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BETTER COACHING

LOWER BODY STABILIT

WORLDS TRAINING PROGRAMS

STARTING A LIFTING TEAM

OURNAL OF HEALTH & ATHLETIC EXCELLEN

PERFORMANCE MEN


2/19

4 Training Weightlifting World Team Members AlexLee & Sarah RoblesJoe Micela

A brief description of training programs for World Team mem-bers

8 And Doggone It, People Like Me!Matt Foreman

What an athlete should look for in a coach

11 Reevaluating Lower Body TrainingJosh Henkin

A look at lower body stability training

14 Starting a Weightlifting TeamGreg Everett

A simple guide to starting a weightlifting team

17 Cooking with ScottyScotty Hagnas

Recipes for health, performance and longevity from certiedculinary stud Scotty Hagnas

Volume 6 . Issue 70 . November 2010


3/19

The Performance Menuis published monthly in digital

format by Catalyst Athletics, Inc.

On the CoverJocelyn Forest

Editor in ChiefGreg Everett

Managing EditorYael Grauer

DesignGreg Everett

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All content copyright Catalyst Athletics,Inc and its respective authors. Unau-thorized reproduction or distribution is

prohibited by law.

Info Contributors

Greg Everett is the owner of Catalyst Athletics, publisher of The Performance Menu and author o

Olympic Weightlifting: A Complete Guide for Athletes & Coaches.

Matt Foreman is the football and track & eld coach at Mountain View High School in Phoenix, AZ

A competitive weightliter for twenty years, Foreman is a four-time National Championship bronze

medalist, two-time American Open silver medalist, three-time American Open bronze medalist

two-time National Collegiate Champion, 2004 US Olympic Trials competitor, 2000 World UniversityChampionship Team USA competitor, and Arizona and Washington state record-holder. He was

also First Team All-Region high school football player, lettered in high school wrestling and track, a

high school national powerlifting champion, and a Scottish Highland Games competitor. Foreman

has coached multiple regional, state, and national champions in track & eld, powerlifting, and

weightlifting, and was an assistant coach on 5A Arizona state runner-up football and track teams

Scott Hagnas is owner of CrossFit Portland. He is certied as a CrossFit level 2 trainer and Circula

Strength Training (clubbell) instructor. He has been riding BMX atland for 26 years and counting

and has lmed/produced/edited several series of BMX videos, plus several training videos. He

formerly competed in bicycle trials, placing second in amateur in the World Championships in 1990

Cooking is one of his favorite pastimes.

Josh Henkin, CSCS, is the owner of Innovative Fitness Solutions and creator of Sandbag Fitnes

Systems, the most dynamic new functional training systems available today. Coach Henkins

Ultimate Sandbag program is utilized by athletes and top tness facilities around the world. CoachHenkin has presented internationally on the topics of innovative functional tness and performance

programs.

Joe Micela is a Senior International Coach with USA Weightlifting, Head Coach to Team ArizonaWeightlifting, and Owner of Performance One Advanced Sports Training in Mesa, AZ. He hacoached athletes to state, regional, national, and international medals in the sport of OlympicWeightlifting. In 2009 he was the Assistant Coach for both the Mens & Womens World Team. In2010, Coach Micela was the Head US Womens Coach for the Pan American Team and later thayear was a Coach & Team Manager for the 2010 Senior World Team. For information on Olympic

Weightlifting you can reach Coach Micela [email protected] 480-813-5477.

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4/19THE PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 70 NOVEMBER 2010 4

Weightlifting | Joe Micela

Coaching Weightlifting World Team Members AlexLee and Sarah Robles

Olympic weightlifting is not a one-size-ts-all sport, butone which requires modications for individual ath-letes. I will give a brief description of the training pro-

gram leading up to the 2010 World Championships for

World Team Members Alex Lee and Sarah Robles; theirsimilarities and differences and how I prepared themfor the biggest event of their careers.

Alex Lee

Alex Lee was 2008 Junior World Team Member, 2009Pan American Team Member, 2010 Collegiate Na-tional Champion, 2010 World University Champion,Collegiate American Record Holder in the Clean &

Jerk and Total, and 2010 World Team Member. At theWorld Championships he placed 20th in the 62 kilo

weight class. Alex was the only American to attemptan American Record at the World Championships. Heis currently the number one ranked lifter in the 62 &

69 kilo weight class nationally. Alex is also an OlympicHopeful for 2012.

Alex Lee has been training with me almost six years

From the very rst time I saw him lift, I knew that Alex

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

9:00-

11:00 am

-Snatch (Ak)

-CJ (Ak)

-Front Squat

Therapy &

Recovery

-Front Squat

-Snatch (Bk)

from blocks

-CJ (Bk)

from blocks

Therapy & Re-

covery

-Snatch

-CJ

1:00 -

2:30 pm

-Power Snatch

-CJ-Snatch High Pull

-Snatch Push

Press

2:30 -4:00 pm

Therapy & Re-

covery

5:30 -7:30 pm

-Snatch

-CJ

-Snatch

-Power Snatch

-Power CJ

-Snatch Pull

-Snatch

-CJ

-Snatch

-Power Snatch

-Power CJ

-Clean Pull

-Snatch

-CJ

-Front Squat

Alex Lees Training Schedule



was talented and that he could be my next super ath-lete. To be successful at the upper level of any sport,you need to posses a genetic gift of natural talent. Alex

has tremendous exibility and natural explosive power.He has great kinetic awareness about his body thatcant be taught. My main goal was to teach him howto study the sport from a mechanical level and to ap-

ply his natural ability to sound fundamental skills. WhatAlex lacks is a strong rst pull. It causes him to shoothis hips and to have too slow of a rst movement. Ourgoal leading into this World Championships was to ad-

dress his lower back strength and enhance position offthe ground.

