IOL Strength and Conditioning

 by Dave Draper

Muscle and Fitness, a colorful and energetic riot of musclemen and musclebuilding information, isn’t a recent publication that gained popularity overnight. It has gone by a variety of names over half a century and was reared by a guy named Joe Weider. Joe, dubbed the Trainer of Champions, dragged it from the ink-smeared pages of a manual printing press in his grandma’s Montreal apartment and gave it dramatic life based upon his vision of muscle and might.

I was one of the characters who played a role in his elaborate vision, a Mr. America and Mr. Universe in the dream he presented to the world. Appearing on the scene in the early ’60s, I filled the pages of his magazines, adorned their covers and, through inspiring pictures on California beaches, conveyed stories of delight, promise and hope to the young and young at heart.

I smiled broadly, flexed my muscles and frolicked with beach bunnies on lazy, crazy sunny afternoons. The blue Pacific rolled in mightily, billowy clouds with silver linings caressed the horizons and dogs playfully chased seagulls along endless sandy shores. Hop in. The water’s fine. Life is grand.

Hold it there. Back up twenty feet and take another look. I see a distressed cameraman and his elaborate gear in a heap of cases, containers and bags; I see a guy — that must be Joe — in half a suit with his sleeves and trouser legs rolled up; off to the side a group of sticky, uninterested bystanders mope about, kick sand and suck on water bottles. These must be the delighted characters in the delightful pictures awaiting a moment of delight.

The sun pours down, hot and relentless, and more baby oil is applied to the muscular bodies. A pump is sought to give vibrancy to fatigued and dehydrated muscles; instead itchy sand is distributed generously to far reaches of the body — ears, eyes, nose and every known crack and crevice. Are we having fun yet?

Now the sun is going down and neither the cameraman nor the subjects can delay the untimely process. Joe is flailing his arms, while Artie Zeller or Russ Warner or Jimmy Caruso — bless their hearts — tries hopelessly to interpret his wild gesticulations. Reflectors are brought in, the location is moved, the ocean grows calm and the dramatic lighting is lost to soft shadows suitable for capturing romance, a bottle of wine and thou. Not good.

But wait! The sun’s lowering rays join their own reflection off the ocean’s surface and the bodies amid the stunning light are spectacular. Everyone is by some freak of nature in the right spot at the right time and in the right mood. Joe screams at Artie, whose nose is deep in his film bag, to take the picture now, now, now.

Art Zeller is a master photographer and physiques are his specialty. He knows what to do, when and how. The digital camera is not even a dream of the future and, alas, our patient and sensible lensman fusses with his ole’ reliable Roloflex. Joe is now tearing at his shirt and performing what appears to be an Indian rain dance and whooping, “Artie, Artie! Shoot the picture! Shoot the picture!” Without hesitation Artie shouts, “Joe, the camera is out of film.” Joe, with a child’s authority and desperation shrieks, “Shoot it anyway!”

Artie did. Joe was pleased. Another day at the beach.

The pretty models went their way — they could care less for muscleheads in the 1960s — and the muscleheads went theirs. The first thing on their minds was protein and then a workout missed due to the fun and frolic at the beach. But it was worth it, wasn’t it? Maybe your mug will be in the mag and you’ll be famous. In those days fame and glory in a muscle magazine and ten cents got you a cup of coffee.

Hey, buddy, can ya spare a dime?

Undeniably, the most inspiring and pleasant photographic sessions were experienced during the winter. Not! Though snow does not fall, nor the temperatures drop below 50 in southern California, winter is winter is winter. Tis the season for hibernation, losing the tan and gaining weight to accommodate heavy off-season training. Repair and grow, relax and attend life beyond cuts and striations is the bodybuilder’s theme. Let’s go to the mountains, the deserts or visit the folks back east. Throw in a few year-end holidays and you’ve got bulky, round and white all over.

“What’s that you say? Pictures on the beach this Saturday? What beach? I thought the beach dried up in the winter, was evacuated, dismantled or closed for repairs.”

“An up-coming summer promotion needs to be shot now, Bomber, or I’m out millions of bucks.”

Oh! In that case, don’t want to lose my eighty-five-dollar-a-week shipping clerk’s salary. Sure, JW, see ya there… bright and early… I’ll bring coffee. The grazing white rhinoceros in Dave Draper’s trunks will be me.

I’m training hard, strong as a hippo and about as shapely. Put me on a beach and big-game hunters from miles around will gather to claim me as a trophy. You can’t do this, Joe. I’m too young to die. Not the beach. Flash! Cover boy is as white as a blank billboard and twice as big. The only definition I have goes something like this: bulky, rounded, colorless, foolish, unwilling, miserable, pouty.

Breaking News: Unidentified Blimp Hovers Aimlessly Over Southern California Beaches. No Details at This Time.

Smiles form with difficulty on frigid lips. The air is cold and nippy breezes supply shivers in spasms. The unlikely crew of plump and pasty bodies huddles under beach towels to stay warm and protect themselves from blasts of sandy wind. The ocean is ominous, the beach is desolate and surviving seagulls are inland hiding under bushes. Dogs and their owners are home where it’s safe and cozy. February is no time for these shenanigans. Neither is July for that matter.

Joe is quite a character and has more color than a rainbow and twice the gold found at the end. He loves the bodybuilding scene, gave it a stage upon which to play and did more to present it to the world than anyone.

Anyone, that is, except the players themselves. Praise be to musclemen who, driven by passion and desire, did what they did because they had to do it.

The smiles on the beaches were hard-earned and their payment was gained in the dark confines of gyms filled with heavy iron. Weights — barbells and dumbbells — were the source of resistance that built the muscles that built the men that built the magazine. I, and the guys before me, lifted the cold and noisy metal not for a moment on a page of paper, but for reasons — wonderful reasons — too numerous to count.

Oh, heck! Let me give it a try. I’ll be brief.

There’s health, muscle and might for starters. Not bad. There’s the fun of lifting weights and the exciting challenge it presents, the physical pushing and pulling and stretching, the intelligent formation of exercises, movements and routines, and the tantalizing pumping, burning and striving. Weight training is a dynamic diversion providing strong camaraderie, identification and hope. Be sure of this: Few pastimes provide more benefits, rewards and fulfillment.

Training builds discipline, perseverance and patience. Mountains are climbed with these superior characteristics, lives are saved and nations are shaped. Tough exercise puts order and rhythm in our lives, diminishing confusion and reducing stress, and that’s worth more than a few trips to the psychiatrist’s couch. As quality is added to life, so is it extended with enduring, useful and enjoyable years. When once we said, “I can’t,” after gaining fitness and well-being through dedicated exercise, we say, “Don’t just sit there, let’s get moving.”

