of the first Garage Strength competitor to take on the competition at the Junior World Championships in Uzbekistan, Hayley Reichardt. Hayley came to Uzbekistan in position to potentially bring home a bronze medal in the 48k division. Heading into the start, there were four girls with a start total of 175k or more, Hayley being one of those girls. Her best total to date was 171k from the 2018 Arnold Classic.
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Season Blog: Well, That Sucked
by Noah Kennedy White
I'm sure most who read this won't be aware, but my season closed out in a pretty painful way. I went into the last weekend of qualifying for USATF Outdoor Nationals sitting 19th on the submitted entries list, with 18 men competing in the eventual field. My teammate, Ryan Njegovan, and I had one last meet on our schedule to try to qualify. We traveled to Hightstown, NJ, feeling good technically and coming off of a good week of practice. Personally, I felt like I was set up very well to get the PR I needed to move myself into a definitive qualifying spot (I was 42cm out based on marks).
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Coaching Two Events at Once
by Dane Miller
First, I think it’s ridiculous that USATF would screw over coaches and athletes by having a staggered start for two of the biggest throws competitions at USA’s. For those who aren’t aware, USATF decided to have women’s shot and men’s discus basically at the same time and at different locations at outdoor USA’s. I know several coaches (myself included) whose ability to coach their athletes was dampened by this issue. When problems like this arise, it really comes off that USATF doesn’t care about their throwing athletes. This was just a big example of poor planning. They could have easily held the women’s shot at the rings near the men’s discus, which would have created an amazing competitive environment for both sets of throwers.
- scheduling
- USAs
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USATF Championships Recap
by Dane Miller
Along with Nick Gwiazdowski dominating the FinalX: Bethlehem this past weekend, I also had athletes competing at the USATF Outdoor National Championships in track and field in Des Moines, Iowa. The Garage Strength athletes who qualified were Sam Mattis and Josh Syrotchen in the men’s discus, and Mo Riddick and Rachel Fatherly in the women’s shot. Just about everyone was feeling good going into the meet. Sam was ranked #1, Mo had been grooving some throws recently, and I knew Rachel was in a spot to make some big moves up the board. Personally, I had never been more confident going into a meet in terms of my throwers’ ability to hit big marks. I knew I had set them up well physically and mentally, and we had all checked off our boxes during our prep.
- Community
- Sports Performance
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Preparing for Success at the FinalX
by Dane Miller
Going in to the FinalX: Bethlehem, the final qualifier for the upcoming World Championships for wrestling, I think both Nick and I were feeling some pressure. Nick needed to beat Adam Coon, who had previously beaten Kyle Snyder, an Olympic Champion.
- Clean
- FinalX
- Gwiz
- programming
- Pulling
- Worlds
- Wrestling
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Setting up a Great Offseason
by Dane Miller
So, you’re just finishing up your spring season and you need to figure out how to prepare for the upcoming football season. You are coming off a big peak and are feeling fatigued, and are looking at about 10 weeks of summer before 2-a-days start up again. Here’s a quick 2-week focus guide on how to best prepare yourself to smash your opponents in the fall!
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Closing Out the Season: A Conversation
by Dane Miller
This blog is a transcript of a conversation between Garage Strength Head Coach Dane Miller, and three of his post-collegiate throwers: Sam Mattis, Ryan Njegovan, and Noah Kennedy White.
- discus
- shotput
- throwing
- track
- training
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Nutrition for Throwers
by Dane Miller
One of my biggest pet peeves as a throws coach is this prevailing idea that throwers can just eat whatever they want, whenever they want. Anyone is welcome to do this, but they should be ok with looking fat and unathletic, as well as training and competing poorly. It’s not productive for throwing or from a health perspective to eat with no plan and no focus on proper nutrition. Proper nutrition is important for all athletes, and it is one of the easiest ways to make huge gains!
- discus
- nutrition
- shotput
- throws
- training
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Fasting to Break a Weight-Loss Plateau
by Dane Miller
As some may have noticed, I have lost over 60lbs over the last two years. I struggled with my health for a while after being infected with Lyme Disease. I was fat, felt like shit and had little to no energy. I decided to start playing around with 4-5 different “diets.” What I have learned is that almost every diet works to an extent, as long as there is some mode of accountability.
- diet
- fasting
- nutrition
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