Front Squat has Utility

My best weightlifting total occurred when I was doing lots of front squats, just like you hear the Bulgarians do. Front squats help me stand from cleans and have that reserve strength needed to for heavy jerks. One time a very good lifter told me that front squats helped snatch. Help your snatch? What in the world was he talking about?

My shoulders and elbows are pretty banged up, so if you take a closer look at the front squat and the back squat you see a couple key differences in regard to the shoulders. The back squat requires internal rotation of the shoulder. This is the way my shoulders want to go. I sat in school for years and years and now I sit at a desk with a computer. Most people struggle with excessive internal rotation with the upper body.

Enter the front squat. You can't do a good front squat without external rotation of the shoulders and elbow. I just feel healthy when front squatting and I walk around a little taller. So for me, mobility and function are supported by the front squat.

Deadlift: The Backsquat for the PULL

When I was down in Waterloo training under Jianping Ma he had me doing lots of deadlifts and I didn't like them. I didn't like the deadlift. The Bulgarians didn't deadlift. The deadlift wasn't a squat and they were hard. There was many reasons why I didn't like the deadlift back then! But now I see them differently.

The deadlift is kind of like the back squat. It's a derivative and isn't all that specific to weightlifting. But the back squat can make your legs generally strong, which can help your front squat and help you stand up with heavy cleans. Some people think the back squat helps your pull but I don't subscribe to that. If you hinge over and good morning your back squat like a Powerlifter, then yes it's very similar to a pull and will help your pull. With an upright torso, deep knee bend, ass to the grass the back squat is like a front squat only easier, so you can use more weight.

In a similar way, the deadlift can give you general pulling strength which can help your specific snatch or clean pull, which can help your snatch or clean. It's also a basic hinge movement. When you pick something up off the ground, be it a pencil or a barbell, you can either pick it up by hinging or squatting. In weightlifting, we pull the weight off the floor in a hinging motion, followed by a a squat to catch and recover the weight damn near in the same moment. Your body needs to know the difference from a hing and a squat. Some people are better squatters some better hingers, but you need to master both. The deadlift has helped my body awareness of hinging. With my body type I can very easily fall into the pattern of squatting my pull. The squat is avery natural movement for me, hinging is not.

One final point about the deadlift. I don't like singles and I don't think you need to test the deadlift for a single. The deadlift can increase work capacity through sets and reps.

If you are training very minimally with only snatch, clean and jerk, squat, don't be afraid to throw some deadlifts in the mix. At the very least you will be training your pull in a very general way as opposed to not at all, and it just may be a game changer.

I don't have much experience with the so called Romanian Deadlift. In all respect it seems like a advanced hinging movement and difficult to perform correctly. I may try to implement them in my future training. But first things first, mastery of the deadlift.

Training Log

11-8-2015

10:30AM
Beginning notes: felt like doing detail work this morning. Lighter weights.

Kang Squat- 60kg (5X5)
notes: one of those exercise where I think to myself, "am I doing this right?". Sometimes I feel like I'm stiff legging the lift and other times I feel like I'm bending my knees too much.

Trapi - 50kg (5X5)
notes: one of those Klokov exercises. Oddly enough it's another exercise where I wonder if I'm doing it correctly. Some exercise you have to do them, "just like so", in order to reap the best benefit.

Press in squat- 30kg (5X5)
notes: I practiced this lift a lot last winter and got up to around 55X5. Such a good exercise. As the case with most assistance exercises, sets and reps are more important than how much you can muster up with poor form. I might just do these frequently as a primer. They remind me how wide my feet need to be in order for my torso to be vertical. If my feet are too narrow my torso leans forward. My shins are so short that my ass gets locked up behind my calves. A wider foot position frees up my ass and lets it come through, in between my shins.

PM

Good Mornings- 30kg (5x5)
notes: warm up/primer exercise

High Pull Holds + Stiff legged Deadlift - 35kg (5X5+5)
notes: just sort of improvising at this point

overhead triceps extensions - 25kg (4X6)
notes: these felt good, I'm gaining flexibility as well.

final notes: I finished up by fiddling with my snatch pull a bunch, nothing above 60kg, but a lot of work. I took video to see how I looked. The thing is, when I began weightlifting I sort of had a natural Dimas type of pull, he sort of has that slight hesitation in the middle of his pull while he does some shifting around. I do that naturally but coaches never liked the looks of it. I'm pretty damn sure it's a work of art. My body is much smarter than my mind and can do things I could never dream of. My best lifts were always a sort of an out of body, out of mind experience. The animal just took over.