I have a running motto that I use in the gym and withall my teaching courses. Olympic Weightlifting is about

establishing strength to hold a position and strength tomove through position. If you are not strong enough to

hold yourself in certain key positions, you wont havethe strength to move from one position to the nextwithout losing form. This fundamental principle gets

overlooked by many athletes and coaches in teach-ing how to lift. Our competition preparation phase can

start anywhere from 8 to 12 weeks out from a majorevent. Alex had around 8 weeks from the World Univer-sity Championships to the Senior World Championshipsto stay focused and train.

In our competition phase our elite athletes train ninetimes a week. This includes double workouts on Mon-

day, Wednesday and Friday, one workout on Tuesday,Thursday and Saturday and one mandatory therapy/recovery session. This is what Alexs program lookedlike the last 8 weeks out leading into the World Cham-pionships.

Alexs extensive experience in my program has al-lowed him to understand each phase of our trainingcycles and he can mental prepare himself for the

physical grind of each phase. A program of this calibeis only for the experienced weightlifters and should notbe duplicated by novice lifters. My program is based

off set goals the athlete must hit for a workout, weekand cycle. We work partly off of set percentages andhow the athlete feels. When they feel good, we push ibeyond what the program calls for. When they arent

feeling up to par they still have minimum numbersthey need to hit to keep pace for their weekly and

cycle goals. We set goals on a variety of lifts to con-stantly challenge the athlete. When possible we havebrought in other top notch lifters for Alex and Sarahto train with. If the situation is available, we encour-age our athletes to train abroad to get a higher leve

of motivation. Alex has trained in Korea and Armeniaalong with traveling to Colombia, Canada, Taiwan

and Turkey for competitions. Each experience withupper elite lifters and coaches will make you better if

and only if you take advantage of the opportunity byasking the right questions and showing them you areserious about the sport.

In our competition phase, Alex hit the full lifts twice aday on Monday, Wednesday, & Friday and power versions of the lifts on Tuesday, Thursday, & Saturday. Each

session had a different percentage goal based off othe goal for the week. Several times, Alex exceededthe goal for the day by 3-5 kilos. On some workouts

he was required to hit his top weight for one single set,other sessions he would perform multiple sets at the

top weight for that exercise, and other sessions he wasinstructed to keep going up in weight until he missed

his top weight more than 3 times. All of this was builinto the program. My goal when we train heavy is totrain the athlete mentally in going after max & sub-max weights but also to train his body from a technicaaspect not to deviate from the motor pattern. Many

lifters try to change things up when the weights getheavier. Our goal with Alex is and always has been to

Snatch C+J Total WO 1 WO 2 WO 3 WO 4 WO 5 WO 6 WO 7 WO 8 WO 9

90% 95% 85% 92% 97% 80% 90% 100% 82%

Week 8 105-107 125-130 230-237 213 225 201 218 230 190 213 237 194

Week 7 110-112 130-135 240-247 222 235 210 227 240 198 222 247 203

Week 6 106-108 120-125 226-238 214 226 202 219 231 190 214 238 195

Week 5 111-113 135-140 246-253 228 240 215 233 245 202 228 253 207

Week 4 114-116 140-145 260 234 247 221 239 252 208 234 260 213

Week 3 105-107 125-130 237 213 225 201 218 230 190 213 237 194Week 2 110-114 135-140 250 225 238 213 230 243 200 225 250 205

Week 1 100 130 230 207 219 196 212 223 184 207 230 189

Compete on Sept 19th

Alex Lees Training Schedule



keep his butt down on his pull with heavier weights.He has made tremendous strides in this area but it will

always be an area that he will have to work on. He isslow off the ground but lightning fast under the bar. Thistraining program has worked well for Alex and has de-veloped him into the number one ranked lifter in the 62& 69 kilo weight class. His sights now are to move per-manently into the 69 kilo win the Nationals, break theAmerican Records in this class, make the Pan Ameri-

can Games Team, and nish 2011 off by making theWorld Team.

Sarah RoblesesSarah Robles is the number one overall ranked female

weightlifter in the US. She started training with me backin January 2008. She originally came to me to improveher strength & conditioning program for throwing while

she attended Arizona State University on a track & eldscholarship. Through the course of her training, Sarah

gravitated more and more toward Weightlifting and

eventually left throwing to pursue lifting full time. In thatrst year of training with mem Sarah placed 2nd at theJunior World Championships. In her second year Sar-ah won the Senior National Championships, placed

5th at the Pan American Championships, and nished11th at the Senior World Championships. In 2010, she

placed 2nd at the Pan American Championships and10th. Sarah has lifted the second heaviest total ever by

a woman in US history. Sarah hit two personal recordsin the Snatch (108 & 111 kilos), tied her personal recordin the Clean & Jerk (140 kilos), and hit a new personal

record in the Total (251 kilos). She is a two time Pan AmTeam & World Team Member. She is a denite Olympic

Hopeful for 2012. I will briey explain her training going

into the last 8 weeks leading up to the World Champi-onships in Antalya, Turkey.

Unlike Alex, Sarah can handle a tremendous amounof volume when she trains, more so than most heavy

weightlifters. This ability has also prevented hefrom pushing herself to lift maximum. Sarah has onlyscratched the service of her Weightlifting career. Sarah returned to Arizona after the 2010 Pan AmericanChampionships to get back to basics with her training

and to get her butt kicked by me. She had gottenaway from the rigorous program that she had when

she trained with me leading up to her 2nd place n

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

9:00-

11:00 am

-Snatch (Ak)

-CJ (Ak)

-Back Squat

Therapy &

Recovery

-Front Squat

Snatch (Bk) from

-Blocks

-C+J (Bk) from

Blocks

Therapy &

Recovery

-Snatch

-CJ

1:00-

2:30 pm

-Power Snatch

-CJ

-Snatch High Pull

-Snatch PushPress

2:30-

4:00 pm

Therapy &

Recovery

5:30-

7:30 pm

-Snatch

-CJ

-Snatch

-Pwr Snatch

-Pwr CJ

-Snatch Pulls

-Snatch

-CJ

-Snatch

-Pwr Snatch

-Pwr CJ

-Clean Pulls

-Snatch

-CJ

-Back Squat

Sarah Robles Training Schedule



ish at the 2008 Junior World Championships. When shecame back I told her this entire training cycle was de-

veloped to make her mentally tough with her training.

She needed to push her body to start making biggerstrides in improvement if she ever planned on break-ing into the upper elite circle at the international level.

Sarah put 15 kilos on her total and 15 kilos on her frontsquat max in this training cycle leading into the Worlds.Unlike Alexs program of working up to a heavy setand hitting it for multiple sets. Sarah needed to handleand go after the heavier weights. Sarahs training pro-gram consisted more of pushing it to near maximumattempts at least two workout sessions a week. This was

more mentally fatiguing for her and proved to be thearea she needed the most help with. It takes a tremen-dous amount of dedication to mentally gear yourself

up for this type of training. She trained this way early inher career with me but abandoned it when she went

to the Olympic Training Centers. Now she was backand we were pushing her to adapt to a higher level ofexpectations. Sarah doesnt recover as fast as a lighterlifter does so her unload weeks which were every thirdto fourth week saw a more dramatic drop off in intensi-

ty than, say, Alexs program, which stay relatively higheven during his unload week. This allowed Sarah to fully

recharge her batteries physically and mentally going

into the harder weeks. After the usual adaptation period of 6-8 weeks under this system, Sarah respondedquite well and lifted very well at the worlds hitting three

personal records and recording the second heaviesttotal ever by a woman in US History.

The keys to my program start with establish a soundtechnical base with my athletes. We are always striving

on enhancing our technical prociency of the movements in every workout. Second we push it. We are

always trying to increase the weight we use for a givenexercise. My program gears pushing the athlete to aplace he or she has not gone before. I tweak the pro-gram based on individual differences of the athletebut for the most part they are challenged by a daily

weekly, and cycle goals to constantly improve. At thislevel the athletes know what needs to be done; nowits my job to develop the systematic plan and mentamotivation to get them there.

Snatch C+J Total WO 1 WO 2 WO 3 WO 4 WO 5 WO 6 WO 7 WO 8 WO 9

90% 95% 85% 92% 97% 80% 90% 100% 82%

Week 8 103-105 125-127 228-232 209 220 197 213 225 186 209 232 190

Week 7 95-98 118-120 212-218 196 207 185 201 211 174 196 218 179

Week 6 105-107 130-135 235-242 218 230 206 223 235 194 218 242 198

Week 5 110-115 135-140 245-250 225 238 213 230 243 200 225 250 205

Week 4 100-105 125-130 225-230 207 219 196 212 223 184 207 230 189

Week 3 105-108 130-135 235-240 216 228 204 221 233 192 216 240 197Week 2 110-114 135-140 240-245 221 233 208 225 238 196 221 245 205

Week 1 90-95 120-125 210-215 194 204 183 198 209 172 194 215 176

Compete on Sept 24th

Sarah Robles Training Schedule



Coaching | Matt Foreman

And Doggone It, People Like Me!

When I was in college, I took a class called Human

Relations Development. The course was required formy education major, and this was the touchy-feely

class to end all touchy-feely classes. The professor was

a very kind little old man who spoke in a gentle toneand usually patted you on the shoulder at least a fewtimes when you were talking with him. The whole focusof the class was to make future teachers more skilled

at communicating with people, listening attentivelyto their problems, gaining their trust, nding effectiveways to assist them with their troubles, etc. You get theidea. It was a class about sensitivity.

As a twenty-two year old weightlifting male with afootball background and a testosterone level that

seemed to grow by the hour, I was way out of myelement here. Most of the other students were women,

and men with personalities that closely resembledwomen. One of the rst lessons we completed in theclass was an exercise that determined what kind ofproblem-solvers we were. If I described the wholeexercise to you, your boredom would rapidly approachthe jumping-out-of-a-window-to-end-it-all level. Butthe end result of the exercise told me that I was ratedas a lousy, unproductive, insensitive problem-solver. Icouldnt understand why my rating was so low, either.

To my way of thinking, there was a simple way ofhandling people when they had problems. My basicidea was, Tell me what the hell is wrong, then Ill tell

you how to x it, then you take your head out of yourbutthole and do what I say. I thought this sounded

like a pretty solid approach.

Anyway, the class dragged on and I managed toget an A despite the fact that I didnt really change

much. I learned how to fake the nice and caringthing pretty well, but I was still a calloused meatheadwhen it was all over. Now, fast forward sixteen years,Im thirty-eight years old and I think my professor wouldbe proud of me. A couple of marriages and fteen

years of coaching have forced me to actually learn

how to listen to people and care about their feelingsIm like the freakin Dr. Phil of weightlifting. Because

of my transformation, Im going to write this months

article about an idea that was recently suggestedto me by a very sharp lady. She thought it would beinteresting to write about the topic of coachabilityfrom the perspective of the athlete. In other words

were talking about what an athlete should look for ina coach and how to handle different issues that arise

between coaches and athletes (Im actually quotingher e-mail to me). What should an athlete want from

a coach? Thats the question were going to answerAnd to prove even further what a wonderful humanbeing I am, Im even going to address the exactcategories she suggested. Well look at specic traitsthat are essential in coaching and also a few hazards

that athletes should be wary of. If this isnt caring andconsiderate, then I dont know what the hell is. Please

keep reading, and feel free to bask in the warmth ofmy empathy.

Category #1: Eye for technique/ability toexplain things clearly

Needless to say, this quality is absolutely, positivelynecessary for anyone who wants to coach the OlympicLifts. The coach has to have a complete understandingof how a snatch or clean and jerk should look and feelThis is usually developed through years of experiencein the sport. Most of the best coaches are peoplewith a large range of experience in both lifting andcoaching. It takes years to learn exactly how a snatch issupposed to feel and how to make your body executethe correct movements to make it happen. After thatit also takes years to learn exactly what a snatchis supposed to look like and how to make someone

elses body execute the correct movements to makeit happen. When I was young and getting started in



my weightlifting career, I wanted to be coached bysomeone who had actually been a weightlifter. It was

important to me that my coach had walked the walkas an athlete. My faith in the coach would be strongerif I knew he had trained and competed at a high level.

This may or may not be important to other athletes.There are certainly some very successful coaches who

were not high-level athletes themselves. And clearly,there are also many high-level athletes who couldnt

coach their way out of a wet paper bag with their handson re. Basically, the athletes individual perspectiveon their coach is what matters in this area.

Regardless of competitive experience on the part ofthe coach, the one area that is indispensable is thecoachs ability to TEACH. The best coaches are great

teachers. A coach can be a former world record holderand it wont make a lick of difference if he/she doesnthave the ability to clearly explain to the athletes whattheyre supposed to be doing. This is where I believethat most great coaches are very organized in their

thinking. When dealing with a lifter who has previously

learned the lifts and needs coaching to get better, thecoach looks at the athlete and immediately identieswhich areas need to be corrected and which onesare already solid. One of the phrases I use with athletes

is, Okay, youre already doing a lot of things right.Now heres one area I think we need to x. (Hint-Always start with a positive comment and always saywe when youre working with an athlete. Athletes

like to believe that the two of you are in it together.)Good coaches x one problem at a time. If you givean athlete three or four technical suggestions at the

same time, theyll probably get confused. And pleasedont start off with some kind of negative comment

like, Jeez, youre a total mess. It doesnt accomplishanything productive and some people are sensitive.

Theyll immediately think theyre a piece of crap whenyou say things like that. Then youve lost them.

Category #2: Being open to suggestions fromother areas

My perspective on this area might surprise you andmany of you denitely might disagree with it. In myexperience, most of the best coaches are controlfreaks who are fairly inexible in their methods. Theyreusually not very open to suggestions from other areas.

Now, the general mental ow of our society tells usthat people have to work together to be successful.

Corporate methodology in the workplace is usuallybased on idea sharing, think tank principles, and bosses

who are open to input from employees. Thats themodern way. Dictatorships arent popular nowadays.

However, I think coaching is an area where this rule hasto get broken. Great coaches usually have a dictator

mentality. When coaches spend years building asuccessful methodology and then use this methodologyto consistently produce outstanding results, they usually

dont welcome alternate ideas from outside sourcesI coach track and eld for a living and one of thethings I say to my athletes every year at our rst-daymeeting is, Make sure you understand something. This

is a my-way-or-the-highway program. Im the coachand youre the athletes, and youre going to do what tell you to do. This might sound like a dictatorship, and

thats what it is. But you also need to understand thayoull benet from this, because the way I coach youis going to make you better. If you do what I tell you todo, youre going to be successful. Over the course of

the season, I blend this approach with a lot of humorI also let the athletes know in every possible way that care about them, I respect them, and Im committed

to their success not only in track and eld, but in life.This has worked for me. Im a control freak, and I make

them believe thats a good thing.

But as with anything else, there are speciaconsiderations to keep in mind when discussingdictator-type coaching. First of all, most of the bes

international weightlifting coaches in history havecome from communist societies where the people

are already adjusted to the idea of submitting togovernment control. This is America, where youre

going to encounter some very willful personalitiesThat skews things just a bit. Also, working with adults isdifferent from working with young people. You cant

treat an adult like a sixteen year-old kid and expectthem to stick around for long. If you push the totalitarian

attitude too hard, youll turn people off. My generaadvice to athletes is that the coach is the boss, and

you have to be willing to obey the coach if you want tohave a successful relationship. That doesnt mean thatyou have to tremble in fear and prostrate yourself when

the coach walks in the gym, but it does mean that youhave to be a disciplined pupil. If you were coached by

a legend like John Wooden, Vince Lombardi, or IvanAbadjiev, you would have no question about who was

running the show when you came to practice everyday. This is a good thing.

Category #3: Work ethic

This one is easy. As a coach, how can you ask an

athlete to work hard if youre not willing to show upevery day and work hard yourself? If youre lazy, youre



going to lose athletes quickly and you have nobody toblame but yourself. Simple enough? Good, then lets

move on.

Category #4: Personality

Aahhh, the glue that holds it all together. How can Isay this clearly? Lets put it this way: when you enter

into a coach-athlete relationship with somebody,youre making a commitment to spend a largeportion of your life with that person. Youre going to

be around each other all the time. Theres no way thiscan work if the athlete doesnt like the coach. In fact, I

would even go so far as to say that there will never bemaximum results unless the athlete LOVES the coach.When I say love, Im obviously not talking aboutromantic feelings and passionate experience (this isunprofessional and its usually one great big recipe for

disaster, by the way). Im talking about the type of lovefamily members share with each other. Ive been lucky

in my sports life to have a couple of coaches who I

felt this way about, and Ive been incredibly lucky tocoach a lot of athletes in the same way. When you getone of those rare situations where the coach and theathlete truly believe in each other, and both of them

would sweat blood for the other one, then youve gotsomething special. If you throw some athletic talent

and coaching expertise into this mix, then youre goingto be looking at some championships.

Coaches have to be driven to make their athletesbetter, but the best coaches are the ones who impact

their athletes lives in a much deeper way. Athleteswant to know their coaches care about them. If the

coach doesnt care, you can bet your bottom dollarthat the athletes will gure it out rapidly. Now, cancoaches and athletes have success if they dont sharethis type of deep bond? Sure they can. If a coachis talented and the athlete is committed, then the

results will be positive even if its just a business-typerelationship.

But if the athlete simply doesnt like the coach, then its

a dead duck. The relationship might work for a whileif the athlete is a particularly tolerant person, but it will

eventually sour. Also, make sure you remember thatheres a difference between liking/loving somebodyand being pissed off at them. You can love somebodyand still get angry with them from time to time. If youwant to truly learn this, get married. Coaches and

athletes will have the same types of experiences. Its noall going to be baskets full of puppies and pineapple

ice cream, believe me. If youre in a weightliftingcoach-athlete relationship with somebody, youre

going to have moments when you want to attackthem with an ice pick. But once the anger subsidesand everybody cools off, how do you really feel abou

your coach? If you still have loyalty and respect foryour coach/athlete despite the rough moments andyou still believe that youre with the right person, thenyouve got a good thing going. If you take an honest

look at the big picture and you decide that you simplydont like the person, then its time to move on. If thereare no other coaches in your area to train with, then

it gets really tricky. Youll need to get creative at thatpoint.

