An Amateur's Look at the Weightlifting Pull

Weightlifting, like any sport with a need for technical proficiency, has certain positions that seem to be critical.  To clarify, I am not a guru of the sport, but rather a late arriver to the game that has studied it quite a bit in my short time.  If you a want more geeky analysis, seek out actual experts.  I am going to give the novice a few things to look for, from a positional standpoint, to really keep an eye out for.  Use a video camera, in lieu of a good coach, and try to make certain you hit these positions.   In this first installment I will break down the pull from my perspective. 

Pull

Start Position – the start position can vary.  I have seen and tried with my shoulders starting behind the bar from the floor, over the bar, and ahead of the bar.  For the most part, everyone eventually gets to where their shoulders are just ahead of the bar as the weights comes off of the floor.

Below the knee - As the bar is just below the knee, as is true for any pull, the back must be straight.  Additionally the shoulders should be in front of the bar with your weight clearly off of your toes.

Hip - When the bar gets to the hip (or high thigh for clean), this is called the power position.  You should still be off the toes and the shoulders should have moved to where they are now behind the bar slightly.  At this point, the bar should clearly be in contact with the body.  The knees will be bent after having straightened prior.  This is referred to as the double knee bend.

Finish - The final portion of the pull up is called the finish position.  At this point there should be maximum extension of the hips and knees. Some lifters end up on their toes while some don’t.  Additionally the shoulders should be well behind the bar.

Pull under - The last of the pulling is actually where a change of direction takes place.  As the bar reaches its maximum height at full extension, the lifter will now quickly pull himself under the bar to try and beat it back down.  To clarify, this is a pull of the lifter down as opposed to a continued pull of the bar up.  Make sure that the bar is still over your base of support (feet) and not out front of it.

Next time we will find out how to catch the bar after the beautiful pull.  Again, this is just an amateur’s look at the pull in weightlifting.  Just as a quick reminder, the American Weightlifting Federation's kick off meet will be live steamed from Las Vegas on January 16 - 18 with a whole batch of big name competing.  Don't miss it.

Things To Read / Watch

Competition is a wonderful thing.  It is one of the many reasons that capitalism is the greatest system of economics/society that exists.  For many years, USA Weightlifting has been the only weightlifting federation in the U.S.  A Quasi-excommunicated top level lifter, Jon North has now brought this to an end.  He and a few others have founded The American Weightlifting Federation.  If you have been to a USAW competition, you have to be a real fan not to have fallen asleep occasionally.  The AWF is bringing a DJ, your choice of music to lift to, and more of a "party" atmosphere.  Hopefully this will push USAW to improve the environment of its venues.

The American Open was this past weekend and there were some great lifts, even if a few lifters missed the Washington DC meet.  Jared Fleming made a great comeback in the 94kg class by winning gold in the snatch, c & J, total and won best male lifter at the competition.

Appropriate Post Revisited

I have been out of commission for a few weeks due to the birth of my second son, so I have not had a bunch of time to write a blogpost.  So with that being I am going to link to a blog I wrote quite some time ago called Just Pull the Trigger.  It is one that a lot of people (including myself) need to read now and again.  It deals with the extremely paralyzing "indecision".  In the future I am going to go into detail about some programs that I have been tinkering with, to improve my lifting.  But since I am here I might as well post a weightlifting video.  This is Ilya Ilyin in the 2014 World Championships just a couple of weeks ago.  This man recently moved up weight classes, and set a world record in the clean and jerk to win yet another world championship.

242kg (532 lbs)

The Four Ps of Weightlifting

Over the past year or so, I worked on my snatch technique like a mad man.  I took a page out of the Dan John book (look him up).  His philosophy is, if you want to get better at something, work on it every day.  While it is not necessary to take this literally, the idea is to practice the skill as often as possible.  That is what I did.  Every workout began with snatch technical work.  Over the course of several months (without a coach) my snatch went from 75kg (165lbs) to 96 kg (212lbs).  With limited time like everyone else with a job, wife, kids, and a bad back, this took time away from the other lift: the clean and jerk.  Over the same course of time, it has increased from 110kg (242 lbs) to 115kg (253lbs).  The neglect brought with it poor progress.  So with that being said, I have now started devoting more practice to the clean and jerk and specifically the clean portion.  My goal is to stay connected to the bar and actively pull under on the clean faster.  Finish my pull, and therefore have a higher contact point on the hips and have a faster dip on the jerk.  

