Client Testimonials

[Walter Palmer]

I began working with Jordan about nine months and it has been a great experience. I've been lifting for 25 years or so but got somewhat serious about the strength aspect about 7 years ago and found SS about 3 years ago.

Being an older athlete - 50 years old - that had exhausted linear progress and the Texas Method, I had switched to a four day split about a year ago, but found I needed a better strategy to prepare for competitions and making sure I could keep moving forward and time my peaks better.

I had met Jordan at the SS Seminar as one of the platform coaches and he impressed me then with his knowledge, his own lifting, and his personality so I turned to him in March for several reasons:

Programming
Nutrition consult
His advice on competitions, equipment, peaking, making weight, etc.

Jordan has been giving me detailed block periodization programs that are tailored to my needs and my timeline. He set me up with some targets on macros and helped me understand what I need to know about nutrition and supplements. And, he answered a ton of questions from me about wrist wraps and pausing the bench press and knee wraps, and belts and all kinds of other stuff that didn't have previous experience with despite years of lifting.

As for results, I've hit PR's on the major lifts at least 3 or 4 times in the past nine months and feeling good about prospects at an upcoming contest where I'll lift in the 220 weight class (I'm about 6'2"). Probably the biggest testament to the results I've seen from Jordan's programming are in my bench press.

I'm not particularly well built for the BP - long arms, skinny chest - but I just bench pressed 300 pounds last week with a pause at the bottom. While that is not a number that is going to set any records, it compares favorably to 250 which is about where my BP was nine months ago!

The final thing that has really helped me is in my coaching knowledge and experience. By working with Jordan on my programming and understanding his approach, it is giving me additional education that I can pass along to people I work with in the gym.

There are a bunch of great SS coaches that could help you and I certainly don't think you could go wrong with Jordan.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Thanks Walter, you've done very well :-)

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

From Megan B.

Jordan is the bomb (and so is Matt)!

I contacted Jordan in June of last year because I was having issues with early morning training and suspected that I could improve with better nutrition. Jordan helped me structure my eating and supplements so I was able to feel better and continue making progress. It also turned out that I was nearing the end of linear progression, so signing up for programming help from Matt was also awesome to get me through that.

I started out weighing around 145 lbs. and eating around 1800 calories. Best squat was 200, press 65, bench 82, and deadlift 205.

We set a goal for me to compete in a powerlifting meet in the 132 lb weight class, and I signed up for a meet in December of last year. Jordan worked with me very closely, monitoring my progress by weight, waist measurement, and photos. He was always very responsive and answered my many questions quickly. Jordan was also super encouraging and understanding when I kind of had a meltdown after my macros got really low and I was working a lot of overtime. He quickly adjusted so I could feel better yet continue to make progress with both weight loss and training.

Matt kept it interesting with a variety of different programs that I went through in preparing for the meet. He was also very responsive when I had questions.

Matt and Jordan prepared me well for my first meet, helping me with cutting down the last couple of pounds, picking my weights for my attempts, and giving me lots of good advice for the meet.

At the meet I squatted 230, benched 105, and deadlifted 242. My best press at the gym has been 80.

I am currently around 135 lbs. and eating around 1900-2300 calories. It is great to be able to eat a lot and look better than I ever did before. I also feel that I am eating enough to support my training, and I am continuing to make progress. I can't say enough about how much Jordan and Matt's advice has helped. Even though I was putting in a lot of effort before, to an extent I was spinning my wheels because I didn't know how to handle problems that came up. Now I am confident that everything I am doing makes sense and will lead to good results.

Thanks Jordan!

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

From Laura C:

I am an electrical simulations engineer for a major American commercial airplane company completing my master's in software engineering who decided to give powerlifting a try. As a former national level (category 2) cyclist and previously an NCAA division 1 swimmer, I have been coached by nationally ranked athletes and coaches in their respective sports. I know a good coach when I meet one and believe me, Jordan is by far the best coach I have ever had.

I approached a year ago with the request for coaching, and he clearly stated that he requires two things of his athletes: compliance and dedication. In return, he promised a personalized training plan and clear nutritional guidelines. He delivered on both points. His training plans are absolutely thorough and where I was not clear he went out of his way to make sure I understood what he meant. He responded to all my questions within 24 hours without exception. He would tweek my schedule if I had problems fitting in my workouts and he would adjust my exercises if I had injuries. He would take the time to explain to me the logic behind the exercises even though he could have easily sent me a link and tell me to look up what "RPE"'s meant. He is unbelievably patient.