When we come full circle, its clear that a good coachhas to have a special combination of qualities. Its noan easy gig, and it takes a lot of trial and error to perfecit. If youre an athlete and you want to say something

to your coach, go ahead and say it. Make sure youpick the right time, obviously. Any coach worth a plug

nickel will do exactly what I was taught to do in myHuman Relations Development class...LISTEN. Now, you(the athlete) also need to be prepared if the answeisnt exactly what you wanted to hear. If you want acoach, but you also want to be the one running the

show, then you need to back up and examine youown personality. The coach isnt the problem at tha

point. You are.

But my guess is that if you and your coach both havesensible, functional personalities, then the two of youwill most likely be able to work together. If you have

any tough times, try using an exercise where you bothsit down and write a poem about each other. That

sounds like a special way to share sensitive feelingsof happiness. Just dont start your poem with the line

There once was a man from Nantucket



Lower Body Stability | Josh Henkin

Reevaluating Lower Body Training

Far too often as coaches we read articles that are

full of scientic research, but a lot of times bridgingthat gap to practical application is far more difcult.One of the biggest challenges to coaches is tting in

various types of training with their athletes or clients injust a few sessions a week. How do we combine all thenecessary components of proper training, maximalstrength, speed, agility, deceleration, acceleration,

change of direction, isometric strength, endurance,and sport-specic training?

The truth is that many techniques we use cover more

than one aspect at a time. If not, a coach needs toreevaluate their training philosophy. A component oftraining that has been receiving a lot of attention is the

concept of stability training. Joint stability seems to bea cornerstone of any training program. However, what

makes up stability training may not be so clear.

The Stability Component

Stability can be as vague of a term as strength is.Without overly complicating terms, a denition I like isthis: Joint stability refers to the resistance offered byvarious musculoskeletal tissues that surround a skeletal

joint. Several subsystems ensure the stability of a joint.These are the passive, active and neural subsystems.The opposite of stability is instability. (1)

For a large majority of coaches, such a denition isntoverly helpful. A more practical denition may be,the effective accommodation of the joints to eachspecic load demand through an adequately tailoredjoint compression, as a function of gravity, coordinated

muscle and ligament forces, to produce effective jointreaction forces under changing conditions. Optimalstability is achieved when the balance between

performance (the level of stability) and effort isoptimized to economize the use of energy. Non-

optimal joint stability implicates altered laxity/stiffnessvalues leading to increased joint translations resultingin a new joint position and/or exaggerated/reducedcompression, with a disturbed performance/effor

ratio. (2)

Truthfully, this doesnt seem to help that much eitherFor most coaches, stability training and slow isometric

movements are typically done on the oor. It is almostseen as a necessary evil that takes some time from

our normal training; drills that we feel obligated todo and try to get over with as fast as possible. While

such drills may be necessary, the progression to moredynamic and real world base drills is far more importantin performance related endeavors.

Sport-Specifc Stability

The truth hurts, but real sport-specic training is beyondmost coaches. REAL sport-specic training requires ahighly developed knowledge of biomechanics of

sporting actions that occur during the sport. The nicepart is most athletes are not prepared to perform

true sport-specic training because they are not tenough to benet from the training. However, we doneed to understand that our training does need toprogress to speeds and challenges that are faced inreal world and sport.

One of the easiest ways to achieve stability in more

practical ways is to emphasize the role of single legtraining. Of course, most coaches already use single

leg training in one form or another, but rarely give it theattention it truly deserves. No, you dont have to stop

your bilateral lifts, but looking at the role they play inyour training is important.

Some coaches are still believers in the idea thatsquats, deadlifts, and Olympic lift variations will take



care of most lower body and stability type of training.Yet, even non-eld sports such as Olympic lifting haveeven used single leg training as a means to improvethese very qualities for their competitive lifts. Researchalso tends to support that utilizing one-legged drills is

important for several reasons...

Maximal Muscle Contractions: A 1978 studydemonstrated that unilateral leg extension exercise

created higher levels of maximal voluntary musclecontraction than bilateral leg extension training.(3) Yes, I know, LEG EXTENSIONS! This cant really beindicative of true functional and sports training. Yet,another training study does support this in a more

functional environment.

Higher Ground Reaction Forces: Ten well-trainedmale volleyball players performed one-leggedand two-legged vertical countermovement jumps.

Ground reaction forces, cinematographic data, andelectromyographic data were recorded. Jumping

height in one-legged jumps was 58.5% of that reached

in two-legged jumps. Mean net torques in hip andankle joints were higher in one-legged jumps. Netpower output in the ankle joint was extremely highin one-legged jumps. This high power output was

explained by a higher level of activation in both headsof m. gastrocnemius in the one-legged jump. A higher

level of activation was also found in m. vastus medialis.These differences between unilateral and bilateralperformance of the complex movement jumpingwere shown to be in agreement with differencesreported in literature based on isometric and isokinetic

experiments. (4)

Most sporting actions are determined by groundreaction forces. Typically, greater speed and power is

developed by creating higher ground reaction forces.The majority of sports have a transition phase of ourbase of support being applied only by one leg, whether

this is in straight ahead running or change of direction.This may mean that more advanced forms of training

is spending more time learning how to develop powerand strength on one leg.

However, how does this all transition back to the ideaof providing body stability? Reducing our body support

has a profound impact on how our body recruitsdifferent muscles.