11-07-2015

11:00AM

Back Squat - 100kg (5X5)
notes: my squat has really detrained being I haven't been training it. Although it's my specialty I'm not a guy who can just squat big weight without training it.

Step Up- 50kg (3X10) (5 reps each leg)
notes: I know in my gut this is a good exercise for me. Even 50 kilos is a struggle, especially the final rep or so with that weak left leg which most likely has quite the imbalance from years of split jerking. It will be important for me to keep up with the step up and other unilateral leg exercises I've been implementing such as lunges and split squats.

Leg Extensions - 45lb (3X10)
notes: Definitely a questionable exercise but it only takes about 5 minutes to rattle off a few sets of ten. If nothing else I'm still practicing extending my legs. At the top of this exercise is the important L-shape which I am weak in, similar to the top of a hanging leg raise and similar to the completion of the first pull in the snatch and clean. So this exercise is under the umbrella of generic L-shape strengthening.

Final notes: felt great to get some morning training in.

3:30PM

Close Grip Bench Press- 60kg (5X5)
notes: I usually do a narrow grip on the Bench Press, but I went even narrow this time, as narrow as I could and still get my elbows to go down comfortably at my sides.

Lying Triceps Extensions- 35kg (5X5)
notes: I guess I felt I needed a little more triceps work after those narrow grip Bench Presses. No, seriously though, these are great for your triceps and help with lock-out. People with a good lock-out have good triceps, the triceps extend the arm.

Final notes: took a nap in between session, otherwise I don't think I would have gotten around to the second session. The two sessions could have been completed in one session but I feel so stresses when I do a lot of exercises in one session. This way I had time so I could spread one workout over the course of a day.

A Word to the wise (training for any amateur sport)

Ah yes, one of those looking back I would do this and change this epiphanies. Why not write them down? Maybe someone out there will benefit.

#1 - Compete Less

I know what you're thinking. (But what about Bulgarian training? A competition is just another day at the office.). Sorry, it isn't. Competition, even if you are in a weight class all by yourself is stressful. So skip out on the local meets, save your energy for the ones that count. Every competition should be strategic. If you aren't there to qualify for something, tune up for something, or beat someone, then you are just wasting your fuel, fuel that runs out eventually.

#2 - Train Less

This means taking rest days week to week, and even taking down time after big stressful competitions. The best lifters in the world take a down year after winning gold at the Olympics. You are not one of the best lifters in the world, obviously, but you're still human. This means you can take a week off after a local competition, or two weeks off after a National competition. If you qualify for a world team, travel to another country, and make your lifts, then take a month of down time if you need it. Down time seems ridiculous if you concentrate on the short term, but if you look long term, like a 10-15 year amateur career, then that down time is going to benefit you. Your competitors will be tore up and beat down while you will be rested and ready to be tested.

#3 - Lift Less

I know, I know. Lift less? How the hell would that work? I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel here. All I'm saying is don't work up to misses, there is no need. Save the risky lifts for the big day.

*Summary

Be conservative, less can be more. Spend less make more.

Just how did I get through college?

I was watching an elliot hulse video and he was going on about how he was labeled ADHD and he was helping some college student with a question about how to manage through college with ADHD. Elliot said ADHD was bogus but that's beside the point. It made me wonder, how did I get through college?

It's never been suggested that I have ADHD and I wouldn't think something like that is an issue. For me, it's more of a depression issue. I struggle with initiation. Going to class can be a problem, reading the book, doing the work, etc, etc. I'm not learning dissabled, if I go to class I'm going to learn and gain intellegence. If I read the book I'm going to comprehend it, like I said, it's all a matter of initiation. "What's the point?, I don't have the energy, I lack the motivation, I'll do it tomorrow." This is the type of self talk I deal with. So, how did I get throgh college?

