Gwen Weightlifting

Carlos Andica- Part 4, Risto Sports & Getting ready for 2012 Olympics

2012-01-06T21:48:00.001-05:00

Carlos getting his game on
at the Arnold

Carlos and Ivan had first met at the 2009 Pan Am Championships.
In 2011, Ivan and Carlos's work was first revealed to the US.

It was February 2011, and Carlos was planning on competing at the Arnold Schwarzenegger Sports Festival. It is a long and arduous series of flights from Armenia, Colombia to Columbus, Ohio. And, Carlos would not be going alone-- his little brother, Johnny Andica would be competing as well. Having great trust in Ivan's capabilities, the hermanos Andica asked Ivan to coach them.

Ivan strategizing with Carlos and his brother Johnny at the Arnold

Ivan coached the duo to top prizes at the Arnold, with Carlos doing better than recent training lifts. Carlos only clean and jerked 187kg and deadlifted 190kg. Although these lifts were good enough to beat the rest of the field -- both Carlos and Ivan recognized that Carlos's performance lacked from his 2008 Olympic Games performance.

Like a true champion Carlos easily puts his ego aside and takes rational steps to get to his goals. From this point at the Arnold, Carlos and Ivan formed a pact to win an Olympic medal. In technical terms, Carlos and Ivan created a training plan to get Carlos on the Olympic podium. The first step along the way would be qualifying for the Pan Am Games, then winning a medal at the Pan Am Games.

Ivan doing video analysis with Carlos at Risto Sports Gym

Carlos flew to Maine to train at the Risto Sports High Performance Training Center with Ivan. Ivan completed in depth technical analysis. This included video and velocity analysis on Carlos's snatch and clean and jerk.

Ivan's trained eye immediately picked-up that Carlos was lifting too far on his toes during the pull. He then confirmed his instincts with video analysis. By shifting Carlos's pull further onto his heals, Carlos would optimally apply force and, hence, lift more weight. Secondly, Ivan noted the position of Carlos's wrist in the jerk. Because Carlos does a squat jerk, it was imperative that his wrists be pointed directly toward the ceiling when he jerked.

Later in 2011, Carlos qualified for his national team according to plan. Note, in Colombia the National Team does not train together year round. Rather, the Team converges on a single location for a training camp a few weeks out of the year. It is at these camps where the final team is selected for an upcoming, major international competition. To plan, Carlos was selected to the Pan AM Team.

Carlos warming-up during a training session at Risto Sports

Perhaps I should back up a bit and go into more detail on what "the plan" was. By simple data forecasting, Ivan and Carlos identified that Carlos would need to clean and jerk at least 205kg to be in the top 2 at Pan Am's. Ivan analyzed Carlos's squat numbers. Although Carlos's total improved just from t he technical work Ivan completed with him, Ivan identified that Carlos would need to add kilos to his best squat. Ivan advised that if Carlos front squatted 205kg for a triple, then 205kg would be no problem for him at the Pan Am Games. 205kg for a triple was a huge goal for Carlos-- this is the same lifter who had trouble cleaning 190kg at the Arnold. Additionally, Carlos had never touched this weight before-- not even when he lifted 201kg at the 2008 Olympics was he front squatting over 200kg for a triple.

For months before his national team selection, Ivan and Carlos tracked his squat performance. Just weeks before the Pan Am Games, Carlos hit 205kg for a triple. He then cemented his spot on Colombia's Pan Am Team.

The 2011 Guadalajara Pan Am Games validated Carlos's work with Ivan by delivering huge improvements. At the Pan Am Games, Carlos competed neck and neck with the top contenders for gold- Yoelmis Hernandez and Kendrick Farris. By the end of the snatch, Carlos was neck and neck with Yoelmis and Kendrick, with the trio lifting 157, 158, and 157kg respectively.

The Pan Am Games medals would all come down to the clean and jerk. Kendrick opened with 191kg with a miss then a completed lift. Carlos opened just a kilo heavier and nailed his first attempt. Yoelmis held out for more weight, before opening. Farris, having only one attempt left, jumped to 200kg. Carlos stood on deck with the same weight, and Yeolmis would take 200kg for his first attempt. Team Farris was a NO Lift on his last attempt at 200kg: he came out to the platform with only seconds left on the clock, followed by only deadlifting 200kg for a miss.

At this point, Carlos could have settled for the silver without taking a further lift. With Farris out of the competition, Carlos's first attempt already put him ahead of Farris. Again, like a champion, Carlos was competing to test his ability and for the sake of performing well. He took 200kg on his second attempt and easily lifted. For his third attempt, he asked for 205kg.

205kg was a weight he had never lifted before. From the video, you would have never known that. He lifted with such technical precision and smoothness. He also broke the Pan Am record with this lift. Months of training had resulted in a perfect lift, a medal, and a record. Yoelmis was only able to equal Carlos with 205kg (Carlos holds the record on account of lifting the weight first). Yoelmis's coach would later confide in Ivan that he had chills/went cold when he saw Carlos lift 205kg-- he could not believe it. While his competitors counted him out, Carlos focused on training to win the clean and jerk record and impress all.

Carlos, Coach Ivan Rojas, Olympic Silver medalist Diego Salazar,
Johnny Andica, Coach of Armenia Youth team

Carlos's work is far from over. He has set out to win a medal at the 2012 Olympic Games. No doubt, this will take thousands of repetitions and hours upon hours of planning-- Ivan and Team Risto will be fully behind him.

More Photos at the Arnold:

Carlos warming-up, Don German loading, World Champion powerlifter at the Risto Sports table in the background

Carlos getting congratulated by Arnold Schwarzenegger

More photos of Carlos at Risto Sports High Performance Training Center

Ivan discussing pull extension with Carlos

Yes, Carlos has huge guns

Carlos Andica in front of the Risto Sports Banner

Carlos warming-up

Carlos Andica- Part 3, The Opportunity

2012-01-02T21:02:00.000-05:00

After the earthquake, Carlo's gym was destroyed. He was a teenager from a poor barrio in Armenia, Colombia. Weightlifting had been his only outlet for success and social mobility; now, it looked like he may have lost the one thing that had given him so much.

Carlos active rest

Fortunately, Gancho, the Coach of the Colombian National Team, had heard about Carlos. Shortly after the earthquake, Gancho invited him to train with members of the National "B" Team in a different city. At the time, Carlos was 69kg bodyweight and was snatching 135kg and clean and jerking 170kg. In most countries a 305kg total as a 69kg would easily put you on the "A" Team.

Now worries, though. It was not long after that Carlos made the "A" Team. Further, the gym in his hometown of Armenia was eventually fixed. On the National Team, Carlos would train back in his gym in Armenia.

Carlos's first big milestone was making the 2004 Olympic Team for Colombia. While qualifying for the team, he lifted 140kg snatch and 170kg clean and jerk as a 77kg lifter. Still, he struggled with his jerks. Through his frustration and watching Chinese lifters, he decided to switch to a squat jerk.

Gancho, still the Coach of the National Team, strongly disapproved of Carlos's new technique. He threatened to kick Carlos off the National Team if he did not switch back to the split jerk. Despite these threats, Carlos, being a masterful athlete, knew he had to trust his instincts; he knew he would improve if he used a technique that worked better for his body. By the 2004 Olympic Games, Carlos lifted 145kg and 180kg as a 77kg with his new squat jerk style. This is a 15kg improvement he achieved in a short period of time.

Likewise, he continued to train hard. By 2008, he , again, made the Colombian Olympic Team, this time as an 85Kg lifter. He lifted a career best of 155kg snatch and broke the magic 200kg number in the clean and jerk with 201kg. He was truly one of the best lifters in the World.

Carlos in his Risto Sports Polo in front of his gym with Coach Ivan Rojas and LG.
The gym door features Carlos' personal slogan, "In the world, only two spheres exist,
the Worlds and the Olympics"

BUT.....Something was still missing. The athlete finds themselves asking "How do I get to the next level? How do I become an Olympic and World Medalist?

...Enter Coach Ivan Rojas of Risto Sports.

Carlos Andica - Part 2, the earthquake

2011-12-29T23:40:00.002-05:00

Near the Andica homestead, 2011

Carlos commenced training as a dedicated youth. At the same time, his famuly continued to work hard to improve their situation, always being supportive of Carlos. However, life is not with out its unexpected challenges.

One day in 1999, a 6.2 magnitude earthquake in Armenia, Colombia. The city was devastated by the quake. For days, there was no electricity or telephone connection. At first, Carlos was unable to get in touch with his family. With much of his surrounding neighborhoods devastated, he did not know whether his family was still alive. Fortunately, he was eventually reunited with his family, finding all members alive and unharmed.

Armenia earthquake
from www.thebeachtimes.com

Still, with power out and infrastructure diminished in Armenia, looting and lawlessness ensued. Many people became homeless and were living in state issued tents. Many of these homeless residents looted whatever wood and building material they could. Soon, earthquake victims began eyeing the rubber platforms in the Armenia gym.

With in the next few days of the earthquake, the weightlifting team coach gathered all lifters to the gym. At first, Carlos cried when he saw his beloved gym in ruins. While pondering the destruction, the team coach instructed the lifters to hold their ground to save what was left of the gym. Each lifter was given a machete to deter looters from the gym.

Carlos Andica road to 205Kg Clean and Jerk- Part 1

2011-12-28T18:56:00.000-05:00

In November, Carlos Andica did what many did not think was possible. He successfully clean and jerked in Competition 205 Kg as an 85Kg athlete, at the 2011 Pan Am Games. To put into perspective, this is more than what Pyrros Dimas, the greatest 85kg lifter in history, clean and jerked in the 2004 Olympic Games. Carlo's journey to 205kg was not an easy one.

On approach to Armenia

Carlos grew up from very humble beginnings in Armenia, Colombia. Armenia is a large city that lies in a river valley, nestled between mountains in the Northern half of Colombia. The mountains are large and green; near their bases they are covered in coffee fields, cattle grazing areas and tropical trees near their bases. The weather is warm and mild, not nearly as humid as the Colombian city of Medellin and much warmer than Bogota.

Shacks along the River where Carlos fished as a child

Near the river begins the story pf a champion. It was along this river where Carlos used to fish with his father as a child. They did not fish for sport, rather they fished for a nutritious food source. Carlos grew-up in poverty, extreme by US standards, as Colombia does not have the same infrastructure and social support system that the US or other developed countries have. Despite, these tough conditions, Carlos's family worked hard to improve their situation.

On the positive, Colombia has community sports programs that are open to urban youths. When Carlos was 14, a classmate brought him to the weightlifting gym in Armenia. Immediately, Carlos became in love with the sport and started training. The weightlifting program offers an outlet to youths like Carlos. Often, children are given food and a small stipend as incentive to continue. He would go to training before and after school each day.

Annie Thorisdottir stops by Risto Sports

2011-12-18T19:46:00.000-05:00

LG, Gwen Sisto, Frederik, Annie Thorisdottir, Eric, Bo the dog

This week, our favorite Icelander, Annie Thorisdottir- 2011 CrossFit Games Champion- stopped by Risto Sports to train with Coach Ivan Rojas before heading back to Iceland.

Anyhow, it is always great to see someone you trained with, even after several months. Of course, Annie looked ripped as ever and in great shape. She seemed to put on more muscle mass in her legs since our last meeting, in January, and maintained Ivan's Technical adjustments such as squatting more upright and pulling with the bar closer.

As it was my off day, I got to hang out and play photographer while Ivan, Annie, and Frederik (Annie's boyfriend) moved some weights.

Now, if you are a high level athlete or aspiring to be one, you may be wondering what type of work out you would do with Ivan --especially, if you were in town just for the day.

Coach Ivan Rojas smiling while Annie shows technical perfection

...Allright, I'll tell you:

Ivan started by analyzing Annie and Frederik's technique. Ivan measured the speed of the bar as well as the path of the bar. Specifically, Ivan first did tests with the full snatch, followed by the clean and jerk. Afterwards, Ivan also measured the speed of the jerk from the high blocks.

In between, we worked on specific technical aspects. For example, we did very nuanced work on Annie's pull.

Here is a short video showing an example of technical feedback and coaching. Notice the interaction between coach and athlete. It's all about improving yourself:

For the record, according to Ivan's tests, Annie has very efficient technique -- even for a weightlifter.

What can you learn from Annie?

Frederik doing technical work

Annie has an awesome attitude. Yes, she won the Crossfit Games, and her next logical thought is to improve her weightlifting, which will also improve her CrossFit. Additionally, like all great athletes, Annie listens and takes feedback. She stays focuses, takes Ivan's direction, then improves her next lift. She doesn't over analyze things (something I need to work on), nor does she under think.

Finally, notice that Frederik and Annie are doing very light weights in these photos. This is a sign of not letting one's ego get in the way of improving. To do technical analysis, one must use light weights. ( they actually did go a bit heavier).

Training 11/5/2011

2011-11-05T18:05:00.001-05:00

I think I came to a realization-- I am way too hard on myself. My lifting is going really well. I'm hitting 100% of my scheduled reps for the workout. Still, I find myself redoing a snatch at 70kg, because it just felt a little too slow.

It's probably because I'm a perfectionist when it comes to technique. Technique can always, always be better. And it is important that I still celebrate the daily accomplishments and successes.

This also extrapolates to daily attitude. I need not let little or,even, big things get on my pysche. I need to filter the emotions and comments that surround me to keep a positive, productive mental attitude (it helps to watch a lot of Kung-Fu movies;).

For example, I saw the start list for the World Championships and saw a 63kg from the US, whose total I had done in training at one point. It was a total "Ughhhhhh!" moment. You know, "why don't I ever get the easy breaks. Why am I not there? Why didn't I do that total at a competition where it counted? Why is the qualification system so passe?". It's one of those one of those, "why do I do this to myself".

Then I took a step back. The fact that I can do a World Team total in training tells me that I should train even harder. I am soooo close. All I need is to be able to lift all day. I'm convinced that if I was able to take a year off and just train, I would be on the world podium. All my indicators point to one weakness holding me back---- MORE WORK. I need more training. But, I have to deal with reality. I have a mortgage, etc... and I have 2 degrees in Rocket Science that I need to be using (to make the world a better place ;).

So, I move on and put more weight on the bar. Like my training partner Yoni Andica of Colombia: when he misses a lift, he gets angry, throws more weight on the bar, and makes an even heavier lift.

Ok, back to my second work out of the day. Time to throw more weight on the bar and feel some awesome muscle pumps!

Training through injuries

2011-10-21T21:55:00.001-05:00

I am writing a post on my latest personal experience on training through an injury (ie don't try this at home).  I was able to go from not being able to bend forward to hitting 80 some odd percent in competition the same week.

The week of the Beast of the East, I pulled my right SI joint. It was one of those silly preventable injuries. I came home from work and was a bit tight. My workout was light that day so I just wanted to get straight to working out. In hind sight, I might as well spent a full half hour warming up. Anyhow, I was still doing light weights- 60kg snatch-- when my hamstring felt a bit tight. It was one of those, "I'm not in pain but I'm not feelin' my cat like reflexes kicking in".   Long storys hort, I subconciously compensated for my discomfort by rounding my back in the first pull.

