Here are 6 videos 5 videos covering the 48 kilo women’s class at the 2010 World Weightlifting Championships posted by binokoron at Youtube.
Women, still think weightlifting will make you look like a man? Ya, right …
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
… can’t seem to find this one!!
Part V
Part VI
Author: Dan John
Title: Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning
On a Scale from 1 to Infinity: Infinity
Seriously? It’s that good.
One of my favorite books in the field of strength training is the compellation of John McCallum’s articles titled, “The Complete Keys to Progress.” I’m not exaggerating to say that I’ve read that book well over 30 times. In this world where the word “classic” is attached to nearly everything that is older than a year old, it’s one of the few books that deserves it. Dan John’s book, “Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning,” is the ONLY book in the field of strength training that I have liked equally as much.
The problem with most of the books in our industry is that they come in only two varieties. The first are overgrown text books. They discuss the modern science, they break down what they think it means to you as a coach or athlete, and they have a long list of references at the back. This is great, of course. As a grad student in Mathematics, I’m hardly against science.
Some of these books are actual texts used in graduate programs in exercise science, physical therapy, etc. Many others are essentially abbreviated versions of these that “break it down” for you, and give the authors opinion on how to use the information to make you stronger. Lyle McDonald is an example of an author who does this all the time.
The second group are the e-books, e-manuals, e-reports, and even paper books that promise you 16-weeks to this, and 12-weeks to that. These can all be placed squarely into the “how to” category. (My own e-report – look to the right – is just a “how to” guide … well, it’s a “how NOT to” guide!) The point of these is to quickly give you a plan of action that you can put into practice right this very second. They provide a valuable service. But, Dan’s book is something more special than that.
Dan John’s book is not in either of these categories. It stands all on its own in a market filled with copycat clones.
Like McCallum’s book before it, Never Let Go is a collection of Dan’s best articles and essays. Also like McCallum’s book, you can expect four things to happen to you when you read it.
- You won’t be able to put it down
- You will be motivated as hell to get to the gym … NOW!
- You will find a lot of practical advice that will result in serious gains. I’ve personally tried quite a few of his ideas and routines over the years, and have rarely found one that didn’t work for me.
- You will laugh. There are plenty of passages in this book that are just outright funny. Whether he is recounting an event in his life as a coach or athlete, or just making an off-the-cuff comment, he writes in a way that is personal and down to earth.
When I first bought this book, I sat down on the couch with a cup of coffee, and I read it cover to cover in one shot. I’ve since read it 3 times, and have read particular chapters more than that. Mind you, this in only 6 months!
While it is true that Never Let Go is full of “how to” information, it’s worth is not predicated upon that. The problem with the books described above in the standard two categories in strength and fitness is that they become easily dated. Age is the kiss of death with these books. If the science moves forward and the info you put into your book turns out to be false, you’re boned. Even if it isn’t false, the fitness market is fickle. It’s like the pop music market. Fads abound, and you can’t be the hot guru on the block forever.
Dan’s book has an at-home quality that is timeless. It’s something you’d want to read even if all of his advice was bogus (which it isn’t). Never Let Go is the comfort food of the strength training world. You can pick it up anytime you need motivation, you want to “hear the voice” of someone who’s been there, or you want to remind yourself why you love heavy training in the first place.
Some Quotes of Note:
To give you an idea of what you can expect from Dan John, take a look at seven random quotes from his book:
1. From page 112:
By age thirty-five, you have some level of what we in education call Party Knowledge. This, of course, is the great dirty secret of American education: We teach people to get jokes at parties. You know, if I tell a joke about someone treating his wife like Henry VIII treated his wives, you realize she isn’t being treated well. Nothing can prepare you for a Dennis Miller rant entirely; that would be like asking Warren Miller to film Euripides’ Iphigeneia in Taurus for an Aspen homeless shelter fundraiser … but, I digress.
Indeed …
2. From page 348:
When discussing goals in this light …
Look at the rewards.
Look at your behavior.
Does your behavior match your rewards?
By the way, I’d like to know how one is rewarded for writing his name on the toilet seat.
