Repetitiousness of Exercise Frequencies – Bob Hise III (1994)

 International Olympic Lifter – January 1994     

Greg here; If anyone happens to have a copy of IOL from December of 1993 (I believe Vol. VI  No. 12) I’d be forever grateful if you could take a photo or send over information from “Takanotes” on the USOTC programming. This is part one of a three part series, and I currently only have two and three.  Hoping to get them all immortalized here but doesn’t work without the first.  Use the contact box on the right side of the blog.

*to note, I believe there were several typos/errors in the original article, particularly on the programming portion.  I’ve done my best to get things transcribed as best I could. One day I’ll try and channel my limited free time into a dissertation breaking down all the various ways I’ve seen folks prescribe weight, sets and repetitions.  Bob came from the “fractional” school of thought which, at least in his case, used % of 1RM and sets over the number of repetitions*

*I’ll also die on the hill that it should always be weight x repetitions x number of sets*

Many times an athlete of long term experience becomes fatigued or bored with repetitiousness of training regimens. This is easily understandable with the amount of work required and logged to achieve success. I would like to confirm some positive characteristics of frequency of exercise within workout or work week.

I for one, vary exercise frequency as often as I feel tolerable within a given work period. Preparation phase of one’s cycle offers the best opportunity for creativity in exercise selection. One should always speak with the athlete, and coaching peers, when analyzing ones deficiencies or imbalances of lifting skills. As outlined earlier these skills; 1) Strength and speed, 2) balance, 3) rhythm, 4) flexibility, will determine the objectives of your personalized program plan.

Now that we’ve generally discussed our objective, let me give you some examples of repeating exercise movements within the same work day. Let us state our objective the improvement of rhythm and consistency in the snatch result. An archaic approach might be many technical snatches to produce patterned snatch results. I feel the better method is as follows in the preparatory phase of the cycle:

Week  1

Day I

1)        Snatch Hang Below Knee 70% x 4, 80% x 1-2, 85% x1 x 3

2)        Squat 80% x 5 x 5

3)        Jerk 75% x 3 x 3

4)        Snatch 70% x 3, 80% x 2 x 2, 90% x 1 x 3

5)        Clean Shrug Mid Thigh Box 110% x 5 x 5

Day II

1)        Clean Snatch 65% x 2-3 x 3

2)        Jerk Behind Neck 85% x 2-3 x 3

3)        Good Morning 50% x 4 x 4

4)        Bench Press 70% x 6-8 x 5

Day III

1)        Clean & Jerk 75% x 2+2 x 3

2)        Snatch Stand on 4” box 70% x 2-3 x 3

3)        Front Squat 75% x 5 x 5

4)        Power Jerk 75% x 3 x 3

Day IV

1)        Power Clean Mid Thigh Box 70% x 4, 80% x 2-3 x 3

2)        Snatch Pull 100% x 3 x 5

3)        Power Snatch 70% x 203 x 3

Day V

1)        Snatch 70% x 3, 80% x 2 x 2, 85% x 1 x 3

2)        Clean & Jerk 70% x 2+2 x 3

3)        Squat 80% x 4 x 5

4)        Clean Pull 100% x 3 x 5

5)        Snatch 70% x 2, 80% x 1, 90% x 1 x 2

Day VI

1)        Power Clean and Power Jerk 75% x 1+2 x 3

2)        Power Snatch & Squat Mid Thigh Box 70% x 2+2 x 3

3)        Good Morning 50% x 4 x 4

The following week may be characterized by repetition of the same altered or varied snatch movements with greater frequency of classical snatching to alter neuro-muscular habitualization.

