Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Basic (Culver City) Westside Routine (complete) -- Jamie Lewis

 
You're about to read an excerpt from this book: 


Table of Contents

Introduction

Periodization is a Method That Does Not Apply to You, 
Unless You Currently Live in North Korea

The Culver City Westside Barbell Crew: 
Runnin' Everythang West of the Mississippi

Bill West 
    Bill West's Diet
    The OG Powerlifter
    If You're Not Cheating, You're Not Trying
    The OG Westside Crew Were OG Gear Whores
    The Muscle House (of Possible Male Prostitution) by the Sea

Joe Dimarco
    Joe DiMarco's Basic Powerlifting Workout

George Frenn
    George Frenn's Basic Program
    Frenn Was Westside's Biggest Squatter
    Frenn Focused on the Deadlift 

Westside Barbell's Influences
    Chuck Ahrens
    Paul Anderson
        Paul Anderson's Powerlifting Routine
        Paul Anderson's Olympic Weightlifting Routine
    Ike Berger
        Ike Berger's Contest Prep Routine
    Tommy Kono
        Tommy Kono's Basic Training Routine
    Steve Marjanian
    Bob Peoples 
    Zuver's Gym
    Zuver's Gym Basic Routine

The Basic Westside Routine [what you're about to read]

Westside Offshoots
    Pat Casey
    Roger Estep
    Phil Grippaldi

Closing Remarks

Works Cited



THE BASIC WESTSIDE ROUTINE

After the wives stepped in to curtail the utter madness of their training, the Westside guys cut their workout time down to a mere 8-10 hours a week. 

Training (officially) twice a week in four to six hour sessions (along with two optional, shorter workouts), they basically blew the doors off every goddamn record they touched. 

Everyone who was anyone wanted to train there, and they came from all over to do so. As such, the gym was packed and their workouts were longer than Avengers: Endgame every single time they touched a weight. 


TUESDAY

Bench Press - around 12 sets, working up to doubles and triples, then 2 x 10 for a pump. 

Belly Toss Bench Press - 4-6 x 3.

Incline Bench - 12 sets, reps from 3 to 6 for around half the sets, then singles for the rest. 

High Box Squats - work up to a heavy set of singles, using 100 lbs. over your current contest weight. George Frenn used 1,000 lbs. for singles to set up for his record-breaking 853 lb. squat. 

Low Box Squats - 4-5 singles with 100 lbs. less than your contest squat. 

Rack Pulls/Box Deadlifts - 5-6 singles.

Lat Pulldowns - 3 x 5 (seriously heavy). 

Triceps Pushdowns - 3 x 5 (as heavy as humanly possible). 

Overhead Work - Heavy Triples, doubles and singles. Not everyone did these, it was mostly the Olympic throwers who did this. 

Cleans and High Pulls - these were usually done competitively between lifters, for a max effort. 

Everyone added whatever they needed to onto this workout, as you'll see (and saw in the George Frenn section). Whatever didn't get added here could also get pushed to the Wednesday and Sunday workouts. 


WEDNESDAY

Optional light day. 


SATURDAY

At least twice a month, everyone maxed out on the three lifts, then went home. This wasn't as easy as it sounds, though, because 20 to 30 guys would show up on any given Saturday. Problem was, 20-30 guys would show up. It would take from noon until about 6 p.m. 

If the guys weren't having a full meet day, they'd work the three lifts using methods described below. Either way, once the lifting was done, they started drinking, likely at the restaurant with the all you can eat prime rib and cheap pitchers I mentioned earlier on. 


SUNDAY

 Optional light work day. 


THE ADD-ONS

"The whole idea of assistance movements is to search out weaknesses and destroy them. The power lifters of the Westside Barbell Club conduct a constant search to learn more about building power. They are ready to try any innovation, and always seem to find time and energy for a new experiment. They are dedicated to making ever-greater lifts." - Armand Tanny. 

As with any program, nothing should just be plug-and-play when it comes to programming. Every program, no matter how allegedly comprehensive it might be, can address the needs of each individual as they arise. There will always be a need for customization, and as we saw in the George Frenn series, the Westside crew were more obsessed with customization than a 16-year-old who loves Call of Duty and The Fast and the Furious equally. 


The Rack Pull/Box Deadlift 

West and the Westside crew utilized this movement to prevent deadlift fails just below the knee. They did the following program once a month, pulling from an inch to and inch-and-a-half below their knees during their Tuesday workout, or a supplementary Wednesday workout. 