3. From page 91:
Then, Billy goes to a workshop or, worse, reads one of my articles. You see, Billy doesn’t have a systematic education. He never learned to squat correctly, deadlift correctly, nor learned the basics of the sport. He doesn’t eat breakfast because he’s on The Warrior Diet; he drinks five Super Huge Gulps of cola a day because he heard that was the best way to get creatine to work; and he thinks the only way to get a bodyweight bench press is to be on drugs.
4. From page 154:
Every time I post strength standards, I always get at least one fretful email: Danny, I’m an adult and I can’t do these lifts! This will be followed by a seven-page description of the guy’s current training protocol including the letters “A” and “B” and several mentions of cadence and joint-rehab work.
My answer: You’re too damned weak. Toss out all that crap and add some plates!
5. From page 358:
The kicker is, you can make great progress without these options. I learned this the hard way a decade ago. I’d found the perfect gym. Squat racks as far as the eye could see, platforms all loaded with Olympic bars and bumper plates, a sprinting track, boxes for jumping, an area to stretch, and a clientele that included NBA players and Olympians from several countries. Each workout was an insight into the Olympics and the world of professional athletics.
Of course, it closed.
I was left having to train at home with a terrible bar I got at a garage sale, two thirty-five-pound plates and two twenty-five-pound plates … a total of 165 pounds. My options were just a wee bit limited. During the next six months, I made the best progress of my life. Why? I had no choice! I had to make do and work hard!
6. From page 241:
Barbell Rollouts
I love those damn five-dollar ab wheels.
I loved them when they came out in the ‘60s, I loved them when they returned with the advent of the internet, and I love them as my favorite anterior-chain exercise.
Someone told me I should try them with a barbell. I figured, it’s a damn wheel, right? The weight shouldn’t matter. Well, I was wrong. Rolling 135 back is nothing like rolling back the cute little ab wheel I bought for five bucks. It feels like exercise, for God’s sake!
7. I particularly like this one, as he mentions my own University in it (I bolded it for you). From page 232:
The subtle, secret truth few in the world of strength training want to admit is this: For six weeks or so, everything works. All the strength-training books and articles on the dusty shelves of Portland State University, Arizona State University, Utah State University, Dennison College and several other schools I wasted so much of my life flipping through; all the prime movers of the isometric craze of the early 1960’s, as well as the key figures in the Nautilus movement with whom I talked … they’re all right! They’re right for about six weeks.
I chose to quote passages that highlight the fact that this book isn’t just a “how to” manual, nor is it all “text-booky”. He writes like he talks and makes you feel like you are in the room with him drinking a beer. But, that said, it is packed to the brim with varied workout routines you can use to your hearts content. These routines aren’t gimmicky or faddish; they are basic, intense, and focused on increasing your underlying levels of strength, conditioning, and technique.
We all like to pretend that we’re advance. Look here, people, I’ve been training for 14 years, I’m 190 pounds of muscle at only 5’6’’, I just deadlifted 315 pounds for 17 reps in only 1 minute at a local strongman show, and I STILL don’t consider myself advanced. My own workouts are still centered on basic moves like snatches, clean and jerks, squats, deadlifts, presses, and chin ups – the kinda stuff Dan’s been telling us to do for years.
Dan’s book caters not to the elite lifters of the world, but to you and me. People who love to lift heavy stuff, and want to lift heavier stuff; people who find the gym a really fun place to hang out; and people who secretly wish they had a handle-bar mustache and a leopard-print singlet. (OK, maybe that last one is just me!)
I strongly advise you to treat yourself and go grab a copy of Dan John’s Never Let Go. I promise, if you love lifting, you’ll love this book.
Disclaimer
If you click the link above to Never Let Go on Amazon and you buy it, I will make a small commission. Don’t let that fool you into thinking that I didn’t mean every word of this review. I love this book, and I know that if you love lifting heavy weights over your head, that you will too.
On a Personal Note
When I first started coaching my own weightlifting club, I emailed Dan John for advice. He promptly called me on the phone and talked to me for about half an hour, giving me some advice I still use to this day.
