Big dudes, big weights

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!

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!]

Great interview with Donny Shankle.  Best quote, “You gotta pull on the bar like your ripping the head off of a God-damned lion!”

USA Weightlifting has announced the world team for 2010.  Here’s the list of people representing the US in Antalya Turkey from September 17th till the 26th.  This years worlds, and next years will determine the number of “slots” or people we get to have in the 2012 Olympic Games in London.  So, it ain’t no small thang …

Women

Kelly Rexroad (48 kg)

Amanda Hubbard (58 kg)

Natalie Burgener (63 kg)

Danica Rue (69 kg)

Erin Wallace (75 kg)

Rachel Crass (editor of Strength Plus Magazine!) (75 kg)

Sarah Robles (+75 kg)

Men

Alex Lee (62 kg)

Chad Vaughn (77 kg)

Kendrick Farris (85 kg) b

Matt Bruce (85 kg)

Donny Shankle (105 kg)

Casey Burgener (105 kg)

Patrick Judge (+105 kg)

Collin Ito (+105 kg)

[Hat Tip: Bob Takano’s newsletter – which you can sign up for at his website www.takanoathletics.com.  Still the best Olympic weightlifting specific newsletter on the web.]

Another great issue of Strength+ magazine is out.  You can go here to download it.

Inside are articles on the 2010 Nationals, including the Burgener couple making the world team. (As a side note, I was sad not to see Oregon’s Sarah Bertram not making the team, but that’s another story.)

The issue also has articles on Olympic weightlifting’s use for football, gymnastics, and even how to juggle weightlifting with parenting!

Bob Takano contributes a piece, “An Introduction to Weightlifting Training Programs.”

A retrospective of the 2000 National Championships.

And finally a great comparison of the technique of Casey Burgener and Matt Rue, “Who’s got better technique?  You decide.”  This one’s just fun. 

For my part, I’d go with Casey.  But, I’m not one who thinks there is such a thing as “perfect” technique that applies to everyone.  Different body proportions will dictate a lot of what a lifter is going to have to do given the fact that the bar is a fixed object (the diameter of a plate is the same for everyone regardless of limb/torso length).  Not just height, but leg and arm length both relative to torso. 

But, the things I DO emphasize with my lifters are in line with Casey: Getting into a solid vertical jump position in the second pull and a deep extension at the end of the second pull (like a bow and arrow). Yes, Casey’s hips start high, but they don’t RISE too high – that’s the important thing.  The first pull exists ONLY to set you up for a powerful second pull. Period.  He does that.  Very solid.

Here’s a vid of the 105k’s at the 2010 Nationals

Here’s a link (pdf file) of a great interview Glenn Pendlay did on Strength training for sports.

For me, as a strength coach, this was the key quote:

If you really want to know how to get people stronger, train yourself like a madman, learn all you can from that, seek out people who know more than you do and learn from them. Learn all you can about track and field training and Olympic lifting and powerlifting. Learn from the people in those sports that are actually producing athletes, and not the ones who are simply famous. Compete in those sports yourself even if you suck. Bookmark Medline and read all the research you can. Develop an affinity for the local university library where you can photocopy the full articles you saw on Medline. Call foreign coaches and talk to them. Read all the books available on training. Never assume that any one person has all the answers or get so carried away on one thing that you never learn or adapt your ideas again. Train or assist in the training of any athlete you can lay hands on, and then repeat each of the above steps consistently for somewhere between 10 and 20 years and you’ll probably be there. I’m currently involved in this very program that I am recommending, I figure I have about 5 more years to go and ill actually know something useful.

I, myself, have been on that program for about 5 years.  I did personal training before that, and was training myself hard, but only got serious about training athletes 5 years ago.  In that time I can’t tell you the radical shifts my own philosophy has taken. 

I figure if you aren’t changing something major every year, you aren’t continuing to learn.  In each year, I have to evaluate what worked in the previous year (and keep that), and what didn’t.  But, even more important, figure out what I need to replace what didn’t work and how to fit that into the stuff I’m keeping around that did. 

With every new athlete I train, I learn something new.  Each person responds to different things and learns in different ways.  And, on the flip side, there are constants that seem to be similar in nearly every athlete, and finding what those things are is just as important as highlighting the differences. 

Here are just 5 things I’ve learned in the last 5 years that I wasn’t as solid about previously:

1.  Keep it Simple Stupid (K.I.S.S.).  It’s easy to get caught up with all the fancy-pantsy methods of training because those are fun, exciting, and new-age.  But, the fact is, most of what works turns out to be the same old stuff that has worked for years: heavy, hard lifting on basic movements like cleans, snatches, squats, and deadlifts.

2. Teaching Beginners the Olympic Lifts isn’t THAT Hard.  Becoming a world-class Olympic weightlifter IS hard. But, having decent technique that will make you more explosive, stronger, and powerful and to do so in a way that is safe is not at all as hard as its made out to be.  I can take ANY athlete and have them doing solid power snatches, power cleans, jerks, front squats, etc in less than 2 months – easy.  If they have talent and drive, even faster.

3.  More Upper Body Work.  I’m an Olympic weightlifter.  I became one after first being a powerlifter.  So, I don’t come from a Brotastic arm-day loving background.  When I first started coaching I spent so much time on squats and cleans, that I ran into some joint problems with some of my lifters in their upper bodies.  Mike Boyle is right, lower body injuries are often because of something you DID.  Upper body injuries are usually from something you DIDN’T do.  Adding in chins, push ups, and rows will make a huge difference in keeping people off the injured list.

4. LESS Core Work.  This might sound outright insane, but most athletes spend too much time on their “core” and not enough time getting truly strong.  By core work I mean crunches, side bends, leg lifts, etc.  Stabilization is a good thing, but much of that will come naturally through heavy work on overhead squats, push ups, weighted chin ups, etc.  All of my lifters can do planks for days … and they never do planks except in the very early stages of development.

5. The Olympic Lifts are Strength Lifts.  Most strength coaches (outside of Oly lifting) approach the olympic lifts primarily as something to increase speed and power.  The lifts do this, of course, but they are more than that.  If I could do only one lift, I’d do heavy clean and jerks.  Learning how to do these lifts efficiently allows you to use massive weights you could never get up without proper form.  In turn, you develop even greater strength.  I’ve found that one of the fastest ways to increase someones squat and deadlift is to teach them to clean and snatch heavy weights.  A bigger clean = stronger body.

If you’d like to find out more about what my athletes are doing, make sure to check out our website:  www.PDXWeightlifting.com

I love these old-school vids!

These 105k (16 and a half stones, or 235ish pounds) lifters are some big boys.  As is usually the case, 105′s look the most like bodybuilders of any of the male weight classes. 

At my club we’ve yet to have a 105, but that’s about to change as Chris is moving up.  He’s already known as the big guy, so lord knows how massive he’s gonna look when he packs on another 20 pounds.