Week 2

Day I

1)        Hang Clean 75% x 2-3 x 3

2)        Snatch 60% x 4, 70% x 3, 80% x 2 x 3

3)        Front Squat 82.5% x 4 x 5

4)        Jerk 80% x 3 x 3

5)        Snatch 65% x 3, 75% x 2, 85% x 1 x 3

Day II

1)        Snatch Mid Thigh Box 70% x 2-3 x 2, 80% x 1-2 x 3

2)        Power Jerk 70% x 4, 80% x 2-3 x 2, 70% x 3

3)        Good Morning 55% x 4 x 4

4)        Bench Press 80% x 4-5 x 4

Day III

1)        ½ Snatch 60% x 4 x 2, 70% x 2, 75% x 1-2 x 2

2)        Clean & Jerk 75% x 2+1 x 4

3)        Squat Rise on Toes 80% x 3 x 4

4)        Clean Shrug 105% x 3 x 5

5)        Snatch + Snatch Pull 75-80% x 1-2+2 x 3

Day IV

1)        Clean Snatch 70% x 2 x 3

2)        Power Jerk Behind Neck 80% x 2-3 x 3

3)        Clean Shrug Below Knees 100% x 3 x 5

Day V

1)        Front Squat 70% x 4, 80% x 3, 90% x 2 x 2

2)        Snatch 80% x 1-3 x 3

3)        Clean & Jerk 80% x 1+2 x 3

4)        Snatch Shrug 105% x 3 x 5

Day VI

1)        Power Snatch Stand on 4” Platform 70% x 2 x 3

2)        Good Morning 50% x 5 x 4

3)        Press 70% x 5 x 5

There is a greater frequency of snatching while still maintaining the auxiliary snatching exercises to reinforce the technical and conceptual patterns. The athlete will be approaching maximal stress levels from the loading and should require very concentrated effort to perform the required plan. I will follow with an unloading week to clarify and unite the three week plan for re-learning technical amplification of the snatch (unloading Week III).

Week 3

Day I

1)        Snatch 60% x 4 x 2, 70% x 3 x 4

2)        Squat 70% x 5 x 5

3)        Clean Mid Thigh Box 75% x 2-3 x 3

4)        Jerk 70% x 3-4 x 5

Day II

1)        ½ Snatch 75% x 2 x 2, 75% x 1-2 x 2

2)        Power Jerk 70% x 2 x 3

3)        Clean Pull 95% x 5

Day III

1)        Clean & Jerk 75% x 2+2 x 2

2)        Front Squat 70-80% x 3-5 x 4

3)        Snatch Pull Mid Thigh Box 110% x 3-5 x 5

4)        Press 60% x 5 x 5

Day IV

This day is an active rest day. A bar warm-up, jumps, pull-ups, abdominals, sauna and massage.

Day V

1)        Snatch 60% x 3, 70% x 3, 80% x 1-2 x 3

2)        Squats 70% x 3, 80% x 3, 87x5% x 2 x 2

3)        Clean & Jerk 70% x 2+2 x 3

4)        Snatch 60-70% x 3-3, 80% x 1-2 x 3

This should provide adequate unloading. However, if an athlete is over 83kgs. Or is of advanced age and works a physically taxing job, Day II may be omitted as well. This will improve ones snatching. Please send a self-addressed stamped envelope for personal response.

The East German Olympic Training System - Frank Shuman (1977)

 

The East German Olympic Training System – Frank Shuman (1977)

Strength & Health June-July 1977

With the Olympics starting in a couple weeks I figured it'll be fun to look back at some all-time bad takes on past Olympic performances.  At least one photo in the feature was a Bruce Klemens heater that I didn't see him get credit for.  Do yourself a favor and go check out his flickr account:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bklemens/albums/72157669291356315/

Bruce is still showing up to US Nationals and taking photos.  

The 1976 Olympics in Montreal were filled with many surprises by the emergence of East Germany as an Olympic power might have been the biggest surprise of all. And yet, it did not come as a surprise to anyone following international competitions, for they knew that the East Germans had developed an all-encompassing training system for their athletes in all sports.

This year, however, for the first time, some of the secrets have been revealed to the West. The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) invited a group of Western journalists to visit their sports facilities around the country and to investigate, somewhat, their training programs.

Much of the information in this article is based on the report of one of these journalists, Craig B. Whitney, to the New York Times.

Although the East Germans won more gold medals (40) than any other country except the USSR, they are already laying the groundwork for their assault on the XXII Olympiad in Moscow in 1980.

Their system which also produced 25 silver and 25 bronze medals in Montreal is comprised of teams of doctors, coaches and athletes. There are 21 sports clubs around the country and 19 specialized sports schools, which arrange their curriculum hours to fit around the student-athletes’ needs.

The Sports and Gymnastics Club in East Berlin is one of the largest in the country and it has over 600 athletes training there for three and four hours a day under 32 professional coaches. The budget is over $500,000 and the training facilities include gyms for soccer, handball, basketball and gymnastics. There are also special weightlifting rooms, boxing rings, an indoor ice-skating rink, and swimming pools with diving boards made in Sparks, Nevada.