Sometimes guys in his position don’t realize the lasting impact of a few helpful words to someone who is just starting out. But, it makes a difference. Dan is the kind of guy who actually cares about how others are doing. That’s a rare quality. And I thank him for helping to get the fire started.
Make sure you check this book out. Click here to get it on Amazon.
This weeks random selections of great goodness:
Here’s a vid of highlights of some of my lifters competing in a local contest:
The Progressive Buddhist warns us about the Panic of Desire.
An article describing in detail how to do a “Pendlay” Row (as opposed to a regular barbell row) and why they are likely superior for lat development.
When you let the bar down, let the upper-back relax, and if possible bend the spine a little and let the shoulders come forward. Then as you pull the bar up, pull the shoulders back, arch the back, and pull with the arms all at the same time.
Dave Tate gives us the run down on the 32 reasons owning your own business sucks. He’s right on every front, but as he says at the end, it is worth it if you love it. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The San Francisco Zen Center hosts a podcast where Brad Warner gave a class on Understanding Shobogenzo.
Not flexible enough for the Oly lifts? Don’t worry, you aren’t alone. Most people aren’t at first. But, you can be and you NEED to be if you are going to be able to lift heavy weights, prevent injury, and impress the opposite sex. Justin Thacker gives us a rundown on some great flexibility exercises you can do to prepare yourself to lift overhead in Prepping for the O Lifts
Bret Contreras has a quick 10 min video on power production:
Just when you thought there wasn’t enough peace in the world, you discover this: The Yeti-Sasquatch Transpacific Brotherhood.
Next year will mark the octocentennial of the Yeti-Sasquatch Transpacific Brotherhood accord, which was inaugurated with vigorous hand throttling by the Yeti and Sasquatch representatives at the 1208 Global Hominoid Congress held in Sakteng, Bhutan. The accord ended ninety-three years of hostility that started after a disagreement at a stomper tournament (the details of which were wisely forgotten).
A fantastic interview with Brett Crosland, strength coach at Brown University, by Glenn Pendlay. Love it!
Charles Poliquin dicusses the use of Plyometrics for Olympic Weightlifting
The Buddhist Blog reviews Brad Warner’s book Sex, Sin and Zen: A Buddhist Exploration of Sex. Notice he is apparently not a fan of the Oxford comma. I simply can’t support that 
Donny Shankle gives us a chicken and sausage gumbo recipe. Moses can cook?
A tribute to Mikhail Koklyaev. I’d put this in the Extreme Motivation camp.
Smitty from the Diesel Crew gives some good advice on Tire Flipping Technique:
“I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.” – Groucho Marx
Far too often we get in the habit of letting our emotional states be based on our situations. If we’re stuck in traffic, we’re mad, but if we’re eating ice cream, we’re happy!
This is a dangerous way to live since you have no control over your emotions, and by extension, your life. Everything becomes someone else’s fault.
“I was having such a good day, until I missed the bus.”
This line doesn’t make logical sense. There is no objective reason why you should STOP having a good day, simply because a certain event occurred.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand that truly traumatic things happen, and these things WILL cause you to get upset – and rightfully so. (Traumatic events are on the opposite end of the spectrum of a fantastic joke. If the joke is good, it’s hard not to laugh.) But, most of the time (the VAST majority of the time) the event that just changed your mood was not at all traumatic and worthy of such negative emotion. You’re just allowing yourself to see it that way.
With the right frame of mind, it isn’t so bad.
Anything that you will probably laugh about later is something you should laugh about now. It isn’t always easy, but it’s a goal to shoot for.
This applies to the gym as well as anywhere.
If you are in the gym and you’re having a “bad” day (like you keep missing weights you think you should hit), that doesn’t objectively mean you are having a “bad” day. In weightlifting, these days are GOOD.
When you fight through the hard days, it will make you stronger on the easy days. There is an old line from a Basketball coach that goes, “Always shoot free-throws when you’re tired.” The reason is that when you are tired, and you try to do something that takes skill and effort, your brain has to work that much harder to make it happen. In doing this, you ‘burn in’ the motor pattern that much better.
