WHAT WOULD PISARENKO DO?

The Mighty Finns

2012-01-30T12:23:00.000-08:00

My nephew is doing a year abroad in Finland. Here are some famously strong Finns.Jouko Ahola 1997 and 1999 WSM Champion

Janne Virtanen 2000WSM Champion

Previously I linked to article on Finnish Deadlifting.

The Purposeful Pause

2011-12-27T13:40:00.000-08:00

"Pausing in the bottom position of extensor chain movements such as front squats forbids the use of the stretch reflex, thus increases intra-muscular tension, a great way to vary the strength building stimulus." Says Charles Poliquin.

If you do a lot of Olympic lifting you're probably used to training the bounce out of the hole. Don't neglect the pause technique to work the muscles without the rebound effect.

The deadstop lift is another method to eliminate the bounce effect in training. Dan John used it with success.

Grip Training for your Deadlift By James Smith (www.dieselcrew.com)

2011-11-20T11:00:00.000-08:00

Have trouble opening jars? Your hands look someone who got smashed by a house in the Wizard of Oz? You’ve got problems. Well, fortunately you are doing something about it. You are accessing a wealth of knowledge, on the greatest Powerlifting site on the web – www.EliteFTS.com. To increase your bench, dead and squat, one essential aspect everyone forgets – is strengthening your grip. Gripping the bar with the strongest / tightest grip possible is essential for locking your body into a solid, weight bearing structure. There are many different types of grip strength; supporting, pinch, crush, levering, bending and tearing – for instance. For this article we will focus on supporting strength as it pertains to your deadlift.
Here are 3 quick, simple exercises that will help increase your deadlift grip.

How to Strengthen Rosie and her Five Friends - Grip

2011-11-18T10:58:00.000-08:00

By Jim Wendler
One of the biggest things that I struggled with during my deadlift training was my grip. This was never a big deal when I was lighter (under 250lbs), but as I became bigger my grip began to suffer.

...

The big embarrassment came when I pulled 585 and it fell out of my hands. I had everyone telling me to go see a doctor because of the numbness, but I knew what the real story was; I had not taken my grip training seriously enough.
Now I was in somewhat of a dilemma – I know I needed to train my grip but everything I’ve read was contradicting itself. I’ve heard that the best way to better your deadlift grip is to deadlift. While I believe this is true, the only problem with this is that when one becomes more advanced, the less you can perform deadlift workouts. The deadlift is extremely hard on your body and can take a long time to recover from. So what was going to suffer? My overall training or my grip?
Then I got the shot in the ass that I needed. (No, not that shot.) I met Jed and Smitty from the Diesel Crew at the 2003 Boston Seminar and they got me on track. First, they showed me what it is like to have fun and train again. Like many of you, training often became a job for me; something that I did only because of habit. It was the same routine over and over again and I would feel guilty if I didn’t do Reverse Hyperextensions or ab work at the end of a workout. I know that many of you are or were in the same boat. Then I met the Crew and things changed. They loved what they did and it showed. I had a renewed sense of training after seeing them.
The Diesel Crew (www.DieselCrew.com) is known for grip prowess as well as doing lifts that have long been forgotten. They’ve got dozens of strange videos on their website; most of them showcase some kind of lift that will make your head shake in amazement.
Anyway, with their guidance (along with some other people) here are some of the things that helped my grip tremendously. They are simple to do, but grip work takes time. While I noticed results in about 6 weeks, it took about 8 months of training my grip to get it where it needed to be. To give you a point of reference – when I began doing this, I couldn’t close the Captains of Crush Trainer with my left hand (this was my numb/weak hand). In about 6 months, I was able to close the #2 fairly easy. I think this was a substantial improvement. The biggest thing that you will notice is that I didn’t really focus on improving my crushing grip, but my finger strength. In doing so, my overall grip improved. Remember the saying, “You are only as strong as your weakest link”? Well, much of grip training focuses on the thumb and forefinger. These are already strong on most people. It’s the pinky, ring and middle finger that are usually weakest.

Deadlift Grip Development - Ernest F. Cottrell

2011-11-16T10:56:00.000-08:00

There are many reasons that lifters fail to make a record deadlift they have worked so hard to attempt, and one of the major problems appears to be in grip strength for two important reasons: 1. Obviously, if the grip isn’t strong enough to hold the bar it is lost during the lift, and 2. If the grip is just strong enough to get the weight up in an accepted lift, your grip strength may not be strong enough for you to do this at any given time, and you either lose the lift now and then, or when it weakens, your confidence weakens too, and it’s left up to accident whether you make it or not. Naturally, this is a big problem you’d like to eliminate if possible, and develop a grip that has reserve power at all times.

Adding 100 pounds to my deadlift by Paul Carter

2011-11-14T13:58:00.000-08:00

"So for all of you crappy deadlifters out there such as myself, I'm going to write about how I took my deadlift from the 550 range to it's current 650-660 range over the last few years, and put into a program you can use combining some of the methodologies I used to get there. So I hope you enjoy benefiting from my mistakes."

The Finnish Deadlift Routine

2011-11-11T13:39:00.000-08:00

A lot of work in the lower % area makes this volume intensive program good for people with an already heavy pull.

Coan/Phillipi 10 week Deadlift Routine Calculator

2011-11-09T13:41:00.000-08:00

Nice calculator for the well known Coan/Phillipi routine here.

Finnish Deadlift Secrets

2011-11-06T10:50:00.000-08:00

by Sakari Selkäinaho
Through out the years, the deadlift has been our ”national sport” here in Finland. World records has been broken since early 70´s. What makes Finns pull so much, what is their secret ?

I took a look and after collecting training information of many new and former greats, here is some background and information.

Deadliftin'

2011-11-04T13:36:00.000-07:00

With Andy Kerr.

Quest for the Title

2011-10-21T08:33:00.001-07:00

Derek Poundstone's quest for the WSM 2011 Title - a good write up of his journey and the overall event, with plenty of good pictures, too.

UPDATE - new link to google cache of story.

Polish Training Hall

2011-08-21T08:14:00.000-07:00

"Lock your shoulder blades into place and think about putting them in your back pocket"

2011-08-01T07:59:00.000-07:00

I found this to be a useful deadlift article at T-nation.
Am deadlifting more than in the past and the differences between the deadlift and Olympic pulls are notable.

Partials, or the vast majority of lifts

2011-07-12T12:36:00.000-07:00

I can modestly say that I am world famous for doing partials (in that I seem to be the only one doing them in such a comprehensive manner), this has lead many people to believe that I therefore cannot or will not do fulls.

From the many comments I have received I can see a number of mistakes being made. These mistakes were the same mistakes I made for many years and which lead to me not making gains for many years…

Let’s see if I can address these issues by replying to some of the questions I have received…

From the incomparable Sumoman.

The Soul is Greater than the World - training clip

2011-07-10T10:04:00.000-07:00

Can you build strength with the Olympic lifts? by Glenn Pendlay

2011-05-11T06:40:00.000-07:00

"Consider the fact that the argument used to disparage the Olympic lifts as drivers of strength gain is usually that they use too light a weight, move too fast, and are over with too quickly to adequately provide the necessary stress. But a lifter who clean and jerks in excess of 80% of their squat or deadlift has, when performing a heavy clean and jerk, racked a bar to the shoulders that is higher percentage of their deadlift than most competitive powerlifters use to train the deadlift, front squatted a weight that is a maximal or near maximal front squat, pushed overhead and supported a weight that is a higher percentage of their back squat than many popular strength programs use to train the back squat, and completed a lift that lasted longer and had the body under the stress of the weight longer than any back squat that most lifters are ever likely to do."
Full article here.

The Best of the Best

2011-04-28T06:03:00.000-07:00

Bruce Klemens: All time greats lift sequences.

On Bar Speed - Dan John

2011-03-25T07:07:00.000-07:00

Simple, direct, valuable focal point for training in the weight room. Bar Speed.