Since East Germany is a relatively small country (population 17 million), it can be assumed that the sports clubs and specialized schools are within easy distance of all their athletes. This isn’t really true, of course. The clubs and schools are open only to those athletes with promise. Ulrike Richter, the 18-year old backstroke champion, for example, was “discovered” by a “scout” when she was six years old and she was put in a special boarding school in East Berlin even though her family live 100 miles away.

Unfortunately, this is the rule and not the exception. Most of the East German athletes have been in serious and supervised training since their early, formative years.

The United States can loo with envy upon the results of other systems but there will surely be no one clamoring for us to emulate these systems and “imprison” our young and potential champion athletes.

On the other hand, the East German athletes do not consider themselves imprisoned. They seem genuinely concerned with strengthening the international reputation of the German Democratic Republic and this is why the long-isolated East German regime is willing to spend so much money on it.

In addition to the clubs and sports schools, the army is another organization entrusted with turning out athletes. They are able to offer outstanding facilities for training and their soldier-athletes are often promoted in the ranks according to how they’ve progressed in competition.

The system itself, however, is built upon a foundation of national sports. Physical education classes of two to three hours a week, for example, are compulsory for every East German schoolchild, beginning with the first grade. The coaches in these schools, then, act as “talent scouts” and they appear to know what they’re looking for as most schools send five or six students a year to the special sports schools. There is some room for dissent, though, and a student who is picked for one of the sports schools can refuse to attend.

As stated, however, attending these schools and belonging to the clubs or the army is a privilege open only to superior athletes. Anyone who has any ambition as far as the Olympics are concerned will join because there are simply no other ways to attain the Olympic standards. There is no such thing in East Germany as training on one’s own in neighborhood gyms.

How does the government pay for its programs and facilities? We in the United States have seen all sorts of fundraising events but it is doubtful if we would accept the East German way. They encourage workers to spend an extra shift at the factory and then to donate those wages to the sports programs. A sports official in Leipzig says “The majority do it voluntarily, but of course those who don’t volunteer, go along with the others anyway.”

And it takes a lot of extra shifts to pay for the East German program and facilities. In addition to the half-million dollar budget in East Berlin, the little town of Wunschendorf has a budget of at least $160,000 a year for its programs.

The East German Gymnastics and Sports Federation has 2.66 million members and there is an elite sports club in Zella-Mehlis specializing in skiing, skating and wrestling. In Halle, in a modern building along the Saale river, there is a sports medicine office (wink wink, cough cough) specializing in swimming. In Leipzig, there is the German Sports Institute, which has produced more than 7,000 trained coaches and athletes.

There is a special department of sports medicine at the Institute with a staff of 85, and research there is believed to be the most advanced in its field in the entire world. The Leipzig Research Center is equipped with all sorts of complex medical equipment and swimmers train there with masks on so that doctors can study their metabolic rates. Dr. Alois Marder, who was graduated from the Institute and worked at the swimming club in Halle with Kornelia Ender, fled to West Germany two years ago. He is the one who provided the first information about the East German swim training.

According to him, the tests made on the swimmers involve blood samples taken in the first, second, fifth and 10^th minutes of a workout, so that the buildup of lactic acid in the blood- and thus the level of physical exhaustion – can be monitored at every stage.

This method is used to predict the maximum performance attainable by an athlete. Dr. Marder said that he took a sample of blood from Kornelia Ender’s earlobe in 1973 and he knew she could swim the 100-meter freestyle in 56 seconds. That is exactly what she did last summer in Montreal! Dr. Marder explained at the West German Sports Institute in Cologne, where he is now trying to do the same kind of research, that the lactic acid level is the key.

“Lactic acid builds up in the bloodstream as the muscles work hard,” he said. “It builds up to a certain level and then exhaustion sets in. If you measure the levels in a swimmer’s bloodstream at a constant speed after one, two, five and 10 minutes, you can draw a line on a graph and predict accurately how fast he can swim – and then train him to that level.”

Some athletes’ metabolism, he claims, make it impossible for them to work their bodies as hard as Miss Ender could. The athletes who can work as hard are the ones who care given such intensive training. And is it all worthwhile? Well, maybe not by American standards. Living in a free enterprise system, our athletes are pressed with the need of making a living. Such a thing is not a factor in East Germany.

