A couple of hints/ideas:

1. Practice some snatch and clean deadlifts concentrating on just doing a “leg press” off the floor, don’t change back angle…until the legs almost lock out.

2. Wiggle your toes when you do these deadlifts…see where the bar goes.

3. Touch your socks with the bar on these deadlifts…do you do that with snatches?

4. Do some snatches from one inch below the knee, one inch above and then right in the crotch as starting positions (vary the weight). Often, patience, lack of patience, is the cause of missed snatches…people start “under” before they have finished the pull. Also, you need patience to get the bar just “a little” higher when you start the back whipping and shrugging and all the rest.

Try to understand the concept of “one piece.” It is something I learned years and years ago and I call it the two rules:

1. The body comes in one, flexible piece.

2. Specificity works-but at a price.

The one piece concept is the idea that nothing a bodybuilder believes, basically, is true. If you tell me that benches are an upper body exercise, I need merely stick a fork in your calf while you bench your max. If it only is upper body, the fork should have no affect on your lift. Yet, it does. Be careful who you do this experiment with, some people take it to extremes.

Being “one piece” is the real gift of the Olympic lifts and why they carry over to Highland Games and the four Olympic throws; shot, disc, hammer, and javelin. I have a video somewhere of Soviet high jumpers doing set after set after set of power snatches to improve their jump. What the overhead squat and the O lifts, perhaps a few others too, including the front squat, do for the athlete is demand flexibility, balance, total muscular development, kinetic awareness and movement into one package.

After a few months of serious overhead squat work, you might only notice larger spinal erectors. Yet, your vertical jump and other athletic moves will increase. At the Upper Limit gym, we used to measure VJ, standing long jump and both “three jumps.” (Continuous three jumps, hop-hop-hop, or, three combined standing long jumps) Athletes would improve radically when they started doing the Overheads and/or O lifts. These athletes were also off the “learning curve” for the jumps, so any increase usually reflected training. Well, I like to think that, anyway.

As a football player or a thrower, the “one piece” idea really carries over. I always talk about Paul’s quote when he threw 182′ as a sophomore, but it is true, he really did stay together in the throw and it went far for a 155 pounder.

Dumbbell exercises would have been a great complement to his program, but, alas, I failed him. I would imagine that the king would be Clean and Press/Jerk with two dumbbells followed by Clean and Press/Jerk with one dumbbell. One arm snatches would be in that top group, too. Basically, start thinking about the longest movement a bar or dumbbell can go, still held in the hands. That is why Reverse Grip Wrist Curls have little value for “one piece” training. (Note: don’t mistake me here: grip strength has an enormous value and needs to be considered; however, small movements don’t IN THIS STYLE OF TRAINING)

If you can do swings, I would imagine these would have a place, too.

For an example, I offer you the world’s simplest program:

1. Two Dumbbell Clean and Press: start light and go up to max.

2. Overhead Squat: Mix reps each workout. 3 sets of 8 with a minute rest OR 5×5 OR 5×3 OR Pyramids OR multiple Pyramids, aka “Waves”.

Go home. Repeat two days later.

This is almost exactly the program I recommend during the peak season to throwers, although I would probably tell them now (November of 2000) to do one arm clean and press as it seems to strength the obliques. It is not a bad program, but it assumes a large base of general strength and an accumulation of specific skills, tests, and other training.

The concept of “one piece” always needs to be tempered with “specificity works-but at a price.” If all you did was snatch and clean and jerk, you would get very, very good in those lifts. If you did them for seven hours a day, six days a week, you would get even better. Or get crushed. Lynn Jones calls this “the Bulgarian Butcher System,” if you survive, you thrive.

Doing just overhead squats and a little ab exercise at the peak of track season keeps the athlete together as they literally burn up before your eyes. Throwing the disc and assorted drills for nine months really starts to “pay the price.” So, I think if you want to be good at overhead squats, do them three to five times a week KNOWING that everything else is going to suffer to some degree. That’s “the price” of specificity. However, you will also master the movement and reap the benefits of training a full body lift.

Try this stance idea:

Pulling stance: Jump a couple of times for height. Have someone note where you naturally seem to “take off” from. That is your pulling stance.

Squat stance: Note how you land. Very often, for a lot of people, that is the “natural” squat stance. Generally, we land toes out, “hip-ish” foot placement. Try it. It often works a lot easier than trying to explain “shoulder width” or whatever.

For example, Dick emphasized that you simply clear the bottom pin in rack work, you don’t slam it into another pin to increase the load. The perfect weight is one that ALL YOU CAN DO is clear the weight off the rack and hold it for all you got.

Second, Dick was very clear that one quickly overtrains in the rack…but doesn’t notice it at all. I found the same thing in 1991. I went on a serious imitation of Bill March’s program and got very strong, then pulled my right trap. In fact, Paul Northway commented on my training about a week ago…”God, you jerked 315 off the rack without ANY warmups.” I got seriously strong and badly overtrained mixing programs.

This stuff works!!!

Now, this year, after talking with Dick, I went into my Deadstop Front Squat program to cure my sticking point.

I noted a few things:

1. Six singles MAX! In fact, I think it might be less now…a couple of warm ups (Dick wouldn’t agree with this, but I don’t just clear the bottom position, I stand right up, so the weight would actually be less)

2. I like two sets of five with 50% of the estimated max in the full motion before I start doing the deadstops. You know, 165 x 5 x 5 in the front squat to get ready. I tried them cold and it works, but I also noticed that my hips (the psoas) killed me the next few days. Of course, I am a geezer, so you young bucks might not need it.

3. I would agree with Tom that one day a week is good and you could do three if only doing one move in the rack. This is going to be an experiment of one…what works for you and your weak points. I liked three days a week for about two weeks then fell right off. Two at the most would work for me, I think.

4. Be sure to be honest about your weak point. I had Dave Turner look at my Clean recovery, not my front squat. Get the point where you slow or noticeably “gear change.”

With that, the older guy also needs to address specific hypertrophy issues. Now, be sure to look up tonic and phasic muscles and you really want to build up the deltoids, triceps, rhomboids, and glutes with explosive big movements. Doing stuff like Double KB Clean and Press or Double KB Clean and Front Squat will do a lot for you. At the same time, you need to do some flexibility work , but just what you need. I find stretching the pecs, the hammies, the hips psoas and the calves to be plenty. Absolutely, things like Bikram Yoga are great, but you can get by with much less.

Don’t be afraid to do workouts like my 2-3-5-10 press workout that emphasize one weight but you get 20 reps fast. Do that five times and you have 100 reps…good for hypertrophy, yet little damage to the system.

Passion can come back through some hypertophy and a little fat loss. Take your Vitamin D, follow Atkins’s induction (see the recent books) and get in the sun. For supplements, do stuff like ALCAR and ALA and more fish oil than you think. Also, pound down the orange flavored sugar free metamucil. Drink your water. And….a big one…donate blood five times a year.

Honestly, that newer Atkins book, something like the companion or something, is a great thing to follow. Eat all you want of fish, eggs, meat, poultry…one cup of cooked veggies a day….3-4 cups of raw veggies and drink a lot of water. If you drink, but the book, “Martinis and Whipped Cream.” Too bad locarbcris no longer has a site, she had great low carb drink recipes. Crystal Light and either rum, vodka or tequila is a pretty good little “how you doing.”

Sleep is huge. I take ZMA, Z-12, fish oil, Alpha Male and some metamucil before bed (about 45 minutes before bed) every night. I also invested in good shades, good pillows, and I worry about comfort in bed. It’s worth every nickel to invest in sleep. If you live in a dorm, buy ear plugs, eye shades and a CD or something that will teach you to relax and sleep. Underrated advice here…

Train in two week blocks. If you do Kenneth Jay’s VO2 max, an excellent plan, do it like I do: an 8 minutes workout, a 12 and a 15. Do THAT five times every two weeks. So, week one is 8/12/15 then week two is 8/12 and week three is 15/8/12…you get the drift. Work over two weeks. If you do something like I just mentioned, week two might be three lifting sessions where weeks one and three are two. Also, you need to nail down this issue: do I do light days or off days. I can’t do light. I can only workout, so for me, an easy day is “off.”

Don’t ignore these final two things: either do Farmer Bars and/or Sprints about twice a week. I call my sprints the “Great 8.” I start off slow and taper. I don’t measure the sprints and merely strive for 4 “Down and Backs.” The idea is to be smooth and get into a sprinting movement. Farmer Bars for distance is something you also need to do. I would argue these last two ideas tie into everything I have said (see tonic and phasic…explosive glute work…two week blocks, whatever), but many people will become addicted to the gym for their answers and the answer is probably outside.

Having said all of this, remember that part of the victory is simply playing longer than anybody else. I’m 52 and I’m already planning how to beat the crap out of college kids next year. In ten years, I would love to say that these guys will be competing but I have the sense that I will be in the kilt or the ring or the field and they will be discovering Scotch.

Certainly, there is more, but take care of some of this…

If you compete, no question that the answer is “yes.” Why give up those 22 pounds that hooking ‘supposedly’ gives you? If you are just training for other things, don’t. Strap up for snatches and go hookless for cleans.

I have been trying to go without the hook more often, after reading Kono’s book. He is right…it has caused me to reexamine the feeling of acceleration. In fact, I am in the middle of an enlightenment about pulls because of this. I keep adding more and more plates lately to my snatch pulls do to the combination of better acceleration and improved grip from my farmers walks.

Kono recommends a rep without the hook, then hook. It isn’t a bad way to go.

OS build lower back strength as well as anything. They really build your spinal erectors in an odd way: sort of like an isometric but a “movement isometric.”

Just do ‘em. You will notice the difference. Also, I haven’t encountered injuries with OS either. Your mileage may vary, but the physical needs of this lift tend to make the bar lighter and the athlete more aware of self, reducing injuries.

I’m a big fan of overheads, but you need to be sure you know why you are going to add them. Seriously, they will help with any goal I can think of, but if you are going to start doing them, there is going to be a learning curve. Six months from now, they will pay off with better flexibility, better “support” structure (I know some people don’t believe in support muscles, but I do), and great thigh, hip and lower back strength. If you are doing them for sports, I think you will find an immediate carryover.

So, how to add? One idea is based on what Pavel Tsatsouline recommends: do them EVERY day for two sets of five for two weeks. First set heavy, second set is a back off.

Another is to simply make one day a week “overhead squat” day. Or, take a couple of weeks out and just do overheads three days a week. The few weeks of specialization will not retard your overall progress. Some guys act like a week or two of specialized work will kill them. That is bodybuilder thinking, “Oh no, I’m a quarter inch off my left biceps.”

Another idea is just to toss them in and do them. It would be a great complement to your front squats. I often do overheads and front squats together. They really do seem to be a nice blend.

I usually teach athletes the overhead squat fairly early. Trust me, a kid who overheads with 95 pounds will find the back squat a fairly easy thing to learn. It is an odd thing about my coaching style: I don’t teach discus throwers how to hold or release the discus. I use handled medicine balls and they do countless full turns and drills with throwing into walls or onto fields. So, they master advanced drills like “float-float-stings,” three turns and a throw. One day, with nice weather, we go out to throw the disc. On the way down the hill, the new kid asks another, “how do you hold this thing?” Experienced kid takes two or three minutes to show how to hold and release the disc. Young kid goes to ring with a mastery of the big picture that will make the implement go far. Doing it the other way, like most coaches, the athlete spends the whole first year doing standing throws trying to make the discus fly right. No carryover at all to big throws.

If you teach a kid to overhead squat, the back squat and the front squat are a breeze. You don’t even coach it, they pick it up by simply watching the kid before them. Teach an athlete to snatch, they usually pick up the clean. Show them the clean and jerk and they rarely need a great explanation of the bench.

I think we need to raise the bar high for new athletes and really demand a lot. I think the same about teaching, too.

So, dive in, so to speak, and just start doing them.

I get the bar overhead for O.Squats by snatching it from the floor. I gave my racks away a couple of years ago, so I take everything from the floor. However, when I go out to Juan Diego Catholic High School, I use their racks and push jerk them up with the snatch grip. I find I can add a lot of weight with the racks, but, for me, the amount on the bar is no longer much of an issue.

As to “how much,” it is going to vary. I had a high school boy do close to 300 at a bodyweight of 215. I always used this wierd formula I got from Mike Weeks to do 15 reps with bodyweight as a goal. It doesn’t mean you do this as a workout!!! It is a yearly or seasonal workout to test yourself. My best snatch in a meet is 314 and the most I have ever done for a single is 315. I think most guys would agree that going “top end maxs” on overheads would not have a ton of value. I like to keep the reps in the 3′s, 5′s, and 8′s. Doing two sets of five with the overhead three times a week is not a bad plan of attack. Don’t miss, by the way. Build up slowly and go deep.

I found that some variations of snatch deadlifts really have helped me:

1. Simple snatch deadlifts with a shrug at the end. Keep your back tight, push the floor away and finish with an “I don’t know” shrug.

2. The “Explosive Snatch Deadlift” Think of it, for experienced guys, as Snatch Pulls with straight arms. You try to accelerate as fast as you can without doing any arm bend. A great exercise.

3. The Kono-style snatch pulls. Finally, get into your deep position with arms extended and mark that spot, or just use where your chin touches your chest. Have someone hold a broomstick at that high mark. The broomstick should be horizontal. Then, do whatever it takes to whack the broomstick with the loaded bar. This is how I learned snatch pulls; in a few reps, it all makes sense.

I did 405 in the snatch deadlift and shrug when I was 20, but could only snatch 259. I’m sure that I have snatch pulled in the 300′s, but the first variation, the snatch dl and shrug would be MILES above that. Pulls should be no more than 10 percent heavier than your top snatch or clean, I read some where. In my case, I actually like to pull lighter, but much higher, than my usual O lifts because I like the focus on “finishing” the pull.

Some recommend bringing your chest down to meet the bar (some Romanians, the East Germans), but for my thinking, Tommy Kono got it right.

Like throwing events, the second pull does require some timing and position. I like this drill that I posted in my O lift article:

For new lifters, I stress a drill that sounds crazy, but works well. I teach new lifters to take the bar from the floor to about two inches above the knee as SLOWLY as possible, one inch a second. Why? It teaches the core truth of lifting (and throwing): proper acceleration. When the bar gets to that spot two inches above the knee: jump! That’s it. Snatch or clean, you have just learned the key principles. I taught this method to a group of junior discus throwers at the Olympic Training Center, very quality athletes, and several of them made personal record cleans within just a few minutes. Now, these were very good athletes, well trained throwers, adding ten to twenty pounds from a simple drill. But, they learned to use their legs and body to lift the bar rather than their “guns.”

What this seems to do is make your body get into the correct positions of “shoulders over the bar” and “bar sliding on the body.”

You might find people who criticize the drill, but I have taught lots and lots of high school kids to clean over two hundred and this is the key drill that stops them from doing deadlifting reverse curls to a clean.

First, I have tried as a coach and a thrower to do every thing possible to build this aspect of my throw. It is harder than you think. I would always argue a good base of ab work for any thrower. We did a variety of crunches, situps, various ground based twists, and leg raises. I found that medicine ball throws were a very valuable addition, too. At times, I became lethal at those medicine ball situps where you try to bury your training partner after coming up.

Second, the coaches who really push rotational strength training often don’t have good throwers. Or, it is an opinion. The best throws coaches train rotational strength on the field with overweight hammers, plates and “puds.” Puds are weights with fixed handle. Throwing the 35 pound weight during the indoor season used to really prepare my muscles for the disc. My best was 58’11″ with the old style of two turns and hit it. Bondarchuk, the great Russian coach, experimented with everything and he and Sedych ended up with a very simple program of clean grip snatches, half squats and a heavy over the shoulder throw to both sides.

Bondarchuk later developed a wonderful program that developed over a year. You would change exercises every few weeks, but they built on each other. I mentioned that in a past post: Clean from box, clean from hang, clean from floor, snatch from box, snatch from hang, snatch from floor, clean grip snatch from box, clean grip snatch from hang, then clean grip snatch from floor. Well, the rotational work developed along the same lines with one arm throws to two and back varying weights.

John Jesse offered a program for throwers in Track and Field Quarterly Review, June 1966. He made an important statement:
“Though timing and correct body position on arrival at the front of the ring are essential to the maximum application of “body torque,” once the athlete arrives at that position, application of “body torque” is entirely dependent upon the strength of the waist and abdominal region, primarily the spinal rotator and lateral flexor muscles of the trunk”

That statement could be said about any sport. His recommended program:

Exercise High School Reps and Sets College Sets and Reps

Continuous Clean and Press 1 x 8 to 10 1 x 12
Parallel Squat with Toe Raise 2 x 8 to 10 3 x 7
Supine Dumbbell Lateral Raise 4 x 4 to 6 6 x 6
Bent Over Lateral Dumbbell Raise 4 x 4 to 6 6 x 6
Twisting Situp 1 x 20 1 x 20
Forward Bend (Good Morning) 2 x 4 to 8 3 x 6
Side Bends (Dumbbell) 1 x 20 1 x 20
High Pull 1 x 8 to 10 3 x 6
Wrist Extensions 4 x 8 4 x 8
Bouncing Split Squat 1 x 16 to 20 1 x 16 to 20
Bend over Twist 1 x 16 to 20 1 x 16 to 20

Carol did a lot of twists, but John Powell did none. Brian Oldfield’s breakthrough training was simply pyramids of power cleans and push jerks twice a week.

At Utah State, we emphasized power cleans, push jerks, quarter squats and a power curl. Throwing muscles came from throwing. But, we also had everybody throwing over 180 in the disc. To make USU’s top twenty, you have to throw 180 and change. (BTW, this list is almost 100% Americans, with one or two Canadians. Some schools simply buy older European throwers and claim to coach them; this is a real pisser in my life. I ended my Div 1 eligibility at age 21. I competed against a guy at another Utah school ((nameless)) that was a 26 year old freshman.

I guess my point is to look at successful throwers rather than what someone says. I know that seems assbackwards, but when you talk with Anthony Washington and he tells you that he spends four months a year just doing circuit training on the universal gym in his girlfriend’s apartment complex, then nails a 232 throw, you need to reaccess “science” and review the throws as art. American throwers especially seem to do better when they focus on their strengths or local resources rather than listening to some guy at a clinic. Fortunately, we seem to be getting people at these clinics in the past few years, but we still have a major drugger giving a lot of throws clinics.

In my career, I tried everything, but I found that snatches and squats (front, back, overhead) gave me the biggest bang for my buck. Pavel T’s stuff is excellent and I would have used that in the fall and winter. No question rotational strength is important, but safely developing it is another question.

York Course Number 3 (Do one set of each exercise, 5 reps minimum, or do 5

singles without too much rest between each single):

Warmup…Flip snatches
1. One arm jerk (w/ bb)
2. One arm snatch (w/ bb)
3. Standing press
4. Squat
5. One arm overhead squat
6. High pull (to belt height)
7. Press behind neck, standing
8. Power clean or dead hang clean
9. Jerk
10. Dead hang or regular snatch

Hoffman suggested that lifters use four different schedules:

(1) Course no. 1, consisting of one set each of 10 standard barbell exercises, performed for one set of 10-15 reps.

(2) Course no.2, consisting of a similar course, but using different exercises. For example, press behind neck instead of standing press.

(3) Course No. 3, consisting of 10 repetition weightlifting movements, performed for one set of 5-10 reps each.

(4) Course no. 4, consisting of a heavy day where you worked up to your max on the Olympic lifts (including the clean and press and the one hand snatch), along with the bent press. This was a 5/4/3/2/1 day for many lifters, although the sets and reps were very much at the lifter’s discretion.

You would do course no. 4 on Saturday. If you were really strong and energetic on that day, you’d follow course no. 4 with one of the other courses.

You would rest on Friday and Sunday, i.e., the day before and the day after the heavy day.

On Monday, you would take a medium day by doing course
no. 1 or course no. 2, or both of them.

On Wednesday or Thursday you would do course no. 3, the repetition weightlifting course. This was the “medium” day.

On the other two days (Tuesday and either Wednesday or Thursday, depending on when you did course no. 3), you would have a “tinkering’ day where you did light dumbbell moves, Iron Boot work, gut work, grip work, headstrap exercises, and cable (chest expander) work. (These were sort of what we now would call “active rest” days.)

Thus, the York program had different workouts, different exercises, a combination of Olympic weightlifting and “body-building”, different set/rep schemes, Ol work for reps and OL work for singles, competition lifts in split or squat style and “power” style moves (e.g., power clean or power snatch), lifting from the hang, active rest days and a combination of heavy, light and medium days.

In a sense, those simple old courses were far more complex and much better thought out than 99% of the courses you see written up nowadays.

If you use a three day a week pressing program and want to continue to do so, you can do a simple heavy/medium/light schedule by dropping 10% for the medium day and 20% for the light day–or just drop 10-15 pounds for the medium day and 20-25 for the light day. It varies from lifter to lifter, but here’s the key: if you usually feel strong and aggressive on the heavy days and you get good workouts on those days and are gradually moving up in weight, then you are doing things right. Otherwise, you are working too heavy on the other two days of the week.

York “Weight Lifting” Course

The following course is from “York Advanced Methods of Weight Training” I recently sent a copy of the booklet to Dan John. He commented that the weightlifting course in this book, in his opinion, appeared to be better than the traditional “York 3″ that appeared in the “Four Famous York Courses” that many of you are familiar with.

I thought you’d be interested in seeing this version. I’ll use the modern terms for the exercise in most cases and where it differs from the booklet, I’ll place their name in quotation marks

Andy Fochtman

1. Clean without using legs or back
(this is a clean using only the top pull, trap shrug followed by the arm whip. Dan might know an actual name for this. I don’t)

2. Power Clean and Press “Continuous Pull Up and Press”
3. Snatch
4. Push Press “Two arm push”. This is actually a variation where you lean forward, shove the bar up and lean back to get under it. I don’t like this version and prefer the push press

5. High Pull to Chin “Pull up to chin”
6. Jump Squat “Rapid Bouncing Leaping Squat” Fairly light weights in this one

7. Upright Row
8. Press Front and Back. Watch Rocky II if you don’t know what these are. Traditional standing press followed by press behind neck, alternating from rep to rep

9. Power Clean
10. Jerk
11. Deadlift with extended Pull. “Deadlift to Continental Position”

This is similar to what Doug Hepburn called “High Pulls” in his courses, but different from the more explosive versions found in current olympic style programs. Basically, a deadlift, but you keep pulling to waist height. Calls for 20-40% less weight. Brooks Kubik likes to substitute standard high pulls to belt height for these

12. Front Squats “Deep knee bend as in squat cleaning”

1 set, 5-10 reps each.

This and the original York 3 are said to be the hardest and most result producing courses available

Comments from Dan John:

From the book, I would recommend what he called “Heavy and Light” training. Total of 15 reps, but the first set 7-8, rest “lighten” the bar, then get reps up to 15.

Maybe do a set of 5, back off to 80 percent, and do a set of five. You could even do 3 sets of 3, or 2 sets of 3.

For an O lifter, this would be general prep training, but anyone could do this program. You know, I really like this one from the book and the one arm program. I would dump a couple of the one arm lifts (two kinds of curls), but it is great.

One thing I missed the first time I went through the book was Hoffman’s week.

Let’s assume three days a week:
One day: Hard Day. Heavy and Light program, but these are truly heavy, right on your bests.

Day off before the hard day and after the hard day.

Another Day: Medium Day. Do the York Three again, but with weights (or even an extra set…three by five, maybe) that don’t tax your “nerve.”

The other day: Tinkering Day. I miss understood this: you do grippers, machines, one arm stuff (whatever you like) iron boots, machines, neck work, …kind of the training I do with my friend, Lane Cannon. Maybe sandbags or stones.

As I read this it made perfect sense. This is how one could blend “normal” training with Dino work or Highland Games training.

I’m not an expert on this stuff, but it makes sense to me.

An Excellent Heavy Dumbbell Course”–from York

This course appeared on page 36 in “York Advanced Methods of Weight Training” by Bob Hoffman, published in 1951. We get a fair amount of questions about workouts on limited equipment so here’s one for all you guys out there who get stranded with a pair of dumbbells.

Course No. 5 AN EXCELLENT HEAVY DUMBBELL COURSE
1. Thumbs up curl-two dumbbells (Hammer Curls)
2. Two Dumbbell Press
3. Two Dumbbell Swing
4. Bent-arm Pullover–two dumbbells
5. Side Bend with one dumbbell
6. Deep Knee Bend and Press–two dumbbells
7. Bent-over Rowing–one dumbbell
8. Dumbbell Supine Press
9. Raise on Toes–one dumbbell
10. Continuous Pull up and press
11. Situp on bench with dumbbell
12. Deep Knee Bend–dumbbells overhead

Andy Fochtman

This is excerpted from “York Advanced Methods of Weight Training” by Bob Hoffman, 1951

pgs 16-17
With the three days a week training system, Monday, Wednesday and Friday are the usal training days. This sytem leaves the week end free to spend with one’s family, or to enjoy other activities….

If a man works quite hard with his muscles, (Note by Andy…this refers to manual labor and not training) I would recommend a somewhat different three day training method. One limit day to build strength, for handling heavy weights for a few repetitions under the Heavy and Light System or other form of York Set system. There should be another good training day, working up to at least 12 repetitions, and an easy or tinkering day of training. A man who works hard physically must be careful that he does not make too much demand upon his nerve, he must train without straining, yet gains are made only when demands are made upon the muscles, so he MUST MAKE DEMANDS.(emphasis added) We are outlining a method of training which will bring excellent results without too much effort on the part of the trainee. When you make satisfactory gains with one of our suggested training systems, that is a good method to continue. If you don’t gain as you desire, change your system, perhaps moderate your effort for a time, remembering that fewer movements and heavier weights are not tiresome, not as nerve force consuming as working up to higher repetitions. Heavier work builds a surplus of strength, nerve force and energy.

Some men prefer to train 3 1/2 times per week, or every other day. The only objection to this method is that training comes on a different day each week, on Sunday every two week

Hoffman mentions that he used this system to build 30″ thighs. Use this program 2 days a week with 1-2 other days devoted to upper body work

1 set each 10-12 reps, never more than 15, with the exception of calf work. Hoffman believed super high reps during leg work, gave a man dead legs. That is, no spring.

1. Full Squat on Toes w/barbell or dumbbells
(150 lbs should be enough for an advanced man)
2. Calf Raise
3. Full Squat
4. German Goose Step (essentially marching German style with weight on shoulders)
5. Partial Squat* 6-12″ At least 15 reps
6. Straddle Hop 20-50 reps
7. Leg Press while Lying**
8. Running with weights, hill sprints, stairsteps, etc…either a barbell on back, or dumbbells in hand
9. Lifter’s Choice: Rapid Full Squats or Overhead Squats
10. Compound Exercise Four exercises 6-12 reps per exercise; no rest between. You may choose your own exercises. Example: Full Squat, Straddle Hop, Rapid Squat, Calf Raise

Thus you have completed a leg and calf workout of 13 sets, using a variety of exercises. If Iron Boots were available, it was suggested to continue with the Iron Boot Course (This was reprinted in an issue of the Dinosaur Files)

Note that you also alternated a heavy thigh exercise with a calf exercise to keep the program moving smoothly

*”The lowering is done slowly and the legs are straightened with a very quick movement…It is one of the finest exercises known. It is especially beneficial to those who wish to star as weight lifters. As most advanced barbell men will use at least twice their bodyweight, in reality the legs become accustomed to supporting three times the usual amount of carrying weight. This is one of the exercises which will make you light on your feet and enduring”

Note by Andy: Please note that this is not a super-heavy partial rack squat where the lift is grinded up. It trains the quick dip recovery that you use when you push press among other benefits. The goal is training for “spring” with a fairly heavy weight. Try it in both the front and back squat position, but don’t neglect the full range lifts

**Note by Andy: If you don’t have a leg press machine substitute hip belt squats or trap bar deadlifts for a direct hit on the legs without much back involvement

From “How to Build Super Strength, Health and Development with the York Leg Developing Course”
by Bob Hoffman, 1943

I plan five off days after every three weeks. Often, I max the sixth day and discover that those five days were as valuable as training. I learned about this years ago from a Soviet thrower who argued that the single biggest problem with American throwers was chronic overtraining. Bondurchuk had an interesting training idea of going 100% one week, 80% in both volume and intensity and “15%” the third week…active rest of volleyball, swimming and fun stuff. It was called “load leaping,” and the idea was to keep trying to pop up on the week after the 15% training with bigger P.R.s.

There is a book called “Consistent Winning” that talks about what you are trying to do with long term, no stop training. The author argues for several total rest days in the middle of severe training.

Recently, I went down to Las Vegas to compete against two of my good friends, Mike and Mindy. They have been training double sessions since June to prep up for a run at 2004 (Olympics). They have really improved their technique and ability to handle a load, but when the ring judge called their name, you could see that the long haul had eroded their ability to “snap.” Whether the muscles had lost their stretch reflex or their nervous system just couldn’t rewire a big throw, both struggled with nailing a big mark.

So, if you are in a sport that demands high performance, you need to take time off in some kind of intelligent plan to relax and reload. You could probably just keep putting in workouts, but you seem to have found the problem with that already.

If you do the WOD here, truly do the rest day as a rest day. Of course, if you are overtrained (high morning pulse, flu-like feelings, lethargy, generally pissed off, trouble relaxing and sleeping, difficulty concentration), you may need more than a day or two. The Soviets used to take two months (!!!) of active rest before starting a new year. Today, many O lifters will take a full year off of training (that is serious) before starting a three year push towards the Olympics.

It usually all gets back to your goals. As a thrower, I have some built in things (the season, for example) that allows me to float my training up and down. Maybe you could find a natural way to do this in your training.

It’s funny, but at 19, I would go to track meets and watch my competition start to get really wired from taking amphetemines before throwing…plus all the anabolics they did during the week.

If the internet would have been around then (before I invented it), I would have posted a question exactly like yours…if you follow my point.

My wife and I have a little motto, if you want our Christmas Card drop me an address as we always have it on the card, “It’s not where you start, it is where you finish.”

(Lincoln will remember the Nationals where I was the first to start in the Clean and Jerk among the top three…)

Any time you decide to begin the path of sports, health, or just that odd word “fitness,” you have to realize that each day and each diet decision do add up. My goals are fairly simple: at age 46, I strive to keep at the same level I was at 19. (It is actually funny in a way that you are 19 as I think about this…)

So, that, for me, is keeping my snatch over 240, Clean and Jerk over 300 and discus over 160. Each year: done, done, and done. I also train about 1/5 as much as I used to train, too.

Part of the reason is that I established good habits at 19 that continue to Bless me at 46. To me, this is the real competition, will you be able to keep on doing what you love to do even with the pressures of a career (two for me), spouse, children, mortgage, bills, pets, lawns et al?

Now, your buddies, as our other friends have posted, have ideally set themselves up to follow in the path of the balloon people that we see in Disneyville and Las Vegas. I’m not being cruel, but I sometimes want to scream when I deal with people who tell me that they can’t get in shape because:
1. They had a bad high school P.E. teacher
2. They are addicted to chocolate
3. Insert bizarre reason of the day.

I feel it starts with the choices that one makes in the teen years.

So, I feel like I am grandpa here by the way, but I do want you to keep your eye on the longer road ahead. When my dad and mom first met Dick Notmeyer (He was about 46 then), they couldn’t believe the kind of shape he was in. But, Dick ate a lot of protein, lifted, challenged himself and laughed a lot!

So, I role modeled him. I always opted for health when given a choice (well…almost always) and reap the benefits today.

Sermon over, but I understand exactly what you are saying.

Odd comment, perhaps, but “I’ve been told” that it works for a while, then you just crash. A buddy of mine used to take a lot of OTC ephedrine when it was ‘more’ legal and he would have great workouts for a while, then simply not be able to get ready for track meets. It seems to keep you in “battle mode” for waaay too long and you can’t pull yourself up for competition.

So, I would think that short term, you would see some of the benefits, but when you crash, you crash hard. In the low carb world, those who push the ECA stack note that it does it best work when you no longer feel the effects…the heart rate up, the buzz, the chill/heat, that kind of thing.

I wish I knew more about supplementing fat burners, but you may want to closely monitor yourself and check to see if the burners are really working on your fat or just making you irritible.

The ladies who taught me some tricks about fat loss argued that sipping olive oil throughout the day was the best fat burner they knew…along with eat meat/drink water/lift weights. Your skin will look great, too.

So, I would say that the problem with ephedra and stacks and all that is that it is hard to figure what made you lose fat.

If you:

1. Ate Zero carbs
2. Lift hard
3. Drink 100 oz. of ice water a day
4. Sleep 9-10 hours each night
5. Sipped olive or flax oil every few hours
6. Took ECA,

…how would you determine which did what? For me, the more I sleep, the leaner I get…usually. That is why I do all my fat loss programs in the late fall and winter when it is easier (in Utah) to get lots of extra sleep.

Perhaps try to circle a 3 to 6 week test on the map and decide to low carb the whole time with lots of sleep and water and intelligent training. Take before and after shots from lots of views. Compare and Contrast them. Then, if you still want to go that direction, add a fat burner, do the photos and see if you change.

In six weeks, you should have enough proof whether it is the supplement or the lifestyle.

I would hedge my bets on the lifestyle, but I honestly don’t know.

Honestly, other than telling a kid to get focused and small technical reminders or cues about technique or breathing, I don’t coach a lot in others.

Boris

Etch: first and foremost, you must know exactly what you are doing and have code words to get your monkey brain to focus on something concrete and let the rest of the system do what’s right.

Tranquil mind: Dick Notmeyer’s term. You must be in a mindset not to judge anything as good or bad but just let it wash over you.

Both of these are products of focusing your training and your diary work to cut away excess and keep coming back to the goal. The goal is to keep the goal the goal. So, you only judge yourself driving home or even a day or so later.

You have to trust your training no matter how wrong it was or how bad it was or whatever. You have literally just do it.

I’ve done a lot of other stuff, but these two are the ones that actually work.

One thing that has helped me through the years, especially when driving to a meet, is to listen to a book on tape this is engaging. Tom Clancy’s “Hunt for Red October” is one and so is any of the Harry Potter books. Recently, it was “The Hobbit.” The upside is that you get hooked into the adventure.

If you have to wait around, I found that Bobby Fischer’s book on learning chess, where you have all these puzzles to solve, is really good. You have to be engaged. I’ll be honest, and this will sound odd, but now that I have attained “Internet Guru” status, a lot of people want a lot of free advice. I have no problem with helping out, it is my disease, but I also need some time to turn off the switches before we start to compete.

For mental tricks, I have many, but they tend to be specific for different things I do. Actually, I think my mental set for playing football is probably my best focus. Because of the chess, the war tactics, the coaching, when I play football, I always keep looking for more ways to get small advantages. Certainly, you can see that in my throws training: when guys are just learning to snatch, I have competed at a national level. When they turn to kbells, I am an RKC…little advantages…over time. My fish oil trumps most people’s visit to GNC. Little advantages early add up.

I retired from football about 2001 or 2002, but in the league I played (I think I led the league two years in receptions…as the oldest guy by a decade), I just found little ways to keep ahead. It didn’t hurt that I was a tough matchup physically, but I kept looking for small advantages.

That’s more important than a pep talk.

Sorry for all the acronyms but I am just canvassing feedback on alternating the Program Minimum from Enter the Kettlebell on a 2 week basis with the Deadlifts and Press from Power to the People? I have recently completed a 4 week period of Program Minimum and am two weeks into the Rite of Passage (clean & pressing with pull ups in a ladder format with either repetition snatches or swings).

It’s going so far so good but I’m finding myself getting really smoked with the “dice roll” swings. Rep range is around the 25 to 40 with a 16 kg bell and doing this for any period of time greater than 4 minutes with short rests, I’m finding that my grip strength diminishes. I figure this could be improved via the above (e.g. alt ETK with PTP deadlifts).

And just for another question while I am going, what press movement do people use. Pavel uses the Side Press with a barbell (or dumbbell / kettlebell if the bar can’t be pressed) as well as floor presses. Are both presses used together or is it one or the other? Can the side press/floor press be subbed with bench presses?

Adam Marks

On the Variety days? Just Deadlift (see the book). You should have enough pressing from ETK. If not, and I think you are moving to this, try two week blocks:

PM: Two Weeks
ETK: What is it? 12 Weeks?
PM: Two Weeks
PTTP: Two Weeks
Boost or Some kind of HIgh Rep stuff: Two weeks
Repeat for a month or two more.

From there, attack the ETK’s last few weeks and get the 200 snatches with the 24 in ten minutes (laughably easy…let’s all just march out and do it as a lark, shall we?)

THEN: Return of the Kettlebell…my humble opinion: Pavel’s BEST WORK!!!!!!!!!

As you know, I’m doing the 5/3/1 and VO2, but I spent some serious time the last year doing ROTK. Several people noted how big my shoulders looked. It’s the real deal. The explosive blocks simply suck though. There are not “sucky” like in the poor planning area, but “sucky” like “this sucks.”