Arrrghhh, the pain. It was like someone yanked a thousand rubber bands into a tight ball, centered right above my SI joint. I dropped the bar mid second pull.

My mind snapped back to advice I had gotten a week earlier from one of the elite lifters training at my gym. To paraphrase, it was "It is better to train a few days after an injury. Resting for a couple of weeks might, actually, make it worse as you become untrained".

So, I did the smart thing and stopped lifting immediately, getting some ice, having someone massauge it that night, and taking over the counter NSAID (yes, USADA approved).   That night, I could barley bend over to take my shoes off. I had to sleep on my stomach!

Day 1 after injury:
Anyhow, the next day, instead of taking it completely off, we did some light bar work and stretches. Again, icing frequently through out the day. We also applied Chinese fire cups. Keeping inflammation down and keeping the muscles relaxed was key.

Day 2:
Having diligently taken care of my back, I felt about 70% better by now. I could do a full squat with mild pain. I also got accupuncture and fire cups. We went up to about 55kg and 75kg snatch and clean and jerk.

Day 3:
Day before competition, long work day and commute, very light bar work. More massauge!

Competition:
I felt a thousand percent better. I closed the women's snatch session at the 2011 Beast of the East.

Below is the result (go to about the 11 minute mark) :

The following week:
Light unloading week.

Two weeks later:
100% better!!

Training Partners & match training

2011-09-22T21:50:00.004-05:00

Who you train with can be just as important as where you train. Once you have your training programs down, atmosphere is everything. The people you train with will influence your technique, your attitude, and diet. In terms of weightlifting, I mean "training partner" as in anyone who trains at the same time as you-- either on your platform or across from you.

Often, elite athletes will seek out training with someone in their weight class who lifts a few kilos more than them. Yes, training with your competition may sound counterintuitive; however, if you apply some game theory, it actually is more of a win win situation, as both lifters will improve.

Aside from motivation, you can learn a lot from training with other individauls. Take me, for example. Right now, I am so blessed. Today, I trained with a top 5 in the world 63kg lifter from Mexico, a top 15 63kg lifter from Guatemala, one of the best 77kg lifters from South America, and an up and coming US superheavyweight.

The most important things I learned training at Risto Sports that last few months:
1. Don't be too hard on yourself: lifters who vy for medals at the Olympics have bad days too. They miss lifts. They have good days and miss lifts too. The point is, always move forward, don't let one bad day hold you back.

2. Every lifter has strengths and weakenesses. My squat is way, way less than any of these lifters. One lifter was incredibly strong, yet didnt snatch much more than me. Another lifter was not much stronger than this particular lifter, yet could snatch my clean and jerk. So, at the end of the day, I felt much better about my technique and realized, for me, its a leg strength game.

3. Realizing that accomplishing your dreams is possible & having the right mentality will enable you to complete and excel at your workouts. I remember, Last, when I had a high volume day, I would look at the workout and think " how am I goin to get this done". Today, I just walk-in, look at my workout, and start. Some of the lifters at my gym are better at this than others; having several positive people around you will raise the bar for everyone.

Introducing - Tuba Tony, World's Strongest Tuba Player

2011-09-17T19:44:00.002-05:00

Risto Sports proudly welcomes the addition of Tony Blanksteen to our staff -- AKA "Tuba Tony". Tony joins our Team in the office and on the platform. Tony will be persuing his weightlifting dreams while working for Risto Sports.

Tony is a classically trained Tuba player and has a Master's Degree in Music from UMASS Amherst. Tony's professional experience aslo includes teaching music at public schools. We really look forward to the professionalism that Tony will add to our customer service team.

More importantly, Tony will be training twice a day under the coaching expertise of Ivan Rojas. Ivan fully anticipates Tony to sky rocket in his results. (Risto sports exists for athletes, when lifting is on the same level as work, our products get better as we understand the athlete's needs better)

Not only is Tony extremely strong, he also has the unique explosiveness and speed that most athletes lack:

We are happy to help an athlete train fulltime while improving the Risto Sports operations.

FYI: Tony welcomes any classically trained Tuba player to challenge him on his claim as World's Strongest Tuba player.

Jerk - What's important, how and why to do it

2011-08-21T22:48:00.001-05:00

I recently posted a video on youtube regarding proper execution of the jerk (as in clean and jerk):

Please excuse my geek-attitude in getting all technical with velocities and angles. This video was spurred by the fact that I saw a horrible, abomination on a website regarding rack position in the jerk. I shall leave the perpetrator of technique unamed.

Seriously, there are a lot of misconceptions on the jerk. So, let's lay out some basic scientific truths on the jerk:
1. It is a leg exercise, you don't use your arms to generate power.
2. It is not a natural, innate motion. Hence, your hand position should not mimic how a primate would bring food to its mouth (yeah dont ask me to quote my sources on this one)
3. The grip on the bar is of little significance. ie hook grip is not necessary, just make sure your paws point up.
4. From the heel! Drive from the heel
5. You can jerk whatever you can clean. If you can't jerk your clean, then you have serious technical deficiencies in your jerk. No worries, I know just the people who can fix it. Their names start with Ivan Rojas and Dr Herrera. Even myself, just hanging out with these geniuses can probably get your jerk in shape.

In our last seminar, we went into great detail on proper jerk execution and how you can use it to build explosiveness in strength athletes. Yes, non-weightlifters should jerk to get a higher vertical, faster, and more explosive. We covered how a strength coach might train an athlete in strength sports in the jerk and the resulting benefits. We also looked at profiles of the jerk and discussed characteristics of an elite athlete's jerk, specifically, Yurik Vardanyan's. Further, Dr Herrera is qualified to discuss Vardanyan's jerk as he was in Moscow/Russia in the 70's and 80's (Funny how the DR is less known in the States, I think if we added an "ov" or "ev" to his last name he might have gotten more market appeal in the 90's ha ha ha).

The DVD will cover a bit of this. I regret to inform you that we are not able to film everything at the seminars (video editing, cuts, conversations during film intermissions, etc); hence, I really encourage you to either stop by our gym or come to a seminar. We are in Maine-- both Bill Clinton and George Bush vacation here so there is no excuse nor predjudice to not to train in Maine in the summer =)

To summarize, if you watch my youtube video, I did cover some additional details that you probably will not have seen elsewhere on the internet/free media --well other than Ivan Rojas's & Risto Sports' Facebook posts:
1. proper knee angle
2. ideal speed
3. To train the jerk, you actually don't do a jerk from the rack position

My intentions of posting the above is in the best interest of the sport as well as strength conditioning disciplines. We really need to start using technique to obtain the intended benefits of this exercise. Time and again, it saddens me to see instructors, who clearly lack training, spreading bad information; there is no excuse for charging people money or wasting their time with bad information. If you are one of these people, we can help you. We bring experts like Dr Herrera to the strength community as a service to you. Like all our products, we really strive to bring something of quality to you.

Do it right ....or don't do it at all.

Completely off topic- Jury duty and due process

2011-08-19T21:39:00.000-05:00

I recently served as a juror in Maine. Before deliberations, the Judge instructed us to use "your God given common sense" to determine whether the defendant was innocent or guilty. It's an interesting and helpful way to explain what, exactly, reasonable doubt means. Whereas, in the State of Maine, both direct and circumstantial evidence hold equal weight - a person can be convicted on direct evidence alone or circumstantial evidence alone.

In this case, we couldn't find any reasonable, possible reason for the defendant to be Not guilty. There is no pleasure in finding, along with 11 of your peers, a person guilty. I am a person that likes to believe that all people are well intentioned, to give the benefit of the doubt. For this reason, I can see how many juries, if anything, will be more likely to vote not guilty.

Still, to ignore your duty to the state to see "that justice is done" is just as criminal. Certainly, anyone piece of evidence, alone, was not enough to find guilt; however, volumes of evidence which repeated itself time after time, in a systematic matter, more than ruled out that this was just a case of an honest mistake. It was the volumes of evidence that would be criminal for the jurors to ignore.

The Judge also stated that jury duty "is a thankless job". He is right. While some of my Massachusetts coworkers may have joked that I was at the beach all week, sitting in a courtroom, hanging on every word of lawyers and witnesses, and, ultimately, judging someone is not fun. Having all the evidence, a thousand tiny smoking guns-- everything except the witness actually confessing to the crime --still makes it tough.

I will admit, it is a bit surreal; it is like watching an episode of Matlock. Certainly, the defense appeals to your sympathies and attempts to mock the prosecutions evidence in a manner that could only be meant to be interesting and entertaining. However, the defense's performance failed to create reasonable doubts in our minds. On the flip side, the sometimes circumstantial physical evidence paired with witness after witnesses testimony gives a fairly damning impression in court. Ultimately, the prosecution tied the web of incongruities and misconduct back to the defendant.

Always strive to do the right thing.

Seminar SAT!!

2011-08-11T21:16:00.000-05:00

Come to Risto Sports at :
384 HL Dow Highway
Suite 19
Eliot, ME 03903
(see google maps for exact location, most other programs and GPS have wrong location)
We are 1 hour north of Boston.

From 8-5 on SAT the 13th, Dr Herrera will teach you how to write a weightlifting program Soviet Style. Like I always say, if you're going to learn something, you should learn from the best. We can all sharpen our skills to reach a new level of greatness. Life is all about continuous improvement, so instead of re-inventing the wheel, learn from the best and build on it.

Did I mention this is also 2 miles form the Portsmouth Airshow in Portsmouth, NH and the Maine barb b que fest in Eliot, ME. In other words, you have at least 2 other excuses to spend the day or weekend in Maine!!!

Pricing is 15% off $125 or reduced price of $106.25 for online orders:
http://www.ristosports.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&products_id=109

Heel height - what the right heel size is incredibly important

2011-07-25T20:26:00.013-05:00

Would Superman give up another superpower? Well, lifting in a heel that is too low will do just that.

The other day I was training in an undisclosed location on the West Coast. To my amazement, someone actually referred to the Risto's I was wearing as "high heeled shoes".    About 3 years ago, people would ask me why the Risto heel was "so low"; now, I'm asked why is it "so high". This is laughable -- the heel hasnt changed! What has changed is marketing to strength athletes.

The Great Heel Dupe-
It seems over the past few years the industry, in an effort to broaden their customer base, began to bastardize the weightlifting shoe design.   We now see "sneaker like" shoes with low soft heels-- as if shoe manufacture's are coaxing the weary out of their crosstrainers into quasi lifting shoes.

The problem is a classic one of poor, suboptimal design. Whenever you take a specialized tool and try to dumb it down, you make it far less effective at its purpose.   Further, the newer shoes show increasingly inferior materials.

What is more interesting are the social dynamics at play of adoption. Unfortunately, there is an entire population of lifters who are now giving away kilos off their lifts, pounds off their squats by wearing a shoe which is too supple and too low a heel height.

Wood heel is superior
A wood heel is just the right mix of hardness, yet, flexibility in the right positions. Further, a wood heel is a better match to the frequency response of wooden platforms which most people lift on.

In contrast, newer shoes use cork, injection mold plastic, and EVA --these are inferior to the woods still used in the Risto's. For specifics, just look up the tensile properties of EVA (the latest cheep heel filler) and cork. Both are much softer than hardwoods. Even the wikipedia entry on EVA describes it as a soft material. In lifting soft=bad, because soft heel compress and act as dampers, damper suck the energy out of your lift!

The opposite problem are injection mold plastics. These are way to heavy and inflexible. They are less ductile than wood alond the bending axis in the jerk.

Here's a little youtbe video I made just for you (I'll have to redo the audio, but here it is for now):

The right heel size and construction-
Most people need over an inch heel to get into the power position. About a 1.25 inch heel proportionate to foot length is optimal for squats, snatches, and clean and jerks. The heel allows the lifter to maintain leverage. It permits solid contact of the foot to the floor as the lifter pushes out of a squat or against the floor in a pull. Further, in a deep squat the higher heel prevents the lifter from caving forward onto their knees or curling their back.

A flat heel will cause most lifters to have too wide a stance in their start position as well as in the catch of their snatch or clean. This puts excessive stress on the joints and knees with such oblique angles in the hips to make up for the lack of heel. Ever see someone squat with their heels come up?

What about bodybuilders and powerlifters? -
I have seen professional bodybuilders move to a shoe with a heel when they squat such that they wil hit their hammies in the squat. Further, it prevents excesisve strain on the back and other injuries.

Powerlifters typically use shoes, like the Risto, to squat. For powerlifters who deadlift with a wide stance, they will use a second pair of flat shoes to deadlift. Again, you got to use the right tools for the job--using a sort of flat "lifting shoe" with a plastic heel is not going to help your deadlift or your squat. The only deadlifters I've seen use "low heel" "lifting" shoes are a very niche group that follow starting strength.

Referees - Qu'est que c'est?

2011-07-18T13:42:00.002-05:00

I just got back from the National Championships ( I medaled in the snatch).

For many athletes, a big disappointment was the refereeing. It was inconsistent between sessions.

Exihibit A: 48's and 53's A sessions vs 63's and 69's A sessions
The competition started off with fair judging. However, some notably borderline press outs were approved as good lifts in the 48 and 53 A sessions. One that stands out in my mind (because of some good lifting) was Kelly Rexroad's second attempt snatch where the bar was caught with a slight bend in both arms then straightened to a lockout. Good for Kelly, she seemed to have an awesome snatch day, going 3 for 3.

In the 53kg a session, there were several obvious press outs that were not called- more than one straightening of the arms from a 90 degree angle at whicht he bar was caught. I believe that one lifter who split snatched, actually, paused while the bar reached her thighs and was not called.

In contrast, in the women's 69kg A, Amy Anaya caught 92kg. From a bystander's position, the weight did seem tough for her, being caught a bit out of position. However, she didn't do a clear press out. Her arms shook slightly, pronating and rotating, as she stood-up. There was some loosening then tightening of the shoulders and upper back. Still, no significant lock, unlock of the elbows; any elbow movement was discernably less than Kelly's second snatch.

Another big disappointment was the "press out" call of Danica Rue's 1st attempt at 115kg clean and jerk. There was a slight readjustment of her left arm, and it was not a pressout. In the same session, Kathleen O'Neil , who jerked 80 kgs, had a larger elbow movement which was called as a press out then overturned for a good lift by the jury. Again, inconsistency leads to unfairness. If you give one lifter the lift, then the lifter with smaller elbow movement should also get the lift approved.

On a personal note, I was called on a pressout on my clean and jerk. Let it be said, I am really flexible and my jerk is really fast and explosive. I caught the lift and stabilized it with lat movement. Any elbow movement was far less than the "good" lifts called in the 53kg A session. The jury would not overturn it. I was also informed that the next lifter had a much bigger pressout and was not called.

Finally, Joe Carron, a respected, senior referee indicated that referree clinics are held on a regular basis -- however, the attendence is ZERO!! That's right, 0 -- as in none of the National referrees attend to sharpen their skills.

Solution: make referree clinics mandatory for anyone who wants to continue to referee on the national level. Standardize the objective criteria for press out calls in the United States of America. If we're going to judge our athletes tougher than IWF ref's then we should set our own criteria and have pamphlets showing the degree of elbow flexion allowed. OR, judge consistently with the IWF community.

Also, while I'm on regulations, the unitard rule is not a bonus for most lifters:
Apparently, even though a lifter may wear full body covering, we're still enforcing things like making sure your knee wraps don't overlap your singlet.

