My Blog

I love the bench press, and you should too if you want to snatch big

09/18/2012 23:27:00

The bench is the lift that got me, and many, many other people, involved in lifting weights. in HS, only a couple of us squatted, and fewer deadlifted; but man, we all benched. In retrospect, if we all squatted and did cleans as often as we benched, we'd have been better athletes. But, Padwan, do not despair of the bench press and its variants for the athlete or the Olympic lifter.

When I came back to lifting in 2001 after a significant layoff (seven years), I started to bench again. I hit 315 after a few weeks, and 405 after a few months. I started to focus on the bench two days a week, my bodyweight was at the time heavier than it had ever been (about 295), and after about 10 months I hit 500 raw (I wore a belt and taped my wrists. Sorry, it may not have been raw according to your standards, but I don't care about your standards). That bench hurt my Olympic lifts. My shoulders were tight, my back didn't balance out my chest, I was front dominant, etc. But it wasn't the 500 pound bench that hurt my O lifts, it was focusing on the 500 pound bench to the exclusion of good programming and athletic balance. This, dear readers, is the key to why we should bench, and why we must also not bench too often or too much.

The bench press should be included in the programming for Olympic Lifters, especially early in their career or cycle, because it will help you stabilize your shoulders; Glenn Pendlay has also said that lifters should bench early in their careers (though he did not mention the shoulder stability). I find the bench carries over directly into the snatch, and have always treated it as a snatch assistance exercise. I find that the shoulder stability that proper benching, using a moderately heavy weight, brings an athlete is invaluable.

So, apparently, do these folks:

http://www.allthingsgym.com/2012/01/dmitry-klokovs-home-gym/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-Ixa38U9x0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0gE-2TjH8U

And on the Ironmind Polish Video Kolecki benches 180 kg with a hip heist.

I'm sure that some of the smaller O lifters bench, too, but vids of small lifters don't please the women in my house.

The technique of the bench press I recommend is as follows:

Sit on the bench.
Tuck your feet under you, as far back as they can comfortably get with your toes still on the ground.
lay down on the bench
arch your back and walk your shoulders down so that your back is arched and tight.
keep your upper thighs wrapped/ squeezing on the bench
put your heels on the ground, keeping your feet wide (receiving position/ front squat stance), FEET FLAT HEELS ON THE GROUND, and push with your feet like you're squatting 1,000 lbs
take the bar with your jerk grip or slightly narrower and squeeze the bar.

Okay, you have the set up. Now, make sure you get a lift off. Yes, a lift off. Your shoulders love you, and a proper lift off will keep them loving you forever. If you can't get a lift off, don't bench. Do some floor presses instead.
The lift off merely helps you load your shoulders correctly; the person lifting off should carry the bar for you until your traps are down (not shrugged up) and lats engaged. This position protects your shoulders.

I teach people to tuck their elbows in when they pull the bar down to their chest. LOAD THE ORGANISM. Tuck the elbows in (really flexible lifters need to tuck only so far; the elbows should always remain away from the body; tucking them helps to engage the back on the eccentric movement, which, in a raw bench, helps you control the bar), touch the bar ideally right above the solar plexus/ bottom of the boobs and then drive it back up so hard that, with light weight, your body comes OFF the bench.

A few basic key points here:

feet flat
arched back
tuck elbows
leg drive
explode off the chest

Okay, there is the technique.

How do you program it?

I like to bench more often for beginners. They should bench or floor press 1x/ week for as long as they need to.

For the intermediate lifter, I like to press 2x/week. One time for reps one time for strength. The strength lift will be either a bench variation or the push press. I do not like push pressing heavy and benching heavy the same week. So, we will do 5x5 bench and then another day light military presses, or 4x6 bench and heavy push presses, etc.
Basically, we push press every week forever. The second day of the week we rotate, on a three to six week schedule, the following: flat bench, incline bench, military press.
I train the same way we squat heavy, but with a rep count slid up. So, 3-6 sets of 2-4 reps instead of 1-3, and I follow with a heavy drop set of 10-20 reps.

Do some basic shoulder prehab or rehab, either I Y T stuff, the diesel crew shoulder warm-up, or similar things. You should be doing these anyway for your lifting.

And watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPQJNrm9-_o&feature=related

Exposure to real strength badassery

09/09/2012 23:17:00

I just replied to a post on a popular Forum with a program which will, in my opinion, get someone stronger. It's not a rocket science program; essentially, it's three weeks of lifting hard followed by a week of taking it easy. But I told the guy that his real problem is strength; any 215 pound man who can only squat 300 pounds needs to get stronger.

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT McKenna, what are you talking about? 300 pounds is a lot of weight.

No, really, it isn't. And yes, I know that I have a distorted idea of weight and strength. Too many times I've been in a gym, or even in my gym, and seen people get proud over the weight they just lifted. *sigh* Be proud because you ARE lifting, the weight is meaningless. Don't brag because you did some weak squat and want to talk about how you could do another 15 pounds if you had a different femur length. Let me sort this out for you: your first 225 pound bench press is a big deal, but it isn't a big deal that you benched 225 pounds. What matters is that you're in the gym. Don't get cocky because you benched what only six women I know personally can bench. EDITOR"S NOTE: This comment, and others down below, is not meant or intended to disparage women. SInce men are generally physiologically stronger than women, it is a comment meant to show that women can be really strong, and that many men don't really try hard at all.