The best thing about Jordan is that he somehow knows when I was slacking off with compliance and when I legitimately needed a change - he would tell me in an even-handed manner to start complying when I slacked off too much, and he would change my program when I burned out. This quality in a coach is highly unique in Jordan and I haven't seen this in anyone else.

He would review my videos when I provided them. He never berated me for being late when I submitted my updates and while photos are recommended so that he can monitor progress, he never harassed me to send them in - I think he understood that I was very self conscious. I know he has many clients and he always made me feel like I was his most important one.

For the number crunchers, my body weight was 142 when I first met him and my PR squat was 205#, my best bench was 96#, and my best DL was 245#. Now my body weight is 130.5#, my squat PR is 236#, and my best bench is 121.5# - not bad for a 32 year old 5'2" female! I cannot ask for more.

The only reason why I am not being coached by Jordan is due to grad school - working a full time job and attending grad school and competitive powerlifting and volunteering at my local non-profit cycling organization proved to be too much for me, and I no longer could uphold my end of the bargain of compliance. I fully intend to contact Jordan once I get my master's and smash my PR's - if he has room in his busy schedule.

TL;DR hire Jordan only if you want the most responsive, patient, well spoken coach out there and you are ready to commit to a well written training plan and nutritional guidelines.

[Brodie Butland]

I needed help for a powerlifting meet in four months. I weighed 235 lbs but wanted to compete as a 220, and I needed programming help because my work schedule and general life issues made a lot of the traditional intermediate programs (e.g. Texas Method) unrealistic. I was hoping to hit an 1100 total.

Jordan was right on the case with some great flexible programming (but still intense...) and dietary help to help me increase my lifts while slowly dropping weight. I responded really well to the programming, but eventually suffered three different muscle strains (not related to Jordan) that short-circuited my progress. Jordan tweaked the program on two separate occasions to work around the issues so that I could keep training and not have to bow out of the meet.

I competed last Sunday, weighing in at 211 lbs (diet changes were a bit too successful, it seems...). And despite all the problems I encountered with injuries and week-long work emergencies, I still totaled 1075...including hitting a 400 squat for the first time in my life. I also was able to deadlift over 400 thanks to Jordan's suggestion that I go to moderate-stance sumo instead of conventional to work around nagging issues. Had I done slightly different weight selection, there's no question I would have met my original 1100 goal at the meet.

In other words, Jordan's prescriptions were so good that I only narrowly missed my 1100 total goal while constantly injured for two months. I have no doubt that under more favorable circumstances, 1200 would be in the bag. I'm already looking forward to the next powerlifting competition, where I can put Jordan's wisdom into practice again.

[Derf123]

To lift in the shadow of the Feigenbaum…

I’ve previously described how I ran into Jordan Feigenbaum at a Starting Strength seminar in Denmark, so if that should interest you go to this link: http://startingstrength.com/resource...861#post954861

I made the decision, after our dinner together following the seminar, where I learned Jordan coached lifters online, to ask if I could employ his services – He agreed and we took it from there.

I decided, to opt for the complete nutrition and programming package thinking it would be a waste to invest 50% of the effort instead of the full Monty. Jordan sent me a questionnaire and quite a bit of very relevant reading material, which I digested quickly.

I had told Jordan, that after 1.5 years of lifting I was currently a 200, 300, 400, 500 lbs lifter in app corresponding kilos in the four main lifts. I would like to squat 220kg, deadlift 260kg, press 100kg and get my bench moving again.

Jordan sent me the programming, which looked completely alien to the Starting Strength and Texas Method I had done so far. As said, I had started training a year and a half prior, and hadn’t really done much else than slowly add weight to the bar as best I could during that timeframe. Diet recommendations were macro based which was also a new concept to me – but a lot more manageable than a strict meal plan.

I shot Jordan quite a bit of questions, which were excellently explained quite promptly and always without fail within 24 hours. He and I are 6 time zones apart, so I think that is about as well as can be reasonably expected.

Jordan had remarked he only wanted to work with disciplined and ambitious lifters, so out of pure fear of missing that demographic, I probably started out by sending him 5 mails a day with my status and questions – He replied back this was good, but a weekly update was sufficient. I managed to get my daily mail count down to 4 after that…

I stupidly injured myself about 3 weeks in, which was a freak occurrence unrelated to Jordan’s training regimen – I thought this would mean a complete lay off – but Jordan programmed around it with rehab squats and deadlifts, keeping the upper body lifts heavy as could be managed and GPP focused on movements I could do at the time. As a result, I was back on my game 7-8 days later – which really impressed me.
Initially, the transition to a far more planned periodization template was a bit hard for me. I was so used to trying to PR every week, that I found it very hard to believe I was getting stronger without actually moving maximal weights. I mentioned this to Jordan, who assured me I was on the right track, so I carried on.