I mean, really? Really? I can wear a unitard with knee wraps, but I can't let my knee wraps touch my singlet. FYI- we saw atleast 2 lifters wearing a unitard -- Kulsoom Abdullah and Anne Lehman. I believe Anne had knee wraps over her spandex pants. So, I could have worn spandex pants and have my knee wraps cover my spandex pants, but I can't let knee wraps touch my singlet. Really, does this compute?

I guess the unitard didn't really revolutionize anything for the already internationally competing lifter. Where's our upside?

Athlete Profile: Lesbia Cruz- Guatemalan National Team

2011-07-02T12:31:00.000-05:00

Lesbia Cruz is the top female weightlifter in Guatemala. She competes as a 63Kg lifter and has been featured in Central American Magazines. She is training at Risto Sports High Performance Training Center for 3 weeks in preparation for the Simon Bolivar Cup. She also wants to continue her training with Coach Ivan Rojas for the Pan Am Games and the World Championships. Lesbia indicates that her goal for the Simon Bolivar Cup is not to win -- it is to break the National record of Guatemala.

Lesbia Training at the Risto Sports Training Center in her Risto's

Of course, I had some time to sit down with Lesbia and train along side her. Lesbia lifts full time for the Guatemalan National Team--lifting is her job. Lesbia has a 4 year old son who is staying with her family while she trains at Risto Sports. Aside from lifting, she is also earning her Bachelors Degree in sports science.

Right now, Lesbia is in a strength/build-up mesocycle and is doing a lot of strength work. After completing classical lifts and squats, several work outs per week, she does upper body work such as presses (even some benching) and a ton of abdominals. She also does interesting exercises for her upper back and shoulders that involves revolving a 15kg plate around her upperback and shoulders.

In terms of Olympic lifting, her exercises are again strength focused. She completes both back and front squats. She does not squat every work out or even everyday. Part of this is because she has a surplus of leg strength, as her back squat exceeds the 127.3% of her Olympic total--she easily back squats 3 sets of 3 with 130kg (~300lbs). She does heavy pulls on days when her snatches and clean and jerks are light. Speaking of light, she has one "heavy" full snatch and clean and jerk day per week. The other workouts she alternates between power snatch, hang snatch, full snatch, and muscle snatch. She clean and jerks fewer times per week than snatching. She does most full clean and jerk or power clean and press. As she gets closer to her upcoming competitions, she will start a new mesocycle more focused on the classical lifts.

Lesbia is the only Guatemalan qualified for the Pan Am Games, so it is a huge honor for her to compete this August. I'm sure she'll do well! It is a great pleasure to train alongside a great person and athlete.

You can see Lesbia lift as a guest lifter at the 2011 Bay State Games in Boston, MA. Of course, you can also see her at the Risto Sports High Performance Training Center, where we "Train like an Olympian".

Lesbia with LG at the Risto Sports High Performance training Center

From the IWF - Hijab and full body lifting unitard now permitted in competition

2011-06-29T22:00:00.002-05:00

The International Weightlifting Federation just ruled to permit full body covering weightlifting uniforms.

Per www.iwf.net: "The modified rule changes permits athletes to wear a one piece full body tight fitted "unitard" under the compulsory weightlifting costume. The "unitard" will enable technical officials to effectively adjudicate areas of the body which are essential to the correct execution of the lift. "As far as wearing coverings on the athletes head, such as the hijab, the sport of Olympic Weightlifting has always allowed this."

"Weightlifting is an Olympic Sport open for all athletes to participate without discrimination on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex, age, or national origin in accordance with the principles of the Olympic Charter and values." states Dr Tamas Ajan, IWF President and Honorary IOC member "This rule modification has been considered in the spirit of fairness, equality and inclusion."

The rule change is related to a request by a Muslim woman to be able to compete in a weightlifting costume that complies with their religious beliefs. It also fact that Muslim woman have competed on the World level in a tight singlet, showing arms, legs and hair.

There are some interesting implications of this rule:

1. The press out
The IWF originally forbade covering of the elbows so judges may be able to judge press outs. With this new rule, does this mean that athletes with a sore elbow can now wear elbow wraps in competition. Further, does this implicate a softening of the press out rule? I know many lifters who have suffered turned-down lifts do to lat movement being mistaken for a a press out (present company included).

2. Regulating Gear
In other sports such as swimming (no longer) and powerlifting, body suits have been designed to significantly enhance an athletes performance. Although a full body "super suit" would probably be counter to technique, this may be a piece of equipment that has to be inspected by judges of the same gender as the lifter prior to the first lift.

3. Fully covered legs -- from sock to knee wrap to singlet -- allowed, yey!!
I guess this means we can now wear tall socks with knee wraps and upper leg covering singlet (ie most singlets cover your femurs, tall socks cover the entire legs, hence the addition of a knee wrap would cover your entire leg --this was prohibited under the old rules). In the past, part of your leg had to be exposed, this lead to lifters having to roll down their socks if their knee wrap covered the, typically, bare stretch of skin between singlet on the upper leg and socks on the lower leg.

4. Is weightlifting the most progressive and/or inclusive Olympic sport?

Weightlifting may,now, be the only Olympic sport to have rule which fully enables women who wear modest clothing to compete. I know skiiers wear full body suits-- so I could be wrong on this. Again, I would think that this new rule would only further weightlifting as the most diverse sport at the Olympic Games (weightlifting has the most participants by country, and most diverse medalists by country).

4a. More kid friendly and, friendlier modest people in general
I have known several young lifters, especially girls, who dreaded their first competition for fear of lifting on the platform in a singlet. When I first started lfiting, most people lifted in skimpy wrestling singlets. As a young girl, I remember having to wearing a t-shirt under an oversize, ugly powerlifting singlet (the only alternative to a wrestling singlet --this was the 90's)... or lifting with biker shorts under a bathing suit. Admittingly, singlets have gotten much nicer --yes, you migth have guessed this is just one reason my company carries singlets-- and, maybe the option of additional covering might seem more inviting to the more modest lifter.

I guess its to early to tell what the affect of this ruling will be--- should be interesting!

Gettin' Technical

2011-06-26T18:47:00.002-05:00

At Risto Sports, we added a new feature, for just $10 bucks, send us video of your snatch and claen and jerk, and we will send you technical corrections. http://www.ristosports.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&products_id=116

I remember lifting as a junior lifter-- I trained by myself and had no idea what I was doing the closest coach was 45 min away, which might as well be 6 hours away for a kid without a car. Worse, youtube wasn't aroud, so all I had to go off of for technique were lifting sequences in Denis Reno magazines or old video taped excerpts of the Olympics ( a lot of us forget that the internet didn't become ubiquitous and useful till around 2000). I can't even describe how much wasted toiling I suffered for lack of accessible wieghlifting technical resources.

Even so, it is sooooo harrrd to fix your own technique. So, you really need to do what fortune 500 companies do--get an outside point of view.

So, for those who don't have a coach or just want a second opinion, we're offering a service for $10. Some quick feedback on your bar path, potential strength issues, etc.

For the frugalist, the $10 analysis is kind of like going wine tasting-- taste the wine, then buy the bottle. If you want the whole she-bang, we do have a program questionnaire as well as a custom training cycle offered on our website.

This is my good-weightlifting-kharma action of the week-- providing easily accessible weightlifting feedback.

While I am harping on technique--- the best thing you can do for your lifting is keep the bar as close to you as possible when lifting, and to pull high.

The Russian Training System - Olympic Weightlifting

2011-06-04T15:16:00.001-05:00

Why we care about the Soviet/ Russian System:
The Soviet system became the foundation of modern, elite weightlifters in the 70's and 80's. Since then, modern weightlifting coaches have adapted it to win strings of Gold medals. All successful countries base their training systems off of the original Soviet system. Again, the original handbook on the Russian system was written by Medvedyev- with whom Dr Herrera researched and is cited in his book.

For example, in the DVD of Dr Herrera's seminar on the Russian system (http://www.ristosports.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&products_id=115), the Dr cites that Medvedyev was training the Chinese Team just a few years before Medvedyev's death. As we all know, the Chinese eclipsed even the Russian's in godl medals in the last Olympics.   In 2010, even Turkey anounced it would start using the same system as the Chinese.   The point is -- the Soviet system is still being used today and continues to be added to and perfected.

If we start using principles of this system, then we too can compete with top countries (interpret "we" to be any one who has ever wanted to win an Olympic medal in lifting).

Some basic principles of Soviet system:
As I am not a bio-chemist or physiologist (I'm a Rocket Scientist), I will leave you with some basics of the system and leave it to you to watch or read-up on Dr Herrera.

The back squat is the basis of all lifting. Based on a lifter's 1 rep max in a full Olympic Lifting back squat, you can calculate what your best snatch and best clean and jerk should be ( In my opinion as an engineer, this is probably due to the fact that it correlates to power generation in the pull).

Next, technique and explosiveness is key. We have a lot of strong people with strong legs who do not even qualify for Nationals -- why? Because their pull is technically deficient and they are not explosive anough to hit the proper Vmax. The most important part of technique is distance of the bar from the body (see the DVD for the exact tipping point)-- keep the bar as close asd possible to avoid injury and to lift more.

Insights on the Bulgarian System vs the Russian System:
I understand that there is a lot of heresay about the Bulgarian system.   I would like to take a few sentences to clarify a few things -- understanding that Ivan and I have trained in Bulgaria & Ivan had lifted there in '84 and even roomed with a Bulgarian while training in Cuba in the 90's.

According to Dr Herrera, the Bulgarian system is similar to the Russian system except that they work in the maximal intensity zome more often.  Ivan has seen Bulgarians back squat before. The "all front squat, max out as much as possible " heuristic that many of us have heard about as heresay may just be a mesocycle with in the whole training system (Dr Herrera explains mesocylces on the DVD). Further, when I was in Bulgaria, novice lifters certainly did not max out every session. Even the former world champion, Stefan Georgiev did not max out every session and even did hang snatches.   In training, everything is contextual.

Finally, when people refer to the "Bulgarian system" are they refering specifically to Abadjiev's system or all Bulgarian coaches? Well, Abadjiev is still alive, so why not just contact him or go to one of his seminars before ceasing all backsquats. In terms of other Bulgarian coaches we observed abroad, their methods are based on the Russian system and have lifters backsquat.

What about the Cuban System:
Dr Herrera was the Technical Director in Cuba (ie the genius who oversaw all the training plans). The Cuban system is a derivative with the major difference that Cuba didn't have disposable athletes. Hence, their philosophy is "strategic direction" , focusing on working with what raw material you have and maximizing results.

The Strength Athlete's Diet - ie What I eat

2011-05-29T21:31:00.000-05:00

Diet is one of the most important aspects of an athlete's recovery. Just pop-open any generic fitness magazine and you'll see more ads for supplements than articles. It begs the question- what really is important when it comes to diet?

If you are a strength athlete, then excessive bodyfat makes your muscles less efficient (I'll refer you to Dr Herrera for the physiological details). Simultaneously, you want to feel energized when your compete and train, and you don't want to be excessively sore the morning after your training session. Hence, diet is always about finding the optima for multiple requirements.

Here is a snapshot of my personal food intake rules (just sharing not saying you should do this):
1. The two deadliest sins for my diet are sugar and fried food. I avoid them like the plague.
2. Lots of protein, I find the 1-2g per lb of muscle guidelines to be sufficient
3. Lots of vegetables
4. No empty starch like white bread, tasty cakes, crackers
5. Tea and coffee-- antioxidants!
6. Fiber!
7. Lay off the bread/pasta, unless its made from some ancient grain that most people can't pronounce ("quinoa") and is laden with flax seeds
8. Avoid alcohol and carbonated drinks

Now, its not enough for me to just follow the above. More importantly, it is how I use the above elements.

Philosophy 1: body is a precious, high performance machine. Would you put the cheap gas in a Ferrari--would you forget to put diesel in the tank? For example, if I absolutely need to eat chocolate, I'm going to go for a bite of 70+% cacao, low sugar, organic creation versus a candy bar. Its all about QUALITY. You can find inexpensive quality food too; for example, whole oats verus sugar laden flavored instant Oatmeal.

Philosophy 2: Timing! Use food as a tool. Be pruposefil with what I eat.
Here's a few heuristics I apply to food and timing:
Eating carbs late at night = bad. Eating carbs shortly before workout= good.
Sugar at meal time = bad, sugar during intense training replete glycogen stores efficiently = not that bad
Fresh coffee= antioxidants, Coffee all day = acid erosion on teeth and acid reflux
Meat & fiber less right before workout = blood to stomach, Meat and fiber ~2 hours before workout = digested and energy for training
Vegetables = can eat them any time of the day
Carbs before & after workout = glycogen, carbs late at night = fat!
No grains = super ripped, No Grains also = less energetic during workout

Again, the above are some personal heuristics I apply. Ofcourse, there will be scenarios where these don't work, and they are, otherwise, highly effective for me. I have found that doing really specific diets such as Atkins or Paleo helped me lose fat -- BUT suboptimized my athletic performance.

Have your cake and eat it.

Anectdotal weightlifting clothes story

2011-05-28T13:02:00.004-05:00

The other day I was at the Kittery outlets. Though I have a lot of Risto compression pants and singlets, I saw these neat looking Nike stretch pants that were way marked down. There's nothing wrong with competitive market intelligence, right?

Seriously, they were some sort of cotton blend with cute little material ridges going down the center and sides (puckered material sewn together to make the ridge). I got a size small. True to weightlifter physique, they were loose on the waist tight on my quads, and, surprisingly, tight on my calves. I find this amusing as finding pants that fit is a life long tribulation for weightlifters. Anyhow, they fit fairly well aside from it being loose on the waist, they were much looser than my compression pants.

After I did my first few sets, I noticed my pants were de-ridging. By the time I got to squats, they were basically flattened out, making the coolness of my pants just a memory of a few hours ago. At one point, I was wondering if my legs would rip out of the pants like the Hulk.

Then I recalled on the tag, it did mention these were running pants. Hmmm, does this mean runners never go into a full squat or bend their legs past a 90 degree angle.

I chronicle this experience as I know many of weightlifters have endured this-- this lack of proper equipment on the regular consumer market. Once more, my quest to bring products for weightlifters to the market is verified.

Ok, I'm being a little melodramatic, but you get the point, right?

Success & News

2011-05-22T07:25:00.013-05:00

Yesterday, was our Open House at the Risto Sports Training Center. It was a great sucess. Along with myself, Coach Ivan, and LG, we had appearances by Carlos Andica, Ferdinand Sinatra, and Dr Herrera.

Of course, all were decked out in matching Risto Sports gear. Carlos has an amzing physique just from lifting and accentuated it in his Risto compression pants and Hoody.

To kick-off the event, Carlos Andica and I completed a workout commentated by Dr Herrera. The Dr related concepts such as intestiy zones and volume to the exercises we were completing. Little Gwen also put on a good show of technique. Oh yeah, we'll have a video out of it shortly. Afterwards, several of our lifters had an Open training session.

Carlos Andica looked very strong. He played with some big weights including 185Kg C&J; testing the volume and number of repetitions which would get him to his clean and jerk goal for the PAN AM Games. I am really amazed by his technique.

