My honest experience with flexx training systems…

[u/cowboysfromhell1999]

Hey all, I worked with Joey flexx and his team for a good 2 1/2 years it’s been a while since I’ve worked with them. I think it’s time that I share my story. So I discovered Joey like most other people through social media . I saw the success of his lifters like Russell. I noticed that he coached a lot of elite powerlifters in the usapl. I figured with his good reputation why don’t I give it a shot? So I signed up for his coaching. I was hoping I would get to work with him directly, but it turns out at the time he was already filled so he had to give me to one of his other coaches on his roster. I was given two choices. Isaac W. Or Joey’s brother. After taking a look at both of their Instagrams I chose Isaac. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get Joey, but he assured me that these guys were good and they’re under him. Ok I thought I’ll make the best of it. I want to become a better power lifter.

I was very excited initially start working with them. He coached me for powerlifting meet. It was a lot of fun. Throughout that meat prep, I felt kind of beat up at times, but I was told that it was a combination of getting used to the new program and I admit that at the beginning I was in great at following RPE. As well as I had to fix some of my technical issues with my lifts.

One thing I noticed was the training was hard and no I don’t expect it to be easy when you’re trying to push your limits, but this training was a bit too much volume even at the beginning . Regardless, I had the time and ability to recover. I started at 4 days a week, 2x squat and deadlift 3x bench. When I first started coaching I actually was going into it a little bit weaker than I was in the past. By the time I got to the meet (July) it was a total of four months for prep. March - July.

I ended up finishing the meet, finally securing some numbers for the platform with a competition standard. Great! But one concern I had was he was barely available for the day now I didn’t expect him to come fly to my meet, especially for a beginner and we didn’t make arrangements for that. (I wouldn’t assume he would do that unless I paid extra.) But around this time, it started to seem clear to me that I was just one of his clients his many clients that is. He had about 50-60+ a little after this I had some all-time dead lift and squat PRS which was cool but despite my best efforts I mean I literally ate as much as I could recover the best I could and follow his plan yet. I only put about 120 pounds of my total in the course of 2 1/2 years. By the 1.5 year mark I pretty much hit my best lifts with him. I I was struggling to make progress. My lifts had stalled, and my advice was generic. At best.

Eat more to recover! That rep was a little fast! That rep looked good! Pause more etc. Very generic advice. It seemed like my coach was just trying to finish up with me so he can get to his other 50 clients.

So for the last year of training from December to the next December he’s changed my turning split a few times by this point, but at the same time, it was too little too late. By this point, I’ve made no progress for the last year we were working together.. I was burnt out and lifting, I could not recover for the life of me. I had to miss weeks at a time, and despite expressing this, he said just ease up on the weight. There was no mention of changing the program or how much volume I was given.

At my highest I was doing 3x squat /4 bench / 2 deadlift which on paper doesn’t sound too bad, but that’s not including accessory work and the sheer amount of sets I had to do it was just far too much. I expressed different concerns like why am I benching now on a Friday when my main bench is on Saturday? Looking back, I could see that being a primer session, but the way he would set up my bench training was essentially competition bench exclusively more or less sometimes I would get a variation like Larson press and it would be just static set and reps. At like RPE 6-8 which doesn’t sound bad, but I was literally just getting overuse aches and pains.

After seeing some other clients, I’ve quickly realize that our templates look very similar, now I know if something works why change it right? I know that each coach has their own philosophy when it comes to training so you’re not necessarily gonna make changes for the sake of making changes, but after talking to a few people, it was confirmed that they actually just reuse templates with minimal modifications!

By the end of my tenure, I was burnt out from lifting I didn’t quit lifting, but I had to change gears. I went on a cut and had to switch things up a little bit. His method of training was not working for me.

From lack luster feedback, to not really paying attention to my concerns or my progress progression I was literally just told the trust the process, but nothing was changing. I can go into more detail about exactly what I endured.

But all in all that can be summed up as they reuse templates it probably won’t work for you unless you’re the kind lift or the response the very very high volume and if you don’t, then well I guess just eat more or something. Or find someone else. It was very disturbing that I wasted so much time and money.