When I was at High Energy Gym in Newark, DE my Freshman year at UD, some people would come in and say I was strong. I didn't know what they meant. We had guys in that gym benching 500 pounds or more, and some guys- including a USMC reservist in my German Class- could DL 600+. My meager 365 bench as a 198 pound 17 year old was embarrassing. But you know what? I said "Thanks" and watched the good guys lift, and replicated what they did. I even spoke to a couple of them, and I listened. Here are some keys I picked up from watching them:

Every rep was the same, no matter the weight. fast, powerful, under control;
they got set, loaded the weight, and lifted without making a show of what they were going to do;
they asked for spotters and were willing to spot others;
They didn't talk too much, use a pager, or hot on girls WHILE they lifted;
Amazingly, they all kept their shirts on; most worked out in T-Shirts and sweats year round
They were all easy to talk to when you asked them a question, but when you kissed their ass they intimidated the hell out of you.
and they came to the gym and benched every week, heavy. I'm sure some of the reps I saw weren't too heavy, but 405 for sets of 10 was mind boggling to me

My Sophomore year I went to the UD Track team and lifted with these guys: Wade Coleman and Brian D'Amico and Larry Pratt. Larry was our coach, and he had lifted with Bob Bednarski, Bill Starr, and those guys back in the early 70s. Larry purchased and donated the first bench, rack, and barbell set for the UD. He even went to pick it up in York. Back in the 70s, Larry squatted quite a bit of weight- in the high 600s, maybe even 700+ if you believe the stories. In his 50s, Larry did little but bench heavy and squat medium, always wrapping his knees with some old knee wraps. When he benched, he kept his feet on the bench. And he would, as a 230 pound 55 year old, rep 315 in the bench for sets of 3. So there you go, he was strong. But Larry again wasn't cocky about it- he didn't brag, he didn't scream when he got under the bar, none of that stuff. He would get loud for me, for Wade, for Brian, but not for himself. Wade, too, was a master of the understated. An All-American Hammer thrower, who at 295 pounds ran an 11.5 100 and qualified for the IC4A Championships in every throwing event, Wade had a personal best in the 35# Weight Throw of 67'7 3/4" (to understand what that's like, try throwing a light truck tire the distance of three pick up trucks). Wade was, until I competed against Shame Hamman, the strongest man I'd ever met. We used to have to sit on the leg press for Wade (Ronnie Coleman's video wasn't original for me), and Wade had injured his back and would do obnoxiously strong hang cleans- like 315 for reps and pressing it, not jerking it, every time. Wade's squat workouts, too, were legendary- 600/700+ on a weekly basis. Now, to you purists out there, Wade wore a belt and knee wraps and did low bar squats. Still, to this day, I've never run as fast as Wade or squatted as much. Any high bar or low bar arrogance goes away when the weights get that heavy. Wade wasn't a show off, either. He would lift, say thanks when someone said he was good or strong, and just come to the gym and lift every day. The most impressive lifter at UD was Jimmy Flynn, who played football (Kicker) at Gettysburg. Jimmy was in his 20s when I knew him, and would later study for the priesthood, though he wouldn't take his vows. But Jimmy would come in and do volume which was unbelievable. One Saturday morning (8:00 a.m. Saturday workouts suck), he did over 20 reps at 600 or more pounds in the deadlift. This, folks, was my introduction to the power of doubles and singles. Work up to a heavy single, then do some doubles, then do higher reps to take care of your back. Jimmy never wore a belt, no knee wraps, just pure out humble strength. And yes, he always lifted in those gray sweatpants and sweatshirt.When I came back to lifting at 27, I trained at The Training Center in New Castle, DE. I had some good Olympic lifters there- Alex McInnes, and soon Brian Swedrock. I had some great bodybuilders and powerlifters there to train with. Jason Cox, a 1000 pound squatter, worked out there http://freepdfhosting.com/6b03328f9d.pdf, as did Milt Holloway. IFBB Pro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoPfAHXwQts&feature=fvwrel

These guys always talked shit to us in the back room where only strong people trained, but when we were lifting, we just lifted. Jason would squat with serious attitude, but he wouldn't be obnoxious, he wouldn't get any attitude, none of that crap that passes for intensity in some gyms. He would simply squat heavy. Milt would come to the back room and rep out 405 deep in the squat for sets of 20, but he would never draw attention to himself and brag. And he would talk about diet, training, how we trained and why etc. We also had John Green, the Westside Disciple, Sue Scheppele, Women's Bodybuilder: http://www.flickr.com/photos/femalemuscleclips/sets/72157629741014389/

We'll have a Blogterview with Sue int he upcoming weeks, but yes, she's humble, too. And lifts a hell of a lot more than you do, most likely.

