Baker Barbell Podcast #25 - Training a Champion: 2022 World IPF Masters Champion Shelly Stettner
After a brief hiatus, Andy is back! Today he breaks down the training program he used to help 71 year old powerlifter Shelly Stettner win the 2022 IPF World Championship in the Masters 4 division, 63kg weight class. Shelly has an unusual background for an elite powerlifter, first discovering the barbell at age 65. Despite her late start, she has trained diligently and consistently, setting regular PR's for years, including Master's World Records in the squat, bench press, deadlift, and total. Andy attributes her athletic success to good genetics, determination, consistency, and attention to detail. After all, you don't become champion without the mindset of a champion, as Andy points out. Shelly has continually looked for ways to push her limits, while also staying on script with the training program. She also watches her nutrition closely, adhering to a custom nutrition plan from Nathan Payton, nutritionist to a number of elite strongmen and powerlifters.
Andy's programming certainly didn't hurt either! Andy breaks down his programming approach for Shelly, which consisted of a typical 4-day split albeit customized over the years to Shelly's individual needs. He discusses how he varied exercise selection to keep Shelly's joints happy and manage lingering arthritis issues, and how they modified her lifting technique to work around some tweaks late in her prep for Worlds.
Andy also details their attempt selection strategy at the meet. While Shelly did not set any PR's on individual lifts at the meet, she did PR her total and set World Records on each lift, which was part of the strategy. Shelly also chose to waive her third squat attempt to preserve her energy for the deadlift, where she knew she could pick up more pounds for her total than she could by taking a third squat attempt (and thus risk missing a bigger third attempt deadlift due to fatigue). This was another conscious decision, Andy explains, and one that he often makes for lifters during a meet.
You can follow Shelly and her training on Instagram: @shelly_ann_28
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Andy Baker
Blog: www.AndyBaker.com
IG: @bakerbarbell
Owner of Kingwood Strength & Conditioning
Co-author of Practical Programming for Strength Training
Co-author of The Barbell Prescription: Strength Training for Life After 40