Squat, Bench, Deadlift, Repeat

Teatime with the Trainer

Insights into powerlifting and coaching from Joseph Lucero, the owner of Harvesting Strength LLC, strength coach, and author.

ORS: What got you into coaching and powerlifting in general?

Joseph: I first started powerlifting, like many, as an order from my football coach, since I was not strong enough my freshman year. Once I started getting into it and competing, it quickly became something I enjoyed more than playing football. Coaching began when I was lifting with friends. They would constantly ask me for advice on how to train properly. This became more and more frequent until people started offering to pay me to write programming. I ended up getting my coaching certifications.

ORS: What advice would you give to someone who is trying to increase their weight on the big three (squat, bench, deadlift)?

Joseph: For anyone who is trying to increase any of their main lifts, as vanilla as it sounds, just have a plan. The way I set it up is to create a training plan about twelve weeks out from the date I want to hit a certain number. This not only allows me to follow a set strategy, but it also allows me to properly pace myself with my goals.

ORS: What do you enjoy most about being a coach?

Joseph: I enjoy seeing people progress when I am training them. Seeing their progress and seeing them put up heavy numbers makes me super happy, sometimes even more happy than they are.

ORS: Out of the top three lifts, which one is your favorite and why?

Joseph: My favorite lift is actually the deadlift. When I first started, I sucked at it and was not at all built for it mechanically. It was because of this that I worked on it obsessively to get higher numbers of deadlifts, which eventually led me to enjoy it so much.

ORS: What advice would you give to someone who just started as a coach in powerlifting?

Joseph: Give out free and educational content. This can be in the form of free eBooks, educational videos on YouTube or Instagram, or writing informational blog posts. Doing this for free will counterintuitively lead to more clients coming your way, because people will see your knowledge and want to work with you. You can also give out free advice in the form of DMs or comments, as long as it's unsolicited and appropriate.

ORS: Tell us about your first coaching client.

Joseph: My first coaching story involved a good friend who used to train with me. He would see my routines and asked if I could make one for him. I agreed and then he offered to pay me to write in his spiral notebook. I wrote a pretty basic program. He continued to follow that exact program for almost a year, which led to us working together for some time.