In Moorestown, NJ, though, we had a great group of Olympic lifters form 2003-2008. The list included Inga Denunzio, Shannon Pole-Summers, Jenna Bussard, Kiyo Fujimoto, Lance Frye, Jason Gump, Joe Fondale, Matt Devine, Missy Saucedo, and some other up and comers. These workouts rivaled anything you see on youtube today from the powerhouse training centers; Jason once cleaned 190 on a Saturday morning without a warm-up. Tom Black, an 85 who qualified for the American Open many times, had dropped a back squat and bet Jason 20 bucks he couldn't clean it back up for him. Jason did. Lance would regularly snatch up to 150 kilos and clean upwards of 190; one day he push jerked 207.5 out of the rack weighing about 80 kilos. Missy qualified for Nationals several years in a row in two weight classes, Joe, Matt, Inga were all Olympic Trials qualifiers and Matt represented the US on a Pan-Am team (As did Jason and Lance); distinctly remember doing 170 for a double in the clean and having it be the third heaviest clean of the day (Matt and Lance, you can both kiss my... sorry, this is a family show). Of all these lifters, only one was arrogant and obnoxious, and he's living a troubled life right now. The rest of them were humble, kind, easy to talk to, even self-deprecating. We all knew- and know- that people were stronger than us, were better lifters, and we knew we had a long way to go, through many more years of hard work, to get where we wanted to be.

So here's a note to all you shirtless fools out there bragging about your 225 pound cleans: I was in a weight room where women regularly cleaned 275 pounds, where I saw first hand lifts that rivaled the best on you tube today, and where a 77 kg lifter hung with me for singles at 270 kg in the BS. And throughout the entire time, these folks- most of them- were humble, easy to talk to, and didn't leave sweat angels on the floor to show how hard they worked. They won, they competed, and they shut the hell up and got under the bar. None of these folks started off lifting record weights, and none of them were satisfied or needed some guy on TV telling them they were strong because they could lift a minimum of weight. They worked hard, stopped showing off, and got stronger.

One final note to you strength gurus and the coaches out there who've never lifted big: Put your shirt on, stop wondering what program to do, go find some lifters who know what they're doing (not the shirtless fools out there, but the ones in old champion sweats and beat up 20 year old T-Shirts), and watch them and listen. Then you'll figure out the secret to strength:

listen first
do no harm
be humble
every rep counts, make each one intense and focus on form
keep adding weight
and realize that someone, somewhere, is better than you are. Go get them.

"Tir'd with all these, from these would I be gone,/Save that, to die, I leave my love alone."

08/21/2012 16:08:00

Yeah, conditioning makes me feel like the title (extra points for anyone identifying the origin and sending it to me). But couplets are more than just rhymed (usually) lines in Shakeseare (and others). They're a good, safe, smart way to finish your lifting workout.

I've spoken about barbell complexes here: http://www.mckennasgym.com/blog/2011/07/22/Complex-Conditioning.aspx and about other finishers here: http://www.mckennasgym.com/blog/2011/11/17/What-are-Extras-and-my-suggestions.aspx

But a quick 10 minute couplet can condition you, work on a particular weakness, and generally get you ready for the beerfest your Thursday night will turn into after all those squats we do. A 10 minute couplet also won't destroy your recuperative abilities, though it may make your evening less enjoyable.

Gant Grimes, a fine gentlemen with whom I've spent some work time the last few months, advises his clients to finish their workouts with these couplets rather than destroying themselves with a non-sensical high intensity conditioning punishment. A good couplet flows, complements your workout and your goals, and is done in about 10 minutes, give or take a few. If your conditioning is going to take longer than 10 minutes to finish, go for a 2-5 mile run, row a 5k, or bike 10+ miles. Or swim if you can. Jumping around like an idiot with a bar for 10 minutes won't make you a better athlete, it will just cause injury.

When designing a couplet, use what you have on hand, and don't make the exercises ones which require a lot of thought or CNS activity. Further, the exercises should flow into each other, be intuitive. And, finally, the exercises should be challenging, but not destructive.

My favorite starting place for planning a couplet is the KB swing (or core blaster). I like the kb swing to speed up the workout at times, or sometimes it slows us down, depending on the other exercise. For instance, I'll often have the group do KB swings and battling ropes. 20 swings/ 20 seconds on the rope with a 10 second rest in between, or jumping rope for 100 jumps then 20 swings. In these instances, the swings slow us down.

I'll also use swings to speed up a couplet. My favorite couplet of late is the KB get-up and KB swings. We'll do 5 get ups to each side, then 10 swings; then three get-ups, then 15 swings, then one get up, then 20 swings. For well conditioned folks we'll do 15/20/30 swings.

Another base exercise I use for couplets is the sprint. Well, the fast run for a short distance; I like 20-40 yards, or up a hill. Sprint and do push-ups, or sprint and do pull-ups, or sprint and do jumping jacks.

I don't like to do the rower with a couplet; getting in and out of the rower is just a pain. But some people like to row without the toe straps fastened hard, and if so, then rowing and ball slams are pretty cool as a couplet.

Strongman conditioning is also a good couplet maker, especially a load and a pull. Load a stone over a bar a few times, then drag a sled. Or load some things and flip a tire a couple times.

For wrestlers, find a set of steps, do 40 push-ups and carry a sandbag up the steps. Walk down and repeat 5-10 times; maybe you do 20 push ups instead of 40. The number isn't important, the work is.