The "high deadlift" program was basically just a gradual progression toward a max attempt that must be done with straps. As Bill West put it, 

"When you start the pull, nothing seems to happed for several long minutes. You keep turning on more and more power, and then finally the bar begins to move off the blocks. Without the grip to think about you can pull hard and long until you are fully erect. In one long effort like this you have the equivalent, or more, of a whole set of heavy reps. It builds back muscle." 

To give an idea of the progression, it would look something like this: 
550x1; 585x1; 625x1; 660x1; 690x1 (with straps). 


Snatch Grip Deadlift Day

Bill West, like myself and the modern Westside crew, never trained the deadlift in the gym. Instead, West added a third day of training, doing some snatch grip deadlifting on Wednesdays. 

"By building the muscles from angles, the official movements are improved. We understand that the high deadlift improves the final phase of the pull. With the snatch grip, on the other hand, the initial phase is improved. The back is in a deeper bentover position, from a full powered standpoint slightly at a disadvantage, but building strength at this point completes the whole back picture. Strength exists through the entire range of back lifting. Bill uses this style for most of his deadlift training. Except for the High Deadlift day once a month, he works the Snatch Grip Deadlift every Wednesday." 


Snatch Grip Deadlift - 4 x 3 (increasing the weight on each set); 2 x 3 (heavier, strapped). A typical progression might be:
225x3; 315x3; 425x3; 500x3; 525x3 and 550x3 (using straps). 

Sumo Deadlift - 3 x 1 (87%1RM). This (at least for a history nerd like me) is fascinating, because I didn't know sumo deadlifts were even legal at that time. West called it a "close grip deadlift," and although Peary Rader claimed in 1976 to have done the lift in the mid-1950s, I haven't seen a pic of them that predates the 70s. 

Note: I was looking into the "hands inside the thighs" style of pulling a couple years ago. Paul Anderson used it for cleans, owing to the size of his thighs, and back then I rounded up and scanned this pair of pics of him DLing with hands inside the thighs, or almost inside or what in hell he was up to here. T-shirt, dress pants, dress socks, wristwatch and that pinky finger sticking out like he was holding nothin' but the weight of a teacup, yes, "Ain't nothin' but a teacup" and "Everybody wanna be a bodybuilder but nobody wanna wear 64" waist pants" later led to the currently popular Colemanisms:   




"Notice that the last three singles are done with a close grip. The elbows are inside the knees. Actually, the legs are spread wider than normal. Again, this variation strengthens the leg pull from the wide position. It becomes obvious that a theory emerges that prohibits the existence of any weak spots. By closing the gaps, there is no chance for power to leak out. It is like military strategy: For every man at the front, you have 10 men fucking, damnit, SUPPORTING him at the rear. 

Here's a photo from the 1940 book, "The Keynote to Great Strength" by Harry L. Good. A description of a sumo, knuckles front (unlike the photo) grip deadlift if given along with it. Real good book! 



Deficit Deadlifts

Another favorite of West and Frenn, these helped with breaking the weight off the ground for big pulls. After having his national record of 713 smashed by Gary Young, Frenn looked into Young's training and discovered that Young did high rep deficit deadlifts on a regular basis. Young had also pulled 685 standing on a low box, so Frenn discussed it with Mae West and started hammering singles on the              
                        deficit 
                       deadlift.

It didn't do a doggone goddamned thing for him. He tried more singles, then fewer. Singles weren't working, so he decided that if he could pull 600 for 10, he'd be able to smash through the 725 lb. barrier . . . which just killed his deadlift altogether. Once he dropped the weight even further, however, his deadlift blew up. With the program below, Frenn pulled 725 within three weeks, 740 within five weeks, and became a consistent 750-800 pound puller. 

Tuesday: 

Deficit Deadlift - worked up to 3 x 10 x 60%1RM. His feet just fit under the bar with 45's on it, and from the side, his chest is just about touching his thighs at the start position. 

Saturday: 

Deadlift Warmup - triples up to 495. 

Deadlift - singles with 565, 635, then work to a daily max and do three singles with that weight. No more than three singles with any weight. 

High Pulls/Power Clean:

George Frenn was an absolute monster on the high pull, but (like me) could never manage to get his arms underneath the bar for a clean (one of many reasons he chose powerlifting over Oly lifting). Frenn believed that high pulls were a far more effective movement than cleans for this reason -- the brute strength they require translated nicely to the deadlift and required none of the skill and flexibility that the clean did. If a lifter can do them with big weights, however, Frenn sees no reason to replace them with high pulls. 

