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Barbell SFL Preparation and Advice

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Jordan Vaughan

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Certified Instructor
I have finally bitten the bullet and decided to sign up for my second Strong First Certification. I have just under 6 months left to prepare. I can not wait!

I also attended a SFL day course a couple of years ago so feel like I have an okay understanding of form and technique.

I’ve been a long time Kettlebell trainee who has dabbled with the barbell. Now it has to be the other way around.

The current plan is a Reloaded Cycle for Back Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press and Military Press. One heavy day and one light day for both. In addition to this I am running a Strong Endurance 523A.

I am trying to be as deliberate with my practice as I can, training the lifts twice a week and the light day allows for skill acquisition and simply practicing the lifts - set up, lift, re rack and breathing.

I have started preparation in plenty of time as I want to own the standards. The deadlift and back squat will not be a problem as the kettlebell has set me up with a solid foundation. I can deadlift x2.5 body weight. The bench press is lagging, I haven’t trained bench press in 3-4 years so this seems foreign to me at the moment. I need to bench 95kg and I’d expect my 1 TRM to be around 80kg currently

What I am asking is what advice do you have to someone preparing for the SFL and what did your training look like for the SFL.

Thanks in advance and I hope you are all well!
 
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Listen to @Anna C :)

I had to go twice to the SFL to finally validate it, and even after the second one, it took me almost the whole 6 month after the event to validate the missing lift. Everything went easy, except the bench (long arms, I don't like the lift, etc, you know the excuses...).

For what I read, you are close to be in the same situation. Easy deadlift, lagging bench.

Your plan, with reload on the 4 main lifts, seems quite good to me. I would probably re-assess in 2 or 3 months to see if the bench if progressing well enough, but overall, I think you are on the right path.
 
Good luck @Jordan Vaughan - SFL is an amazing experience.

It’s great that you’ve done the 1-day course; that will help a lot. I‘ve seen people attend without understanding what’s expected of them in terms of technique (aka they were unprepared) and they struggled with the tests, especially the BP. Just as a refresher, I would recommend watching this video and having someone (or yourself via video) spot check your technique. Watch out for lack of depth in the SQ (don’t go by feel, validate it visually) and the motionless pause in the BP (which I believe is the thing that’s hardest to ingrain for many people as the weight gets heavier, myself included).

 
Anna C said:
Reload is a good choice.


There's most of my advice but let me know if you have more questions.
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Thanks for the reply! I had read your article a few months ago but had forgotten all about it, it provides me with an idea of what to expect and highlights the importance of being able to hit the technical standards repeatedly and under fatigue. I seem to be in a similar boat to what you were with some work to do on the bench press.

Did you continue with A+A work with you preparation for the SFL?
 
jef said:
Listen to @Anna C :)

I had to go twice to the SFL to finally validate it, and even after the second one, it took me almost the whole 6 month after the event to validate the missing lift. Everything went easy, except the bench (long arms, I don't like the lift, etc, you know the excuses...).

For what I read, you are close to be in the same situation. Easy deadlift, lagging bench.

Your plan, with reload on the 4 main lifts, seems quite good to me. I would probably re-assess in 2 or 3 months to see if the bench if progressing well enough, but overall, I think you are on the right path.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply! Anna is a wealth of knowledge and experience.

I am similar to you with the long arms and dislike for the bench (most pressing for me) but, I guess dealing with what you’ve been dealt applies here.

I’m 4 weeks into my reloaded cycle, I’ll reassess in another 4 weeks. If it’s working I’ll continue, if not then change up the plan.
 
Mike Torres said:
Good luck @Jordan Vaughan - SFL is an amazing experience.

It’s great that you’ve done the 1-day course; that will help a lot. I‘ve seen people attend without understanding what’s expected of them in terms of technique (aka they were unprepared) and they struggled with the tests, especially the BP. Just as a refresher, I would recommend watching this video and having someone (or yourself via video) spot check your technique. Watch out for lack of depth in the SQ (don’t go by feel, validate it visually) and the motionless pause in the BP (which I believe is the thing that’s hardest to ingrain for many people as the weight gets heavier, myself included).

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply! The one day course was a couple years ago but I still have the manual to refresh myself with the standards and correctives. I watch the video before each training session at the moment as I know I have some work to do so pick one point to work on and focus on that for the session. The pause on the BP is tough to ingrain and it doesn’t feel naturally currently.
I do need to get a different pair of eyes to check my form, I will look into this soon as well as posting some videos up on here. Although videoing from a good angle is difficult at the moment as my garage is only just long enough to load plates onto the barbell.
 
Here I’m at my last sets of today’s training session. Heavy deadlifts and light military press.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!

 
Steve Freides said:
@Jordan Vaughan, looking very good.

-S-
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I agree, nice work!

Jordan Vaughan said:
Did you continue with A+A work with you preparation for the SFL?
Click to expand...

I did a lot of A+A in 2016 and early 2017, but I switched to barbell in 2017 for 6 months or so before SFL in Oct 2017. As I described in the article, I really needed more time and more work for the bench press, but for the other lifts it was enough.
 
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