The athletes who do succeed make nowhere near the money and get nowhere near the benefits our professional athletes receive but neither do they go wanting. After her spectacular performance of winning one silver and four gold medals in Montreal, Miss Ender received a government-sponsored vacation trip to Cuba along with her fiancé, Roland Matthes, the backstroke swimmer. They will also be assured of an apartment and maybe a new car without the standard eight-year wait. Miss Ender will probably receive another important benefit. She wants to study medicine – a coveted field in East Germany – and her plans will probably not be disappointed, although no one else contemplating a career in medicine can be so sure.

“I gave the state quite a lot with my four gold medals,” said Miss Ender, “and now I’d like to make a contribution to society as a pediatrician, perhaps, or in some other field of medicine.” (Not so surprisingly, in 1977 she was banned from the East German team as she refused to take PEDs as prescribed by the team doctors.)

She is right when she says she gave the state quite a lot. After all, she was discovered by a coach in her hometown of Bitterfeld when she was only eight years old. When she was 11, she was sent to the sports school and club in Halle. Probably because of her fantastic performance in Montreal, Miss Ender received more attention from the Western journalists. It was pointed out that she is a big woman – broader in the shoulders than most men her age – and the question of steroid usage was raised.

Professor Kurt Tittel, head of the division of sports medicine at the German Sports Institute in Leipzig said, “We have developed our athletes without recourse to anabolics.” Eberhard Schramm, head of swimming department at Leipzig said that the ideal training regimen for athletes should include gymnastics, isometrics, games and weightlifting.

“Weights are quite effective” he said, “but only up to about 40 percent of the maximum a swimmer can lift. We want to build endurance and flexibility, not maximum strength.”

Ski jumpers and skaters also work with weights but they do it differently. They use heavy weights so as to prepare their muscles for the bursts of maximum strength required in their particular sport.

Weightlifters, on the other hand, use a variety of calisthenics and gymnastics-type exercises to increase their flexibility. The GDR Weightlifting Federation is a strong, independent body with five full-time administrators and two part-time secretaries as well as two paid national and five paid regional coaches. There are 7,500 registered lifters in East Germany compared  to just a little over 2,000 for the United States. Their athletes also participate in far more international competitions a year than ours. They hose four major international events and they send teams to about 12 others. Actually, international travel is one of the big incentives of the East German system. Athletes and government officials are the only ones who are allowed to travel to capitalistic countries and, it seems, everyone wants to be among those fortunate few who are allowed outside the closely-watched borders.

Although there were no defections in Montreal and all the East German athletes professed a sincere desire to boost  the international reputation of their government, security of the entire sports organization is extremely tight. Representatives of the FDJ (Free German Youth) and the KEPD (German Communist Party of Unity) are present at all trainings and competitions to exercise their supervisory function. The President of the Weightlifting Federation of the GDR himself is a political appointee and has no experience in weightlifting.

The top lifters are well0-known throughout the country and are treated as national heroes. Even minor weightlifting events are attended by huge crowds, whose interest is aroused by detailed reports about the progress of the sport in the daily press. International weightlifting events are given direct TV coverage throughout the evening hours for as many days as the competition lasts.

East German citizens are extremely proud of the accomplishments of all their athletes. But for Dr. Marder and others in the West there is doubt about the ideals of amateurism and international brotherhood that were revived with the Olympic Games in 1896.

“Is this really sport?” wondered Dr. Marder. “You in the West will have to decide that because someday you won’t be able to compete with those people fairly if you insist on being amateurs while they put computers, medicine and a whole society to work turning out champions.”

The choice is ours… and that is appropriate because our system of government is based on choice. Hopefully we will decide to improve our system of training by following the recommendations of the recent Presidential Committee on the Olympics and seek the support of private industry an the American public as well as the Federal Government. 

Enjoy your lifting!

Updating the Program - Tommy Suggs (1971)

 Strength & Health April 1971

The paintings used on the early 70's "Lifter of the Year" covers was not the most flattering

As mentioned in previous articles featuring "Charlie" the author may have been Bill Starr and being published under Tommy's name.