Certainly, I had seen him lift multiple occaisions, before, and what is truly amzing is how the bar glide so close to him, repeatedly, repetition after repetition. He is so consistent. He definitely has great focus and is able to maintain it even with communicating with coaches.

On a personal note, I have lost soooo much bodyfat on my latest mesocycle. I got so cut that someone actually asked me if I was CrossFitting or Paleo dieting on the side. Nope, 100% insanely hard training and very clean diet. The Dr commented that I have completed the same number of repetitions in my last cycle as a world Medalist. Hmmm, with just a little more leg strength and pulling the bar a few cm closer, anything is possible.

I am also excited to announce that we will have National Teams train at our facility. Finally, all the amazing results and training services I just described will be available to the general public, scaled to the athlete's level. Yes, we do strength and conditioning services for any sport. You can even train here for fitness.

Risto Sports Open House- High Performance Training Center

2011-05-17T20:53:00.003-05:00

Risto Sports, finally, has it very own, exclusive, high performance training center. What does that mean--- our own personal Olympic weightlifting paradise- wall to wall bars, flat screen TV, shower, kitchenette, place to try on lifitng shoes, afull bar stocked with protein shakes ...

We have a free Open House, this Saturday, May 21st 11AM-4PM at 384 Dow highway, Suite 19, Eliot, ME 03903 (note, most GPS's will send you to the wrong address, we are ironically located diagonally across from a "curves").

Dr Herrera and Carlos Andica will be at our open house. Yes, as in, Carlos Andica the Colombian Olympian and Dr Herrera who litterally is a father of modern lifting training (I scarcely use such big words ...and only when I mean it).

In all seriousness, let me outline what our goals are with this new oasis in Maine:
1. A place to learn and train the Olympic Lifts
2. A place to enhance your sports performance -- ie explosiveness, strength and conditioning, speed, you know all the buzz words with which power cleans and squats are associated
3. Fitness using Olympic lifts
4. A place to grab a work out and try on shoes
5. A knowledge center, a place to learn from the true luminaries of Olympic weightlifting. We simply don't have enough permeation of weightlifting knowledge and research in our great country, using the lastest and greatest drug free training methods

I will aim to update this post with some photos. Note, checkout my Risto Sports Facebook page as I have been more dilligent about updating photos on there versus at this blog. In also keep the youtube fairly up todate, links to new videos automatically post on the Risto Sports Twitter page ( @RistoSports).
Best,
Gwen

Why I have small pecs and other revelations

2011-04-24T23:18:00.002-05:00

I greatly enjoyed the DR Herrera seminar as it illuminated all those details with discrete, scientific answers. For example, we reviewed everything form electric current in muscles to muscle fiber viscosity and plasticity.

One of my personally favorite parts was explanation of jerk technique - squat versus split, narrow grip vs wide. That's right-- it is correct to do either a wide or narrow grip. In the early years of my wide grip jerk, I would get a lot of glares and comments. Well, aside from my explanation of the affect on the C.G. in a 3 dimensional space, the Dr also noted that jerking with a wide grip shifts the load out from the chest and rectus abdominus to the upper back and obliques -- which makes total sense if you saw what I looked like about 6 years ago. Hmm, come to think of it, I'm still working on catching-up my core strength to my back and leg strength. This example was just a tiny vindication of something that I always knew was more effective for me but was missing the purely phisiological explanation.

Aside from jerk technique, a couple other topics I loved was clarification of the Russian system and Bulgarian system-- explaining origins of modern training and evolution over the last 20 years. It was pretty cool to have someone who worked with the Soviets on their infamous weightlifting creation and who is still current with modern research and can make intelligent comments on the successes of current countries.

Overall, the seminar left me with a realistic optimism of getting the USA back to a competitive position in the international rankings. And I plan to be part of that solution.

Finally, did I mention my trianing is going really well? This is the first time I have gotten significantly stronger and lost 3-4% bodyfat on a consistent basis with no weight gain. I know, coming from someone who used to spend a month cutting weight, this sounds like a miracle. I know I am getting these results, not by luck or even a soecific diet, I am getting them from training really hard, efficiently, and effectively.

Working with a Legend: Dr Herrera, A father of Modern Scientific Weightlifting

2011-03-26T08:29:00.012-05:00

How would you like to be able to predict your lifts? Would you like to be able to predict what you will be lifting in six months with in a 2% margin of error?
How is it possible that a TINY, POOR country like Cuba can produce so many Olympic and World champions?

Before I met Ivan, I thought there was some level of voodoo in Olympic lifting training. I never knew that there was an actual science that could accurately forecast what my potential was and provide me a method for acheiving it.

There is such a scientific system that can be readily applied by most coaches-- it is called Strategic Direction.Strategic Direction is a Cuban system that is applied to all Olympic sports in Cuba. It's cycle starts the 4 years proceeding an Olympic Games. Strategic Direction's goal is to acheive as many medals as possible in the Olympic Games.

Coach Ivan Rojas had received training in this system in the 90's. At Risto Sports, we started formally using this system just over a year ago-- and it works. I increased my training lifts from 70kg to 84kg snatch and 85kg to 102kg clean in months.

A piece of the training was still missing. We needed an expert in this system such that we could mature our thinking and application. We first worked with former Director of the Cuban Olympic Training Center (Cerro Pelado), Juan Carlos Veliz (immigrated to USA), who conducted formal classes on the system with us.

Our next step was to work with one of the founding fathers of modern Olympic Weightlifting theory. Someone who worked on the forming of the Soviet system (everything today is based on the Soviet system, it like Newton's Law of weightlifting) from which the Cuban Strategic Direction was created. Specifically, the Cuban system synthesizes the former Eastern Block research and newer Cuban research Most importantly, it adapted this research finding to Cuba's own socio-economical reality.

We contacted Dr Alfredo Herrera (now a US Citizen) who is now the technical advisor for the Risto Weightlifting Academy. When I first met Dr Herrera, it was like someone lifting a veil from over my eyes. I could see more clearly than ever before. When I indicated my goals for lifting, he laughed at me as, from his perspective, it would be a cake walk for me (ie it would be really easy with his even more sophisticated training system). It was similar to the way new lifters walk in our gym, wanting only to snatch a meek 60 kgs, and we get them to snatch well over 100 in a few months. In other words, we are really excited and humbled to be working with DR Herrera.

Dr. Herrera has an amazing Curriculum Vitae.
He completed his Post Doctorate in the Soviet Union in Theory and Methodology in sports Training and Physical Education and Weighlifting at the State Central Institute in Moscow (Russia). His Doctoral degree was completed at Pedagogic Science from the State Central Institute of Physical Culture in Moscow, USSR (now, Russia). He has a degree in phycisal eduction from Manuel Fajardo University in Havana, Cuba.

He has conducted seminars around the world and taught at prestigious universities. At Cuba, the president of the Technical Committee of the Cuban Weightlifting Federation, where he actively engaged with the training of coaches and athletes. He was also a member of the International Weightlifting Committee.
He has worked with many famous Olympic Champions including Pablo Lara of Cuba. He has coached the Colombian National Team, culminating in Maria Urrutia's Gold medal win at the 2000 Olympic Games.

As a service to our family of strength athletes, we will be holding a seminar April 16th at 10AM at Risto Sports. Go to http://www.ristosports.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=9&zenid=lli938trhvcdpoj9155m3ueg52, click on training seminar item. For group pricing and travel info, contact me by email.

Arnold- Bridging the gap between Weightlifting an Bodybuilding

2011-03-07T23:05:00.019-05:00

At the 2011 Arnold sports Festival, the Risto Sports Team was competing in weightlifting as well as expo-ing our products and services . We were in full force competing and sponsoring the weightlifting competition.

Carlos and Yoni Andica won cash prizes, after being coached by Risto Sport's Ivan Rojas and lifting in Risto gear to boot. For a complete rundown, see www.ristosports.com/blog (top photo shows Carlos and Yoni being congratulated by Arnold, second photo shows Arnold delivering his speech in front of the Risto Sports banner, and the third photo shows LG getting an autograph with me by her side).

Per tradition, Arnold Schwarzenneger stopped by the weightlifting venue on Sunday. (I love Arnold movies and action movies in general. C'mon, you didn't figure me to be a chick flick kind of person?). Being able to literally touch Arnold, one of my heroes, was awesome. Unlike most celebrities, Arnold, in person, does not disappoint. He looks and sounds fairly similar to what you'd expect. More importantly, he delivers articulate and inspiring speeches.

Arnold commenced his appearance with a brilliant monologue that tied his Olympic weightlifting beginnings to his bodybuilding career. He described that weightlifting served as a foundation for his bodybuilding career; he indicated it gave him the strength foundation to commence bodybuilding. Specifically, he mentioned that Olympic weightlifting provides critical balance to the bodybuilder's physique as weightlifting develops the back, traps, and shoulders. He went as far as to say that he felt sorry for any bodybuilder who does not have a foundation of Weightlifting-- pointing out several other weightlifters turned Mr Olympia, like himself, such as Tommy Kono and Sergio Oliva (of course Tommy Kono is a double Olympic Gold medalist in weightlifting). Overall, I have only great things to say about Governator.

I found Arnold's speech fascinating. Being a weightlifter, I never thought, deeply about which exercises bobybuilders would share in common. Afterall, a weightlifter strives for compact, explosive muscles, while a bodybuilder is striving for size and balance.

Being myself, I took the fantastic opportunity to speak with several Pro Body builders--they happened to be down the hall from Olympic Weightlifting in the Expo. Indeed, many squat like Olympic lifters or, even, lifted before becoming a bodybuilder. Also, they were all very approachable and had a great attitude. Hence, there is great opportunity to knowledge share between the two communities. In other words, the next time my blog is referred to as a bodybuilding blog, I'll take it as a compliment (Hey, I can provide some really good advice on squatting and lifting shoes --and I really need to get ripped like a fitness model;).

Pro bodybuilder, Andy Haman, was in attendance at the weightlifting competition as his children competed in weightlifting at the Arnold. Andy also indicated he had lifted before bodybuilding.

Personally, I thought it was very cool to see another weightlifting family, and Andy is an awesome person. Yes, weightlifting is an awesome family activity!

Below, LG and I are pictured with Andy; pictured in the lower photo is one of his daughters competing.

Training for the Arnold

2011-02-10T23:14:00.002-05:00

I can't say I have been this excited for a meet in a long time.

My daughter, Gwen, will also be making her first international meet ever. I think it is so awesome that we can both train for and compete in the same meet, both at high levels.

At this stage, it is all about technique. The weight is of less importance. The weights are beautifully finessed over head.

Weighlifting is great for a kid because it teaches the value of thinking long term. Results in lifting take time: you have to train consistently. The Arnold is a fantastic event as it gives a really big goal for my little lifter to work. Hopefully, my kid will agree after having the opportunity to lift at the Arnold.

What I am looking forward to this year: spending some quality family time on the meet platform.

Coaching the lifts to CrossFit Phenom - Annie Thorisdottir

2011-01-21T10:00:00.007-05:00

Coach Ivan Rojas and I traveled to Iceland this week, where Ivan gave seminars on Olympic Weightlifting. At CrossFit Bootcamp, we met up with Annie Thorisdottir, the number 2 CrossFitter in the World. With Ivan providing technical adjustments, Annie was already hitting bigger wieghts (litterally, in the first hour of working with Ivan).

First, lets talk a little bit about this extraordinary athlete, Annie Thorisdottir:
Annie is about 5'7" and ripped to shreds. She really looks like some sort of superwoman, with a 6 pack abs and great kinestetic intelligence to match. Strong legs (weightlifters always look for leg strength, its just brainwashed into us)

Annie started CrossFitting shortly before the 2009 sectionals. In just months of starting, she went on to place 11th at the CrossFit Games. She noted that when she encountered a muscle-up for the first time in the competition, she had no idea what it was and managed to learn it in just minutes.

As you might have guessed, with a year of training, she improved her placing at the CrossFit Games to 2nd in 2010.

So, you may be asking how is this story possible? Well, upon further probing, Annie mentioned she was on the Icelandic National Gymnastics Team (ah ha!). Once again, years of hard work translated to success in CrossFit. I am sure she will continue to improve her game by improving her training.

Additionally, when we first met Annie, she had much better weightlifting technique and leg strength than the average high level CrossFitter. She used weightlifting shoes. Her snatch was also above average - 67kg full snatch. But, her clean was only 85Kg, despite her obvious leg strength and a rack jerk of 93kg.

Here is where Coach Ivan rojas comes in:
Immediately, Ivan saw great opportunity to improve this athlete's performance. Ivan spent a few hours working with Annie, and results were immediate. In just an hour of working hang snatches, Annie was hang snatching her PR full snatch. Ivan insightfully had Annie work hang snatches to help emphasize the finish in her pull. Ivan also worked on other minor adjustments in the clean and squat positions.

How can this will up a CrossFitter's game:
Incorrect technique is bad in several ways: 1. it slows down your WOD, it tires you out, it can injure you --either slowly with repetitive stress or in one incident.

In other words, this should shave seconds off Annie's time, while keeping her injury free and her muscles and joints working as efficiently and effectively as possible.

In summary, Annie, obviously, is kinestetically intelligent (Gardner 1983) . Her athletic awesomeness is the product of work and training. Technique is what separates you at the very top - so train smart!!

References:
Gardner, H. (1983) Frames of Mind: the Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Basic Books, New York.

Iceland, paradiceland

2011-01-16T18:18:00.010-05:00

In this Photo:TheGwen's and Annie Thorisdottir--#2 CrossFitter in the World- after being trained by Coach Ivan Rojas.

Annie Placed 2nd at the 2010 CrossFit Games and was training Olympic lifting with Ivan to help reach the #1 spot in 2011.

On Iceland:
We're cramming in 5 days of lifting, Olympic Lifting seminars, and outdoor recovery sessions in Iceland.

What surprises me most about Iceland is -- why aren't there any Icelandic lifters competing at the World Championships. Iceland has great conditions for Olympic lifting: seemingly endless supply of Geothermal hotsprings, mineral rich spring water, and a good strength sports tradition.

More tomorrow...

A new Optimism

2011-01-06T23:05:00.004-05:00

2011 training got off to a great start, and I credit it to Ivan's sound, scientific training principles- Strategic direction.

Over the fall, we started a new cycle. When we did not hit goals as expected -- ie not completing 95% of lifts successfully, we took a step back and analyzed.

The first diagnosis was the squat: well, lets just say, slowly, and almost unknowingly, I was getting a bit more hooked on my spotter than I thought. Really, what is most critical is being able to hold proper back position at the bottom and through the hole of the squat. This part of the squat motion is the root of functional back strength and core strength-- if you cant hold this position in the squat, then your other positions in the lifts will begin to faulter. Everything in lifting goes back to your back squat.

Second diagnosis, the starting position and pull: so, if your back gets a little weaker, it will negatively affect your ability to hold your positions. And so, they will drift and compensate. This leads to inefficiencies in technique. The start position is not properly maintained leading to not staying over the bar logn enought o maximize your pull.

Third diagnosis, physical condition: the bad technique was givign me shoulder issues, causing me not to catch the bar properly, causing atrophy in the muscles of the upper back that I needed to be working and lifting with.

The fix- A strength cycle:
(1) higher volume squats, lowering the weight and doing 5's. First, starting at a weight that was slightly challenging to do 5 perfect repetitions with, then increasing by 5 kgs after 2.5 weeks.
(2) tons of lifts off the blocks. We started with power snatches and power cleans doing 5's with GOOD technique(never do more than 5 reps). Every 2 weeks, we reduced by 1 rep per set and increased the highest weight by 5kgs. The heaviest set was followed by a set at 5kgs less and 1 additional rep.
(3) snatch balances and push jerks got the upper back and shoulders in shape. Further, it reinforced the back positions in the back squat and full lifts.
(4) some bodybuilding-- additional abdominals and upper body work

We finished off the cycle by maxxing in the power clean and power snatch off the high blocks. The squats went up another 5kgs at sets of 4 repetitions (not a max).

In short, we got my back, abs, and legs a bit stronger so I could properly apply technique. Coupling this with the block work, my speed is just off the hook!!
Finally, we conditioned my body so it can take heavier loading--- that means it's time to start a new cycle!

Did I mention I also got a new haircut? I am so calling the Tron look for this lifting season. I'll post a new series of videos sans my pre-haircut bad hair.

The present state:

Now it is Janaury, and I can easily blow through the fall workout at greater than 95% completion rate. We already started a new cycle to prepare for the Arnold Expo in March. I feel so explosive and my positions feel more stable.

The funny thing is, my legs are stronger, but not insanely stronger with respect to how much easier my lifting feels. The more I talk to fellow lifters, the more I realize that I outlift people who squat an easy 20kg's more than me. So, now that we fixed the technique and speed, I'm gonna work on getting my legs jacked!

Most importantly, I am having great workouts. The most powerful ingredient to success is sucess. I know, it's circular. You need to have 2 weeks of successful workouts to get back on the success track(look-up brain plasticity).
I feel fantastic and excited about my lifting, like I can reach any lifting goal--and why the hell not!

For more technical terms on workouts... talk to Coach Ivan Rojas, his blog is www.ristosports.com/blog

PowerBar Protein Plus -Part II

2011-01-02T23:11:00.003-05:00

Ok, I've trained on the PowerBar protein powder the last 1.5 weeks. I have to say, very good. I took a minimum of one scoop, religiously, after each workout (more like 1.5- 2) and 2 scoops after waking-up every other morning. The amount taken is based on my bodyweight and estimated lean muscle mass.

1. Taste
I love the chocolate. It has an almost malty flavor to it, reminiscent of Nestle Quick-- very good quality flavor. The sweeteners (fructose and sucralose) are great, having just the right balance without being to Splenda-y. I must say this is my second favorite chocolate flavored protein powder ever (only Labrada being tastier). I say this after alternating between Gaspari and METRX the last few months.
Seriously, I found myself actually wanting to make more than the obligatory post workout scoop.

As for the Vanilla-- personally, I am not a Vanilla protein shake afficianado. In terms of protein powder, Vanilla is usually the one flavor you need to mix with some fruit or peanut butter as it is just too plain. That being said, I do find the PowerBar proteinplus vanilla to be above average. It was tasty enough to be mixed with water alone. Again, the flavor was more malty than other brands, rich, with honey-like overtones. A complex vanilla it was, just like myself ;). When mixed with water, the Vanilla flavor was akin to melted Edy's French Vanilla ice cream. I liked it even as much as Muscle Milk or Labrada. It is a very good Vanilla shake.

Interestingly, I think the soy protein gives a full body, deep taste to both the protein powder flavors. By the way, soy protein is supposedly higher in arginine and gluatmine than whey...that's a plus (note, soy and whey have different amino acid profiles. however, soy protein is, typically, cheaper than whey)

Most importantly, both flavors tasted good when mixed with just water.

As for what other's thought, I received positive feedback on the taste. Ferdinand Sinatra, aspiring fitness model, also liked the taste.

2.Soluability-- how easy it is to mix with water
I was able to mix both flavors of protein powder rather easily with water, using just a fork (creates more turbulent flow than a spoon). The powder clumped considerably less than the other powders I have been using. Further, I did not need a mixer to make the shake taste better either(side note: some powders only taste edible if they are whipped in a mixer-- it's kinda like whipping egg white to make mousse. Stretching out the proteins makes the powders fluffier and yummier)

I was very, happily, suprised by the great soluability. Interstingly, the powder appears to be fluffy and having a large grain size when scooped out. Despite, not appearing to be as finely pulverized as other brands, it mixed exceptionally well. I would say it mixed better than any other powder I have used to date.

3. Results
The protein powder appeared to help me recover. After taking the shakes after workout, I felt less sore the next morning. I felt less bloating on the shakes as well. They were very filling when taken in the AM as well.

Yes, I did not create a statistical DOE to measure the effects; still, from years of lifting , I could tell it worked at least as well as other powders.

Strength Plus Magazine- Why I love it

2010-12-24T14:00:00.005-05:00

You might notice that yours truly has an article published in this month's issue of Strength plus magazine. Definitely, I wrote the article because I believe in the magazine.

I like www.strengthplusmagazine.com because it avoids the trap of publishing only stereotypically acceptable weightlifting articles. There is a good mix of articles. For example, some articles provide practical lifting advice-- ie why and when to do certain exercises, not just statistical DOE's on leg press 1 rep max that you see in strength conditioning journals, nor bench press workouts you see in Muscle and Fitness type magazines. Additionally, there are in depth athlete features, color photos of lifters, timely meet results, and articles on olympic weightlifting culture.

With respect to articles on weightlifting culture, this is the first lifting magazine I ever saw that wanted to write an article on mom's and lifting-- and tackle social norms while doing it! In other words, the value the magazine delivers is fresh, unphased content.

Other pluses: You can, conveniently, buy a digital copy online as well as a paper copy to be mailed later. In other words, Strength plus magazine definitely makes a great last minute gift for your gym, yourself, or person you're trying to coax into weightlifting.

Protein Powder Power! Power Bar Product Review

2010-12-22T00:01:00.004-05:00

I just got a crate of Power Bar ProteinPlus Protein Powder and will review it over the next week. This event actually times perfectly with my training cycle --I'm doing a build-up phase, tons of squats, and plan on doing double sessions during my week off.

I know what you're thinking-- "doesn't Power Bar only make bars?" Nope, they have really evolved their product line since their classic bars many of us enjoyed during the 90's.

Anyhow, as many of you know, I am EXTREMELY picky when it comes to food and supplements. Yes, you might even say anal. As any athlete knows, the key to progress is recovery from workouts, and recovery requires treating your body like a Ferrari--putting only the best stuff possible in it.

So, before ingesting any of this protein powder, lets take a look at the label...
In one scoop you get:
130 calories
20g of protein
2g of fat
7g of carbs, 5 from sugar
My 2 cents: this is comparable with most of the other powders I use such as Gaspari or Labrada plus or minus 10 calories.

Sweeteners: fructose and sucralose
My 2 cents: this passes, no aspartame, fructose doesn't spike your blood sugar like high fructose corn syrup or glucose. Sustained energy.

Fats: high oleic safflower oil -- passes on my book
US GDP: Finally, it is made in the USA (though I think most powders are...for example, EAS is made in Canada).

Protein blend as listed in order on packaging: Soy, whey, and caseinate--- you get quick abosrbing whey, medium absobing soy, and slow absorbing casein as advertised on the package. You, typically, do not see soy on other brand blends;however, it has been a long standing staple of lifters. Pass.

Based on the above, I am a willing guinea pig ...Next, I will report on the taste and mixing quality, then results. Looks like Power Bar is affiliated with Nestle, so I'm counting on the Chocalte flavor to be above average!!!

Training with Risto Sports @ CrossFit Portsmouth

2010-12-05T11:10:00.004-05:00

A lot of people have been asking me about our weekend training packages at the Risto Weightlifting Academy at CrossFit Portsmouth.

Here's the scoop:

Starter Package, $300:
Come to the gym for a full training evaluation with Coach Ivan Rojas. 2 full workouts. Ivan will send you home with a 1 month sample program.

Risto Royalty package, $700:
-Includes a 2 night stay in scenice Portsmouth, NH.
-Get 2 solid days of training in. That is 2 work outs a day with Coach Rojas
- includes a technical evaluation
- 1 month, custom tailored follow-up program, and lifting SWOT analysis
- a pair of lifting shoes!
Then escape to your surroundings......Walk on the same streets George Washington did, stroll along the waterfront, eat at fine establishments, vist local galleries, bath in the glow of lighthouses... you get the point

Sunday Feature- LG writes an article on why she love lifting

2010-11-28T10:16:00.003-05:00

While writing an article on lifting, my little lifter - Little Gwen-- wrote typed up her own article as well (yes, my 7 yr old has her own laptop, c'mon its educational).

Here it is, for a limited time only -- impression on lifting from Little Gwen, 7 yr old, lifting for 1.5 months now:

"right now , I will tell you about weightlifting. Well, I think that snatches are the hardest cuase you have to go down with weight , and it almost feels like your gonna drop . And, the easiest pose would be clean and jerk. I think it's fun caus you get to jump in a pose. Sqauts are kind of the same whith snatches cause you get the same feeling ..."

see www.ristosports.com/blog for Coach Ivan's methodology for training this 7 yr old!

Why weightlift?

2010-11-14T11:05:00.005-05:00

If you had to choose over any spare time activity or sport, why weightlifting? Why do I even want to promote it?

The answer:

It's the greatest hidden secret known to the sporting world. For those with a short attentio span (thanks to the blinking internet ads), I'll hit the bullet points:

1. It will make you POWERFUL - ie explosive, fast & strong
2. It will make you flexible
3. Yes, you will look good, 'cause it's a full body work out; most weightlifters look fit, not huge (that's a stereotype)
4. It's the most efficient way to build bone density
5. Its' incredibly easy to enter a local meet, and it has a clear easy method for qualifying for national meets
6. It is objective- you lift more, you win
7. It will make you build lean muscle, which increases your metabolism, which means you can Eat more without gaining weight
8. It will stimulate your kinestetic intelligence because it's highly technical
9. You will become better at all other sports (see 1-2,4, 7-8)
10. Where else can you train with people like Coach Ivan Rojas?
11. All you need is a bar an bumper plates, indoor or outdoor activity, 24/7, 365 days a year
12. It will make everything else seem easier -- "I can clean and jerk double bodywieght, doing ____ should therefore be a piece of cake!"
13. focus like a zen master
14. Has catchy names for the lifts such as "snatch" and "clean and jerk"

I think weightlifting is just a very misunderstood sport. C'mon, Is there anything worse than feeling alienated and misunderstood? (if a sport could feel that way, ha haha). Many people seem to wrongly identify weightlifting with slow, boring , movements. Whereas, a flawless lift is fast and nimble; it is beautiful.

More effective than describing it here is to show some video:

So, please don't do yourself a misservice, go look-up a gym, watch some Olympic lifting youtibe videos, and start learning technique. Anyone can do it. At Risto Sports, we've trained lifters from 7 years old to 57 years old.

Cincinnati Weightlifting

2010-11-02T21:09:00.002-05:00

Last week, I had the pleasure to train with Cincinnati Weightlifting. It is a classy facility located just off of the 747 in Cinci, not far from Tri-county. About 4 platforms and a good stock of weights.

Not to mention the lifters are all well educated, ranging from physicists to Chemists and Computer scientists. Interesting, Chris, the coach has a physica background, and all his lifters have good technique--once more proving that good technique is a matter of properly applying the principles of physics.

I was also interested to see some of the lifters applying of Chinese Abdominal workout techniques featured on Coach Ivan Rojas's blog www.ristosports.com/blog . If you haven't seen it, in a nutshell, the Chinese lifters would lay between two benches and stack plates on their midsection, holding the position for about 30 seconds. --Disclaimer:Do not try at home. This is not something for novices to try, always perform with a spotter, don't put the weights on your abs by yourself, do not do to failure or max out--

Anyhow, I was game for about 35Kgs at 30 seconds. I wanted to put on more weight, but I was reminded that it wasn't part of my workout and showing-off is the best way to get injured.

I'm really happy to see weightlifting crop-up in Cincinnati. There are great prospects among the lifters, most being in their 20'-30's as well as master lifters.

Other tid bit of information, one of the lifters in an opera singer. She indicated that weighltifting with the Cincinnati team actually improved her voice. Whereby, lifting makes your back and abs stronger, hence improving the singer's use of there lungs.

Anyhow, I hope to see the team continue to grow. For more info, go to http://www.cincinnatiweightlifting.com/

Updating the Blog

2010-10-25T16:24:00.003-05:00

I realize that (1) people read my blog ,(2) I have some outdated posts and photos, and (3) there is another blog on ristosports.com that serves, sometimes duplicate purpose.

We are all about continuous improvement at Risto Sports-- hence, I'm going to update this blog and focus more on promoting Olympic Weightlifting, especially in the USA. Still writing about new knowledge and research, but adding more of that blogg-y sort of feel.

New shoes on the way and work outs

2010-10-15T22:59:00.007-05:00

The Risto White Thunder are coming in 3 weeks! The new shoes have a black and white contrast.

We also have a limited test quantity of Russian Style boots.

Here are som fun photos of the shoes being made, and the final finished product:

We're pretty excited about these new options. It's always fun to walk into the gym and have a different pair of shoes than most others.

I, personally, switched over to our pink shoes. Like my dress shoes, I have more than one pair of lifting shoes. and, my lifting shoes do something for me besides look nice...

Risto Sports Website

2010-10-09T07:15:00.003-05:00

Dear customers,

Our site was flagged yesterday by Google. We did not install malware on the site.

The issue appears that a completely different site on our webhost's server had malware on it.

Here is the description, straight from google:
"Has this site acted as an intermediary resulting in further distribution of malware?

Over the past 90 days, www.ristosports.com did not appear to function as an intermediary for the infection of any sites.

Has this site hosted malware?

No, this site has not hosted malicious software over the past 90 days."

You can view the whole report on

In other words, we've been flagged for something that is unrelated to our site. We are working to fix this.

Our site loads perfectly fine in internet explorer, and it does not receive a warning if it is searched using bing.com or yahoo.com.

Keep the internet nuetral.

Thanks,

Gwen

Training in China Part 2- ristosports.com/blog

2010-09-18T22:02:00.002-05:00

Here is a link to Coach Ivan Rojas's blog on training with the Chinese National Team

China - Part 1

2010-08-23T19:54:00.002-05:00

Last week, Coach Ivan Rojas of Risto Sports had the opportunity of a life time. Coach Ivan had the opportunity to observe the training of the Chinese national Team. Ivan was able to take video and spent much time with the national coaches. Ivan is the first American, Ever, to do so.

We have posted video on www.ristosports.com, on Risto Sports twitter, on Risto Sports facebook page, and on Risto Sports youtube.

....and what Ivan learned:
The Chinese elite lifters spend much more time doing bar work, more than any of the other training systems Ivan has studied. There is a strong emphasis on technique. For example, if they miss a lift at a high weight, they go down in weight and work back up to that weight. Unlike in our American system, an athlete would never take a max weight 3 or 8 times, successively in an attempt to make the lift.

All of the lifters do a lot of conditioning exercises- basic conditioning of the arms such as curls and modified rows with dumbells.