Studies have shown in just bridging exercises the bodyrecruits more muscles in a less stable position than morestable. In general, the ratio of the internal/externalabdominal oblique activity was about 1. However,during the unilateral bridging exercise, the ipsilateralinternal/external abdominal oblique activity ratiowas 2.79 as a consequence of the signicant higher

relative activity of the internal oblique compared tothe external oblique. (5)

Single leg drills tend to work more the adductorsgluteus medius, and gluteus minimus than their bilatera

counterparts. This is tremendously important, as muchof our pelvic stability is reliant upon the strength of thesemuscles. If our pelvis is more stable, our ability to exhibitforce goes up. In fact, weakness in these muscles can

show themselves in problems such as Trendelenburggait where the SI joint and lumbar spine can be atgreat risk of injury.

Where to Start?

It may not be that hard to convince people that theyshould utilize single leg exercises. However, many donot have a denitive system in which they implementhese movements. Just as with any training, we needto lay down progressions for proper usage. If we are

not aware of the impact of jumping into advanced

versions of single leg training, we can easily set-up ourathlete or client for injury as forces applied to the bodyin single leg training arent just double that of bilateralbut can be exponentially higher.

Stable before unstable: A good rule of thumb fo1.

just about any form of training, this is especially truein single leg training. Most coaches rush into single

leg plyos or stepping versions of lunges withoutobserving if their client can demonstrate controand prociency in safer environments. A base leveexercise for dynamic lunging would be a staticposition. Watching for proper stride length, knee

valgus, and lower leg control is key in being ableto provide appropriate more advanced forms o

single leg training. In drills such as step-ups, workingfrom a low step in a slow controlled manner is thecorrect starting point where many coaches work

from higher steps that often cause compensation.

Beginner Series:Stationary Single Leg SquatStationary Single Leg Squat LateralStepping Lunge Forwards

Intermediate Series:Stepping Lunge ReverseStepping Lunge LateralElevated Rear Leg Single Leg Squat

Advanced Series:Rear Crossover LungeMixed PatternsSuspended



Work on Different Loading Patterns: The placement2.of load is commonly a neglected aspect of

programming. Beginning with the load down bythe hips either holding a dumbbell or kettlebellplaces the load through the body without much of

a change in center of gravity. We can go througha progression of placing weight on the upper back,

front of the body, and overhead. These variations allchange the center of gravity and perceived load.

More advanced loading patterns can be sandbagshoulder, one-arm weight overhead, mixed loadingpatterns (one arm up, one arm down), etc.

Beginner Series:

Down By SideGoblet

Intermediate SeriesFront RackOverhead

Advanced Series:

X Series 1: One down by side, other in front rackX Series 2: One in front rack, other overhead

Range of Motion (ROM): A simple principle of loading3.

and progression is to alter the range of motion.Whether it is due to mobility and exibility issues, orcondence and strength, ROM is a vital componentof any drill. The eventual goal of any lift should be to

obtain optimal ROM. This can vary depending uponones structure, but identifying what is optimal forthat individual should be identied in early stagesof training. Increasing ROM can be a means of

raising intensity of any drill and decreasing the ROMis can serve as an important means for progressingindividuals that show signicant signs of instability.

Progressional Series:

Front Foot ElevatedFlat on GroundRear Foot ElevatedSuspended

Complexity: An often-overlooked variable is exercise4.complexity. This can be much hard to quantifybut can be powerful in accomplishing goals ofimproving stability and performance. Increasingcomplexity by changing stepping patterns, mixingloading patterns (cross patterns for example), andincreasing speed can t into this category, as thebody now relies on different neural loops to guidethe performance.

Examples of Complexity:Rotational Lunge

Split SnatchLateral Step SwingsSuspended Squat ThrustsStaggered Cleans

Having a series of specic progressional series for lungingsingle leg squatting, single leg deadlifts, step-ups, andsingle leg explosive lifts is critical. While most coachesare quick to implement single leg bounding andplyometric drills, these preparatory series can do a lot foperformance, by allowing coaches to properly utilize

more advanced training techniques when necessary

1.Panjabi MM. (1992). The stabilizing system of the spine. Part II. Neutral zone and instability hypothesis.]. J Spinal Disord 5 (4): 3907.

2. Vleeming A, Albert HB, van der Helm FCT, Lee D, Ostgaard HC, Stuge B, Sturesson B.

3. Contralateral Inuence on Recruitment of Curarized Muscle Fibers during Maximal Voluntary Extension of the Legs, Acta Physiologica Scandinavica

vol. 103, pp. 456-462, 1978).

4. A Comparison of One-Legged and Two-Legged Countermovement Jumps, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, vol. 17(6), pp. 635-639

1985

5. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2006 Sep 20;7:75.Trunk muscle activity in healthy subjects during bridging stabilization exercises.Stevens VK, Bouche KG

Mahieu NN, Coorevits PL, Vanderstraeten GG, Danneels LA.Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and Health

Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium. [email protected]



Weightlifting | Greg Everett

Starting a Weightlifting Team

This month, I decided to provide a simple guide to

starting a weightlifting team. More and more interestis developing in weightlifting competition, and the

process can seem mysterious to those who have not

yet been exposed to it. This article should help get youstarted.

Administrative Considerations

The process may vary a bit depending on where youlive, but it will likely be similar to how it works in the US.

USA Weightlifting governs the sport in the US under IWFrules and oversees and sanctions all competition andclubs. There are regional organizations called LWCsthat are directly responsible for the administrationof clubs in the region, and this is who will approve

applications for a new club. You can download anapplication and get all the info on starting a club on

the USAW website.

All of your lifters will need to be current USAW members

to compete in sanctioned meets. They can apply onthe USAW websitemake sure to give them your club

number so they can join as a member of your team.

How you administer your team beyond this is entirelyup to you. For example, you can charge fees for yourlifters to train with you, or you can allow them to train

for free. Do what works for your situation.

Facility & Equipment

There are a few requirements in terms of your facility

and equipment for running a weightlifting team: Youmust have at least one barbell, one set of bumpersand change, and once space in which to lift them. Of

course, this minimal setup will not work well if you have

more than one lifter. What gear and space you haveshould be dependent on the size of your team (or the

size you wish it to be), how competitive the team is (o

you plan to make it), and your budget.

