My friend, and fellow Portland Oly lifter, Mighty Kat blogs about her time at the Tommy Kono Open and includes the 10 things she learned while there.  I particularly like the first:

1. Having tape at a meet is like having cigarettes around smokers. People will come out of the woodwork to bum some.

Very true!

Here’s a vid of her and some others lifting.  Congratulations, Kat!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: The front squat is a superior exercise to the back squat.  I don’t mean that you should never back squat.  If you’re one of those individuals who doesn’t feel back pain while doing them, can do them with an erect torso, and doesn’t wimp out by cutting your depth short, then go ahead and back squat ALSO.  But, the front squat should be your bread and butter.

Over at EliteFTS they give 5 reasons why you should front squat:

• Front squats are more quad dominant, bodybuilders like this that are paranoid about getting their butts too big.
• Front squats are easier on your back because your torso is more erect and obviously less weight is being handled.
• If you go forward on a front squat you lose the weight, so it’s impossible to lean forward too excessively.
• Front squats are also a good tool to teach someone to back squat with an erect torso.
• Front squats offer great transference to jerks, push presses and Olympic lifts. More core stabilization is required.

The idea that front squats are more quad dominant is slightly misleading.  The average Olympic lifter has a bigger butt than the average powerlifter who does tons of the (supposedly more ass-dominant back squat). I’ll tell you why.

When you only go to parallel, the front squat is quad dominant.  But when you go to rock-bottom, you have no choice but to use your butt.  A deep front squat stretches the glutes massively and while under tension, they then have to work hard in this stretched state to get you back up again.  The result: lots of muscle growth.

The second reason is the Oly lifters often bounce out of the bottom position, this type of stretch reflex has been speculated to also result in muscle gain.  (Yes, I just said that if  you want big muscles DON’T lift slow, lift fast.)  Even if you don’t bounce out of the bottom, the work your butt has to do to decelerate the bar will aid you in muscle growth down there in your nether-regions.

Check out this video of (strongman) Travis Ortmayer doing some very heavy back squats (with solid form).  Note that even with his very good form, the back squat forces certain anatomical realities.  Namely, that your back is your weak-link.

Now in contrast, check out Vencelas Dabaya, from France, doing some front squats.  In the bottom position, your glutes become a prime mover.

Of course, in theory you could back squat exactly the same as you front squat with only a slight forward lean to make up for the bar being on your back.  But, in reality this almost never happens.  And as a result, the glutes get taken down a notch as major players.

So if you front squat only to parallel, then you’ll keep your glutes out of the picture.  But, if you want a butt to be proud of, keep going down. (Assuming you can do so without rounding your back, of course!)

It’s sad how much mudslinging goes on on the interwebs.  No matter how nice you try to be, there will always be some douche bag who starts acting-a-fool on you.  I have very little tolerance for rude behavior.  And even less when it isn’t done in person.  Sadly, much of what passes for “discussion” on the web (forums, blogs, etc) is really just a bunch of cock-grabbing, egotistical, macho crap.  In the Strength and Conditioning community, it’s often worse.

Bret’s got a post on the topic here.

However, this blog isn’t about facing and handling opposition; it’s about how we conduct ourselves as professionals in the industry. Now, I’ve never been the type to swim with the current. I don’t “swim upstream” for the sake of creating controversy; I like to think that I think of shit that other people don’t. Furthermore, I’ve never been very “professional” in some regards. I have an eyebrow piercing, sometimes I rock a fohawk, I tatooed my initials on my arm, I’m certainly not the best-dressed trainer in town, I swear quite often and post pictures of scantily-clad women in my blogs, and I train out of my garage for Pete’s sake. Come to think of it…by some standards I’m one of the most “unprofessional” trainers in the industry.

However, I still have some strong ethical standards. There are simply some lines that I don’t cross. There are two movie quotes that come to mind.

First one is from From Dusk til Dawn, George Clooney’s character: “I may be a bastard, but I’m not a fucking bastard.”

On my blog, I automatically delete comments if they are blatantly rude.  I have a zero tolerance policy.  I practice Zen meditation for god’s sake.  I’m not interested in a pissing fight with some dude I don’t even know.

But, honest debate is very important.  Being able to discuss a topic, disagree, and hash out the details with a person who lives nowhere near you is one of the BEST things about the web.  However, just like with road rage, when you don’t see the person face-to-face it is far too easy to get “all worked up” and take things too far.

