Squat University and Juggernaut

These are some great resources:

Juggernaut Training Systems


Squat University

I Heard CrossFitters Can't "Weightlift"

Even to this day I hear that CrossFitters can't do this, can't do that, etc.  Check out the links below which take you to the each of the three weeks of archives for the Regionals.  There are three headings for each of the pages that list the regions competing that week.  Additionally, there are numbered events for individuals and teams listed.  If you want to see an ascending ladder of relatively heavy snatches performed by "non weightlifters", take a watch.  Not too dang bad at all!!

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Long Time, No See... or Write

A bunch of stuff has happened with me personally, in the months since I last posted a blog.  Illness, injuries, work, life in general.  More importantly though, on the weightlifting front, Muscle Driver, a sponsor of weightlifting athletes, closed its doors.  It was the best weightlifting team in the country and offered the best money to athletes in the U.S., and it is no longer and the athletes are gone.  This is a big deal, because about four or five of the best lifters in the country are now training somewhere else.  Additionally, 3 or 4 of the best coaches in the U.S. are elsewhere (after some fireworks).  With all of that being said, they will recover and so will my ailing hip that has knocked me down for about 3 months.  This is the longest that I have been down, maybe in the last 20 years.  Right back on the horse though.  This week is really my first week back for months, and it feels great.  Now, cool lifting videos.

Interesting Reads

Where does it hurt? is a good interesting read by Glenn Pendlay related to weightlifting training.

Love this one by Pendlay again: You are not special.  This one briefly touches on the age old debate about weightlifting;  strength or technique?

And if you haven't seen this one, it is Ilya with another world record in the clean and jerk at 246kg (541lbs).  This and a soon to be third gold medal in the Olympics, and the fact that he has never lost in competition, is the reason he will be the greatest lifter that ever lived.

Plus stupid human tricks (language)

Jon North Documentary (language)

Taper Time

I am two weeks out from Old Man American Open (weightlifting) and feel pretty healthy.  Normally my back is very sore, a shoulder is stiff, and the tendonitis in my elbow is pretty bad.  The difference in my training heading into this meet is that I took on a little bit of a conjugate method of training for strength.  A couple of days of max effort upper and lower, then a couple of dynamic effort (speed) days later in the week.  Additionally, most of weightlifting has been from the blocks.  Pulling from the blocks has really saved my back.  Six weeks out, I started pulling everything from the floor about 5 days/week.  Essentially, I tried to get a bit stronger and then with six weeks out, I focused on my sport. This is really an age old method of training.  I am really looking forward to seeing how the training will translate to competition.  On top of a different training regimen, I moved down weight classes because frankly, I got tired of eating like it was my job.  I know, cry me a river, but it is just a full time job artificially keeping on 15lbs of bodyweight.  I feel quicker, a little weaker, but a whole bunch better.  Trying to go 94/116 as a 77kg lifter, wish me luck!

Chalk on the Hands

Every time I leave the gym, I can't get clean.  I scrub and scrub and scrub my hands, but they won't come clean.  The chalk seems to be permanently embedded in them.  Every time I go to the gym, the chalk residue just seems to keep building up, like sediment in an old pipe.  I suppose that if I took a few months off from training, the stuff might eventually fade away, but the moment I pick up the barbell again, I would quickly just rebuild the same dull white film on my hands that seems to be sprinkled with sweat and a little blood, and sometimes a few tears.  But how could I quit the barbell anyway?  It has given me so much in my life.  I studied it in high school with my father, I studied in college and was told that I could never monetize it, and I continue to study it today.  From this study of the barbell, I have made a great living, sharing and teaching the ways of the barbell, and plan to do so, for the rest of my life.  I plan on passing it on to my children.  But you see, I could not have accomplished any of this without hard work outside of the gym.  I work on my craft, I work on my family, I work on myself very hard.  The reason I work so hard, to a large measure, is because of this chalk on my hands.  The chalk on my hands from the gym represents discipline, determination, and consistency.  These things are valuable in the gym, but they carry over to the outside world as well.  When I leave the gym, the lessons I have learned in it stay with me, just like the white dust I use to grip the barbell.  Without these dirty, dusty, chalky, sweat soaked hands, I would not be the man I am today.  I would be softer, less successful, and know far less about myself as a man.  So with that being said, I hope this chalky coating on my hands never fades, because as it goes, so goes the man.


*This concept was inspired by a podcast by Jon North called Weightlifting Talk.

Odds and Ends

Since I have not posted a blogpost since June, I figured I would give a recap of things that have happened.  My last meet was in Savannah, GA at the old man Pan Am Championships.  I placed fifth out of 8 lifters at the meet with a competition PR total of 203 kg.  I went 3 for 3 in the snatch with a competition PR of 93 kg.  My clean and jerk was almost an all time PR but I missed the jerk at 118kg.  I had to settle for a routine 110kg lift.  I did all of this in the 85kg weight class.  Since that meet I have decided to drop down to my old weight class of 77kg and compete in the old man American Open this November.  To be quite frank, I just did not enjoy the process of keeping about 15lbs of "extra" body weight.  I know, cry me a river, but I just got tired of eating all the time.

Enough about me, lets look at some new weightlifting developments.

How about a 15 year old C. J. Cummings beating 25 year olds to become a Senior National Champion and breaking God knows how many youth, junior, and men's records along the way.

Or the 94kg class with this jolt of excitement as Jared Fleming set a new American record in the snatch on his way to winning a national championship beating out two Olympians in the process.

And finally the real untold story is who I think will represent the U.S. men in the Olympics next year in Rio, Caine Wilkes clean and jerking over 500lbs on his way to a national championship and becoming the meet's best lifter.