Strong for what You Need

2011-02-16T07:55:00.000-08:00

I love this anecdote:

One of my strength coaching colleagues told me that in the early ’70s during a press conference prior to a Russia versus US wrestling competition, it was brought up that the American wrestler in the 165-pound bodyweight class could bench press 365 pounds – quite a remarkable accomplishment in that time period, especially for a non-powerlifter. And consider that athletes were not using the elaborate equipment they have access to today that can add literally hundreds of pounds to a raw performance. The Russian counterpart responded by producing two pairs of pliers and proceeded to squeeze them so hard that they snapped! After the match, the defeated US wrestler commented that when the Russian grabbed his arms, he felt as if they were locked in a vise grip and that he immediately began to lose sensation in his arms and hands. Again, the US wrestler was certainly much stronger than the Russian from a weightlifting standpoint, but the Russian had achieved a remarkable degree of functional strength for his sport.

It's from this article on thick bar training from Charles Poliquin. I like the anecdote better than the article.

That Glenn Pendlay Concetric Only Idea...

2011-02-16T07:45:00.000-08:00

has been getting some play on the intertubes lately. Here's a piece in that vein I saw attributed to Glenn a couple years back, same idea:

GAIN WEIGHT WITH CONCENTRIC MOVEMENTS - Attributed to Glenn Pendlay

As most of you know, I train athletes and not bodybuilders, so often the methods I use are geared mostly towards strength with little regard to gaining size, or even geared specifically toward gaining strength WITHOUT any size gain for athletes in specific weight classes.

that having been said, I usually have a hard time keeping weight off the guys, the volume of training we do often means that the guys must watch the diet really close to avoid growing out of their proper weight class.

now, having said all that, there are times when I have a guy that needs to move up a weight class quickly, for instance I recently had a guy that needed to move from the 77kilo weight class to the 85kilo (or from 169lbs to 187lbs) weight class because in his particular division the competition was actually easier at 85.

This particular guy usually trains about 10-12lbs overweight, so I actually had to move him from 180lbs to about 200lbs in 8 weeks, hopefully with no body fat increase, and of course with no drugs. I thought id share one of the ways I have accomplished this quick weight gain in the past and how I did it in this case. In case you wondered, he did accomplish this, weighed 201lbs 2 weeks before competition, and is now cutting for competition; he’s weighing 195 now one week out, most of the rest well sweat off the day of weigh in.

the best way to accomplish weight gain is with of course more food and increased training volume, but I run into a problem here because my guys are squatting hard 3 days a week already, and doing maximal lifts in heavy leg and back exercises like the snatch and clean and jerk 6 days a week already... so adding volume in the conventional way would quickly result in an athlete breaking down.

So I use an idea that didn’t start with Westside, but has been recently popularized by them, concentric only exercise. The good thing about this is that it seems to have a good effect on the body, but doesn’t really make you sore, and doesn’t seem to affect recovery that much; in some athletes it seems to even help it.

The way I structure the workouts is this, the regular training around noon, and the extra workouts around 6 or 7 pm. typical exercises are as follows.

Walking up stairs with weight, taking the elevator down. For this I have a long, thin bag filled with sand, actually several of them. An athlete takes a bag, say a 50lb bag, and walks up 2 flights of stairs, then walks to the elevator and rides it back down.

Heavy ball throws. I have various bags and balls weighing between 20 and 100lbs. the athlete gets his arms around one on the ground, then with a clean or snatch type motion throws it up and behind them. It hits the ground; they turn around and throw it back. We usually do 10 throws at a time.

Various sled pulling. This is pure Westside; they have come up with many variations of this. a couple that we use are simply to attach a rope from the sled to the waist, usually around a weight belt, and walk 40 or 50 yards taking long, straight legged strides. for the upper body, we use two ropes, each with a handle, and for instance do a bench press type motion to pull the sled forward, then walk a step, then press again, etc. or turn around and do the same thing with a row motion. we also put the rope between our legs, and face away from the sled... as you take a step, straighten the body slightly, this pulls the sled forward. Take another step to take the slack out, and then do it again.

all of these things work the major muscle groups with concentric only action... adding to the workload but not compromising recovery ability that much, as long as you get extra sleep and remember to take in more food at least. Using these sorts of methods seems to allow athletes to handle more workload than they could with only normal exercises, but it’s important I think to time the workouts right. You want to do these "extra" workouts 4-6 hours after your normal workouts if possible. I know others who have done their regular workouts in the evenings, and gotten up and done these extra workouts in the mornings and had good results, but I haven’t tried that much.

I am not really sure how these types of things would work for bodybuilders... however I have to think that they would in fact work... I mean one of the reasons I don’t use them more in regular training is that it tends to make it too hard to keep a guys weight. They seem to be particularly effective for adding mass to the hamstrings, calves, glutes, and the spinal erectors and also upper back.

one other thing, we alter the weight we use for each day much as Westside does... in other words, if you do it 3 days in a row, the second day you use half the weight you used on the first day, the third day half of what you used on the second day, and then you start over again with 100% weight. If any of you bodybuilders out there thinks about trying this, I’d is interested to hear how it worked for you.

Things you need to do so you can do what you want to do.

2011-02-14T07:44:00.000-08:00

5 Squatting Programs That Work

A conversation between masters

2011-02-02T11:10:00.000-08:00

"Hey bro, I want to do 5x5 bro. Will it work for mass?"

"Yeah bro. It will. But I don't do it that way. I change it around. Because 5 reps aren't enough to get big bro."

"How do you do it then?"

"Well I use the 5x5 outline but I do 3x12, then what I do is superset the next two movements and do like 5 burn out sets bro. Makes my arms pumped to the max bro."

"But that's not 5x5."

"Sure it is bro. I use it almost exactly like it says. I just add my own thing to it. So it's almost the same. I've gotten jacked this way bro. My arms have never been so swole."

"Sounds good bro. I will do that."

8 Stupid Myths about Squatting

2011-01-18T08:54:00.000-08:00

Myth #2: Squats are bad for the knees. Not only are squats not bad for the knees, every legitimate research study on this subject has shown that squats improve knee stability and therefore help reduce the risk of injuries. The National Strength and Conditioning Association has published an excellent position paper on this subject with an extensive literature review, and data from the Canadian National Alpine Ski Team suggests that regular squatting reduces not only the rate of injuries but also the time it takes to recuperate from injuries that do occur.

See the rest of the list here. But if you read this blog you probably already know squats are healthy and good for you.

Steak and Chimichurri

2011-01-06T12:57:00.000-08:00

2lb Flank or Skirt Steak:
Marinate steak with a very light touch of soy, Worcester, salt, pepper. Very very light!

For chimichurri:

    * 1 to 2 garlic cloves
    * 2cups flat-leaf parsley including trimmed stems
    * 2 cups mint including trimmed stems
    * 1/3 cup distilled white vinegar
    * 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Make chimichurri ahead to let it mature and mellow a little. Drop garlic into food processor with motor running and finely chop. Add remaining sauce ingredients and 1/2 teaspoon salt and pulse until herbs are finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl.

Cook over high flame grill, broil or sear in cast iron a couple minutes each side. Take off and let rest 8min. Slice against grain. Serve with chimichurri on side. Fried egg acceptable addition for breakfast consumption.

Idaho Weightlifting:Programs/Documents

2010-10-23T08:24:00.000-07:00

Idaho Weightlifting:Programs/Documents shares a bunch of documents on programs, etc at their site here.

Building a Platform

2010-10-23T08:23:00.000-07:00

In helping a local gym construct two lifting platforms, we found the classic plans described on Ironmind to be a great resource:

http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Main/homesweathome6.html

The primary modification we made was the narrowing of the centerpiece from 48" to 40". Our reason for doing so was to prolong the life of the centerpiece, as we predicted the amount of lifting --and lifts dropped from overhead -- would be pretty high. To compensate, we used two 4'x6' stall mats per platform, each cut into two 4'x28" pieces.

Overall, the platforms are great to lift on. If there is one thing I would change, I would prefer using a thicker matting, like the 'Super Mats' Dynamic Fitness/Eleiko sells. These are the same type of mats used in commercially made platforms, and are also the mats used in the lifting platforms at LBH.

Not too long Ago..