One problem about being in a small town is that you can’t get away from people you know. Since I run a gym I serve as a 24-hour authority on fitness, which is terrific, but sometimes I would like to talk about bussing my kids or inflation. No one ever asks me what I think about the Women’s lib or Janis Joplin’s death. And so it was on this day as I wandered downtown to buy some household supplies. I hadn’t even picked out my brand of toothpaste before a friend I bank with cornered me about a jogging program. By the time I got to the Right Guard I had arranged appointments with three men and one woman, and volunteered to speak at a PTA meeting. Charlie grabbed me at the cash register.

“Hey, what you buying?”

“Just some home supplies.”

“See you have a little body odor problem.”

“No, you knucklehead, it’s for the family. Don’t you use deodorant?”

“Sure, just bugging you. Say let’s work up my new schedule.”

“Now?”

“Sure, we can set over in that booth. I’ll get some paper and write down the program.”

And he was off. Charlie never seems to be in one place very long. I paid my bill and sat down while he grabbed a handful of napkins from the counter dispenser.

“Nice paper. Best you could buy huh?”

“It’ll be all right. Nothing too good I always say.”

“Tell me your present program.”

“Don’t you know it?”

“Charlie, I’m pretty sure that I do know it but I’ve laid out 20-30 programs since yours and in orer to save time just tell me.”

“Mondays and Thursdays I do power cleans, bench presses, and back squats. On Tuesdays and Saturdays I do overhead presses, power snatches, and front squats. But since you gave me that program I have added Olympic presses, cleans, jerks, and snatches. I need to fit in the Olympic lifts.”

“Fine. Let me take just a minute to explain why I’m setting your program up this way. When you first got started we were interested in building a stronger base to work from. This is why benches, squats, power cleans, and power snatches were included. Now, we need to work more on the technique of the Olympic lifts so that your form progresses along with your strength. You with me?”

“Sure, you’re making sense for a change.”

“We will be doing a combination of form and power work with an eye towards a contest in about three months.”

Charlie’s eyes light up at the suggestion of a meet. “You think I’m ready for a contest?”

“A lifter is never, ever ready for a contest – or at least he doesn’t think he is – but you will be ready to get your feet wet soon. Not the Seniors mind you, but there’s a novice meet coming up within reach that we’ll plan on attending. This program is a good one to get you ready for a contest although we’ll alter it yet again about six weeks before the actual meet.”

Charlie now had a blank look on his face. The idea of lifting was flashing visions in his head so fast he couldn’t hear what I was saying.

“Charlie, you listening?”

“Yea, sure. Feed it to me.”

“On Mondays you will be doing Olympic presses from the rack for form. You will do 6-8 sets of doubles going up to 30-40 pounds of your best. You should stress timing and position and not try to go heavy. Next, you will do squat cleans in sets of three. They’re really murder, but they will help you develop a pattern for cleaning like no other exercise. Do 6-8 sets counting your warm-ups. Go as heavy as you can for three and try to increase the poundage each week. Follow the cleans with three sets of high pulls using straps. Do the first set of high pulls with 20 more pounds than the final clean, add 20 more for the second and 20 more for the third. Finish off with 30 sit-ups and 20 leg raises and call it a day.”

“Tuesdays will include jerks off the rack, power snatches, and back squats. Do 6-8 sets of jerks in doubles and go as heavy as possible every session. The power snatches will be done in sets of threes. Do eight sets of these. Four warm-up sets and then four sets of three across at a given poundage. The squats are the same as before, five sets of five increasing weight on each set. Any questions so far?”

“No questions, but slow down a little. This napkin keeps getting bunched up.”

“Are you going to carry that crumbled napkin to the gym every day?”

“No, I’ll put it in my workout book when I get home. Go ahead. I’m ready.”

“Wednesday will be a rest day from the weights, but not a do-nothing day. Get some form of running in, either at the high school track or a game of volleyball, paddleball, or whatever at the Y. Run at least 20 minutes to insure plenty of cardiovascular work.”

“Jim and I have been playing paddleball once a week, so we’ll just switch our playing day to Wednesday.”

“Fine. Thursday’s workout will begin with power cleans. Eight sets. Work up a heavy poundage in sets of three and then handle the same weight across the five sets of three. Gives plenty of pulling work. Get the weight up every week if possible. Next come incline presses.  We have a 45 degree incline board that we will use.”

“Why inclines?”

https://billstarrarticles.wordpress.com/2016/01/11/stabilizing-the-shoulder-girdle/

“Two reasons. They work the shoulder girdle in a little different position from the overhead press which is good and they take the stress off the lower back. Too much overhead pressing has a tendency to fatigue the lower back which in turn could lead to injury. Inclines are done in triples and a total of six sets is plenty. Front squats for five sets of three will round off the day.