Cleans and/or Snatch Grip and/or Clean Grip High Pulls - 4-9 x 3-5. 

Good Mornings: 

Another great assistance exercise for Tuesday and Wednesday workouts. 

Good Mornings - 4-9 x 3-5 (Frenn used about 60% of his squat 1RM for these. 

Box Squat in the Power Rack

Note: Not to be confused with a rack-in-the-box squat. It happens infrequently, the last event being one that involved Ed Kemper, a partial female torso, a shovel and a hole in the front yard of his Mom's house. Squatting to put the trophy-part into a shallow hole in broad daylight on a residential street, Mr. Kemper found that if he dug two foot-holes just outside the ritual site, it was easier . . . and he progressed over his works, building up the ability to bury trophies in a deficit position while standing on soil piled into block-like form. Ed ran around at 6' and 300 pounds of natural strength. Next up: Cooking with Dahmer, for all your nutrient needs. Our ground floor intro offer includes hand drill for proper food prep, so ACT NOW!]. Where the hell were I here? 

After nearly killing himself walking out a heavy squat attempt when fatigued one day, Bill West had an epiphany. [No, not that peanut butter and chocolate go great together]. The kind of epiphany when one wakes up in the hospital and thinks, "It's pretty hard to train for 15 hours a week when you're lying in a hospital bed with no beer and no prime rib. [The might-and-muscle benefits of pork and vodka were still as yet undiscovered. J.C. Hise, being lost in a time-bend after seeing himself in the rearview mirror of a heavy excavation vehicle at a mining site, excitedly experienced an epiphany of elephantine import-dimensions, shouting "Eureka! I've discovered the benefits of pork, vodka and verbal corn."] Yes, it's two jugs of free coffee here at work from some "meeting" or something that took place earlier.   

Back to Bill West in hospital gown and stop seeing him from the rear end you perv. Apparently all that peanut oil had an effect on his glutes. Earlier on in a later time, Trinidadian Niki Minaj - no relation to Learie Carasco of St. Lucia - would've/had discovered the financial benefits of using peanut oil to expand and enlarge rear-facing bodyparts.) Just fucking stop already and get back to the excerpt here. Okay, put down the coffee and step away from the faux-meth.  

As Bill West lay there, he realized that the typical weightlifting power rack wasn't up to the task he was about to set before it. [The first rack I ever used was at a local Y, one of those attach-to-floor, wall and ceiling affairs that were aimed at iso-use. Real narrow buggers, those.] The dimensions were all wrong. As such, a plan began to form in his mind . . . 

"The box squat required a lot of horizontal movement, so he decided to widen the fore-and-aft distance between the two crossbars to 16 inches and lengthen by several inches the 3/4-inch steel bars that served as elevation pins. 



 Pants, tight, and close to tan. 



"In this way he could take the bar from a sitting position on the bench and come erect with plenty of clearance. [The rack at that old small-city Y of mine ages ago had a pair of regular users. A guy and his Dad, the Dad teaching his son how to do an Olympic press circa the mid-60's. It didn't allow for much backward lean so the son learned how to Press strict . . . BONUS! I remember being young and "taking a knee" several times while squatting out of some old squat stands. A very gymnastic guy there as well, walking around on his hands for a laugh. Also, the first guy I ever saw with big muscular floppers with his shirt off, doing the pec bounce while his partner in what was still considered the crime of lifting wandered around aimlessly on his hands. You know, the usual weirdos we came to know and love. And in my case, miss now an awful lot.]  

"His box is a milk crate beefed up with two-by-fours [if Peanuts was a woman that last wee pile of word-symbols would sound rather odd. Her box is a . . .]
His box is a milk crate beefed up with two-by-fours making it a perfectly rigid and still fairly light. It is virtually indestructible and grew up to become a featured character in the Marvel Universe . . . winged, unhinged, out for blood.] 

Damn it! 

His box is a milk crate beefed up with two-by-fours making it perfectly rigid and still fairly tight, er, light. It is virtually indestructible. It stands 18.5 inches high which puts Belinda, er, Bill himself (5'8") in a sitting position about 1.5 to 2 inches above a parallel squat. This position seemed reasonable for a good bench squat. 

The whole point of the exercise is to START THE LIFT FROM A FULL SITTING POSITION. Let the buttocks roll back, and in a continuous movement start forward and up again. 

Okay now, until then I'll leave off here. I love this book and recommend it, highly OR straightly to any lifter. 