115kg from about a year ago

New and Improved Technique from a yesterday

This leads me to my rookie thoughts on what it takes, from my perspective, to improve in weightlifting. These things could easily have carryover to other physical skills... but weightlifting is cooler.  These are the Four Ps of Weightlifting according to TP.

Position (technique)

 You must, for any skill, get to the right position in order to perform the skill with any level of proficiency.  The quick, down and dirty things I came up with for weightlifting are the following.

-Keep the bar over the center of base (foot) as best as possible.  The degree to which it moves away, creates inefficiency.  

-Get to the power position... shoulders slightly behind the bar, after the double knee bend with the torso upright.  To be honest, I am not sure it matters how you get to this position, as long as you do.

-Coach Mike Burgener always says to finish!  This means that once you get to the power position, "jump", "extend", "catapult" as hard as you can.  While the snatch and clean finish are slightly different, your shoulders should be well behind the bar before you start your pull under it. 

-overhead/rack position

-Overhead positon and rack position are a must for the snatch and clean respectively.  The overhead position for the snatch must have as much of an upright torso angle as you can muster.  The rack for the clean requires the the bar on the shoulders with high elbow. 

Positional Strength

You must have the strength to get to the above positions, so therefore, work accessory movements, as needed to improve weaknesses.  For the snatch and clean both, you must do some sort of pulls to strengthen the back off of the floor.  Also, for the clean and the jerk both.... squat.  Back squat and front squat... lots.

Progression

-Have a plan that involves a slow, methodical progression and then show up every day.  Add 2kg to your squat every week over the course of a year and you will get stronger.  This concept applies to both  lifts and accessory lifts.  Slowly get a little stronger every week.

Purpose

-Find something very tangible to train for.  A meet is ideal, because it has the added benefit of potential embarrassment.  If you have something that you believe in, you will be passionate and you will chase it.

Stuff You Should Read / Watch

The 80-90% Gap Program is an article written by the quite witty Matt Foreman.  He is a regular over at Catalyst Athletics.  The gist of the article is that sometimes it pays to just lift sub maximally for a while to allow you to work on other things in your program or life.  Good common sense article.

Competition makes everything better, so it is about time someone stepped up.  Jon North over at The Attitude Nation has just created the brand new American Weightlifting Federation.  This is a great way to make USA Weightlifting step their game a bit or just step aside.  The kickoff for the AWF will be January 2015 in Las Vegas.  Some of the high points of the event is a live DJ, great vendors, bar slamming, and the fact that you get to pick six songs to come out to, for all six attempts.  Time to move the sport forward!

Big lift by Jared Fleming

Pick Up a Broom and Sweep

When I was a teenager, and brighter than everyone, I worked for my father.  Like any young man without any responsibilities my work ethic left a lot to be desired.  My father “employed” me at that age for a few reasons, as best as I can tell.  First of all, for some reason, he wanted to spend time with me.  Additionally he enjoyed the cheap labor, as shoddy as it was.  Thirdly, he wanted to use these experiences as teachable periods.  The work was not the glamorous type you might expect in a old service station, but consisted of tearing down old drywall, putting up paneling, painting, cleaning, and putting down carpet.  One day while working a specific project, we discovered we were missing a necessary tool for the job.  Like any teenage boy, I decided to sit down and take a bit of a break to quietly complain about my tough life, under my breath.  After a couple of minutes, my father walked over and said something to me that has stuck with me for over 25 years.  He initiated the exchange by asking me what I was doing.  I explained that the tool we needed wouldn’t be to the worksite for about an hour, so I was waiting.  He told me, “son, there is always something to do, pick up that broom and sweep”.  I looked at the floor, and much to my chagrin he was right.  In fact it turns out, the floor was a mess, there were paintbrushes that needed a good rinsing, and a load of trash that needed to be taken out.  So I did what he said, and started sweeping.

