Hey all,

Long time lurker, first time poster here.

I reached out to Adam early in April looking for coaching as someone had pointed out some significant issues with my form in the deadlift. Being the only SSC in NJ we had to schedule our appointment about a month in advance but the wait was worth it.

My first session with Adam included working on Squats, OHP 2.0, Deadlift, and Bench Press. I came in expecting criticism on my deadlift and OHP, but didn't think I'd get much from squat and bench press - boy was I wrong.

Adam anticipated issues that I'd have before we even started and he was right on the money. We quickly realized I have a tendency to look up or straight foreword, that I'm too upright, and that my bar placement was several inches too low. The realization that I'd been doing it wrong for so long took me by surprise but I'm glad we're on the road to getting the kinks worked out.
After finishing squats we moved on to the OHP 2.0 which was completely new to me. Even after reading SS the mechanics still eluded me but Adam was able to help me start moving in the right direction. Yesterday was the first time I've done OHP ever that I didn't have pain in my shoulders afterwords. After the OHP we moved into the deadlift which I knew was going to be a mess. In the past I've always tried to DL through my heals with a rounded back. Using that technique I'd managed to pull 335x5 but felt like I was quickly reaching my limits and always felt sore afterwords. I noticed an immediate difference in the feeling of the deadlift after Adam helped me shift my weight from my heals to midfoot. There is still a lot of work to be done with getting my chest up but we were able to come up with a plan to get those muscles firing properly and I'm excited to get back in the gym and start working things out. Yesterday was the best I've felt about doing Deadlifts in my entire life. We were able to work up to 315 but unfortunately I was tanked and my ability to get my chest up was completely diminished. For some reason I don't feel the muscles in my back contract at all so it's difficult to know when I'm in the correct position. I think I just need more practice with correct form and hopefully it will come. We also ironed out a few issues on my bench press at the end.

One of the things I've been having issues with has been nutrition. Over the past year I'd used weight training and a mix of cardio/conditioning to drop 100 lbs. Now that I'm at a healthier weight for my height I've been reluctant to increase my calories back up to normal amounts since I tend to put on weight very easily. Adam helped alleviate my concerns and come up with a plan to get my nutrition in line with my strength gaining goals.

All in all, Adam was incredibly helpful. He was incredibly knowledgeable about the mechanics of each lift. On top of that his ability to anticipate potential issues and come up with strategies/cues to fix the issues was great and will help me immensely over the coming months.

If you're in the NJ area and looking for help I'd definitely recommend reaching out to Adam!