Picking up from yesterday, here: 

You lose the effect if you don't settle into it all the way [and there's the mistake some folks make when attempting to date the use of this form of box squat, sometimes believing the old "bench squat" was this when if fact it's that. Dead-starting from the bottom in a sitting position gets the thing right for what they were after]. 

If you only sit on the leg biceps, you get too much rebound from the muscle when it contracts. The spotter, as an added advantage, can help the lifter do forced reps by just touching the bar. 



You get the idea and how it can be used in a box squat of this type, I'm sure. 

Even when only a regular squat rack is available an assistant can help the lifter get started on box squats, but extremely heavy weights would not be recommended. 

West had observed that Paul Anderson's squat lockouts, as well as his had done exactly jack shit for his full squat; yeah, they made the walkout far easier, and he noticed more stability but the squat itself was unaffected. Thus, he designed the box to squat to be a 3/4 competition squat. 

Using this as one of his two squat sessions a week, he'd be able to use supramaximal weights in one and then coast off those weights in the second -- his full squat would feel easier as a result. After some experimentation he found that he was able to go far harder in both sessions by alternating the two, and began box squatting in his Tuesday workout and full squatting in his Saturday session. 

"From this mishap he learned one lesson, and that was never to take any more steps than necessary with a really heave weight on the shoulders." 

Tuesday: 

Warmup sets - 2 x 7; 2 x 5; 1 x 3.
Work sets - Drop the weight 100 pounds x 10 reps; drop 100 more x 10. 

And there you have it. 

It's a great book in my view, and if you get hold of one you can see this chapter without all the bozo crap added on by me. Such a salesman. 


Enjoy Your Lifting!   








  











  








































Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Bulgarians in Montreal - Nelson Sleno (1976)

 

Also by the author: This chronicle defines the life of a man, short in stature but huge in spirit, who grows from rebellious youth to successful teacher and athlete, representing his country numerous times on the world athletic stage. 


At forty-nine, the first signs of what was to be his greatest challenge got the next ten years, indeed the rest of his life, showed themselves, setting off a decision to not sit back idly and let Parkinson's disease defeat his warrior spirit. Ride along as Nelson plans and executes his strategies to force back the onslaught of "The Darkness." 

Rage, rage, against the dying of the light . . . 




This wee blog deal is nearing the 14.5 million page view mark. I chalk it all up to the dozen guys who read it having trouble finding that article they're looking for. 



BULGARIANS IN MONTREAL
by Nelson Sleno

With the Olympics here upon us in Montreal everyone looks forward to witnessing in person world record performances. 

Olympic lifting and just plain GREAT LIFTING. 

What people watch taking place on the platforms is spectacular. But I and a few others were given the chance to watch what goes on before the lifters even get there. 

For over two weeks I was able to observe the Bulgarians training alone in seclusion at their National Training Center in Montreal. The mystique of the Bulgarian weightlifters, in a country of only eight million people, rising to world supremacy with the Russians, was enhanced by their desire to remain completely separate from everyone else until the competition. Having visited the site where the lifters of all other countries were, you could hear the question "where are the Bulgarians" and "what are they doing?" asked over and over in many languages. 

The Province of Quebec in weightlifting has maintained a good relationship with the Bulgarians thus enabling them to use our training center. 

My intention in this article is two-fold: First, to give an insight or their pre-competition training and, Second, to give a personal look at the lifters, as they were quite friendly and open with us. 

To start with, to most people who watched them it seemed that they were not following the same program from one lifter to the next. In the first training group they would all do, say, snatches together, but from then on they would all do different exercises, that is, snatch pulls, clean pulls, clean & jerks, etc. The first two days they were here they handled very light weights, doing a few power snatches, clean & jerks, pulls and some squats as they were still adjusting to the time difference. 

The Bulgarians warmup consists of nothing more than a quick rub by the masseur and then sets of empty bar work and light weights; yet their flexibility in the ankle, hip and shoulder joints is exceptional as they would handle considerable amounts of weight in squatting with the bar overhead with a Jerk grip. This is a precarious position for the not so flexible to say the least. 

Note: Before anyone gets all gung ho and prepares to lift like the Bulgarians, this was a very important and integral part of their training:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/A0_l9fDY1OI That being said, let's move forward with this article . . . 

The fourth day here they went full tilt. Georgi Todorov, world record holder in the snatch, did 130+62.5 to equal his snatch record and break the record total. I believe he was three kilos over weight. 


Khristov

Coach Abadjiev observes training session. 