More than likely, youll be running your lifting teamout of a facility that provides space for things othe

than weightlifting. You may have to share spaceand equipment, and this may impact what you use

If youre fortunate enough to run an exclusive liftingfacility, youll obviously have more options.

Lifters can share platforms and share bars. Its reasonableto have three lifters on a single 8x8 platform with 2-3bars as long as there is space for the resting lifters toget out of the way. Of course, you can make more

lifters work, but there will be a lot of weight-changingto be done. As long as all your lifters are good about

helping each other out with such things, this shouldntbe a problem. The nature of weightlifting is that thereare typically signicant rest periods between setswhich allows other lifters to work in without disruptingother lifters training.

If you have female lifters, you need to invest in womens

barbells. There is no way around it. Any competitionthey enter will use a womens bar, and they need tobe prepared for it. Like with barbells in general, youdont necessarily need to have as many womens barsas you have women, but you do need at least one.

How much money you spend on your equipmen

will depend on how much you have to spend, howserious your athletes are, and how long term you wan

your investment to be. If you have a team comprisedexclusively of local-level competitors and recreationalifters, theres really no need for top of the line gea
http://weightlifting.teamusa.org/club-lwc-local-info/lwc-infohttp://weightlifting.teamusa.org/club-lwc-local-info/lwc-infohttp://assets.teamusa.org/assets/documents/attached_file/filename/21053/CLUB_APPLICATION_updated_1-28-2010.pdfhttp://weightlifting.teamusa.org/club-lwc-local-info/club-informationhttp://weightlifting.teamusa.org/club-lwc-local-info/club-informationhttp://assets.teamusa.org/assets/documents/attached_file/filename/21053/CLUB_APPLICATION_updated_1-28-2010.pdfhttp://weightlifting.teamusa.org/club-lwc-local-info/lwc-info



(although theres nothing wrong with having it either).If you have a team with nationally competitive lifters,

its important for them to be training on better bars.

Although bars from Eleiko, Werksan, Uesaka and the

like are quite expensive ($700-900), they will quiteliterally last a lifetime, and will out perform any other

bar for this entire time. You can save money up frontby purchasing less expensive bars, but they absolutely

will not spin and whip as well even when new, they willlikely bend permanently over time, and their spin willdeteriorate as they age. If used long enough, these

bars will need to be replaced eventually. Replace a$400 barbell once, and youve already spent whatyou would have on a top-level bar that would havebeen working better for you the whole time.

Of course, you dont need to outt your entire gymwith the same gear. You may decide to set it up with

more economical bars and buy one top end bar foryour most competitive lifter(s) to use.

If youre going to spend the money on nicer bars, youllalso want to get bumpers of similar quality. Cheaperbumpers will t too loosely on the bar and be botha pain to deal with during training and also hard on

the bar. Of course, cheaper bumpers will be ne withcheaper bars.

Metal change plates are not exactly high-tech piecesof equipment, and this is an easy place to save somemoney. The only difference between more and lessexpensive plates will be how accurate the weightsare, and any deviations in cheaper plates wont beanything noticeable.

Your weights and bars should be in kilograms, not

pounds. All lifting competition in the world uses kilosconstantly converting pounds to kilos and back isunnecessarily aggravating. Of course, if youre already

outtted with pound gear, weight is weight and youcan still get just as strong with it. But do yourself a favor

and dont mix pound and kilo gearyou may thinkyoure smart enough to do the calculations now, but

take my word for it that youll think differently in themiddle of your workout.

After your barbell setups, you need places to lift them.Ideal are wooden platforms with rubber landing

surfaces for the bumpers. The typical training platformis 8x8 and is extremely easy to build relativelyinexpensively. Lifting can be done on just rubber gymmatting, but many athletes will nd the difference infeel signicant enough to be disruptive when suddenlylifting on wood in a meet.

Next youll need at least one squat rack. Coachesand athletes may disagree on accessory exercises forweightlifters, but no one argues about the necessity osquatting regularly. There are many types of racksaslong as they will hold as much weight as your strongest

lifter will be using, choose whatever rack you like andts your budget. Lighter weight, portable racks are agood choice so they can be moved out of the waywhen not being used.

Finally, make sure you have good chalk and lots of itTalcum powder is not chalk, and it does not work like

chalk. Dont try to fool anyone with it. You can buy bulkbroken chalk blocks from gymnastics suppliers that wil

last you a very long time and cost less than you canimagine.

Lifter Recruitment & Retention

Finding weightlifters is the toughest part of running

a team. Parents are not signing their kids up foweightlifting like soccer, football, baseball, basketbaland gymnastics. Schools dont expose kids to the liftslet alone the sport. Many people are convinced liftingweights is dangerous (yet send their little tikes onto a

football eld with little or no reservation).

This is where creativity and ambition play a huge roleFind ways to get in touch with the type of athletes

youre interested in recruiting. If you want a team ofadult professionals, youll end up approaching it inessentially the same way youd promote tness trainingand similar business endeavors. If youre looking for

youth lifters, youll need to go after both them and theiparents, and possibly their coaches from other sportstheyre involved in. The kids need to be interested; theparents need to be willing; and the coaches need tobe cooperative. This can be quite a challenge.

You can nd some specic suggestions on recruitmenon the USAW website.

Programming

Programming for your team can be as simple orcomplicated as you want to make it, although asome point, some degree of complexity will becomeunavoidable. With a small group of recreational olocal-level competitive lifters, you can get away with

a single program for the team. This is a smart approachbecause it will save you a lot of time and stress, andits easy to make quick modications to address
http://weightlifting.teamusa.org/club-lwc-local-info/best-practiceshttp://weightlifting.teamusa.org/club-lwc-local-info/best-practices



specic problems each lifter has when necessary. Itscompletely justiable to not completely individualizeprogramming for athletes at this level.

As individual lifters progress, it will become increasingly

necessary to program specically. In part this is dueto competition scheduling, and in greater part to

the need to work on both technical and physicalweaknesses. All of our lifters who have reached

national level competition are on their own programs.