How do we determine the weights and load for a couplet? I believe an effective couplet should be with a load between 60-80% of your max. Yes, so run a bit slower than your 100% speed on those sprints. Do 40 push-ups instead of 50. Use the 100 pound sandbag instead of the 150. And for the love of everything, do 5 pull-ups with good form instead of 40 with bad.

When choosing your exercises, choose things which you need to improve. I hate get-ups, so I do them. I love push-ups and am inexplicably good at them, so I avoid them. I cannot do a pull-up, so I also avoid them (strength movement for me). I can sprint, albeit badly, and I do it. I like the core blaster because it improves my hip drive, so I use that more than a single KB for swings. I like double KB swings for the same reason, so I do them, too.

Also, choose something you can finish. 10 sets of the 240 stone over the bar 5x and then flipping the 750# tire 5x is not a good idea. Maybe 3+1, or 2+2 for 10 sets. maybe five sets of the five. Maybe 10 sets if I'm in shape and strong.

The key to couplets is to make them achievable, smart, and short, without a body destroying intensity.

Your instep, your heel, and pulling to the knee

08/14/2012 15:42:00

One of the constants in my lifting since 1993 has been focusing on driving through the midline of my foot; I remember lifting in the Bob at the University of Delaware and putting my foot on the line in the platform and trying to always push through that line. In 2010, I heard Mark Cameron describe that line as "where the heel meets your instep", and that's exactly, in my opinion, the line through which all force must be directed on the pull. Now, I understand that as the bar changes position, the lifters weight shifts forward. But we, as lifters, want to keep our weight over that line of force as long as we can.

Why that point of the body, you ask? That line is sort of the midline of your body in the vertical plane as soon as you bend at the hips. When you stand up straight, your shoulders are right behind that line of your foot, and therefore the bar in lifting will be, at the top of the pull, right over that line. If the bar is right over that line at the top of the pull, you are able to get yourself under the bar better. And, usually , when you catch the bar in a front squat the bar will be over that line, and when you snatch and jerk well, the overhead position of that bar is over that line between your feet where the heel meets the instep. Check out Anatomy Bob, as I call him, and look at the heel/instep line and how it intersects the hip and is just in front of the shoulder joint (the point where the instep meets the heel is right in front of where the leg bone meets the foot bone, or the ankle). Now, go to Hookgrip.com and check out some pictures of the lifters at the Olympics and see where the bar is when they pull and finish their lifts. Always for the best lifters that bar is right above, or damn near, that spot- over the CENTER OF BASE.

In order to get that bar to the center of base, we need to start with the bar in the right spot, which is the first metotarsal-phalangeal joint, or where the big toe meets the foot. In some folks, you'll be sightly in front, some will be behind, but that' spot is more or less where the bar should go.

Wait- hold on- some people say to start with perpendicular shins, some say to start with the bar in front of the toes, some people say to eat Froot Loops every day because Mickey Tettleton did and said he hit home runs because he did.

I don't really give a bunch of ducks where you are when you grab the bar. Just grab it. When that bar breaks contact with the ground-- at the point where you, the organism, must break the inertia of the bar-- the most effective place for that bar to be is right over that toe joint. Check out Lu Yong over here; the bar is off the floor a bit and it's right over his big toe joint! Holy Crap! He's about to snatch as much as I've cleaned! Maybe I should do more burpees.

When we break the bar off the floor, our body will naturally put us in the strongest position, which is like Lu Yong above. Your body finds it when you're highly trained, or when you simply breathe. But for many of us, we cannot use a dynamic start, we cannot start with our hips low and let our body bring us into this position off the floor. So we start in this position and try to maintain it as we lift. Some of us can start with low hips and get the bar in this position as we pull from the ground; that's my preferred start, in fact.

So, let's review, sum up, and move along: You put the bar right above your big toe joint, your feet are comfortably pointed outwards, and you grab the bar. I prefer your hips to be low, how low depends on your levers and strength. Your back must be arched and tight. A tight arched back is more important than low hips. if your hips are lower, as you get into position to break the bar from the floor, your shoulders move toward the bar and you drive through that line. DRIVE through it, push on it as if it's the only point under your feet.

Okay, now we're good. We've all got the bar off the floor, and at some later point I'll talk about dynamic starts, high vs. low hips, and why you should just read my old blogs because I already did talk about all this stuff.

What do we do with our body as we break the bar off the floor? Well, that depends on where you want the bar to go.

I want the bar to end up in the snatch at your patella tendon (knee or just below) with your shins perpendicular to the ground (more or less), but they can be flared out at an angle (check out the pictures of Zelyx Rivera and her 90 kg snatch in my multi media section, or the picture above of Lu Yong). In the clean, I want the bar just above your knee when your shins are perpendicular to the ground. Let's simplify this desire, though: shins perpendicular to the ground when the bar is around your knee. We're going to end today's blog at the knee, so let's focus on how the bar gets there and where else it might go.

To get the bar to the position I want: shins perpendicular to the ground, bar at the knee, and directly OVER the midline of your foot (yep, where the heel and instep meet), you must BRING THE BAR TOWARD YOU WHEN IT BREAKS FROM THE FLOOR.

Let me say that again: BRING THE BAR TOWARD YOUR BODY WHEN IT COMES OFF THE FLOOR.