Khristov


That same night Mitkov did a 190 kg. clean & jerk. It is interesting to note that the next night, Todorov could barely walk as he had aa recurrence of his knee injury which he suffered from at the Europe vs America competition in Montreal in December '75. He was quite literally in agony. 

Two nights later he came back with a 130 snatch and cleaned 150, jerked it, and just missed a second jerk with it. Bulgarian therapy does wonders! That same night Nurikyan (56), snatch record holder at 120 kg at the time and weighed in later for competition at 56 kilos. It seemed as if T. Todorov (second at European Champs 60 kilos) was not really going all out in training as if content to place second or third behind G. Todorov and Kolesnikov of USSR. 

Kolev came the the Bulgarian team as an alternate but was considered to be still recuperating from surgery. He suffered a serious leg injury in Moscow (torn patella tendon). One leg did seem a little smaller than the other. But can he snatch, injury or not! In training, he easily whipped up 155 and just missed 160. However, he was hurting in the clean & jerk as he was struggling with 180. 

Mitkov also snatched 155 in training. His pull is phenomenal; hunched back, lightning off the floor, straightens up and dives under looking like he's going to break in a dozen pieces and stands up like nothing (no wonder, since I saw him front squat 230 and almost made 240 in the same kamikaze style). 

The second group came in and took over where the others left off. Blagoev Stoichev (82.5), Shopov (90), Khristov, Semerdjie (110), and Plachkov. The most impressive of them all were Blagoev and Khristov. Twice in the workout I saw Blagoev toss up 170 kg like a toy only to miss it behind. Same thing with a 205 clean & jerk only to barely miss the jerk. It was a really effortless attempt. 

Khristov is phenomenal. 


Words are hard to describe the impression Khristov leaves on you. Half the time he looks like he's going to cry (once he did!). His pull (in the clean) is quite literally a deadlift off the floor with his back just barely straight and then at mid-thigh he explodes -- rockets under the bar to sit in the exact same position each time. 

In training he cleaned 227.5 four times with very little rest in between, but each time he could not rise. In the snatch, 180 was a toy. His lack of leg strength in the clean recovery seems to be his only setback, as I'm sure after watching his pulls that he could pull in 250. 

On another night he cried like a baby and argued with Coach Abadjiev. The following night he came in like a tiger. He tried a 180 snatch with straps, missed it, and without letting go of the bar made it. The next set he power snatched it and just missed the double. We thought this was pretty good, but he wasn't finished yet. In the jerk he worked up to 230 like a toy and then did the phenomenal 250 (550 pounds) off the rack, with room to spare, recovering from a deep split! To finish off he squatted 281. From crybaby to superman. 

Plachkov, on the other hand, seemed completely off as he was having trouble with a 180 snatch and a 225 clean & jerk. He seemed tired and sad all the time. 

Semerdjiev, the number two heavy, snatched 170 and racked 230 but was unable to stand. He has what seems to me an awkward bottom position in the clean & jerk, and twists a lot when he recovers.

What all this adds up to is that the Bulgarians before a major competition lift weights up to and over 100% of world records in training and up to approximately nine days before their competition and after that go down accordingly until the contest. 

To finish, I would like to add a few other little personal items of interest about the Bulgarians. 

Coach Ivan Abadjiev -- quiet, unassuming but in complete control. During the Olympics he seldom watches his lifters lift as he was staring up into the sky sniffing ammonia. Seems like he was praying! According to the team doctor, Abadjiev loses 5 kilos during a major competition. 

Note: so does the doctor who sweats oceans while the Bulgarians are lifting in competition. 

Nurikyan -- wears glasses, friendliest of the Bulgarian lifters, always smiling, infantry officer in Bulgaria. 

T. Todorov -- also friendly, university grad. He and Nurikyan are the oldest on the team at 28. 

Kolev -- super strong looking, thinks a lot about women and likes Elton John music.

Mitkov -- doesn't talk much.

Stoichev -- talks a lot. 











































Friday, January 26, 2024

An Interview with Zygmunt Smalcerz - Refik Colasan (1975)


From this issue
I.O.L. Feb. 1975

Thank You, Sir!  



Smalcerz was very friendly to me during the time he stayed in Ankara. it was my pleasure to take him around the town after the banquet of Sunday night. I showed him and the other Polish lifters issues of IOL. Although they appreciated the magazine very much they said that they do not have the chance of getting it in Poland. At this time I was able to interview Smalcerz. 

I first asked him his age and occupation. 

He answered that he was 33 years old and had been lifting since he was twelve. He is a physical training teacher in Warsaw.

