This is great stuff

Check out this great interview with Shane Hamman that Mark Rippetoe did (click here).  They cover a bunch of info in about 1 hour including Shane’s early powerlifting career where he dunked 1008 pounds in the squat.  His Olympic career. The state of American Weightlifting.  And what we can do about it.

What I enjoyed the most was their discussion on the importance of strength training for Olympic weightlifters (as opposed to a fanatic focus on technique).  Shane mentioned that the guys who beat him at the 2004 Olympics were much stronger than him (that’s saying something!) and as a consequence could pull things out that he couldn’t. He also mentions that the same was true for the lighter weight classes.  That is, our guys weren’t as strong as their competition.

Why this is relevant is that much of the American “style” is directed at technique work at all cost and speed development.  Both of which are clearly important. But, heavy deadlifts and heavy squats done throughout the year is rare.

One of the things I did differently this year with my athletes that I will certainly do again was a modified version of the Smolov Squat cycle.  They all nearly killed me for making them do it!  But, holy heavens, it did wonders for their overall strength levels which is paying dividends now 5 months later.

I think this type of training (a clear focus on strength development along with power and technique) is particularly useful for older and masters lifters who are always going to be behind the curve in their technique.  The more strength you have, the more you can pull out a not-so-perfect clean or snatch.

Of course, technique is majorly important.  Don’t take this the wrong way.  But, if you let strength levels hover in the background, and don’t pull heavy shit off the ground, then you’re selling yourself short.

A while back Coach Dos posted some videos of his lifters doing some power cleans.  He got hammered.  The internet “gurus” and forum guys flipped out saying that his people were doing power cleans with god-aweful form, and that he must not know what he’s talking about.  He now defends himself.

I don’t normally like getting into a mud-slinging match, so I stayed out of it.  I didn’t even watch the videos until recently.  I figured it was just more guys on the net spouting off their puristic and fanatical bs. I was right.

Dos’s lifters are doing fine.  Perfect, no.  But, no one EVER is.  What guys on the net who hide behind their computers never truly understand is that in the real world, it isn’t about optimization.  It’s about doing what you have to do to get the job done.  Sometimes you accept that some athletes are gonna have sub-par form on some exercises, but you make sure they do the best that they can.  They’ll be better athletes for TRYING.  It’s in the trying that progress is made.

My guess is that all of the people who were criticizing Coach Dos have never actually coached anyone in their lives.  Let alone any competitive athletes.

Besides, Dos’s guys power cleans aren’t THAT bad.  They’re rather decent actually.  Here’s the video in question:

Yes, his feet splay wide!  Oooh.  And his elbows are too low in the catch.  Not perfect.  He needs to work at it.  But, it’s a heavy lift!  330.  He’s young, and he’ll get there.  How many Community College lifters have YOU coached that can do that?
Coach Dos defends himself:

It never ceases to amaze me when internet gurus insist on picking holes in my training videos. The funniest one is a blog that was forwarded to me drilling me about the form that “I allow” in my weight room. It was a power clean sequence of one of my kids pulling 333 x 3 reps. yes I say ‘PULLING’ as you can see if you take it frame by frame to make sure the he gets complete quadruple extension each rep (and that he does…this is the entire reason we incorporate Oly lifts BTW). The knock is that his feet are too wide etc. Oh yeah, I teach all of my kids to catch with their feet wide all the time (please note the sarcasm). I have females and lots of my male athletes who I can vid that would display clinic form on their lifts…I just happen to think that 333 x 3 is pretty special.

Here’s another vid:

This kid is much better.  Not perfect either, but very good.  The point is that there is ALWAYS room for improvement.  ALWAYS.  That’s one of the things I love about being an Olympic Weightlifting Coach.  In this sport, you can never be good enough.  It’s a constant challenge.  And as a coach I’m constantly being challenged to help my athletes improve. So is Dos.  He’s a strength coach for a college and regularly pumps out top level athletes.  He must be doing something right.

And finally he says:

Lastly, for the ‘gurus’ who have somehow become experts at the Oly lifts behind their computer desks I need to clarify something. At the blog where I got hammered on allowing such awful form they posted an example (see below) of what they considered a ‘good power clean’. One problem, it’s not a Power clean. This is why I have a prob with internet wizard trainers, when you don’t know the difference between a ‘power clean’ and a ‘clean’ or ’squat clean’ you probably shouldn’t be hosting a ‘fitness blog’ (what exactly does that even mean? ‘Fitness Blog’…sigh).

It is suprising how few people in the fitness industry haven’t the faintest idea of the difference.  The vid:

Alwyn Cosgrove has a post on Abundance vs. Scarcity in the personal training market. He sets up the idea that some people have a mindset of abundance, and others of scarcity. Meaning, those with the abundance mindset think the world is full of plenty of opportunity for everyone whereas those with the scarcity mindset believe there is a limited amount, and to do well means (by necessity) that someone else must fail.

I call it going “Deep Sea Fishing for Water”. This can be a little deep (no pun intended) so bear with me….

It’s as if we chartered a boat and went out to sea, with the goal of collecting as much water as we could. When we get there – I start using a bucket to collect my water. You start using a tea cup.

Now ask yourself this — are you angry that I used a bucket? Do you feel as if I’m taking more than my “fair share” ?

In the personal training and fitness coaching market, there really is an abundance of potential clients. I’m never worried about helping out a fellow trainer for fear of them “stealing” my clients. That’s ridiculous. The United States has a population that is about 30% obese and growing (pun fully intended). Every year we graduate a larger number of high school students who have never had a serious PE class, who couldn’t run a mile to save their lives (literally, if a bear was chasing them, they’d be food).

Here’s the reality. If you’re a man, without any serious physical ailments, and under 70, you should be able to do at least 10 pull ups. You should be able to run a mile in less than 9 minutes (I’m being lax here). You should be able to do 100 crunches in a row, no problem; 50 push ups straight; and squat about bodyweight. I’m not joking. Any male of the species, if truly in shape, should be able to do these things. The amount of testosterone flowing in the male body is ridiculous compared to what women have. Men are quite literally on steroids. There is no excuse. These numbers are low. There are old old old men at Loprinzi’s that can do better than this.

All it takes is some work. And the pay off is huge.

For women there are similar standards. At least: 8 full push ups or 20 knee push ups; run a mile in less than 10 minutes; do 8 pull ups with 75% bodyweight (with 100% bodyweight if you have a small hip structure); Squat 75% bodyweight; 100 crunches, no problem. These could all be higher depending on bone structure.

For certain athletes these numbers would be different. Female Olympic lifters sometimes have a hard time doing pull ups because of the shear muscular weight they carry in their hips and legs. But, then they make up for that by clean and jerking their bodyweight (see below).

If you can’t do those things, I can help you. For that matter, a whole host of trainers could help you get better than you are now, even the crappy ones. All they have to do is encourage you to workout regularly. Most Americans don’t, therefor, it’s an open market. How many people do you know who can boast the aforementioned numbers? Can you?

This is Melanie Roach clean and jerking a ton of weight: