Down Slow, Up Fast

A few years ago, at the Training Center in Colorado Springs, I went with a group of discus throwers over to “hang” with the O lifters. Impressed with the ability of the resident athletes to recover from cleans, I asked Dragomir about his “secret.” “Down slow-up fast!”

It is a difficult thing for the Olympic lifter since the demise of the press to NOT have great legs. Well, I was/am one of them. As a junior in college, I lifted in a meet and needed 165/363 pounds to win. Well, I cleaned it, bounced up and jerked it for three white lights. Now the interesting thing is that my lifetime best front squat was 365. Dick Notmeyer had a mantra: “If you can front squat it for three, you can clean and jerk it.” Later, at the Utah Summer Games, in 1991, I cleaned 182.5/402 stood up and lost the jerk behind. Again, my best front squat was 405.

So, why am I boring everyone with a history lesson? Simply, the same levers that allowed me to throw the discus over 190 as a Senior in college kept me from being a squatting machine! Here are a few ideas for those of us in the crappy squat category:

1. Become an expert in “catching the bounce.” That wonderful stretch-reflex that leaps you out of the deep position CAN be trained. Dick used a drill we called “Barski Cleans.” With straps lock onto the bar, stand up, lean back a little so your shoulders get pulled into a proper position, now dip forward to just below your knees, squat clean it and stand right up. These would be called Squat Cleans from the Romanian Deadlift today, but you will find them very helpful in teaching you to time your lift so your leg problems are not a problem.

2. Try front squatting at the start of your workout. It took me a few weeks to get used to doing other stuff after front squats (jerks, especially, but snatches can be a problem, too.) Also, try front squatting at the start of EVERY workout for a week or two. Nothing crazy, maybe two sets of two, with around 80%, then a single at some higher weight. Some of us need the “Nervous System Stimulation.” I just invented that, but it seems to help. The way to learn a language is to immerse yourself into it, perhaps you need to immerse yourself in your legs.

3. I found track season really helped my front squat. Why? I would really back off on the O lifts and do more bodybuilding and stairs/hills. When the season ended, a week or two later my legs would be ten or twenty pounds stronger. Maybe a general conditioning course would help. Joe Mills used to recommend fast deadlifts and repetition squats to turn problems around. With Dick Notmeyer, we would do all kinds of “contests.” We had a bench 225 for reps board, squat bodyweight for reps contest, sit up contests, and all kinds of fun, but productive stuff.

4. Finally, you may just have to accept that you are going to have weaknesses. When I did the Soviet Squat routine and got my front squat to 405, my jerk form went out the window. When I got my jerk back around, my bottom position tightened up. I think the secret lies in something Coach Ralph Maughan told me: “Turn your weaknesses into your strengths.” Of course, when you do that: you find new weaknesses!

The front squat is simply squatting with the barbell supported on your chest. Ideally, the hands don’t hold the weight, rather your shoulders and collarbone support the bar. It takes a “little” flexibility. The best way to get this flexibility is to do…front squats! Gary Valentine quoted Joe Mills as saying that “if you can put the palms of your hands on the back of your head, you can front squat.” Dedicate yourself to front squats and they will soon become second nature.

The key, and this is so important, is that the athlete sits straight down “between” the legs and continues down until “the ass is on the grass.”

What does “between the legs” mean? One of the true keys to squatting and the O lifts is this simple concept. I teach it this way: have the athlete stand arms length from a door knob. Grab the handle with both hands and get your chest “up.” Up? I have the athlete imagine being on a California beach when a swimsuit model walks by. Immediately, the athlete puffs up the chest which tightens the lower back and locks the whole upper body. The lats naturally spread a bit and the shoulders come back “a little.”

Continuing with the arms in the “hammer throwing” position, with the Muscle Beach chest, lean back away from the door. Now, lower yourself down. What people discover at this moment is a basic physiological fact: the legs are NOT stuck like stilts under the torso. Rather, the torso is slung between the legs. As you go down, leaning back with arms straight, you will discover one of the true keys of lifting: you squat “between your legs.” You do not fold and unfold like an accordion, you sink between your legs. Don’t just sit and read this: do it! To develop the ability to squat snatch or squat clean hinges on this principle!

Front squats can be done either after cleaning the bar to the chest or by taking them off a rack. Both methods have a value; I find that front squats after cleaning the bar seems to really get me “meet ready.” I’m huffing and puffing before my second rep!

“You won’t believe this one.”

“No really, you look strong. More pulls?”

“Dave, I have been doing something I would have laughed about a few months ago. I’ve been doing…”

In the thirty plus years I have been lifting, I have seen miracle machine after miracle machine added to super supplement plus super supplement all guaranteeing success in a few weeks. Of course, none have worked, but next month, this or that magazine promises, there will be a breakthrough diet/system/course/machine that will leap us to new heights. I have tried a lot of them. I have leaped off boxes, strapped myself to electric shocks, rubbed pressure points on my body and eaten mounds of liver, yeast, alfalfa, kelp and who knows what else.

So, when somebody mentioned going back in time and learning from the ancient lifters of the pre-steroid era, I had my doubts. I wouldn’t have done it either, except for an unfortunate, fortunate event happened to me. At our state football championship for five on five football, the Vindicators played the hated Pepsi team. The Vindicators, our heroes in this story, won, but the victory had a price. I broke my wrist scoring a touchdown. Not badly, a small bone that because of blood flow refused to heal quickly would change my training for months.

I couldn’t bend my wrist. I couldn’t hold a bar. I couldn’t rack a weight. How would I train? I had been reading Dinosaur Training, I had been sharing ideas at the Old School Strength Site board, but I had been silently sniggered at …

“…one-arm lifts, Dave.”

“Really? Back in 1964, Zradilla was doing them right before the Olympics and everyone laughed until he pulled off an upset and won the Gold Medal. They are great for the snatch and clean.”

Really, these are serious lifts? I wouldn’t have thought so until the wrist injury. Then, forced to rethink training, I started one arm lifting. I tried both barbell and dumbbell snatches the first day. No problem. Until I started doing them. As I started getting the reps up to eight, my heart and lungs decided to start voicing their opinions. In a few weeks, even with the wrist problem, I found I could one arm snatch with my bad arm without any pain.

I settled on a simple program. A set of eight snatches with my right arm, one minute rest, a set of eight with my left arm, one minute rest, then add weight. Soon, I would get to a weight that I couldn’t get eight. One hand lifts were simple: straddle the weight on the floor, grab with one hand, put the other on the knee (right hand, right knee; left hand, left knee), and just keep the weight close as you leap and snap it overhead. Soon, I added one arm cleans (good hand only) and a lot of overhead jerks and presses. I discovered quickly that all those years of side bends and twists had absolutely NO value in building my obliques. I discovered that my overhead support muscles were only a shadow of what I thought they were when I had the opportunity to use both arms. Two-handed work began to look like the easy days.

The big test would happen when the swelling went down enough after the healing had set in the wrist. All too often, we change programs but don’t measure them against a standard. So, I hopped in the Deathmobile and drove over to the secret training quarters of the Hercules Barbell Club. In June, I had set a state mark for Open and Masters with a 308 pound clean and jerk. On a Wednesday, with no particular peak or cycle, I matched that lift and then added six more pounds. The point is simple: I hadn’t done a full two-armed lift in almost four months and I matched lifts I had peaked and focused on half a year earlier.

Using the one-arm lifts will open a whole new world for Olympic lifters, Highland Gamers and throwers. For the garage dweller, these lifts are simpler to learn than the complete Olympic lifts, yet still keep all the benefits. Without much serious study, I believe the one-arm lifts demand a longer pull than their two-handed brethren. No question that the overhead work is far more demanding, far more tedious.

Other advantages? Well, I have been a strong believer in outdoor training my whole lifting career. Rather than having to lump out my whole barbell, bumper plates, and assorted “change to my lawn, this summer I will carry out a single loaded dumbbell and perform alternating sets of snatches, clean and presses, and clean and jerks. Combined with the sun, a water hose and a fun loving wife, this could open a whole new chapter in my training journals. The variations of lifts are countless: deadlifts, sidebends, swings, and even punching/benching motions. You may want to try something I “invented: a new drill called “waiter walks. With the weight held at arms length overhead, walk until you can’t walk. Similar to Farmer Walks, this really makes the support muscles cry for mercy.

I think I might also wear a lion’s pelt draped over my shoulder, too. As long as I am going back in time, why not?

Hypers are a real gem, but we found that the upper half was helpful for building the back and the lower half (if this makes any sense) was not so important. So, we focused on a full high position and control to about halfway down (actually more than half) then squeezing back up. The bottom part was all momentum and seemed to over stretch me sometimes. You can ignore this advice, if it doesn’t make sense, but the concept helped me.

As for sets and reps, I just do/did them until I feel my spinal erectors fill with blood. It is like a balloon filling up; each rep, they just seem to load up. 5-8 reps at most, I see no need for more.

One thing you need, however, is someone you can trust. I have done them by myself by doing an upside down lat pull, but it is much better to have someone raise the bar or plate to your head.

Having a lower hyper bench is the best way to help your spotter. At the PBBC we used a hyper set-up that was about two feet off the ground. You can use the O bar with weights, but you will find that you need to stick to 5′s, 10′s and 25′s with a lower hyper, otherwise the weights hit the floor. Higher than a few feet, wouldn’t be a problem, I guess.

We also had 102.5 pound “blue plates.” These were great for workouts. Dick would lift them up and I would hold the top position than do reps.

I see girls at spas doing a hyper like exercise, but they go fast and don’t add weight. It would kill your lower back after a few weeks. I think weights make you stay under control and do a better hyper. I would recommend using weight probably from the first day, just to do the lift correct.

So, get a buddy to load up the weights across your neck, just like squats, and start hypering.

Dave Turner’s Hercules Barbell Club Method
Dave’s beginners use a simple program for learning and developing the rudiments of strength. Three days a week, the team members go through a ten minute warm up of shoulder “dislocates” with broomsticks, overhead squats with broomsticks, followed by front squats, then a “cardio-like” few minutes of snatches and clean and jerks with the broomsticks. Dave reinforces the terms used in lifting: “Get set,” “Push the floor,” “Jump,” “Dip,” and “Down.”

The issue of flexibility
Forget it! If you want it: squat, dip, straight leg deadlift. If you want more: overhead squat. If you really want more: guess what? Olympic Lift! Don’t try to truly increase flexibility during your warm ups…as you continue to train day in and day out on the O lifts your flexibility will quickly improve.By the way, Clarence Bass has an FAQ that argues this same point. Read this.

Performance of the Lifts
One thing Dick Notmeyer, coach of the PBBC, was adamant about, perhaps even obsessed about, was the insistence that his lifters never “power” the weight up but always take the lift to the deep position. He felt that power lifts taught the wrong pull and would fail the lifter on maximum attempts. I think the beginning lifter would be wise to follow this advice. The more experienced an athlete is as they enter the sport of O lifting the more likely it is for this athlete to find that their power is far beyond their technique. Hang in there for a few months and learn to do it right!

The Three Keys to Success in the Olympic Lifts
Dick felt that there were three keys to success in Olympic Lifting:
1. Leg Strength
2. Pulling Strength
3. Tranquil Mind

What to focus on during the warm ups?
Whether Olympic lifter, shot putter or discus thrower, one constant point that seems to resound throughout the great ones is “work on your weak points.” Perhaps that is the reason that athletes used to emphasis general conditioning over specific peaking programs; the athletes were constantly reviewing and restructuring due to a new awareness of a problem area. Some writers seems to appraise this as a false modesty when the athlete would respond “really, I’m not very good/strong at this or that,” yet it seems part of common mentality that you are only as strong as your weakest link. John Price, a good friend of mine and former Washington Huskie discus thrower, noted that this was the core principle of all the training programs while he was in college. The athletes at Washington learned this from a Swimming Coach who monitored the varsity weight room. Constant, diligent review of overall trends in one’s training, usually from studying training diaries or from a trusted friend’s advice, designed the next training program rather than a glossy magazine in the drug store. Use your warm up to review and CONQUER your weak points!

Power Clean
Power Snatch
Clean
Overhead Squat

An article on one of America’s lifting superstars once summarized his secret with this wonderful line: “through extensive work on the powerclean had laid the foundation for John Terpak’s versatile athletic success.”

The Russians noted in the 1970′s that, simply, “A lifter must do many power cleans and squats to succeed.”

I’m also convinced that power cleans are one of the “secrets” to gaining muscle weight.

Most guys I have worked with have improved their clean usually by improving their snatch. You may want to try adding clean grip snatches to your program. From the knees,  clean grip, snap the bar to the overhead position in one move…light weights to start.

Cleans, like Benches, are nice at first because you add weight nearly every workout, then you seem to hit a wall. I tried pounding my head against that wall for years, but discovered, to my great relief, that walking around the wall is easier. So, try some variations, add some more general work like sled dragging, farmers walks, and even hill sprints, and back off on the cleans. If it isn’t a technique issue, then you just have to work around it. Remember, cleans seem to have a serious “wall” that might take a
while to work around. My weight was 265. I got to that number about two or three times, squat cleaning (after I met Dick) it, then clean and jerking it…finally, I breakthrough to 270.

Dick goes to the Olympics, I go up to the Sports Palace and Clean and Jerk 303 with my Dad. Moral??? None, really, save that all the work suddenly seems to come together and you launch into a new series of Personal Records.

Military Press: but you will do 11 reps in the first 20 seconds and be praying for 3 in the 8th. Maybe the muscle groups are too small. You could add more legs as you go through, but I found that then the weights are too light. It is a tough one on the lungs as you just can’t seem to hold your chest in one place, breath that heavy, and push through your chin.

Clean Grip Snatch: good idea on paper, bad in practice.

I tried Clean and Press and just thought I would try these. Your traps just roast! It would be great for a wrestler type though. The first two minutes are too light, the last two are very hard.

Clean and Press: The problem is getting a handle on reps.

It might be an idea to do this:

First 20: Clean
Second 20: Press
Third 20: Clean
Fourth 20: Press…repeat for all four minutes.

Doing clean and press is hard as you take up a lot of seconds with each attempt and you don’t seem to “get going.’ Try it and you will see what I mean.

Full Olympic Lifts: Good idea, but you only get about two attempts in…too much bar movement, physical adjustments. If you choose this, try “Clusters” instead. Do 8 perfect reps with a 10 second rest in between each…rest for two to three minutes…repeat for three cycles total.

The problem with Tabatas is that you have to work a bunch of muscle groups…but not too many. The lift has to have a long stroke, but not too long. If you go from the floor to overhead, like a power snatch, you won’t get many reps in. If you do wrist curls (if you are just a nerd) you could get 40 in the first 20 seconds.

That is the process that I went through to settle on the Front Squats. Oh, you also have to use a bar, not bodyweight. You really need to have weight selection to adjust from workout to workout.

If you do Tabata Front Squats with Chains, you will still struggle to sit down two days later.

I think it helps the nervous system, but there is no question your heart and lungs are working. It also speeds up the metabolism, if such a thing happens.

Here is my original post:

After I posted that “little gem” from Strength and Health, I have been struggling with finding an alternative (for those who know me, read “cheap”) to using the rack for those Deadstop front squats.

Well, a while ago, someone mentioned sawhorses, so I picked up an “adjustable” set. Along with, “Easy assembly,” adjustable is the biggest lie next to “world’s most beautiful women inside.” (I just got back from New Orleans and…well, I tell you later).

Dave Turner noted that I got stuck at a certain point recovering from cleans and we measured the bar about 36inches off the ground. Fortunately, the “easily adjustable” sawhorses did get to 36 inches.

I tested the height with a bunch of easy ones. I just put the bar across the two and did 135 and 205. Then, I moved to 255, 275 and smoked a 295 and stopped. That is 90 percent of my goal for my next O meet (a 330 clean and jerk) and I want to build up to 330 over time.

I think the sawhorse might be a great idea for any O lifter, or any one who has problems in the deep position. I get stuck after a lot of cleans, some say it is because I am a great cleaner, others say it is because I am a crappy front squatter. But, this exercise seems to fix the problem at the source. I know Jason just finished the six week Soviet squat, which I have done before. It helped me, but a sticking point is a sticking point and this sawhorse thing seems to fix the problem. Plus, it seems that this lift is not hard on the knees. I don’t think squats are hard on the knees, but some of the programs I have done just start to make me ache due to all the reps.

So, thumbs up for this exercise.

The article referred to in this piece is from the May 1970 Strength and Health:

“Roman Mielec has been having trouble lately with his knee. He needs leg work badly, but the heavy full squatting necessary for strength irritates his injured knee. Taking a tip from Team Trainer Dick Smith, he has begun working on sticking point squats in the power rack. The lifter figures out his “sticking point” by doing a heavy full squat in strict form, while a bystander tells him exactly what point the bar moved the slowest.

The pins are inserted in the power rack at this point, and the lifter does his squats from this point. This means he is working from his weakest point and the weight he can use is much less, usually approximately the same as his best clean. And this is a top figure, for a single.

There are two ways the lifter can use this exercise. He can do sets of three, with two warm-up sets and three heavier ones, during a period when he has no contests for a couple months. An example for a person capable of cleaning 350 would be: 175 for 3, 250 for 3, 275 for 3, 300 for 3, 325 for 3. These are best done twice a week, and once a week do front squats in sets of three for positioning.

The other method is one that is used when the lifter is training for a contest and wants to develop peak strength. After a warm-up with 175 for 3, assuming the same 350 clean, the lifter does: 275 for 1, 325 for 1, 350 for 1, 360 for 1, and increases his top set poundage as rapidly as he can, as long as he does not break form. The lifter does not have to maintain an absolutely erect position in this exercise as a slightly leaned-forward position throws the stress on the old gluteus maximus, the muscle for cleaners. Eight weeks on this exercise will do wonders for anyone having trouble coming up with cleans, and its value for people with knee trouble is unquestioned, as no stress is put on the injured joint.

Could be the exercise of the future as far as the clean is concerned.