That was a long way of saying to you all, that there is always some sort of constructive direction that you can take your life.  If you are in the middle of a heavy training cycle in your workouts, maybe extra time that you have needs to be spent on recovery of some sort: foam rolling, stretching, contrast baths.  If you watch five hours of television every night, just about anything you do instead of that will improve your life in some fashion.  Read a non fiction book, study how to invest for retirement, prepare meals for the week, learn to play a musical instrument, play with your children, talk to your spouse, work on your “honey do” list, work overtime, get a part time job, and the list could go on forever.  I am not hating on good old fashion leisure activities to escape for a bit, but keep them in check.  While playing your Xbox or whatever they have out these days is surely fun, it won’t make you a deeper person and certainly won’t bring you long-term happiness. So turn off the television, drop your gaming controller and do something that will make you happier in the long run.  In other words, “pick up a broom and sweep”!  

Be Boring / Be Successful

If you sit back in your favorite chair with a big cup of coffee, close your eyes, and think about life, lifting, success, family, and winning, what words pop into your head?  Lucky might be a word that rolls right off of the brain with ease, but is that the key to success in most things... probably not.  How about intelligence?  Is having the big brain the key to long term triumph?  My only response is Kim Kardashian, enough said.  What I am going to tell you is not going to light your world on fire, but I would like it to swirl around your head, like heavy whipping creme in that cup of coffee.  What I am going to tell you, is that being consistent is one of the most important keys to winning in marriage, training, finance, your job, etc.  I know that this is not what someone that is twenty and has the coolest smart phone on the market wants to hear, but being methodical and consistent and predictable is extremely important if you want to win at anything.  Just as an example, if that twenty year old took his modest $100/month cell phone bill and invested it in the good mutual fund, by age 60 he would be a millionaire.  He MIGHT win the lottery, he MIGHT be left a big chunk of change from some wealthy uncle, but neither is very likely.  Instead bet on the more sure thing, and that is long term, boring, investing in the stock market for 40 years... that will build wealth.  The same can be said for training.  While there may be a program that will add 100 lbs to your back squat in 4 weeks, what about the next 4 weeks?  Why not instead, add a couple lbs/week over the next 4 years!!  That would be strong!  The point of the article here is to convince you that consistent, and predictable is a blessing.  I guarantee that any of you that are married would agree that you would much rather your spouse be predictable, than not.  That would be a long walk up the sidewalk every afternoon , just wondering if it was Jekyll or Hyde on the other side of the front door.  I prefer predictable for my wife, my finances, my boss, and my training.  It may be boring, but you can't rely on luck for success, just sweat over the course of many years.

The Golden Circle

Simon Sinek is a thinker as well as a phenomenal speaker.  In this video Sinek talks about his idea of the Golden Circle.  He uses a great example of how computers are typically marketed to us and how Apple Computers takes the opposite track to reach us.  The concept works well for marketing your business, but has great carryover to the rest of us without a "business".  Why do we do what we do? Why do we train the way we do?  Why do we get up every morning to the sound of the alarm clock, still exhausted from the day before, and go tackle life?  Why?

Things to Read / Watch

Eric Cressey runs a pretty good sports performance gym in the northeast popularized by his acumen for preparing baseball players.  His latest post is about some of the biggest powerlifting mistakes he has made throughout his competitive career.  Definitely worth reading since the guy squatted 455, benched 350 and deadlifted 630 in his gym... raw... at 180lbs!  Not too bad.


Soon to be the greatest weightlifter of all time: Ilya Ilyin.  Just watch this guy who has snatched 185 kg (407 lbs) and clean and jerked a world record 233 kg (513 lbs) at 94 kg (207 lbs) bodyweight.  Oh, I forgot, two Olympic Golds, three world championship golds and two Asian Games golds.  Enjoy!

I don't know much about the weightlifter Milko Tikola, but I do know fast when I see it.  He is the fastest lifter that I have ever seen.  When you watch the videos, he moves so quickly that you think that the footage has been altered to make him appear faster.  Amazing.

