Archive June 2010

Redemption!

Okay, there are things about California I don’t like. Every driver here thinks they are racing for some prize. I asked a girl at the supermarket about finding cloves (the herb) and she had never heard of them. Alas. Youth. (Of course, the youth of today should be referenced as “All Ass.” Let’s cut back on the sodas and videos kids.)

In Millbrae, they have signs on posts, every post by the way, stating it is illegal to have signs on posts. You can’t have open liquor at the tennis courts and the compost near the high school is ONLY for Millbrae residents. Literally, nobody is going to steal our crap!

Yet, all is forgiven. I went to Mills High School today to throw. Next to the discus throwing ring, there is net. A throwing net. Bang, you throw and it goes no where. Technical paradise.I took 50 plus throws in about twenty minutes and sweated enough to change the environment in the area. So, I threw.

I’m trying to finish up the next book for Laree and, to be honest, I need someone to throw a blanket on me and tell to stop having new ideas. Really. I can write another book another time. I must finish. I wrote 15 pages of stuff today and I have yet to finish the stuff I was working on before.

Perhaps, I need a net.

I can’t make it, but I HIGHLY recommend it…

The Sunnyvale “Putting it All Together” was fabulous. Consider these if you can:

It’s a technical thing, but the point is important

In Ohio. Second week of camp. Hot. Tired.

My daughter, Lindsay, who is throwing next to me says “why didn’t you teach us this stuff?”

Well, honey, I have been trying to figure it out since I first picked up the discus in 1971. I could see the problem. I could name the problem. I could fix the problem sometimes. I had this piece of information and that piece.

Then, I saw someone doing it wrong and started walking around and thinking about it. It’s the “3A to 3B” transition and the more I worked on it these past few days, the clearer the “issue” came to me. I saw answers here and answers there, but finally it all rallied forth and came to me.

I can coach big throwers again. The fix works and it is stunningly simple. Don’t worry about what it is but focus on the years it took me to address it. Maybe I can change a few kids lives with this simple little thing in the discus. It’s so simple.

And, that’s the point of this blog from a tired man after a long day: it’s the road, not the inn. It’s been a joy working this hard to figure out something this relatively unimportant, but important to me and my throwers.

If someone would have handed it to me as a kid, I would have shrugged and worked on my biceps.

Report from Adrian Cradock, My Irish Intern

COACH DAN JOHN

INTERNSHIP REPORT

BY – Adrian Cradock

13-06-2010

My time with Coach John

It all started many years ago when I sent Coach John an email in relation to squat technique and not alone was I surprised by the immediate response but also the immediate effect of the advice in helping my back squat and overhead squat technique. I have since over the years followed and read pretty much anything of Coach Johns I could get hold of including his 90 page ebook which is still one of the best books out there full of concrete and applicable information. Last Christmas I was lucky enough to be one of the few to attend a 2 day seminar which he gave in Ireland. During this time I got to know Coach more and mentioned I was interested in coming out to the US and the rest is history. Without a second thought he offered me this fantastic opportunity not knowing at the time he would be moving house also. I arrived in on the 12^th of April and from the first day till the last what I learnt would not fit in a book with many great memories.

Below is a short summary covering some of what I learnt.

Warm up

I thought this was the best warm up I had ever seen or completed as it worked so much on injury prevention addressing areas such as shoulder stability, core, joint mobility of upper and lower body and ran effortlessly into the main workout. An observer may not even know the difference.  It consisted of many different kettlebell exercises and bodyweight exercises along with specific hip flexor stretches some warm ups involved were done with pvc and others involved several exercises done with weight plates and for a set time

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An old piece on Muscle Gain…don’t know if this is on the site

First, and foremost, I think that the two most misunderstood and difficult concepts in strength training are 1. fat loss and 2. muscle gain.

The same principles apply to both fat loss and muscle gain. The overriding concern is that either goal is very specific and outside the norm for most people in the United States. A typical approach leads to fat gain and poor sports performance. In my humble opinion, I offer these ideas for “muscle gain:”

My first idea is to “embrace puberty.” The greatest growth spurt of my life was my first four months with Dick Notmeyer and the Pacifica Barbell Club program. What I often fail to mention is that I also went through that “secondary growth spurt” that most men go through in their teen years. I was eighteen, but for Irish guys, late puberty is not uncommon.

So, how do you embrace puberty? One thing all parents of teens complain about is that “my kid sleeps all day.” First, sleep more. Second, sleep more, third, sleep more. The Cuban Olympic lifters reportedly sleep nine and a half hours at night, plus a two and a half hour nap each afternoon. My math skill may suck, but sleeping twelve hours a day comes out to half the day asleep!

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Help me. Help you. Help me. Help you.

I am just waiting for “Glee” to start, so I am giddy as a school girl. I have sure enjoyed the TIME to train and lift and write. Gary (my brother) and I have been throwing quite a bit. It has been five years since I actually had the time to train. This is no joke, at best, all I did was hold on.

I enjoy the writing. I am working on my second and third books and while I was swimming, I thought about how valuable Questions and Answers are for me to muse about in my little head.

So, if you are interested and have questions regarding “The Art of Lifelong Fitness” and it relates to goal setting, posture, grace, stretching, eating, life in general or lifting long term, I would enjoy mulling over them and adding them to the work. Help me. Help you.

It’s been fun lately training. Fun. I’m sure I have lost a ton of fat this week as I just feel better and happier. I really enjoy this stuff. I miss training. I miss learning things. Oh, I wouldn’t trade coaching Kelly to All State and Lindsay to the State Championships for the world (well, maybe the world…), but it came at a high price. Anyone who ever said that I got my “dream job,” truly was making things up in their head. If you have a hobby that you truly love, LOVE I tell you, then have to teach a group of kids who were often sent in because of discipline issues in other classes this hobby, trust me, it will make you ache. Sure, absolutely most of the kids were gems, but life is all about Power Laws and one or two (or four) in a big class can make life miserable for everyone.

That’s why I love what I will be doing tomorrow. Each week, Dan Martin organizes a little gathering, for free, and people who want to learn kettlebells or mobility or whatever, just show up and train.

I can’t wait for tomorrow. Just after Glee, of course.