Cue of the Week #1 – Lock the Lats
“Lock the Lats”
In this series, I’ll take a look at some of cues that have helped shape my career so far as well as others that I have dug up through the net. Here is one that is helpful in a number of lifts, but I think it really shines in the clean and jerk. When done properly the lifter pulls the shoulders down and back and puffs the chestup and out. This cue is similar to “pinch your shoulder blades,” but through personal experience and watching other lifters receive the same cue, I feel that “locking the lats” makes for a stronger back and a stronger lift off. Obviously this is only part of the whole getting tight before lift-off but anything that engages as much of the back as this cue is a good tool for the coach’s tool box. Be careful of letting the lifter move his butt up. Ideally the lats are locked without any movement of the butt. This is a good cue to get started with. Use it, let me know what you think and happy lifting.
A Couple of Things
I have pretty much eliminated dairy and gluten from my diet. I was on a pretty strict gluten free diet before, but now with dairy out of my diet, I think anyone who is considering doing gluten free should also do dairy free. I look and feel much leaner. Inflammation is considerably less. I normally have pretty swollen knees, but they are much less swollen now that I have cut out dairy. I love cheese and milk even moreso, but being leaner and more mobile means a whole lot more to me than some satisfaction at the dinner table.
On another note, I have been reading a lot and doing a ton a prep work and pre writing for some big stuff I want to do. This is the kind of stuff that will start a career so it isn't exactly super quick, but it should be good. Stay tuned.
You Make Your Own Luck
Pardon me for not coming up with something new and ground breaking, but good things take time. So here is something that has been tossing around in my head for a while:
"You make your own luck."
I dunno who first said this, but it's fricking awesome. How many times has a team or an athlete said that they didn't get the right breaks or were unlucky. Well thats just a crock. Losing a close game isn't unlucky, it's the sign of an underprepared team. The breakdowns can be in a lot of places: conditioning, mental preparedness, actual skill. The only outcome that matters is L in the Loss column. These same reasons for losing also hold true with the individual athlete. So what does this have to do with making your own luck? Training! The more you train (and I mean proper, intelligent training here, not slam-yourself-into-the-wall-overtraining), the more you practice competition-like settings, the more you compete, the more likely you will be the one who gets all the breaks.
Too many grown athletes hide behind the facade of luck. For most of us it's been at least a decade since we've stopped believing in the tooth fairy, santa, or the easter bunny, so why do some still insist on believing in luck? It's time to grow up and make your own luck.
New Regular- Quotes for all Occasions
As an exercise in both thought and writing, I have decided to take a randomly generated quote and turn it into something valuable for training. It won't neccesarily be anything earth shattering, but this is a great mental exercise to derive benefits for training from something completely unrelated to training. So without further adieu, here is this weeks quote:
Become a fixer, not just a fixture.
Anthony J. D'Angelo,
The College Blue Book
Wow. This one is pretty loaded. I think the best piece of advice to glean from this quote is something going through the motions is not the way to go about training. Imagine someone who wants to lose body fat who toils on the treadmill for three hours a day, but never seems to lose a pound. While this person may be a fixture of the gym, he never makes progress towards his goal. He is wasting time that could be better used. Being a fixture doesn't always imply that action, so action is on you.
Another big thing that can be taken from this quote is for coaching purposes. Clients of all kinds are constantly evolving in how their successes and short comings change, so a coach much always be on top of how the client is changing and how to respond to those changes. Ideally, a coach should be preempting those changes or have a good idea where the changes will be, but whatever the case may be problems arise and they need to be fixed. Problems should never be problems for long.
So there are two little bit of information I got from this quote. I'd like to make this a bi weekly column. Comments as always are highly encouraged.
A List of a Different Sort
I had my second weightlifting competition ever this past weekend. I snatched 95 kilos and clean and jerked 120. Both large competition personal bests. Any person would say that it was a great day, especially considering I'm in a foreign country with nowhere near as strong of a support system. I didn't.
I said I didn't do a good job, but looking back on things, I definitely did! More importantly, I think this is indicative of how people get stuck in training ruts. Instead of being happy with progress of any kind, you think, "Well if I did X, why didn't I do X+1." Or "I progressed, but I didn't reach my goals as I had laid out." This kind of mindset, while productive at times, can be very detrimental in the long run. It doesn't support a positive mindset, and in a sport like weightlifting where there are only 6 attempts per meet, it is just impossible to hit X+1 sometimes.
Furthermore, hitting a 215 kilo total was a 9 kilo increase in my total! That's awesome! Now I'm not just tooting my own horn here, but sometimes we do really great things and neglect their importance for one reason or another. So here is what I propose: make a list of six accomplishments you've had over the past six months. Not only does this indicate your progress, if you can't think of six things to put down, perhaps it's time for a change somewhere. The list can be made up of anything, as long as it's pertinent to your goals or chosen sport. As an example here is my list:
1. 100kg snatch
2. 125 kg clean and jerk
3. Registered a Total in competition in Australia
4. Won a weightlifting competition in Australia
5. Had someone as me to help them lose weight
6. Done mobility work everyday for the past 6 weeks
Sometimes I think it's easy to forget how far we have come, and I think this list is a great motivational tool to help keep the fire stoked. I don't mean for this to be a consolation prize for someone who didn't work hard and reach there goals; sometimes though, there are factors outside of our control, and this is here to address when the cards don't get dealt in our favor.
Dude, I’m seeing visuals.