For starters, there was an entire year that I gave up alcohol, not a drop. I'd like to be able say that it was the best year of my life but I can't say that. I had bouts with insomnia, I drank way to much coffee, I dated the wrong woman, winter laster too long and spring came too late. BUT, I really got to know myself. I didn't go out much, I watched a lot of Netflix and Redbox, I got into green tea. In a nut shell though, I'm from northeast Iowa, and if you can be from northeast iowa and give up alcohol for an entire year, than you can do almost anything. Most of the time it's not about what you give up, it's about enhancing your willpower, and will power is somethign that I was lacking. A problem with initiation is a problem with willpower.

The other thing I did is I lived by myself in a small crappy apartment. This was probably bad for any depression sympotoms I have but it was very good for keeping things simple and keeping distractions down. I didn't many people at my apartment complex. I didn't party with anyone there and I kept to myself. This meant that I had a place to read and study all to myself. The library at school was even too loud and distracting for me. There was a second floor at the university library that was suppose to be a talk free zone but nobody took it seriously. So living alone had it's pros and cons. I didn't meet people and kept to myself which was a negative, but I also didn't have anybody possibly leading me astray to go drink or whatever. There weren't many like me at college and most partied on the weekends. It's college, I get it. In the end I would say Isolation was a tool that probably helped me get my degree but at the same time it could have hurt me as well, it's tough to say. I lived on campus the first year I was there and there were more distractions for sure.

Caffeine is another one of those things that possibly helped me or possibly hurt me. I admit that it got out of hand. Torwards the end I was drinking coffee or energy drinks and caffeine pills on top of that. Caffine does help me with initiaton, though. Those days when I just didn't feel like doing reading or going to class caffeine would help me get there or read. I also struggle with being a little anti-social and for some reason caffeine helps me converse, it helps me initiate conversation.

The University was depressing, though, now that I look back. Classes were small, and most people were off the farm. It would have been nice to go to a larger University for the atmospher and the diversity. BUT, at the same time it would have been nice to go to a upscale private school with even less distractions. It's a tough call.

I didn't date much in college. This was a good thing I'm sure of it. The little I did date seemed to really distract me from my studies. If I could do it over again, I wouldn't date at all. Dating always seemed to bring on more stress and drama, two things I didn't need more of while I was trying to get my degree.

I wish there would have been more to do in my college town. There were 13 bars and about as many churches so mostly you could either get drunk or go to church. I probably should have gone to church more, but at least I wasn't getting drunk.

Overall, even though it sounds sad, Isolation and Caffeine helped me get through college, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would say that. Other than that, you have to go to class and you have to read, and you have to do the assignments. Getting a decent grade wasn't much of a problem for me, I mean I didn't get A's, but I could pull a B if I read and did the assignment or took the test.

My suggestion for future college people? Learn to read large amounts now. If you are a good reader and you don't mind reading a bunch, you will have a big edge on others. I was never really much of a reader. I read slow and I'm not very good at skimming. So, I read slow but I really take it all in. Reading is huge in college. If you kick ass at reading, you'll kick ass at college. I didn't read much in high school and I didn't read for fun. I would suggest to start reading for fun at a young age and keeping it up, it could be a game changer. That's about it, maybe I will update this post at a later date. That's all for now.

The whole catapult vs jump shrug debate

o.k., I am really tired because I just got in from a session of training that was entirely focused on one of my weakest links, my pull. Something dawned on me though during my training and I have to put it down in words. I might be wrong, but this whole catapult vs jump shrug debate is in my opinion is a debate of body types. These long legged lifters with short torsos scuff at these other lifters with short legs and long torsos working so much on pulling the bar high. Think about what I just wrote. Long torso vs short torso. Who is going to have to pull the bar higher to get it overhead? If you don't have much of a torso the bar is that much closer to being locked out at the end of your pull compared to someone with a long torso. To put this in perspective lets flip the coin. Lifters with short torsos usually have long legs and squats are a big weak link for them, these are the lifters who fail to recover from cleans. It would be easy for lifters whith short legs to scuff at the long legged lifter training his squat so much, but there would be no reason to. Each lifter has strengths and weaknesses based on his or her own body composition. Training is individual. The fact is long torso lifters may need to work on pulling higher and long legged lifters may need to work on squats more than the "norm". Same thing goes for overhead strength. We all know the guy with short little T-rex arms that can jerk anything from the rack, Sean Rigsbey comes to mind, but there are others. Some people are just built to jerk, or built to squat, or built to pull, and working on those God given strengths to a certain extend may be a waste of time when you have a closet full of weaknesses waiting in the wings. Your strength isn't holding you back, it's your weakness.

