Here are the eight exercises that make up The Kono Course (I assume you are familiar with basic weightlifting exercises so an explanation of each is not provided):

(1) situps - 1 to 2 sets of 15 to 25 reps
(2) overhead press - 2 (later 3) sets of 8 to 12 reps
(3) upright rowing - 2 (later 3) sets of 8 to 12 reps
(4) bench press - 2 (later 3) sets of 8 to 12 reps
(5) bent over rowing - 2 (later 3) sets of 8 to 12 reps
(6) squats - 2 (gradually work up to 4) sets of 8 to 12 reps
(7) breathing pullover - alternate with squat exercise for 12 to 15 reps
(8) deadlift - 2 sets of 8 to 12 reps

Additional details of The Kono Course can be found in Mr. Kono’s book "Weightlifting, Olympic Style.

Taranenko: I do good mornings with the legs slightly bent. As you begin to lean over, you should feel the pressure (your balance, Ed.) near the hell of the foot. Begin to straighten up as soon as the pressure nears the ball of the foot. This is very important principle when doing this exercise. But, nobody ever things about it. It is very useful to have a strong back for weightlifting. When I was younger, I could lift more in the good morning exercise than in the snatch.

So, I agree with ANYone mentioning Tommy Kono!!!

Press, Incline Bench Press, Bench Press
Barbell, DB, Chest Assisted Row
Weighted or Bodyweight Pullup/Chin
Weighted or Bodyweight Dip
Barbell or DB Curl
Olympic (high bar), Front, PL Squat
Conventional, Deficit, Snatch Grip, Stiff Legged Deadlift
Weighted Situp, Ab Wheel, Hanging Leg Raise

This may have to be a sticky thread. Thanks for those PDFs. Homework!!!!!

I've watched Rob Kabbas do bodybuilding work in the off and pre season with lifters. Said it was useful in preventing injuries and rehabbing others.

I also think, as much as we diss bodybuilding, that it's a very age friendly way to lift. Sets of ~10 at ~70% sounds quite like something that is able to be done long term (and not coincidentally also fits in with Meffetone's stuff when you look at HR, but also Dan's stuff about Easy Strength when you compare intensity). I think we'll see a lot of 60-70 year olds able to bodybuild, but not so many olympic lifting or doing Crossfit.

I always wondered what a sensible senior-oriented bodybuilding routine would look like.

Some stuff here, using quick-lift 'assistance' exercises to gain with -

http://ditillo2.blogspot.ca/2008/05/olympic-assist ance-movements-anthony.html

• Quoting:

Are you talking about 60+ bodybuilding?
That would make a great discussion topic on the Flight Deck forum.
Here:
http://www.davedraper.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?fid/4/tid/32954/pid/8 03615/post/last/#LAST

I like everything listed, but would not be comfortable taking blocks of pure BB work as my technique always needs work.

...as much as we diss bodybuilding, that it's a very age friendly way to lift. Sets of ~10 at ~70% sounds quite like something that is able to be done long term (and not coincidentally also fits in with Meffetone's stuff when you look at HR, but also Dan's stuff about Easy Strength when you compare intensity). I think we'll see a lot of 60-70 year olds able to bodybuild, but not so many olympic lifting or doing Crossfit.

• Warren D Said:

Warren, have you tried? You might be surprised how little technique you lose, and how much your body liked the layoff. . .

I've been on Convict Conditioning since I flamed out on the 10k challenge in March.

I thought this sport is for me—weightlifting. Not weight training alone, but weightlifting, and so I really became serious in training with barbells. And, believe it or not, I progressed so rapidly that, within 26 months, I had totaled what they say was 780 (pounds). The World’s Championship that year was won with 777. So I had actually totaled more than the World’s Champion. That’s in 26 months.

And how did I do it? I did it because I believed that I should improve all the time, from contest to contest. There was no reason I couldn’t do any better, because Hoffman—I’ve been reading Hoffman’s Strength and Health magazine, and he mentioned the fact that you’re supposed to be improving. So, I projected ahead, and I competed, and I won all the contests I entered.

So, anyway, that was my beginning, and I thought what the mind can conceive, you can achieve. It’s all in the mind.

My first coach Jon McCaul gave us Press, back neck press, upright row, bent over row, curl, reverse curl, standing triceps curl,

• Terry Gibbs Said:

Hi Terry, what's standing triceps curl?

From your workout journal, you have recently started online coaching for your snatch technique...just stick with that until you are satisfied with your technique.

The key to Mr Kono's program is to also strengthen your mind as you strengthen your body and refine your technique. He is the only Olympic weightlifter in history to set world records in four separate weight classes. His program is not just a series of sets and reps...but training both mind and body. If you haven't read Mr Kono's second book Championship Weightlifting then now is the time...if you have previously read it, then now is the time to re-read.

I would not say that PL is better or worse than OL, it is just different. It requires a different type of strength than OL (absolute vs. explosive). When someone deadlifts a heavy weight the goal is to overcome the inertia of the weight and then to just keep it moving while in OL you have to accelerate the weight in order to effectively move under the bar.

There is no correlation between the ability to display great strength and the ability to display it quickly.

Kirk Karwoski (many times world powerlifting champ) trained at the same gym as I did (Maryland Athletic Club in Beltsville Md) from 1990 to 2000. Karwoski was incredibly strong. Over the years I saw him perform such feats as squat 1,000 lbs for a double (he weighed only 275lbs), deadlift 750lbs for a triple, incline press 425lbs for five reps, and bench 600lbs. And by his own admission, he was atrociously bad at OL. If he was lucky he could snatch 90kg and C&J 120kg but he himself realized that the type of strength needed to excel in OL was in complete contrast to the type of strength he had developed over the course of his powerlifting career.

In the mid 70's I was an 82.5kg OL and I trained with two other guys in the same weight class for two years. They were Al Starck (originally from Central Falls and a student of Joe Mills) and Fred Hatfield (now perhaps better known as Dr Squat).Fred was tremendously strong. He did pulls and squats with very heavy weights but they were weights that bore no relation to what he could actually snatch or C&J. Al, on the other hand, did none of this. Fred was certainly much stronger than Al was, but in terms of speed and explosiveness there was no comparison. Fred never even came close to beating Al in any OL contest. His method of training was detremental to the type of strength he needed to succeed at OL, but not for PL. I do not think it was a coincidence that Fred later went on to become a top level powerlifter and to squat 1000 lbs at age 45.

I wish I would have done more BB work. I had a great conversation with Bryan today about the importance of hypertrophy...I ignored it and paid a big price.

So, I agree with ANYone mentioning Tommy Kono!!!

My favorite tool for safety and teaching proper back management is a drill I learned from Tommy Kono.

We call it the Tommy Kono Back Drill.

1) The athlete sits at the edge of a chair or bench, places hands on the knees, inhales and fills their stomach and chest with air, creating a nice fluid ball around their spine.
2) The athlete proceeds to raise their chest towards their chin while pulling the scapula together.
3) They close their glottis and hold their inter-abdominal pressure for about 5 seconds.
4) Repeat for about 3 to 5 sets of 5 second holds.

A lot of lessons in this drill, but what I like most is the kinesthetic awareness the athlete now has to manage his or her back.

If I say “Tommy Kono Back”, they all know what that feels like and can duplicate in a lift.

Another positive thinker, whose middleweight and light-heavyweight lifting records are almost as impressive as those of heavyweight Schemansky, is Tommy Kono (next page), a soft-spoken Japanese-American with cat-quick reflexes and the title of The Most Beautiful Athlete in the World.

Concentration, to Kono, is the essence, although he admits to greater awareness of muscle than Schemansky.

SILENT ROOM

"While you're walking up there to the bar, you try to think of what you have to do. You try to concentrate to eliminate any noise going on. When I get there, I try to have a positive attitude. I try to think of myself lifting it—whether my back breaks or not.

"If I concentrate hard enough, it's actually like being in a room all by myself. There's darkness all around, and all I have is the weight before me. If I'm nerved up for the effort, I feel the weight for the first three or four inches. After that, I don't feel the weight at all."

That, apparently, is all there is to it. Concentration, darkness; then think—and lift, just a little.