Food facts for weightlifters

David Rogerson has kindly agreed to write a guest article for weightlifting epiphanies and I think you will agree that it will drop an awful lot of knowledge bombs on an awful lot of people. David is the lead sport nutritionist at Podium Performance as well as a member of the academic teaching team at Sheffield Hallam University. David currently delivers nutrition consultancy services through the athlete support programme, conducts interactive seminars and workshops as part of the SHU Wellness service and assists the Podium Performance strength and conditioning programme; he is also a certified strength and conditioning specialist with the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Thanks again to David, and here it is:




The sports nutrition world can seem a little daunting to the uninitiated, with contradictory information, pseudoscience, real science and heavy links with industry making it a bit of a melting pot of useful and misinformation. Lots of popular internet sources and lay press articles are clearly influenced by bodybuilding culture where high protein diets and (potentially heavy) supplement use seems norm, and on the flip-side, it seems like much academic writing is written for full time and / or endurance athletes and can be typified by (sometimes) very high carbohydrate intakes and lower protein diets; it’s no wonder that people get confused about what information is useful and what’s probably bunk. The weightlifter, or coach, is probably wondering where the sport fits into the sports' nutrition world and what the necessary nutritional requirements for the athletes are. Well the goal of this article, really, is to hopefully shed some light and provide a little context, and hopefully, allow the reader to form some reasonable judgement and opinions about how plan and construct a reasonable diet for a weightlifting.

When looking at a sport, strength and conditioning coaches, nutritionists, physiologists, therapists, etc, will most likely perform some form of ‘needs analysis’, which provides useful background information about the physical peculiarities of a sport and an individual and his / her situation as it relates to performance. This is important, and the above staff would likely use this info to form their respective programs and support systems. When asked by folks what is the best diet, I will often be a little cagey and say, ‘that depends’, and clearly it depends on the information provided by such analyses. Let’s have a brief look at weightlifting as a sport, considering the demands of training and the demands of competition separately, which are often a little different. This also depends on your training philosophy and is something that I cover a little later, and map out some general ideas about how to create a basic dietary template. Perhaps in a future article or two I can go into a little more detail about a few specifics such as supplements, weight loss, weight gain, etc, but to get the ball rolling I will cover the major macronutrients, protein, carbohydrates and fats to begin, anyway onto our ‘needs analysis’.

Weightlifing

We all know that weight lifting is a brief, maximal intensity sport requiring masses of strength-speed, maximal strength, mobility, coordination, etc, etc. From an energy perspective, most lifts tax the immediate energy systems mostly, the ATP-PC system being most notable. The fuel for this comes from the immediate provision and recycling of stored ATP, which we have stored in very, very small amounts. Contrast this to another sport or activity, such as the marathon or even a 400m sprint where energy is obtained from a variety of systems and fuel sources throughout the duration of the event(s); fats, carbohydrates and proteins are all probably utilised to a noticeable degree from most if not all of the available systems, particularly for the marathon. The fuels required for effective performance in these activities are different and really the diet needs to reflect this. Weightlifting poses an interesting challenge to the body structurally, we see muscle, soft tissue and bone adaptations and consistent heavy loading places tensile stresses on our bodies’ structures, which can damage them. Intense training also leads to inflammation, which is important for the structural adaptations that we want to occur, but can also make us feel sore, tired and quite stiff. With higher frequency training, typical of some weightlifting systems, we have to deal with this most of the time. Each of these factors, and many more, can (and perhaps should) be addressed with the athlete’s habitual diet.

Training

This is where things can be a little tricky. Consider the effect that your training methods are likely to have on your dietary requirements: with higher volume training it’s likely that more overall energy is being used, and perhaps more overall calories and carbohydrates specifically are needed. Lower volume training requires less of each. We know that pre and post-training meals are important from a recovery perspective, and if you train multiple times per day, then perhaps you need to eat more frequently to reflect this. Maybe you periodise your training such that you have higher volume phases, lower volume phases, higher frequency phases or days and at certain points you may need to gain or lose weight depending on a few things. Again, I would suggest that your diet would need to reflect this.

However, my goal isn’t to baffle you with possibilities or to make my job seem that more complicated and scientific than it needs to be. Rather, my preference with most things in general is when in doubt, simplify. So, let’s explore some basic and easy ideas that we can all incorporate into our training.

Protein

So most folks are aware that carbohydrates and fats provide energy and protein is used to repair damaged tissues primarily, along with a few other important functions. Let’s start with protein intake, as that seems to be the nutrient most associated with strength and power sports. A topic of much academic debate, it seems pretty straightforward that strength and power sports require a good chunk of protein in their diet; most bodybuilding sources recommend values ranging from 1.0g to 1.5g x lb of bodyweight, or around 2.2g to 3.3g/kg. So using these values, a 70kg / 154 lb lifter would require around 154g to 231g or so (no need to be too specific) per day. That is a lot of protein. Certainly the academic / scientific literature suggests that are clear benefits for athletes to eat lots of protein, with values up to 2.2g /kg being beneficial; there doesn’t appear to be any additional benefits (that are measurable at this time) with values beyond that, but eating more probably isn’t all that harmful either, as long as the lifter doesn’t have any pre-existing kidney problems. This is where things get interesting. Some of the academic research suggests that people need more protein when they start new training programs, as the training represents a new stress on the body, but that over time, as people become accustomed to the training, they need less. I suppose if we look at it anecdotally, when we start a new training program we tend to get pretty sore and beat up for a period of time ( 5 x 5 anyone?), but that as the weeks progress we tend to adapt. The scientific press also suggests that more advanced trainees require less protein than beginners too, as they have become pretty effective at adapting to training loads. Well, if you periodise your training into distinct blocks then I suppose we could argue that due to the fluctuation and variation of training stresses, chances are, you may need more protein at certain times. If however, your training is much more stable, akin to a higher intensity, specific model like the ‘Bulgarian – style’ then perhaps you need less overall protein due to the comparative stability of the training. Now to keep things simple, perhaps then for those systems that segregate training into distinct training phases, we could suggest that they need an overall higher protein intake throughout the training calendar (no need to vary the protein amount because, chances are, the training phases change somewhat frequently anyway). Let’s say for these athletes, something like 2.0 – 2.4g / kg per day perhaps equating to 140 – 168g per day if my maths is correct for the 70kg chap, and for those with more stable training systems, something like 1.8 – 2.2g / kg would probably be fine, working out to be around 126 – 154g per day this time. In the real world, the values don’t differ drastically for either system, probably the equivalent of an extra protein shake or so per day, but it provides interesting food for thought (sorry). I would also add (I thought I was keeping things simple – sorry!) that when trying to lose weight / cut for a competition the relative importance of protein as a nutrient increases, to help prevent the loss of muscle mass. So if you need to lose weight, perhaps keep your protein intake consistent as you cut kcalories from fats and carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates, the energy currency

Well we know that carbs provide easily usable energy and we mentioned earlier that because weightlifting is a maximal intensity strength/power sport, we rely on the immediate energy systems for energy provision mostly. Well, during training we use up the immediate energy supply pretty quickly and tap into other energy stores as time goes on, we also use energy obtained from foods to replenish these depleted reserves when we rest and recover. The academic writing has paid a lot of lip-service to carbohydrate intakes, and we can find some pretty massive amounts being recommended to some athletes. I would argue that for a weightlifter, these values (sometimes up to 60 – 70% of your total energy), are probably a little too high. If we consider that other sports spend much more training time using energy systems that rely on stored carbohydrates and fats, like team sports, most running and cycling activities and even bodybuilding, then perhaps we can see that a weightlifter’s requirements are probably a little less given that weightlifters don’t perform so many cyclic / repetitive activities. Generally I don’t really like advising specific ratios for nutrients, as these don’t tend to factor in body-size, overall kcalorie intakes, etc, but I think that a more balanced approach is probably better where the three major macronutrients (carbohydrates, fat and protein) are eaten in fairly equal amounts, give or take a few here and there, for most weightlifters most of the time depending on some stuff I will detail below. An interesting caveat is that the more carbohydrate you eat, the less your requirement for protein (and fat) is likely to be: carbohydrates ‘spare’ other nutrients being used for energy when the diet contains sufficient amounts of total energy / kcalories. As a (very) general guide then, I recommend that values somewhere around 2 to 3g / kg per day are a good starting point if training volume is fairly low or about 140 to 210g for our 70kg lifter and perhaps up to around 3 to 5g per day if training volume is higher, which would work out to be 210 to 350g per day. If you want to work these recommendations into your current program, specifically if you have some sort of periodised plan, then perhaps the higher values could be used for the higher volume training phases and the lower values used for lower volume phases leading up to competition. Inadvertently, this can help lifters lose a little weight if the values above helps to put them in an energy deficit (where and individual burns more energy / kcalories than they ingest). For some folks carbohydrates can be tricky, so I suggest that you play around a little with your intakes to find what seems to work for you. As a guide, for most people I personally like them to eat as much food (and carbohydrate) as they can before they gain weight, the larger intake can infer some metabolic advantages and the more wiggle room you have to play with, the easier it can be to cut weight.
A quick note about nutrient timings, I like to use the sponge analogy when talking about pre/post training nutrition: after training your body is incredibly receptive to the food that you eat and will soak up nutrients and absorb them like a dry sponge does when submerged in water. Consider that the overall effect of training is to take away your body’s energy reserves and to damage the tissues that contribute to the training, and then when in this position your body is essentially crying out for nutrients to ameliorate the damage and depleted reserves. So, a big chunk of the sports nutrition research looks into the effects of ingesting protein and carbohydrate meals or supplements before, during and after training and certainly. This drip-feeding of nutrients seems to assist recovery. Perhaps I can cover this later, but let’s say for now though that eating or drinking something with protein and carbohydrates before and after your training is a good idea, and maybe having a little something during your longer sessions could help as well. This doesn’t have to be an expensive supplement, whole food is awesome, but I will say that if you are training multiple times per day ingesting a liquid meal after training could help you recover a little quicker between sessions.

Fat

Fats are awesome and traditionally undervalued in mainstream nutrition media. Most likely, this was based on research the links intakes of saturated fats with poor health. This is not something I want to discuss here as it opens a proverbial can of worms but I will say that fats serve some very important functions and that habitually low fat intakes could be detrimental to health and performance. Fats help us to absorb fat soluble vitamins as well as assist the production of important hormones and help form cellular structures amongst other things. It seems as well that certain types of fats posses’ metabolic and anti-inflammatory functions as well as helps us to feel full and improve the taste and sensory qualities of our food. As a guide, values of around 0.8 - 1g per kg of bodyweight will probably be about right, so the 70kg lifter will probably ingest around 58 – 70g per day. Personally, I would opt for the higher value, but that’s just my preference. What types? Well don’t be afraid of the animal-based saturated fats, so please do eat red meat, dairy products, butter and whole eggs but try to balance this out by being sure to ingest other sources of fats too, particularly monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. We can get these from things like olive oil, nuts, seeds, fish, avocados, flax seeds, etc. Probably one of the easiest ways to make this stuff work is to use some olive oil each day, eat good quality sources of meat and eggs, and have some fatty fish regularly. I would also recommend a fish oil supplement too and anecdotally, they do seem to aide recovery and help some folks with joint problems when taken daily due to their inherent anti-inflammatory properties, something to the tune of 6g or so depending on the strength of the product you buy.

Fluids

Simply, the more you sweat the more you need to drink. Maintaining a hydrated state will help an abundance of physiologic and thermoregulatory processes, and remember, the body likes to maintain homeostasis, or essentially an even keel, like anything, if a little is good more is not necessarily better. You can drink too many fluids which can dilute the concentration of important minerals in your body. Outside of training times I would say drink when you feel the need to but be sure to maintain a clear urine colour; you should urinate every couple of hours or so too. During training, just be sure to drink something and if you want to get a little more technical, perhaps weigh yourself before and after training and be sure to replace any weight loss with fluids. Roughly 1kg or weight loss will equate to 1 – 1.3L of fluids.


Competition

Let’s discuss some of the competitive demands and how this relates to food. Firstly, the lifter needs to weigh in, and so for everyone but the superheavyweights, this is probably your first concern on competition day. For most, this means dropping bodyweight be it through fat loss, water loss or a combination of the two. Clearly diet is hugely important for these to be achieved without detriment to a lifter’s performance and is something that we can manipulate to good effect. This is perhaps a topic in detail for another day, but a strategic reduction in overall energy and carbohydrate intake in the days / weeks leading up to a competition, plus a little water manipulation through strategic over consumption and restriction in the days leading up as well (if needed), will get the job done as long as the lifter isn’t a million miles away from their target weight. After the weigh in it is important that the lifter re-hydrates and fuels up for the competition with appropriate fluids and foodstuffs. The goal of this is to get back into you what you took out with your cutting procedures, so, hypotonic sports drinks are handy here to get some fluids and minerals back in quickly (those drinks without all of the added sugars and carbohydrates, such as Powerade zero, Lucozade hydroactive, etc – read the labels carefully). If not, dairy products, milkshakes and coconut water will also provide the necessary minerals too, as well as plenty of other nutrients as well, but you may have to drink additional water with these. In addition to the fluids, you want to eat a mixture of proteins and carbohydrates immediately after the weigh in, something easily digestible and something that agrees with your gut tolerance. Probably little need to get overly concerned with stuff like Glycemic Index or Glycemic load at this point and go for something that you enjoy, can eat manageably and gets into the blood stream fairly quickly; sugary foods are fine for this purpose if you want to eat / drink them but remember to have some protein in here too. I generally recommend that if you haven’t eaten yet, have a piece of fruit, fruit contains fructose (and other carbohydrates and fibre) which can help replenish liver glycogen, which is generally lower in the morning or when we are fasted and is important for maintaining blood glucose. An added benefit is that some research also suggests that combining glucose and fructose carbohydrates helps to replenish muscle glycogen faster, which is important if you are depleted and have finite time before you compete. So get some fruit in you as well as anything else you eat. I’d generally recommend that you make all this food, and the other stuff you may eat during competition, to be things that you have eaten habitually for a while though. The last thing you need to be worrying about during a lift is if the worrisome gurgling of your gut and potential gassiness as you catch a heavy snatch or clean. As a rule, I say to folks that you probably want to eat little and often during a competition and snack, rather than eat meals. Eating larger portions of food can make you feel a little sluggish, full and lethargic for a while thereafter, and it seems that eating little and often tends to keep you more on an even keel in this regard. If you like to feel fuller as you lift (as I do personally), I would recommend a larger meal / snack immediately after you weigh in and then snack and drink fluids after that to maintain that satiety, rather than go for an all out binge before you lift. If you have time, eat / drink something small after you snatch, before you clean and jerk. The goal of these frequent feedings is to keep overall blood glucose fairly consistent within reason. If your blood glucose drops too much feelings of fatigue and exertion can creep up on you that aren’t just due to the exertion of the competition, low blood glucose can increase effort perception, so, if you do opt for sugary carbohydrate foods beware that blood glucose can drop rapidly (for some people) after eating them. A small amount of carbohydrate, something to the tune of as little as 10g can help ameliorate this, and some research also suggests that a simple carbohydrate mouth rinse could potentially do something similar. So, to recap, after weigh ins drink and eat and get your weight back up, get the fluids, minerals and carbohydrates back into your body and then graze thereafter. If you simply cannot eat due to nerves, go for liquid meals: protein supplements, meal replacements and flavoured milk shakes will get the job done. After the competition, well, I will leave that up to you. What I will say though,is if weight is a concern for you and you have another competition coming up, consider the overall amount of lifts that you perform during a competition and warm ups; chances are, even with all the nervous energy, you probably aren’t burning too many total kcalories and probably not as much as you would during a normal training session, and when eating little and often, it is easy to overeat if you are not careful, especially if you decide to inhale your bodyweight in food / drink after the competition too.

Summary

So there we have it, a basic introductory guide to some nutritional recommendation for a weightlifter. None of this is revolutionary stuff I would argue, but I would hope that it at least makes you consider how the amount and type of training you do could impact your dietary requirements and how things don’t always have to be static. One of the tenets of this article is that we alter our training volumes and training stressors to coincide with our objectives and goals; I think that it is generally a wise idea to do the same with our diet as well, to at least match the demands of the training with the dietary tools that enable and assist your adaptation to the training. Because really, training is a stimulus for adaptation and diet and recovery are some of the tools that enable to it happen effectively. I will get off my soapbox for a moment and say that for most people most of the time, counting every kcalorie or nutrient you eat is not necessary to simply getting better as a lifter, but I think that having a systematic approach to your diet is useful, especially when it comes to gaining and losing weight. If we step back for a minute and assess what I have written as a whole and simplify the information, in sum:
• Eat a good amount of protein, eat more / less based on your training objectives,
• Eat carbohydrates to coincide with your training volume,
• Eat / drink protein and carbohydrates before and after training, especially if you train multiple times per day, maybe even have some as well during your longer sessions,
• Fats need to be eaten in reasonable amounts and be sure to eat a range of foods that contain all of the important fatty acids.
• Drink to sustain hydration, measured by urine colour,
• During competition, replace any fluids and energy sources that you have depleted and drip-feed foods throughout the day.

But most of all, and something that sometimes gets omitted from nutrition articles, just enjoy your food. The best diet / nutrition program is one that you can stick to long term.

The Reverend's recital

Here is a guest post from the legend that is Andy Murphy. His post flies in the face of traditional weightlifting dogma, but it is the result of observing how he responds to training in the sport of weightlifting for the last five or six years. Andy's ideas are what works for him by the way, not how he would train other lifters who respond differently to the same stimulis.I respect how lifters like himself and David Woodhouse put themselves out there and find alternative methods that work for them and also allows them to enjoy their lifting. Whatever works for you, do it regardless of whether people agree with you or not. Results don't lie and if you lift heavier weights training in a completely different style to the general lifting population, wh ogives a flying fiddler's f!%k? Anyway, enough of my ramblings, here is the article, so enjoy and leave any comments below:




A happy weightlifter = a strong weightlifter

Before I go into much more detail, I would like to preface with the following my best lifts are 102 and 122 at 77kg far from amazing lifting, but I have worked hard and learned a hell of a lot along the way to these lifts.

My most important discovery on my weightlifting journey was a number of weeks ago. My epiphany was repeated heavy maximal lifting in my training does nothing for my lifts. I know this can be seen as sacrilege, saying heavy maximal lifts don't improve my lifts. Every year I make progress in my training when I am in a traditional preparatory type phase of training, lots of lifting between 75-90% and the odd very few lifts around the 95% mark. I have always set personal bests in these times of the year when strength type exercises are abundant and the volume of lifts quite high. I then follow what I believe would result in an increase in my lifting a reduction in volume and an increase in intensity with more maximal attempts in my training. What then follows is a period of frustration where I am unable to hit weights for a single that I was doing multiple doubles and even trebles with a few weeks previously in the preparation phase. This frustration period continues for a long time until I get injured and then I start again in a preparation phase and the viscous cycle repeats itself. What happens as a result of this is a lifter that is making incredibly frustratingly slow progress.

When I look back through my training diary and results from competitions/ squad sessions, I can't believe I have not come to this realization sooner. I firmly believe I need to stick with what works for me and what works for me is lots of lifting between 75% and 90 % with doubles, trebles, combos and bucket loads of variation. This training has always brought me back to the 100 and 120 region and it is around this mark that I usually become an idiot and attempt maximal weights far too often and end up below the 100 and 120 regions and crocked. I am in no doubt that the best way to train for weightlifting is a methodology based around heavy maximal attempts in the classical lifts supplemented with heavy squats; unfortunately, from experience, it just doesn't do it for me.

I believe this type of training does nothing for me for a number of reasons:
1. My technique gets worse when I am repeatedly attempting and missing maximal lifts
2. Maximal weights hurt me cause of how weak my legs are (best front squat= 142.5 best clean= 130)
3. I hate missing lifts
4. I don't find attempting repeated maximal attempts enjoyable. I am unfortunately never going to make a living or even a few quid from weightlifting. Weightlifting is my hobby so if I don't enjoy the training whats the point? I enjoy going into the gym and bursting my ass on the platform with multiple heavy doubles and trebles, pulls, squats and more variation than anyone can dream of.

It's like I always say a happy weightlifter = a strong weightlifter.

David's delivery

My hip has mostly healed and I have been back training for the last week and a half. I am now training four days a week and along with ECB, my regular job and the coaching that goes along with it, I am one busy bee. But, where there is a will, there's a way. I will qualify for the European Championships next April even if I have to sell my soul to Murph himself. In my training program, everything was going swimmingly, and the program itself was great, but I did not take a step back when I should have and I got a minor injury as a result. Lesson learned.

We have another guest article here. David Woodhouse writes about his coaching system and his experiences in the trenches. Here is his youtube channel so you can see some of his lifters go at it. Thank you to David for the submission, and as always, if anyone has anything they would like to write about, let me know and we can publish your thoughts here.


The System: 300+ Sinclair in <5 years
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'Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.' - Albert Einstein

I am not suggesting that the System is the only method of improving Olympic lifting performance, or even that it is necessarily the best method. I am simply stating that this program is universally effective in generating consistent improvement in novice/ intermediate lifters. I am perhaps slightly different from most coaches in that I can make a rational and objective argument why we do what we do.

The training frequency employed in the System was determined by simple application of Supercompensation Theory. To summarise the theory, strength decreases immediately following a training stimulus and, over time, the body will first recover and then, if no further training stimulus interrupts the process, adapt. To clarify, a lifter cannot adapt or grow stronger until he has first recovered. The challenge was to arrange training sessions such that they coincide with the peak in super-compensation.

When a lifter trains to and beyond maximum in every session I found that 72 hour period between sessions to be optimal. In reality, due to logistics resulting from the 7 day week, it is generally necessary to have 96 hours after the second session. I do however accept that full time professional lifters who get optimal sleep, a balanced optimal diet, and who take advantage of restorative measures such as massage and hydro therapy, may be able to adapt to a training program that calls for training on alternate days.

Over the last 12 months I have discovered an interesting phenomena. Two to three weeks after one begins the System limit weights will usually jump up significantly. Most likely the lifter is finally expressing the dormant strength which was already present but that was blunted by residual fatigue. Importantly once the lifter begins lifting at his absolute maximum, and not just his training or daily maximum , his need for recovery also increases. To express this differently, lifting at absolute maximum both requires and necessitates more recovery. When training frequency is too high not only will optimal supercompensation fail to occur but the athlete significantly increases his risk of chronic and acute injury. Ironically these injuries often require extended training lay offs to allow the body to heal.

A logical argument: The central nervous cannot generate the frequency of impulses required to activate the highest threshold motor units if it is fatigued. If these motor units are not activated then they will not be trained and, since they are responsible for the highest force outputs, it follows that training to improve strength in a state of neural at fatigue is at best inefficient.

I believe in the application of the SAID principle. In simple terms and applied to weightlifting, this states that the most effective way of improving the snatch and jerk is through maximum efforts on the snatch and jerk! Training frequency in the System is so low that one must be very specific in the exercise choices. I could write a detailed article on the limitations of most accessory exercises including pulls, deadlifts and partial lift variations but will leave that for another day.

It is accepted within Exercise Physiology that to train the largest fast twitch fibres an athlete must either lift a maximal load or lift a sub maximal load to failure. The System takes advantage of both these training methods every single session. A common belief is that training to maximum for prolonged periods can cause overtraining. However, according to Supercompensation Theory, a lifter cannot overtrain providing that sufficient recovery is taken between sessions.

To improve technical aspects of the lifts (an issue when training frequency is so low) I suggest all lifters, and especially novices, do 20 minutes of broom or bar work every day. This should consist of either technical exercises such as snatch balance or rehearsal of movement pattern with minimal load. I have discovered that not only are these abbreviated sessions useful in ‘greasing the groove’ they are also effective as active recovery from the core workouts.

Initially I favoured front squats as the main (only!) assistance exercise as they are more specific to the clean recovery and can be performed safely without the need for spotters. However I was also keen to gain greater benefit from structural adaptation (hypertrophy) and found that repetitions on the front squat were difficult as the upper back generally fatigues before the legs and hips. Since I switched to back squat pulling strength improved with no obvious detriment to clean recoveries.

Originally we also performed both competition lifts every session but I soon realised it was necessary to cut back. With that program my lifters were unable to fully recover within the 72 hour allotted time frame and as a result the quality of the second session suffered. Also when performing three exercises the quality of the cleans, and more significantly, the squats dropped off due to the accumulation of fatigue. By performing only one competition lift per session the lifter can attack his maximum repeatedly and is still sufficiently fresh to maintain the quality on his squats. If a lifter is overly fatigued for squatting the exercise will become a negative training stimulus, i.e. will increase fatigue without promoting any further adaptation.

Carl Johnson, coach of world triple jump champion Jonathan Edwards, once said to me, ‘do the minimal required to illicit an improvement’. That is a simple but revelatory statement. Let’s assume that the minimal acceptable rate of improvement is 1kg per month. That’s a 24kg on the total in 12 months, or 120kg over five years. How many lifters do you know who wouldn’t be satisfied with that? Cynics will say it is impossible to maintain a linear rate of improvement as one approaches his genetic potential. What they overlook however is that the rate of improvement is NOT linear because 1kg constitutes a smaller percentage of maximum as the weights continue to increase (e.g. 1kg is 1% of 100kg but 0.5% of 200kg).

A common attitude taken by athletes is, ‘I improved 24kg last year off two sessions per week. I’ll improve more this year if I do 3 or 4.” However, doing 4 sessions is not just an extra two workouts, it is a 100% increase in workload! Commonly therefore, this change does not increase the rate of progress, it actually stops it. The body cannot recover from training let alone adapt to it. Why would a lifter ever perform five sessions when they can still improve on two?!

So do away with the dogma, put aside everything you think you know about training, and give the System a try... BUT if you are going to do it be warned, you must be aggressive and totally fearless in your pursuit of those extra kilos. Do not think of failures think only of the training effect. Good Luck.




The System

Day 1
Snatch - Singles to 3 attempts at maximum, 3 repetitions at 80%
Squat - Triples to maximum

Day 2
Clean & Jerk - Singles to 3 attempts at maximum
Squat - Triples to maximum


“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results”
- Winston Churchill


Example

Lifter A, PBs: Snatch 100, Squat 160x3

Snatch Squat
50 3x2r 60 3r
60 1r 100 3r
65 1r 121 3r
70 1r 141 3r
75 1r 161 3r
80 1r
85 1r
90 1r
95 1r
98 1r
101 3 Attempts

Murph's magic

Our esteemed friend, the Reverend Andy Murphy, has written a guest blog that I hope you folks enjoy.

Some people argue about the use of various hang lifts and the usefulness of such exercises. I believe they have their place for a number of factors.

• Allowing lifters to train when injured
• Providing variation in exercise (the whole variation and injury debacle)
• Making it easier for rugby heads to do the lifts
• Skill work transfer i.e certain lifters are unable to get the bar into the correct position when lifting off the floor therefore getting them into the correct position and then working this starting position down lower until you eventually reach the floor (that’s if you believe in teaching down instead of up which I do most of the time )
• Their ability to target and develop specific strength qualities

I believe the final point is one of the main reasons I include hang lifts in my own training and why they should be included in the training of many others weightlifters and non weightlifters. This is something I have pondered for a long time and from watching hours and hours of lifting and reading various texts on weightlifting, power lifting, bodybuilding and other sports and also from seeing the way other coaches programme.

In the lifts the so called second pull/ where the lifter generates some decent speed on the barbell/ or to quote a famous American lifter where you rip the head off the lion is one of the most important areas for the successful performance of the lift. In the lifts from the floor when the bar enters the area of the “second pull” it is already moving and thus making it move faster is not too hard well should not be too hard anyway or so they say. If we can alter the conditions of the barbell at this position we can directly influence the specific strength qualities that we target. With the use of the many different hang lifts we can manipulate the conditions in which this bar is presented for the “second pull”.

The way we perform the lifts has profound effects on the way we adapt to the lift performed. With the use of various starting conditions we can target specific strength qualities that are required by an athlete or that are lacking. The use of intra- rep pauses in the middle of the lifts whether it is full lifts or pulls or squats to develop starting strength or the use of a quick reflex for lifts from the hang or pulls from the hang to develop speed strength or weightlifting plyometrics.

Intra-rep pauses are where the lifter pauses in the various hang positions either by descending down into this position before pausing or taking the bar from the floor and pausing in this position on the way up before completing the lift the latter I find further shifts the emphasis to building starting strength. It requires a great amount of effort to generate the required force to overcome the less than optimal starting position and complete a successful lift. The repeated use of these techniques enhances the starting strength of the athlete. The use of pauses in the lifts can also further enhance positioning and skill in the lifts as the lifter gets a feel for the correct positions and this is most evident with the use of pause snatches just off the floor or below the knee the lifters becomes familiar and strong in such positions and thus is more likely to hit these correct positions during a full lift. However there are negatives to use of pause such as the development of high amounts of muscular tension in certain positions which may “slow lifters down” and also the worry of lifters breaking the lifts down into two or three phases and pausing in their full lifts. However I believe with the appropriate use of these intra rep pauses in conjunction with bucket loads of full lifts benefits can be gained outweighing the use of bucket loads of full lifts alone.

A further advantage of hang lifts comes in at the other end of the specific strength qualities speed strength. For the optimisation of such qualities it is a requirement that we descend into the hang position and immediately complete the lift utilizing the full benefit of the stretch shortening cycle “plyometric weightlifting” if you may (damn you Poliquin you have written about this before I got to empty my mind. For example you take the bar from the floor with a snatch grip and stand you then descend into a position just below the knee and upon reaching this position immediately perform a full snatch without any pause below the knee. The uses of such techniques are to increase speed of movement. Theoretically practicing at higher speeds should result in the ability to lift or perform at higher speeds. Obviously using a fairly violent reflex at the bottom of the descent or hang is going to put a serious strain/ loading on the lower back but I think if they are done sensibly and introduced slowly can really increase lifting speed without the worry of injury.

Like all assistance lifts I think it is important that they are used as assistance lifts in conjunction with the full lifts and people do not become obsessed with a certain variation that they are very good at it I think if there is a certain variation that you are rubbish at it might be the area you need to address. Obviously there are disadvantages to the use of hang lifts such as lack of specificity (not the same as a full lift in terms of tempo and starting positions), incomplete range motion and many other however I believe with the correct use of hang lifts from various starting positions one can address areas of their lifting and specific strength qualities that are beyond the possibilities with the use of just lifts from the floor.
Note:
Hang = not from the floor it can be from below the knee or at the knee or above each of these have their own merits which I will not touch upon in this waffle
Plyometric= a bastardised term thrown around to mean jumping exercises for the arms and legs


Here is an example of an elite Russian weightlifter working from the hang:



If you have any thoughts on this article or wish to publish some of your own thoughts, please leave a comment below. Thanks again Murph!

Alex's accolade to the gods of flexibility

Another guest article here to whet your appetites and hopefully we can all learn from this. Alex has really helped me with my flexibility training and I think she can help you too. Here is part one of a guest article from Alexandra Craig on flexibility for the weightlifter. She is a professional acrobat and an extremely flexible lady who has took up weightlifting in December. This part of her article deals with the warm up.


How should a weightlifter warm up? That this depends on the weightlifter is a given--everyone is unique--but what remains constant? The movements and positions in which we load our bodies. These movements mean that weightlifters seem to require most flexibility in the shoulders, hips, quads and calves, as well as good spinal mobility.
To prepare the soft tissues we want to get some blood into them to make them pliant enough to avoid injury, and to work out any stiffness which will inhibit good technique. Dynamic stretching is a good way to do this and helps to develop strength in your range, which it can also be used to increase. It involves swinging your limbs in a controlled manner and gradually increasing the amplitude to your maximum range. We also want to mobilise the joints by moving them in all possible directions permitted to increase intra-synovial lubrication.

The mobility warm up which I would suggest, having taken into account the weightlifting sport-specific movements, mobility demands and need to maintain tension, is as follows:

To be performed at a good pace:

Ankle circles: 5 each direction, each side
Ankle mobilisations: 10 each side
Knee circles: 10 each side
Hip figure eights: 10 each side
Full ROM lunges, front and side to side: 10 of each, each side
Kicks, front and back: 10 of each, each side
Cats: 5 happy, 5 sad
Wall thoracic spine roll downs: 5
Shoulder shrug circles: 5 forward, 5 backward each side
Arm cicles: 5 forward, 5 backward each side
Shoulder dislocations with band or stick: 2 x 6 progressively narrowing grip
Wrist walk arounds: I don't count but usually will so this for about 45 seconds.

I also advocate the use of activation exercises, particularly for the shoulder and hip stabilisers during warm up, as well sometimes some form of CNS preparation (discussions of the details of which are beyond the scope of this article); I tend to mix the order of all my warm up exercises together to keep things interesting. I also find that most days there will be particular body parts which require more attention or time and it is important that they get it.

Here are two quick videos for the ankle mobilisation and shoulder flexibility exercises. You will need volume so that you can hear Alex's explanations:





In my own training, I trained on Wednesday and Thursday and worked up to 95 in the Power Snatch and some Front Squats with a few Power Clean and Jerks thrown in for good measure. This is my recovery week so I am doing three sessions in total to get ready for training in Amsterdam next Wednesday for five days with Zag.

Eamonn's experiences

Here is a competition report written by Dr Eamonn Flanagan, who lifted in the Scottish Open on Sunday. He works with the Scottish rugby union as a Strength and Conditioning coach and is based over there. Here is a link to other guest articles from the past year, smoe of which have been written by Eamonn. They have been appreciated by myself and others, so thanks again to the man who helped spread Trexabol throughout our beautiful island.

The 2010 Scottish Open was held in the Glasgow Palace of Art. The Palace has two gyms. A powerlifting and weightlifting gym, home to the Palace of Art Weightlifting Club, was hosting a powerlifting competition. The other gym is a high performance sports gym, run by the Scottish Institute of Sport and home to the Glasgow Warriors Rugby team. It hosted the weightlifting competition. With the two competitions running at the same time there was a lot of lifters and spectators milling about and there was a good buzz about the place. The lifting began with female lifters. The top female lifter was Amy Hamilton, and under 20 lifter from the Palace of Art Weightlifting club who snatched 67kg and clean and jerked 80kg in the 63kg class. Georgi Black from the Kilmarnock Weightlifting Club also impressed with a 73kg snatch and a 93kg clean and jerk to win the 75kg class.

In the lighter men's weight classes there were some impressive performances from young lifters from Kilmarnock Weightlifting Club and the Palace of Art Weightlifting Club. There is alot of young talent in Scottish weightlifting and there should be alot of competition for places at the 2014 Commonwealth Games which will be held in Glasgow. The top lifter in this first men's session was Mark Middleton of Edinburgh University. Middleton, who has competed in Ireland on a few occassions, has recently dropped down to the 62kg class. He opened his account on the day with a 92kg snatch and finished with a very impressive and hard fought clean and jerk at 121kg.

The Kilmarnock Weightlifting Club continued its dominance with victory for Kyle Pearson in the 85kg class. He made all three snatches, each better than the last, to finish on 103kg. He clean and jerked 125kg to seal the win over Palace of Art's Mark Fitzpatrick by 8kg.
Following the men's 85kg class, I began my warm-up. Its not every day one gets to warm up beside a former Olympian and a future Olympian. On the platform to my left was Sydney 2000 Olympian Tommy Yule while to the right was London 2012 hopeful Peter Kirkbride. Tommy snatched 155kg in the 105kg+ class at the games in Sydney. Peter Kirkbride is currently the number 1 ranked British lifter and in the driving seat for a place at the 2012 games. With such lifters in the room it made for a good atmosphere and it was interesting to watch the contrast between both lifters respective warm-up style. Yule began with several sets of muscle snatch making a number of lifts with 70kg and 90kg before dropping back to 70kg to hit quite a few full snatch singles. Kirkbride started his energetic warm-up with a few short, intense bursts of jumping rope and some very explosive empty bar and 60kg hang snatches and power snatches.

Due to some confusion in the timings of the session I was left with a little longer for the warm-up than necessary. I ended up hitting 60kg for 7 or 8 singles as I got a handle on what was happening on the competition platform and how long until I opened. I moved through two singles with 70 and two with 80 before a final warm-up with 90kg. I was then left with very little time to make my way to the platform for my opening attempt at 93kg. I was a little rushed but the weight was routine and I made it fairly easily. I called for 97kg next. It felt light but I let the bar stray too far from my body and I missed it out in front. I took 97kg again and kept it tighter to the body and felt like I made it easily as I received it overhead but perhaps I relaxed a little and it began to drift in front. I chased it a couple of steps forward and held on to complete the lift successfully. I was a bit disappointed with a sub 100kg snatch as I feel I should be hitting 100kg+ more regularly at the moment.

Peter Kirkbride and Tommy Yule continued through their warm-ups. Both lifters seemed confident and composed in the warm-up room. Kirkbride nailed a solid 135kg snatch (see video) before taking the platform for his first attempt at 140kg. From here Kirkbride began to suffer technically in the snatch. There was impressive power and speed on the bar with each attempt but the bar seemed ever so slightly out of place each time. He missed three attempts at 140kg to finish without a total. He didn't re-appear for the clean and jerk. Kirkbride lifts in the European Championships in a couple of weeks time Although he had an off day here, I know from previous experience how impressive a competitor he is and I am sure such a massive competition will bring out the best in him.

Tommy Yule made 137.5kg in the warm-up room (see video) before a warm-up miss at 140kg. On the competition platform he made no mistake and put the 140kg away confidently. Despite missing his second and third snatch he was still on course to make the 105kg qualification total for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

I timed my clean and jerk warm up much better and was much more economical with the number of lifts I did. I began with some bar work and power clean and jerks at 60 and 80kg with a real emphasis on a complete pull and catching the bar as high as possible while whipping the elbows through as quickly as possible. I then took full clean and jerks with 100, 110 and 120kg before taking 130kg on the competition platform. The clean was routine and the jerk felt much snappier than it has in training. This was just the 2nd time in 2010 I had attempted 130kg. I went to 133kg next as I had set myself a pre-competition target of a 230kg total. I left the clean a little in front and as a result caught it with a slightly rounded, weaken back and struggled more than I should have with the recovery. I pushed through though and the jerked followed. I went to 135kg next and the clean felt much better. I finsihed the pull well and caught it in a nice, stable upright position. My leg strength is not particularly good at the moment so although I was in a good position, the recovery was hard work. I drove the jerk and chased it forward a little but just made the lift.

Tommy Yule secured his qualification with his first clean and jerk at 182kg before two misses at 190kg. His 351 Sinclair points meant he finished the competition as overall best lifter.

Saturday's spinning barbells

It was the first day of our squad session today and it was a sterling success. I will write a post on the full weekend tomorrow or the next day. On Wednesday I worked up to three Power Snatches with 90kg and three reps with 124kg in the Clean and Jerk and a triple with 165kg in the Back Squat. I took a day off on Thursday and had an active recovery workout on Friday.

Here is a guest article from Garret Stack which many people will find interesting:

Training the will to win

While on holidays lately in the States, I was lucky enough to meet and train with Danny Mc Dermott and some of his lifters.

I had emailed Danny a couple of weeks previous to flying out inquiring about a place to lift while on holiday. He let me know that I was more than welcome to come over and to contact him when I was ready to train.

I arrived at the facility located in a large sports training franchise on a Thursday evening, Danny arrived a couple of minutes later. I went over and introduced myself and we went out onto the platforms with Danny’s lifters starting to arrive in shortly after that.

The first thing I noticed was the great rapport Danny had with all his lifters who were all quite young 12- 16 years old. It was great to see how enthusiastic all these young lifters were and how much enjoyment they derived from their training.

If they want to compete Danny’s lifters train 5 days a week Mon –Thurs plus a max day on Sat. His overriding emphasis with his young lifters is on technique, as he says himself ‘’ Technique is forever, strength comes and goes. ‘’

Or to quote Tommy Hayden ‘’ Never sacrifice technique for weight’’.

He is also a proponent of getting the kids to begin weightlifting at a young age (at 12 if not before) and is of the opinion that skill in weightlifting will make any kid a better all round athlete no matter what sport they end up in . After all in what sport does it hurt to be stronger, more explosive, with great flexibility?

It is this point of helping to round out the child’s athletic development that has proven to be a good selling point for parents and how Danny sees the future of weightlifting in the US, not having to convert football players etc at 19-20.

One of the problems facing any underage coach is the unrealistic expectation level of parents, especially those living vicariously through their children. Danny’s belief is that children should be taught that sport like life is all about the journey.

He believes that individual sports like weightlifting encourage focus and honesty in the competitor, if you don’t make the lift you can’t look over your shoulder at teammates and blame them!

He has seen obese children lose weight and become healthier, awkward kids gain co-ordination and shy reserved kids gain a level of confidence from their achievements in weightlifting. He enjoys watching his athletes succeed and gets a lot of satisfaction at having a hand in their achievements. He also feels that for everybody, but especially young kids and teenagers, weightlifting gives much more than it takes.

The benefits of a strong mind and body and aspirations achieved instil confidence and belief in the lifter which they will carry with them wherever they go.

Or as Danny calls it they get ‘’the will to prepare to win’’.

Danny’s method of teaching children is technique first - strength second, with emphasis on full ROM movements and good flexibility. He starts with a general GPP program; chin ups, pull ups, dips, skipping rope, box jumps, handstands and push ups. As he explains if a kid can’t move and manipulate their own body how can they be expected to perform a complex lift with a barbell like the snatch or clean and jerk.

His lifters can expect to compete every 6-8 weeks with the main goal to qualify each lifter for the school age nationals.

In order to prepare his kids for the meets Danny controls the weights they lift very carefully. Every Saturday on Max day their numbers will increase incrementally but with something left in the tank. So every week his kids walk away successful but knowing there was more there. The success breeds confidence, the incremental increases breed hunger for the bigger numbers.

Danny’s son Shaughnessy is a nationally ranked - 105kg lifter in the US and is currently at the weightlifting program in LSU Shreveport under Dr. Kyle Pierce . http://www.lsus.edu/weightlifting

Shaughnessy started weightlifting in high school where Mike Burgener noticed him at a meet and told Danny to keep him weightlifting. Mike then mentored Danny and taught him how to coach weightlifting. As well as making the trip to Mike’s gym pretty regularly Danny set up his own garage gym where he coached Shaughnessy and others. He now operates out of a commercial sports facility where he has 4 platforms and equipment to train around 10 lifters at any given time

Danny Mc Dermott if you haven’t guessed is of Irish extraction and very familiar with Ireland, having been here on numerous trips mostly to accompany his daughter who was a competitive Irish dancer. He is involved in the friends of Ireland organisation and has extended an invitation for any Irish lifter visiting LA/Orange County to come and train with him.

Danny’s own background in the strength game started when he was 12 years old. He got a job in Whittier health club, a local gym. He lifted weights to help with Football and Track but by his senior year in High School he had dropped all other sports and just lifted.

He was a successful bodybuilder and powerlifter picking up quite a few titles along the way before injuries to discs in his neck and lower back forced him to retire.

He also had to deal with a heart attack at age 36 which he attributes to his previous steroid use as a bodybuilder and powerlifter . He has quite a lot of information about this on his website

http://dannymcdermott.com

I hope this article is of interest and I hope that I managed to convey a little of my impressions of Danny. I would recommend anyone reading this finding themselves in LA/ Orange County to give him a call and I have no doubt you will receive as warm a welcome as I had .

Thank you for this Garret, I found it very interesting and motivating. Anyone else who would like to write up a training report or a guest article for the blog, leave a comment and your email address; they are always welcome!

Tuesday's throwback to old times

This week is my recovery week and as I am busy in work, I intend to use it. Yesterday I experimented with a much wider grip in the Snatch and it felt really comfortable. The only problem was that I found it even more difficult to keep my back locked. If I can sort this out, the wider grip would be ideal. I also Front squatted up to an easy single with 150 just to keep the legs active.

I got an email from the legend that is Jimmy Jennings and this is what he said:

Hi Barry,

I don't know if you have seen this piece. About 1984 or 1985 a group of old members of the Hercs had a get-together at a bar/club in Capel Street.
Myself, Patsy and Liam Stewart and a couple of other committee members were there. The ex-members who numbered about 10 or 12 were all in their late 60's and older. They most likely have all pased on now. I asked them to write up something about the old club. Some time later I received this piece from Eddie O'Regan. It was typed out on old type-script on flimsy paper. When I recently re-typed it I realized how well it was written. It's very funny and gives a flavour of the old club and the times. If you have not seen it I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Your piece on what it is like being a weightlifter reminded me.

Jimmy

Well, here is that article and I hope you will agree that it is both fascinating and very well written:

EDDIE O’REGAN’S STORY

It was in the “Mail” one night, about 1937, that I came across a short letter that was to have a very important influence on my life. It was from the secretary of the Hercules Wrestling and Weightlifting Club, and advised that there were vacancies for new members. The address was at the rear of Ormond Quay, and I rambled along one night with a companion, to investigate. I had never heard of weightlifting up to this and hadn’t an idea what it was all about. But I was always interested in wrestling and was curious to see trained wrestlers in action.

With a friend I wandered down an ill-lit lane and came to a large shed built into the rear of a decrepit building facing the River Liffey. A wicket door was opened to our knock and I stepped into the club. I stopped dead at the first sight that held my eyes. A young man was standing on a low wooden platform, about five inches high, and was heaving overhead a great pile of iron. But what arrested my attention was, to my neophyte eyes, his superb physique. He wore only bathing trunks, his body was tanned and glistening with sweat, and muscles that I had never seen before, except in pictures of Greek athletes, were rippling and bulging under the taut skin. He let the heavy bar down to his shoulders, and in a quick motion dropped it to the floor with a great clanging of metal. It was probably meant to impress us. It certainly impressed me. I was an immediate and enthusiastic convert.

I joined the club that week and came three nights a week to work out, concentrating on weight training for the first few months. The premises were primitive. A wrestling ring took up half the floor area. The equipment consisted of Roman rings, a heavy punch bag, an abdominal board, and a small supply of weights and bars. There were no adjustable dumbbells, and only two or three impressive looking bells of about 50 or 60 lbs each. A few skipping ropes and a large fly-blown mirror practically completed the meagre fittings. A rough-looking cold shower had been fitted in a tiny compartment off the dressing room. That was the Hercules Club when I joined it but what it lacked in fittings it made up in enthusiasm, particularly among the few devoted founder-members who had built the whole thing themselves, from nothing. They had scraped and scrounged the few bits and pieces together practically out of thin air. Considering most of them were unemployed and there were no such thing as grants or loans for this sort of effort, it was a remarkable achievement. They had even constructed a collapsible stand that was generally stowed on the steel girders of the roof. It could be assembled for a “show” and could hold about fifty or sixty people on five or six tiers.

The members were a mixed lot, from various walks of life and every age. At this time, and for some years, this club was the only wrestling and weightlifting club in the twenty-six counties, as these sports had a minute following. The club, when I joined it, had one young doctor, a seaman, a plumber, a couple of fitters, a sprinkling of clerks, civil servants, a dustman, a few factory workers, electricians, musicians and one or two with their own business. The wrestling trainer, George Dale, was an Englishman who had been bantam-weight champion of England, a first-class wrestler. There was no instructor for weights. You pottered away by yourself, depending on whether you could get a bar or enough discs, and followed one of the Bob Hoffman courses pinned to the wall. After about six months of a strenuous routine on the bars I noticed a definite improvement in my physique and a remarkable feeling of well-being and glowing health.
It was a great delight to cycle to the club after tea, spend about two or three hours training, finishing with a short wrestling session to work up a sweat and ending with a cold shower that would send blood tingling through every vein in your body. Lively and varied discussions were held in the dressing room. Diet, exercise and tales of prowess in various sports were common, especially arguments about the relative merits of old-time boxers, wrestlers and strong men. The highlights of the careers of Tunney, Dempsey, Johnson, Fitzsimons, Max Baer, in boxing; Frank Gotch, Hackenschmidt, The Terrible Turk, The Gorgeous Greek, in wrestling; Louis Cyr, Sandow, Apollon,Charles Rigoulet, Arthur Saxon, in the iron game, and many others whose names I have forgotten. The American weightlifting magazine “Strength and Health” was in great demand, and copies were forever being swapped around among the weight enthusiasts.

There was always the danger of narcissism in the bodybuilding game, and particular care was taken to discourage and ridicule anyone who showed signs of the disease – spending long sessions in front of the mirror, preening and pirouetting and posing, along with exaggerated muscle fluttering. The emphasis was more on strength and ruggedness than the wasp waist and bat-latissimus types. They were vigorously discouraged. Another related passion of physical culture generally was the craze for sun tan. Once the warm weather came a number of young men chucked their job, if they had one, and spent their days basking on the rocks of Dollymount or Sandycove.

Instead of the rather aimless, though pleasant, rambling and cycling and picture-going I now gave three nights, and sometimes four,to weight-training and wrestling. I followed the bodybuilding courses assiduously and gradually worked my way into weightlifting proper. Every Saturday night myself and two other enthusiasts worked on the Olympic lifts, the press, the snatch and the clean and jerk. Although the two others were a stone or so heavier than I was, I managed to keep abreast of them and sometimes surpass their lifts. It was tremendously exhilarating to be working to ones limits, and every odd Saturday or so to put another 5lb or 10lb extra on the lift. Soon enough I was heaving overhead that magic 155lb that I had seen Al Seddon struggling with on the first night I had entered the club. I was about 136lbs bodyweight.

I kept a diary for those early years and entered the dates and poundages of all the different lifts as I pushed the limits slowly upwards, for we often varied the Saturday night programme by trying out lesser known lifts, the one- hand clean and jerk, one-hand snatch, the bent press and the two-hands anyhow. My weight increased slowly but my strength and stamina fairly rapidly. There was this incredible sense of well-being and superabundant vitality.
We put on a few outdoor shows. One, in Tolka Park, was a curtain-raiser to a wrestling match between Jack Doyle, the Gorgeous Gael, and some other behemoth whose name I have forgotten. So tyro though I was, I found myself demonstrating the Olympic lifts to a crowd of several hundreds. However, as nobody had a clue about weightlifting anyway, the sheer novelty of the thing went down well. The wrestling match between the pair mentioned was a shambles of the first order, as neither of the contestants had the faintest idea of the game and Doyle would have shoved his arse through a hoop for money at this stage of his career.

Another exhibition we did was on the invitation of some enterprising gent who was running a “fancy fair” in Rush in North County Dublin. He thought it a good advertisement to bill us around the town as “The Famous Weightlifting Team from the Hercules Club”. He offered a prize of 10 shillings to any local yokel who could lift the heaviest weight overhead. This, of course, was a great draw, for there was no surer way of attracting the young males of the rural scene than by a test of strength, as every circus manager knows well.

Well, it was quite a surprise to the few of us who travelled down by train to Rush (all fares paid, of course) to find, when we arrived, that a girl’s pipe-band had been hired to parade us in to town. And there we were, a bunch of excited young fellows marching up the main street of Rush to the tune of “all the priests of the parish won’t make me a nun”, while the juvenile population of Rush, and the canine one too, trotted along beside us, staring in wonder at the “rasslers” and strong men from far-away Dublin.

Arriving in the fair-ground we had to strip and dress in our gear under the make-shift platform. A few of us demonstrated the Olympic lifts. McSorely and another put on a rib-tickling “all-in” wrestling bout, where the yells and curses could be heard around the ground. And then, the big show, “The Strong Man Event” arrived. Unfortunately, the chap we had chosen as judge was hardly “sans peur et sans raproch”. He was an ex-army sergeant, a good fellow, but as rigid and unbending and adamant as an Ogham pillar. Tommy’s idea of the Olympic lifts would have excluded 90% of the World Champions, for if a little finger or a hair on the trapezius was out of line - - pouf! Disqualified. We had enough rows over his judging in the club, but here he was, standing with his tough, pugilistic eyes riveted on nervous locals who assayed the barbell, and dismissing them contemptuously one by one.

Frantic knocks were heard from underneath the platform as some of us tried to warn him, for imprecations and threats were being bandied around by the young bulls of Rush. But Tommy never deviated an iota from his Roman code. Finally, the strongest of the contestants had hoisted about 130lbs overhead, though of course, his arms were not locked and his body bent like a bow, his eyes popping out of his bucolic head and creases up his neck like the skin of a melodeon. Tommy said “NO”, it wasn’t a proper lift. When he put the weight down I thought that he was going to assault the judge. McSorely saw the way things were going and walked over to the sweating “strong man”. “THE WINNER” he cried, raising the chap’s hand high and a great round of applause broke out around the platform. Tempers subsided slowly as the “strong man” was handed his ten-shilling note, and a few of us led Tommy away who was still protesting, “it wasn’t a proper lift”.

Notes;
“the Mail”. The Dublin Evening Mail was a popular newspaper up until the fifties.
Jack Doyle. The Gorgeous Gael was a professional heavyweight boxer of the forties and fifties. He married the film-star beauty Movita who later married Marlon Brando. He said that he could fight like Jack Dempsey and sing like John Mc Cormack. Dempsey himself said the reverse was true.
Tolka Park is the famous ground for soccer and other events.
The Tommy in question is, I believe, Tommy Dillon who in his final days was brought back to the club on a zimmerframe and with a leg amputated to do some exercises.
The George Dale cited was the founder of the Hercules Club in 1935. He probably returned to England some years later. He remains something of a man of mystery but the club he founded endured.

Tuesday's throwdown

David Woodhouse has generously contributed a guest article and I am sure you will find that it is both knowledgable and extremely applicable to weightlifting. Read, enjoy and post any questions you may have for David in the comments section below. Here is his pb Snatch by the way:



Charlie Francis and the CNS: Implications to Weightlifting--by David Woodhouse

The importance and role of the central nervous system (CNS) was first brought to my attention through reading Charlie Francis' (semi) autobiography, Speed Trap. On reflection this is a worrying statement given that I had at that point completed a BSc in Sports Science and two gym instructor courses, but that's another story...! Due to its frank discussion of drugs, Speed Trap has been dismissed by many conservative scholars but for many people it is remains the best book about elite level athletics ever written. Francis is revealed to be a highly intelligent, analytical and 'athlete focused' coach, and the passing of time has only given more credence to his more controversial claims.

Francis was himself an Olympic sprinter but is best known as the long time coach of Canadian sprinter, Ben Johnson. Johnson's performance in winning the Seoul Olympics was widely regarded as the fastest run in history until Usain Bolt broke the world record in 2008 (Johnson ran 9.79s on a softer slower track and whilst slowing to celebrate in the last 10 metres). Other notable athletes Francis worked with were Commonwealth Champions Mark McKoy and Angella Issajenko.

Charlie based much of his training philosophy around carefully managing the demands on the CNS. More specifically, his training week was modelled on the idea that the CNS requires at least 48 hours to recover from high intensity training such as sprinting, plyometrics or heavy lifting. Charlie learned of this through discussion with top (Eastern) European coaches from the early 70s. Before this most elite sprinters (including himself) in the West performed speed work on a daily basis and therefore in a constant state of CNS fatigue.

Most modern sprint coaches now prescribe speed work only on alternate days. Between speed sessions lower intensity 'tempo' running is performed as a form of active recovery. Anecdotal evidence suggests that moderate exercise can increase rate of recovery faster than rest alone. Weightlifting coaches have for years alternated heavy and light workouts and this perhaps provides a logical reason why. As an aside, in my experience, most lifters don't distinguish enough between their heavy and light sessions. They go too heavy on the light days and, due to fatigue, not heavy enough on the other days! What results is a string of moderate workouts that achieve little.

The tempo or light sessions also serve to raise general work capacity, manage body composition and can be an opportunity to address technical errors. Clearly all these benefits are equally important to the weightlifter. In my experience however, for the novice and intermediate lifter, rest actually IS better than light lifting for promoting recovery. Perhaps until the athlete has developed sufficient work capacity, general exercise such as swimming, walking or cycling may be more effective than specific lifting on 'off days'.

For elite (full time) athletes, Francis favours the following weekly template:
Monday, Wednesday & Friday: Speed & Weights
Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday: Tempo and Calisthenics

The specific track work is always given priority over strength work in the gym in the same way the competition lifts are generally given priority over squatting and pure strength exercises in weightlifting. Observant readers may notice the similarities between this program and the 'Americanised Bulgarian' program that I outlined in my previous article.

Less advanced athletes generally follow the following program:
Monday & Thursday: Speed
Tuesday & Friday: Weights (strength)
Wednesday & Saturday: Tempo

This ensures that the CNS is fully recharged for the speed sessions but cuts total work by a third (one less speed and strength workout per week). Weightlifters could apply these templates by substituting the competition lifts for speed work and squats for strength.

Why is CNS fatigue so important?.. A fatigued CNS cannot generate the frequency of nerve impulses required to activate the highest threshold motor units. As a result, the most powerful 'fast twitch' muscle fibres are not recruited and subsequently will not be trained. It is intuitive therefore that training performed in a state of CNS fatigue will be at best inefficient. If high intensity training is repeated for prolonged periods then performance will likely stagnate or decline. This state is typically described as overtraining, and causes symptoms of insomnia, irritability and involuntary muscle contractions.

Additionally, a fatigued CNS has a compromised ability to coordinate muscle action which is also detrimental to performance in any multi joint sport. Interestingly, Francis interpreted his athletes' inability to learn new skills as a sign of CNS fatigue and would, in those situations, conclude training early. If a weightlifter is making technical errors and missing warm up lifts, the coach might conclude that he has CNS fatigue and should stop or have a lighter workout.

Francis insisted that all speed work be done at maximum intensity, but that total volume per week should be less than 1600m. By the mid 80s his athletes would run over 100 metres only once per week. By training at maximum the athlete's neural adaptations were maximised and his risk of injury in competition were reduced. Clearly Francis believes intensity to be a more important, a more powerful variable than volume! He also states that a mature elite level athlete may have to reduce volume to allow further progression and also to reduce injury risk. The idea of lifting at maximum intensity was covered extensively in my last article, 'Ivan Abadjiev and the Bulgarian System'.

Francis also controversially states that CNS adaptation can be both specific and general. The former includes inter and intra muscular coordination and is specific to the exercise being performed. The latter involves a higher output (rate coding) by the CNS and leads to improvement across all exercises. So in the same way that bench press can improve sprint performance, sprinting can improve bench performance. When considering this the reader should be careful to distinguish strength improvements via neural mechanisms from those due to increases in contractile protein.

I hope this has been a thought provoking article. For further reading I suggest readers visit www.charliefrancis.com/forum for direct insight from the man himself or track down a copy of Speed Trap on ebay.


In my own training for today, I took a word of advice from the above article and had a light snappy day which should set me up for tomorrow's training day and Saturday's competition. I worked up to three singles with 95 in the Snatch. They were sharp and fast and then I worked up to a single with 110 in the Clean and Jerk. Again, very easy and I felt great afterwards. I am starting to feel more like myself which is great. I was pretty beat up over the last week and a half and it nice to feel like I have energy again. Alex showed me a few back mobility exercises that I found very helpful in my first pull and I will do them again tonight and before training tomorrow morning.

A Christmas cracker--a report from Las Vegas: training in Average Broz, by Cathal Byrd

Our favourite son from Cork--or is it Limerick? Even he does not know anymore--trained with John Broz and here is his report. You may or may not have seen my report of training over there. There is another video in this post also. I hope everyone has had a great Christmas and trains smarter and harder over the new Year.

I recently spent a few days holidaying in Las Vegas. Even though the main purpose of this trip was to holiday, I still thought that I should take the opportunity to train in John Broz's weightlifting club as it's always great to train in a new environment, especially in the company of a coach of the calibre of John as well as some of his top athletes. Two 94kg lifters, Taylor and Rob, both Snatched a routine 120kg while both having injured backs. Fighting through the pain or what? I spent four days in total in Vegas, the third day being my session at 'Average Broz', so needless to say I was pretty fatigued from the travel and the general mayhem of Vegas by the time I started my warm-up.
The following is what I did at the training session:

Snatch 80/1x3, 90/1x3
Power Snatch 60/3x2, 80/1x2
Snatch 90/1, 95/1, 100/1
Clean and Jerk 110/1x3
Power Clean+Front Squat+Power Jerk 100/1+1+1x3
Front Squat 110/1, 130/1x3

I was genuinely exhausted during this session so I was delighted to have made 90% (100kg) in the snatch. What was pretty humbling though was that while I was making a not-so-routine 100kg snatch, 105+ junior lifter Pat Mendes was loading the bar to 190kg for an attempt at a new snatch personal best...

Pat was the first of the 'Average Broz' that I met at the gym. He's a big guy, weighing around 130kg at 19 years of age. After some brief introductions and a pretty quick tour of the modestly-sized gym (two lifting platforms, one set of jerk blocks, a few squat stands and a few sets of dumbbells...in my opinion all that a weightlifter needs, nothing fancy, but more than enough for the hard-working weightlifter) we got talking about weightlfting and I asked Pat how his training has been going. He was very upbeat and positive, even though he said he has had some injury problems with his wrist and a very similar knee injury to my own. He then casually mentioned that he was going to snatch 190kg today, to which I humbly replied 'good'. Pat's mental attitiude is fantastic, he realises that to succeed in a sport like weightlifting one has to shed all ego and bulls**t and train hard day after day. Injuries and bad days will come and go, that's a given as an athlete. Giving in to these injuries and bad days however are just not acceptable.

Pat and I began our snatch sessions at the same time and I made sure to keep an eye on him as I thought that I could learn a thing or two. My session was just a run-out to keep me ticking over while on holiday, but Pat was in it for the real thing. A few sets with 50kg, then 100kg for a few doubles, 130kg for a few doubles, 150kg, 170kg, 180kg, 185kg which equalled his personal best. Then 190kg...five times Pat tried this, each time losing the bar out in front. The first attempt was especially close. Pat was clearly annoyed that he could not make 190kg today, he has been attempting this milestone for a couple of months now. It will come though, of that I have no doubt. With 185kg as a 105+ junior, he is already at a top class international level. I'm sure as he moves to the senior ranks he will quickly become a 200kg+ snatcher, with more to come also. Obviously Pat is physically a great athlete, very strong, powerful and with good technique. With a 320kg-edit: now 350kg-- back squat he has the potential to be one of the best super-heavyweights of all time. But for me it is his mental attitude and application to his training that will take him to the level both he and his coach John Broz know he can reach.

During my session I spoke with John Broz about my own weightlifting and training in general. Like Pat I found that John posseses fantastic mental strength. He seems to be a tough but very fair and understanding coach, traits that can only make for top quality athletes. I especially liked his no-nonsense and straightforward training ethos...if an athlete has weak legs, squat. If the pull is weak, incorporate more pulls in training. But the most compelling piece of advice John gave was to build a strong mind, or the 'mind of a champion'. Afterall if the mind is weak, the body has no hope of becoming strong.

You have probably already seen my interview with John, but it is worth watching again because he talks about what Cathal discusses above:

Understanding plyometric training and its application to weightlifting: a guest article

Here is a guest article from the one and only Dr Eamonn Flanagan. He has generously agreed to host some of his ideas on the blog, so here is his bio and I hopes everyone enjoys the article and thinks about how/if it can be applied to our training. I have taken the liberty of providing some videos to support Eamonn's ideas, all of which he suggested of course! Here is a link to his other guest article on the use of creatine for weightlifters.

Eamonn Flanagan is a strength and conditioning coach with the Scottish Rugby Union. He has formally worked with Munster Rugby and in hurling,athletics, rowing and AIL rugby. He is an 85/94kg lifter and represents the University of Limerick Weightlifting Club.

Plyometrics is the term now applied to exercises that have their roots in Eastern Europe where they were first known simply as “jump training” (Chu, 1998). They are exercises involving rapid, explosive movements for the development of athletic power. Examples of plyometrics include depth jumps, hurdle jumps and bounding. Plyometric training has been shown to have a number of beneficial effects for athletes. These primarily include the development of an athlete’s power production. Plyometrics can increase the speed at which athletes can develop force and injury prevention for athletes in sports where there is a high degree of jumping, landing and side-stepping movements. Plyometrics have been shown to be highly effective in ACL injury prevention programs for athletes in sports such as volleyball, basketball and soccer (Hewett, 1996).

The training adaptation to plyometrics takes place at a neural level (Markovic, 2005). Plyometric training does not increase muscle size. It increases the efficiency and speed of muscular contraction by training the body to activate more muscle fibers with better timing during these explosive exercises. It trains the muscles to use the stretch shortening cycle (SSC) more efficiently.

The stretch shortening cycle (SSC) is the basis of plyometric exercises. The SSC is a natural type of muscle function in which muscle is stretched immediately before in is contracted (flexed). This eccentric/concentric coupling produces a more powerful contraction than that which would result from a purely concentric action alone (Komi, 1992). For example, crouch down to a half squat position. Hold this position for one second and then jump as high as possible (without going down any further). This is a purely concentric jump, it can be difficult to get good jump height with such a jumping technique.