Tommy Kono said weightlifting is 50% mental, 30% technique, and 20% power. It seems like it would be beating a dead horse to talk about technique or power, so I'll give a go at attempting to tease through the other, oft neglected, half of weightlifting: the mental side. But it can be big and scary whenever people bring up the mental half of the equation so I'll start simple-something with a lot of carryover into life: visualization. Visualization does a lot of things. It breeds confidence; it allows you to practice in places you wouldn't be able to otherwise; it allows you to focus on weak spots. Visualizing my lifts, as well as other life pursuits, has really brought my game to a whole new level, so here are some pointers on getting started.
Do It Frequently
Like any other habit or skill, the more you do it the better you'll become and the more likely you'll be to stick with it. Instead of going on Facebook, close your eyes and visualize your squat sets. Visualize getting a huge second pull on your snatches. Obviously going through more than once is ideal, but if you only have time for one rep or set that's fine. It's all about getting started.
Be Specific
Getting started is the first step, but in order for visualization to be effective the image needs to be perfect. For a deadlift that might be a constant back angle, knees and hips locking out at the same time, back not rounding forward, fast off the floor, whatever. The point is, everything needs to be perfect. If you don't know what perfect looks like, this forces you to figure it out or find the resources so that is no longer a problem. Lifters of any kind have to know what a perfect rep looks like, otherwise there is no way to tell what's technically wrong.
I also like to be specific in my surroundings. For me that means visualizing the platform, the size and color of the weights, the chalk on my hands, the judges, the temperature etc. I have found the more lifelike you can get it, the better carryover is.
Change it up
This is a little one I have just started playing around with, as more of a motivation tool. Visualize yourself lifting in different time periods. It still allows you to focus on technique, but lifting in a national, international, or Olympic stage is a lot different that the local competition a lot of us do. Even though it's all in your head I don't know any lifter who doesn't get juiced just thinking about lifting with the best.
Be Over the Top
As cool as it would be to win your meet wearing gold parachute pants in six inch stilletos, that is not the type of over the top I am talking about. No this kind of over the top is more of a confidence builder. Visualizing yourself struggling with the weight, no matter how heavy it is, is not good. Visualizing is all about fixing problems, as such you need to stick the weight like it was a feather. With perfect form. 140 kg. should look like 70kg. An 800 lb squat should look like a 225lb warmup. Confidence is huge in lifting. This is a great way to build it without actually being in the gym
So these are just a couple of tips and reasons to start visualizing. There really isn't anything to lose if you don't already do it. From what I've been reading it seems that most, if not all, of the elite guys in all sports visualize when the pressure is really on. The game winning shot, the 6th or 9th attempt. Whatever. Just go in your mind and flex the muscle between your ears.
So It’s Been A While II
It was great to be outdoors and do a long weekend of active rest. I felt much leaner after the weekend, even after eating like a traditional American. It really speaks wonders for walking outside in the sun. In the next two weeks I plan to pump up the blog and come out with some banger articles.
Also I have a competition on Saturday the 11th, so get ready for some large and improved totals!
Long Weekend
I'm going on a hike tomorrow though Sunday. It should be a nice break before really hitting it hard these next two weeks before the Sept. 11 comp. Hopefully lots of walking and stretching will lead to a new and improved me! Also I plan on doing some Vibram Sprints. It's been a while but who knows, maybe I'll like it!
Ya Gotta Learn to Take Your Lumps
So my lift today sucked hardcore. I was tight, slow, and everything felt like a ton of bricks. Days like these will happen. I mean sure I need to do mobility work, keep more hydrated and keep a handle on schoolwork, but days like today are inevitable. Without the bad there can be no good.
I was really down on myself in the gym, but after dinner and a shower, life is good. I'm not hurt; I 'm as hungry as Fat Bastard to train tomorrow; I remembered the road to my destination is a long one.
That's that.
Just some notes now:
I want to get Tommy Kono's new book: Championship Weightlifting. I also plan on writing some legit articles soon. One is more directed towards weightlifters and power sport athletes, and the other is meant to shake up the system. The only way to get noticed is to make yourself noticed, so intend to do just that. For the 6 of you that read feel free to comment.
Underwater Basket Weaving 100
I like to think of myself as a halfway decent writer, or at least a good enough one to bang out a 1000 word essay in a night. Last night's experience, however, proved the opposite to be true. I just couldn't do it. I kept on starting and immediately got floored when I actually had to produce something of substance.
So how does this have anything to do with fitness or life in general? I suppose one of the biggest take home lessons from this is that it takes planning to accomplish anything. If I try and clean 140 kilos, I'm sure I'd have no problem getting it to my waist or maybe even my belly button, but ask me to get under the bar and I'd probably end up pole-axed like this guy: Fail
Sure surprising yourself is a good thing every once in a while, but do it with something challenging. Not the impossible.
The second thing that smacks me in face from this little fiasco of mine is an echo of Dan John: make sure your actions help you reach your goals. (I couldn't find the quote quickly enough, and I have class soon. That's about the gist of it though.) What does a class about Mahayana Buddhism have to offer someone who is trying to do work in the fitness industry? Very little. I'm sure there are some abstract lessons from Buddhism that I could apply to my goals, but not a lot. So should bodybuilders sign up for a marathon training course, or should a fitness competitor enter a food-eating contest? It's in that same vein.
So poo-poo on me for not getting my work done. But if I can learn a lesson and, more importantly, teach someone a thing or two from my snafu's then it's worth it in the end.