2010-10-23T08:18:00.000-07:00

Antonio Krastev trained at Lost Battalion Hall in Queens...where I go every once in a while. He would train twice a day six times a week. His methods are in the Weightlifting Encyclopedia (pages 305-306). You couldn't hear a pin drop when Antonio went into that start position...the long delay...the silence...and the the pull with head tilted off to one side..then he's under it and up on his feet in a flash. What I liked best was the celebrity of it all: the entourage escorting him to and from the platform, the coaches, the water guy, the expediter, the guy holding the smelling salts (that was me!)...everybody involved.

MIsha Koklayev - 270kg jerk

2010-08-13T17:40:00.000-07:00

2010-07-25T22:23:00.000-07:00

Updates to the Platform Locator
-Club H in NYC has a platform but no Olympic bars. I would not recommend in light of this.
-Equinox on Greenwich Street has a small platform now, if you can spare the change
-CrossFit Brooklyn is closed (not to be confused with CrossFit South Brooklyn)

Quick Guide to Protein Amounts in Common Foods

2010-07-23T08:44:00.000-07:00

Meats	G per OZ	1/4 lb	1/2lb	lb
Beef	9.0	36.0	72.0	144.0
Turkey,	8.6	34.3	68.5	137.1
Pork	8.2	32.7	65.3	130.7
Turkey,	8.1	32.4	64.8	129.6
Hamburger	8.1	32.4	64.8	129.6
Chicken,	7.9	31.5	62.9	125.9
Tuna	6.7	26.7	53.5	106.9
Broiled	6.4	25.7	51.5	102.9
Chicken,	6.3	25.2	50.4	100.8
Ham	5.9	23.6	47.2	94.4
Salmon	5.6	22.4	44.8	89.6

Not too bad for a 50 yr old

2010-07-20T11:56:00.000-07:00

Teen Idol

2010-06-14T04:43:00.000-07:00

On Lifting

2010-06-05T15:24:00.001-07:00

"Yeah, sure, use a belt. Why not? Buy some sleeves if you like. Whatever makes you happy. Slip on a condom if it makes you feel more secure."

"You don't wanna look down. Look straight ahead instead. We'll put a big picture of a pussy on that wall for ya. If you like, we can put a big dick up there too, and you can take your pick."

-MC

2010-06-03T20:31:00.000-07:00

Antonio Krastev
195kg CJ
1992 NYS Meet

Dave Bruzzi

2010-05-28T04:38:00.000-07:00

If you've ever lifted at a meet in the NY area, you probably recognize Dave Bruzzi. He holds the US National Masters records in the 77kg class, 40-44 age group, with a 122.5 snatch, a 155 clean & jerk, and a 275 total (all done in the period of 1998-1999).

Below is video from the 1992 NY State competition.

What's the Point of Having a Platform and Bumper Plates...

2010-05-15T06:45:00.000-07:00

...if you're not allowed to drop the weights.

Updates made to the platform/bumper plate locator:
-Removed Edge on the Upper East Side
-CrossFit South Brooklyn has moved to a larger location
-There may be a platform at Club H Fitness in Jersey City (to be confirmed)

JERK Supports

2010-05-10T06:43:00.000-07:00

By Jim Schmitz, U.S. Olympic Weightlifting Team Coach 1980, 1988 & 1992.

"The jerk support is done by placing the bar in the rack at just above your head, maybe an inch or two above; if it is your first time I recommend 2 inches above your head. As you get better at it you lower the starting position, but not any lower than your head. You use your clean and jerk grip and your feet are hip- to shoulder-width apart. Squat directly underneath the bar with your arms extended and locked out directly above your ears, shoulders, hips, and ankles. Your arms, head, body, hips, and ankles must be directly in line under the bar in what is called the power position. The power position is the position where you catch or receive your power snatch and clean: approximately a quarter squat. Tense or tighten up all your muscles, and then stand up by pushing up with your arms and down with your legs. Practice a few times with a naked bar; then start adding weight. It will surprise you how wobbly you are at first. When you are fully erect, hold the weight for 2 seconds or so: the bar should be directly over your ears, shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles. Lower the bar under control and repeat."

Full:here.

Programs and Splits

2010-04-17T09:06:00.000-07:00

Earlier I discussed some here....
Am currently enjoying a push-pull split since joining the health club gym across from work and training mostly away from a real platform. I have been inspired largely by an old Glenn Pendlay forum post pasted below.

I've even seen people who after a while on a 3 day a week program, switched to a 4 day split, doing squats and pressing exercises on Monday and Thursday, back and pulling exercises on wed and Saturday. I don't see this as retreating from the principles of the 5 by 5 at all. you are STILL working your whole body, or very nearly so, every training day. squats work the back, they work everything... and deadlifts or stiff legged deadlifts work the legs, not as much as squats, but they still work them. this is in fact the favored program of mike stone, probably the best ex phys guy on the planet and former head of sports science at the Olympic training center.
the main thing is to go about it in a systematic way.

one of my lifters, josh wells, who made the junior world team in 2004 in weightlifting, and can jerk close to 400lbs weighing around 180lbs as a teenager, did this program about a year ago in his "off season" to try to gain some general strength.
Monday, squats (5 sets of 3), push presses (3 sets of 5) then glute ham raises or reverse hypers
Wednesday, snatch pulls (5 sets of 2), powercleans (5 sets of 2), chin-ups (5 sets of 10 with extra weight, hanging from a 2" bar)
Thursday, front squats (6 sets of 2), push jerks (5 sets of 2), military press (3 sets of 5), then glute ham raises or reverse hypers.
Saturday, powersnatches (5 sets of 2), clean pulls (5 sets of 5), barbell rows, (5 sets of 5)

Splitting up the work but still using total body lifts. One thing I am finding is that heavy squats and heavy overhead work (push presses or jerks) on the same day takes a lot out of me.

Functional Hypertrophy for Athletes

2010-03-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

An effective workout to develop the type of muscle mass that athletes need
by Charles Poliquin

In the strength coaching profession it’s ironic that the trainers hired to improve athletic performance often do not possess the ideal physique for athletics. For example, a bodybuilder might be extremely intimidating in a mixed martial arts arena or on a football field, but in some situations a much smaller opponent may be significantly stronger and more powerful than that same bodybuilder. In fact, I’ve seen three Mr. Olympia contestants, in the off-season when they are strongest, who could not bench press 315 pounds for six reps – not exactly NFL standard.

Although most athletes simply want to jump into a workout that will help them build muscle mass and strength for their sport – and indeed I will provide two examples of such a workout at the end of this article – it’s important to understand that there are many types of hypertrophy. What type of hypertrophy an athlete should focus on depends upon the nature of the sport – which means the training protocols of the reigning Mr. Olympia or even the legendary Arnold (as amazing and innovative as he was as a bodybuilder) may not be the best training protocols for every athlete.

It would be great if muscle building for athletes were as simple as just following the popular bodybuilding workouts, but the methods used by many professional bodybuilders often do not produce the desired gains in strength and power specific to most sports. It’s possible – and I’m completely serious when I say this – that for certain types of athletes the resistance training protocols used by women fitness competitors may be more appropriate than those used by most professional bodybuilders. Let me give you an example.

If a high school strength coach is training a freshman lineman who has never lifted weights before, simply putting him on a standard bodybuilding program with basic movements such as the bench press and leg press may make him a better athlete. But even though most likely he will run faster and be able to block and tackle more aggressively, very quickly these standard training methods will lead to a point of diminishing returns compared to other training protocols. Granted, traditional bodybuilding methods are better than nothing, but it is a mistake to believe that such a simplistic approach would be the optimal training method for this athlete to use throughout high school and college. If it were, you would see a lot more college and professional football players training like the genetically gifted monsters you see on the covers of muscle magazines.

Breaking Down Muscle Fibers
Studies have shown that the types of hypertrophy gains in individuals who use bodybuilding programs are different from the gains in those who use weightlifting programs. The muscle fibers hypertrophied in bodybuilding programs are primarily Type I fibers, whereas the muscle fibers hypertrophied in weightlifting programs are the much more powerful Type II fibers. And this is not a matter of opinion – these recommendations are supported by peer-reviewed research.