Coming soon- 1st ever American to observe Chinese national team lifting

2010-08-21T16:51:00.002-05:00

Coach Ivan Rojas jsut came back from Beijing.

I will do a blog series on his observations of the Chinese system and training vidoes/photos.

Ivan had the rare privelege to watch the Chinese national tema trian at the national talent retention center.

To be continued....

Interview with the Armenian

2010-08-04T21:36:00.003-05:00

Whenever I go on a lifting trip- as part of Team USA or Risto Sports-- I aim to soak up as much new information as possible.

One curiosity in the wieghtlifitng world is the sucess of Armenia. Armenia is a small country with a population of about 3.2 million people. Still, they regularly have female and male World and European Champions.

Aside from an effective training system, what can stimulate such success? Massive per capita participation in lifting? Incentivization?

I would argue incentivization and athlete support:
The below are paraphrased excerpts from a dialogue with an Armenian lifter at the world Univ champs

Question : About how many lifters are in Armenia?
Paraphrased Answer:- About 50 men [competitive, with goals to make national team], and about 8 women. All of our women are World Champions. Even though we are a small country, we produce many champions.

Are there any rewards for winning Championships?
- Yes. Last year, our world champion received $50,000* and a flat. For winning European Championships, about $3000* [*Note, not indicated if this is US dollars Equivalent or local currency]

Does the national team train together at a training Center?
-No, we train by our homes.
What about for training camps?
-Yes, for a few weeks at a time, a few times a year.
Do the female lifters train with the male lifters?
-No, separate camp.

What do you study at the Univeristy?
- I study Physical culture [similar to sports science, applying scientific method to sports]

Do you work while going to school?
- No, how can I work? I would have no time to train. I need to train. [For those who know me, No, I did not point out that I mad emy national team while working, training, going to MIT, and taking care of my family.]

What are some good weightlifting sites?
-www.titanos.net

Reflections:
I would surmise that my new buddy did not have to pay his trip to the World Univeristy Championships like the USA team did.

Perhaps, the real incentive is the good odds that an Armenian lifter can become a Champion, see the world, and be given a house and salary. Really, if you're only up against 50 other men or 8 other women to get a spot on a team that wins alot-- those are crazy good odds. Better odds than winning fame and fortune through American Idol, or the lottery in the USA. Not to mention the positive reinforcement of federation help along the way and seeing your colleagues win mendal is a powerful thing.

Goal Setting & University Worlds

2010-07-12T20:52:00.004-05:00

I set out on 3 goals to hit in the 1st half of 2010:
1. Total 182kgs
2. Qualify for the World University Team
3. Graduate from MIT in June

I hit all 3. Oops, not in the most optimal order. The 182kg I hit in training-- and not at the University Worlds - contained the Univ. Worlds gold medal snatch....had I done that in the total, who knows how the field would have played out-- World Champion? Atleast a silver or bronze?

It's funny, I thought my goals would all be very, if not extremely, difficult to meet. I should be happy. My Univ world performance was not far off my official totals(ie not training). Again, I should be very happy.

Interestingly, I am not discouraged. Really. If anything, I'm even more motivated than before. I think I proved the following to myself:
1. Yes, I really am a "high performance athlete" (from independent evaluation while training abroad)
2. When in a focused environment, I can be a great lifter. When I had 4 months of nothing but Thesis -lift-Thesis/lab- Lift- thesis- sleep--thesis ..., I hit the 182kg. I will find away to hit even bigger weights.

Sadly, I kind of saw all of this coming. My thesis due in May, going back to work fulltime in April, halfing my workout hours was perfect storm of events. Sometimes, despite your yearnings, things seem to slip away. Or, maybe it's the Self's subconcious complacency, knowing that, on some level, you have already won.

In the end, there are many athletes who can say the same. If only they lifted what they did yesterday, if only they performed as they did a month ago -- somehow the world conspires against them for a pick of reasons: injuries, sickness, nerves, family, work , school.... That is the sport.

Back to the squat rack.

Live from the World University Championships

2010-06-30T18:23:00.003-05:00

Almost 30 hours later, we arrived in Taichung City, Taiwan. Hotel is nice, food is good (really good coffee). JET LAG!

Team USA has good prospects to outplace any of its International teams this year.

Risto Sports Closed through July 7th

2010-06-27T20:40:00.003-05:00

Dear Customers,

Risto Sports will be closed through July 7, 2010--- and for a great reason... We are competing at the World University Championships in Taiwan
(http://2010wuwc.ctusf.org.tw). I will be lifting for Team USA; Coach Ivan Rojas will be coaching for Team USA.

Go Team USA!

Improvements - RE:training

2010-06-13T19:18:00.000-05:00

I don't know what it is? Have you ever had a work where, something you snatched off the blocks for reps a few days ago… well you just keep “clarking the bar” everytime you attempt it. Maybe it’s overtrianing, maybe its mental toughness. Workouts like these can take a toll—do you feel like, “why did I even bother coming to the gym, Am I just wasting my time?”

Like many things in life, the key is how do you react.

The greatest improvements are made, when your body is aching and sore, and you still complete your workout with no misses. This is when your body , finally, begins to adapt to the loading. So, if you have a workout and are sore and have lots of misses – this could be technical problem which then triggers self doubt ending in “clarking” the bar.

So, what do you do from here? Squeeze at least one or two good exercises out in the rest of the workout. Build the mental confidence. Next workout, focus more on the technique. It is your technique that will get you through the last heavy reps of an achy sore workout. In your next workout, you again lift these same weights with fewer if no misses. That’s when improvements also happen.

When you start your next work out week, you’ll be stronger. We all have crappy days—just try not to have too many and use them to troubleshoot your technique. Because, the next workout is even better – your mental confidence is solidified by rising-up over your lifts. Then you’re just on the upswing to being invincible!

Si, Se Puede!

Olympic Day- Risto Weightlifting Academy

2010-06-01T22:47:00.002-05:00

On June 23rd at 6:30 PM, the Risto weightlifting academy will be celebrating Olympic Day (worldwide IOC event, occurs every June 23rd).

We will have a free open workout as well as seminar on the Cuban system. Please RSVP at info@ristosports.com

Our event is registered with the USOC. It will be held at our facility in Portsmouth, NH (also site of crossfitportsmouth)

The 3 Masters, from a stressed out grad student

2010-05-16T13:43:00.004-05:00

Yes, I am jealous of anyone who is able to train fulltime, atleast twice a day.

My three masters- Work, Thesis, and Weightlifting. A few months ago, I was fulltime focused on my Thesis, which gave me the flexibility to arrange my Thesis hours and work out times in harmony. Not to mention, the synergistic relationship between my Thesis and weightlifting. Now, I'm back to the corporate world.. doing all 3 at once. Again. I love all 3 and its TAXING.

Interestingly, there is a clear correlation between bodyweight (weight loss), back squat , and lifts. So, we can't consider sport performance only in one dimension. Environment is as much a factor (see earlier post on systems dynamics model in MArch 2010).

One way or another, I will submit my Thesis in the next few days. It will be an awesome 100+ page paper, I will be done, and I will retire a master.

So, is this the universe telling me just to focus on one thing? Focus on Work only, Academics only, or Weightlifting only.

Nahhh. There will be a big upswing in my biorythms once I'm back to just work and weightlifting. Have your cake and eat it!

Reflections on an Ascension from weightlifting purgatory

2010-04-24T08:53:00.006-05:00

Looks like I made the world university team, relief. Maybe going up 2 weight classes did work out afterall.

Quick aside.. and some whining
First off, I have to say – Thank God for the new qualifying total system. It took our new BOD only a few months to design a qualifying system that actually makes some attempt to send lifters to intetrnational meets ased on abiity to place higher. Our past qualifing totals heavily favored 48’s, 75’s, and 75+’s --yes, I said finally it, a 75 could get on a team with 180kg total, a 48 with 135, while a 53 had to do close to 160!!! With the qualifying system totday,I would have been ranked much higher in my former life as 53. Still, going up two weight classes is not for naught.
Back to where I left off...

The last last few years of weightlifting have been strange. I look back, and as a 53kg lifter I won a National Collegiate championships, out-snatched a bunch of people at Nationals, and made the Olympic Trials. I think it had been the best lifting I had ever done in comparison to my past life as a junior lifter (and can you believe I made more teams as a junior?).

Then came the implosions. Missed opportunities. At least 3 national meets I should have won or placed a lot higher based on my entry total. Wild fluctuations between what I did in training and what I did at a national meet. I guess it was the iterative weight cutting. Without even realizing it, I subsisted on protein shakes to make weight, eeking out each 10th of a kilo of weight. Even worse, people complimented me at these meets with, “good job” . Good job for being 20kgs under my best sanctioned meet total? I think they forgot that I had talent, that I lifted more.

I think the final implosion was 2009 nationals. AND I really began to listen to coaches and corworkers on my weight class.

The turning point –
It also came at the 2009 nationals/ Pan AM championships. We grabbed the priceless opportunity to get technical consulting from Cuba’s national coach. Instant improvements.

Then this DEC-March, I had the great opportunity to work on my thesis fulltime. With no fixed schedule to plug-in my 60+ hours of a work week, I could creativcely squeeze in more training sessions.

Now, I'm back to work fulltime and pumping out the last pages of my thesis. Training doesn't feel as majical when you just roll out of the car from 8 hours of making the world a better place for jet engines and a 1 hour commute. I need to actually lift in a competition wht I've done in training. Time to snap out of the mediocrity and get back to work. I will find a way.

Roughin' it

2010-04-05T21:47:00.004-05:00

Consistency be the Devil. Being able to execute a lift-- everytime, whenever, wherever-- that can be a challenge.

Last week, we trained at a small school in Bello, Colombia for a few sessions. Alongside youngsters, we trained on worn bars, in the 80 degree, humid weather, at high altitude, on warped rubbermat platforms that had seams about every square foot. And, when it rained, we moved the bars into the hallway (think open, covered walkway outside a hotel).

Even in these conditions, the kids showed-up to train, on time, everyday. Ivan had a chance to work with some of the new lifters (yes, the girl to the left is wearing our shoes).

On one hand, lifting was harder in these conditions. Perhaps, it gives incentives to the younger lifters. I think the training did help mental preparation, keeping technique and timing consistent from good conditions, to poor equipment, back to good conditions...ehh not so sure. If you have access to good equipment or can help lifters get access to good equipment, by all means do so. Short term roughing it out may do some good; however, simulating competition environment (especially depending on the part of your training cycle) when possible is best.

Live from the South American Games

2010-03-26T22:09:00.002-05:00

DAY 1-
Watch out for South America, the level of competition is ever improving amongst the South American Countries. Yes, I know, you may be asking"South American Games, don´t you mean PAN AM games?". Nope. The weightlifting competittion at this meet seemed as competitive as the PAn AM Champs last year in Chicago IL.

On positive note, the bar keeps raising, and we'll have to keep lifting more weight in the USAW (myself included).

We will post video and photos soon.... stay tuned!

The awakening

2010-03-10T23:28:00.003-05:00

In life, natural systems rarely behave linearly. However, us humans innate prefer to think of the world as linear - you know drawing straight lines between data points. In reality, we can better model the world as a system of loops, stocks and flow.

There are loops that reinforce patterns of system behaviors and ones which balance or neutralize reinforcing loops. Now, the most powerful type of growth exhibited in the natural world is exponential growth. The key to harnessing this growth in our favor are to run with the reinforcing loops.

An important aspect to successfully training a lifter is to take system's perspective of the athlete and their environment. We have to consider and map all behaviors that will reinforce growth in the athlete's performance as well as discourage it. So, things such as - sleep, hours training per week, incentives and disincentives to train, access to coaching, access to diet (high quality protein), recovery, mental outlook, etc...

Adding more.........

Reinventing the Gwen

2010-02-22T10:39:00.007-05:00

So, do I go up a weight class? Go back down a weight class? Stay the same? Keep my natural hair color?

Many athletes face these questions each competition season- to continously go up a weight class or stubbornly continue to cut weight.

In my case...

My lifting has been going incredibly well, with even more potential to improve. It begs me to ask the question-- How much is attributed to weight gain?

To some extent, weighing more will let you lift more. Equally powerful is the absence of cutting weight and your body's ability to recover. For me, I think this is a bigger factor in performance improvement.

Aside from weight gain, there are confounding factors in this performance improvement such as:

1. Fixing fundamental technical problem

2. Increased number of work outs

3. Increased loading and intensity

4. Consequently, improved leg strength and increased total potential

5. Have not been rear-ended by an automobile recently (no joke, my car was a magnet for careless drivers!! The bright yellow GA Tech sticker is my rear bumper's guardian angel.)

2-4 are affected by recovery capacity and, hence, weight cutting. Additionally, technique can be affected by cutting weight: depending on how your body loses weight, your center of gravity can shift noticeably when you descend from your training weight to competition weight. 1-3 are also all Ivan's expert coaching.

Still, it bugs me to think that fat does not lift weights, and it also bugs me to think of how gaunt I look as a 53.

Thinking positively

The more important conclusion is that my lifting is far from plateaued. I just need more work at higher intensity. That's it.

Everytime Ivan and I have trained with a national team or traveled to learn from a reknowned coach, we've been given essentially the same advice across the board --- "more work". And, ohh by the way, "more work" means an S-load more work, it means training harder than you ever imagined. I think I finally get it now.

Like many non-fulltime athletes, the only difference between me and someone at a training center is that I have to work 40+hours a week**, which does challenge number of workouts and recovery time. That being said, I will outlift and persevere over my competition.

**I actually like my job ;).

A Great Day

2010-02-16T17:29:00.003-05:00

As some of you ahve already seen on the Risto Sports Facebook page or www.ristosports.com/blog, the Risto Weightlifting Academy had its first meet of the year, the Atlantic States Open. The whole team did fantastic!

We had 3 first places and a best lifter award.

For me, personally, the meet was a great break through after a year of implosions. So, I did 70-73-75; 85-90 Pass, and it was all incredibly easy. I mean EASY! It epitomizes why I keep lifting: those days of perfection, the white moments as Yuri Vlasov calls it, the days when you are litterally invincible and can lift anything.

Alas, where do you go from here? I can't honsetly say that every workout is as blissful. Train like Hell, I guess!

Body Image and sports, what matters?

2010-01-25T13:05:00.001-05:00

One of the great, yet often overlooked, values of weightlifting is the positive body image and self-confidence that it promotes for women.

When you've made a national team, you look at your body in terms of "should I lose weight to be higher ranked? Should I gain weight to lift more and place higher?" . Perhaps, this is true of any Olympic sport where your body weight and composition affects performance, and weight class contested sports seem to amplify the affects of body weight management.

Recently, I watched the documentary "America the Beautiful" (on Netflix none the less). It basically shows a confident 12 year old girl transforming from the next hottest thing in the supermodel-fashion-world to a 17 year old girl, in healthy physical shape, who is convinced that she is obese and ugly. More interestingly, at the end of the movie, it is not that she became overwieght and had to stop modeling, it was more that she grows into a 6 ft+ tall woman who's physical, skeletal frame cannot fit into the size 0 clothes she modeled-in as a 12 year old.

