Here's some mitt work with the great Bill Meartz. Third 3-minute round. I'm extremely fortunate that Bill gives me some of his time and attention.
Showing posts with label my training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label my training. Show all posts
Bill & me
at the feet of the master
Sitting at the feet of the USA Olympic weightlifting master, Tommy Kono. One of the most important things you must do to create your own success is assemble the right team to support your efforts. You are only as good as your learning. I am extremely fortunate and gratified to count some of the best of the best on mine.
Tommy Kono annual lecture hosted by Bodytribe Fitness at NorCal Healthworks in Sacramento.
Photos by commercial photog Laszlo Bencze, part of the Stark Center for Strength archives
New Bumpers!
Ring a ding ding! It's a Mighty good Xmas. All kilos, all the time now. And just when I was getting the hang of conversions...
Weightlifting clinic with Jim Schmitz and Butch Curry
I attended a weightlifting clinic with Jim Schmitz and Butch Curry last weekend at Bodytribe Fitness in Sacramento. I am huge fans of both of these guys, in weightlifting and beyond.
Soapbox moment – Where were you?
We handful of attendees were fortunate to have so much personal attention from these masters, but I can't get over the idea that there weren't more people taking advantage of this amazing opportunity. I don't care how many self-appointed experts there are in weightlifting today; the fact is there are damn few legitimate experts, and here are two old timers with riches upon riches to offer to all of us youngins, from the 20-something Crossfit lemmings to the 50-something latebloomer. There are only so many masters from the height of the USA team's pinnacle era, and they won't be around to pass down their knowledge and wisdom forever. The place should've been packed.
OK... The clinic. Jim led it and Butch supported it. Jim is known for working with individuals on their unique levels - in ability, goals and limitations. He is especially known for getting the most out of adults who are living busy lives. He worked us in combination exercises, introduced us to old lifts such as the split snatch and split clean, showed us historical archive material, talked war stories, and entertained us with this corny weightlifting stand-up. By the way, he may be the only person who does weightlifting stand-up in the world... How can you possibly allow yourself to miss that?
Butch is the class clown, but it's deceptive - he's a savvy one. I take things learning weightlifting seriously - maybe a little too seriously. But Butch kept my head above my whirlpool. In the process, he gave me a few philosophical nuggets to help adjust my perspective. LIFT STUPID is a big one. "You can't think about everything you have to do. There's too much to think about," he said. "I tell people to lift stupid. Don't think about it, just do it."
They are a great team on many levels. I'll treasure the experience. I know my lifting will improve from some of things they introduced. I came out invigorated and hopeful, eager to apply what I'd learned. What's a better response than that?
Tommy Kono coaching session Part I: Snatch Squat
I was extremely fortunate to receive personal instruction from Tommy Kono during his annual visit to Bodytribe Fitness in Sacramento during the weekend of the Tommy Kono Open VI. Here is the first installment from our time together. This addresses the snatch squat - bouncing out of the hole and proper foot width.
Tommy Kono Pt 1: Snatch Squat
I promised me
I've endured some extreme frustration in training lately, and I'm just starting to see the light again. I am marking this relevant moment from the Muppet Movie. . . I'm not going into it here, but suffice it to say there's a shirt on the Onion.com that says "I appreciate the Muppets on a much deeper level than you."
Start at 6:55
Snatch work at Bodytribe
Snatch work with Chip Conrad at Bodytribe in Sacramento, early morning before spring Strength Camp 2011 resumes
The fabulous crew of us at Strength Camp. You should go next time. Held twice a year. Worth the trip.
bad night at the gym
Cold Marriage
On these platforms,
we come together
to battle ourselves,
united in solitary pursuit of a common vision.
A nod, a look, a short word
is all it takes
to gauge just where the man beside you is on the battlefield.
We can understand each other,
We can see what it is,
but no one can lift the bar for another.
Each man must fight alone.
Today I lost the battle.
Alone at night I brew tea
and stew in the depths of doubt
and frustration.
My legs
move stiffly,
knees seizing with each step.
Blood red pool aches across my thigh.
Casualties, not honor.
The marks of the body
testifying to me that
I am not fighting well.
Today I lost ground.
And I harbor blame
on this body
which did not obey
which did not listen
which failed me today.
Tomorrow we will work
on finding each other again,
my body and mind.
But tonight we are sullen
in a cold marriage,
trapped together another night
in a bed that’s too small.
Jerk Session
I love jerks, so for my birthday, I did nothing but jerks and fought to go heavier than e'er before. Gonna be a big year.
this inner life
All day long I am training.
In my head, I am squeezing the bar, feeling
the good drag across the thighs
the sock-it-to-me dig into the ribcage
and then the explosion
nipped quick, ass to grass.
The push.
I lean back and shrug
in my office chair
while we’re talking,
so slight you cannot see,
but it’s the movement
the pattern
the neurokinetic pathways
I’m paving as we speak.
I am thinking of how the bar feels
in my hands.
I am hearing the swell of music
from my speakers
when I drive under the bar.
A chunk of day down.
I’m making the money
that will pay my coach
and pay for the airline ticket
to the big meet
and buy more chalk.
Keyboard clicking,
inbox filling,
to-do list with bullet points.
I glance at my palm and it centers me.
It’s my hands that bear witness to my inner life,
the calluses and torn blisters,
the strange brown marks set in over time.
Steal a moment on the computer
to watch lifters like me
bend under the bar,
throw up the weight
tumble or triumph
and teach.
A chunk of day down.
I am eating to make sure
I will have energy at 5:30.
I am drinking water
So my body will be ready.
As I straighten my collar in the mirror,
I plan what will happen tonight
in the gym,
rehearse the movement I need to learn
replay the words
I need to hear
from fellow lifters
from my coach.
Replay the emotion
I let him see,
that somehow he understood.
Know I scraped the ground
and he helped me back up.
This struggle
this inner life,
it is comfortable alone
it is vulnerable revealed
and from this, growth can come.
This inner life
intensely private,
intensely shared,
intensity breeding intensity
Drives me.
Drives lifters like me.
There is lifting,
there is thinking about lifting,
and there is interruption in-between.
Weight over my head
This is life. This is real life.
One-hundred pounds
is always one-hundred pounds.
When the house is quiet
I like to turn off the TV
and go to bed early
to be in the dark,
lost in the lifting,
the gym,
the lifting talk
from the day
from last week
from what is to come
and what is to be.
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