In a study that was published in 2004 in the respected publication Sports Medicine, Dr. Andrew Fry examined the muscle fiber types of weightlifters, powerlifters and bodybuilders. Fry and his colleagues found that among the three groups, bodybuilders had the highest percentage of Type II fibers but the lowest percentage of Type I. The weightlifters, in contrast, possessed the highest percentage of Type II fibers but the lowest percentage of Type I. The powerlifters were positioned in the middle: They had more Type II fibers than the bodybuilders but not as much as the weightlifters, and they had more Type I fibers than the weightlifters but not as much as the bodybuilders. So for an athlete, training like a powerlifter would be better than training like a bodybuilder, but training like a weightlifter would be better than training like a powerlifter.

One of the key concepts I teach is that rather than using percentages, it is more practical to “let the repetitions determine the load.” And with this perspective, I use the following general guideline to determine which muscle fiber is hypertrophied in a set: 1-5 reps, Type IIb; 6-12 reps, Type IIa; 12 = Type I. Oh, and the basic difference between a Type IIa and Type IIb fiber is that the IIb can produce a more powerful muscle contraction, whereas the IIa has more muscular endurance.

One of the most famous periodization approaches to training was published in 1981 and has been frequently quoted in North American strength research. This model used “conversion phases” in which the athlete is supposedly able to transfer the hypertrophy gains from bodybuilding protocols into gains in strength and power. It is based upon a “classic model” of periodization presented by Russian sport scientist Leonid Medvedyev in 1964. This model entails doing a large volume of work at a relatively low intensity and then smoothly transferring to a low amount of work at a high intensity.

The sample workout in the model consists of four phases, with each phase lasting three to four weeks, although the maintenance phase could be extended throughout a competitive sport season. The repetition ranges, and estimated intensity levels relative to a one repetition max (1RM), are as follows:

Hypertrophy: 6-12 reps, 67-85 percent of 1RM
Basic Strength: = 6 reps, =85 percent of 1RM
Strength and Power: 1-5 reps, 75-90 percent or 1RM
Peaking or Maintenance: 1-3 reps, vary high to low

Although this approach seems to make sense, and the “hypertrophy” phase offers many benefits, such as increasing growth hormone production, the problem is that it simply is not possible. And why is that? Because you cannot convert a Type I fiber into a Type II fiber. It would be analogous to turning fat into muscle – certainly, you can shrink your fat cells, but you can’t convert them into muscle fibers. Further, trying to develop all types of muscle fibers to their highest levels is simply not possible, as the body’s ability to recover is limited.

Yes, there are some strong bodybuilders out there, but for them to focus on getting as strong as weightlifters would take away from their ability to develop as much muscle mass as possible. Likewise, for weightlifters to develop as much muscle mass as possible would take away from their ability to be as strong as possible; and it would be even more detrimental for weightlifters in the non-super heavy category, as their success is based upon being as strong as possible while being as light as possible.

Many sports require that athletes develop high levels of absolute strength, and these strength gains will result in increases in muscle mass. But for best results this strength should be functional. From a neuromuscular standpoint, functional programs increase the neural drive to the muscles, improve the synchronization of motor units, increase the activation of contractile apparatus, and decrease inhibition of protective mechanisms of muscle. In layman’s terms, a functional hypertrophy program contributes more to the athlete’s power output and less to their ability to look good at the beach.

Functional Hypertrophy: The Workouts
Let’s put all this theory into practice with an example of a functional hypertrophy workout for the lower body, and then one for the upper back. Let’s start with the legs.

Functional hypertrophy gains in muscle mass in the legs are crucial in sports such as rugby, bobsleigh and the throwing events. One of the best ways to develop functional leg strength is to superset front squats with back squats with only 10 seconds between the two exercises. You may want to call this method an extended set, a term that high-intensity proponents would use to give the false impression that they only did one set per workout (and without counting warm-up sets, of course).

Another description of this type of program is an improved-leverage set, as you pair an exercise in which leverage forces you to use lighter weights (e.g., front squat) with an exercise that enables you to use heavier weights (e.g., back squat). For more examples of this type of training system, see Beyond 2001: The Next Real Step by Jerry Telle, an innovative personal trainer out of Littleton, Colorado. But no matter what you call this system, it can be used to develop the functional leg strength you need to perform at the highest levels that your genetics will enable you to achieve.

Lower Body Functional Hypertrophy Workout
A-1. Front Squat, 5 x 3-4, 4010, rest 10 seconds
A-2. Back Squat, 5 x max reps (probably 1-4 reps), 4010, rest 120 seconds
A-3. Leg Curl, 5 x 4-6, 3110, rest 120 seconds

Select a weight you can lift for 3-4 RM in the front squat. For example, if your best front squat is 220 pounds, your best for 3-4 reps might be 200 pounds. Using the weight you selected, perform the exercise until you reach concentric failure, return the weight to the rack, and then count for 10 seconds as you prepare to perform the back squat. At the end of the 10 seconds, you should already be in position to begin the descent of the back squat. Now perform as many reps of the back squat as possible with the same weight you used in the front squats. Rest two minutes, and then perform some leg curls for a set of 4-6 reps. Rest another two minutes, and repeat the entire series for four additional sets.

If, when you performed the front squats, the weight was light enough to enable you to perform 5 or more reps, then use a heavier weight. If you only performed 1-2 reps, then the weight was too heavy and you need to lighten it up. As you get used to this workout, you will find yourself better able to predict the weights to use to stay within the rep range.

Now let’s move on to a functional hypertrophy workout for the muscles of the upper back. This type of training would be ideal for a gymnast or a wrestler.

Upper Back Functional Hypertrophy Workout
A-1. Wide Pronated-Grip Chin-up, 5 x 4-6, 3010, rest 10 seconds
A-2. Medium Supinated-Grip Chin-up, 5 x max reps (probably 1-4 reps), 3010, rest 120 seconds
A-3. Bent-Over EZ Bar Row, 5 x 6-8, 3020, rest 120 seconds

Obviously, you could substitute lat pulldown variations for the chin-ups, but you will get better results with chin-ups. One reason chins are so effective is that you have to move your entire bodyweight, and the stabilization required to do this (as opposed to using pulldown machines) involves more muscle mass. It’s also more difficult to cheat when performing these exercises – for example, during a pulldown you can cheat by crunching forward with the abdominals. This is also one reason that the strength from chin-ups carries over well to pulldowns, but it doesn’t work the other way around. If you cannot do a chin-up on your own, there are ways to get around this, such as by placing one leg on a knee-high platform behind you (so that you don’t have to lift your entire bodyweight during the exercise) or by having a training partner hold that leg and provide you with assistance.

For this workout, start by using a resistance that will enable you to complete 4-6 reps using the wide pronated-grip chin-up. Rest 10 seconds, and then switch to a medium supinated-grip chin-up and perform as many reps as possible. Even though you are fatigued from the previous set, the improved leverage should enable you to complete several reps. If you are using additional weight, do not decrease the resistance, as your intensity level will fall outside the range of functional hypertrophy. Rest two minutes, and then perform the bent-over EZ bar row for 6-8 reps. Rest another two minutes, and then repeat the entire series for four additional sets.

All this is solid information, but keep in mind there is much more to know about functional hypertrophy. For example, I often prescribe a “back-off set” of 25 reps in certain exercises after the primary sets of a functional training protocol. Research from Japanese sport scientists has found that this additional set increases the production of growth hormone and as such leads to greater gains in anaerobic lactic capacity (basically muscular endurance) and strength. There are many other methods, which are covered in my higher-level PICP courses and my Special Consideration Training Series seminars.

Just about any workout program that follows the concept of progressive resistance will produce gains in muscle mass. But if you want to be as strong as you look and be able to display that strength on the athletic field, focus on functional hypertrophy.

A Mass Gain Theory by Glenn Pendlay

2010-03-19T07:25:00.000-07:00

GAIN WEIGHT WITH CONCENTRIC MOVEMENTS

As most of you know, I train athletes and not bodybuilders, so often the methods I use are geared mostly towards strength with little regard to gaining size, or even geared specifically toward gaining strength WITHOUT any size gain for athletes in specific weight classes.

that having been said, I usually have a hard time keeping weight off the guys, the volume of training we do often means that the guys must watch the diet really close to avoid growing out of their proper weight class.

now, having said all that, there are times when I have a guy that needs to move up a weight class quickly, for instance I recently had a guy that needed to move from the 77kilo weight class to the 85kilo (or from 169lbs to 187lbs) weight class because in his particular division the competition was actually easier at 85.