More recently, we've seen a relatively normal to good looking person like Heidi Montag get 10 plasitc surgeries done with the end result of looking like a rubber Barbie doll.

For someone like myself, who's taken a Sullivan-esque approach to body image - that form follows function- I question the above Pop culture examples as: Women, why are we doing this to ourselves? Do we really all want to look like Barbie? this sounds like an Orwellian futuristic world. Or even that episode of the Twilight Zone where all women and men had received plastic surgery after hitting puberty to look identical to eachother.

How does looking like a Barbie doll or being a size 0 in any way relate to your self worth or your ability to accomplish something as a person. Further, do we forget that any surgery is surgery and that women have actually died from elective plastic surgery?

For a competitive athlete, any risk to your life for elective surgery is too big a risk at all. Shouldn't bodywieght, your shape, what you look like be part functionality and just part yourself?

Through wieghtlifiting or an activity like Crossfit, one can sculpt their body to whatever shape they desire by adding muscle and burning fat. Admittingly, some people even gain fat in hopes that competing at a higher weight bring them to a performance optima.

Women, you are all beatiful. (Ok, men too, We don't discriminate at Risto Sports. Statistically women get buy more beauty products and get more procedures done. )

Self improvement should be something you do in library, outside, in a place of prayer, or in a gym -- not under anesthesia.

Athlete Feature - Ubaldina Valoyes

2010-01-18T12:22:00.006-05:00

Coach Ivan just came back from Colombia where he continued his study of the highly sucessful Colombian system. In recent years, Colombia has risen to be one of the top weightlifting countries in PAN America as well as in the world.

Ivan worked with World medalist Ubaldina Valoyes (pictured with Ivan) at the Bogota high perfomance training center, Salitre. Below is a factual profile on Ubaldina.

Ubaldina’s Stats:
Highest placement at JR worlds: 3rd
Highewst placement at Sr Worlds: 5th
Highest placement at Pan AM Ganes: 1st
Highest placing at the Olympics: 7th

Best competition snatch: 112kg
Best competition Clean and jerk: 138

Best training snatch: 115 kg
Best Training clean and jerk:145 kg

Best back squat: 180 kg
Best front squat: 155 kg

Ubaldina was discovered by a Cuban coach in Colombia while she was a shot put thrower. After seeing her throw, he told her she had better physical conditions for being a weightlifter than a thrower. Specifically, although she was a good thrower, she was not tall enough to be Olympic level. Culturally, this is interesting- rather than tell her to quit throwing because she was too short, he recommended that she switch to weightlifting. He saw that she still had great explosiveness and athletic talent and could use her height to her advantage in weightlifting.

Aside -This is very similar to Olympic Champion Maria Urrutia’s story. She was also a thrower from Colombia who switched to weightlifting. She later won the 2000 Olympic Games. Maria Urrutia is now a member of the Colombian congress.

Ubaldina admires the Chinese lifters. She has friendly competition with Damaris Aguirre from Mexico. She is great friends with weightlifters Cinthya Dominguez from Mexico and Hernandez from Cuba.

Ubaldina has been fitted for weightlifting shoes, and will proudly be wearing the Risto weightlifting shoes in this year's international competitions.

Why weightlifting shoes? Why a good bar?

2010-01-04T23:13:00.004-05:00

Often I am asked: "Do I need weightlifting shoes?" or "Is there really a difference in bars?"

To both, I would say "Absolutely!!".

Why weightlifting shoes are the best thing since sliced bread for anyone using weights:
If you have never worn lifting shoes and regularly use free weights, a good pair of shoes will easily increase your max by 5-10kg or 10-22lbs. This is because weightlifting shoes have a hard, less compressible sole. A good shoe also has a well constructed leather upper that will support your foot with radial and tangentially compressive forces.

The hard sole allows you to efficiently transfer force to the floor. So, whether you're doing a deadlift, snatch, or squat, you want all of your hard Work or energy transmitted to the floor. A soft, squishy rubber sole will waste your Energy. A typical sneaker sole will actually act as a damper, sucking the energy out of your lift.

Think of your lift like thrust out of a rocket. You lift the weight up by as an equal and opposite reaction from pushing against the floor. Again, visualize it like thrust coming out of a rocket- a rocket explodes upward into the sky by shoving expanded gasses out a nozzle which then push against the surface or gasses outside the exhuast nozzle, shooting the rocket upward.

The upper gives support to the structure of your foot. One should not lift bear foot as your foot will spread out and flatten during heavy reps (not good for arches!!). Sure, you can find photos and video's of World champs showing-off by lifting in a pair of sandals or no shoes. And, this is not something they do day-after-day or at competitions, winning Olympic Golds and breaking world records.

Most importantly - SAFETY! A good pair of shoes will prevent lateral rocking, protecting your ankles. A well contructed shoe will keep you more stable and in control of your lifts.

Try lifting a few reps in a pair of sneakers, then repeat the same reps in a pair of lifting shoes. It's night and day. Its like driving a Hyundai Accent then jumping into a BMW M3.

Bars:
A good bar spins. A good bar oscillates. Both qualities prevent wrist injuries. Bushings are no where near the same as needle bearings. From working in the jet engine business, I can tell you that bearings are an art form in there own. Ford focus is to Ford mustang as Bushing bar is to needle bearing bar.

Side note:
By the way, Risto shoes are made of leather with a wooden sole. We do this purposely as both the leather and wood will, overtime, form to your foot and stance. We do not use plastic or vinyl uppers, as plastic does not break-in, it doesn't mold to your foot anywhere near as well as leather. Leather is more expensive too. We do not use a plastic sole as hard plastic stays in the same mold from which it came. We are all individuals and need a shoe that will mold into something a little but like ourselves. Wood is hard, yet flexible and will form to our stance over time.

Risto Weightlifting Academy and CrossFit Portsmouth

2009-12-06T18:48:00.003-05:00

Finally, an easy way to tap into Ivan's Knowledge. Your lifting schedule is now our lifting schedule. Together, we will all lift more.

I am glad to announce that Coach Ivan Rojas and myself have opened the Risto Weightlifting Academy. Coach Ivan will now be offering full time Olympic weightlifting and Sports Performance services. The Risto Sports Academy is located, convenientl,y at CrossFit Portsmouth in Portsmouth, NH.

We firmly believe that CrossFit and Olympic lifting have a mutualistic relationship. We are glad to have a full service gym from which to share Ivan's knowledge.

Coach Ivan Rojas's services :
- Program design and training for Olympic Weightlifting

- Includes local and distance/telecommuting athletes
- Enhanced sports performance via Program design and training
- Technical tune-ups for anyone -CrossFitter's, weightlifters, strength sports athletes

- Weekend training get aways

- Drop-in sessions

- Full training clinics and seminars

- Access to other experts in the weightlifting world
2008 Olympic Silver Medalist Diego Salazar will be in for a demonstration with his Coach on JAN 30-31 2009. Event admission includes one on one technical analysis of event attendees by Diego's Coach and Coach Rojas, in depth Q&A, and demonstration by Diego.

Location, Location, Location!
For those of you asking "Why would I want to go to Portsmouth?" Here's why:
- Portsmouth is an artsy, hidden gem located right on the Gulf of Maine. Good dining, shopping, cafe's, breweries, Lobster and lots of lighthouses (see this month's GQ )

-Less than 1 hour North of downtown Boston, and Boston Logan Airport
- Less than 5 minutes from the Maine border
- Less than 5 minutes from the Kittery trading Post
- Less than 5 minutes from the Portsmouth naval Shipyard-- catch a glimpse of some subs, one of 4 submarine depots in the country
- Less than an hour from Portland, Maine
- Equidistant to 3 airports : BOS, PWM, and MHT
- Five minutes from PSM airport (if you have a private jet or Cessna or can charter a plane)

- Try on some Risto's after visiting Bean town

Yes, it really is all about the pull

2009-11-06T22:53:00.003-05:00

In lifting, there tends to be two mainstream schools of thought : (1) get under the bar as fast as you can and (2) pull as high as possible and go up on your toes.

Lets examine the physics of lifting. Your goal of a snatch or clean and jerk is to get the bar overhead. So is pulling really high or jumping under a bar relevant? How do we most effectively lift such huge weights overhead? Energy!

The bar must accelerate to the point that it travels upward. With weights that are a small percentage of your max, you are able to power snatch as the amount of energy that you would generte

Take Newton's Laws into consideration:
1. every action creates an equal and opposite reaction
2. an object already in motion tends to stay in motion

In other words, we can get that huge weight overhead by exerting a force against the floor of the platform to put the bar in motion. Ideally, as the bar is moving upward, we want to keep accelerating it until it rises above our head.

Now, we can easily accelerate light weights (70% or less of our max lift) overhead without going under the bar. That does change when your at heavier lifts. A lift close to your max will cause you to go under the bar as an assistance to catching the lift overhead.

You only need to go under the bar when the weight is too heavy to "power snatch" or "power clean".

Now, as smart weightlifters, we want to maximize the work that we put into each lift. With efficient technique, we can lift more for our given leg strength. To do this we must take advantage of the physics of our lifter-bar system.

You want the bar to accelerate in nearly a straight line, upward. After the bar hits its peak acceleration, it will begin to decelerate, eventually hitting zero velocity- it will be weightless. After the point of zero velocity, the velocity of the bar will change direction form upward to downward and continue to accelerate downward with gravity. The peak acceleration is where you exploit the hard work you have put into the pull.

You should be already moving under the bar before it begins to decellerate downward. You should not be fighting gravity to catch the bar. A perfectly timed lift will actually cause the bar to pull you out of the bottom postion, after the catch.

So where does this leave us with my first sentence: should we jump under the bar or pull as high as possible?
NEITHER! After your peak aceleration of the bar, you should follow through, naturally, with the motion of the bar. If you forcibly go up on your toes and strug, will tighten your arms and upper back, disrupting the kinetic chain of motion. Diving under the bar, on the otherhand, is a symptom of suboptimizing your pull. If you need to squeeze under the bar, then you have under acclerated the bar, and the bar is more apt to crush (not litteraly) you in the bottom position versus pull you out of the bottom position.

Those professing either (1) or (2) as the only way of lifting are really just describing two aspects of the lift, albeit, incorrectly.

Outliers. Have you gotten your 10,000 hours in?

2009-08-23T13:01:00.009-05:00

Two posts ago, I remarked that it was a bit shocking that not many coaches actively scoop-up post-college athletes. In other words, we, in the US, tend to be hyper focused on discovering the next Suleymonglu at the age of 12; to the point, that taking on an athlete over the age of 17 or even 20 seemed to be a waste of time.

So, interestingly, I was on a business trip to Canada (not shoes, my real job), and upon watching some CBC, I came across a review of the book "Outliers", fascinated by its propositions on successful athletes, I started reading it.

In a nutshell...

In order to be an extraordinarily successful athlete, you need opportunity and 10,000 hours--or 10 years- of serious practice. In other words, no one is a success on their own. Not even the most physically gifted people can wake-up, one day, and just clean and jerk triple their bodyweight.

Even more importantly, factual case studies show that one only needs a minimal level of talent to become, say, Olympic Champion. What makes one greater than competitors is the amount of additional work and practice you have had. In sports, music, business, or academia, their are thousands, millions of talented people; the difference between mediocre, good, and great is the great people had unique opportunities that allowed them to put in the 10,000 hours to be the best.

How this relates to lifting

When it comes to "talent identification" it is more important that our lifters are able to put in the thousands of hours of work to be successful. Per Popov's comments in Bulgaria --- all you need to be a good lifter is (1) the ability to do a full squat, (2) rack a bar in a clean, (3) ability to do an overhead squat--- the rest is a function of who has the opportunity and desire to put in the 10000 hours or roughly ten years of hard training.

Playing Devils advocate

Every once in while, there is a track athlete, that seemingly comes out of no where and wins a National weightlifting meet.
Is it because they are so much more talented and gifted than any lifter currently in the system ? No. It's probably because they are already elite athlete's in an explosive sport, having incorporated Olympic lifting movements as part of their normal training.

Samething with Junior lifters: Why are some early or late bloomers? Adolescents hit puberty at different points, and some children have been doing other sports since they were toddlers. Some have very sport-focused, supportive parents.

Overall, its accumulative advantage or disadvantage that adds-up overtime. It might not seem like such a big deal, but it is over an athlete's lifetime.

Conclusion
If we want to be a power, again, in weightlifting, the most important step is to set-up infrastructure where athletes can train consistently, and support athletes who, after given the opportunity to train, continue to put in the hour. Consistent, hard training is paramount above all other factors-- age, perceived talent, etc.

Hmmm, the above is exactly how the Colombian selection system works. Lifters who train hard and meet minimal qualifiers are rewarded, supported, and incentivized to keep training.

Horatio Alger, go home!

References:
Gladwell, Malcom. Outliers. 2008. Hatchette Book Group: New York, NY.

Better than expected! New Ristos Arrived!!

2009-08-20T20:35:00.003-05:00

This is a short post, but I had to write it because I am so excited....

The new batch of Risto shoes have arrived!!! We've taken customer feedback and further improved the design. The shoe sole widens at the forefoot, extra padding, better shoe laces, wider strap.

To make ordering even easier, we are also launching a new website www.ristosports.com

The shopping cart is fully functional. At checkout, please indicate your size in the order comments.

We also have leather Chinese-style wrist wraps - still made in the Americas-as well as belts and singlets.

www.ristosports.com

American lifting- map the current and future states

2009-07-05T22:39:00.005-05:00

Probably the first time I was asked" aren't you too old to be lifting" was when I was 15 years old. The last time this was posed to me was at Collegiates when someone remarked " You're still doing this.". Or, maybe, what the persons really meant to ask was, "haven't you moved on from lifting yet?".

I think this goes back to a sort of Julliard mentality-- that if you're not a prodigy in your teens or didn't start lifting in your early teens...just don't even bother trying. As if all great lifters were like Suleymonoglu, breaking word records at the age of 16.

The truth is, weightlifting is Not a sport like, say , gymnastics, where being under 20 is an advantage (think 2008 Chinese gymnast scandal - its unfair to be competing against a 12yr old?, not in weightlifting). Weightlifters do not even peak until the ages 26 to 30.

Sure, there are countries where most of the national team is under 30. However, their infrastructure is much different. They have the equvalent of sports schools where adolescents or younger can train full time. A country like China or Cuba has a backlog of 21 yr olds waiting to fill the slot of 26 yr olds on the national team.

In a country like America, there are very few athletes who have the privalege to train fulltime, especially, in a sport like weightlifting. We do not have a pipeline of athletes training fulltime from the age of 12, for example. Hence, in our current state, it is not surprising that we will have athletes on our national team over 30. And, further we should not throw away or write-off athletes venturing into lifting that have not hit their peak yet or are still improving.

And such is the American way- that anyone has a chance to take a go at it, to aspire to acheive even the most audacious goals ....

As an observation, unless you grow-up in a community with a strong weightlifting program, particularly in the USA, it may be easier to focus on wieghtlifting in your post-college years -- ie you have a car to drive to the gym, perhaps you can afford your own weights, and you no longer have parents and coaches trying to recruit you to other sports...

Again, all the above is based on the current state of weightlifting in the USA. An ideal future state of USA weightifting would include more infrastructure to reign-in adolescent lifters and keep young lifters lifting into their 20's. But this is a different subject for another post....

