Bulk Boys 18: Ethan Montoya and Jakob S
The original Bulk Boys are back to interview a teenaged maniac who's next nosebleeding squat max is bound to appear on Lifting Vault any day. Ethan Montoya is the New Mexico state high school powerlifting champion in the 165 lb weight class. At seventeen years old, he’s already squatting and deadlifting over 500 pounds, and he’ll be benching 315 soon. He and his coach Jakob S (@wickedstrength) break down the state meet, future plans (demonic and otherwise), losing your tonsils to make weight, and how to concuss yourself on a power clean.
00:20 Ethan is late because he’s busy skipping hamstring work
00:30 Jakob and I just got out of the shower. Interpret that as you will.
01:00 High bar squats have a sticking point like OHP
02:00 Jakob’s ONE WEIRD TRICK to his crazy recomp
03:00 How to program for a 16 year old maniac
04:00 Ethan’s manic mindset
04:40 A wild Ethan appears, but isn’t following dress code
06:40 Inevitable Ed Coan comparison
07:30 An outdated training update (I did not do the thing)
08:00 New Mexico HS state record holder Ethan decides to join us
09:00 When Ethan squats, his soul departs from his body
10:00 “Throw a little more on and try it”
11:00 Ethan cannot calm down (probably because he took five scoops of preworkout)
12:45 Ethan’s goal is to get a nosebleed competing at Sheffield
14:00 Ethan’s state championship recap, including water cut trauma, codenames, and a failed warm-up room stream of Rocky IV
18:30 Ethan has a Ph.D. in Rocky IV studies
20:30 Silencing the opps
24:30 Bulk Boys is a dip-positive podcast
25:00 How Ethan is building his bench
32:30 The sorcery of Joel Seedman
34:00 Ethan’s squat setup
39:00 Scheduling training around life
40:30 Ethan is about to lose his tonsils, but Jakob puts us back on track
41:00 Meet recap, pt.2 (Ethan failed his last warmup)
46:30 Never skip mindset day
48:15 5x2 pee in cup, RPE cap of 8
49:30 Ethan’s next weight cut will be easier without tonsils
50:30 Ethan’s final form: 5’6, 400 pounds, Sheffield champion
51:30 I’m a soft touch boy
53:00 How Ethan started lifting
54:40 Girlfriends are a banned substance in the IPF
58:00 Jakob will be an open strongman
1:00:00 Ethan’s little demonic plan
1:01:00 The birth of Team Watermelon Storm
1:04:00 Jakob is heir apparent to become Sandia High powerlifting coach
1:07:30 Competing on a bigger stage
1:09:00 Jakob is contractually obligated to hitchhike to his athletes’ meets
1:11:00 The legend of Xander
1:12:30 The boys lay out their goals for Team Watermelon Storm’s debut meet
1:16:00 A fraudulent squat record
1:17:20 AND I want your hashbrowns
1:17:45 Ethan puts on his singlet, belt, wrist wraps, and knee sleeves for 10 a.m. geometry
1:20:00 Putting on knee sleeves is all the grip work you’ll ever need
1:21:00 Multiply is cheating (ONLY KIDDING)
1:22:00 “Appointments”
1:22:30 Ethan’s power clean experience
1:23:00 I tell the same story about passing out on front squats for the third consecutive podcast
1:24:00 Urgent miscellany
1:27:00 You can’t calibrate five pounds of tetanus
Intro/outro music: Buck Tow Truck, “Countdown”