Takano Athletics

One of the problems that I see regarding the training of athletes is the inordinate amount of time given over to warming up.  I see all too many athletes spending too much time and energy on a warm-up that isn’t entirely necessary and in fact detracts from the training and performance of the athlete and the team.

For serious athletes, energy for training is at a premium.  In fact the next great frontier in the training of athletes is the issue of restoration after demanding training.  The entire point of restoration is to heal the body after rigorous training in order to have enough energy to effectively participate in the next day’s training.  So why waste energy on unproductive activities.

From my perspective as a weightlifting coach, the idea of the warm-up is to literally make sure that the body is warm enough to function at optimal levels.  Chemical reactions take place more rapidly at higher temperatures, connective tissues are more elastic and an accelerated heart rate due to elevated body temperature insures that materials are transported more rapidly to and from the functioning tissues.

On warm days younger athletes need very little warm-up at all.  They will be using enough energy later on to remove excess heat from the body.

Larger athletes are always quite warm, and may only need to encourage circulation to the extremities.

Unfortunately older athletes may need the most warm-up due to lesser circulation and yet have the least amount of energy to put into training.

I became intrigued with the topic of energy of warm-up when I read an article in one of the old Soviet Weightlifting Yearbooks.  The article told of how Soviet coaches were experimenting with zip-up bags that athletes climbed into and sat in under the Sun and were able to warm up without any active energy expenditure.

Topical analgesics are a good way to passively warm-up joints and induce more elasticity in the connective structures.

As we all know now stretching is most effective when it is done at the end of the workout and not during the warm-up as it can adversely affect the generation of force.

One of the best indicators of your warmth is the temperature of the head since it is a key organ for heat loss.  If the head is warm to the touch, the body is probably warm enough to begin a training session with moderate activity graduating up to the most demanding.

So the idea is to spend as little active energy on the warm-up and spend it on effective training activities that will lead to enhanced performance.

I’ve found that there is a belief common to many coaches that they have to train their athletes longer and harder than other programs in order to bring about effective results.  A training session may be longer and harder, but if it is not well planned to deal only with practices that will enhance performance, the energy that could be spent on restoration is wasted and the overall development of the athlete may be impeded.

This may be especially important for adolescent athletes who will need a great deal of energy just to grow the body.

We need to keep in mind that more training is not the same as more effective training.  Certainly demanding rigorous training is a necessity for an athlete to reach maximum potential, but the training must be carefully planned so that the rigor is targeted toward the area most in need of enhancement.

I think that sometimes people who have been in the sport of weightlifting for an extended period of time forget the degree of the allure that this sport can generate.

It might seem like a difficult argument or sales proposition to make.  Telling someone that that there are actually people who would like to snatch or clean & jerk more than anything else beyond biological needs might not get you too many believers.  Once that an athlete can perform these movements with great (and sometimes not so great) efficacy however, there is a good chance that he or she will completely alter their life in order to develop even greater proficiency.

For years I’ve been teaching this particularly addictive sport to thousands of people.  Once they understand it and comprehend it and master it, they will spend money, put careers on hold, alter relationships with loved ones and change major aspects of their lives in order to insure that they can continue to train to improve their lifting.

I’ve known of plenty of people who’ve moved to a different city to be in a better training environment or lift under the direction of a certain coach.  I’ve known a lifter who circled certain cities on a map that had weightlifting gyms and let his fiancee know that those were the possible honeymoon destinations.

I’ve had to chase lifters out of the gym when I’d given them a few days off after months of grueling training.  They couldn’t stand to be away from training!

I’ve taught the snatch and clean & jerk to athletes to improve their performance in their sport of choice, and some of them gave up their sport of choice and became weightlifters.  Others have converted their living rooms into weightlifting gyms.

As you go about your lifting and coaching, if you haven’t realized it already, you are dealing with a highly addictive activity that can truly be life changing.  But isn’t that what’s wonderful about weightlifting?  The sheer joy of progressing on that path that will lead to those marvelous moments of sport when the athlete can achieve a personal record on the competitive platform.

People that don’t understand it call it discipline when they see an athlete unfailingly show up for workouts, putting forth a mighty effort on each rep and then doing it again and again and again.  It’s not discipline.  It is addiction.

One of my former athletes, Fred,  had the best term for it.  He called it the sickness.  Whenever we had a newcomer in the gym gradually mastering the snatch and the clean & jerk, and  then getting that look on the face that was just bordering on ecstacy, Fred would look over at me with a fiendish grin on his face and quietly declare, “He’s got the sickness!”

Another convert, another addict.  Weightlifting just does work that way.

Day 1—Monday, 3 August

1)Back Squat: 60%/4, 70%/4, (80%/4)4                                                                                   24:24

2)Snatch: 60%/4, 70%/4, (80%/4)3                                                                                            20:44

3)Clean & Jerk: 60%/4+1, 70%/4+1, (80%/4+1)3                                                                   25:69

4)Romanian Deadlift: (85%/5)4                                                                                                 20:89

5)Press: (X/5)4                                                                                                                                 20:109:109

Abdominals: (X/20)4

Day 2—Tuesday, 4 August

1)Back Squat: 60%/3, 70%/3, (80%/3)2                                                                                   12:12

2)Power Snatch & Push Press & Overhead Squat: 60%/3+3+3, 65%/3+3+3, (70%/2+2+2)3              36:48

3)Power Clean & Front Squat & Jerk: 60%/3+3+3, 65%/3+3+3, (70%/2+2+2)3              36:84

4)Snatch Extension: (85%/4)4                                                                                                     16:100:209

Abdominals: (X/20)3

Day 3—Wednesday, 5 August

1)Front Squat: 60%/4, 70%/4, (80%/4)2                                                                                   16:16

2)Snatch: 60%/2, 70%/2, (80%/2)3                                                                                            10:26

3)Clean & Jerk: 60%/2+1, 70%/2+1, (80%/2+1)3                                                                   15:41

4)Clean Extension: (85%/4)4                                                                                                       16:57:266

Abdominals: (X/25)3

Day 4—Thursday, 6 August

1)Back Squat.: 60%/4, 70%/4, (80%/4)2                                                                                  16:16

2)Snatch: 60%/4, 70%/4, (80%/4)3                                                                                            20:36

3)Clean & Jerk: 60%/4+1, 70%/4+1, (80%/4+1)2                                                                   20:56

4)Romanian Deadlift: (85%/5)5                                                                                                 25:81

5)Push Press: 60%/4, 65%/4, (70%/3)2                                                                                      14:95:361

Day 5—Friday, 7 August

1)Back Squat: 60%/3, 70%/3, (80%/3)3                                                                                   15:15

2)Power Snatch: 60%/4, 65%/4, (70%/3)3                                                                                17:32

3)Power Clean & Jerk: 60%/4+1, 65%/4+1, (70%/3+1)2                                                       18:50

4)Snatch High Pull: (80%/5)4                                                                                                      20:70

5)Good Morning: (X/8)4                                                                                                               32:102:463

Just finished my second in a series of four clinics at Team Crossfit.  As is true of many clinics these days, the emphasis was on proper performance of the Olympic lifts.  One month ago we went through the training exercises that are depicted through videos in the training exercise video section of the Takano Athletics website (www.takanoathletics.com).  They are assistance movements selected to improve performance of the classic snatch.

We went through the movements and then everyone was sent home to practice them for the month.  All of them came back today with very few technical errors in the snatch.  A few more weeks and they should perfect their technique.

They will also be working on new exercises designed to improve technique in the clean.  Videos of these movements will also be posted on the Takano Athletics website this week.

In a month, we will have another session working on the technique of the jerk.  The final session will focus on the design of training.

Attendees worked hard and improved their technique (Takano photo)

I am not sure that athletes and coaches understand the dynamic that is taking place on the weightlifting platform during a competition.  Nor do I feel that all the parties are sure of how to prepare for it.

Coaching the technique of the lift and performing plenty of max singles is only a part of the preparation that should be taking place.

The competition is by all considerations a performance.  Of course it is a competition and the correct strategical decisions may have to be made by the coach if the athlete is to compete with other athletes, but the circumstances are such that not all meet performances are competitions.   In many cases there is no one close to a given athlete’s range of lifts and therefore the competitive aspect has been removed, but the athlete should always be striving to establish personal records (PR’s) because the meet is the situation where such lifts can be achieved.

The psychological state of the athlete in a weightlifting meet is an altered state.  The concentrations of the molecules functioning in the brain are different from other situations to a considerable degree.

From the first time that an individual steps up on a stage in a performance venue or a playing field or a competition hall, the skills necessary to use the circumstances to achieve a maximum performance should be under development.  This is why when I am developing an athlete I am going to put that athlete into a meet as soon as they’ve mastered the mechanics of the lifts to the extent that he or she will not bring embarassment to him or her self, nor to me.

Of the course the weights selected will be makeable ones for the athlete in question with the goal being that the lift will be successfully completed.  This will establish a very strong message in the psyche that the competition is an atmosphere in which success is achieved.

To prepare for the competition we will run through some mock competition lifts during the days when max or near max singles are undertaken.

Depending on the amount of previous competitive experience the athlete has, after a few meets, developed some ability to bring about the altered state in the brain.

When this is achieved, the heart rate is elevated, the tonicity of the motor nervous system is heighted and more responsive and the proprioception of the extremities is enhanced.  The elevated heart rate insures that endogenous hormones are rapidly circulated and that nutrient molecules are speeding to the muscles.