Some Cases

1. Some of you may remember the stupidness of Lyle and Ripp’s online battle about the bodyfat percentages of one of Ripp’s clients (simply Google “Lyle vs. Rippetoe’”).  Yes, that was the argument.  Ripp claimed that his guy Zach was a lower bodyfat percentage than Lyle thought he was.  Ripp was simply proud of a kid who went from skinny and weak, to bigger and stronger.  He certainly fudged the percentages a bit, but what ever.  Lyle flew off the handle and canceled a podcast interview he was going to do with him, blah, blah …

2. Before this, Lyle and Glenn Pendlay had it out over a video Glenn put up of a lifter of his doing front squats.  The kids knees buckled in on every rep. Lyle flipped out and basically said that Glenn was a horrible coach, how could he allow this to happen, monkeys were falling from the sky, and hell was freezing over.  Glenn’s response was that he’d been working with this kid on it for a while, the knees were actually better than they’d been, etc.  Lyle – who clearly doesn’t coach people enough in the real world – couldn’t take it and it ended their relationship.

I’m not saying there isn’t something funny about watching grown men and women act like little bitches in public.  But, come on!  (Lyle has a LONG history of burning bridges – sadly.)  These guys could have simply disagreed, moved on, and still had a solid (and productive) working relationship.  Instead, they are no longer speaking to one another.  Stupid.

[Granted, using Lyle McDonald as a case study is rather biased.  He’s infamous for being a little … over the top.  But, it makes the point that this stuff happens.]

3. Another case is when Mike Boyle called an end to all squatting.  He believes that traditional back and front squats on two legs are overrated for most athletes, and are too prone to causing injury.  I disagree with him (well, I agree about back squats), many coaches do.  But, that wasn’t enough.  He started getting hate email, he was “called out” in horribly non-professional ways, he was accused of being an idiot, accused of saying it just to sell his books, etc.

In other words, instead of getting into substantive arguments about the merits of what he was saying, he was attacked personally.  Stupid.  Mike used to be a Powerlifter for heaven’s sake.  He certainly knows a thing or two about squatting.  It’s one thing to disagree on the points of an argument.  It’s another to be a punk ass.

This kind of behavior is so common it causes a lot of coaches to be rather hesitant to express their real views.  It isn’t for a lack of conviction in the views themselves but rather a lack of wiliness to get involved in childish behavior.  Who can blame them?

The internet brings out the worst in people in more ways than we’d like.  But, it can also be a great tool for communication and information dissemination.  We just have to mitigate the darker sides of our nature.

Keeping it real, in my book, means keeping it civil.

7 Of My Own Controversial Views

So, on that note, and just for fun, here are a few of my own potentially controversial views.

