09 Oct 10/20/Life Seminar at Battle Axe Gym, Miami, FL

Hurricane Irma got in the way last month in September as we had to cancel the seminar, but we said “OK, fine, we will do it even better in October.”

Mike Da La Pava, owner of Battle Axe Gym in Miami (note: if you live in the Greater Miami area, you should train here), FL reached out to me in Feb of this year after his good friend and my PRS teammate and friend, Danny Vega advised him to contact me about his back pain and his hope to return to sport.

When people reach out to me about their back pain, I ask them to purchase both Back Mechanic and Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance by Stu McGill (and going forward I’ll be adding the recently released Gift of Injury). The reasons are 2-fold: 1. To have the best resources at their fingertips to refer back to over and over and become familiar with. 2. To weed out those who are not serious about their recovery to save us both from wasting each other’s time. Let’s be real: If one won’t spend ~$100 to get the best info on the market that will propel them toward regaining their life, then they are likely to stay hurt anyway due to many factors present.

Since this initial contact, Mike and I have become good friends, a great client and become a true professional when it comes to patience and understanding his injury. He has been pain-free for some time and is now working on returning to sport.

Seminar Weekend:
Friday night, we kicked off the seminar weekend with a little training at BAG with myself, Mike, Ria and Megan, Mike’s lovely girlfriend. I had mike get under the bar for the first time since Feb. Why? Because he’s been pain free for a long time and I felt it was a good time to start, since I could be there in person. Ria and I got some Fluff and Buff work in, then Ria and Megan recorded while I coached up Mike. To say he was excited would be a gross understatement. We ended up going to a great Cuban place (Sergio’s) to eat and I have to say it was some of the best food I’ve ever had and relatively clean.

Saturday morning kicked off bright and early. The crew is prepping for a meet, so they were there bright and early to have a mock meet. I got there a bit early and checked out the action. Battle Axe reminds me of a bee-hive with nobody standing around waiting on someone else to pick up the slack. They work extremely hard and efficiently. Why? Because Mike runs a tight ship with no fluff. Kudos for him setting the example.

Shortly after I got there, my buddy Danny Vega showed up and we filmed some videos that you’ll be seeing over the next few weeks on YouTube and IG. We also got together the game plan and finished prepping for the day. We had a pretty strict itinerary that we were going to adhere to for the sake of the day as we promised to deliver in about 6hr.

The day kicked off at about 10am and it was a full house of eager and hungry athletes that were ready to learn, then apply immediately.

Danny and I covered what 10/20/Life is, and is NOT.

We talked about my new book with Dr. McGill and a little about my story.

We talked about the social media craze and why it’s good and bad for lifters. Mostly bad.

We then went into some hands-on with the custom warm-up with the when, why, where and how.

Of course, we covered the squat, bench and deadlift, top to bottom.

Danny explained the keto diet and the benefits of switching over and the adjustment period needed. Very thorough and easy to understand. Danny really helped me coach the shit out of people all day. Excellent work, Danny.

We ran almost perfectly on time the whole day and this is not easy to do. This allowed for us to really open the floor up and take our time and close out the day with a thorough Q&A, and let everyone ask whatever was on their mind. And, some of the best questions I have ever been asked, were asked by this group. I really enjoyed this.

The Podcast
After I spent some time chatting with some of the attendees, we filmed the second official Battle Axe podcast with the beard strong guys (good meeting you guys) and Mike. Look for this very soon, but it went very well. I really enjoyed this a lot. We covered a LOT of things Gift of Injury and how back pain is not a life sentence, even though it feels like it is.
We then got sushi delivered and had a nice party the rest of the night, which was a ton of fun. Mike broke out (and spilled) some nice, high-end whiskey for us during the podcast and late into the night. By the end of the day, I was SMOKED. Time for bed.

Sunday, we had a small little follow-up seminar, with a casual Q&A session and light training session before hitting the road for the ~6hr drive back to Jacksonville from Miami.

I have to say, this may be the best group I have ever worked with.

I want to thank first, my wife Ria for coming down, organizing, supporting and running the camera and helping me out as she always does. We have a lot of video of the seminar/weekend that will be coming out over the next couple of weeks and of course, the podcast.

Thank you to Danny Vega for coming over and giving me a hand and spreading the word about my new book, PRS and 10/20/life and its benefits to anyone who strength trains. You killed it.

Thank you to the attendees who came to support what I do and gave me a chance to help your strength journey. I enjoyed each and every one of you.

And lastly, thank you to Mike and Megan for being incredible hosts and for going above and beyond taking care of us and making us feel welcome. Ria and I really appreciate your kindness and hospitality. We enjoyed the food thoroughly, the awesome coffee and having our back as it made for a very easy trip!

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Brian Carroll

Owner and Founder at PowerRackStrength.com

Brian is a retired world-class powerlifter with over two decades of world-class powerlifting. From 1999 to 2020, Brian Carroll was a competitive powerlifter, one of the most accomplished lifters in the sport's history. Brian started off competing in bench press competitions 'raw,' then, shortly into the journey, he gravitated toward equipped lifting as there were no "raw" categories then. You only had to choose from single-ply (USPF) and Multi-ply (APF/WPC). Brian went on to total 2730 at 275 and 2651 at 242 with more than ten times his body weight in three different classes (220, 242, 275), and both bench pressed and deadlifted over 800 pounds in two other weight classes. He's totaled 2600 over 20 times in 2 different weight classes in his career. With 60 squats of 1000lbs or more officially, this is the most in powerlifting history, regardless of weight class or federation, by anyone not named David Hoff. Brian realized many ups and downs during his 20+ years competing. After ten years of high-level powerlifting competition and an all-time World Record squat at 220 with 1030, in 2009, Brian was competing for a Police academy scholarship. On a hot and humid July morning, Brian, hurdling over a barricade at 275lbs, landed on, fell, and hurt his back. After years of back pain and failed therapy, Brian met with world-renowned back specialist Prof McGill in 2013, which changed his trajectory more than he could have imagined. In 2017, Brian Carroll and Prof McGill authored the best-selling book about Brian's triumphant comeback to powerlifting in Gift of Injury. Most recently (10.3.20) -Brian set the highest squat of all time (regardless of weight class) with 1306 lbs – being the first man to break the 1300lb squat barrier at a bodyweight of 303 lbs.

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