40 days of static

Some of winter is like a depressing but pleasant and appreciated radio station. That station can be found in the 10-30 degree days. Bands like David Gray, The Decemberists, and Band of Horses would be on that station. It's nice, I wouldn't listen to that station all year, but it's nice. The below zero winter days, though, those days aren't a radio station at all, they are static on the radio.

40 days of static.

Winter 2014.

epiphany thought of the day

Actors get paid to do what everybody else does for free.

The girl I hugged at the Think Floyd concert

It was years ago, I was at the "Think Floyd" concert at the historic Surf Ballroom. I was with my friend and we were making our way to the front of the dance floor to get a better look at the Pink Floyd cover band which also included spell binding visual effects. As we were making our way to the front I blacked out of conciousness and when I came to I was hugging this beautiful girl and she was hugging me. I had no idea what had happened, we gazed at one another for a short time afterwards, and then I moved on with my friend, bewieldered to the event that just occured. I asked my friend what had happened, he said I just verred off and hugged this girl, like a heat sensor went off or something, I was an arrow and she was the target, it was unexplainable. I had completely let go and a part of me that was unknown took control.

In Psychology, George Herbert Mead calls this the, 'I and me' complex. You might know 'me', but you don't know 'I', I don't even know 'I' that well. Basically the 'me' is the part of us that follows the rules, 'me' also holds back the 'I' from breaking the rules. Like walking up to a stranger and hugging them, that isn't something 'me" would do, it's something 'I' would do. I'm pretty sure 'I' kicks ass. 'I' is the part of me that says what he means and does what he wants.

Here I am years later and I still remember that girl I hugged. It felt like fate because I barely give more than a hand shake to those I know very well, or should I say 'me' doesn't hug strangers. Yes, every now and then the walls and borders come down and we see just what life could be like if we let go and let if flow. We get lost, and in doing so we find something special along the way.

Here is to getting lost.

Winter 2014

I'm not there

My problem is escapism. I"m not there. A lack of appreciation for things, failure to see the beauty that is always present but is hidden to me, or maybe I ignore it or reject it. I see it every once and awhile but it doesn't sustain. It fades away and I'm left with this person that doesn't feel like myself, a shadow of myself. I look in the mirror and see a stranger, and so I am a stranger to others, closed off and uncomfortable. I will read this later as a stranger and throw it away because he has no time for problems. He is not there.

sappy poem in progress

I like country music and I've probably
been to more funerals than weddings

underneath it all

Underneath it all. I love that phrase. like underneath it all, what's really going on. Or underneath it all who is someone really. It implies that there is a lot of crap on the surface before you get to what's really going on or who someone really is. Underneath it all is like the basement. It's not the closet where you keep all your skeletons, it's the basement. It's not pretty, it's not as superficial and kept up as the living room, but it's cool and it's where you can play billiards or darts if you feel like it. In other words, our basements have a lot more in common than our living rooms. Basements can be a little scary, but just like Kevin in home alone realized, it's not so bad down there.  

