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Posted on Tuesday, May 08, 2012 7:53 AM
WOG (Sally), Lucy, and I spent the last weekend at the East Coast Classic in Moorestown, NJ. Sally announced all but two of the sessions and sat in the official's chair for another. Her voice is holding up well. She's a great announcer. Lucy played the entire weekend; she's learning to not just grab kids by the back of the shirt to get them to play, and she's also learning to ask before holding hands with kids. Victor Gallego reinforced my coaching style, and Leo, though he shook his head once or twice, still approved of most of my coaching choices (I know he opened at a meet PR, but that's because his previous meet PR is now 75% of his lift). |
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Posted on Tuesday, April 24, 2012 10:46 AM
Sally, the Wife of the Gym (WOG), starting training regularly again a couple weeks ago. She's doing great, and she's going to train again today when she gets back from her latest business trip. She trains, with another client of mine, at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She'll also do another weekend day, and that day is easy to work in since she's already doing the other two. In that limited amount of time, how can I, the erstwhile trainer-mate (or trainer/mate? |
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Posted on Wednesday, April 18, 2012 10:38 AM
The USA Weightlifting community has been obsessed the last few days with rumor, innuendo, and now confirmation of drug use in our sport. While some are shocked, some are bitter, and some are happy about the drug positives, few people have mentioned the two women who made our US Olympic Weightlfiting Team: Sarah Robles and Holley Mangold. Sarah and Holley represent our best chance at Olympic medals not simply because they're the only ones going, but because they're actually good and competitive on the world stage. |
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Posted on Monday, April 16, 2012 3:03 PM
“ At the peak of tremendous and victorious effort…while the blood is pounding in your head, all suddenly becomes quiet within you. Everything seems clearer and whiter than ever before, as if great spotlights had been turned on. At that moment you have the conviction that you contain all the power in the world, that you are capable of everything, that you have wings. There is no more precious moment in life than this, the white moment, and you will work very hard for years just to taste it again. |
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Posted on Tuesday, April 03, 2012 11:23 AM
Back in the 1990s, a friend of mine talked to me about the Russian Squat Cycle. He said it would add pounds to your Squat if you did it correctly, and he swore by it. But, he then added, he did the program based off a max less than what he could squat.
*Incredulous stare*
Dude, how can a program work if you don't follow the program?
I've also heard of many people modifying the Russian or Smolov Squat program by stretching it out and doing it over an extended time period. |
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Posted on Thursday, February 23, 2012 1:51 PM
I know some people who train at other gyms. One of these people comes by and lifts with me once every three to six months. Every time he comes by, he has the same problem: he cannot keep his back arched when he lifts.
 Yep, he pulls from the floor and looks like this cat. His back hump is literally that bad. I tell him, and he never properly addresses the problem. When you load the spine in this position, your spine will, sooner or later, get FUBAR. Seriously dude, learn to keep your back tight. |
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Posted on Tuesday, February 21, 2012 10:17 AM
My only barely musical talent is whistling, and Guns 'n Roses "Patience" is my favorite song to badly whistle too I can get the melody, but I have yet to ever know if the notes I hit- in singing or anything- are ever right or wrong. I've compensated for that with my enthusiasm. Sometimes, you just do what you can as good as you can, and hope everything else falls into place
I'm doing that now with my snatch. I still have those visions of snatching 300+ pounds, doing a power snatch with 140, generally being what I would consider a strong human being. |
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Posted on Monday, February 13, 2012 3:32 PM
InThe Odyssey, Odysseus is the only sailor from his ship who makes it home. now, barring the years of distraction caused by hot women, he generally made it through some pretty hard times. He didn't take it easy and just keep doing what he knew he could. Odysseus challenged his limits, he overcame the intellectual and physical riddles, and he resisted the ease of the Lotus flower. We all have that pesky little flower in front of us, trying to let us accept the life of light weights and certainty of what is to come at the end of each lift. |
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Posted on Monday, January 30, 2012 1:06 PM
I learned a lesson in High School that I carry with me to this day. That lesson is that to compete with the best, you must compete against the best. My wrestling career was marked by disappointment at the end of each season simply because I didn't know how to wrestle tough matches. Ever since those days, I've found myself- and placed myself- in the most difficult competitive situations I can find. In each situation, my goals are different, but my objectives are the same: to lift well, to make lifts, to succeed under pressure, and to take advantage of opportunities which present themselves. |
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Posted on Friday, January 20, 2012 1:29 PM
Over the last month, I've had some of my trainees experience a common but perplexing phenomenon. When a person isn't aware of what weight is on the bar, they can lift it pretty easily, provided it's within their strength and technical capacity. When they are aware of what's on the bar, they often screw the lift up.
For example, last night someone was doing cleans and jerks and nailed 90% of his best. he went to 95% and fell apart. His words to me: "I just kept thinking to myself that this was 95% of my best. |
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