This particular guy usually trains about 10-12lbs overweight, so I actually had to move him from 180lbs to about 200lbs in 8 weeks, hopefully with no body fat increase, and of course with no drugs. I thought id share one of the ways I have accomplished this quick weight gain in the past and how I did it in this case. In case you wondered, he did accomplish this, weighed 201lbs 2 weeks before competition, and is now cutting for competition; he’s weighing 195 now one week out, most of the rest well sweat off the day of weigh in.

the best way to accomplish weight gain is with of course more food and increased training volume, but I run into a problem here because my guys are squatting hard 3 days a week already, and doing maximal lifts in heavy leg and back exercises like the snatch and clean and jerk 6 days a week already... so adding volume in the conventional way would quickly result in an athlete breaking down.

So I use an idea that didn’t start with Westside, but has been recently popularized by them, concentric only exercise. The good thing about this is that it seems to have a good effect on the body, but doesn’t really make you sore, and doesn’t seem to affect recovery that much; in some athletes it seems to even help it.

The way I structure the workouts is this, the regular training around noon, and the extra workouts around 6 or 7 pm. typical exercises are as follows.

Walking up stairs with weight, taking the elevator down. For this I have a long, thin bag filled with sand, actually several of them. An athlete takes a bag, say a 50lb bag, and walks up 2 flights of stairs, then walks to the elevator and rides it back down.

Heavy ball throws. I have various bags and balls weighing between 20 and 100lbs. the athlete gets his arms around one on the ground, then with a clean or snatch type motion throws it up and behind them. It hits the ground; they turn around and throw it back. We usually do 10 throws at a time.

Various sled pulling. This is pure Westside; they have come up with many variations of this. a couple that we use are simply to attach a rope from the sled to the waist, usually around a weight belt, and walk 40 or 50 yards taking long, straight legged strides. for the upper body, we use two ropes, each with a handle, and for instance do a bench press type motion to pull the sled forward, then walk a step, then press again, etc. or turn around and do the same thing with a row motion. we also put the rope between our legs, and face away from the sled... as you take a step, straighten the body slightly, this pulls the sled forward. Take another step to take the slack out, and then do it again.

all of these things work the major muscle groups with concentric only action... adding to the workload but not compromising recovery ability that much, as long as you get extra sleep and remember to take in more food at least. Using these sorts of methods seems to allow athletes to handle more workload than they could with only normal exercises, but it’s important I think to time the workouts right. You want to do these "extra" workouts 4-6 hours after your normal workouts if possible. I know others who have done their regular workouts in the evenings, and gotten up and done these extra workouts in the mornings and had good results, but I haven’t tried that much.

I am not really sure how these types of things would work for bodybuilders... however I have to think that they would in fact work... I mean one of the reasons I don’t use them more in regular training is that it tends to make it too hard to keep a guys weight. They seem to be particularly effective for adding mass to the hamstrings, calves, glutes, and the spinal erectors and also upper back.

one other thing, we alter the weight we use for each day much as Westside does... in other words, if you do it 3 days in a row, the second day you use half the weight you used on the first day, the third day half of what you used on the second day, and then you start over again with 100% weight. If any of you bodybuilders out there thinks about trying this, I’d is interested to hear how it worked for you.

Power and the Olympic lifts

2010-03-08T10:51:00.000-08:00

by Pierre Roy

The concept of power is misunderstood.

Considering that power is the combination of strength and speed and knowing that strength is the easiest element to improve it is taken for granted that to improve levels of power and consequently of performance, it was thought to be enough to raise the level of strength.

This observation is true to some extent ... the difficulty is that often increases in strength occurs at the expense of technique and the speed of the bar in various stages of movement so that if this process is applied incorrectly, it will weaken the nervous system, and thus potentially affect speed and coordination.

Full article.

Assigning Weight Changes within a Workout

2010-01-19T17:48:00.000-08:00

by Glenn Pendlay

Jim O’Malley pointed something out to me a number of years ago which maybe should have been self-evident, but I had never thought about before. He told me that every weight required a slightly different body position, and a slightly different coordination of the muscles in order for the bar/body unit to be in the correct balance and for the maximum force in the correct direction to be imparted to the bar. He said that because of this, it took greater skill to lift a series of repetitions or sets where the weight on the bar was different every time than it took to lift the same weight over and over. Of course, this is a skill that is needed for a weightlifting competition, where the weight must change each attempt unless you miss!

Over the years I have seen the truth of this, and have used this idea more and more when I program training. I use it to differentiate the training of the novice, intermediate, and advanced lifters, and I use it within the preparation period for a contest with each level of lifter.

Full article.

Development

2009-12-23T06:32:00.000-08:00

An interesting quote from Glenn Pendlay on the GoHeavy forums:

"Funny you should mention upper back development. After I got home from the Junior Worlds in Romania, I had a conversation with several people about the differences between those on the medal stand, and those placing 10th or below, which was, often, precisely the differences between the Medal winners and the American lifters.

You couldnt tell a medal contender from a B session lifter by leg size. At least I couldnt, not thighs, hamstrings, or butt. Some of the lifters with the most impressive legs were either B session lifters, or bottom of the A session. Many of the medal winners didnt have huge legs.

What I found to be the most noticable quality that seperated medalists from lower caliber lifters was general leanness, and upper back/posterior delt muscle. That really stood out to me while in the warmup room and seeing various lifters without their shirts on and with singlets pulled down. The top guys were LEAN usually, and, VERY musculasr all across the upper back... not neccessarily high traps, but just very thick and muscular on the backs of the shoulders, around the shoulder blades, between the shoulder blades, etc...

I discussed with Dr. Michael Hartman for about an hour, what to do with this observation? Does this mean the winners tend to be people who naturally are muscular in this area? Is a slightly different pull or other technical difference in the top lifters building muscle in this area? Would it pay to do extra "non-weightlifting" exercises to build this area, like barbell or dumbell rows? I believe the chinese do a fair amount of dumbell rows...

I am not sure what the answer is, maybe a combination of things. But I am glad to hear this observation from anther person... "

1988 Olympics: 90kg Class C&Js

2009-12-21T22:34:00.000-08:00

More footage from that mystery DVD I have. I still don't know whom it belongs to.

Somewhere out there, waiting to be converted from VHS, is some rare footage of Antonio Krastev and others lifting in NY area competitions. Stay tuned in the next couple of months.

What You Need to Do

2009-12-21T10:36:00.000-08:00

You need to do two things to get stronger: add weight and do more reps. The answer has never been: lift light weights for high reps, or lift heavy weights for few reps. The answer remains: Lift heavy weights for high reps. - Dan John

Push Press

2009-12-05T08:30:00.000-08:00

Supposed training of Misha here.

Gelnn Pendlay on the push press:

My advice on push press is to #1 get your squat and front squat up. That's a whole other thread, but it's safe to say that you wont be push pressing 300lbs with the same squat numbers that you are push pressing 230lbs with. You'll need strong legs.

When I push pressed 440lbs, I had done 770 for a triple on the Olympic style squat wearing only a belt, and 606lbs for a set of 10 without even wearing a belt. Rob McAdams push pressed 375lbs weighing about 200lbs, he squatted 400lbs for a set of 20 OL style with no belt, and did front squats with 440lbs and more wearing only a belt. It's hard for me to imagine a 300lb push press with much less than a 500lb OL style squat done raw. I'm sure its been done by some freak, hell some freak out there probably push presses his max squat. But if you're aiming for 300lbs on the push press, I'd aim for 500lbs on a raw squat done deep and a stance close to what you are push pressing with.

Now as to training the push press itself... I would do them twice per week if you are no good at them, if your technique is bad. Do this just to learn the movement. If you are skilled at them, cut it back to once. But do overhead work 3 times per week if you can. Do a variety of movements. Military press, push jerks, even snatch grip push press, and regular push press with the bar behind the neck. Benching once per week won't hurt you, but if you bench too much, it cuts down on what you can do overhead, at least in my opinion.

