Sheiko’s seminar in Italy. Ado Gruzza reports

Coach of the National junior powerlifting IPF team Ado Gruzza invited Boris Sheiko to Italy to participate in the convention “CONVEGNO NAZIONALE DELLA FORZA”. Boris spent 5 days in Italy and visited Parma, Vicenza and Venice. Below you can read a detailed report of how it was. Author – Ado Gruzza.

From a very personal point of view, it was a great emotion when we took Boris Ivanovich Sheiko at the Venice Airport
Sheiko is a myth. Particularly in Italy. Like all myth is mysterious, or rather, it was. The majority of people knew about Sheiko only  some programs (probably 15 years old) with little explanation (and often unsatisfactory) and a series of post-analysis made mostly by western powerlifters. Analysis often confused and even less convincing. Those who are not Italian, in all probability, will not know that in Italy, starting from the structural concepts of the Sheiko System, has been developed a whole school of strength training that goes far beyond the competitive powerlifting: in particular in the world of strength training (strength for sports) up to natural bodybuilding. In Italy we have an Academy of Strength Training (www.accademiaitalianaforza.it)  based on the ideas of distributed loads. Needless to say that the Sheiko System, based on the alternation of different but doable loads, lifted with maximum quality and distributed with a good frequency in the microcycle, has been the cornerstone of these ideas. Another fact that could be interesting to know is that in Italy, Sheiko is loved mostly by drug free lifters. I laugh when I hear someone telling that Sheiko Plans are only for pharmacologically helped lifters.  That’s not true.

The Convention held on Saturday November  2 in Vicenza (Convention Nazionale della Forza)  where there were well over 250 participants. The vast majority of the audience was made ​​up of non-competitive lifters: people from fitness, martial arts, from the kettlebells training and only minimally, competitive powerlifting.

And for fitness guys should have been hard to understand how important is to distribute the weekly load in the different training unit (and having the exact % of distribution) or why Boris didn’t care that much about DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) or if someone recover 1’ and 20’’ after a workset or 1’ and 40’’ after the same one. Boris treats powerlifting as a true athletic sport. And that’s the only way we can follow.

Speaking of Powerlifting: the most exciting thing was to note how the Sheiko System is extremely developed around a mathematics vision. Applied mathematics!

Boris has developed its (ultra-winning) work system, simply starting from the methodological theory of the Soviet Weightlifting School, where, in the 80s he was one of the National Junior Coaches. He took that method of Prilepin, Medvedev and so on and fits it for powerlifting.  He evaluated the results obtained  and modified in each specific occasion the mathematical variables depending on the results. He has almost never changed over the years the basic method, simply (though it is not simple) has developed programs playing on the variables of core labor:

-volume in terms of kg total lifted and number of lifts

-Intensity in terms of the average load lifted (in kg) and average %  intensity.
He found a perfect exact average intensity, and he built his plans around it.

Through this analysis he draws up the solid foundations of what is, without any discussion, the most successful methodology in the history of world powerlifting.

There are at least 2 more things to say:  we, namely western strength expert, are always so accurate to find so many ‘because’ every time we write a technical article. We show 1 concept and so many theoretical explanations after that. That is very good for a communicational point of view.

If you think of self-proclaimed gurus of strength training, these explanations are not always so close to reality.

With Boris I found a lot of ‘how to’ and rigid ‘what to do’ based on experience and results. Solid results! Data on strength training. Data that too often lack in our (western) self styled strength expert.
And this is probably a big lesson: we need less marketing and a lot more substance in theoretical content.

Lastly, we had the opportunity to have Boris for a private training day with the athletes of my powerlifting team. It ‘was a very informal and friendly event. In this occasion came out all the charisma and experience of world-class coach. This was a wonderful experience that I highly recommend.

I’m a bit tired of the long list of strength trainers that never saw a good squat in their life. Strength training is best developed in sports of powerlifting and weightlifting. To be a strength expert you have to be a technical expert in these sports, and only in the International Federations. Just my two cents!

Photos from Italy seminar here.