I'm glad you heard me that time. Never did a coach say to the lifter "Let that bar get really far away from you off the floor, it'll be okay when you can't receive it and drop the lift." Well, I may have said that, but only because I'm a smart ass.

Sometimes a coach says to keep the bar close; sometimes they say to sweep it in, sometimes I say create tension, sometimes I say to push your knees out and back, your butt out, and keep your chest up (I need to talk about the triangles of tension in a blog, too). No matter what the coach says, the idea is for the bar to move toward the lifter and toward the point over the midline of the foot. The lifter moves the bar there in an incredibly efficient movement called standing up safely. Seriously people, this is lifting. Lift the bar efficiently and you'll do it right. Don't confuse your body. So, here we are again to debate the start position and why the bar shouldn't move in a vertical line off the floor.

The bar can move in a vertical line off the floor and be a great pull IF the lifter is flexible enough and fast enough to get their ass back out of the way and pop their hips through the bar before falling. In this case, the lifter can start with the bar closer to her shins.

If the lifter is like most of us, though, the pull must bring the bar towards us. I don't care if it's a straight line, or a curved line, or whatever, but the bar is going to come toward the lifter. Here's a video Glenn Pendlay posted of Jon North bringing the bar toward him in the snatch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQo8QdrNFl0 (I would like you to notice where the bar is located when Jon snaps his hips into it; it's right over the midline of his foot, the center of his base, the line through which we must push).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7XnDuXqubo Here's Jared Fleming snatching 160 at the 2012 Nationals. (I've known Jared since he was 10, which is why I showed his 160 and not Jon's). Notice that, as he pulls from the floor, the bar is over his big toe joint, it comes into him (no, his shins aren't perpendicular to the ground when the bar is at his knees, but hey, it's a guideline and not a rule) and he finishes his pull with the bar right over the midline of his foot. I think if his shins were perp to the floor at the knee he would have had a smoother finish. But this is 160, under pressure, and the kid did well.

One point of discussion in the initial phase of pulling the bar from the floor is if the bar should move up in a straight line. This point is only for discussion because good lifters know the bar, which starts over your toes, shouldn't go straight up; the bar should move into you off the floor.

But why not?

If the bar starts over your toes, and rises in a vertical line, it will be in front of your center of base when it reaches the knee, causing you to chase after the bar, to lose your balance, and causing the bar to finish in front of your body and causing you to drop the bar.

If the bar starts against your shins and rises in a vertical line, the bar could reach the center of base as it passes the knee; but what most people do if the bar starts against their shins is to move the bar away from their center of base as they lift it, causing it to move away from the body past the knee rather than towards the body. If the bar moves away past the knee, the bar has a big loop when you finish the lift, and you lose the lift or work way too hard to finish it and squat up.

The third option is to start the bar over your center of base and have your knees over the bar. This might be okay, it all depends on your levers. But what happens in this case is that either the bar moves forward continuously off the floor, or the bar goes forward than comes back even for those with the most advantageous of levers. You want to lift the bar as efficiently as possible; the bar moving forward then back means the lift is harder than it has to be.

I'd like to address one major flaw in people's online discussion of the pull. That flaw is that the bar position is often dissociated from the center of base. The bar doesn't just have to end up at a specific point above the thigh or on the thigh; it has to be above the midline of the foot when on the hips'high on the thigh. Many times people will say that the bar "hits them" in the correct spot, but I then tell them that their correct spot isn't in the right place.

My cues to my lifters off the floor are as follows: spread the bar with your hands to create tension (spreading the bar will ensure that all the strength from you pushing with your feet is transferred to the bar), squeeze your back tight, push through your heel (midline of the foot), push your knees out and butt back at the same time, and keep your chest up. I often simplify all these cues into "knees out, create tension off the floor". Or, even better, "Stay Tight, sweep the bar in".

In a future blog, maybe the next one or maybe not, we'll talk about what happens to the bar after it goes past your knees.

The German Snatch and Clean

07/31/2012 17:09:00

You need Flash Player in order to view this.

German Clean

A quick update today, and a short story. The lift I put in this week's workout called 'German Cleans" is a lift with 3-5 pauses in it; if I just say do a "German" Snatch/clean/jerk I want all five pauses. Here's what the lifts looks like :

You need Flash Player in order to view this.

German Snatch

You need Flash Player in order to view this.

German Jerk

A jerk drill with five pauses

Here's the story behind these lifts: Joe Fondale told me that Joe Hanson came up with these after speaking to Coach Mantek from Germany. Apparently, Germany pays a lot of attention to the transition areas of the lifts, where the lifts are most frequently missed. Lacking the sophisticated computer system the Germans used to analyze the lifter, Coach Hansen has his lifters do a "German" lift, with between three to five pauses in key areas. The pauses for the clean and snatch: knee, mid thigh, catch, bottom of the squat, and halfway up from the bottom ; in the jerk, pause: at the bottom of the dip; at the catch, front foot, back foot, at the top

How to spend less time at the chiro

07/24/2012 12:06:00

Watch this video first (it's PG13 for Language):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHDdqubE7zQ

I love a good chiropractor. I had one in New Jersey, Dr. Eric Nelson; here's his website: http://www.nelsonpilates.com/ I recommend Eric with no reservations; he will help you get better. If not for him, I wouldn't have gone to the American Open in 2007. Unfortunately, not everybody has access to a good Chiro within driving distance, nor do we have the cash to go as often as we'd like. In order to productively lengthen the time between our visits to the Chiro, I have a group of exercises and stretches I recommend to keep you together on your own. Please be advised that this recommendation does not replace a qualified medical examination, and you should not do these exercises without being evaluated by a good PT, Chiro, or Doctor. Also, a good Chiro will get you set up physically to get the most from doing these exercises. If your back is out, these won't get you to 100%; if your back is in, these exercises will help you stay there.