There is also the psychological training effect. There’s something gratifying about pushing through a workout you thought you couldn’t finish. Even if the weights were lower and you felt like crap, you did it. This boost in confidence will carry over to your better days and make you stronger in the long run than you’d have been if you just stayed home and waited to “feel good”.
But, neither of those adaptations is possible if you have a bad attitude about things not “going your way” in the gym (or in life). Some days are a struggle, that doesn’t make them bad. That makes them a challenge, and dare I say it, fun.
This week:
Bret Contreras does an interview with Aaron Schwenzfeier who talks about the trend among many strength coaches to fall prey to the hypnotic effect of rehab. Good line,
“Then when all a person reads is rehabilitation material, they become hypnotized to only see things through that type of lens; reading about dysfunction begins to make you see dysfunction.”
Barry Kinsella of weightlifting epiphanies did a great interview with Glenn Pendlay about how to train the “weekend warrior” (you know, most of us!). The most important thing he says is that the lifters that do the best over the long haul, are those that can walk up to a heavy-ass weight (like 95% of max) and lift it without having the scream and yell and psych themselves up. Zen mind, strong legs!
Barry also did an interview with a masters lifter at Average Broz gymnasium in Las Vegas (where Pat Mendez trains). This guy is in his 50’s, and trains A LOT. So many people past the age of 30 have a can’t-do attitude about strength gaining and fitness. And this attitude becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Dharma Monkey muses on why developing inner peace is a universal good:
Using mindfulness to cultivate internal peace reduces our own aggressiveness (and our less-than-ideal responses to what happens around us) and plugs us into the fundamental interconnectedness that underpins life as we know it.
In other words, meditate and you’ll be less of an asshole.
A while back I mentioned what I think is generally a good philosophy for a weightlifter to follow: Train as hard as you can, as often as you can, and spend the rest of your time working your ass off on recovery. Keats Snideman blogs about the last part.
Kathy of Kath Eats Real Food has a tribute to Oatmeal. Mmmm … When I was growing up, oatmeal was pretty much the only breakfast I ever ate. You’d think that would make me tired of it – you’d be wrong! (She’s got a TON of great recipes here.)
Over at Lean Hibrid Muscle they put up 7 of Vince Gironda’s favorite unconventional exercises for those of you looking to beef up the old “guns. I know, I know, we’re suppose to be athletes, but ain’t it nice to look like one? There are some odd-ball lifts here.
Here’s a video of someone doing the Whopper Challenge that I found on 70’s big. Quote:
The Whopper Challenge consists of a Triple Whopper, Double Whopper, Single Whopper, and Whopper Jr. in one sitting. There is an hour time limit, but Michael shrugged that off (Brent told him to) and finished in a smug 17 minutes. The meal netted Michael around 3100 calories.
We’ve got the “Tao of Mike Boyle.” Forewarning, very little Tao 
, but still a good interview. My favorite:
The better the athlete the more self-impressed you are. They
learn everything so easily and you start to think it’s you. “I’m an
awesome coach because I can get that guy to do exactly what
I want him to.” Listen, when you’re training a guy who’s projected
in the first round, getting him into the first round isn’t a big
accomplishment. That’s where he was supposed to go.
Training the highly talented is easy. It’s what you do with the less “gifted” that matters.
Joe DeFranco has a new facility and tells us about his “secrets” to success.
Here’s a research review looking at reasons why a lot of the research on endurance athletes and VO2 max aren’t always applicable to team sports and power sports. Here’s a quote:
"One significant finding that may be relevant to the training of high-level athletes was revealed in a number of studies.1, 2, 4, 25 In these four studies, homogenous groups of highly-trained athletes with similar and high VO2 max were used as the subjects. For all four studies the mean VO2 max for the athletes ranged from a minimum of 53 ml/kg/min to a mximum of 60.4 ml.kg/min. All studies revealed that there was either a very low to low-moderate correlation between aerobic fitness and performance in HIIE. This may suggest that once an athlete has reached some base level of aerobic fitness, that further increasing aerobic fitness or conditioning may not significantly increase HIIE performance."