“Friday is a rest day and make it just that. We want to give Saturday a good shot so Friday should be a day of almost complete rest from physical exercise. This doesn’t mean that you couldn’t partake of some recreational activity but don’t get into something that will fatigue you in the least. Saturday is the day you test yourself. You will go heavy on two of the Olympic lifts and do squats. We only do two because all three tend to be extremely exhausting week after week. Do presses and snatches on Saturday and Clean and jerks and presses the next week.”

“How do I decide which to do on a given Saturday?”

“A great deal depends on how you feel that day. Some days you just feel more like doing cleans and jerks rather than snatches. Whichever two you select make certain that the third is included the following Saturday. Warm-up sufficiently and work on singles going up as heavy as you can. As I said, it’s a test day to see if your form is improving as well as your strength. Finish off the day with five sets of three in the back squats, again going as heavy as possible. You should be tired Sunday, but get out and do some running for 20-30 minutes. Nothing strenuous, but it will help to get the kinks out and will have you ready for Monday better than if you stay on your back all day.”

“Whew, looks like I asked for it didn’t I?”

“Well, it’s not a program for the undetermined athlete. Lots of work but there’s success at the end of the rainbow.”

“Sure, sure, along with the pot of gold. When should I start on this new program?”
“Today’s Saturday, so do your regular program today and start on this fresh Monday.”

“Got it.” He was out of the booth in a flash, folded the napkin, stuck it in his Levis and was out the door before I realized we were through.

I was about to be late myself, so got my supplies together and headed for the parking lot. Almost made it too, but Doctor Ames whom I have known since I was a wee tot stopped me as I was about to get in the car. He asked if I could give a brief talk on fitness at the next medical association meeting. Flattery works wonders on me so the following Thursday was set aside. It makes life interesting anyway.

Picking the Opening Poundage - Bill Starr (1970)

 Picking the Opening Poundage - Bill Starr 

Strength & Health April 1970

The Philadelphia Open has built up a reputation throughout the years as the number one contest in the east. The primary reason for its seasonal popularity is that it is the first big open contest of the new year and the lifters are anxious to get in the thick of things and test their training programs. The Philly Open brings out a great audience and, this too, adds to its appeal. The fans that show up in Philly are knowledgeable and extremely responsive to good lifting. The level of competition is also a factor in the meet’s popularity. It is an ideal time to test your skill against some of the best in the nation. It is often referred to as the “Little Seniors” because of the pressure of tight competition. Every year a couple of fellows shine while others fail to meet the crowd’s expectation. The fun at Philly is largely due to the people there. Every official within 250 miles is on hand to assist Steve Stoyan with his show. To name them all would be to go through the AAU roster. And the audience is filled with lifters, some who have been through the course themselves such as Grippaldi, Shephard, and Mills and a large group who are watching and learning from the more experienced.

There is much to be learned from watching. Often one learns by observing the mistakes other’s make. It is often quite wrongly surmised that York lifters are so wise and confident that they never flub. York lifters do, perhaps, have a slight jump over some other lifters because of the high level of competition found in the gym each week, but they are far from being infallible.

Back to the Philly Open for verification. Frank Capsouras, Gary Glenney, and Bob Bednarski have been three of the team’s most consistent performers for the past three years. Yet they all failed out with poundages below what they had done in the past. Bill March missed all of his starting attempts, Jeff Moyer missed his first two snatches. I, too, increased my own anxiety by missing my first two presses. Now comes the question of the hour. If experienced lifters who have lifted on the international stage, such as Bednarski, Glenney, Capsouras, March and Moyer all have, are having problems picking starting attempts, then how can a Class III or Class II lifter expect to be able to pick weights wisely? Tough question. It is a question that plages every international coach and every lifter at every level at every meet.