A strong back and strong heart match one’s courage and confidence, four natural byproducts of working out and regular lifting. And, though personally pleased, true ironheads don’t brag about their accomplishments — one more modest attribute gained from solid cast-iron training.
I said I was gonna be brief.

Not all the fun was captured on the beaches of sunny California. There were the eight- and ten-story abandoned buildings in the old garment district of Manhattan. Somehow we gained admittance to these deteriorating fire hazards and were dragged by chattering and screeching cables of old industrial lifts to forsaken levels high above alleys and dumpsters below. After clearing a corner of over-turned benches, worktables and indeterminable debris, we settled in to serious photography. A white backdrop was hung in contrast to the dust and mold, and spider webs as thick as tapestries in a haunted house. The rats kept to themselves; I was more concerned with the warped floorboards that shook perceptibly as we traversed our surroundings, soldiers in a minefield.

The camera sat on its tripod, the lights and reflectors and umbrellas were in place and the champion stood on his mark, all objects precisely determined by strings with signifying knots in measured placements. The oil is smoothly applied after a hint of a pump is gained by flexing in place. Swell! Move from your mark, you get smudged and grimy, splintered and wounded, infected and quarantined. The trouble starts when a thirsty star asks for a slug of water. It’s hot and stuffy in New York City in August. No water. It worsens when he has to go to the men’s room. No plumbing.

No problem is too big or too small for a band of smiling bodybuilders.

“One, two, three and flex. Again, and this time, Dave, twist harder and don’t forget to flex your legs. Jimmy, is he standing in the right spot? One, two, three and flex. That was good, Bomber. Once more, this is for a cover. Twist and bring your arms higher… flex your legs. NO, no, no! Caruso, you tell him! Twist, flex, arms higher, higher… Smile.”

I’ll tell you this: No one got the poses and the photographs like Joe Weider.

Once I stood in the center of Century Plaza, on the granite edge of a stunning water fountain. The size of a tennis court, the fountain adorned the center-divide of Century Boulevard and was framed by towering thirty-story glass-fronted office buildings to the east and west. Water gushed brilliantly toward the sky, and I nonchalantly busied myself while glowing with oil in my teal posing trunks waiting for Russ Warner to prepare his camera, position himself and position me. It was high noon — lunchtime, in the bustling, sophisticated business district of Beverly Hills, home of world finance and filmmaking. Traffic was heavy and animated. No problem, I’m cool. I’ve been stared at before.

“Yeah, you too, wise guy!!”

Oh, look. Russ is talking to some policemen who are pointing at me. Old friends, no doubt, but I refrain from waving. Rather than pump up, I try to look very small as I stroll through the slightly slimy shallow pool to the other side. Chilly. Halfway there I hear the whoop-whoop sound emergency vehicles make when they approach an intersection and want it cleared immediately. I return to my original post — dripping wet — and, as if responding to their signal, hit an overhead, double-arm biceps shot, a side back shot and a kneeling side chest. I’m Mr. America, after all. I bow and wait for the traffic to subside before I jaywalk and join them at their bleeping patrol car.

“Hi, guys. My name is Dave Draper.”

I forget how it went after that. The human being has a weird way of going numb and blocking things out — playing dead — when under siege.
Crazy, man. Why did we do the stuff we did? Don Howorth, Larry Scott, Zane, Yorton, Labra, McArdle, Zabo, Eifferman, Sipes. The money?

No. Not the money. Sure, a few bucks would have paid some bills and broadened the smile, but no, not the dough.

The fame and glory? Such rewards circulated close to home and no one was profoundly impressed, least of all the champs. The brotherhood of recognition was quiet, almost silent. Fame and glory were as rewarding as the kiss of congratulations from the pretty girl in the miniskirt onstage. I’ll never forget the authentic thunder of applause and cheering in New York, but those fans in those days were there for the same reasons we were.

It was the doing it that was good. And it’s the doing it that continues to be good. None of us would change much if we were to do it all again. The smiles came when they weren’t expected and they’ve lasted a long, long time.

Lift weights for fame, glory and money and you miss the point entirely.

If you don’t understand what I’m saying, I can’t explain it. ~Dave Draper

Use your muscles: Dave on Pacific Pier furniture building, circa 1970: http://bit.ly/au1ddz

For a look at Dave’s custom furniture from the ’70s, click on the thumbnails to enlarge http://bit.ly/cOXzlE

Jeff O’Connell, writing of how Dave personified bodybuilding in the late ’60s http://bit.ly/9toBpc

Lisa Shaffer provides her 10,000 kettlebell swings plan. You might start with 5000 or 2500 http://bit.ly/bvLafz

Kinesio taping isn’t tight supportive tape; it’s more neural. Here’s a video overview http://bit.ly/ck2vF7

Yeow! Kinesio taping, the complicated made easy. Check the fancy tape strips: http://bit.ly/b6SNEl

Very nice Mark Cheng video discussing the hip and quad in the half-kneeling position:

I began my funky attempts at fitness in the late ‘70s, at the outset of the jogging craze (trudging is what I was doing), and from then until fairly recently, we fitness enthusiasts spread the rumor that sciatica was a runner’s problem, and bent-leg situps were the cure. Now that we’re past those ridiculous decades, we now know that’s not the case, neither the cause of the problem, nor the cure.

In fact, sciatica isn’t a diagnosis at all; it’s a symptom, and it means pain down the leg. If you went to a doctor or chiropractor and got that diagnosis, and the instructions were to rest or to take an anti-inflammatory — and was the extent of the instructions, nothing more — it’s time to get a new doc. Sometimes the inflammation will run its course and the pain will dissipate, but it won’t be from following those instructions, and it’s likely to flare up again in a few months if you don’t get to the underlying cause.

What’s happening is there is a nerve or perhaps nerves under pressure, sending pain running from the spine down the back of the legs, usually one leg, but  possibly both. Somehow, you have to figure out what’s causing the pressure: Is it at a disc, either inflammation or possibly a rupture or herniation, or perhaps the common reason of something pressing on the sciatic nerve as it travels through the glute region?

In Dave’s case, which you may remember from his back surgery a couple of summers ago, it was from severely degenerated discs. The surgery took the pressure off the nerves and the pain is gone, but that was one situation where holding off on surgery backfired; the nerves were damaged enough they were unable to repair — reinnervate is what that’s called — and he lost a bit of lower leg function.

The moral of Dave’s story is this: If the pain doesn’t change after a month, pursue specialized doctoring. I don’t mean to say you should get surgery if you have back pain for a month, but if there’s no change in symptoms after doing the techniques that follow, don’t be too stubborn to get help.