A good workout emphasizing the push press might look like this

Monday

5x5 on military press

Wednesday

3x5 on push press

Friday

3x5 on bench press

3x5 a little lighter on some other overhead movement, like push jerk, or snatch grip push press

Start conservative, build and after 4 or 5 weeks change the reps or one of the exercises.

For variety, you can do complex exercises... for instance, on one of the days, you can use a weight you can do around 4 or 5 reps on the military press, press it for 3 reps then push press it for 3 more, for 3 or 4 sets.

Or, if you know how to jerk, take a weight you can push press say 5 times, push press it for 3, then jerk it for 2 or 3 more... again for 3 or 4 sets.

These complexes are killers! Don't overdo them.

That's basically it, get your squat up, and practice overhead work. Its nice to see someone interested in my favorite upper body exercise. A big bench is cool, but there is always the equipment controversy. A big jerk is simply a thing of beauty to me, but there are always those who scream "it's all technique" and dismiss the strength needed to do it. But a big push press, I don't know, to me, its just the absolute coolest expression of shoulder/arm strength there is. I think a big push press is a damn cool thing.

Just remember that the real "meat" of a program isn't so much the exercises or the days of the week... it's how you plan/approach your progression. Make sure you keep good track of what your doing... try to make small steady jumps on your weights, try to do things in some sort of systematic way and not be jumping all over the place. And last, listen to your own body, use your own head! Listening to others is good, but if you listen TOO MUCH, and don't think for yourself, you'll end up flying all over the place always trying the latest greatest thing. Pay attention to what is working for you, and what isn't. Make changes in a reasonable fashion, know why you are changing, and change one thing at a time so you can monitor the results.

Why do you Squat?

2009-11-20T16:41:00.000-08:00

“I love to squat. When I started lifting at age 13 I had one of those cement filled weight sets. There were a few iron plates that my dad let me have. I had no squat rack so I had to clean and press the weight overhead to squat. Fuck, I did floor presses before anyone, including me, knew what they were because I had no bench either. When I was around 18, I went to a friend’s gym and wanted to do a Tom Platz squat workout. I hit 315 for 15 and 225 for 25. Then I staggered outside and went down on all fours puking for at least a half hour. I couldn't walk right for a week and had to crawl up the stairs to my bedroom while my Mom heckled me from the bottom of the stairs.” EFTs

2009 Senior Metropolitan Championships

2009-11-01T16:28:00.000-08:00

Video from the Senior Mets:

Full Playlist here:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=457EB4DE01644F91

Pressing

2009-10-06T18:14:00.000-07:00

Alexandr Ivanov

2009-09-07T06:40:00.000-07:00

Restore to Grow

2009-08-21T16:47:00.000-07:00

9 Restoration Tips That Will Make You Stronger - Tips by John Paul Catanzaro.

Schemansky

2009-08-11T18:16:00.000-07:00

Gallery.

Kendrick Farris - 255kg for 3

2009-08-11T15:41:00.001-07:00

From August 2 CT Open

2009-08-10T21:09:00.000-07:00

Benefits and Application of Jump Squats

2009-06-18T15:24:00.000-07:00

One exercise I am frequently asked about is jump squats. I use jump squats fairly often with athletes because they are quite a versatile movement and can be used to accomplish quite a few different things. They can build strength-speed, build power, improve rate of force development, and of course build up plyometric capacities. In addition they can be used at the beginning of a workout for no other purpose then to increase muscle motor unit recruitment and enhance subsequent strength work.
-Kelly Baggett

Simmons

2009-06-16T19:04:00.000-07:00

The Repetition Method.

"In the 1970s, the great Olympic lifter Vasili Alexeyev used a variation of the repetition method for part of his training, sometimes doing power cleans non-stop for 2-3 minutes. He would do various hybrid exercises: front squat and push press, squats with the bar on his hack and drop squats, etc. The bar weight was light but would work every muscle cell. He would do a warmup by throwing a 220 pound barbell over his head backward 100 times. Then after practicing the snatch for over 2 hours, he would spend an hour in the pool, lifting his legs hundreds of times to strengthen his abdomen. Then he would leap merely 1000 times, He would use many exercises to gain great strength arid to raise his work capacity, and of course his total."

2009 Pan Ams Live

2009-06-06T11:05:00.000-07:00

Results.

265kg at 91kg

2009-06-06T10:40:00.001-07:00

The Records

2009-05-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

If you've ever wondered about the best lifts ever, here's a list.

Audio Interview with Glenn Pendlay

2009-04-28T04:27:00.000-07:00

Via exrx.net.

Five Things I Learned from Doug Hepburn

2009-04-20T18:56:00.000-07:00

Great advice from a strongman legend

by Charles Poliquin

Long before anabolic steroids became a common shortcut in the Iron Game, there were several amazing athletes who achieved Herculean levels of maximal strength. Their formula for success contained the optimal mix of principle-based training, sound nutrition, adequate recovery and a drive to improve. One such athlete was Doug Ivan Hepburn.

Hepburn was born in Vancouver, Canada, on September 16, 1926. Born with a clubfoot and cross-eyed, Hepburn took up weight training when he was 15 and overcame his disabilities to become incredibly strong - by age 18 he could squat 340 pounds, bench press 260 and curl 140. Many strength historians argue that at his peak Hepburn was the strongest man in the world. Here's why.

Five Lessons I Learned from Pierre Roy by Charles Poliquin

2009-04-19T14:50:00.000-07:00

Although the Eastern Bloc countries, especially Bulgaria, have gotten the most press about their weightlifting methods (and, unfortunately, their drug suspensions), in Canada Pierre Roy is considered one of the most accomplished weightlifting coaches of the past several decades. Case in point: He coached two athletes at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, one being Jacques Demers. Demers won the silver medal over Dragomir Cioroslan, who went on to become the head weightlifting coach for the United States. Pierre also coached several more athletes who competed in the World Championships, such as Denis Garon, who clean and jerked 490 pounds as a heavyweight, and more than 50 athletes who competed in the Canadian Championships.

Roy is a man of a few words but is very precise in what he means. Like all geniuses, he simplifies things and loves to use principles to dictate training orientation. Here are five lessons that he impressed upon me.

Another split

2009-04-10T07:15:00.000-07:00

Pulled this from a collection of Glen Pendlay writings:

I've even seen people who after a while on a 3 day a week program, switched to a 4 day split, doing squats and pressing exercises on Monday and Thursday, back and pulling exercises on wed and Saturday. I don't see this as retreating from the principles of the 5 by 5 at all. you are STILL working your whole body, or very nearly so, every training day. squats work the back, they work everything... and deadlifts or stiff legged deadlifts work the legs, not as much as squats, but they still work them. this is in fact the favored program of mike stone, probably the best ex phys guy on the planet and former head of sports science at the Olympic training center.

the main thing is to go about it in a systematic way.
one of my lifters, josh wells, who made the junior world team in 2004 in weightlifting, and can jerk close to 400lbs weighing around 180lbs as a teenager, did this program about a year ago in his "off season" to try to gain some general strength.

Monday, squats (5 sets of 3), push presses (3 sets of 5) then glute ham raises or reverse hypers

Wednesday, snatch pulls (5 sets of 2), powercleans (5 sets of 2), chin-ups (5 sets of 10 with extra weight, hanging from a 2" bar)

Thursday, front squats (6 sets of 2), push jerks (5 sets of 2), military press (3 sets of 5), then glute ham raises or reverse hypers.

Saturday, powersnatches (5 sets of 2), clean pulls (5 sets of 5), barbell rows, (5 sets of 5)

obviously this is geared toward Olympic weightlifting.... this is just as representative of the 5 by 5 training style as the simpler 3 day programs... because we did it systematically, sets across instead of failure, gradually moving the weights up, gradually adding then subtracting volume of training to force the body to adapt

Splits and Programs

2009-04-09T20:53:00.001-07:00

There seems to be a rough division between those who split train and those who do whole body workouts - the first being bodybuilders, the second strength athletes. But I've also noticed some fine examples of elite lifters/strength athletes who break things up, sometimes just for parts of their training years.

Here's a quote from Derek Poundstone, a super-strong guy who had the 2008 WSM in reach before slipping on the final atlas stone:

What is your current training split like?