Multiple programs can be simplied by convergingschedules as much as possible. Writing multipleprograms is not terribly difcult, but it can becomeoverwhelming when you have 10 different cyclesstarting and ending at different times. Obviously your

recreational lifters can be kept on the same scheduleby being kept on the same program. You local-levelcompetitors can be kept on the same schedule even

if you decide to individualize programming to someextent. This can work even if not all of your athletes willlift at a given meet. If your facility is staffed adequately

or you can change the training schedule by a day, thenon-competing lifters can nish their cycles either on

the same day as the meet, or possibly the day beforeor after. The recreational lifters program can be made

to align with this schedule as well.

National level lifters will likely be on a totally different

schedule based around the American Open andNational Championships, and possibly around otheevents to be used as qualiers for certain teams, rathethan the local meet schedule. Again, its helpful to time

cycles for these lifters together even if the programsthemselves are different. This isnt always possible, butits worth making the effort.

Experiment and Improve

There will always be an element of experimentationinvolved in coaching. Embrace it and take advantageof it. Dont ignore the results of your coaching and

programminguse them to shape your futurecoaching and programming in a way that helps your

lifters improve and keeps you sane and functioning.



Cooking with Scotty | Scotty Hagnas

Easy Chicken Chili

I used frozen taro root in this recipe to keep it simple.Taro root tastes the closest to beans of any root veggiethat I have used. Look for frozen taro at Middle Easternmarkets. Alternatively, you can simply use yams orsweet potatoes if you like.

Time: 20 minutes

2 tsp bacon grease, coconut oil, or lard 1/2 cup chopped onion 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper 1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped 1 lb chicken breast, chopped into cubes 1 can diced tomatoes (14oz) 1 1/2 cup frozen, diced taro root 2 tsp ancho chili powder 1 clove garlic, crushed sea salt and pepper

1/2 cup chicken brothHeat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Addthe onion, bell pepper, and jalapeno. Saute for a few

minutes, then add the chicken. Saute until browned.Stir in the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.

Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Nutritional info: 3 servings at 27g carb, 37g prot, 7g fat

Roasted Root Vegetables

Active time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour

2 Tbsp coconut oil, bacon grease, or lard 1 lb parsnips, chopped 1 lb turnips, chopped 1/2 lb carrots, chopped 8-10 cloves of garlic, peeled dried basil and dried minced onion to taste sea salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the oil or fa

on a baking pan. Chop the parsnips, turnips, andcarrots and toss them in the pan. Place in the oven

and roast for 1 hr. Toss every 15 minutes. Add the garlicand seasonings at the half hour mark, toss well.

Nutritional info: 3 servings at 32g carb, ~9g fat

This month, well check out some different root vegetables. This is a sort of a quasi-Paleo area. Purists will tend to avoid

many root vegetables such as yams, as they are a newer addition to the human food supply. However, on the other side

of the coin, numerous hunter-gatherer cultures who consume large quantities of tubers without any signicant obesity o

disease have been observed. Ill just present some recipes here, and leave it up to you to decide whether or not to includethem in your diet. Personally, I use meals like this post workout, or on carb re-feed days.



Sour Sweet Potatoes

If you are becoming bored of sweet potatoes or yams,here is a recipe that is very different. In addition toproviding some variety, the fermentation will provide

you with some healthy bacteria! The addition offenugreek, besides adding some avor, speeds thefermentation process. Youll want to be sure to usenon-iodized salt, as iodine will disrupt the fermentation

process.

Prep time: 15 minutes

Total time: 2 days

1 lb sweet potatoes (yellow) 1 tsp fenugreek 1 tsp sea salt (non-iodized) fermentation starter (for ker or similar)

Peel and chop the sweet potatoes. Place in a pressurecooker with 1/2 cup water, bring to pressure for around6 minutes. De-pressurize and allow to cool. If you dont

have a pressure cooker, boil the potatoes in a pot ofwater for around 25 minutes or until soft. Drain.

Once the potatoes have cooled, mash them and

add the remaining ingredients. Place into a bowl andlightly cover with plastic wrap. Allow to sit at room

temperature for 48 hours to allow them to ferment.After this, you can transfer them to the refrigerator until

you are ready to serve.

Nutritional info: 4 servings at 28g carb

Cuban Yucca

Yucca is a staple carbohydrate in some parts of theworld. It is more appropriately known as cassava. It

must be boiled, cooked, or fermented before eating,as it contains cyanogenic glucosides which are toxic.(Yes, cyanide.) Traditional peoples always employed

some form of cooking or fermentation to detoxify theroot.

Time: 30 minutes

1 yucca (about 1 1/2lbs) 2 tsp coconut oil, bacon grease, or lard 1/4 cup chopped onions 1-2 cloves garlic, minced juice of 1/4 lemon sea salt 2 Tbsp olive oil

Peel the yucca with a paring knife. Chop into pieces

about 3/4 inch thick. Place into a pot of salted, boilingwater. Boil for 25 minutes.

When the yucca has been boiling for around 15minutes, begin to prepare the dressing. Heat the

coconut oil (or fat) in a small skillet over medium heatAdd the onion and garlic, saute until soft. Add the seasalt and lemon juice, continue to saute for 1 minute

Remove from the heat until ready to serve.

Once the yucca is done, drain the water, then platethe individual servings. Top with the sauteed mix, then

drizzle with olive oil.

Nutritional info: 6 servings at 43g carb, 6g fat

Fried Cucumbers

Never tried cooked cucumbers? Surprisingly, they are

delicious!

Here are two options: one using butter for those whoarent 100% strict paleo, and another using bacon.

Time: 7 minutes

1 cucumber, halved and sliced crosswise 1 Tbsp organic goat butter, or 2 oz chopped bacon

Chop the cucumber, saute in the butter until crisp-tender. If you go the bacon route, chop it rst, thencook until its beginning to brown before adding thecucumber.

Nutritional info: 2 servings at 4.5g carb, 5.5g fat (butter)

or 4.5g carb, 10g prot, 12g fat (bacon)


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