Bacon Beatdown Comeback

My first time on the platform since November 2011, was this past weekend at the Bacon Beatdown in Daytona, FL  I have improved some things, and remained surprisingly stagnant on others.  In retrospect, I should not be surprised.  In the last two and a half years I have warmed up religiously with the snatch, to the detriment of the clean and jerk.  My previous competition PR snatch was 80kg, but has now been improved to 90kg.  Not exactly world class improvement, but not bad for a nearly 40 year old guy without a coach.  The clean and jerk was an almost embarrassing near disaster.  My opener at this meet was 100kg on this lift.  This is weight that I have done for a triple within the last month… a no-brainer!  I missed… THE CLEAN!  Unbelievable.  This is normally weight that I could have done almost one handed.  I guess that you cannot account for nerves though.  I finally came back, made 100kg and made 110kg on my final lift of the day.  After it was all said and done I had gone down by 2kg from my competition PR of 112kg after 30 freakin’ months of work… pathetic.  A couple of issues were in play though.  For the last month of so before the meet, my clean technique was just plain out of whack.  It felt different every time I grabbed the bar.  Also, just plain nerves played a role.  It wasn’t a Superbowl sized crowd, but the fifty or so people watching can still make each lift a little tougher.  With all of that being said, I know what I must now do.  Spend months focusing on the clean and jerk from a technical side of things and continue to get stronger. 

 Snatch 85kg

Snatch 90kg

Clean and Jerk 100kg

Clean and Jerk 110kg

PRs When You Least Expect Them

After several weeks of really grinding myself into mush with fives and triples and a bunch of back squatting, I decided to shift some gears and try some singles to max.  I was at the end of a training cycle and I was still able to manage some good personal records.  I am looking forward to a little taper before my first meet in several years.  The Bacon Beatdown is a CrossFit-centric festival from what I can tell, down in Daytona, FL.  It has individual and team CrossFit events for starters.  In addition, they are hosting weightlifting, strongman, and powerlifting competitions.  I am hoping after my taper to report a great showing. 

Back Squat 310 X 5

Snatch 212 X 1

Clean 225 X 3

Snatch 200 X 2

Back Squat 360 X 1

Snatch 190 X 3

Helpful Hints in the Gym

 1. Training Log

I have a hard time understanding how someone can come into the gym and not write down what they have done.  This obviously does not have to be literally written down, but recorded in some easily accessible form.  Good things to write down are the easy ones: weights, sets, reps, miles, time, etc.  Some other things that you might want to consider are time of day, sleep quality, nutrition and possibly some measurement of stress in your life.  Donny Shankle gives his take on the importance of keeping a log on his page, which you should read regularly.

2. Get Stronger

Unless you are just a pure endurance athlete, this certainly applies to you.  This is the most simple of attributes to train.  Simple, but difficult.  An easy template that has worked for decades, if not longer is a linear progression of weights.  Day one, squat up to 150lbs X 5 reps, the next squat training day, squat 155 X 5 reps, and so on.   Once you cannot achieve the next weight in the progression, squat for 3 reps. If the last weight you were able to get for a set of 5 reps was 225 lbs, then squat 215lbs X 3 reps. Follow the same pattern until you run out of steam and jump to sets of one rep.  Once you run out of room here, jump back up to fives.  By this time you should have squatted for months and will have a better idea of how to proceed. 

3. Don’t Get Too Cute

Stick to the basics. If you want to get stronger legs… squat… with a barbell… with weight!  If you want to get better at the snatch or clean and jerk, then stick very close to them in training.  Once you reach a certain strength or proficiency level, the variation is probably helpful, but most of us are not in the category.  For a strength athlete, think of the basic barbell movements as home base.  As you move away from squats, deadlifts, pressing, snatching, cleaning, and jerking, you are moving away from home base.  If you are training to swim very well, I would suggest that the pool is home base and that you put on your swimming trunks a bunch.  

Monkey See, Monkey Do

I am a relatively new father.  My son is about two and a half years old now.  As a brief aside, I am on a bit of a crusade against the thought of describing a child’s age in months, past a certain timeframe.  I say after two years maximum, a child’s age should be referenced by years only or years and months together.  When a stranger asks how old your son or daughter is, no one wants to hear, “he is 43 months next week.”  Figuring a child’s age shouldn’t require a calculator.  Now where was I?  Oh yes, new father.  Like any good parents, my wife and I read to our son, we help him try to learn new words, learn new colors, etc.  Sometimes it works, most times not.  On the other hand, after a good fight with the flu this past winter, I had a long bout of laryngitis.  After watching me gargle with salt water one time, my son began incessantly gargling his milk and making his typical mess. 