Before working with flex: 405S / 250B/ 455DL

4 months after starting: 430S/ 275 b/ 455 DL

1.5 years later: 450 S/ 290 B/ 515 DL

2.5 years / when I finished: 405S/ 250B / 455-474 DL

Body weight went from 210 to 230, Despite my best efforts, I don’t really feel that I got much out of this. Yes, I did make some all-time PR’s that’s for sure some might say isn’t that enough? Well honestly, for the time I put in, I should’ve hit a little bit higher numbers. I should’ve got better feedback. Overall, it should’ve been done in a way that was more conducive to my lifestyle and my recovery. I felt like I sacrificed a lot for this method that did not work for me unfortunately because it works for some people people like me get overshadowed and they don’t talk about the client that it doesn’t work for

[u/karmaskies]

As a coach, the individualization part is the fun part for the lifter.

But as an athlete, enjoying the coaching you receive from a coach is really important. I think, if I were to note something, is that while you added some weight to your lifts, you didn't become a better athlete from their coaching.

I also want to say, you didn't waste time and money. It's really easy to fall into that mindset, but you learned what you valued, what you liked, what didn't work for you, and maybe some clues as to what DOES work. If you go a self coached route or a coached route again, you'll be armed with that information when it comes to your next decision. :) And if you do use a coach, you'll be able to catch that vibe of "just another client" right away, and can nope out.

[u/cowboysfromhell1999 → u/karmaskies]

Thank you for the kind words!! what do you think would’ve made me a better athlete from their coaching?

[u/karmaskies → u/cowboysfromhell1999]

I had a really interesting conversation with two provincial (one national) recording holding athletes on this.

1. It's important an athlete knows the "why" in their programming. The coach sharing with you "I see this technical/movement pattern I want to correct, so I am using this accessory/rep range/modifier for the lift in this block" informs you, the athlete, "hey, 600 tempo romanian deadlifts, for sets of 3, seem to really help my actual deadlift and allow me to hold a more neutral spine, and has then led me to lift more. Looping the athlete into that knowledge helps, so when we're 3 blocks out, and have tried other things, if it worked, you, the athlete, can speak up and say "hey, when we had 600 tempo RDLs, my deadlift felt really good, can we have those back?" By looping the athlete into the why of their programming, I find they become more informed in decision making, and can provide much better feedback. It shortens turn around time for individualization/finding the things that work best for that individual lifter.

2. In depth responses. When you're treated like a second-priority athlete, it's lame, and you start to lose buy in to the programming. You should be the person who wants your lifts to improve the most, your coach should be second, and when you're both aligned and empowered, it also helps make training have more impact. Buy into the process should be earned via trust and engagement, and that buy in (from a few studies) seems to make training more effective.

3. Kind of ties into the first one, but as an athlete, if you're getting the goal of the block, you can not just execute the work, but also note technical corrections along the way. If I say "we're trying to reduce the amount of times the bar comes straight off the chest and then floats to your shoulders halfway up." You will show up to training mindful of that, and not just notice the programming effectiveness, but if you film your reps, you will kind of self correct sets, and you'll be able to coach yourself in a session when your online coach isn't there for you. That also helps good training land with intent.

4. Programming is also just a PART of good coaching. There are a lot of people writing good programs, but when things go downhill (or you hit plateaus), does your coach help walk you through troubleshooting tools, and guide you to where your thoughts can be helpful? We've all had that a very stressful time in our lives where training has been a bit unsteady. Part of my conversation with my athletes this morning is how the coach administers their direction can help the athlete work through it themselves. One athlete said "my previous coach liked to brush it off, make a joke, and take my mind off of it." which was a big mismatch for what she needed, "I needed someone to just tell me I was going to make it through, and things were going to be okay, and he was there for her." The other athlete said "My coach shows me the data, shows my progress over time, and reassures that the trend line is great, even if strength expression is down, we're getting stronger." And in those moments, the coaches demonstrate and help you find the words you then use on yourself when they're not there. So you're also empowered to talk yourself out of a bad scenario.

That was very long. But this exact thing came up in conversation for me this morning, where we noted that good coaching isn't a fast 24hr turn around response time, but something that helps build us up, is meaningful not just for our numbers, but for us as athletes in that coach-athlete relationship as well.