The perception of time is altered.

Visual perception is enhanced.

The athlete also finds that outside of the immediate sphere of perception, the environment is muddy and unclear.  Only the voice of the coach can be clearly heard.

When this condition is attained, the body and mind are both free to perform optimally and lift the heaviest weights.

One of the functions of the coach is to teach the athlete how to induce the state if it is not taking place after several competitions.  Autogenesis or self-hypnosis should be employed for mental rehearsal.

It is very obvious to the coach if the state is being achieved.

A four hour clinic this Saturday, July 24 at Team Crossfit in Woodland Hills.  Go to http://www.teamcrossfit.com/upcoming-events/2010/4/25/-bob-takanos-olympic-lifting-clinic-2010.html to sign-up.  Get those technical errors coached by one of America’s premier Olympic Lifting Coaches.

Week 1

Day 1—Monday

1)Back  Squat: 60%/4, 70%/4, (75%/4)3                                                                                  20:20

2)Snatch: 60%/3, 70%/3, (75%/3)3                                                                                            15:35

3)Clean & Jerk: 60%/3+1, 70%/3+1, (75%/3+1)3                                                                   20:55

4)Snatch Deadlift: (85%/4)4                                                                                                        16:61

5)Press: (X/5)4                                                                                                                                 20:91:91

Abdominals: (X/20)3

Day 2—Tuesday

1)Back Squat: 60%/3, 70%/3, (80%/3)2                                                                                   12:12

2)Power Snatch: 60%/4, 65%/4, (70%/2)3                                                                                14:26

3)Power Clean & Jerk: 60%/4+1, 65%/4+1, (70%/2+1)3                                                       19:45

4)Clean Deadlift: (80%/5)4                                                                                                          20:65:146

Abdominals: (X/15)3

Day 3—Wednesday

1)Back Squat: 60%/4, 70%/4, (75%/3)3                                                                                   17:17

2)Snatch: 60%/2, 70%/2, 80%/2, 85%/2                                                                                   08:25

3)Clean & Jerk: 60%/2+1, 70%/2+1, 80%/2+1, 85%/2+1                                                     12:37

4)Romanian Deadlift (80%/5)4                                                                                                   20:57:203

Abdominals: (X/20)4

Day 4—Thursday

1)Front Squat: 60%/4, 70%/4, (75%/4)3                                                                                   20:20

2)Power Snatch: 60%/4, 65%/4, (70%/3)3                                                                                17:37

3)Power Clean & Jerk: 60%/4+1, 65%/4+1, (70%/3+1)3                                                       22:59

4)Overhead Squat: 60%/3, (70%/3)3                                                                                         12:71

5)Press: (X/5)4                                                                                                                                 20:91:294

Day 5—Friday

1)Back Squat: 60%/3, 70%/3, 80%/3, 85%/1                                                                          10:10

2)Hang Snatch: 60%/3, 70%/3, (75%/3)3                                                                                 15:25

3)Hang Clean: 60%/3, 70%/3, (75%/3)3                                                                                   15:40

4)Snatch Deadlift: (95%/4)4                                                                                      16:56:340

Abdominals (X/20)4

I just have to blog about Aileen Wu’s lifts at last Saturday’s California State Games because of how close she came to reaching the projected lifts we had planned for this meet.

In her last meet on April 24th at the same venue, Aileen had needed three attempts to snatch her opening weight of 52, and then made three clean and jerks to finish with 64.  On the next Monday I told her we were planning on 100% lifts of 60 and 70 for July 10th.

The training programs posted on this blog from May 3rd represent the training that Aileen followed from the week after the April 24th meet.  She only missed one day of training.  She did not make every lift at every percentage as that should not happen.

Last Saturday she made an opening snatch of 54, a second good lift of 57 and based on the difficulty of that lift I called for 59, rather than 60.  She performed her best lift at 59, and could have made 60.  Aileen 3rd 59 kg

In the clean and jerk she lifted an opener of 64 to tie her PR and then succeeded with a second attempt of 68.  I called for 70 for her third.  She cleaned the weight with less than a death clean, and jerked the weight to locked arms and recovery only to be turned down for a press out.

Aileen successfully recovered from the pslit but was turned down for a press out.

Peaking is definitely a complicated task and rarely does it comes out perfectly.  Aileen’s lifting was very close to right on.  It was satisfying to see it work so well.

I’m sorry I haven’t been blogging lately but things got very frantic of late.  Last Saturday, the 10th, P.H.A.T. Elvis returned to action at the California State Games.  Aileen Wu lifted in the +75 and went 5 for 6 finishing with 59 and 68.  She jerked, but pressed out 70.  The goals for the meet were 60 and 70.  We almost got it.  The 59 snatch was a beautiful lift.