I began to realize that a lot more is caught, than taught.  Adults aren’t much different in this sense.  We tend to mimic what we hang around or immerse ourselves in.  If you take a look at your friends, you will realize that you are have some of the same mannerisms, likes, dislikes, and often times have a similar demeanor as those closest to you.

Training and lifestyle are no different.  If your training partners are inconsistent, chances are good that you will be.  If your friends like to stay out all night chances are you will follow suit not get enough sleep to have an effective day of training the following day.  Your diets often follow the same paths as well.  Technique, programming, intensity, and overall approach to training all can fall prey, or enjoy the benefits of those you surround yourself with.

So with this being said, the following is a public service to all of you…

1.  Hang around with rich people

2.  Hang around strong people

3.  Hang around nice people

4.  Hang around smart people

5.  Hang around people you want to lift like

6.  Hang around people you want to train like        

Stuff You Should Watch

James Tatum 151 Snatch

This is a great lift by a 77 kg (170lbs) lifter, yes.  This is also a lifetime PR for James and a lifetime highlight lift for him.  It is 332lbs... Super Cool!

Crazy man Jon North lifts during his Attitude Nation Weightlifting Seminar.  (explicit music in background)

Ian Wilson... holy @#&%#!   Strong!

Weightlifting Coaching Options

If you want to get better at a skill, you need of course practice.  Not only just practice, but good, skillful practice. Psychomotor skills, like weightlifting, are no different.  Because of its technical nature, frequent and accurate guidance is extremely beneficial.  Someone that has a mastery of the movement patterns in your ear is extremely beneficial and can greatly accelerate your understanding of the lifts.

On site Coaching

The best option (from my understanding) would be that live, in person, beside the platform, coach.  This should not come as a great shock to most people.  The Yankees, to the best of knowledge, didn’t win any championships from skyping their coaches once a month.  A good quality coach can give instant feedback on each of your lifts, individualize your programming, and can get a sense daily of your ability to train that session.   I have never had a coach in this sense at all.  Because of this, I believe that my learning process has been very s-l-o-w.  It has probably taken my twice as long to get where I am, because of all of the trial and error.  Good thing I didn’t quit my day job. 

Seminars (reference my last blog)

Weekend training can be very helpful from time to time, in the absence of at home coaching.  I would definitely spread them out over several months or years.  It takes time to process and experiment with the seminar coaches’ suggestions.  I wrote about my experiences with four different seminars at Weightlifting Seminar Reviews

Online Video analysis

If you choose to stay home and can’t get away, online video analysis can be very helpful.  There are several options out available.  I have contacted Mike Burgener several times and asked for some feedback on my lifts and he has always been extremely generous and prompt with his replies. 

Donny Shankle offers his services of video analysis on his website.  I have not contacted him for his help yet, but he offers help and asks for a donation in return.  It seems like a fair deal to me to offer a donation in return for assistance from a five time National Champion and World Team member. 

I chronicled my process of with Chad Vaughn’s assistance in a couple of blogs: My Coach is a Fool, and Chad Vaughn Follow Up.  I found his help very useful and worth the low price. 

Online Coaching

In the absence of an on-site coach, this offer seems like a very promising idea.  Travis Mash and The Attitude Nation have joined forces and started an online weightlifting team.  That is right, you could be a teammate of  ‘Jumping Jon North”.  There are three levels of membership, with commensurate increases in price and benefits.  Aside from being a team member, some of the benefits include:  video analysis, programming, access to the team gear, access to a group chat room with one of your coaches, and unlimited email access to your coach.  The monthly prices range from $35 to $100 per month.  If you are a garage lifter, like me, and don’t have a world-class coach to train under, this could be a super option.  Check it out over at Mash Elite Performance.  

Weightlifting Seminar Reviews

I have come a long way in this strength and conditioning stuff.  Like a bunch of lifters, I started training body part splits in a physique-building program.  Rocking the 1989 Cobra Gym tank top, my dad and I watched what the big guys in the gym did:  Monday was chest, Tuesday is back, etc. and followed suit. I progressed from this, through many phases in the weight-room, which has led to my latest and most enduring… weightlifting.  Below is a list of all of the formal training I have received in training classes for weightlifting.  