The advice contained in this month’s “Behind the Scenes” should help you set some realistic guidelines on selecting starting poundages, but it is no guarantee – since the human factor is involved. The following are some of the factors you must take into consideration before putting ain a starting poundage. First of all you must set your starting poundages from what you have done in prior competition and not from what you have done previously in the gym. I say this for two reasons. The one being that a contest has its own set of variables and these variables, such as long delays, added pressure, etc… influences a lift considerably. The other reason is that some lifters do much more in a meet than they could ever hope for in the gym whereas others must make a weight in the gym before accomplishing the same in a contest. Louis Riecke, for example,

https://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2019/11/louise-riecke-john-terpak-1964.html 

never remotely approached his best in the gym. For him to start with 265 or 270 in the snatch because that was the best he could muster in training would be foolish. Likewise, for Bednarski to start with a weight 20 pounds over what he can make in the gym would be a mistake. So, you must go by competition standards, not training standards. If your best press in a contest is 250, then a safe start would be 235 or 240 regardless of whether you just made 260 in the gym two weeks before.

A second major factor is, of course, your physical condition going into the contest. Have you been making gains? Is your overall strength level up? Are you satisfied with your technique on the three lifts? All of this is important as you approach contest time. And you must realistically consider injuries. Does your injury really slow you down or hurt your lock out? Has your injury curtailed hard training on critical areas such as the legs and back, thus affecting your pull? I said that you must look at your injury or injuries realistically. Some use injuries as an “out” – an excuse to explain poor showing, but this type of lifter never gets far anyway so time will not be wasted on him. An injury to the wrist or shoulder might necessitate a lower starting poundage even though your strength is up, just because of this new variable.

Another factor to consider in picking a starting poundage is the level of competition. This is not to suggest that you should be lazy and pull your starting attempt back to a ridiculous weight when the going is easy, but conversely, one should not sacrifice a win and team points because of a too-high start. You can always jump 20 pounds after you get in the contest. It should be added too, that you may have to start a bit higher if the contest is fierce and the stakes are high since every pound is essential. Bill March started with 360 at Seniors since the stakes was an international trip. At Philly 340 sufficed since a trophy was not as important.

Probably the number one factor to consider when selecting the starting poundage is your warm-ups. You can generally tell whether you are in the groove or not. If the weights feel unusually heavy, then it would be wise to drop the start back. If they are really zinging overhead, then perhaps a higher poundage than previously planned can be taken. I have actually seen cases when a too light poundage for a starting attempt has created more trouble than a slightly heavier one. Bednarski missed a 400 press twice in Monroe last year, moved to 420 and made it smoothly. The 400 was moving so rapidly that he lost his balance. The 420 was heavy enough to make him keep his balance. A lifter that is exceptionally strong on meet day would do well to adjust his start so as not to give anything away. It is extremely commendable to make nine out of nine, but any lifter could do that if he chose to sacrifice top weights. The trick is to make all the attempts and have the last attempt to be an absolute maximum. There’s few things more frustrating than to make a successful third attempt and know you could do 10-15 pounds more – and then end up losing by 5 pounds.

One final factor to consider is your mental attitude for the meet day. If you are bubbling with enthusiasm and confidence you just might turn a mediocre day into a good one. Should you, however, be in a mood of dejection then all the good training, strength, and technique may not make the difference. How to fight dejection and depression is the subject of another article, but at this point you should be wise enough to recognize mental states in yourself.

In summary, selecting a starting poundage is a most difficult task. The rule of thumb I learned was that the opener should be 10-15 pounds under you best (in competition), the second attempt should approximate your best, and the third idealistically should be a shot at a personal record. But all of this has to be considered on a given day. Your previous best in competition, your prior training, your injuries or lack of injuries, your mental state, the level of competition, and your warm-ups on meet day all have to be considered. Taking these factors into consideration might help you finish more contests than you have in the past, but as long as human factors intervene there is no guarantee of success. It has been found that if a lifter starts off well, with successes, he will generally build on this and proceed on to better and better lifts. All the more reason to make that first one.

Enjoy your lifting!

The Snatch: My Bread & Butter Lift - Joe Dube (1972)

 

More on Joe Dube here: 

https://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2019/11/joe-dube-john-terpak-1964.html

At the age of 15 my snatch was higher than my press; at the time I weighed 195 pounds. I started to devote more time to the press because my ambition was to become the first teenager to press 400 pounds, which I did just before my 20th birthday. 

I gained in strength in the press lift due to concentration and gradual gains in bodyweight. My speed in the quick lifts suffered, especially in the snatch. I made gains of course in the snatch and clean & jerk, but the press really zipped up. 