the flu

I've had the flu lately. My temperature got up to 102.4 before I went to the doctor for some Tamiflu. Tamiflu helped me in the past and I'd say it's helping again. The weird thing about this flu is the nostalgia. You know how some people can only play billiards or darts well when they are drunk? Same thing is happening with this high fever, I'm remembering things from child hood. I used to love orange Sherbet ice cream as a child...then it passed, but right now I'm eating orange sherbet ice cream. Old nursery rhymes popped in my head like the Rinky dink some above. All kinds of stuff like that. I started to crave child hood cereals so I went out and bought one of those fun packs with all different little boxes of fruit loops, frosted flakes, etc, it was a good move. The worst part of this flu is the body aches. There was one night were I was, for lack of a better expression, riving in pain, and I was vocal about it all night. Something good about it that I feel is that it's like I went to a different place in my head for awhile, sort of like a vacation. Even at the gym I can't zone out for a second without someone calling me out, even though I'm not training with that person at all. Just the other day I was zoning out, I was escaping, at the gym, it felt great, and then "that guy" called out "dude! you are in the deepest stare". Yeah, I was, and it felt great, I almost got away for a second. This was the same guy that called me a goon when I grew a mustache for a day. My point is that although the flu really sucked, it was kind of nice to escape, and today I'm feeling a little better and I actually got some stuff done that I was neglecting. Maybe that's what I need, a little escape every now and then so I can come back with a better perspective. Maybe growing a mustache is a short escape from looking like myself for a little while, a mask. Too bad people have to call me out for it. Same with the zoning out, "dude he's escaping!". I always have to get called out. I'm getting negative now. I just want to get my degree in the mail for a confidence boost. That will make all the work I put in real, bring it to life.

A pretzel of a paradox

while I was home I had a conversation with my younger brother. He was telling me how I can't take people literally and can't let what people say affect me. At the same time he was telling me to disregard what people thought he was telling me to care way more about what people thought, it was a pretzel of a paradox. Basically he had figured out chimpanzee culture somewhat by being a very social guy and he was giving me some insight into it. It's complex and he agreed. Last time I was home he was giving me suggestions how I should cut my hair and shave my facial hair, hinting that I would fit in better. At the same time I called out one of his friends who has a long beard. As it so happens the guy with the long beard has lots of friends and is funny, he's also overweight. But his family is connected to many other families and he was on the football team in high school that went to the playoffs, etc, etc. So you can do what you want with your appearance as long as you hold a certain status, otherwise it's to risky. confused? So basically I would have to work my way up the hierarchy before I could actually look, do, and say what I want. it's complicated. this is chimpanzee culture. It's the basic social stuff we take for granted and if you anaylize it you see how rediculous it is. It's like status and politics of social culture are based on a big equation. Basically the friend I was referring to could wear a beard because he had a personality,status, alpha status to make up for it. It's all one big equation. A big equation that I don't get. I was raised by liberals who told me to be myself and be individual, do your own thing, that we can all be different and get along, but it's way more complicated than that apparently. My brother was giving me a peak inside a window of a world that I am oblivious to.

End of my rope

The title is a phrase that my parents used to say when I was younger and I can relate to it. It's a phrase that brings up images of someone dangling from a cliff by a rope and they are at the end of it. They don't have any strength left and they are about to loose control. Maybe they are only hanging on by one hand, maybe their fingers are starting to slip, and it's only a matter of time before they have nothing to cling onto anymore. When my parents said this it basically meant that they were close to loosing control and to beware of the consequences if I chose to push or test them. When they said that phrase it was known to keep your distance from them. I find myself at the end of my own rope and often wonder how I got that far down the rope. I mean, it always seems like just yesterday I was at the top of the rope just about to pull myself up off the cliff. I suppose life is all about hanging onto the rope, and even letting go of the rope now and then. This is a depressing topic, but I don't care. It's late December, it's below zero outside, it's dark, and these are the things I think about when I'm down in the rabbit hole. That's what happens when you let go of the rope, you fall down into the rabbit hole.

What's up with me?