1. The Bench Press is bad for you (or at least for most people).  Unless you are a powerlifter, you probably don’t need to ever do it.  My rule is, if you can’t do 20 beautiful clapping push ups, you have no business getting near a bench press.
2. Anyone can learn to do the FULL Olympic lifts – and athletes should do them.  None of this cutting it short crap that most coaches do (relying only on hang and/or power-versions) – to me, that’s like doing quarter squats.  Doing them from only the hang position causes bad learning habits that translate to a poor transfer of the skills you’re using them for in the first place.  Doing the full lifts is where (I believe) most of the “magical” qualities Oly lifters have come from – the same qualities people are after when incorporating Oly lifting into their routines: vertical jump, quickness, explosive power, transferable strength, etc.
3. Any athlete can learn to do a “passable” FULL Snatch and Clean and Jerk in about 1 to 3 months.  Look … these lifts are hard, but they ain’t THAT hard.  Sure, the general-fat-public might be totally incapable of even doing bodyweight squat.  But, I have never seen an athlete – defined here as someone with a history of serious physical activity – who can’t learn to do a snatch and clean and jerk in short order, and without it taking up all their time.  NOTE: By “passable” I mean legal in a sanctioned USAW contest, and safe for the athlete.
4. Most Coaches are sooo God-awful at teaching the Olympic lifts that point #2 should probably be ignored!  eg. Stop humping the bar!!!  You should NEVER smack the bar with your hips to get more force on the bar. It is not only artificial, it throws the bar forward, and prevents you from doing a true vertical jump – it is also dangerous!  Bad, bad, bad.
5. Most Strength Coaches are too hard on CrossFit.  Yes, CrossFit has its problems – not the least of which is the creator Greg Glassman.  For instance, it often gets rank beginners to do tough exercises with too much intensity long before they are ready, which dramatically increases their risk of injury.  They are fond of high rep Oly lifts (though not as much as is made out), and that is just insane.  But, in the end, it is something that is physically demanding, extremely good conditioning work for folks who are physically able to keep up, people love it, and it has made Olympic lifting FAR FAR more popular than it ever would have been without it.  Adults should be allowed to engage in activities that are higher risk.  That is their right.  And if they get hurt, well, too bad.  They chose to do it.  We should get off of CrossFit’s back.  (I’d rather complain about Yoga … but that might get me killed.)
6. Olympic Weightlifters need to do (a lot) more upper body work.  Olympic weightlifters avoid doing anything at all that might be construed as bodybuilding.  They tend to hate bodybuilding and the entire culture that goes with it.  This is a childish stance that has to go.  While the top elite (Bulgarian, usually) lifters rarely if ever do dedicated upper body work (though the Chinese do a lot of it), never forget that they are YOUNG and on DRUGS.  It’s been said before, and I think it is true, that generally lower body injuries are caused by something you did, and upper body injuries are caused by something you DIDN’T do.  The biggest injury complaints among lifters in our sport are wrist, elbow, and shoulder.  If Oly lifters simply added in a bunch of chin ups at the end of their workouts, their joint pain would drop down dramatically … don’t hold your breath, though.
7. The sport of Olympic weightlifting is elitist and is largely run by people who are driving it into the ground.  If they don’t find ways to open it up to a wide recreational public, the sport will die in the US.  I’m on a mission to make our sport truly accessible to the crowd out there of people who are adults looking for a cool recreation sport to get involved with that makes them feel strong and athletic.  This crowd is HUGE.  It is untapped largely in Olympic weightlifting.  And it needs to be exploited.  We can literally quadruple our numbers if we simply get rid of the BS elitism crap, stop focusing only on young people (we do this because they are the only ones who have a chance at winning nationals or getting to the Olympics), and actively market to people over the age of 25 – you know, people with jobs and money who can afford a coach and a membership to USA Weightlifting!  If you get the numbers up of people having fun … the young ones will follow.

From the Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai by Yamamoto Tsunetomo:

The heart of a virtuous person has settled down and he does not rush about at things.  A person of little merit is not at peace but walks about making trouble and is in conflict with all.

A key to success in Olympic weightlifting is your ability to “chill out”.  I don’t mean you can’t get pumped up before a big lift.  I do mean that in most of your training, you need to be extremely methodical and analytical.  But, the trouble is that the human mind is generally incapable of being methodical and analytical when it is emotional.

In a sport like Powerlifting, shear aggression can save the day (it’s why it’s a better indicator of brute strength than Olympic lifting is).  But, in Olympic lifting that can often just mess you up.  You need to lift with a totally clear mind. 

Adrenaline is fine, and being aggressive with the amount of force you put into the bar (at the right times!) is also great.  However, you have to walk a fine line.  Too much “hype” and you will drop the very carefully crafted technique you’ve been working so hard on and the bar will fly everywhere but up!

A good weightlifter has settled down and does not rush about things.

[Note: the picture above is of Naim Suleymanoglu, one of the greatest weightlifters who’s ever lived playing chess – all that patience he learned while weightlifting is paying off!]

Check out these new vids from the Iron Mind Youtube channel of Jaber Saeed Salem (or Yani Marchokov, depending on your “persuasion”) and one of my favorite lifters Marc Huster

And Marc Huster:

Mighty Kat, a fellow Oregon Olympic Weightlifter (and current state champion in her weight class), has an article up at Weightlifting Exchange entitled, “Six Tips for the Overhead Squat.”

The overhead squat is a pain in the ass, literally!  But, it’s the first exercise that I tend to have people do in the gym.  I give them a stick, do a demonstration, then have them try and “repeat after me”.  I can learn a lot about where a person’s current level of fitness is by how well they are able to perform this exercise.

If they let the bar drift too far forward, or if their arms remain bent throughout, then I know they have shoulder flexibility issues.  If they let their heels come up off the floor, then I know they have ankle and calf flexibility issues.  Some times people will literally shake while performing an overhead squat.  This can be from a number of causes, but foremost among them is a lack of stability strength and balance.

You can find a ton of other writing by Mighty Kat at her website, www.MightyKat.net, and at her blog, mightymix.blogspot.com/