Mike Burgener (CrossFit)

I was introduced to the snatch and clean and jerk, like many, through CrossFit.  This led me to my first weightlifting seminar with Coach Mike Burgener in 2008.  I was still a “CrossFitter” just trying to figure out the movements, to improve my metabolic workouts.  Coach B ran a very regimented seminar because, as he explained, this was how he presented it for years to high school kids in his Physical Education classes.  Like most seminars, he started by teaching the snatch, probably because it is the most technical of the two (or three).  His presence was worth the price of admission.  He played drill instructor, but in his own playful/intense/motivating way.  If someone was caught not using a hook grip or we didn’t all yell “YES COACH” when he gave an order we were “punished” with a few burpees.  The experience was beneficial and a lot of fun. 

USA Weightlifting

In 2011, I devoted myself (at age 36) to weightlifting only, for my workouts.  A couple years later, in 2013 I attended the USAW certification program.  I am not going to name the instructor, because public humiliation is morally wrong.  But I will say that the instructor is not some rookie that just stepped on the scene.  He has been in the game for a long, long, decades long time and is widely recognized.  His footprints are all over the training center in Colorado Springs.  The presentation of the curriculum was terrible and not believable.  He reminded us many times, “the book says so and so, but I disagree with that, so just know it for the test”.  I didn’t care about some silly test, I wanted to snatch more!  Much of the time was spent talking about how CrossFitters didn’t know how to lift weights properly, without giving any appreciation to them for doubling the membership and recognition of his silly, impotent organization.  While we went through the lifting progressions, he would consistently call people out and publicly ridicule them in front of the class.  I teach and coach for a living tough guy, and you are no coach and definitely not a teacher.  The only redeeming part of the whole thing was the unique stories he had because of his extensive time around the sport.  Otherwise, it was a miserable two days with a seemingly miserable man. 

Don McCauley

The next seminar on my growing list of weightlifting classes was a Catapult Clinic with, now assistant coach for Team Muscle Driver USA, Don McCauley.  I had heard mixed reviews on Coach McCauley, but I found him to be a very good coach and very open to help.  Read more on my post devoted to this seminar:  I am a Human Catapult.

Jon and Jessica North (The Attitude Nation)

Last but definitely not least, was my Attitude Nation Seminar.  I attended this one just last month at Old School Weightlifting.  I got there early, as I tend to do, and started stretching out a bit.  Jon a Jessica rolled in on time and took a look around the place with the owner of the gym.  After a few minutes Jon North was introduced and away we went.  He spoke for about a half hour or so on his philosophy and his background.  He talked very passionately about dropping out of college to lift weights, living in a Dodge Neon with his wife, and his prior addiction to crystal meth.  The line of the day was when thanked us all for paying a former drug addict, college dropout $200 dollars to learn how to lift weights.  It was the best $200 I have ever spent on training.  The teaching progression was easy to grasp, and we were given ample time to work on all of the positions.  Jon’s passionate and coffee fueled instruction was complemented well by his very talented wife Jessica as well.  They handed the teaching baton off seamlessly throughout the long morning of lifting.  After working on positions all morning, we had a little fun and maxed out on the snatch.  The energy drinks were flowing and the techno music was loud.  It was a blast!  The afternoon was more of the same for the clean and jerk.  Going into this seminar, I was a big fan of Jon’s, but I wasn’t sure how the class might be presented.  I told Jon and his wife Jessica that of the four weightlifting classes I had been to, that this one was head and shoulders above the rest.  They were great instructors, delightful people, and provided an enthusiastic environment where you just want to lift more weight!  And let’s be honest, all us lifters want to do is lift more weight!!!

Old Gold's Greatest Hits

While I am no Stephen King or John Grisham, I have written a few blogs that I am particularly proud of.  If I can modestly say this, some of the messages, if taken to heart, can be life changing.  Some of the concepts were certainly big for me to wrap my head around.  So with that being said here are, to date, a few of my favorite posts.  Enjoy.


Loser Talk
If you are tired of listening to the pathetic sour-mouthed blathering of some in your circle, this is the post for you.  If you are busting your rear, and losers from the proverbial bleachers of life are booing you, you will enjoy this read.


Failure is Worth It
Get in the game without fear.  If you are really going to be successful, you are going to have to try a bunch and fail a bunch.  Study, work very hard, and be a free thinker that is not afraid to look foolish.  This is what makes a winner.