Monday is shoulders, traps and abs, Tuesday is arms and cardio, Wednesday is usually off, Thursday is lower body (squats and deadlift), Friday is chest and back every other week and Saturday is Event training with CT Strength. (link)

Dan John offers his world famous One Lift A Day (OLAD) which I read as the feral child version of split routines, ancient in origin, and clearly un-sustainably intense... I've yet to try it, though I have done a spontaneous one-lift-day (just back squats) and it was great. Hard work that for some reason, that day, was exactly what I wanted.

I posted masochistically appealling hybrid of Dinosaur and Westside before... there's two routines in there that are pretty full body but interesting in the break up.

Of course a classic split like push/pull is still sort of full body if you are doing lifts like deads , cleans, rows, presses, and squats.

Only so much time but so many choices...

LBH Schedule Updates

2009-04-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

There will be no weightlifting at LBH on Friday, April 3rd.

Weightlifting will start late (~7:00PM) on Monday, April 6th.

2009 Australian National Club Championships

2009-03-26T12:56:00.000-07:00

From the QWA website:http:

The 2009 Australian National Club Championships Webcast
See all of the action LIVE at http://www.awcast.com/view?3kq=kgndx4

Commencing at 09:00am Saturday March 28th, Australian Eastern Standard Time. In EST, that's Friday, March 27th at 7:00PM.

FYI, LBH will NOT be open this Friday evening.

Protein Requirements for Strength and Power Athletes

2009-03-08T10:36:00.000-07:00

"So here’s my recommendation, strength/power athletes should aim for 1.5 g/lb protein per day (again, this is about 3.3 g/kg for the metrically inclined). So for a 200 lb strength/power athlete, that’s 300 grams of protein per day. For a 300 lber, that’s 450 grams per day."

From Lyle MacDonald.

	Meal Plan for 300 g/day Intake	Meal Plan for 450 g/day Intake
Meal 1	2 whole eggs, 4 egg white, 1/2 cup shredded 2% cheese, 1 cup 1% milk	3 whole eggs, 4 egg whites, 3 cup shredded 2% cheese, 1.5 cups 1% milk
Meal 2	5 oz. chicken breast, 1/2 cup cheese	7.5 oz. chicken breast, 3/4 cup cheese
Meal 3	8.5 oz. ground beef	12.5 oz. ground beef
Meal 4	5 oz. canned tuna, 1/2 cup 2% cottage cheese	7.5 oz canned tuna, 3/4 cup 2% cottage cheese
Meal 5	5 oz. chicken breast, 2 cups 1% milk	7.5 oz. chicken breast, 1 cup 2% cheese, 1 cup milk
Meal 6	1 cup 2% cottage cheese, 30 grams protein powder	1.5 cups 2% cottage cheese, 45 grams protein powder

Full article with backing info, studies, reasoning, etc., here.

Weightlifter Turned Powerlifter (and Strongman)

2009-03-04T19:18:00.000-08:00

360kg final squat (792lbs)
http://www.powerliftingwatch.com/node/10105

When bodybuilders were sportsman, too...

2009-03-04T18:26:00.000-08:00

Tommy Kono

Bill March

Child's Play

2009-02-19T16:29:00.001-08:00

Alexeyev breathed deeply as he gazed upon the room. He said, "I have done it with my own hands. I have a talent for carpentry. I have clever hands--I have what peasants used to call 'hands of gold.' I have laid the bricks in much of the courtyard walls. I have cleaned stones for my garden. I have built stools and tables here. I have built this room." At the rear of the building is a gazebo that Alexeyev also built with his golden hands. It contains a Ping-Pong table and a chinning bar. Asked if he used the chinning bar in his training, he looked surprised and scoffed, "Nvet. It is for the children, but even they are too wise to use it."

Classic Complexes

2009-02-13T18:46:00.000-08:00

My conviction that Alexeyev's priceless experience will not be lost was strengthened when I saw that at the end of 1976 he conducted a trial get-together at the Podolsk sports base to train the young heavyweiahts. I won't try to describe in depth Alexevev's method (he has written about it in his dissertation as a science degree candidate) but I'll explain the reason for its great effectiveness.

Usually the athletes lift barbells and then immediately drop them. This takes several seconds. According to Alexeyev's method, the sportsman finds himself under the weight for a period of two or three minutes. The entire organism must sustain this prolonged effort, as the athlete completes several consecutive exercises without letting go of the equipment. The weight of the barbell is relatively light, but the varied work with it affects every muscle cell.

By the end of the two-week session, all Alexeyev's students had increased their bodyweights as a result of muscle growth and at the same time they'd increased their abilities. Here is what Sultan Rachmanov said: "At first I trained in mv own way. I didn't believe that Alexeyev's advice would help me. Now I believe ... My shoulders, my back, everything is filling up with strength. There is this to consider. Not everything will come my way, but I'll take the most important! (At the USSR championships in Karaganda, Rachmanov, who up until then had not been a 400 man, became the third prize winner with the distin- guished sum of 420 kilograms. In the fall this athlete took the USSR record in the snatch. And who is to know, perhaps he will be the successor to the glory of the hero of the Munich and Montreal Olympic Games!)

Each of Alexeyev's students noted that thanks to this unusual system of working they have acquired a good amount of self-confidence in their own strength. Yes, and I too have noticed with what incredible ease the athletes picked up the 160-kilo barbell in the snatch at the end of the training session.

The 1976 annual Heavy Athletics ran a detailed article which Alexeyev called "The Experience of My Training.' In this first scientific publication of the strongest athlete, the author refutes some unsound (although they've existed for ten years) methodological concepts about how to develop strength in athletes of the heavyweight class.

He writes: "In the first years I trained according to the accepted methods. But then, from 1966, I decided to significantly increase the size of my training weight. This immediately brought results. By the end of 1967, I had gained 32.5 kilograms in my triple sum total and by the end of 1968--42.5 kilograms. For athletes of the superheavyweight class, the average rate of growth had by this time significantly increased."

Vasili includes a great variety of exercises in his training. "Besides exercises in the-· snatch, jerk, or press, pull and squats, I have used many other exercises with the barbell and weights. Bends with the barbell on the shoulders; bends with the barbell on the shoulders while Iving on the 'horse' bracing one's hips, with the legs secured; jumps with the barbell on your shoulders; press on crossbars with weights; bending and unbending the arms in the elbow joints; squats on one leg; throwing the bar upward and behind; and other exercises. In addition, in the first year of the time span analyzed, these exercises consisted of, on the average, 360 lifts in the preparatory period and 158 lifts during the competition period. In the second year, correspondingly 841 and 506 lifts, and in the third 880 lifts a month."

From The Science of Winning.

Yuri Zakharevich - 210kg at 110kg Snatch (1988)

2009-02-11T07:15:00.000-08:00

Undoubtedly one of the greatest lifts ever.

Jeff Scott's Thoughts on the Jerk

2009-02-01T19:46:00.000-08:00

I trade e-mails quite frequently with Jeff Scott where we discuss weightlifting technique and training progressions. Below is a recent exchange we had about the jerk and foot placement.

Q (Me): On stepping through in the jerk: Since the initial movement (dip/drive) needs needs to be as close to vertical as possible, how does one best attain a sufficiently forward foot placement when there should be little movement in the horizontal plane?

It often feels like my foot can only go so far in front relative to where my torso is. Do I need to work on pushing myself forward under the bar once it has been thrown off the shoulders?

A (Jeff): Some would say that since the jerk should be thrust upwards and backwards, there is no need to step forward. Dennis Reno offered photographic evidence vis-a-vis Ilya Illin that showed him with no forward displacement of the front foot. His split was strictly down and to the rear...or at least it appeared so in the photos. Wherein lies the truth?

Joe teaches the step through technique which is predicated, in part, on the assumption that when the weight is very heavy, it will slide forward and the throw will be forward too. If you always throw it up and slightly back, then your forward displacement can be less pronounced. The jerk is very technical and few people practice it enough to become very proficient at it. If you are having technical difficulties in your jerk performance, I would suggest more jerking and more exercises to help the jerk. Make it a movement of emphasis for a twelve-week cycle and see what happens. If you aren't doing any concentrated work on the jerk as a movement unto itself, then it is difficult to draw any meaningful conclusions about your technical issues.