I asked him his best results up to now and if the total he did in Ankara was satisfactory for him. 

He said that he has been the World Champion in 1971 at Lima, Peru, the European Champion of 1971 (Bulgaria), 1972 (Romania), 1974 (Italy). He is also the winner of the gold medal at the 1972 Olympics. The total he made at this contest is the best of his life but he did the same 5 months ago at the Polish championships. He reduces weight to the flyweight category only for very important competition. Usually he competes as a bantamweight.

I asked him if he could give me some idea of his training. 

He replied that he trains 5 days a week. Generally two of these training days are for technique and the rest for strength. He believes in the use of the Hercules Machine very much (it is imported from the USA). He says that he uses the machine once or twice a week. 

Smalcerz prefers both front and back squats. He says that good mornings and front squats are a must for all lifters. When doing good mornings one should bend down as much as possible without bending the knees and come up as quickly as possible rising high on the toes. 

Note: technique described here in IronMind's video of Francis Tournefier  https://youtu.be/F5KE2_SscNg?si=UKchtKLY0nP_q0zo at the 2:06 mark. 

Seated presses with wide and narrow grips are also part of his training. The reason he prefers the seated press is to relax the leg muscles. 

In training camp Polish lifters train twice a day. In afternoon workouts they do sprints of 30-40 meters and long and high jumps with or without the bar. He says he is no so serious about these exercises in his normal daily training. He does not do long distance runs. 

Smalcerz is also against using anabolics. To him they are dangerous nonsense. And, "Only those who need to gain some weight should get protein dust" he said. 

Smalcerz wrote down his program for a hard training week. He said that the week following a hard training week should be light. 

Monday: 

1) Power Snatch - up to 85% of his best snatch; 6-8 sets altogether,; 85% for 3 x 3 reps. 

2) Snatch - up to 90-95% of his best snatch; 6 sets altogether; 90-95% for sets of 2 reps. 

3) Power Press - sitting or standing position with maximum weight; 
5-6 sets. 

4) Power Clean - use 85% of best jerk; 6-8 sets x 3 reps.

5) Jerk from Racks - 90-95% of best jerk; 4-6 sets; 90-95% 2 sets x 1 rep. 

6) Squat - 85-100% of best squat; 10 sets, maximum 2 sets x 1 rep. 


Tuesday: 

1) Power Snatch - 75% of snatch; sets and reps same as Monday.

2) Snatch Pull - with the maximum clean; 3-4 sets x 1-2 reps. 

3) Jerk from Racks - 75% of best jerk 6 sets x 3 reps. 

4) Front Squat - up to maximum of clean & jerk; 10 sets; maximum 2 sets x 1 rep. 


Wednesday: 

1) Clean & Jerk - 80-85% of best jerk; 6-8 sets; 85% 3 reps; 90% 2 reps. 

2) Clean Pull - with the maximum clean; 3-4 sets x 1-2 reps. 

3) Press - any kind. 

4) Power Snatch from Boxes - 75-85% of snatch; 5-6 sets x 3 or more reps. 

5) Good morning. 


Thursday: Rest


Friday: 

1) Snatch - up to 95-100% 6-8 sets x 1-2 reps. 

2) Snatch Pull - with maximum snatch 4-6 sets x 1-2 reps. 

3) Power machine exercises.

4) Front Squat - 90% of maximum front squat; 4-6 sets x 1-2 reps. 


Saturday: 

1) Clean & Jerk - up to 95-100% 6-8 sets x 1-2 reps. 

2) Clean Pull - with maximum clean 2-4 sets x 1-2 reps. 

3) Press - any kind. 

4) Good Morning. 

5) Squat - 90-95%; 5-6 sets; 90-95% 1-2 reps. 

The following week would be exactly the same except that the poundages used would be 10-15% less. 

Smalcerz tries his maximum about every two weeks while in heavy training. Besides these exercises he does some stomach and waist strengthening movements. 

He does bench press sometimes for fun. 

A very important point to Smalcerz is the physical cycle of the lifter. He says that every sportsman should know his physical cycle. This cycle is 23 days; the first 15 days are good for hard training. In the following days until the 23rd the lighter poundages should be preferred. The 10th, 11th and 12th days of this cycle are the peak points of the physical cycle. Everyone can calculate their physical cycle according his or her birthday. Simply count cycles of 23 days from your birthdate to the present. 

I thanked him for giving time to me for this interview. His fluent English gave me a chance of being good friends with him in a short time. 


Enjoy Your Lifting!