Number 1: Turkish Get-Ups with a Kettlebell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-ymPDhyPxg

We're not reinventing the wheel, people. This is pretty simple. Don't buy the DVD, watch this video. The most important things in the video which will keep your back together are the DRIVING THROUGH YOUR HEELS. Yep, magically, driving with your heels will keep your hips and back in place. I like to initiate the drive off the ground (the "punch and crunch" at about 2:10 or so in the video) with a hard heel drive from the straight leg. That little heel drive there really locks your SI joint into action, but you can only do it for an instant. You can see the whole get-up on video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-MMnltV1h8&feature=related

Number 2: Kettlebell Arm-bar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-t2PWHXvls

At weightlifting camp this year, John Filippini and I were talking about KB use for lifters, and he's happened to be doing these. He does them with his legs right next to each other and turns all the way around to the floor. I, personally, like to get a good stretch and use the KB to counterbalance my legs as I stretch. You can sometimes get a good pop in the back here.

These next two are courtesy of Christine Petty, who won't be doing these until Jack is about a month older than he is now. She just now informed me that she got them from the Mobility WOD Website, and specifically this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INBY84sqrR0&feature=player_embedded

Number 3: Double Knee to Chest Stretch push/pull

This stretch is oddly difficult to explain. The first part is easy, though. Lay on your back and bring both knees to your chest, as far up as possible. This is the first part of the stretch. Note how your should use both hands to pull your knees down to your chest. For the second part, I want you to use only one hand to pull your knee to your chest, and use the other hand to push your knee away. Watch about minute 4:10 of the video to see this stretch.

Yes, here's the confusion: one hand pushes, one hand pulls, BUT the knees STAY TOGETHER. You should get almost an isometric sort of contraction. You want to make the push/pull happen not with your quads and hamstrings, but with your lower back.

Number 4: Squeeze the Knees

This is the easiest and most effective of all these movements. You lay in the knees to chest position and put your foam roller, or towel, or whatever you have between your knees. You want something you won't crush, though you should be able to get some slight compression. Then you squeeze that object as hard as you can for about 15-30 seconds. Squeeze with your hips and back, not your adductors.

I would do the last two stretches every day after you lift. A couple or three days a week do the get-ups and the KB Arm Bars after the training session and then the stretches. Maybe come to the gym, or stay home, and do them all as an extra workout on a recovery day.

Dealing with the grind

07/19/2012 14:28:00

In order to succeed in lifting, you need to lift. Maybe you need to do sprints, maybe you need to stretch and foam roll, but stretching and running alone won;t make you a decent lifter. To be a decent lifter, you must lift, and lifting three, four, five, 10 times a week is often a grind. The grind leads to boredom and staleness for many and so they avoid it with herky-jerky exercises where puking is the goal; for others, the grind is a deeply spriritual experience and you look forward to it daily and view it as a source of inspiration and meditation. Most of us, though, are somewhere in between in our approach to the grind.

Living in the moment is the easiest way to deal with the grind of training. Don;t spend your day thinking about the squats you need to do that night, spend your day thinking about your day. eggs and bacon for breakfast? Awesome. Enjoy breakfast. You can enjoy squatting later. You should, however, think about your workout and be mentally prepared for it, but putting the snatch on a pedestal ruins your workout. Living in the moment is one of the greatest gifts Diane Van Deren has, and we can practice this thoughtlessness throughout our day to a degree: http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-blog/2011/apr/05/in-running/

When you're on rep 16 with 405 pounds on your back, focus on the next rep. Each rep is only a single, and each rep is vital to the whole. When you're done the set, take a minute to relish your achievements, and move on. Similarly, when doing 13 sets of 2 and six sets of one in the snatch, focus only on each rep. Don't worry about the 90% when you're at the 50%. The singleness of mind will help you do well at 90%, and the focus on technique at 50% will help you succeed at 90%.

Olympic lifting workouts are repetitive, in all honesty. We snatch, we clean, we squat, we pull, and we press. Crap, that's not a whole lot of variety in a four or five day training week. In all reality, the difference between a day where you snatch and a day where you hang snatch is minimal. You don't snatch one day and the next go running five miles; we are lifters, after all. In order to deal with this endless monotony of lifting, you need to make your days in the gym fun. Every Thursday we do something special, either hang out after we lift and have a beer, or sometimes we do Kliondike nights, where we have Klondike bars. We also have the challenge gym lifts: Rolling Thunder pull-ups, bent press, and axle deadlift nights. We'll do these whenever we want at the end of the workout, to have fun or show off. It breaks the monotony and builds comraderie.

