Written by Team Juggernaut
Recently, we had the opportunity to sit down with athlete and coach, Max Aita, to get some insight into his unique perspective on squat every day training. Max squatted, almost always to a daily max, every day from 1999 to 2012. These 13 years of squatting pushed Max to a best front squat of 273kg/602# at 94kg/207# bodyweight. Max’s life of squatting was spent primarily under 2 coaches, Steve Gough aka “The American Butcher” and father of Olympian and former American Record Holder Tom Gough and then under the legendary Ivan Abadjiev, former Bulgarian National Coach and the man most associated with daily max squatting principles.
Unfortunately, a severe wrist injury ended Max’s weightlifting career but he has since gone on to an impressive powerlifting career including a 335kg/738# squat at 100kg/220# bodyweight and is the owner of Max’s Gym in Oakland, CA where he most notably coaches Charis Chan (American Record Snatch in 53kg Class) and Kristy Hawkins (Squat, Deadlift and Total World Record in 165# class).
Enjoy this in-depth interview with Max as we discuss his athletic background, some crazy stories of training with Bulgarian champions and how his background in the Bulgarian System has impacted his coaching today for powerlifting and weightlifting.
You can also check this interview out as part of The JuggLife Podcast:
