Cougar Strength

My Winter/Spring intern Nick Wagner put together a great compilation video of what we do in our programs day in and day out. Thanks to Nick for all his hard work as he heads back to North Dakota to wrap up his undergraduate degree!

"Power Cleans" vs. "Cleans"

It never ceases to amaze me when internet gurus insist on picking holes in my training videos. The funniest one is a blog that was forwarded to me drilling me about the form that "I allow" in my weight room. It was a power clean sequence of one of my kids pulling 333 x 3 reps. yes I say 'PULLING' as you can see if you take it frame by frame to make sure the he gets complete quadruple extension each rep (and that he does...this is the entire reason we incorporate Oly lifts BTW). The knock is that his feet are too wide etc. Oh yeah, I teach all of my kids to catch with their feet wide all the time (please note the sarcasm). I have females and lots of my male athletes who I can vid that would display clinic form on their lifts...I just happen to think that 333 x 3 is pretty special. here is the vid in question....


Here is another one of my kids pulling 286 x 3.....haven't heard much internet hating on this one although it was one of the very first YouTube vids I posted....



Lastly, for the 'gurus' who have somehow become experts at the Oly lifts behind their computer desks I need to clarify something. At the blog where I got hammered on allowing such awful form they posted an example (see below) of what they considered a 'good power clean'. One problem, it's not a Power clean. This is why I have a prob with internet wizard trainers, when you don't know the difference between a 'power clean' and a 'clean' or 'squat clean' you probably shouldn't be hosting a 'fitness blog' (what exactly does that even mean? 'Fitness Blog'...sigh).


My vids are up on YouTube for you to peruse.....unedited, real-world training. Enjoy.

Newcastle and more.....

So I'm off to Newcastle tomorrow for my 2-day Functional Training seminar hosted by Nick Grantham and Smart Fitness. Going to be an awesome few days in the U.K. and I'm looking forward to talking shop with some great coaches and trainers over there. Click here for all the seminar information.

On another note, I just uploaded a boatload of new short video clips on my YouTube page. Here are a couple of examples....

Lift Strong...this fight is far from over!

Well, I was out of the country and I managed to miss the boat on the re-launch of the original liftstrong CD-ROM. Anyway, I think my great friend Alwyn Cosgrove blogged best so here is his posting on this VERY IMPORTANT project!

Lift Strong

It has now been over 1000 days since my bone marrow and stem cell transplant - a procedure that saved my life. For new readers - I was diagnosed with stage IV cancer in 2004 - underwent chemotherapy and went into remission. Unfortunately I relapsed in early 2006 and had to have a transplant in June of that year.The day you have the transplant is considered day ZERO. The day you are literally reborn from the stem cells and up.Lift Strong is a product that I masterminded with the help of Mike Roussell, to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. With the the help of some great friends in this profession we turned our little project into an 800 page manual (that we produce on CD to keep costs down). Everyone volunteered their time and their information. No one makes any money from this product - it's all going to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.The government is currently giving billions of dollars in economic aid to banks that basically messed up - yet cancer research is funded primarily by individual donations - not government help.When you actually stop and think how messed up it is that we have to put up a website to get public donations to help fight cancer treat while the government is bailing out financial institutions left and right it just boggles the mind. I mean, shouldn’t that be one of the first things we as a society are taking care of?Anyway - rant over.I'm a cancer survivor. But the fight hasn't stopped.

All the proceeds from the sale of this product go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.I urge you to support this cause and purchase this CD. Your purchase WILL make a difference.You are reading this today because I am alive after facing cancer twice.If I've ever made you stop and think, laugh, made you mad or taught you something - it's because I'm alive - it's because I beat cancer due to medical research due to donations from people like you funding projects like this.Again - I beat cancer an am alive today because of advanced medical treatment.I am alive today because of advanced medical treatment.Medical treatment discovered by research.Research funded by money.Money sourced from donations.Donations from people just like you.Please help.
www.liftstrong.com

Understanding the Olympic Lifts

So I was recently fowarded an email from one of my best friends who happens to be a head S&C coach at a small college here in Southern California. The email was from someone who worked at one of the major movement analysis software companies. My friend sent him a link to view one of his athletes performing some Olympic Lifts. Let me start by saying that this female athlete is one of the best technical lifters and one of the STRONGEST female athlete I have ever seen in my life. This 'expert' watched the video of this girl performing power cleans and chose to critique her technique by starting his analysis with 'Well, it appears that this athlete is supposed to be performing a power clean...".

Come on now folks, there is a right and a wrong way to offer constructive criticism right? Anyway, he goes on to tell my friend that all 'good' weightlifters never shift their feet during their lifts. Wait a second....so you're telling me that all these years of me teaching a 'jumping base' (narrow, inside hip width) to start and a 'catching base' (slightly outside hip width) to finish a power clean or snatch have been a great waste of time?? I mean it was only natural for my athletes to shift their feet outward to catch the load in either lift right?! Well, I call bullshit. Take a peek at this clip that I found on YouTube. This is a random compilation of weightlifting clips from the highest level to Junior level lifters ALL of whom shift their feet outward to catch their loads. It never ceases to amaze me how non-practitioners always have these great tidbits to tell those of us who actually work with athletes all day. Sigh.

Newcastle Seminar Earlybird Registration ENDS TODAY!

Today is the last day for the discounted 'earlybird' registration for our big Functional Training Summit in Newcastle on April 24-25!

Be sure to register online today to get the discounted pricing! This event is filling up FAST so get on it!

Download your Seminar Brochure here.

2009 Speaking Engagements -

Thought I would list some of my confirmed speaking engagements for the spring and summer of 2009.

April 24-25 - Functional Training Seminar, Newcastle, England
May 7-8 - CSCCa National Conference, Nashville, TN
May 16 - 10th annual COC Cougar Strength Clinic, Valencia, CA
June 11-14 - Perform Better Summit, Chicago, IL
July 9-11 - NSCA National Conference, Las Vegas, NV
July 30 - August - 2 - Perform Better Summit, Long Beach, CA