When I made my first appearance on the national scene, I was known mostly for my pressing ability. My lifts were out of balance and I knew if I was to become a lifting champion I had to put much more energy into my quick lifting. 

I did not succeed for some time and my lifting suffered greatly. 

I made several approaches to the problem, with most failing. Finally, after losing the 1969 Senior Nationals to Ken Patera because of a low snatch after leading by 40 pounds in the press, I made up my mind to work the snatch until it was where I wanted. 

Walter Imahara [not in the photo] suggested the frog-leg style to me, and I started working immediately on it . . . 

  

In the old-style snatching I employed before, I would either lose the bar forward, or I was  continuously off balance to the front. The frog-style made me keep the bar close to my body during the entire pull. I could then get a lot of leg power in my snatching and was in excellent position to descend into the low position faster than before. I worked, or specialized, on this style and began to get the results I wanted. The poundages went up for records in training, and my speed was much better.

With about two months' training from the Senior National loss to Patera to the World Championships, I had the snatch to the point where I could make up ground and not lose any of the top lifters. The snatch in the Senior Nationals was 320, in the World Championships it moved up to 358. It was this specialization work I did before the World Championships that really won it for me. The snatch had finally done me a favor! 

Since then the snatch has consistently moved up, but I have begun turning my attention to the clean and jerk. I snatched 363 in the 1970 World Championships making all 3 attempts. This year I have moved the lift up to 369 which I made in the Senior Nationals. I had great expectations for my lifting in the Pan American Games and the World Championships, but rather than disgrace the United States with a subpar performance I withdrew because of an illness and injury I suffered 5 days before competition. My training was going better than ever, but there will be a next time! 

With some luck and determination I hope to set a world record in the snatch some time in the next year. My goal is a 402 snatch before I retire.

I believe everyone has a certain style to suit his own body proportions. It's like most things in that no two people do something exactly alike. A lifter should strive to find, work on, and perfect the best style suited for himself. He should do some free movements with a stick or the unloaded bar to mentally and physically train himself to react. Speed, coordination, position and flexibility should be in his mind during any form work. 

At this time my TRAINING FOR THE SNATCH consists of mostly basic movements. I do regular snatching, working up to a pre-planned weight, power snatching once a week, and have recently employed into my program the snatch deadlift. The latter is done with a fast pull, but with both arms held straight throughout and rise on toes at the finish. I like to train the snatch twice a week and will alternate power snatches and the snatch deadlifts from one workout to another. I usually lift a limit snatch every couple of weeks; this is no rule, however.

I have trained my snatch and power snatches from wooden blocks about 14 inches high. This tones up my second pull and is an excellent movement for speed training. 

Straps are a handy training aid in assisting the grip; so much concentration can be put on actually pulling. I use the straps occasionally during regular snatches, but try to restrict their use to the assistance exercises. I like the natural feel of the bar during the regular snatching, especially the closer it gets to a tournament. 

Before each training session I use a wooden stick to limber up my shoulders. I also do some freehand movements to loosen up the back and legs, and the ankles.

I do mostly singles with heavy weights, but do reps on occasion. I keep the reps to under 3 per set, and most of the reps are done during the early phase of the workout or the warmup period. 

Here are examples of two snatch workouts I did last week: 

Wednesday

Power Snatch - 135x3x2, 205x3, 245x2, 265x1, 285x1, 305x1x3

Snatch Deadlift - 225x2, 295x2, 325x2, 365x2, 385x2

Saturday

Snatch - 135x3x2, 205x2, 255x2, 285x1, 310x1, 330x1, 350x1

I considered the snatch my weakness; overcoming this weak point has helped my lifting greatly. 

To me the snatch is the most athletic and beautiful movement in the field of sports. I think it is perhaps the key to a rise in the popularity of the sport. 

In concluding this article I would like to point out that everyone should be able to improve on his lifting if he puts enough work in on his weak points. If he doesn't, his lifting may never reach its potential and he will certainly be discouraged. Having an open mind and an honest approach to training is the key to success. 

Enjoy Your Lifting!

I enjoy watching Anatoly the Cleaner pranks and videos. He's a good lifter with a great sense of humor who, to the best of my knowledge, has yet to take a beating for it! I wanted to check out some of his programs so I did. Here is a nice power-lifting/building one transcribed to a printable doc. 

                                           https://www.filefactory.com/file/5u9202lr4cak/anatoly.pdf