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Joshua Capazorio is one of the most diverse coaches in South
Africa and that’s because he’s mastered so many different disciplines himself.
He went from a prodigy sprinter to a powerlifter, did Brazilian Jiu Jitzu and
just about everything in-between.
Read more: Lessons from this strength trainer’s Instagram takeover
Impressed? He was also our September Cover Guy! Joshua knows how to train for a PB, he’s been competing for years.
And now that he’s opened up his own gym in Johannesburg, Performance Purist, he knows now more than ever how to get guys read to beat their best. Let him coach you to a new PB.
Switch things up
You never know what to expect with Joshua’s training, and he’s spent years training and trying out new things to make it this way. Try incorporating these disciplines into your next workout, each one provides a different power play.
Powerlifting: “This discipline teaches you how to brace and create tension under load, which in itself is a skill especially when you add tonnage and technique.”
Weightlifting: “Olympic weightlifting is unbelievably technical. It demands mobility, coordination and patience. Once these are refined and the technique is in place, no other training modality can allow you to develop more speed and power.”
Read more: Get serious gains with this powerlifting routine
Strength specific: “There are many barbell exercises that I find a lot of value in for my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and maintaining my strength abilities. Zercher squats and zercher deadlifts have really come into my programming lately allowing my lats, traps, biceps and abs to really develop from the force and tension it demands.”
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu/ Wrestling: “Both have contributed immensely to my conditioning and fitness, mobility and, what I believe when a person learns a new skill, over all improved athleticism.”
Kettlebells: “Being a SFGII (StrongFirst level 2) instructor and studying kettlebell training for the last nine years, I have built a very special and specific relationship with the bells. “The best part for me is they are a change of scenery from the barbell, yet in many ways can produce a similar if not better outcome.”
Read more: The kettlebell workout that will give you better metabolic burn
Bodyweight: “I don’t do a lot of bodyweight exercises but I am a big fan of pull ups and push-ups. These exercises fall nicely into any program and have such great carry over into any training goal.”
Conditioning specific: Use an assault bike, medicine ball, prowler, TRX suspension trainers, hurdles or kettlebells. “Each conditioning tool has a distinct means to elevate your heart rate. They’re user friendly and you can’t mess up when you’re tired. Too many people use exercises and apparatuses that can cause injury, harm or simply just a bad rep by doing them under fatigue.”
Joshua’s power podcast playlist
You’ve heard the saying “abs are made in the kitchen”. Well, they’re also made in the mind. Exercising your mind is a sure way to improve your performance in the gym and get a new PB.
Read more: The ultimate workout playlist to boost performance from six personal trainers
“I’m always looking for information, and knowledge. My top five podcasts bring different professionals from all over the world to share and educate.” Download these and listen to them when you’re on your way home from work, stuck in traffic, and can feel your motivation to hit the gym faltering.
The Joe Rogan Experience: “Joe Rogan interviews some of the greatest minds in human discovery, MMA, strength training and much more.”
Muscle Expert: “Ben Pakulski is a very knowledgeable bodybuilder turned coach who brings in all the great minds of health, nutrition, supplementation and training.”
The Tim Ferriss Show: “Tim is a smart man with some of the best interviews with the great minds of life, work, finance, health and fitness.”
Mark Bells Power Project: “Mark Bell is an iconic figure in the strength world and sharing so much content.”
Jocko Podcast: “This is the most intense man that will help you focus and get it done. The author of Extreme Ownership brings you mental fortitude, BJJ and stories of war from all parts of the globe.”
Progress to a PB
Joshua makes sure he and his clients can do these five progressions leading up to a new PB. “It’s the quickest way to problem solve mobility issues or weaknesses in the chain.”
1. Squat
2. Air squat
3. Goblet squat
4. Box squat
5. Low bar squat
“If you can’t air squat properly you shouldn’t walk into that squat rack at all.” If you can do step one to three but your three isn’t perfect, you need to look at where you are going wrong on step one or two, says Joshua. Once you can go through all the steps start your first microcycle before you plan or invest in a mesocycle.
Read more: Go from couch potato to Spartan Race contender with this workout plan
Finally, listen to your body, not your excuses
If your form is suffering, you should lift lighter until you can confidently stand in front of the mirror at gym and admire the form you are performing your reps with. Joshua makes sure he is in-tune with what his body is saying and doing, and he listens to those signs.
He sees it with people all the time. When they go for a PB they haven’t trained properly for they are far more at risk of getting hurt. “But if you have trained hard and hit all your numbers leading up to it you better bite down, squeeze tight and get it.”
Read more: These are the three best workout moves to injury-proof your body, according to a stuntman
The key is to know when your body legitimately isn’t ready to push itself and when your body can be pushed, but your mind is getting in the way. “When it is comp time or PB time my athletes hear mostly one sentence from me, ‘If you want it, you will get it.’ If you honestly want what is on the bar more than anything else in this world, and you won’t take no for an answer, then my friends, you will PB.”
This article was originally published on www.mh.co.za
Image credit: iStock
