FC Strength

Not too long ago I had the privilege of meeting two fellow coaches and strength fanatics who happened to have the same philosophy that I do when it comes to training.

We of course hit it off right away and have been in close contact ever since working on programming, training together, and throwing out ideas for future endeavors.

You've all met Bryan Tompkins whom I interviewed a little while back after deadlifting 3x his bodyweight during his first powerlifting meet. The other day I got the chance to sit down and chat a little with his super strong girlfriend, Jessica Del Barrio.

Here's how it went:


Jess, can you introduce yourself to the readers and tell them a little bit about what you do?

JDB: My name is Jessica Del Barrio and I'm a mom and a strength coach. I love strength training and helping other women get stronger.


So you train mostly women?

JDB: I train a couple of guys, but yes, I train mostly women and I love it.

I've had the privilege of working with some great clients over the years but things didn't always go as planned.

There were injuries, family commitments, sick children, school, work, vacations, and a plethora of other inconveniences that either put training on hold or just plain got in the way.

One thing that remained constant was their motivation.

What Is Motivation?

Motivation is many things to many people. There's no one word or singular definition to describe it.

Some people are motivated by events. Maybe there's a wedding, or a HS reunion, or the all important beach season is on its way.

Some people are motivated by performance. Perhaps they play college ball, or fight MMA, or just want to kick butt during pick-up games on the weekends.

This is a short guest post from my good friend and fellow certified underground strength coach, Laureano Ibarra. Larry currently coaches and heads the strength and conditioning program for some of the nations top and up-and-coming figure skaters in Colorado Springs. Don't let his job title fool you. Larry is anything but a girly man. He grew up in Venezuela, was an accomplished figure skater, and has trained and competed in both Muay Thai and MMA. Not to mention he has more tattoos than a biker bar and is built like a brick sh#t house. He has something to say about the state of affairs of our young "men" in the world today. These are some strong words from a strong dude clearly sick of how the sheeple are acting. Keep reading and be prepared to take notes. Enjoy...


Okay, I'm going to rant a bit ... what the f#ck has happened to men nowadays?! They're nothing but a bunch of whiners and complainers. Every article I read has to do with folks getting their "fee-lings" hurt. I grew up knowing that thick skin saved you from getting a bunch of good ass-whoopings. And even if you did get one, you didn't complain about it. You were thankful for it ... seriously!! We've become uncultured, uneducated, unskilled, weak-minded, rude, disloyal, lazy, and entitled.

Here's my advice:

This past Saturday I attended my first powerlifting meet at the Ramada Plaza Hotel in Newark, NJ. I did not compete but I got a chance to watch my friend and fellow iron addict, Bryan Tompkins, pull 3 times his bodyweight in his first meet ever. Needless to say, I spent the better part of the day in a conference room with a bunch of super strong dudes lifting heavy weight. It was so intense I wanted to either lift something heavy myself or punch some one in the face. I couldn't decide.

Anyway, after filming a few mind-blowing lifts I interviewed Bryan and here is the interview and the highlights:


Franco: Tell us a little bit about yourself, your training philosophy, and where you train.

BT: I just want to start off by thanking you for coming out and supporting me during my first meet. My name is Bryan Tompkins, from East Orange NJ, and I'm a Strength Coach/Kettlebell Coach. I'm am also the co-owner of Full Metal Athletics.

I started training when I was a sophomore in high school with some of my friends and like a lot of people, had no real clue what I was doing. I thought squatting would stunt my growth and had no idea what a deadlift was.

Unfortunately I am writing this article out of pure personal experience. I recently was hit with some flu-like symptoms and have been out of commission for the last 3 days. I realize I won't be able to hit a good training session until I get better, so in this article I will outline my own plan of attack to get myself back to where I was before I got sick.

Where Have I Been?

For the last 12 weeks I've been hitting a variation of Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 program. In the program I was training 3 days per week hitting a full body routine all 3 days. This was going really well as I was hitting rep PRs in all of my lifts (squat, bench, deadlift, overhead press).

The workload was light and it wasn't until the end of my 2nd cycle and into my 3rd cycle that it started getting pretty heavy (for me at least). I was back squatting 3 days per week in conjunction with whatever else I had to do on those days. Granted I wasn't going for an all-out effort in the squat but one day per week, having a heavy barbell on your back that often starts to wear you down a bit.

Anywho, that's where I was. I was 12 weeks into a solid program and I was ready to readjust my numbers and continue. There were going to be a few tweaks though ...

KISS Speaks Volumes