Greg Everett has an article about Converting athletes from other sports into weightlifting.
The new episode of the Buddhist Geeks podcast talks about the connection of Zen practice and music practice. Clearly this applies to weightlifting as well.
Finally, if you haven’t seen this video of Kendrick Ferris clean and squat-jerking 211k, prepare to be shocked.
Some of you may not know this about me, but my graduate work is in Game Theory and the Biology of Human Behavior. Nowhere are our behavioral patterns put under the microscope more than in the gym and in relation to our exercise, diet, and fitness routines. Exercise and diet are hard work, they prey on our emotions, and in response our bodies and minds can react in ways that are quite primal and self-sabotaging.
I was stoked to see this article about Prospect Theory in the Gym, at Stretch Exercise Eat. Notable Quote:
People tend to strongly prefer avoiding losses to acquiring gains (loss aversion). Some studies suggest that the negative impact of losses are twice as powerful, psychologically, as the positive impact of gains. Thus, if you have made some small gains, you will tend to behave conservatively and forego taking risks that could result in additional gains (the curve on the right is convex and flattens out quickly). Conversely, if you have sustained a loss, then the psychological pain is likely to push you to take unreasonable risks in an effort to get back to even (the curve on the left is concave and takes a steep drop, before it flattens out)
I have often described my own coaching style as highly coach-dependent. This is because I never write in percentages nor do I have waves of periodization locked into the routine itself that are designed to force certain “peaking” periods.
I don’t like that type of thing. I prefer instead to keep an eye on my lifters and decide (on a daily basis) if today is a heavy or a light day. I DO have periodization in my programs, and I DO believe in hormonal manipulation. But, it needs to be done manually, not on autopilot.
In my opinion, those routines with massively complicated percentages look great on paper, but they are so generic that they rarely work for the average lifter.
Sure, my athletes have routines in-hand. The routines tell them things like sets and reps and what exercises to perform, even rest periods. But, how heavy? How hard? If I write in 5 sets of 2 reps for the snatch, does that mean that every set of 2 is at 90% of max? Does it mean to ramp the weight up over the 5 sets? Or does it mean to start heavy, then drop down to 80%? What the hizzell!?
Left to their own devises, the athlete would need to make these decisions on their own based upon how they are feeling that day. But, as the article above indicates, the athletes own feelings are misleading indicators. They are far too biased (… generally. I have some unusually intelligent athletes who are rather good at gauging themselves honestly, but the point stands.)
Many coaches get around this athlete bias by designing routines with specific percentages written right in. For instance, instead of me writing 5×2 in the snatch, I would write 5×2 @ 85%. Or, alternatively, I could do something more complex like 2×2 @ 75%, 2×2 @ 80%, and 1×1 @ 90%. That’s still just 5 sets of 2, but we’ve become rather specific about what I want. Seems like a good thing, right?
Sometimes …
I will do this on rare occasions when percentages can’t be avoided (like doing a Joe Mill’s type routine). But, if I can avoid them, I will. I’ve found too many people lock onto these percentages like an Anaconda on Ice Cube! They forget that the percentages can’t possibly be an accurate reflection of what they are capable of, they are simply guides. No two humans are identical. And even if they were genetically identical, their different ecologies would dictate different levels of fatigue on any given day.
The routine might say 5×2 @ 85%, but the the first athlete could be way too tired to make that happen safely, and the second might be feeling far too good for that to be enough work.
Humans are not machines.
The most important aspect of my job is getting to know (well) what each of my athletes can and can’t handle, how to gauge their level of fatigue (or lack of it – sometimes athletes will think they are having a crappy day, when in fact they are not), and to work with them on keeping their progress going forward. This is the art of coaching that goes beyond the science, and it is the hardest part of the job.
In light of Prospect Theory, I’m here in part to overrule their own decisions about what needs to happen in any given day because the athletes can’t be trusted! (I don’t always have to, of course. Again, my athletes are oddly well put together people.)
