Andre Benoit, what can I personally say?
Actually a hell of a lot…
The first time I met Andre was at a BioSignature course. I had a heap of questions but was too scared to ask Charles so instead I bugged Andre for answers.
I was so impressed at the level of knowledge these guys had I booked myself into the next PICP course which just so happened to be in Canada… So I took the next 35-hour flight from Melbourne, Australia with the encouragement of my wife that I also had to visit Venice bench.
In Canada I met Clarke Flynn (a fantastic strength coach) who taught my first PICP level 1 and 2 courses. Throughout the course, Andre’s name kept coming up and I thought to myself, Andre is someone I need to learn from.
Then one February, Charles Poliquin announced that they would be running a hypertrophy bootcamp with Andre Benoit as the instructor in Australia. Seeing that Gold Coast is only a two-hour flight from Melbourne I was “paid-in-full-the-day-it-was-announced-sold”.
The bootcamp was five days of three times a day intensive training. It was there that I really and truly “got it” and much of that I have Andre to thank for.
Andre broke down my body and basically told me five important things that changed the course of my training for the 12 months that followed:
1. I train far too much
2. I was adrenally fatigued
3. My back is a lot weaker than I think
4. My hips were completely out of balance
5. I need to do lots of spilt squats
He also taught me something else with his style of coaching…
That strength should never be a ‘fluke’ effort. Every rep of every set needs a tempo, it must be standardised otherwise it may not be repeatable and in the business of getting people strong, you only get paid on what you can repeat day in day out.
On the last day of the course I asked Andre if he could be my coach for the next 12 months. I think he thought I was kidding at the time but then proceeded to ask if he wanted payment for the 12 months ahead of time. I wasn’t kidding. I knew I needed more.
So 12 months of coaching with Andre, what did I realise?
To put simply, how good my body could feel whilst training to get stronger. I was living in my body so long that my back and hip pain were completely normal to me. In fact I look back on videos of training before I met Andre and think, why didn’t I ever notice my hips swaying to the left?
Its always a case of you don’t know what you don’t know.
To Andre Benoit; I don’t think you will ever truly know the effect you had on my training, thank you.
Download the show in full HERE
Under Andre’s guidance, training just 4 days a week, I front squatted 140kilos with picture perfect form:
Pin-pressed 120 kilos, close grip, with fat grips on a decline. It’s harder than it sounds:
Mark Ottobre
P.S. Further info about the 3 day Internship is here
P.P.S That link again for the podcast is here
Same old tired routines rehashed and sold to inexperienced people. All Benoit’s stuff has been done since the late 50s.
SO at least you know its time tested and not Bullshit.
Definitely and all good stuff but stop making it sound like you invented the wheel. Also the terminology makes it far more confusing to the uniformed than it really is.
Are you referring to what’s written in on the blog? Eg there’s nothing on the post other than me referring to my personal experience with Andre.
Were is it suggesting I invented the wheel specifically?
And what terminology is confusing?
Sorry a little harsh just reading different stuff and it’s all the same rehashed programs termed differently. The message needs to be workout eat,right and a much higher participation rate with retention would happen. Instead it’s all propaganda to get people to attend seminars, buy programs, attend camps etc etc. All the info provided is valid and will produce results. Just tired of knowledgeable people complicating a very simple process and it’s usally at the expense of uninformed. Not you specifically but 99% of the entire industry.
Right.
So don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
Eg. if you point the finger at people like Andre and I this industry is fucked as it’s people like us who are putting out correct information. Most sell lies. We need to be louder than the lies if we want the general trainer and public to take notice.