Ashley Weber is nursing her elbow so did not do well.  She is expected to heal up in two weeks and be on schedule for training for the Americans.  She did 146 this past weekend and needs 153 I believe.   Good performance under adverse conditions without enough training due to injury.  She weighed in at 75.

Brian Littenberg did a great job considering that his calf injury prevented him from training until the final two weeks before the meet.  He snatched a PR 85 and cleaned and jerked a PR 101 to total a PR 186.  Great performance.

Tim Thackrey lifted well in his first meet going 5 for 6.  He snatched a PR 80 and jerked 95, just missing a 100 jerk.  Tyler Emery weighed only 85 and lifted in the 94’s.  He snatched 86 and cleaned and jerked 112 for a 198 total.  Both Tim and Tyler are good for much more.

You can see some of the photos and videos courtesy of my wife Marta on the Takano Athletics page on Facebook.

The new video glossary is up and running on the www.takanoathletics.com webpage.  Check it out.

The next Takano Athletics weightlifting clinic will be on July 24th at Team Crossfit.  Check out the link to register on the www.takanoathletics.com webpage.

Got to go.  Teaching the Club Coach’s course at the NSCA national conference and getting ready to preside for the Weightlifting SIG meeting!

Much more to come!

Brian c

This short piece was written in 1979, but it applies equally as well today.  Human ankles have not changed in structure since that time.  It is probably even more applicable today as I observe more and more American youngsters with a loss of range of motion due to poor physical education programs.  The older one gets the more difficult it becomes to deal with ankle range of motion problems.  They must be remediated to some extent before effective Olympic lifting technique can be learned and implemented.

Dale Yahraus was my first senior national level competitor.  142.5-180 as a 90 kg lifter.  This piece recounts a weightlifting epiphany for me.  At the end of this piece I mention a forthcoming article with ankle stretching exercises.  I may or may not find this article, but if I do I will publish it.

Several years ago I remember reading the words of a Soviet coach who was commenting on American lifters. One of his critiques regarding our athletes focused on the fact that most of them suffered from the problem of ankle in­flexibility and that this prevented them from maximizing their lifting po­tentials. At the time I assumed, like many other enthusiasts might have, that he was concerned with the ability to assume a correct squat position.

A few days ago I suddenly realized what he was talking about while watch­ing Dale Yahraus run through some lifts. As many of you readers might know, Dale tore his rectus femoris in the right thigh while winning the Mid-American Championships last (1978) December. After sur­gery Dale has recuperated quite rapidly and recently felt like coming into the gym to do some light lifts. Due to his relative inactivity his ankles had lost some of their flexibility, and upon ob­serving his lifts I noticed something that brought to mind the words of the Soviet coach. The inflexibility of the ankles forces the lifter to balance excessively on his heels and prevents him from ever attaining an optimal power position when the bar reaches mid-thigh! So simple, I feel a bit foolish not to have noticed it before.

At this point some elaboration might be necessary to impress upon the reader the problems that can arise from the failure to attain maximal joint mobility for pulling weights.

Tight ankles will cause the lower leg to be more vertical at the very start of the lift. This forces the knees and hips to be further away from the proposed path of the bar thus cut­ting down on the amount of force that can be exerted upon the bar. The torso is also closer to horizontal and undue stress will be placed on the hip ex­tensors and spinal erectors (this can often lead to a lifter pulling with a bent rather than arched lower back). In addition the entire mass of the lift­er and barbell is directed toward the heels.

As the weight continues in its verti­cal path past the knees the knees must rebend and move into the part of the plane that the bar has just vacated. If the ankles are tight the heels will lose contact with the floor prematurely and a precarious balance is initiated that is not desirable. Some lifters in an effort to avoid this problem will shift the torso backwards excessively throwing the stress back on the heels. Since maximum thrust can only be obtain­ed if the weight is balanced on the balls of the feet, the lifter is oper­ating at sub-maximal efficiency.

Another problem also arises from ankle inflexibility and that is the problem of potential knee injury. A lifter with tight ankles can only hit a squat position for the snatch or clean with the lower leg at a near vertical position. This will cause the thigh to “hang” off the knee joint supported only by the ligaments. If the lower leg could be bent forward at a lesser angle, the thigh could rest on it and relieve some of the stress upon the knee joint.

Before attempting to alleviate the problem some considerations should be made. There are two factors that must be taken into consideration. First mo­bility can be increased through progres­sive stretching of the Achilles tendon at the back of the lower leg. Secondly some individuals have developed an ankle skeletal structure that inhibits or prevents good mobility.

In the next issue I will present a battery of ankle flexing exercises that have proven to be quite effective with the lifters that I coach. In the mean­time make an effort to determine wheth­er or not your ankles are a possible impedance to your progress. Study the photos of the great international cham­pions and see if your ankles measure up.