I went out and drank socially last night for the first time in probably two years. I drank a bunch of Heineken and a few Jameson whiskey's. Jameson is the second Irish Whiskey I've tried this year, the other one was Wolfhound, both by me taste of candy apple. Is that typical of Irish whiskey's? I cut my hair. I'm not happy about this but who cares. Yes, I regret it, but maybe I needed a change. Obviously a part of me wanted a change. My grandfather died at the age of 84, I just got back from the funeral yesterday. My grandpa lived a good and long life but his death hit me a little harder considering that his daughter, my aunt, my mother's sister, also passed away this summer in a motorcycle/automobile collision. Her and my uncle were on the motorcycle. She died, he lived. It was good to see him at the funeral. He could have lost his legs but I saw him walking around well. I'm taking two weeks off from Weightlifting to focus on finals and graduation. I've still been coaching my student James. James is currently on a sort of off season program of pulls and squats. He tweaked his wrist on a clean a couple weeks back. He's done some pulls and powers and in the end I think his pull will be much sharper once his wrist comes around. He's been doing some back squats also. I'm big on Bulgarian type of programming but I'm starting to think that there is room for other things. Yes, snatch and clean and jerk should be the meat and potatoes, but there's nothing wrong with throwing in the veggies in there as well. Snatch, Clean and Jerk, Power snatch, Power clean, front squat, back squat, snatch pull, clean pull. (That's the meat, potatoes, and veggies right there) Some other exercises that I think will help me with my deficient overhead position include: Jerk Recoveries, BTN overhead exercises, dips (for some reason this help my crappy elbow, I also read that Oscar Chaplin used to do these). Also, I like the pull to the hip exercise, making sure to stay over the bar. Like John Drewes said, In powerlifting the lift is over at the hip, In weightlifting things are just getting started at the hip. I tried out some Romanian deadlifts but honestly It doesn't seem specific enough, you're never over the bar that soon in the pull (below the knee).

Fun/Intense 90s movies

1. Romeo + Juliet

Yep the one with Leo Dicaprio. I actually saw this movie in the theater. It wasn't the local one in Decorah, IA either. We must have been on vacation, maybe in Chicago or California. I remember my older brother had tears in his eyes as we were walking out after the movie was over. He was always more sensitive than me. I remember when our dog died he cried too but I didn't. I feel things, I'm just so internal, so introverted, intense. I'd be more likely not to cry but to go home and write about it. My dad was a teacher and we always had Macintosh computers, even those early ones with the floppy disks. I remember admiring a young girl from town and writing about it on that computer, a journal of sorts, of course my older brother found it, read it, and made fun of me, once again the extrovert. Anybody remember the game Spectre? How about Myst? Lemmings? Those were some good times.

2. The Fifth Element

Yep, Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich, "Corban Dallas" and "Li Lu", he had blonde hair and she had orange hair. That movie was rad and I'm not one to say rad, it's just what come to mind.

3. Hackers

Mess with the best, die like the rest. Yep, Angelina Jolie, those juicy lips, damn. The soundtrack to this movie was down right jawsome. That's a word I got from my dad, I think it's a combination of jaw dropping and awesome, jawsome. Hackers made you want to drink Jolt cola and stay up all night, and we did. I remember buying Jolt cola in Protovin, IA. Remember Crystal Clear Pepsi?

Those 3 movies kick ass

90s kicked ass. I don't know what happened. Clinton got out of the White House, Bush took over, War in the Middle East, Meth, Adderal, Slipknot, Economic downturn, recession, 9-11, long hair wasn't cool anymore. It's like the 90s was the 70s sort of, and the 2000s were the 80s. Hopefully the good times come back around again.

True Blue

Early December

The day was like night

Her eyes piercing

They cut me deep

and it felt good to feel

That snow white afternoon

A glimpse of perfection

True Blue was the color of her eyes.

Training the CHinese system

So for two semesters down in Waterloo Iowa I lived in Jianping Ma's basement. Another lifter Dan Moeller lived down there to. We trained at United Sport and Athlete and I got a glimpse into the Chinese system of training.

    First things first, in my opinion the classic lifts were not done enough. There were some weeks were it seemed like all we did was assistance stuff and then on friday we were expected to max out on the classic lifts. I remember being scared to death of the classic lifts on fridays, scared like I was going to hurt myself.

    About those assistance exercises, too many were used. It seems like the Chinese do variety for the sake of doing variety. Many exercises I felt didn't help me at all. Maybe they would help some people but not me. That's were I think the Russians got it right, instead of doing variety just for the sake of variety, it seems the Russian program in exercise like medicine to compensate for deficiencies and weaknesses.

    Some of the exercises under the Chinese system I liked, I was smart enough to get a gut sense when an exercise was helping me out. Exercises such as jerk recoveries, good mornings, and stiff legged deadlifts. We never did much behind the neck stuff but I find that those exercises help my crappy shoulders and overhead position.

    Squats were done three times per week usually but not always, sometimes it seemed like we did more deadlifting than anything. Many of us suffered from old man walking syndrome as a result. This is where you walk like an old man because of the heavy deadlifting. It made me feel like tight, stiff, unathletic. People would go way too heavy, to the point where backs would round and form would break down.

