I’m down in Texas doing a training camp with him for two weeks- we differ in a few respects. He can’t be there training me all the time, so we try to compromise in a few areas that make sense during my overall season, and things that fit the training culture at York University. He wanted the bar to touch my chest during the bench press, but I have a 38 sleeve length and it drove my shoulders crazy, so he lets me go a couple of inches above.
I don’t like front squatting because in Toronto where I train everybody back squats, and I don’t see the point of learning a new movement coming up to the competition phase- it’s just another thing that can go wrong or cause soreness, with virtually no upside at this particular point.
With regard to the squat, I’m very tall and I don’t like going to parallel. I do powerclean and do trap bar deadlifts which get me pretty close to parallel, but if I keep going to parallel with my freaky long legs I’ll never get any weight on the bar unless I do chain squats, which I don’t always have access to.
Basically, I’m 6’3 and he’s 5’8, so the only thing I know better than him is about being tall. He is a fantastic coach who has helped me a ton, and that’s of course why I fly down here to work with him. There are few good coaches who won’t allow input from the people they train. I don’t think it’s unusual to raise a few questions or try to elicit a compromise when you think it’s important and it makes sense!
My apologies for the threadjack.