The most important thing is this: do you lose most of your jerks to the front or to the rear? If it is to the front, then you need to step through more. If it is to the rear, you may be stepping too far forward and/or throwing it to the rear too far. I think from observing you that you lose most of your jerks to the front which means you are throwing the weight slightly forward and "short stepping" your split. The weight is not aligned in a vertical plane with your hands-shoulders-hips. The only way to correct this is to mark the platform (chalk, for example) and split to the markings, front, rear and sufficiently sideways, every time you jerk...or throw up and back to the same point every time.

Also, consider this -- what exercises, other than the jerk from rack and C&J do you do to improve your jerk? Are you doing jerk drives? Are you doing jerk supports? Are you doing behind-neck jerks? Any partial front squats? If the answer is none of the former, then you are not doing enough to improve your jerk.

Larry Mintz Memorial - Feb 7

2009-01-31T07:12:00.000-08:00

at the Lost Battalion Hall.

What else are you doing on a Saturday morning?

NYC Platform Locator

2009-01-30T19:04:00.000-08:00

The following map was put together by that bad apple, Yoon. Find a platform near you:

View Larger Map

Keywords: Manhattan, Olympic Weightlifting, Oly Lift, Bumpers, Platform, NYC, Snatch, Clean, Jerk

2008 Meets in NY and NYC Area

2009-01-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

FDU Open January 17, 2009 @ FDU (Madison, NJ)
Mintz Memorial Meet Feb. 7, 2009@ LBH (Rego Park, NY)
Rudy Sablo Memorial May 3, 2009 @ Garden City
NYC Open September 26th, 2009 @ LBH
Metropolitan Championships October 24th, 2009 @ L B H
Adirondack open November March 29 in Albany, NY
The Dark Dungeon Open III December 13, 2009 @ Totally Fit (Bethpage, NY)

Photo Fun Dec 08 - 206kg Snatch

2008-12-27T11:48:00.000-08:00

A new Super Heavy out of Iran?

2008-12-27T08:49:00.000-08:00

Iran's heavyweight Saeed Ali-Hosseini has set new junior weightlifting world record at the Asian Weightlifting Championship in South Korea.

The Iranian athlete took three gold medals in the +105 kg category when he managed to lift 206 kg in the snatch, 245 kg in the clean and jerk and 451 kg in total categories on Monday.
More...

True Look of Power

2008-12-06T08:42:00.000-08:00

Hey, even with my low bodyweight, I was a world champion. You can call it any complex you want, but it just look more appealing to have a guy with a beautiful figure on the platform, than some dude with a huge belly. I do feel more kinship with Schwarzenegger than with the shapeless Paul Anderson, the classics of American weightlifting. - Pisarenko

LBH Schedule

2008-11-20T13:53:00.000-08:00

FYI: There is no weightlifting scheduled for this Friday, November 21st.

Next Wednesday, weightlifting hours are from 3:00PM to 6:30PM. Your boss will understand if you have to leave work early to snatch.

Gunthor - 4 video training series

2008-10-30T18:40:00.001-07:00

Training plan broken down here.

Kolecki - Robbed of Gold in Beijing

2008-10-15T18:38:00.001-07:00

2008 World Masters

2008-09-25T06:32:00.000-07:00

Best of luck to all the lifters competing at the 2008 World Masters.

Info:
2008 World Masters Weightlifting Championships
Argostoli & Kefalonia, Greece
September 27 - October 4 2008

On a related note, LBH will be opening late (@7:00PM) on Monday, Sept 29th and closed on Wednesday, October 1st.

Event: The 2008 NYC Open

2008-09-04T07:43:00.000-07:00

When: Saturday, September 20, 2008

Where: Lost Battalion Hall - 93-29 Queens Blvd., Rego Park, N.Y. 11374

Competition Schedule:
Men’s 56, 62, 69, 77, 85 10:00 AM
All Women’s Categs 11:30AM
Men’s 94, 105 & 105+ 12:30 PM

Top Snatches from the Supers

2008-08-21T06:46:00.000-07:00

If you aren't able to see all the videos from the games online, this link has some of the top snatches from the Supers' A session.

OLYMPICS

2008-08-18T08:26:00.000-07:00

If you haven't been watching the lifting, catch up here.

The lost Zercher Squat

2008-08-18T08:25:00.000-07:00

Do this lift nice and heavy.More fun than plucking nose hairs, and better for your abs.

Video Coaching

2008-07-20T14:11:00.000-07:00

Dan John breaks down lifting on this videocast.

Interview with Kendrick Ferris

2008-07-18T07:26:00.000-07:00

Here's talking with America's highest ranked weightlifter at Three White Lights.

Fall Meets in NYC

2008-07-11T12:10:00.000-07:00

September 20, 2008: NYC Open Weightlifting Championships at Lost Battalion Hall Spectators welcome 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Contact meet director Chris Smith for entry form.

October 25, 2008: Metropolitan Championships Competition at Lost Battalion Hall. Spectators welcome 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Contact meet director Joe Triolo for an entry form.

2008 ESG

2008-07-11T12:03:00.000-07:00

The qualifying competitors for the 2008 Empire State Games. Lifting starts July 24th.

10 Big Squats

2008-07-08T07:33:00.000-07:00

Some all time impressive lifts.

Find your gym!

2008-06-09T12:56:00.000-07:00

From the very good Weightlifting On-Line Magazine comes this interactive map of snatch friendly gyms.

Norbert Schemansky

2008-06-05T13:33:00.000-07:00

Olympic Champion (1952)
Silver Medalist in Olympic Games (1948)
Bronze Medalist in Olympic Games (1960 and 1964)
World Champion (1951, 1953, and 1954)
1955 Pan American Games heavyweight champion
Silver Medalist at Senior World Championships (1947, 1962, and 1963)
Bronze Medalist at Senior World Championships (1964)

Rigert and Ivanchenko

2008-05-08T19:53:00.000-07:00

The great David Rigert displays the arch as he prepares to pull. Gennaldi Ivanchenko displays the back tension during the pull.

Olympic Team Trials Broadcast

2008-05-07T11:15:00.000-07:00

Weightlifting Olympic Team Trials will be featured on Sunday May 25th , 2008 between noon-1 pm ET on the MSNBC network.

The Paper of Record

2008-05-07T08:39:00.000-07:00

The New York Times has an article on Melanie Roach, USA Olympic hopeful.

Rudy Sablo

2008-04-25T06:40:00.000-07:00

NYC area lifter Rudy Sablo was the manager of the United States weightlifting teams in the 1972 and 1976 Olympics and served on the United States Olympic Committee's (U.S.O.C.) board.

He ran the Amateur Athletic Union's (A.A.U.) metropolitan area office for 20 years and helped found the Empire State Games, an annual statewide Olympic-type competition. A Weightlifting Hall of Fame member, Sablo was also honored with an Olympic Shield award by the U.S.O.C.

During WWII, he served as a physical instructor for the Tuskegee Airmen. In the years following, he served as a firefighter for the city of New York. He passed away on February 3rd, 2003.

Every year, a meet is held at Lost Battalion Hall in his memory. This year, the event is scheduled for May 3rd.

PISARENKO.

2008-04-18T05:14:00.000-07:00

260kg C&J at 125kg body weight.

206kg snatch and 245kg first attempt C&J

Get a Coach!

2008-04-14T07:52:00.000-07:00

Partially inspired by this post, and a number of posts on certain other boards, here are my top 3 best tips for learning Olympic Weightlifting:
1. Get a coach.
2. Get a coach.
3. Get a coach.
Seriously. An experienced coach, one who has competed and trained competitive lifters, is the best way to learn the lifts by far. A book is not enough. Web assistance is not enough. A weekend seminar is not enough.
How do you find a coach?
This pdf is a club directory from USAW. GoHeavy.com's Olympic forum is a real gathering place for coaches and lifters. Search there or post a question asking about lifting in your area.
If you can't reasonably get coaching regularly, then books and videos can help, as can uploading your videos and asking for tips from one of the forums on the right of this page. And making efforts to get coaching in when you can is still important.
But these are all inferior to regular work with an experienced coach.