We have a blueprint on paper. But, if I see them dying, I’m going to cut it short – even if they want to continue. By the same token, if I see that they are not pushing themselves, I’m there to ramp it up.
With rare exceptions, my athletes that make the greatest progress are the ones that get the most face-time with me. This isn’t because I am somehow so magical, I’m the Weightlifting Guru, or because this time allows me to impart secret bodhisattva knowledge to them! It’s because I can, on a daily basis, adjust the blueprint to more accurately reflect where they are in that particular moment. I’m the objective observer who isn’t swayed by their inner evolutionarily-created ego.
What if I ain’t got a coach?
If you don’t have access to a good coach, I’d advise finding a training partner you can trust to give you honest feedback.
Most of us err on one side or the other in terms of our tendency to push ourselves. Either we push ourselves hard all the time, but can’t seem to stomach taking a light day (or worse, a day off!), or we’re the opposite, we are always afraid to push ourselves to the limit (this can be out of a fear of injury, pain-avoidance, laziness, etc).
The first group usually makes the greatest progress simply out of shear will. But, they also end up with massive, and sometimes life-long injuries that tank their careers. CrossFit and long distance sports are filled with people in this camp. For whatever reason, CrossFit, marathon running, cycling, etc attract a lot of “type-A” personalities that believe anything less than 100% makes you a pussy. Bad, very bad.
The opposite group rarely injures themselves, can make decent gains at first, will likely live long healthy lives, but also rarely get passed the beginner or early intermediate stages in anything – no champion can train like a lazy-ass. They just won’t push themselves. Out of a misplaced paranoia, or outright laziness, they need external stimulation to get going and lift heavy weights and go hard – and thereby improve.
Training partners and coaches make all the difference for both categories.
Beware the ‘Bro’
But be careful! What you DON’T want is the “bro” type dudes for training partners. These are the morons who do nothing but push you out of a stupid sense of macho bravado. Once in a long while, that pushing is great to get you through a tough workout, or to get you to hit a personal record. But, day-to-day it is worse than your own mind because it is one-sided. You only have the pushing, not the pulling back. A good training partner will be able to tell you to stop what you’re doing because you look too zonked today – the bros can’t handle that, it just wouldn’t be Legendary.
You can’t trust yourself, is the point. Once you start making gains, you will subconsciously sabotage any further progress by becoming too conservative at the wrong times and not aggressive enough at the right times. And when you feel like you have had a setback or you are in a rut, your mind will trick you into thinking you need to make drastic changes or take big risks to get back on top.
It’s hard to be level headed about yourself. An objective outside voice can be like your own personal mellowing-out drug simply by being able to “tell it like it is.”
In other words, you want your training partner or coach to be the one person who won’t lie to you when you ask them, “Do these weightlifting shoes make me look fat?”
Yes, yes they do …
This is a 4-part interview with John Broz, coach of Average Broz gym in Las Vegas by Barry Kinsella of Weightlifting Epiphanies.
John’s story is unique, but it is also something that rings true for a lot of us coaches. In order to learn what we did that makes us good at what we’re doing now, we had to experience a lot, make a shit-ton of mistakes, and fail over and over again. That meant, of course, that our own careers as athletes were never as good as they could have been. By the time we figured out how to do things “correctly”, or at least had a good enough notion of what to do, it was too late. We got old. (But, not too old to be a kick-ass masters lifter!)
The athletes we train get to benefit from all the of the mistakes, the false starts, the struggles, and the set backs that we coaches experienced. It is that long journey that makes a coach a coach. And if we had to do it over, we’d do it the same way.
The point? Listen to your elders!
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Killer stuff.
Seems like there is a trend in blogging whereby bloggers will do a weekly round-up of all the stuff they were reading that fits into the scope of their own blogs, and then list them out for their own readers. Bret Crontreras does something like this at his blog, and in the evolution blogging world we have NeuroAnthropology’s Wednesday Round Up.