Other ways to cope with the grind are to make sure you're eating and hydrated. Seriously, people, good nutrition makes life easier. Coming to the gym feeling healthy is awesome, and makes what you do in the gym easier. So drink your water, have a protein shake, and have the Wendy's Triple Baconater after you train https://www.facebook.com/Baconator . Proper nutrition will make the training easier, too, and help regulate your hormones. Eat lean, healthy meat; fruits and vegetables and nuts, and drink water.

Another way to approach the grind is to realize that you, in fact, want to do it. Let yourself enjoy what you're doing. As adults, we're not forced to train the way we do. We choose to do so, so enjoy it. Do a happy dance.

The Importance of a Deload

07/16/2012 11:30:00

I read my first technical training book when I was 14. It was a total training program for bringing a wrestler from nothing to the Olympics. Like many of the old Eastern Block books, it assumed you had a candidate who was gifted physically and given all possible assistance for an outstanding career. One part of the book strikes me to this day: That the wrestler would take a month off every year or so. Off, totally off. And in reading the Russian lifting texts, they, too, took time off where they only goofed around, swam, did other stuff. In an Olympic year, that month might be a week or two, and after an Olympic year, that time might be two or three months depending on your age and background.

This LBEB post talks about deloading, and briefly explains why it's needed:

http://www.liftbigeatbig.com/2012/05/deload-week.html

In my programming, we generally do three work weeks followed by a deload week. Sometimes we extend the work to five to six weeks on an individual basis, followed by a longer deload. usually, though, the deload is every four weeks. In a year-long plan, we deload right after the major meet of the year. I tell the lifters to train 2-3 days a week and do whatever they want to do; we'll try some strongman stuff, some fun lifting. generally some more conditioning and bodyweight stuff that month. Then, we spend a month doing no lifts over 80%. After that month, we start back in on the year long plan.

I mention this deload now because some new folks have decided to jump into my programs. You MUST deload when it's planned, otherwise you will not peak when it's planned. We hit 90% two or more days a week in a four day a week program, and the program beats you up. You squat three or four days a week. take the break when it's built in. if you max or test during a deload week, you won't be able to do the volume the weeks you need to. I know you feel better during the deload week, that's the reason we do them.

Another, often overlooked, reason to deload is to learn to handle the emotional and intellectual difficulty of lifting heavy weights. Most of us come to the gym because we enjoy it, and those of us who compete like to lift heavy things. Lifting heavy is a difficult psychological task. The deload week allows you to come to the gym fully confident you'll make the lifts, and you'll let yourself feel good about what happens that week.

If you have a stressful work day or week, or your personal life interrupts your training, and you have to miss a day or tow of lifting, or you miss lifts because you don't sleep because of personal stress, those weeks are NOT a deload. Those weeks suck, and you need to get into training again easy. Lifting is only one of the stresses in our lives, and we need to learn that life stress is a valid reason to take it easy for a week in the weight room, and then we need to take it easy for a week in the weight room so we can get prepped for taking it hard.

Here are some more articles on the deload how and why:

http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/how-to-properly-deload/

http://thethinkingstrongman.blogspot.com/2012/06/deload-week-new-approach.html

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/get_bigger_by_doing_less

"You're Not Going to Like My Answer"

07/03/2012 21:43:00

A friend of mine was asked during one of her weightlifting classes at her local gym:

"What do I need to do to do really well in this meet in four weeks?"

"You're not going to like my answer."

"I have to stop conditioning, right?"

"Yep"

Why, though? Why can't we do well at a weightlifting meet and still do crazy conditioning workouts? Well, you can, provided you're satisfied with going to a meet, having a good time, and competing to see where you stand against your everyday goals and training. That's awesome, everyone should do a meet like this, be it weightlifting, strongman, powerlifting, or running a 5k. Heck, I do that for Highland Games, because the games are fun.

But if you expect to go to a meet, and just because it's a meet hit a PR and increase your total by 10-20 kg, you need to serve one master, and that master is lifting. Even for four weeks, your lifting will improve enough that you get better and hit a good total. I would prefer you plan for the meet 12 weeks out (12 out of 52 weeks... maybe you could do that, even if engaged in another sport in which you are, technically, in the offseason).

Why, though, can't you engage in hard conditioning and expect to improve drastically in a power sport?

There are a few reasons. Suprisingly, one of them is not strictly technique. Technique is improved through practice, and good practice can be done in many ways, even if you do train for muscular endurance rather than power output.

Here, then, is our first reason: Power output. In order to do well in lifting weights, you use fast twitch muscle fibers.

Fast Twitch Muscle Fibers are one of the two basic types of muscle fibers (fast and slow, though there are subcategories which we won't bring up) which contract to produce force in a muscle. Fast twitch fibers fire quickly and powerfully and need an extended period of recovery before firing again. Slow Twitch fibers fire less powerfully but can fire again without as much down time. Very simple reasoning shows that fast twitch fibers are used in the snatch, clean and jerk, and the dancing following a good lift. Since your body essentially adapts to whatever kind of exercise you're doing, doing an exercise routine which develops slow twitch fibers over fast twitch means that a fast twitch sport like lifting will suffer. Similarly, expecting to kick ass in a marathon after doing nothing but squats and cleans for a year is poorly thought out.