    We did a lot of high pulls and I never minded them, I'd rather do pulls over deadlifts anyday. I always felt I had pretty good form on my pulls too. So as much as I trash pulls, I really don't hate them as much as you would think, it just feels wrong not to go under.

   What other exercises did we do? You name it we did it. Muscle snatches, power jerks, power snatches, power cleans, half squats in the power rack, french presses, rows, press, push press, lifts/pulls/deadlifts from the blocks, hang lifts, hyper extensions, bench presses, treadmill running, pauses in the half squat for time with 50-60 kilos, rack jerks, snatch balances, pull ups, toes to bar, leg extentions. I"m sure I'm forgetting others. None of it was based on your weakness and everybody had the same program. Like I said, variety for the sake of variety.

    My theory is that it's a cultural thing. I think Asians like variety, I think it stimulates them. I could be wrong though.

    One of the best things was that Jianping Ma wasn't just a coach, he was the team masseuse as well. Sometimes he'd give me a quick massage after practice or else he would walk on my back, "Simon, let me walk your back", he'd say. He also brought in an inversion table to be used post workout. He liked us to hang from the pull up bar for the same reason, I think it was to decompress the spine. All of that stuff was a good element to the training. One time I let him do the suction cups to my back. I remember coming home one weekend and showing my family the red marks, I think I messed with them and told them something was wrong, they freaked out before I explained what they really were.

    I could see how the system would be good for the extremely talented individual. You wouldn't have to max out much, most of the time you do assistance and bodybuilding, lot's of variety keeping the mood light. And that's all fine and dandy as long as you were born to snatch and clean and jerk. That's what I thought anyway.

    We lifting on Zhangkong (ZK) bars which I didn't particularly like. There was one competition bar that we kept in the corner that was really nice, the spin was crazy. I'd much rather lift on Uesaka or Eleiko.

  I don't know what else to write about. Maybe I'll do a part two sometime.

     

Weightlifting is like sex

Weightlifting is like sex. There, I've wrote it. I'm not the only one to ever think this. Why is it like sex? Because it's a release, because you have to pour yourself into the lift, because it's a burst, because you will make noises that sound sexual as you grunt and aggressively exhale, because it's intimate, it's you and the bar, and yes to do this in competition is like having sex in front of people. There is a rhythm to it and if you can't find that rhythm then you aren't doing it right and you'll never get to the finish line. Gwen Sisto says weightlifting is parasympathetic, I would guess that sex is parasympathetic as well. That usually means it would get clumped in the "Rest and digest" category but that ain't right. Sure, there is a relaxed aspect to it, just like sex, but as we know there is something very not relaxed about it as well. It takes focus, it take concentration, you have to be into it fully, submersed, in a world within a world, same as you can't be watching the football game while you are having sex, it's possible but obviously it isn't as meaningful. That's why weightlifters might get confused as being "fussy", it's fine if music is on in the gym but not too loud, people shifting around the gym can be distracting. We are trying to reach a climax but we have to rest and calm down between each set in order to do that. That's the way it is, rest, climax, rest, climax, again and again. It's hard to rest when music is blasting or the room is full of loud discussion. I admit, that is "fussy" but it's the way it is, because weightlifting is like sex. It can be difficult for new weightlifters to perform in front of people watching because weightlifting is like sex. They have to show what they look like, what they sound like, the faces they make that occur when they bear down and lift the bar. I actually get mocked in my gym for the noises I make or the faces I make. It's no different than getting made fun of for the faces or noises you make during sex. Everyone is gonna have there own individual faces and noises when they completely bear down on a lift. If you don't know what I'm talking about, watch a video of the best weightlifter to ever lift, Naim Suleymanolgu, watch the way he opens his mouth wide open before he pulls on the bar, it's like the "Oh face" as described in Office space. Good lifters pour themselves into the lift, it's a sacrifice of emotion, tension, stress, past, future, everything. That's all mainly because it's a one rep max sport, you are betting the farm on each lift, it's totally different than the efficiency needed to save your energy when doing reps. There it is, I've finally wrote it down, Weightlifting is like sex.