After having watched Dave’s process, I’d first try a neurologist to check for peripheral artery disease (PAD), and then I wouldn’t wait too terribly long before queuing up at the neurosurgeon’s for a MRI and possibly even surgery if the diagnosis was degenerative disc disease. If the diagnosis was PAD, I’d seriously consider EDTA IV chelation, which Dave did and which didn’t work, but that could be because he didn’t have PAD but wanted to avoid back surgery so he tried it anyway. Along the way, I’d start paying attention to cardiovascular issues, too, because PAD is unlikely to stand alone; those other arteries are probably getting into the action, or out of it, I guess is a better description.

If you make your way to a physical therapist or a chiropractor, look less for manipulation and more for soft tissue therapies to take down the inflammation. You might get some radiant heat, followed by a STIM treatment, which will probably give you some temporary relief. Once home, icing the low spine and glutes a couple of times a day will help. Those reusable fishermen ice sheets are real handy for chilling the whole back at once.

Let’s assume the pain isn’t debilitating and you’ve decided to forage around for answers on your own for a bit. Here are the easiest things to try:

Using a tennis ball, look for a trigger point in the piriformis

Now the next one could be a little controversial: McKenzie back extensions. The main reason for the hesitation is because if there’s a disc herniation, there’s a chance it could be an unusual bulge and the extension could make it worse. But the thing is, if you ease your way into these, should there be a problem, you’ll know it long before you can cause any trouble.

And I figure, if you’ve got back or sciatic pain, you’re not jumping whole-hog into any back exercises anyway, so I feel safe in throwing this out there. I have a good friend from the gym who had terrible back problems, was sidelined at his aggressive construction work, had a bunch of injections and was heading toward surgery. He started doing the McKenzie exercises, quickly left the medical funnel and has been doing great ever since. Now there’s a guy who’d be disappointed in me if I’m too chicken to write about press-ups in a bit about back pain. Here’s how, with an explanation from physical therapist, Dr. Mike Jones.

Practice back extensions using the McKenzie Press-up

Now some exercises. Start here: Cook Hip Lift for glute activation, to overcome too much sitting

Abduction exercises to strengthen the outside of the leg, offsetting too much front-to back action

If you had little success with your corrective work and are enjoying a bit of relief, it’s time to address the cause. Why did this happen in the first place? The most likely cause is a problem between the low back and the hips, and the easiest place to start is a hip mobility program. When the hips aren’t moving well, the low back moves too much, and that will get you into trouble. For most adults sitting at a desk reading this, if you aren’t working mobility, you’re probably losing it, and if your back isn’t hurting now, it will be. Here’s how to get started on a hip mobility program.

I leave you with two more suggestions. First, hop on over to Esther Gokhale’s site and order her book, 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back, in which she’ll explain and demonstrate our faulty postures and what to do about them. While you’re waiting for the book to arrive (which you’ll faithfully read and practice instead of burying it under the TV stand), settle in for this one-hour video.

Recent Gray Cook audio files–Revisiting Body in Balance: balance, pain & prep

Foam rolling started early and has many uses. Stacy Barrows shows a few longwise techniques

For you or to pass along to clients, here’s Patrick Ward’s excellent overview of trigger points

Next up from Patrick Ward: Trigger points and their affects on pain

Back with more on trigger points: fascia expert Leon Chaitow with easy releasing techniques

Continuing soft tissue study, enter the fascinating world of fascial anatomy with Tom Myers, DVD, $50

One more on tissue therapy, here’s Charles Poliquin demonstrating Active Release Therapy (ART)

In the future, I’m going to add my twitter info links to the end of the weekly blog posts,  but for now, let’s do a little catch-up. For your education and enjoyment, when you next have a few extra minutes for online travel:

New kettlebell workshop event, May 2nd, San Jose CA, Mark Reifkind, Dave Whitley, Tracy Reifkind

Outstanding overview on beating chronic back pain by Bret Contreras

Vitamin D more important than fish oil? Charles Poliquin explains why

Here Eric Beard demonstrates tracking down an ankle impairment in the overhead squat

In the 90s, Thom Plummer pulled us through the business side of the gym biz. Gym owners, read this

Follow-up to Thom Plummer, Todd Durkin’s fit biz webinar 2/11. Bet it will be good!

Did you know your rib cage is supposed to move… a lot? Why it doesn’t, how to regain mobility

Watch this youtube video, corrective expert Anthony Carey’s thoracic extension move

Dan John & Krista Scott-Dixon, 2 terrific strength writers together for a chat

Nick Tumminello with a new take on scap pushups. I like.

Ankle mobility is the foundation for good movement. Bill Hartman’s unexpected mobility tip

More on ankle mobility, here’s Perry Nickelston’s take on a Gray Cook technique

You may be surprised, as I was, to discover how much movement should be available in a rib cage when it retains its optimal mobility. The majority of the joints in the body are in the thorax, where each rib connects to its vertebra in the back and to the cartilage and sternum in the front. The more joints, the more small adjustments can be made; there is a lot of movement possibility here if it’s not locked down.

Instead of rib cage, the Feldenkrais group uses the term rib basket to remove the impression of jailed immobility. When I heard that, I wished I’d learned it earlier; I really had no idea the rib cage was mobile. Happily, though, that lost mobility is recoverable once you discover the problem and start working on the fix.

Most of us have tight lats, and as you know, the lats encase much of the bottom and sides of the thoracic cavity. Any chronic tightness will restrain joint movement, and tightness of the lats, traps, serratus and intercostals are no different.  Even the rectus abdominus—the six-pack—will stifle rib cage mobility when the region is overly tight and pulling at the bottom of the rib basket.

Respiration also inhibits movement of the surrounding ribs, and this is one reason restoring respiration quality is at the top of Evan Osar’s fix-it list. He talked about this at length in both of the IDEA presentations I attended, including a demonstration of crocodile breathing.

Get yourself on the floor and follow along with Dave Whitley and Geoff Neupert here:

Habit causes the majority of thoracic movement problems. The idea of suck in the chest may not happen in today’s world, but it sure did in yesterday’s. Actually, these days, if advertising is any indication, it’s the young men who inhabit this image, whereas in the previous generations, it was the young women. Having been one of those at the time and having carried that immobility forward into adulthood, my sincere suggestion is to break that habit now while it’s easy [easier, that is].

The forward head posture many of us develop as we get a little older, and especially as we spend more time sitting at these computers, will absolutely lock up the rib cage. When the shoulders are pulled forward, the shoulder blades lose their ability to shift in and out, up and down, and with that so goes the clavicles. When the entire shoulder yoke gets stiff and immobile, what do you suppose happens to the thoracic cavity it’s attached to? Bingo, you hit the jackpot on that one: Locked down.

Finally we get to the neurological factor, the brain part, where in addition to bad habits, we discover plain-old forgetfulness. Odd to think of forgetting how to move the ribs as we reach for over the counter for the latte, but it’s happening, and unless you make yourself aware, it’ll keep happening as the years and decades mount. Other than the fortunate few, the older we get, the more immobile the rib cage unless – or until! – we purposefully keep it moving.

Here’s a longer intro to learning this type of movement awareness at home.

Last fall after an off-the-cuff comment by Dave Whitley in our IronOnline forum, he, Mark and Tracy  Reifkind and I started pulling together the pieces for a kettlebell workshop here in the San Jose area.

Featuring Rif, IronTamer Dave and Tracy, we’re set for Sunday, May 2nd, $149. This includes lunch (thought you guys would think that was important enough to list), and we’ll be filming this for dvd; the workshop fee includes a free dvd set once the dvds are ready.

We’re holding this at Greg Everett’s Catalyst Athletics in Sunnyvale. It’s just a few miles from the San Jose airport, if anyone wants to fly in, and we got a great discount ($59 down from $109) at a hotel about a mile from Greg’s that includes a hot breakfast (won’t be fancy, don’t get your expectations too high), and a free shuttle from the airport. We’ll have a number of people around, so no one will need to rent a car if flying in… we’re a friendly bunch.

Rif is teaching everything we need to know about lat strength, how to use the lats better in pressing and pulling, tissue quality and length and other stuff we never think of about these important back muscles.

Dave is presenting twice, once on kettlebells as a tool to teach movement and tension principles, the getup as the foundation for all grinding kettlebell lifts, how to perform the bent press and how to boost your military pressing power. His second session is on strongman stuff, how to learn bending and grip strength, breathing and feats of strength, and how these techniques can be used in our regular training.

Tracy is the Swing Queen. She uses a variety of swing progressions to add intensity to this simple exercise. Instead of just doing a few sets of swings and moving on, she teach us how to program the swings in ways we never thought of.

At the end of the day, they’ll bring it all back together for an hour of open questions and answers. We’ll be able to ask whatever was missed during the day, but better yet, we’ll see if they have different answers or if they share the same views. This promises to be my favorite part of the day.

Here are the rest of the details, including a sidebar with plenty of links to the presenters’ websites, blogs and video archives: San Jose Kettlebell Workshop.

In the new dvd set, Assess and Correct: Breaking Barriers to Unlock Performance, corrective exercise authorities Bill Hartman, Mike Robertson and Eric Cressey team up to give us a group of joint by joint self-assessments to identify movement deficiencies. Over the years, I’ve gravitated toward learning the various alternative movement-based modes of pain relief, and these three guys have contributed to that learning, Mike mostly about knees, Eric mostly about shoulders and Bill, well… everything that moves. Given that history, I was eager to get a look at their latest work.

This is a two-dvd set, the first one guiding us through the various assessments, and the second a corrective exercise documentary including progressions ranging from easy to difficult to be used once the evaluations are complete.

Thomas tabletop test

The assessment dvd includes the following tests (27 variations), each with visual, vocal and bullet point coaching cues: how to do it, what to look for and what would be considered normal.

• Neutral spinal alignment
• Cervical flexion
• Thoracic spine rotation
• Pec minor length
• Pec major length (clavicular and sternal)
• Shoulder flexion
• External shoulder rotation
• Internal shoulder rotation
• Scapular upward rotation
• Straight leg raise
• Groin muscle stiffness
• Hip and knee flexion
• Hip flexor strength
• Quadraped rockbacks
• Prone knee flexion
• Thomas hip extension test
• Hip abduction
• Hip adduction
• Hip internal rotation, seated and prone
• Hip external rotation, seated and prone
• Ankle dorsiflexion
• Glute medius function
• Glute maximus function

This review took awhile! I thought I would just let the dvd run while I made notes, but I found myself stopping to try every test. You’ll be pleased to know I “passed,” but I think I’d like to get any one of these guys to run me through the appraisals. I might have cheated.

Seriously, it will help to have a base of movement knowledge when doing the assessments for awareness in instinctively cheating the tests.  But still, with ample attention and patience, anyone can do this.

The set also comes with three pdf e-books , one a 137-page manual that reinforces and builds upon the teaching of the dvds, the second is 21 pages of sample warm-ups based on individual corrective needs and pain issues (I’m using page 21, the desk jockey option, which I’m sure is not an afterthought even if it is the last page), and the final is a 12-page document of their favorite static stretches, done after foam rolling and before dynamic movement… the Great Eight, my new everyday stretch list.

The right corrective exercises as chosen using the pd manual after running the assessments and watching the second dvd with its 78 exercises is miraculous.

Reverse lunge with posterolateral reach

But it’s not magic and it can’t be rushed. To get out of chronic pain or to break through a movement-caused performance barrier, you have to tackle this like it’s your job.

At $127, I know that’s a hefty price for most of us, but that’s about the cost of an hour medical or alternative therapy session, and I’m pretty sure if you pay attention and slowly work through the assessments and corrective exercise suggestions, this investment will get you out of chronic pain, while that doctor visit, chiropractor or massage would, at best, provide only temporary relief. You do have to do your own work, though, so it’s a little more of a challenge than an hour on a massage table.

Bottom line: All thumbs up. These guys do great work. Putting this level of material in a simple, easy-to-understand package for those of us not schooled in physical therapy is very amazing, and much appreciated.

Here again is the link: Assess and Correct  or to copy and paste, go here:

http://www.assessandcorrect.com/about/

Excerpted from Advances in Functional Training, Michael Boyle, $34.95, pages 216-219

I worked on this book for about two months last fall. Before beginning, I was very familiar with Michael, had read his earlier book Functional Training for Sports several times, had read most of his published articles, was a member of his Strengthcoach.com website and had read many of his forum posts there. You can assume, then, while I appreciated having all this material collected in one place—in print—and categorized for each part to build upon the last, there wasn’t much that was entirely new to me. That is… until I got to the single-leg exercise classifications. These are entirely logical, and I felt like I knew them instinctively, but reading and pondering these explanations was illuminating. The following represents four pages excerpted from the 28-page section covering training on one leg. I think it’s brilliant stuff. ~ Laree

One of the major changes of the last decade in the fields of strength and conditioning and personal training has been an increased emphasis on exercises considered both functional and multi-planar. Where many strength coaches and trainers previously relied on bilateral exercises like squats and leg presses, we now regularly use exercises like lunges and one-leg squats. We’ll next look at the menu of single-leg exercises to classify the relative differences and benefits of each exercise, and evaluate where these exercises might best fit into our programs.

As we use more and more single-leg exercises with our athletes, we’ve broken these exercises into categories and placed the exercises in progressions. One of the drawbacks of having a broad range of exercises available is determining which exercise is appropriate for which individual, and at what point in training should each be used.

We often see an advanced exercise like lunges capable of producing extreme soreness recommended as a cure-all for nearly every lower-body issue. The current thought in some circles seems to be when in doubt, lunge. Yet prescribing an advanced single-leg exercise for a beginner can be a crippling introduction to the world of unilateral training. Using lunges initially can make sports practice difficult for the next few days.

When looking at single-leg exercises, it’s apparent they can be broken into knee-dominant exercises, variations of a squatting movement, and hip-dominant exercises, or those that prioritize the glutes and hamstrings and are variations of straight-leg deadlifts or bridging exercises.

Further investigation of the demands of single-leg exercises makes it necessary to break single-leg knee-dominant exercises into static exercises like one-leg squats, and dynamic exercises such as lunges and slideboard lunges.

In static single-leg exercises, there is no movement of the feet. One or both feet stay in contact with the ground. The body moves up and down in the sagittal plane or potentially side to side in the frontal plane, as in a lateral squat. Static knee-dominant exercise can further be broken into either static unsupported or static supported exercises.

Static Supported Exercises

Single-leg supported exercises describe a one-leg exercise done with some support from the remaining leg. The non-working leg could either be in contact with the floor as in a split squat or on a bench. These are not dynamic exercises as they lack translation. The center of mass stays in the confines of the base of support and the feet do not move.

A split squat is what we call a single-leg, static, supported exercise. It’s static: We’re not moving. It’s not a lunge. There is no step. It’s supported: We have the back foot in contact with the ground, a box, bench, or something else. Other examples would include the one-leg bench squat, the lateral squat and the rotational squat.

The rear-foot-elevated split squat, while harder, is still a static, supported exercise. All we’ve done is shifted the load more onto the front leg. This is a harder exercise than the split squat, and probably a better exercise for the more advanced athlete. This is a really important single-leg strength exercise, but it’s still static.

The pelvic implications of supported exercises are very different from the pelvic implications found in single-leg squatting, or other unsupported exercises. It’s very different in terms of what it’s asking the pelvis to do.

Single-leg supported exercises are a great introduction to single-leg training and should always precede the dynamic variations. An additional benefit of single-leg supported exercise is these exercises are excellent for flexibility.

Static Unsupported Exercises

Static unsupported single-leg exercises consist of single-leg movements done on one leg only. The non-working extremity is not allowed to touch the ground or any other object such as a bench. The only true static unsupported exercises are variations of one-leg squats. These may be referred to as one-leg squats, balance squats or step-downs in various texts.

The single-leg squat is an excellent example of knee stability. We won’t find an example better than that. As we look at a single-leg squat, we should think knee stability; this is the ability to exist in what we would call a single-leg, unsupported environment. Many of the single-leg unsupported exercises are frequently used as dynamic warm-up exercises, and are excellent for more experienced trainees in that function.

Carryover Limitations

Until recently, I did not distinguish between static unsupported and static supported exercise. Strength and conditioning coach Karen Wood convinced me otherwise. Wood’s rational is the limited functional carryover from the single-leg supported category to the single-leg unsupported category. In other words, performance of exercises like splits squats or rear-foot-elevated split squats did not carryover to performance in a true one-leg squat.

In static supported exercises, the hip rotators, adductors and glute medius do not take as active a role in stabilizing the femur. In true static unsupported exercises, the hip rotators, adductors and glute medius must actively work to prevent internal rotation of the femur. Static unsupported exercises are essentially tri-planar, as the movement may be sagittal, but the stabilizers must also prevent movement in the frontal and transverse planes.

A static unsupported exercise becomes a tri-planar movement automatically as the stabilizers work as anti-rotators. Wood’s thought process has caused me to program exercises in a manner we now define as progressive range of motion.

Progressive Range of Motion

Earlier in my career I would have scoffed at the idea of using partial movements. However, as I became involved in the rehabilitation of athletes with patella-femoral problems, I came to realize range of motion in the lower body needs to take a back seat to femoral control. Often in static supported exercises like a split squat or a one-leg bench squat, the athlete can move through a full range of motion, perhaps with significant loads, but still be unable to control the motion of the femur in an unsupported environment. In this case, lower-body strength is wasted because it does not fulfill its obligation to control the motion of the femur.

To illustrate the concept, in our facility, a single-leg squat will be done only to a pain-free range that demonstrates control of the femur relative to adduction and internal rotation. In other words, it is not enough to squat low. The trainee must squat low while maintaining control of the femur from the hip musculature.

In progressive range of motion training, the bodyweight load remains constant, while the range of motion is progressively increased. Once the trainee demonstrates full, controlled range of motion, the programming reverts back to basic progressive resistance concepts.

In the same program or in the same workout, we may simultaneously be using a single-leg unsupported exercise with progressive range of motion as in partial one-leg squats, followed by a single-leg supported exercise done through a full range of motion.

Progressions

Split squats should precede lunges; lateral squats should precede lateral lunges; and rotational squats should precede rotational or transverse lunges. Failure to do this will result in exceptional soreness, possible disruption of the training program, and often a loss of confidence in the coach or trainer by the athlete or client.

The reason for the exceptional soreness lies in the sagittal emphasis of most training programs. Many times range of motion is consistently gained in the same plane of motion; motion out of the sagittal plane involves muscle fibers and action not previously encountered.

Athletes often report unusual levels of soreness in an area that appears to be the adductors or the medial hamstrings and it sometimes seems even worse with lunges. Rolfer and author Thomas Myers describes the adductor magnus as the fourth hamstring, and in fact the adductor magnus is the third most powerful hip extensor.

Adductor magnus assists in hip extension by providing a counterbalance to the external rotator capability of the glute max, the most powerful hip extensor. The combination of extreme knee and hip flexion in a single-leg exercise stresses the anti-rotator and extensor capabilities of the adductor magnus in a way completely unfamiliar. This causes unusual soreness that can be injurious or even confused with an actual groin strain.

Many athletes don’t use the adductor magnus as a hip extensor until they begin to squat low or begin performing walking lunges. When they do these exercises, they activate the adductor magnus. The response is usually a painful one. The adductors, primarily the adductor magnus, plays a critical role in sprinting, acting as both a powerful hip extensor and a counterbalance to the external rotating capability of the glute max.

Dynamic Unsupported Single-Leg Exercise

The remaining single-leg exercises would be classified as dynamic exercises. In dynamic single-leg exercises, the body is translated in either the sagittal plane (lunge, slideboard lunge, Valslide lunge, TRX lunge or walking lunge), frontal plane (lateral lunge), or transverse plane (rotational lunge).

Dynamic single-leg exercises are among the most significant soreness producers in the coach’s toolbox, and should be implemented with great care. A static supported version of the exercise should precede the dynamic version for a three-week period. Lunges should not be used until the trainee has done at least three weeks of split squats.

Accelerative and Decelerative Patterns

It is further necessary to categorize dynamic single-leg exercises into accelerative and decelerative patterns. Accelerative patterns would be walking lunges and slideboard lunges. Accelerative exercises are pulling actions that mimic the mechanics of an athlete accelerating toward an object. These have high transfer capability to running.

Decelerative patterns would include conventional lunges, lateral lunges or any multi-planar, transverse or rotational version. The decelerative patterns have more application to braking and direction-change skills. Decelerative exercises are excellent for injury prevention, whereas accelerative exercises will greatly enhance movement capability. Both types are necessary, but they should not be viewed as either strongly related or interchangeable since they are markedly different.

The accelerative dynamic single-leg exercises have been inappropriately named and misclassified. Walking lunges, Valslide lunges and slideboard lunges are actually hip-dominant exercises that look knee-dominant.

Although the action in a walking lunge or slideboard lunge appears to be the identical movement to a conventional push-back lunge, the muscle actions are entirely different. Conventional lunges are knee-dominant and quadriceps-oriented and don’t produce unusual soreness. Any of the walking, slideboard and Valslide variations will produce exceptional soreness, particularly in the long adductors as noted above.

Effectively programming single-leg exercises takes on an entirely new dimension in light of this. In our programming, I have relied far too heavily on the static versions and have not used enough of the dynamic. In fact, the accelerative options may be the best one-size-fits-all choice.

Excerpted from Advances in Functional Training, Michael Boyle, $34.95, pages 216-219

We are poised at the foothills; looming before us are the staggering holiday mountains: Christmas and New Year’s. Though we’ve traversed the Thanksgiving Range with its mighty peaks, the December ascents remain a consuming and seductive challenge.

Peace and joy and good will claim our attention. Yet, I feel compelled to remind you of the subtle and pervasive pitfalls concealed before us.

It starts. You go to a small party… big deal! And eat a little more than usual—so? And drink a little. Eh!

Trixie brings homemade cookies to work and Biff brings his special eggnog. Good stuff and ‘ya can’t say no. Oops! You miss your classic midweek workout. And Friday—shoulders and arms—gives way to another party… Aunt Sue and Uncle Bob and the kids. Real good people, but they sure can pack it in.

A thin crack in your cool discipline appears. You gain weight, few pounds. Hmpff! Saturday your favorite morning workout is replaced with gift shopping and groceries for your Christmas party. Bring your own booze. Two am, as you clean up the party mess, you vaguely recall devouring a loaf of garlic bread and a bottle of vino with big Tony and big Angella. Those two should exercise.

“How quickly we gain weight,” you muse as you gingerly mount the scale on Monday morning before heading to work. You feel puffy and achy and grumpy. Not enough sleep these days. No way can you go to the gym feeling like a slug. Me llama es El Piggo. “Wednesday I’ll blast it,” you vow. The crack is now a gap and growing.

You eat and eat, forget the Wednesday blasting session and eat again. You feel guilty and fat—bad combination. Somebody from the gym asks where you’ve been and you tell him to mind his own business. Who does he think he is? The jerk! You’re a little high strung.

Now your pants don’t fit. Party, party, I love champagne. You hyperventilate. Who needs protein, pass the pie. Your sneakers don’t fit. What gym? Where?

You’ve contracted bulgebellious miserabeles. Your friends don’t recognize you. Your training gap has become the Grand Canyon. It has a life of its own like a slobbering alien from Krypton Three. Is this a hideous nightmare? Tell me I’m dreaming! How do I get outta here? Hellllppp meee!

Does this sound familiar, Bunky? Don’t let this happen to you.

Don’t miss your workouts. Cut them in half… and don’t eat too much. Cut it in half. Don’t let things get out of hand, 15-30 minutes in the gym 2-3 times a week is far, far better than saying “why bother.” These make all the difference in the world to keep you mentally and physically and emotionally together. They keep you connected, in control, toned, confident, strong, alert, disciplined, cute and charming. You’ll be so pleased with yourself, instead of displeased with yourself, a big dif.

You’ll smile instead of pretending to smile, you’ll laugh, you’ll love.

The gym is always a friendly diversion, and especially so around this peculiar time of the year. Let’s face it. December gets weird—the job, the markets, the malls, construction, shopping, shipping, receiving, the highways and byways. The gym with its mutually enthusiastic faces is a refuge, the only sane place in the nutty world. Peaceful, it’s your world—orderly, safe, stress free, productive, happy.

Don’t wander too far… don’t get lost.

There are been a number of visitors to the forum who show up with questions after reading the What is an Elevated Hip? post of a last year. The most common question isn’t as much what to do about it, it’s figuring out which side is out of normal alignment. Here are a couple of hints to help you sort things out.

What we loosely call an elevated hip is actually an asymmetry of the iliac crests, the top part of the pelvic bowl on one side is higher than the other. This results in a functional leg length discrepancy, and in the physical therapist texts is referred to as a hip joint lateral asymmetry or a lateral pelvic tilt. The top of the pelvis on the high side is flexing toward the spine; the hip socket is high, the pelvis is elevated and probably rotated forward toward the opposite side, and usually the spine will move in a convex arc, toward the opposite side.

This has a big affect on walking. There are three parts of gait representing movement in all three planes of motion, sagittal, frontal and transverse. Optimal gait involves an equal amount of each, and when parts are limited, we see other aspects taking over, creating a compensating gait. For example, picture Frankenstein for a dominant sagittal-plane walk, a runway model’s sway representing the frontal, or a John Wayne swagger as the transverse image.

With a lateral pelvic tilt, the hip joint isn’t able to move well. During walking the pelvis needs to move into posterior tilt during the stride forward; both sides need to move equally. Of course, this can’t happen if one is sluggish, somewhat stuck in an abnormal position.

The glute on that side won’t fire optimally with the pelvis out of neutral; the abductors are weak or not firing and are unable to stabilize the pelvis and move the leg. Instead, the QL lifts the leg around, creating a pelvic flexion toward the spine, rather than true transverse plane action.

This takes longer, meaning the normal-side foot will be on the ground longer as it waits for the elevated side to come around. You can see this if you sit at a mall coffee shop people-watching, and you can feel it in yourself if you find a quiet place where you can pay attention to your footsteps. In fact, attention to your foot pattern is a real good way to sniff out a hip problem.

The high-side hip is in adduction, and the normal side is in abduction. This generally means more weight rests on the outside of the high-side foot. When that happens, there will be less weight on the opposite foot, which will usually drop in, so the high-side foot will be supinated and the normal side foot will be pronated.

The tight areas are the outside hip area of the low side, and the side, glutes and low back area of the high side, including the QL, which will be tight from doing all the work during hip hitching. These you’ll foam roll or roll using a small myo ball.

The weaknesses will be primarily the abductor musculature of the high side. Working the abductors – the outside of the hip region – means fairly isolated work like side-lying leg raises, clamshells or some kind of propped donkey kicks, isolated so the lumbar area stays stable and the leg is only moving from the hip socket.

The psoas will probably need stretching, and the IT band will need rolling. The IT bands always need rolling.

There will probably also be a low shoulder on the side of the elevated pelvis — the length of the waist will be shorter on that side. Those of us who are novices at this will often go after correcting an obvious high shoulder, but it’s usually a factor of the opposite-side hip elevation and will correct itself when the hips level out.

With all our discussion of imbalances and movement patterns, we need to remember there are always exceptions to the rule. Some compensations are common to most people, but we can easily compensate in unique ways. Enforce a little caution on yourself; don’t just assume you’ve “got that” when you read about a functional problem that sort of matches your symptoms.

Test yourself, read a little more and test again. Otherwise, you’re likely to be stretching an area that needs strengthening or working an area that needs soft tissue therapy. You’ll have yourself tottering around in circles, and that’s almost as frustrating as being entirely clueless. Actually, it’s more frustrating.

 This is a guest blog post from our friend, “the sandbag guy,” Josh Henkin.

Why use something so primitive? It isn’t in an attempt to be hardcore or “a bad ass.” There is a lot of science behind what makes what was once an old-school training tool into a standard for the modern lifter.

Core Strength

I hate that term more than most, not because everyone is using it, but because of the misuse of the it. The core is more than the abs; it’s the hips and low back as well, and some argue it’s even hard to separate the lats from the equation. Because the sandbag is so awkward to lift, it incorporates more of the core muscles more than any other training method. We do this instinctively to help become more efficient at the movements as the muscles work synergistically to deal with the awkward sandbag.

Sandbag training allows lifters to better develop the core because every traditional lift becomes a core exercise with the sandbag. For example, squatting has always been known as a great way to strengthen the midsection. With the barbell you have three options: You can perform front, back or overhead squats, all fantastic drills. However, only the overhead squat is a situation where the load isn’t perfectly loaded on the body’s strongest leverage points. In sandbag training, one can use eight different holding positions to challenge the body’s core to maintain posture during the squatting motion.

For example, in shoulder squatting one holds the load on one side of the body. This provides similar axial loading as it challenges the body to resist lateral flexion and rotation. The lifter will also find one leg actually works harder, a great way to strengthen the posterior chain. Such exercises quickly expose weaknesses as “filling in the holes.”

The list is endless with variations of squatting, lunging, step-ups, get-ups and pressing. With any traditional lift, the sandbag can add a new twist to stimulate new muscular strength and growth.

Get Stronger

Most are familiar with the term “farm boy strength.” Most people have met that one guy who grew up on a farm and never lifted weights yet has this tremendous strength that seems to transfer to everything. What did this guy do? He lifted odd objects all the time and developed tremendous strength lifting in different positions with implements that didn’t have comfortable handles or well-distributed loads.

The benefits of odd-object hefting didn’t elude many old-time strongmen. In fact, they often used sandbags to build the incredible strength they demonstrated in a variety of acts or in wrestling matches. In one of the most landmark books in strength and conditioning, The Encyclopedia of Wrestling Conditioning, author John Jesse outlines the following:

“Sandbags over 100 pounds are awkward to handle and provide a true test of all-around strength, particularly in lifting them overhead or bringing them to the shoulder with one hand. Some of the old-time strongman wrestlers would shoulder a 180 to 220-pound sack of grain to the shoulder with one hand and then walk several hundred yards with the bag on their shoulders. A few were capable of pressing the same bag overhead with one hand after bringing it to the shoulder.”

Sandbags build ligament and tendon strength like few other tools can. They fill in the holes that most strength exercises miss because of limited movement and predictable patterns. Strength expert Brooks Kubik best stated why sandbags work so well:

“You feel sore as you do because the bags worked your body in ways you could not approach with a barbell alone. You got into the muscle areas you normally don’t work. You worked the heck out of the stabilizers.”

Bodybuilding and Sandbags

There was a time when there was no difference between being a strength athlete and a bodybuilder. Many methods and tools crossed the lines between these two arenas and one could be strong and muscular at the same time. Even some of today’s biggest bodybuilders have used odd objects in their training.

Renowned strength coach Charles Staley calls sandbags our “most uncooperative” training tool. A lifter can use a sandbag for everything from a clean and press to a biceps curl. Whatever the drill, the sandbag adds a new dimension from coordination to gripping strength. This seems to integrate more muscles than a standard barbell or dumbbell lift and can introduce a much-needed variation to many programs.

Recently a strength enthusiast named Anthony Sharah shared with me, “In the past I followed a bodybuilding routine. I could never get my upper body size to grow to match my lower body. There is no doubt that sandbag training recruits more muscle fibers, or that it is different than barbell training.”

So many bodybuilding routines try to hit muscles from different angles, hit different fibers, and try to integrate muscles in so many different ways. In truth, those striving for muscle growth may find sandbags to be a great compliment to their training program because few training methods and tools can stimulate more muscles in new ways than the sandbag.

Filling in the Holes

Let’s say you believe that sandbags have a place. How do you integrate them into your training program? There are host of different strategies.

• Alternate sets of your favorite classic lifts with a sandbag variation. For example, barbell squats alternated with Zercher or shoulder sandbag squats; deadlifts, alternated with rotational deadlifts, half moon snatches, or even shouldering. The list quickly becomes endless and fun!
• Finish off your sets with a sandbag finisher. Want a more complete physique? After your bench press series, perform one all-out effort of sandbag clean and presses.
• Every cycle, switch out a traditional barbell or dumbbell lift with a sandbag variation. Perform shoulder lunges instead of dumbbells, work bear hug instead of barbell good mornings; use shouldering instead of deadlifts, overhead chop instead of your kettlebell swing.

In the End

Sandbags are not a fad; there just has never been a system of implementing the work into a rational strength training program. My goal is to not simply reintroduce the lifting community to sandbags and their variations, but to the powerful impact these can have on a well-structured program. Random assignment of sandbag lifts is as useless as doing such with barbells, dumbbells or even kettlebells. Utilizing them with extremely focused intent and purpose makes them a tool no strength athlete should pass up!

In the arena of functional fitness and sports performance, Josh Henkin is a widely acclaimed innovator. He is the creator of the Ultimate Sandbag and Sandbag Fitness Systems. In addition, Josh lectures internationally at conferences, top fitness facilities, and elite sports performance programs. He can be reached via email at jsandbags@hotmail.com.

Training Techniques for Coaches, Personal Trainers and Athletes by Michael Boyle

The cover athlete is Ingrid Marcum, during her win at the 2009 Nationals

In the seven years since the publication of his first book, Functional Training for Sports, new understanding of functional anatomy created a shift in strength coaching. With this new material, Coach Boyle presents the continued evolution of functional training as seen by a leader in the strength and conditioning field.

After an introduction into his new thinking, Michael uses ten basic sections to present everything a strength coach or personal trainer needs to understand modern training theory, beginning with his joint-by-joint approach to training, along with details of his use of Gray Cook and Lee Burton’s Functional Movement Screen. Next he discusses injury avoidance, treatment, rehab and training after injury. Then he updates the reader on the current thinking in core training, back pain, and on how the hip musculature works, and how it fails. We learn his philosophy on cardiovascular training, and see what has worked for the athletes training in his facility.

In the second half of the book, Michael shifts to training strategies, including which exercises he uses today and which he’s discarded, what equipment and tools are in use on his gym floor, how he develops speed, and, of course, there’s a large section on his now-famous single-leg training. Finally, we get to program design, where he puts the entire package together to mesh theory with daily reality. He’ll teach you the basic objectives of a sound program, and then over the course of 32 pages, he’ll show you exactly which programs he uses in a variety of client and athletic circumstances.

The category sections include:

• Mobility and Flexibility
• Injuries
• The Core
• The Hips
• Cardiovascular Training
• Developing Athleticism
• Equipment Choices
• Exercise Choices — The Basics and Single-Leg Training
• Program Design
• Sample Programs

You can grab a pdf of the full Table of Contents here.

This book is in stock and available for shipping.
The official release date is January 10th; bookstores and online stores such as Amazon.com will have the book available for order after that date.

Click here to place your order, $34.95.

90 minutes of new training ideas!

We’re now set with part four of Dan’s IronOnline workshop — or at least we will be Friday or Monday — the final DVD of the series, in which he shows us his sample warm-ups, a few workout varieties, and his famous barbell complexes. Trust me, these aren’t your regular Bomber bodypart splits, although over the decades Dave’s done his share of barbell rows, presses and dumbbell farmer walks, and he’s probably also done our share.

One of Dan’s key phrases here was, “The warm-up is the workout,”  and as he puts our crew through the paces, you’ll see how he can make that claim! He also uses members of the audience to demonstrate new movements, or to show his corrections when we went astray.

Here he uses Elke to show, as he tells the story and gives guidance on Koji squats, which I’m assuming you haven’t seen before.

Dan shows his daily favorites:
Gait Warm-up
Goblet Squat & Bootstrapper Squat
Hip Flexor Stretch & RDL Stretch
Plank Series
Horizontal Shrugs
Maxercist and Parked Rows
Crocodile Pushups
Heartbeat Squat
Kalos Sthenos Getup
Ab Circuit
Star Plank
Barbell Complexes
A full warm-up series
Sample workouts, insights and more

Includes pdf handouts of the sample workouts, warmups and barbell complexes

And in this clip, Dan’s pal Josh Vert performs the deadbug series, again with Dan at the controls.

Here’s where to get your copy of Dan’s 90-minute workout samples dvd, $29.95. Or if you’d like to save $20 now that the entire series is complete, here’s the link for the 4-DVD set.

What a great idea for Christmas — now you know what to ask for next week when you get the what do you want for Christmas inquiry!

Now that the new Michael Boyle book, Advances in Functional Training, is at the printer and the proof for the final DVD of the Dan John seminar weekend has been approved for replication, I found myself kicking around over the weekend wondering what of that huge mess on my desk most needed to be done. Those two projects have been my primary focus for nearly six months, so I wasn’t quite ready to backburner either one of them. Hey, how about I update the On Target Publications website?

So I get there to take a look and oops, what do you know… hasn’t been touched in about five years. Ouch! No new book updates, no new technology. It just looked b a d. You can probably guess what I did the next couple of days, and you know I’m going to send you over there to take a look. In fact, maybe I’ll even ask a favor: Would you let me know if you find any problems? Typos, browser issues, like that? Your review comments on the various book and dvd pages are most certainly welcome, too, because I know the authors appreciate hearing your thoughts.

Buried in the author pages you’ll find bits of history, perhaps how the books came to be published, or how I came to know the authors. I’ll continue to update the Forthcoming page as new projects hit the planning stage, but meanwhile perhaps you’ll want to know what’s up for now.

In the print department, Dave’s just begun work on his new, as yet unnamed book, which sounds like it will be part memoir, part motivational, part pictorial. The selection of photos is underway, which means he’s dreaming up memories to tell the stories behind the images. His memory articles are often the readers’ favorites, and just the idea of this new material is enough to lift my spirits.

I’m working on another book project in partnership with Byron Chandler, this one directed toward the maturing trainee who, perhaps through chronic pain, has discovered the training routine he or she has been using since 1980 is no longer doing the trick. I hope we’ll see both of these new books in early 2010.

May 1st we’ll be filming a workshop in San Jose, California, featuring Mark Reifkind and Dave Whitley for publication on DVD. This will be a paid day-long workshop; registration and seminar details will be online in January, and the DVDs hit production during May, available early summer.

And the weekend of September 25, 2010, will mark our 10th annual IronOnline bash to be held in Kansas City, where Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore will be on hand to present a workshop weekend, also planned for DVD publication. Details on that event will be posted in the IronOnline forum as they become available.

The new website is OnTargetPublications.net. If you find any problems, please give me a yell: ldraper@davedraper.com.

In part three of the four DVDs from the Utah workshop weekend, we get a taste of Dan John’s instruction for beginning Olympic weightlifting. Our original idea was this would be primarily for adults who’ve never lifted Olympic-style, and it’s certainly that, however one of the attendees is a competitive Olympic lifting, who told me a couple of Dan’s tips changed her lifting forever. So I’m thinking anyone interested in Olympic lifting will get something out of this one.

As I did last time for the kettlebell dvd and the time prior for the strength lecture, I pulled a couple of clips from the dvd to give you a taste of what went on during our time with Dan. First, let’s look at his take on pulling through the heels.

In this 80-minute DVD, Dan taught:

• Olympic lifting overview
• Snatch positions
• Push jerk
• Split jerk
• The Jerk
• Overhead squat
• Goblet squat
• Shoulder mobility
• Putting weights overhead
• Hamstring lengthening
• Romanian deadlift stretch
• Wrist flexibility

Now here’s one of value to everyone, even those without interest specifically in Olympic lifting: How to get wrist flexibility.

Having been at the event and as an adult with absolutely no Olympic lifting experience, I can tell you I left feeling fairly confident in my ability to snatch and jerk… a short piece of PVC pipe.

Seriously, it left me and the rest of the attendees with plenty of enthusiasm for learning the O lifts, and enough technique tips to give us a start on our own at home. Here’s where to get your copy of Dan’s Olympic Lifting for Beginners DVD, $29.95.

Laree Draper