Pull the Trigger
This post is a good addition to the the Failure post above.  Those of you that are frozen by fear of making the wrong decision should definitely give this one a read.

Gratuitous Weightlifting Video

Thing You Should Read/Watch

The CrossFit Open started several weeks ago, and if you like to see fit people in board shorts and tattoos do some amazing physical feats, tune in.  After a few weeks of online competition, they whittle down the field to each region's best men and women.  From there to southern California to find the fittest male and female on Earth.  

Dan Bell is a technical weightlifting coach.  His latest post is entitled Jerk Dip and Drive.  It is well worth a read if you are having trouble with the last movement in weightlifting.   

For all of you Donny Shankle fans, he recently began a Youtube channel of his own.  He is coming back from a freak accident.  He dislocated his shoulder during a snatch (extremely rare).  The series of videos is in essence the story of his ongoing climb back up the hill toward heavy weight.  These are certainly not the type of videos that you watch, unless you are a weightlifting fan... they are not the most exciting.  However, they are educational. 

Lastly, after coming out of retirement and putting on a show at the Arnold Classic, Jon North just hit 160 kg in the snatch for the first time in quite some time.  (352 pounds!!!)  This is how a competition should look.

Jon at the Arnold

Jon hitting 160

Why Me?

If you have been alive for more than a few minutes, you have probably either uttered or thought these words: “why me?”  It usually follows some form of “bad luck” or unfortunate occurrence. You are driving back from a friend’s house in the rain and your tire goes flat.  Why me?!  What about that Christmas-time flu?  Gifts are being opened and you are trying to keep your eggnog down.  Why me?!  Since this blog is dedicated to things related to training, I feel compelled to provide an example from that facet of life.  Last November, I was poised to lift in a weightlifting meet that I had been exclusively training for, for almost a year.  Six days out I was doing some light lifts and strained my hamstring and had to sit it out.  Why me?!  I think you get the point, so I will move on.  There are some fundamental flaws in this line of thinking.  The first mistaken notion is that you have it worse than everyone else… wrong.  We are all engaged in this relentless push through life.  Do some have it worse than others through no fault of their own, sure.  But it is not you.  You were probably not born in the concentration camp that is North Korea, or had to fight off sharks in the Pacific with just a toothbrush.  Someone always has it worse than you.  The second flaw in this mindset is that it is typically used as a one-way street.  Have you ever had something that is “too good” for you?  Have you ever gotten the lucky parking spot, or just missed being in a wreck, or caught Smokey and the Bandit right at the beginning?  Upon seeing Burt Reynolds lying in the hammock, or swerving out of a car accident, did you ask, why me?  You probably did not.  Most of us don’t think this way, but it is a good practice.  You see, in this life (to use a cliché) you have to take the good with the bad.  Unfortunately we all get to share both of them.  Do you deserve the good stuff more than the bad stuff?  Probably not.  So try it on for size, the next time you don’t get a flat tire in the rain, or don’t get the flu, or do get to lift in the big meet, try asking the question: why me, why am I so lucky?  

The Back Squat Conundrum (High bar vs Low Bar)

There is a huge argument about why the US doesn’t compete that well at the world level in weightlifting.  This is a broad subject that I will wade into another time.  In the meantime, I will touch on one aspect of the equation.

Weightlifting, like other strength sports, requires technique proficiency and… strength.  Arguably the best strength building movement for weightlifting, aside from the movements themselves, is the back squat.  This is where, for some reason, controversy begins.  How should I squat?  For those that don’t know, there are typically a couple of different bar placements that are used: the high bar and low bar positions. 

Low Bar Back Squat

 High Bar Back Squat

As you can see, the high bar version allows for a more upright torso and more depth.  So why back squat?  Answer… to get the hips strong for the snatch, and more so the clean, and to some extent, the jerk.  The easy way to examine which version of the back squat more closely mimics the positions of the lifts.

Snatch

Clean

The dip of the Jerk

As you can see, an upright torso is a must to lift maximum weight in weightlifting.  Therefore, if you have to spend precious time and energy squatting, it makes a lot of sense to work similar positions to those of your barbell sport.  There is no question that low bar back squatting with its limited knee flexion will make your hips stronger.  Its limitations are its lack of depth and upright posture.  This is why the high bar version, with its depth and upright posture will carryover better to the sport of weightlifting.