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What is Elite?

A few months ago, I was standing next to a kid about a hundred pounds lighter than me. He was skinny with hair covering his eyes and a glazy look about his eyes that seemed to indicate that he knew herbs beyond stevia and yohimbe. What caught my attention was his t-shirt: “Select” with the name of a small sport on it.

I asked him: “What does “select” mean?” He told me, with some hand waving and a lot of “ums,” that it was a team made up of all the elite athletes from the various clubs in the state. “So,” I said trying not to laugh, “you are the best of the best?” His answered amazed me:

“Yes.”

Welcome to the second decade of the new millennia. One can be “select,” “elite,” or “best of the best” by finding a small enough sport in a small enough pond that requires club fees and the purchase of a t-shirt.

Not long ago, I watched an ESPN show about Marcus Dupree. One of the coaches indicated that, in high school, Marcus ran a 9.5 hundred yard dash (blazingly fast…you can’t do it) and benched over 400 for ten reps. That’s a solid bench press even on the internet forums. My friends, that is “elite.” That qualifies for the “best of the best.”

I began discussing this issue not long ago with my editor, Chris Shugart, and he agreed: how did we come to this new era that anyone who does anything is elite? Moreover, and more important: what are the kinds of things that truly makes one elite?

I shouldn’t pick on this one mop headed boy. I have seen the same thing happen with high school football players, gym rats who think they are one step from Mr. Universe, and, of course with the rise of the internet, the various lunatics and crazies that think that simply doing something different than arm curls makes you on the cutting edge. I have lived by a simple formula for a long time:

What is an elite athlete?
1. The athlete no longer is on a steep learning curve. The athlete, in other words, is no longer improving in quantum leaps from year to year, or season to season. Lifts, for example, no longer double over two years. Improvement is slow.
2. The athlete has a year-round approach to one sport.
3. The athlete uses some form of intense training camp or focused training of some kind each year.
4. The athlete uses high levels of strength training before the competitive periods. Save for lifters, as strength levels go down, performance should improve.
5. The athlete has made a personal choice to be elite.

Read more

Yes, I am behind on my Blog

Some people have asked for some specific things. For example, my “Bird Dog” Series and how I use the TRX to do traction on my hip. So, I went down to visit Laree and Dave Draper to take photos for my new “Mass Made Simple” book and we took the photos. As soon as we can organize them and put them up, then all your dreams will come true.

Laree gave me some nice presents. I am using her “Joint Connection” drink and she told me I would know in four days whether or not it is working. I am thinking “or the next morning.” I feel great in my hip. So, now, of course, I need to do something stupid to ruin it! Also, I picked up more of the Fish Oil with Vitamin D. This is something I can’t praise enough…I really think this combo does wonders. Laree also gave me a little device to open up the mid back and now may place looks like either a very odd toy collection or the remnants of a Muppet Show. But, if it works.

My visit with Dave

She also gave me a journal that they put together a few years ago. Since I feel better, I am training smart again. Laree noted how out of breath I was in Long Beach, but, in my defense, walking in total pain is exhausting! Since I have made so much progress with Jimmy Yuen, CK FMS, and Laree, I don’t hurt when I move…and that makes life better! (Yes, quote me)

So, off I go. I had an interesting question from an email to day about “how I feel about bodybuilding.” Maybe I don’t make this clear enough, but every single day past maybe 28 or so, you should be fighting the good fight with a focus on bodybuilding (hypertrophy) and joint mobility. So, yes, “I feel strongly.”

More soon.

Dan’s Post Thanksgiving Turkey…yes, he is cooking another one.

Great long trip to Phillie, Utah and finally home. Congrats and Thank You to the University of Washington football program for hosting Tiffini and me at the Cal game (especially you, Grey!) and a shout out to Tapio and Lindsay for letting me crash track practice and make a nuisance of myself. Also, Nick and Amanda thanks for Thanksgiving and I also have to thank Kelly and Andrew for letting us crash.

Weddings, Visits, and Thanksgiving

Well, no time this week for my usual insightful, life changing video blog. I’ve been on the road to see Geoff and Rose Hemingway get married (I was a Groomsman and did a great job of standing with a tux on) and now I am prepping Thanksgiving with my girls and Godchildren in Utah. Here we go!

Training on the road can be an issue. I did 100 snatches yesterday and woke up sore as can be this morning. Here is a little something that I may or may not have published:

Grace: a primer for the fitness enthusiast.

Let’s start with standing. Two tricks that will carry over to life and training are worth leaping up and trying immediately. In powerlifting, there is a simple trick to enable one to squat better. Simply, steal this trick by actively trying to spread the earth apart with your feet as you stand. Note how all the weight slides towards the outsides of the feet and the arch of the foot naturally builds back up. Feel the knees “track” open and the hips relax and the body drops naturally between the hips. This is “Active Standing” and, honestly, this position will do as much for most people as time in the gym. Almost.

The other trick comes from Esther Gockhale’s presentation to a computer company that has been online for a while. Rather than the old military posture of the upper body, instead focus on a simple shoulder move. Bring the shoulders forward a little. Bring the shoulders up a little. Bring the shoulders back all the way. Now, relax and drop the shoulders down. Hold that position. Most people I work with naturally raise their heads a bit taller doing this simple drill. Master it.

Art De Vany’s wonderful presentation in Las Vegas (May 18, 2008), and available on DVD, sums a very simple way to follow this idea: Lift your Heart! Not only does it have a beautiful ring to it as a way to live one’s life, it is a simple (elegant) way to move. Allow the heart to rise up to the sky (again, what a great idea for living: Heart to the Heavens!). He also noted to “look over the cheekbones” as you walk and it ties in very well with Gockhale’s insights.