The defining moment for me came a week or so later – I was deadlifting and went for a 231 kg deadlift – Which should be challenging but not something I would miss. My max at the time was 240kg very hitched and had been so for 6-7 months. As I lifted the bar it felt extremely heavy, but I made a clean pull without any hitching. Sitting down, I was very disappointed it had felt so heavy – feeling some vindication that this programming wasn’t working for me. Just as I was about to shoot Jordan a mail a guy walks by – “Nice man, 241kg is no joke!”

I gave him a surprised look, and checked the bar. As it happened , I had recently started using 25 kg plates instead of 20’s, leading to a miscalculation. In effect, I had beaten my old hitched record shortly after an injury – without even psyching up for the lift, as I had no idea I was going to pull that weight. Needless to say, I did shoot Jordan a mail, but the wording was completely changed compared to the first draft…

From thereon in, I bought completely into the program and PRs came rolling in.

When we started my lifts were these. (Only lifts with passable form listed)

Squat 180 kg
Deadlift 230 kg
Bench 130 kg Hadn’t moved a year
Press 95 kg Hadn’t moved a year
First peaking phase - not very long after an injury
Squat 205.5 kg
Deadlift 255.5 kg
Bench 136 kg paused
Press 97 kg

My lifts 6 months into Jordan’s training are:

Squat 2x220kg Estimated 1rm ~500lbs
Deadlift 260.5kg Estimated 1rm based on reps 268kg
Bench 145kg
Press Estimated 1rm based on reps 103 kg.

I weighed 105 kg when we started 114kgs now, with no discernable difference in body fat.

Personally, I find these numbers astounding. Keep in mind, I am 35, a gangly 6.6, never touched a barbell before I turned 33, I have 2 small kids and my own business. Lifting is 3 days a week, though I may break training days up on occasion.

Throughout these months Jordan has been nothing but a class act – I have never seen a mail go unanswered – never experienced a question being regarded as foolish or unimportant. His grasp of barbell training far exceeds mine, but it is served in an easily understandable package, where all I literally do is lift the weights – Even this seems a helluva lot easier, as the programming along with the nutrition means I can count on hitting the planned weights and RPE’s with very little possibility of failure.

Beyond this I’ve found Jordan to be a great guy, we both share interests outside of lifting – fast cars being one. (Mine’s a lot faster than his, which helps).
On a lot of our Skype sessions we get through the lifting questions, and find a lot common ground to keep conversation going – which is a nice way to build a trainer/client relationship where a lot of personal trust does come into play.

To finish up, let me end by saying, I have every confidence that Jordan’s training will get me to be a beast – like his well-known article is titled – I have also every confidence, that it would have been nigh on impossible for me to get there on my own.
I cannot recommend him enough.

If you haven’t been Feigenbaumed, you haven’t lift.

Best regards,
Frederik
Derf123 on startingstrength.com

[Dave Longley]

I don't know why I haven't written something here before now. Sorry Jordan!

When over in London, Jordan let it be known that he was up for doing some coaching. Me and three buddies took him up in this offer, and we got a coaching session on the Power Clean and Press 2.0

Jordan was noting short of superb. Friendly, encouraging, firm when necessary, funny, and efficient. We all came away from the session full of enthusiasm, and with new knowledge. Myself and one of my friends have been trained by very high level coaches in the martial arts, and we both agreed that Jordan is up there with them. Obviously, it's a different thing, but the manner in which the information was relayed, and the way he was able to adjust for each of us on the day, was a testament to his abilities.

Further, since that day, I have regularly contacted Jordan and bothered him for trivial information. There has been no financial gain for him when answering my questions, yet he always gets back to me with superb advice. So, not only a great coach, a great human being.

As such, I feel in his debt, and I hope to one day be able to reciprocate the kindness and patience he has shown me. My wife has offered her assistance in this task should it be required.

Thanks again, Jordan. You handsome devil.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Thanks Dave. Glad all is well with you. Now about your wife....

[mrflibble]

pics and videos from the first post have gone - which if deliberate, is very uncool

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

pics and videos from the first post have gone - which if deliberate, is very uncool

Bummer. I guess his photobucket account expired and he shut down his youtube channel. Probably looking for a job since I know PT school was almost over.