Well, it’s high time there was something similar for the Olympic weightlifting slash Zen Meditating crowd! So, here’s your first installment of what I’ll call your Monday Moment of Zen. Since I’m reading this stuff all week anyway, it seems only cordial to let you in on it!
The topics I’ll link to are the same things we discuss here with a heavy focus on Olympic weightlifting, Strength training, and Zen tips and tricks, and a bit of nutrition here are there. I hope you find this stuff as interesting and helpful as I do.
Like to hear it? Here it go …
Glenn Pendlay has an article up entitled, “A Russian Perspective on the Bulgarian System.”
His last paragraph is something for most Oly coaches to think about:
If the preceding has closed one mystery, it has certainly opened another. If the sets and reps, and time per week we go to maximum aren’t what is holding us back, then what is? If we don’t do enough pulls, or do too many… if this is not the problem, then what is?
For my money, the problem is a combo of (1) a lack of athletes, and (2) a lack of “medication”.
Bob Takano feels the hit from the upcoming High School volleyball season and muses about the changes that are happening in our profession.
Can’t find a gym? Need to do some heavy leg exercises? Here’s an option: how to do Pistols.
Obesity Panacea has a tongue in cheek post about the “natural” way to “heal” your obesity!
Brad Warner, of Hardcore Zen, discusses his time at the Great Sky sesshin – a Zen meditation “retreat”. Here’s a good line:
There’s an old Zen saying, “When it’s hot let the heat kill you. When it’s cold let the cold kill you.” Good advice, to be sure. But gosh dang it was hot!
Mal Irwin has an article on how to Market Olympic weightlifting. This is a major area of focus for me, as I am a huge believer that USAW has been a failure in this regard, and we club coaches have to pick up the slack and work together to get the word out. His approach is unique and different than mine, but hey, more lines in the river, right …
James Ure, of The Buddhist Blog, replaces his statue of the Buddha with a Robot.
Here’s a video interview with an up and coming star of weightlifting, Jon North of Cal Strength. My favorite line is when he was asked what his favorite part of the sport is, “It’s hard, it’s real hard … I like that it’s hard.” Very Zen, my brother.
Nick Horton (that’s me!) has a crazy-assed article about dinosaurs (not old people, real dinosaurs) and the nature of strength vs size.
A great article over at Lost Batallion Weightlifting is in the form of an open letter to USA Weightlifting asking the question of whether or not their policies are helping or hurting us as a sport. (Hint: they ain’t helpin’.)
Zen Under the Skin relays her conversation about happiness and cleaning the bathroom that she had with her kid in Dharma Combat with a 12 Year Old.
Here’s a 2-part podcast from Buddhist Geeks about Unlearning Meditation: Part 1; part 2. Truly interesting stuff and quite relevant to the type of mental training required to advance in weightlifting.
Some seriously freaky forearm strength in this vid:
Glenn Pendlay also has a whole series of kick-ass video’s on the Cal Strength site, including a few detailing his own clean progression technique. Great stuff. He’s one of the top coaches in the country at this stuff, and it ain’t a bad idea to listen. I foresee Cal Strength as being a viable alternative to the Olympic Training Center for promising athletes in the future if Glenn keeps it going in this direction.
One of my athletes is a PT, not a personal trainer, a physical therapist. She laments that both of these fields have the same acronym. The general public has a hard time understanding the enormous difference in education required – she has a PhD, most personal trainers have barely graduated high school. Coach Dos, in his latest addition of Snatches and Bear, discusses the difference it makes when a strength coach has a science education – then he goes off on using the TRX for training surfers.
Dan John writes up one of Norb Schemansky’s training routines. For those without a solid grasp on their American weightlifting history, “Skee” was one of our top lifters for a long time, and was one of the last great split snatchers (I’m a split snatcher, so I’ve got a special place in my heart for this monster). His approach is decidedly different than the Bulgarian (or any of the modern national teams for that matter).
And finally, the strongman competitor (and police officer) Derek Poundstone trains his ass off in preparation for the 2010 Arnold Strongman C lassic:
From Lao Tzu:
“Silence is a source of great strength.” ~Lao Tzu
I must be very wimpy