Now try a regular vertical jump in which you can crouch down and jump up very rapidly. This is an eccentric/concentric jump. You are sure to jump higher and develop more force, more rapidly in such a jump.


This eccentric/concentric coupling of the SSC is the natural form of muscle function, and it is evident in everyday activities, such as running, throwing and jumping.

There are a number of biomechanical mechanisms that contribute to the SSC. More about these involved mechanisms can be read in this article

All stretch shortening cycles are not created equally. The type of stretch shortening cycle can be described as fast or slow (Schmidtbleicher, 1992). Different biomechanical mechanisms are used in these different stretch shortening cycles. As a result, training in the fast SSC will not improve slow SSC performance, and vice versa.

The fast SSC is characterized by very short ground contact phases, quick eccentric/concentric (“up/down”) movements and limited range of motion at the knee hips, knees, and ankles. A typical example would be depth jumps. Other examples are fast, repeated hops over hurdles or repeated standing long jumps with short ground contact phases.

The slow SSC involves longer ground contact or contraction times, larger ranges of motion at the knee, hips and ankles and slower overall movement of the working muscles. An example would be maximal effort vertical jumps or box jumps. Other examples would be single standing long jumps and single hurdle jumps.

To understanding the application of plyometrics into a training program it helps to have an understanding of the force velocity curve. The force velocity curve dictates that humans can produce their highest levels of total force at very slow velocities and in activities of very high velocity, low total forces are produced. For example, a maximal effort back squat will generally be performed at a low velocity, but one will generate a very high level of total force. In sprinting, with each foot contact, a low total force is produced but the movement speed is very high velocity. The weightlifting movements, most likely, lie somewhere in between these extremes as moderate force, moderate velocity movements – cleans lying a little more toward maximal strength and snatches lying a little more toward maximal speed.


Plyometrics' position on the force velocity curve can be seen also. They are quick powerful movements. Many sport scientists and strength and conditioning coaches suggest that for optimal athletic development one must train across the force velocity spectrum. In powerlifting the conjugate system of Westside training also works from a similar principle with maximal high level loads lifted in the same training block as dynamic, high velocity lower loads. In most weightlifting programs this principle is also included: front and back squats are high force, low velocity. Heavy pulls are next down the curve. Then the weightlifting movements themselves.

Plyometrics could then be used to train faster force production abilities. By training across the whole force-velocity spectrum, the athlete is less likely to be inhibited by a deficiency in any one particular aspect of his performance be it speed, speed-strength or maximal strength. Plyometrics are a highly suitable way for weightlifters to train speed strength. Exercises such as box jumps, vertical jumps, depth jumps and hurdle jumps are all biomechanically similar to the weightlifting movements. They are bilateral (double legged), they use the same major muscles and joints, have similar range of motion at the active joints and similar timings of muscular activation. Uni-lateral (single leg) plyometrics such as bounding and hopping drills are probably not as biomechanically well matched to the weightlifting movements. Dreschler (1996) states that plyometrics can help to decrease the time it takes for a lifter to reach maximum force and improve their power output. But, he cautions that the modality of training is unlikely to produce any dramatic improvements in weightlifting performance.

There are a couple of other specific applications of plyometrics which could be useful in a weightlifting context. The first of those involve very young lifters or very novice lifters. With such lifters, they may not be technically proficient enough to perform cleans and snatches with enough weight to illicit a good training effect. If this is the case then from a force-velocity perspective, their training could be very lopsided toward maximal strength at low velocities. By incorporating simple plyometric exercises such as box jumps, hurdle jumps and standing long jumps the young or developing athletes can get a degree of speed-strength development in their training and also learn control and coordination of their bodies. Here is a video demonstrating this principle with Scottish coach Charlie Hamilton having his young lifters perform dynamic jumps onto plates:



Another very useful application of plyometrics is when weightlifters are suffering from upper extremity injuries such as wrist injuries. Here the weightlifter should still be able to squat heavy and develop their maximal strength capabilities. They are unlikely to be able to perform any cleans, jerks or snatches however. So plyometrics can be used extensively to keep their training volumes up and to develop their speed-strength capabilities while injured.

Lifters should use a variety of slow and fast plyometrics. The slow plyometrics such as vertical jumps and box jumps are good to use first as it is easier with these slower movements to teach good jumping and landing mechanics. Once athletes have mastered good jumping and landing mechanics they could begin to incorporate low-level fast plyometrics like repeated jumps over low hurdles. The degree of difficulty of these fast plyometric exercises could be slowly increased over time. One should exercise caution with fast plyometrics however. They are more intense than slow plyometrics and the strain they place on the nervous system is likely to be higher.

Dreschler (1998) comments on the placement of plyometrics into the weightlifter’s periodized training plan. It should be limited to one or two periods of several weeks per year. This could be one or two 4-6 week blocks of plyometrics in general preparation phases of training. The amount and intensity of the jump training should be carefully limited in the phases. Dreschler (1998) also suggests that once a weightlifter has learned the plyometric movements and begun to express fast force production well and effectively that quite a low amount practice (or the mere practice of the weightlifting lifts themselves) should be enough to retain the benefits of plyometric training. This could be as simple as the lifter performing 3 or 4 sets of 3 in the box jump at the beginning of a training session in his general preparation phase.

Overall, plyometrics offer a simple and effective way to promote fast force production and to train speed-strength capabilities of athletes. Their inclusion is probably most suitable for young or novice athletes and those with upper body injuries which limit their actual weightlifting movements. The benefit of plyometrics may be less for adult, mature lifters but they could still be used to train across the force-velocity spectrum and benefits (or maintenance) of fast force production can be achieved with a low volume of plyometrics.

Monday's mouth-watering guest article

Here is a guest article on the benefits of the Snatch Balance by Andy Murphy, who is a 77kg lifter--100kg/120kg-- and a professional strength and conditioning coach. He has a degree in Sport's Science from the University of Limerick, an IAWA Weightlifting Level One coaching certificate, and he also happens to have a very short memory. Just ask Eamonn "Deadman" Flanagan--who has also contributed a guest article which you can look at here.




The Snatch Balance.

The snatch balance is an assistance exercise for the snatch. The snatch balance enables the lifter to become more efficient at receiving the bar in the overhead squat position.

The bar is taken from the rack behind the neck and held is position with the lifter's normal snatch grip. The lifter stands up straight with their normal snatch foot position and rotates the elbows forward underneath the bar. This is important, as otherwise when the bar is driven overhead, the bar will be pushed out in front.

The lifter bends the knees and then forcefully extends, pushing the bar overhead, while simultaneously pushing themselves under and driving the feet out into their normal snatch receiving position.

The lifter, after stabilising the bar overhead, stands back up with the bar held securely overhead and either lowers the bar back down to shoulders behind the neck or drops it to the floor depending on shoulder health, weight lifted or reps to be performed.


Some common faults on the snatch balance are:

1. Driving the bar too high and riding the bar down. The bar should be driven just high enough in order to enable the lifter to push them underneath and secure the bar in the receiving position.

2. Not moving the feet out into the normal squat position of the snatch.

3. Driving the bar out in front. This can be cured by rotating the elbows underneath the bar and also be having a more vertical dip and drive phase.

4. The feeling of the bar crushing down on the lifter. This is due to either bad timing or due to the lifter driving the bar up forcefully and just flopping under the bar instead of actively pushing themselves under the bar.



The snatch balance is an important exercise for lifters that are uncomfortable in the receiving position of the snatch or that miss lifts due to a poor lockout in the receiving position.

The advantages of the snatch balance over other assistance exercises such as overhead squat and snatch drops are:

1. You are required to stabilise the bar at speed overhead as you are descending under the bar similar to the snatch.

2. You are required to extend the hips, knees etc and then forcefully rebend while pushing yourself under again replicating the snatch.

3. You become accustomed to stabilising and supporting weights in excess of your best snatch and thus when you come to snatch heavy the stabilising and supporting phase of the catch proves to no longer be the limiting factor.

4. For people with wrist issues there is less strain on the wrist than in an overhead squat due to the fact that the bar is not holding their wrist in the extended position for as long.

I have had reasonable success with the use of this exercise in my training. In my own lifting I find I have a strong pull but during the turnover and lockout the arms tend to be very lazy and almost soft in the receiving position. I find the snatch balance enables me to be much more stable in the receiving position and also much more confident with heavier weights.

I have used the snatch balance as my main snatch exercise in a session and I have also used it as somewhat of a warm up exercise performing maybe 5 singles around 80-85 % of my best snatch before some snatch or hang snatch. I have also used it in my normal snatch warm up with 40-50% of my best snatch and find it really enables me to find a comfortable receiving position. I have found that in my own training it works best when it is followed by some type of snatch movement.

I have used mainly singles in this lift due to the awkward starting position which I feel would not be the safest to perform with multiple repetitions. I think lifters who sometimes have a problem stabilising the bar overhead in the bottom of the snatch could benefit hugely from the addition of this exercise to their training toolbox.


Here is a short video of Andy performing the Snatch Balance. If you have any thoughts on the article or comments, please leave them below. In my own training, I worked out on Saturday and Snatched 100 for four singles missing the last and had a token session after that and also another shoddy enough session today. I am still recovering from the volume that my nervous system is not used to yet.