The other reasons that mid-level conditioning will inhibit your performance in lifting is in the energy systems used to power your body in these situations. Homo sapiens sapiens have three basic energy systems for work: ATP PCR and Glycolisis, Glycolisis and Oxidative, and Oxidative. A conditioned weightlifter makes the most of her ATP PCR Glycolisis system when they lift, giving them much more available energy than an individual focused on another energy system, like the Glycolisis and Oxidative System. If you focus on exercise activities lasting more than a few seconds, you prepare your non-weightlifting energy systems to be more efficient, and you lose the efficiency of the ATP PCR Glycolisis system. Basically, if you train to move for a while, your body gets used to moving for a while. Moving for a while means you're better at moving for a while using 70% of your strength than moving very quickly and using 100% of your strength.

The third reason you can't engage in hard conditioning and expect to be awesome at lifting is that lifting a limit weight is one of the most difficult things a human can do.

Seriously: I can train for six months and run a 5k in 25 minutes or less weighing over 270 pounds. Why? I'm a human, and we're really more designed for running than lifting a heavy weight. However, I can train for six months and come not even close to my PRs in lifting. I've done this recently; I can get back to 80% or so quickly, but that last 20% is a cruel master requiring another 18 months to conquer. Since humans are designed for long, slow things, testing the organism with a limit weight takes a psychological and emotional toll. Getting used to that toll through training helps you on the platform day.

Expect out of your training what you put into it: if you train for endurance, you're going to be better at endurance. That's fine, there is nothing wrong with that. Just expect to to better at endurance events. You just need to have a good mindset on competition day. I know many lifters who run a mile for fun, but they don't get upset when the run isn't blazing fast. They run for the heck of it once every month or two because they want to challenge themselves that way. It's the challenge which is important, after all, and not beating everyone at their own sport.

Seriously, people, it isn't rocket science

06/04/2012 10:43:00

I've seen and heard so many stupid things about weightlifting in the last month that i don't know where to begin today's rant.

But why not begin with Mike Boyle's explanation of the clean technique he advocates: http://strengthcoachblog.com/2012/03/03/why-the-rock/ yes, dude, you are wrong.

This is about the stupidest crap I've ever heard in my life. Almost as stupid as the thought that I should be able to do a one leg squat with half of my back squat max. To tell the truth, I wouldn't know, as I wouldn't ever load up 300+ pounds on my back and try to do a one leg squat with it. The injury potential is tremendous.

This explanation proves to me the following:

300 pounds in a hang clean isn't heavy for a professional or college athlete
famous strength coaches aren't necessarily good strength coaches
never use your own kid in a video to prove your point

The scoop is NOT an intentional action caused by forcing the knees out under the bar. It is an unintentional reaction caused by extending the hips powerfully. Purposefully throwing the bar in a horizontal plane is counter productive and WILL lead to injury.

The scoop, people, happens by keeping the bar close and extending the hips violently. Even in the vertical jump, used as an example in the article, the hips extend and knees extend then the ankles. Doing some intentional rocking or shuffling is poor form and potentially dangerous.

I also spoke to the owner of a new local(ish) gym few months ago about lifting. He talked about how to really drive to the toes and then jump up with the lifts. Okay, yeah, whatever. Good luck, Dude. Again, more proof that strength training is so good for athletes that even stupid strength training gives you benefits.

Many people choose to O lift as an intellectual pursuit. Seriously people, just because you're smart doesn't mean you can't train heavy. You must train HEAVY to get better and to improve technique. Never challenging your strength will NOT make you a better lifter. I want to hit you with a 25 kilo plate, but they're all getting used by people who want to be good rather than snotty about their lifts. It's time you looked at yourself and realized you don't know how to be hard. Now, shut up and just start lifting more. Stop talking about knee angles and hip placement and triple extension and lift. Once you lift heavy- and 110 kilos is NOT HEAVY in either lift if you weigh more than 165 pounds- then come back and talk about lifting.

The Olympic lifts are simple. I can teach almost anyone to do them competently in one session. They'll do them from the hang, but they'll do them. And they'll get better and stronger and move to the floor and to full versions. If they can't learn how to do them, then they have a physical problem which prevents them from doing them properly. I won't try to teach these people the lifts in any form. Why? because I'm a trainer,and it's my job to assess the people who come to me and make them better.

Here's the simple way to do the clean:

Hold the bar about shoulder width apart (double overhand grip. No one has ever grabbed the bar in an underhand grip, but hey, someone might)
Stand up as tall as you can while staying on your heels. Squeeze your legs and butt and hips into the bar.
Relax that position, then push your knees out and then drive your legs straight as fast as you can and pull the bar up as high as you can. Do it faster.
Now, punch your elbows through when the bar gets high. Move your arms around the bar.
Once you've done that a few times, simply shuffle your feet out and down when you pull the bar from your hips.
Now, go back to step 4 and push your butt back before you drive your legs. Follow the above steps.

Now you can clean the bar. This explanation isn't in depth, I have no pictures, and I really add much more to it when I teach it in person. But anyone can do it. Really, they can.