From an evolutionary perspective, De Vany hits upon a wonderful insight: there is no way humanity could have survived keeping our heads down too much looking for snakes in the grass when hungry members of the cat family were hanging around in the trees. The higher the heart, the better the vision. The better the vision, the more likely it is that your genes will survive long enough to bring the next generation.

Practice Thanksgiving Blog

For more information on the CK FMS, visit Dragon Door

Oh, and if you watch the PBS “Sherlock Holmes,” what a finish….

An Email that made my day…

Hi Dan,

My father is a longtime admirer of yours. He’s been lifting since the late eighties, and got me started in the mid-90’s, when I was a 10-year-old midget football player. I eventually enjoyed a successful high-school-sports career in football, wrestling, and the shot put (I never did become much of a discus thrower, though) and then went on to play college football at Carnegie Mellon University.

Only after reading your book Never Let Go did I realize that most of what he taught me was essentially your material. He made me do some bodyweight and broomstick work before I was allowed to use weights. He taught me to clean instead of teaching me to curl. He taught me that the overhead press was more important than the bench press.

While playing ball in college, I always thanked my father for those teachings. I was the only player (on a team of over 100 testosterone-filled young men) that could clean 300 pounds. In fact, only a few could even clean 225 pounds. Most were content to try a few sets with 135 and then move on to the dumbbell rack for some curls, Bro.

Hell, when I went home for the summer and worked out with my dad (in his mid-50’s), he would usually clean more than most of the kids on the team. I found it hilarious that I couldn’t find a kid on my college team to clean 200+ with me, but my dad always would. He still does, too.

After college football, I dropped some weight, settling nicely around 200 pounds, and fooled around with a bunch of different exercises, went through a long running phase (I ran a couple of marathons), and just dabbled in lifting for a while. Got sick of that eventually and went back to the gym, realizing that lifting was more satisfying, better for body composition, and easier on the joints than running.

After reading your book, I realized that maybe I should quit doing a lot of the bullshit and focus on the good stuff. Frustrated with waiting for benches and navigating the crowd around the dumbbell rack, I realized that I could get nearly everything that I needed out of a workout with just a bar and a 10-foot patch of floor space. I could do deadlifts, power cleans, presses, and rows. That covers it all, and I don’t even need a Nautilus machine or an elliptical. Most of my workouts at the gym are pretty simple – start with a couple of complexes at 95 pounds, then add some weight for some clean & presses, then add some more weight for deadlifts, then strip some weight off and do a few rows. Squeeze in some bat wings and shoulder mobility work, and I’m done. I was amazed to discover that it really is that simple.

Funny, I usually don’t spend more than 30 minutes in the gym, but my arms are a good bit bigger than a lot of the guys checking out their gunz in the mirror after their 10-minute-long strip set of EZ curls. Maybe they ought to put down Muscle & Fitness and pick up your book.

I also am a big fan of one-dumbbell work (I have a few dumbbells in my apartment; this is what I do when I can’t go to the gym). Performing 20 minutes of continuous clean & press, goblet squats, and two-hand swings with a dumbbell is magic. Even my girlfriend (and frequent workout partner) loves the one-dumbbell workout.

I’m not really training to compete in anything – I still lift because a) I believe in staying in shape and b) I just like lifting – so I’ve simplified my goals much as you suggest. Clean and press bodyweight. That’s it. As long as I can clean and press my bodyweight, I will be happy.

Why have I spent the last 30 minutes writing this to you? I’m not sure, really. I suppose it’s just a way of thanking you for writing so many excellent articles and compiling them into an outstanding book, reminding me to keep it simple and work hard. Have some fun in the gym. Do the basics.

With many thanks,

Andrew Althouse, M.A., Statistics

Ph.D. Student

Back Home and a fine story with Merlot as the moral (more or less)

Iron…both in the Blood and Tamer!

Back in CA!

Of course, to a heat wave!

Off to Philly

We had a great day at Coyote Point yesterday. Dan’s Egg Salad sandwiches included an onion which I continued to enjoy for a few hours. We had a lot of new people and I hope we can keep doing this for a long time.

It is interesting to think that we started this back in June and it just gets better. By the way, if I seem like I am having a hard time being focused, I am waiting for my flight and the lady next to me thinks that she needs to use the cel phone like a megaphone. I am coming up with a few truisms about life, including a new one concerning the family trees of BMW drivers in California.

On the “New Book” front: Pavel and I will be meeting tonight and, ideally, we can see the finish line. I have “finished” the “Bulking Book” and so here we go on that one, too. After spending some quality time with Josh Hillis in Denver last week, I am more convinced than ever that fat loss is all about two things: a food journal and some kind of training. From there, it is just details. For fat loss, everything works and can be proved to work and will work. You can lose your mind and really make this complex and measure every celery stalk, or, just sit down weekly with a food journal and make long term better choices.

Bulking is “simple,” too, and I think my new work (based on like forty-three years of observation) has some time tested truths. One great insight from the past few years is that most people need more guidance dialing in the weights on high rep squats. It is interesting that I find it is like a “U” curve with most people either going far too light or way too heavy. Honestly, “around” bodyweight for fifty reps is a pretty solid set of squats. Trust me.

Off I go. I’m looking forward to seeing my friends at the gathering and I hope the best for all of you this fine week.