There are many ways to skin a cat (really weird saying by the way) just as there are many ways to build great athletes. I know that in my own training I get stagnant and run the risk of over training if I do the same lifts over and over. As such we like to switch things up for our athletes and train using different modalities and training methods.

Obviously in my last post I made my affinity for the olympic lifts, and particularly those from the hang, quite clear, but that is only one of the methods that I like to use to ensure that my athletes are getting the most out of their training.

I can find very few exercises that replicate the dynamic nature of the football linemen’s upper body or the shot putter’s arm like medicine ball throws from the pushing position. Similarly the rotational strength that Medicine ball side throws or hammer throws require very closely resemble those that these athletes do on a regular basis through the core area.

Take a look at a video of a workout I did recently and tell me what you think.

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I was speaking yesterday to a fellow strength and conditioning professional and the question came up “Do you like to do cleans from the floor or from the hang?”.

Are you training this guy?

or this guy??

Considering that my first experiences with training came at the age of 15 in an Olympic lifting club some people might just assume that my answer is from the floor.  It was what I was first introduced to and where I cut my teeth in training.  It turns out though that the answer is the complete opposite. I choose the hang clean for all of my athletes.

I choose the hang clean because for nearly all athletes it is the position from which they will complete most of their athletic skills. The start position from the floor is essentially a rolling start and the last time I checked linemen in football don’t get to take a running start to the line. Additionally there are too many chances for the bar to get out of position and take away the athlete’s ability to make a good pull on the bar.

Olympic Lifting from the floor is a sport, and good Olympic lifters are built for and made up to be good at that sport.  You probably wouldn’t make a 5’10″ Olympic Lifter a basketball player to improve their Olympic lifting abilty, so why make a 6’6″ basketball player an Olympic lifter to improve their sport?

The hang clean is a perfect way to overcome the difficulties in teaching and the physical limitations of many athletes.  By starting from the above knee position the athlete can take advantage of the strong stretch shortening cycle and maximize their potential pulling power.  I believe that the ability to move a load quickly and explosively is absolutely essential to being a good athlete. The hang clean is by far the best way to learn and develop this skill.

We have developed a great and quick method to teach almost 90% of our athletes that hang clean to do an actual hang clean on the first day.  This same method is employed over and over again to repeatedly get athletes to have huge personal records in the hang clean.  40, 50, and 60 lb improvements are not uncommon in 8-12 weeks. We have even had athletes put 80 lbs on their best hang clean in 12 weeks, from 260 lbs to 341 lbs!

The hang clean start position should be just above the knee with hips back and knees only slightly bent.  From there the motion is as simple as pushing the hips forward, if the athlete’s hips drop then they are doing this incorrectly.  In fact a great teaching tool is to immediately take the bar out of the athletes hands and tell them to jump as high as they can without the bar.  Film this motion from the side and almost invariably you can see them getting in the perfect start position as they push their chest down and forward, with their hips back. They will then explosively extend the knees hips and ankles to reach triple extension.   Show them this and immediately the connection will be made.

We take this simple point and reinforce it almost every session that we hang clean.  The results are absolutely there, so don’t keep cleaning from the floor and instead move to the hang position. You will love what you find.

Please comment and tell me where you are doing your cleans….

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When I first began lifting one of the first exercises I was introduced to was “the Complex”. We would, on a regular basis, begin our training sessions with this exercise, or rather series of exercises that consisted of upright rows, muscle snatch, back squat to press, bent over rows, and RDL’s all completed for 6 repetitions.

Now as a newbie lifter this seemed like a tremendous amount of work to be completed at one time, but as I have grown older it is one of the best exercises to teach a new athlete. As long as the athlete is familiar with each exercise this is a great way to keep their actual training volume down, as the complex makes the athlete complete the lifts with a weight that one can use for only the hardest lift.

Here is an example of a complex:

As you can tell by the label we even use these exercises for our fat-loss clients but they originated with our own athletic training and can be implemented effectively into most all programs of athletes.

Til’ Next Time

P.S. Obviously our athletes need fuel to complete such a demanding series of exercise and if you are interested in how exactly to fuel performance for competition or workouts check out our upcoming seminar on Athlete Nutrition and reserve your spot today Sign-Up Here!

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I have been wanting to do this for a while now but here is the first installment of the Forceful Performance exercise of the week feature. This week we wanted to feature the Med Ball 200.

Okay so it is more than one exercise, but this complex of exercises has been used to develop killer core strength and get athletes prepared for the upcoming season. It truly is a workout finisher, meaning you are not getting up to go do anything else after you do this beast.

Seriously, if you can make it through the Med Ball 200 with a 20 lb med ball I have some mad respect for you.

Anyway without further ado here it is:

Wil

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Two of our athletes signed their Division I letters of intent today and I couldn’t be prouder. Congratulations to Ben Stancombe and Aaron Price. These two kids have worked harder than any kids with whom I have ever worked. They have paid a price and are only beginning to reap the benefits.

Here are videos of their commitments this morning:

Ben Stancombe commits to Iowa (where he will set the school record in the hammer throw one day)

Aaron Price commits to Indiana (where he will develop into an incredible offensive lineman)

Again Congrats to both of them and if you want to be the next one then you know where to look.

Wil

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Do you have the goods?  

You know “the goods”  

What it takes to be successful: the drive, the ambition, the inner focus, the work ethic.

Some people have it, others don’t.  It can be developed, in can be cultured, but you have to have it to get to where you want.  

You know who does have it?

The kids that come in to Force Fitness and Performance, have “the goods”. They are pushing themselves harder than the average kid and you know what? They love it.  They root for each other and they work themselves hard.  

This kid in particular has what it takes, he decided he wanted to be better, he needed to be better. He sat down with me 12 weeks ago and said he wanted to be stronger.  He already has the D1 ride, but he is not satisfied. 

So in those 12 weeks he has gone from a clean of 120 kilos to 150.  Busts his butt everyday and takes names as he is doing it.  

He has the goods. Do you?

Wil

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Okay readers of the Force Performance Blog.  I need your help.  I want to know what you want to see on this blog.  

I want to know what kind of training videos you want to see.

I want to know to what topics you would like answers.  

Tell me your most pressing questions and I will do my best to answer them.

Please comment on this blog so that Force Performance can do its best to help you be your best.  

In the meantime check out what I did in my workout yesterday.

Remember to comment and I will see you soon.

Wil

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The title of this blog post is not only the catchy tag line of a song that I have heard a lot, but also a really appropriate description of how something really “exploded” on me this week. Exploded in the best sense of the word.  The concept just became really apparent and clear.  

I have been a member of the IYCA for almost a year now and have used their system of  Complete Athletic Development a lot in designing programs for athletes of all ages.  This last week was when it really “clicked” though.  I really kind of figured out what being a part of the organization actually meant and what WE (as a group of professionals working with youth athletes) really stand for.  

This week I began working with an AAU basketball organization that has athletes ages 8-12.  All 25 of the kids that came in to my facility seemed to have some apprehension about the program, I asked them what they expected to do and unanimously they said, “Well you are going to make us run and do drills”.  They explained that their AAU team had previously worked with a Strength and Conditioning coach and very few of them enjoyed the program.  I think they expected the same out of me.

I took the first 5 minutes to remember their names and find out who the best shooter is (all of them are the best shooter), who the best defender is (all of them, again) and who handled the rock the best (surprise! All of them have “the best handles”).  

We began our program with a warm-up straight out of Complete Athletic Development and then spent some time playing some games with direction.  An impromptu race between myself and the kids had them all dying with laughter and THAT was the moment where their expectations of an athletic development program changed forever. They no longer viewed it as “running and drills” (there were some drills, and some running, well a race, which I won), isntead they got to see that fitness and training are fun things.

Everyone one of them said it was way more fun than they thought they could have and couldn’t wait to come back.

I can hardly wait for them to come back again, this is exactly the reason that I got into this business.

Wil

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