PRS Podcast: Phil Demattia

In this podcast, I sit down with my client Phil to talk about his unusual background, the injuries that accumulated over years of high-level BMX, physical labor, running, lifting, and American Ninja Warrior, and how we rebuilt his back from the ground up. Phil’s problem was never a lack of effort. In fact, doing more stretching, strengthening, and pushing through symptoms often made things worse. We had to identify what was irritating his spine, reduce unnecessary stress, improve his movement patterns, and gradually reintroduce load. We discuss how spine hygiene became second nature, why workload management mattered just as much as training, and how deadlifting became part of Phil’s rehabilitation instead of something he needed to fear. Today, Phil is back to running his business, hiking, training, and building toward a 500-pound deadlift with far more confidence and resilience. This is a great conversation for anyone dealing with chronic back issues, nerve symptoms, repeated setbacks, or the frustration of feeling like hard work is not producing the right result. Brian Carroll's Website: https://www.powerrackstrength.com/ Back Pained and want to return to lifting? Or need some guidance? Schedule a consult with Brian: https://www.powerrackstrength.com/con... Brian's Gift of Injury Co-authored Book with Dr. McGill: https://shop.powerrackstrength.com/co... Dr. McGill's assessment book - Back mechanic: https://shop.powerrackstrength.com/pr... Brian's 10/20/Life Strength training Manual: https://shop.powerrackstrength.com/co... Ultimate back fitness and performance: https://shop.powerrackstrength.com/pr... Brian is a retired world-class powerlifter with over two decades of world-class powerlifting. From 1999 to 2020, Brian Carroll was a competitive powerlifter, one of the most accomplished lifters in the sport's history. Brian started off competing in bench press competitions 'raw', then, shortly into the journey, he gravitated toward equipped lifting as there were no "raw" categories then. You only had to choose from single-ply (USPF) and Multi-ply (APF/WPC). Brian went on to total 2730 at 275 and 2651 at 242 with more than ten times his body weight in three different classes (220, 242, 275), and both bench pressed and deadlifted over 800 pounds in two other weight classes. He's totaled 2600 over 20 times in 2 different weight classes in his career. With 60 squats of 1000lbs or more officially, this is the most in powerlifting history, regardless of weight class or federation, by anyone not named David Hoff. Brian realized many ups and downs during his 20+ years competing. After ten years of high-level powerlifting competition and an all-time World Record squat at 220 with 1030, in 2009, Brian was competing for a Police academy scholarship. On a hot and humid July morning, Brian, hurdling over a barricade at 275lbs, landed on, fell, and hurt his back. After years of back pain and failed therapy, Brian met with world-renowned back specialist Prof McGill in 2013, which changed his trajectory more than he could have imagined. In 2017, Brian Carroll and Prof McGill authored the best-selling book about Brian's triumphant comeback to powerlifting in Gift of Injury. Most recently (10.3.20) -Brian set the highest squat of all time (regardless of weight class) with 1306 lbs – being the first man to break the 1300lb squat barrier at a bodyweight of 303 lbs. Brian's impressive recovery has allowed him to teach and deliver talks to physical therapists, chiropractors, medical doctors, professional strength & conditioning coaches, and experts from all facets of sport on how to minimize injury risk while building anti-fragile strength and resilience in athletes. Brian has worked with and consulted athletes and coaches in the UFC, NFL, NBA, and NHL. He also works with Army and Navy Special Forces. He has played a crucial part in dozens of records broken in powerlifting, whether coaching, diet, supplementation help, or weight-cutting tactics. Brian is also an accomplished author, writing the best-selling strength training book 10/20/Life and Cutting weight before Gift of Injury. He runs the website PowerRackStrength.com, where he shares training and recovery content, personal training logs, and blogs. Brian was recently named as having two of the "top 20 greatest powerlifting performances of All-Time," with 2651lbs total at 242lbs and 2730lbs total at 275lbs, respectively, with the higher ranking total (242 done in 2016) accomplished post-back injury. Brian was named the #2 lifter of the 2010s, most recently, only ranking behind the immortal Dave Hoff. Most recently, Brian retired in 2020 after setting the world record in squatting with 1306, being the first person to cross the 1300 squat barrier.