08 Sep Who Is Paul Oneid?

By: Paul Oneid?

This is a really tough question to answer, but I will give it a try. I started competing in powerlifting while I was an intern strength and conditioning coach at the University of South Florida. I did my first meet in the summer of 2011. Coincidentally enough, Jordan Wong won that meet… I bombed. I chose powerlifting as a way to show my athletes that I was committed to improving myself in the same way that I asked them to be. During my time coaching that went a long way in gaining buy in with my athletes. Not to mention at 5’9” I could still out squat my linemen, so they had to listen to me!

Needless to say, I ended up falling in love with the sport. To date, I think I have done close to 15 meets, with my best total coming in my last one in February, 2015. In this meet, I totaled 1930lbs at 220lbs raw with wraps and I hit my first 800lbs squat and 700lbs deadlift. I hurt my shoulder a week out, but still managed to press a 5lbs PR of 430lbs. My next meet will be November 14 in Newark, NJ and the goal will be to get my first +2000lbs total.

My style of training is adapted from a lot of different influences. Everything works, but you need to find what works best for you. Having training partners you can learn from is essential in this. I am lucky enough to train with some very intelligent and savagely strong lifters. It’s pretty funny to think that a +1900lbs raw total and an 800lbs squat make you the fourth strongest lifter in your gym! My off-season approach is very similar to 10/20/Life in that I train sub-maximally based on RPE and I absolutely hammer my weak points.

Where I have adapted it for myself is that I tend to prefer training more often. I also do not deload for entire weeks at a time. I find in the off-season when the weights are lighter that I don’t “need” a deload from a mental standpoint. In fact, I have found that an entire week of deloading ruins my mental game. So, I use deload training sessions. Usually every 4^th deadlift, 6^th squat and 6^th bench session will be a deload. This way, I allow my body to recover and I never have more than 2 weeks in a row without a deload session on one or multiple lifts. A typical week will have 2 squats, 2 benches, a deadlift and a “fluff and buff” workout, which usually consists of shoulders and biceps. My biggest goal for off-season training is to stay healthy and put on as much muscle mass as possible. Come meet prep time, when I pull back the volume my body is primed to use all that extra muscle mass to get stronger.

During a meet prep, I will stick with 2 squats, 2 benches and a deadlift and it is all based on percentages. These percentages wave up and down to allow me to adequately recover from previous sessions. Using this wave, I have over a weak and a half between heavy sessions, so I am more fresh and better prepared to hit the numbers I need to. I also will deload entire weeks during prep because mentally, I need it. I use the deload as a reward for working as hard as I can during the training block. I only compete 2 times a year at most, so my preps need to be productive. As I approach the meet my percentages rise, but will never be maximal. I respond very well to a pre-meet taper, so based on the submaximal numbers I hit in training, I know what my numbers on meet day will look like. This has been refined over time and is what works for me. I do not benefit from taking maximal attempts in training, so I don’t do it.

Outside of lifting, I live in my hometown of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada with my girlfriend Pam. I moved back to Ottawa after my time working as the head strength and conditioning coach in Kingston, Ontario. I have a Master’s degree in Exercise Science from the University of South Florida and a Master’s degree in Sports Management from Robert Morris University. Currently, I work as a functional rehabilitation specialist for Manulife/ John Hancock Insurance and operate Master Athletic Performance (www.masterathletic.com). I am really looking forward to contributing to the strongest and deepest team in the industry and helping as many people as I can.

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Paul Oneid

Paul is an elite level raw Powerlifter with personal bests of an 805lbs squat, 440lbs bench, 725lbs deadlift and a 1960lbs total in the 242lbs class, as well as an 800lbs squat, 430lbs bench, 700lbs deadlift and 1930lbs total in the 220lbs class. Paul brings a deep educational background to the team as he has earned Master’s degrees in both Sports Management and Exercise Science. He is a former D1 Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coach, who now works as a Functional Rehabilitation Specialist in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Paul provides coaching services in the areas of training and nutrition through his company Master Athletic Performance and is also the co-founder of a technology company, 1-Life Inc. Stay tuned for more information on that in the future!

Latest posts by Paul Oneid (see all)

• A Proposition for a Paradigm of Planning Your Personal Periodization - March 4, 2019
• Paul Oneid –> Off-Season | Feet Up Bench PR and Some Squats - March 1, 2019
• Paul Oneid –> Off-Season | A bit of everything - February 21, 2019