Ehhh, when I was on the "under 16 team" every year we got the same trip to the same competition in Canada- not a World's in Thailand- no wonder I didn't start training seriously till my 20's.

Chicago Illonois - Pan AM Championships, lifting test bed

2009-06-08T21:28:00.010-05:00

Just came back form Chicago where the Pan American Championships were held. I have posted some pictures of the strong performances.

Upon being asked, "what was the best way to train for the snatch and clean and jerk", Norbert Schemansky -- one of the USA's best ever Olympic weightlifters (4 time Olympic medalist and Champion, trained at home) once answered, "snatch and clean and jerk". This was reiterated this weekend upon speaking with coaches around the America's.

For example, the latest research shoes that the repertoire of exercises can be narrowed, for advanced lifters, to mostly snatch, clean and jerk and squat. Percentages, vary through out the week from 70 to 90%.

Plyometrics methodologies have changed as well. The focus in plyometrics has shifted to mostly vertical jumps, and away from longer long jumps and box jumps. This mimics their pulling style, which has a straight-upward bar trajectory. Appreciation of the nuances is key, whereas in China we saw lifters having a slightly backward trajectory at the very top of the pull. Either way, when working technique, above all, it is most important to jump high with the bar than to go down under the bar into the bottom position.

Also of interest, the lifter's theoretical total is calculated as 72.6% of the lifter's back squat. Similarly, the lifter's theoretical snatch and clean and jerk are percentages of the backsquat. These ratios are used to diagnose need for technical changes versus leg strength. In other words, if you can back squat your total, then you probably are suffering from technical problems.

Finally, another small win for the women's movement: One of the USA's strongest weightlifting competitors in PAN-America, finally, entered a female lifter, for the first time ever in an International Weightlifting Federation sanctioned competition:

Ramble On

2009-05-16T17:52:00.006-05:00

Having a bit of writer's block, now. ...

A few weeks from now is the combined USAW National Championships and PAN AM Championships. A meet format to get excited about! More lifters lifting more weight is only cause to get inspired, to further raise the bar.

The idea of exposure should not be underestimated. Every meet one goes to builds something; there is nothing like a competition setting. One can simulate it in a "controlled work out", yet its doesn't replicate all of the serendipity, sometimes travesties of a meet setting.

I guess my training for this meet is all about (1) getting stronger, and (2) making weight sooner. Sauna+ Gwen does not = good results. Both (1) and (2) have been going well; its all about making it happen on meet day.

I did alright at last years nationals, getting a medal in the snatch, but left feeling I could do more. Leaving weight on the platform-- its such ...hmmm... blah feeling. But there are meets when one feels invincible, when you reach the "white moment" as Yuri Vlasov described it. That's how I want to lift-- ya know... not so much strategizing on the rest of the field, but, just, going out there and putting whatever on the bar you dare to. Why not?

I feel like,a t times, lifters get trpped by metrics of hitting a qualifying total or scoring team points, that they don't go for it...they lift safe. Maybe, then, we just need more opportunities to lift at sanctioned national meets or Cups/invitationals which count towards national rankngs (I mean 2 -3 big national meets a yr, that's like a weekend in baseball season)

will write more later.....

Leidy Solis- JR world Champion, wears Risto

2009-04-25T18:18:00.005-05:00

Leidy Solis lifts for the Colombian National Team and competed at the 2008 Olympic Games. She is currentty in a training camp for the PAN AM Championships, this June in Chicago. Her short term goal is to win the Senior Word Championships, with sights on winning the 2012 Olympic Games. She is a very serious athlete and, hence, demanding with her equipment. We are proud to help her meet her next set of goals by designing and manufacturing custom shoes and singlets to meet her needs.

Survey - for customers who have bought the Risto's

2009-03-23T09:54:00.004-05:00

As part of my class in Statistical Design of Experiments at MIT, I'm fielding a survey on the Risto's for those who have purchased them. Please feel free to click the below link to take the 9 question, multiple choice survey:

<http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=HCZOvbvZobAICil2NGjR8g_3d_3d>

Again, it's for science ;)

Thank you,

Gwen

Some Whining, sarcasm, anger and injuries

2009-03-08T10:55:00.008-05:00

Why is it that Massachusetts driver's keep rear- ending my car? It happened last TUES. I was hit by an ambulance (and, no, they did not have their lights flashing! and it was behind a stop sign). The last time it hapened was in OCT 06; my SI joint was the primary victim, being messed-up for YEARS. Atleast, this time a completely different part of my back was irritated and bothering me now.

There are two annoying aspects here:
1. I have to take time off from training before a national meet for a NON-sports related injury
2. most people,c learly, do not understand the concept of conservation of momentum
-mass X velocity = mass X velocity. So if a really big mass (ie ambulance) hits a stopped, much smaller mass (Corrolla waiting behind another car at a stop sign), the small object gets more of the momentum transferred to it. So my Corrolla's zero momemtum gets all the momentum from the gianormous ambulance. So, when you hit my car, from behind, at a stop sign, don't tell me "So for hitting you. You're ok, right?" . See Bullet 1, I am NOT ok.

So, why am I whining about a car accident on a weightlifting blog:
Sport competitions are all about who is the best on the day of the competition. I can whine now and say I was lifting "X" amount a few weeks ago, but it means nothing when I get on the platform at a meet a few weeks from now.

I guess this happens all the time in weightlifting and in other sports. Here's an example: Oscar Figueroa lifted close to the Olympic Gold medalist's lifts, just days before the actual competition...the morning of his weight class an injury flared-up and he could not even grip the bar, he bombed out.

I think the worst part when you get soft tissue injuries is it is hard to know how much time to take off or what intensity to stay below. I'm just going to take it easy the next two weeks. Still, I need to find away to get back in shape by Collegiates, at least, nationals.

Yes, my whole national meet season occurs in a period of two months --and these are the only meets to qualify for US teams, why do we not have more competitions or invitationals etc....or selection based on training just prior to int'l meets (eg Colombian model) vs months before as anything can happen.

I hate being the victim. So, time to stop whining. Time to move on.....

More on Colombia, training observations

2009-01-30T23:37:00.012-05:00

Back to lifting, the training system:

Though lifters will perform different percentages and exercises depending on the point in their training cycle, some generalizable characteristics of the Colombian training system can be gleaned at any point in the training cycle.

So then, what are these?

Well, first off, the Colombians, at any of the sites we visited, performed many muscle snatches, power snatches, and power cleans. They also squatted at least once a day and did both front and back squats. These characteristics are very typical of the Cuban system.

These Cuban influences are likely due to the fact the prior National coaches of Colombia were form Cuba. For example, Madrigal, presently the Cuban National weightlifting coach, coached in Colombia for many years. So, even though the current National coach, Gancho is from Bulgaria, one can still see the Cuban influences left by Madrigal and other prior Cuban coaches.

Going back to my prior post, the national team coach is from Bulgaria. Interestingly, the national team trained for the Olympics in Bulgaria. The organizing system, also mentioned in my last post, also shows Bulgarian influence, particularly how teams may be chosen based on in-training results reported by training centers. Meanwhile, the highest level lifters, the Elite lifters, live and train fulltime at the National training Center located in Cali.

....

From Colombia to Maine, last 10 dys or so

2009-01-18T16:04:00.016-05:00

Best way to get around Southern Maine in January

Best way to get around Southern Colombia in January

Ivan, little Gwen and I went to Colombia to 1) work on the new shoes and 2) weightlifting -- lifting, coaching, and learning.

Colombia is a fun place. Firstly, the people are so nice, very easy going, and very affectionate. Really, people warm-up to each other much faster. The food is awesome; you can eat grilled steak, pork, chicken, or roasted chicken fairly inexpensively and rather easily (ie most places offer one or the other). Ohh yeah, and the coffee is good; nice, rich, smooth, strong coffee.

Going on to lifting and shoes...let's talk lifting first:

We trained in Bogota with the City League. First, let's preface how it is even possible to train on equipment...

In Colombia, city's like Bogota have public parks. These parks include sports complex's, which are funded by a 4% tax on phone bills. The sports themselves - team selections, championships, etc-- are coordinated by the Colombian Olympic Committee. So, the training complexes we worked out at were all public parks, organized by the city weighlifting League, each individual center being a club (2 clubs in Bogota, expanding to 4 more this year).

But that is just for the equipement: the coaches and lifters filling these halls get support from the federation.

So, for example, each of the coaches we met had studied for 10 semesters universtiy curriculum related to sports training and weightlifting. Many of them were former world or PAN AM medalists. The current national coach is Gancho, from Bulgaria.

The coaches at the city leagues would train lifters at all levels below Olympic team and wolrd medalists. Each level of lifter experience was eligible for training stipends and trips, after meeting a certian criteria.

For example, at Salitre, one of the city Leagues clubs, there was a 14 year old girl who received trainign support. She had competed at a schoolage international meet and won first place. In effect, she receives almost 300 USD per month ot help her to continue to train--- BUT, she has to meet federation requirements to continue to receive a stipend: She must train atleast 10 hours per week and meet a very attainable training total.

Similarly, there was a new crop of lifters who just started lifting. If they train for 3 weeks and begin to show technique, they are eligible for a free snack and lunch every day (to help with training nutrition, most kids are poor). If they continue to train, atleast 10 hours per week, and meet a standard total, then they recieve increased benefits -- snack and a meal, money to commute to training.

More interestingly is how they select teams. They do have national meets for qualifying to national teams, AND teams are chosen on training results. Here you can see the Bulgarian influences. At certain levels and training cycles, athletes will Max out every FRI. Coaches will report the results, and lifters who are performing best are sent to international meets.

So, I think what I find most interesting is that there are teams and competitions for every level of athlete, ultimately, building a pipeline for the elite teams.

Here is the pyramid of athlete levels:

Elite: Medalist at Worlds and Olympic Games, trains at facility in Cali

Advanced Level: Medals at regional Games, competes at other international cups and competitions

Construction II: Medals at national competition, age 21 - 22 years old

Construction I Junior teams: Medal at junior meets and Junior international meets, Age 17 - 20 years old

Instruction age 13 - 16 years old, trains at different training centers

From an enterprise architecture perspective (doing my thesis at MIT on enterprise architecture), the successful Colombian system of organizing is similar to Human resource employee development plans at large US corporations (sucession planning). There is a clear pipeline to back fill lifters at all levels of training. You will have the fewest number of people at the elite level, AND lifters in the middle levels are not ignored such that these "execitive' or elite level athletes have back-ups in case of injury or retirement. There is a true core to this organization. Additionally, the bottom level is comprised of a strongly engaged base...the future mid and elite level lifters.

Note that at all levels above Construction II, no age is specified. This coincides with the fact that "Master of Sport" level takes, typically, ten years of consistent training. Additionally, it permits transition from junior levels to senior level lifting. Overall, the structure emphasizes that lifters at all levels are kept engaged in the sport. Again, with 10+ yrs of straight training needed to reach master of sport levels, the "up and comers" have training goals and teams to work for, while working to a path to the Olympic and world teams.

Note, that this is not a strict sports school in the Old Soviet sense. There is much emphasis on parent involvement and personal dedication. Again, this is more like a corporation: build a culture of dedication and commitment, set standards, reward performance at all levels, keep everyone engaged, resources available to help assist your core when needed.

At the Risto production site

2009-01-10T17:22:00.003-05:00

Right now, I´m at the Risto production site in South America.

All I can say is "wow". I´m so happy, the shoes are coming out awesome. And, it really is all craft work. You know: made by hand, by artisans, using traditional family methods.

Talking shoemaking

I think the carbon footprint is lower than other brands: all local materials are used, mostly natural materials such as the 100% leather upper, using traditional methods. Each shoemaker has atleast 20 YRS experience in this craft.

The artisans, themselves, seem to have a co-op like realationship. There is almost a familial atmosphere in the shop- just a few people working on an art form they love, shoe making. To get materials or supplies, they just go down the street to the leather shop, or the wood shop.

Yes, these are made in a small shop, not a production line. It reminds me of the place where my parents bought my first violin in New Jersey-- you know, a small store front, locally owned small business. In the back, there was a room with strewn peices of wood curing, violins in all stages of fabrication. A melange of entreprenuership and art.

Oscar sewing the upper

I´ll be posting more photos and details later ...

The shoes-rumors, questions, myths

2009-01-02T22:39:00.005-05:00

I figured I would write another post on the shoes offered, the Risto's and the Botev's.

The shoes are all about Fit. What gives each shoe its character is the way it is designed to fit your foot, hence enable your performance. For example, both brands are hand cut leather and are still very different shoes.

The idea behind the Risto's is make shoes in colors that people want to wear, high quality, and fit well. So, I want to make shoes that people want to buy, since not everyone needs the same product. Order exactly what you want the first time, versus mulling through different shoe brands. When the customer pulls the value, everyone wins.

By the way, with the Risto's we can now do larger sizes. Really, I felt bad all those times a customer called to order a Botev, only to find out our biggest size was a 13/EU 47. So, we can now help our bigger footed friends in the lifting shoes department.

Going forward, we will have a limited supply of Botev's. To clarify, the new model also has a wood heel.

So feel free to email me for a brochure, leave comments (not too many flamers though ha ha ;) ... you know "feedback"- what you are looking for in a shoe. Even if you just want to do some fact finding on the shoes...just let me know your objective.

This isn't my day job; the point of all this is to help massify strength sports.. we're an underserved market.

Risto Equipment- Concept

2008-11-27T12:08:00.002-05:00

As you may know, we started selling weightlifting equipment to help promote the sport...and for fun. Once again, we are looking to add more quality products that can satisfy the varying needs of all our customers. We are starting a new brand (not Stefan Botev brand).

The thought being, we can control the materials, color, manufacturing, and design to dynamically respond to customer requests. We believe that the customer should pull the value from us-- in other words, produce what the customer needs and wants.....

Most importantly, the design incorporates input from weightlifting experts (even some former Bulgarian lifters now coaching in South America)

FYI-- Ari of Hillsborough

2008-11-11T13:44:00.001-05:00

Please contact me: 207 319 7607

Entrainer du Quebec (sur Maine )

2008-10-18T13:58:00.011-05:00

<http://www.hardgymperformance.com/>

Post in progress.....

Here are some pics from Training in Sherbrooke and Quebec City, both in Quebec, Canada.

Above is after a workout at Sherbrooke Club. Annie, Dominic, David, Owen in Back; Gwen and little Gwen in front.

Here I am in Quebec City, Overlooking the St Lawrence River, they actually bring huge criuse ships up here, in front of the Chateau Frontenac (top picture).

Amazing views form Maine RT 201, on the way to Canada.

Updates, the Olympics, strangers at the door

2008-08-23T09:28:00.010-05:00

In honor of the Bejing Olympics, I'm posting more content from China. See the video link bar below to go to youtube videos.

The Chinese lifters really have amazing technique. From watching the best on TV or seeing newer lifters in person, one characteristic strikes me - EXTEND!

Regardless of bodytype, the lifters stress the top of the pull, to the point that the weights appear to glide...even float at the top of the pull. It really is beautiful. Another thing to notice is staying over the bar, and the direction which the knees move in the horizontal plane, enabling the lifter to pull longer.

Anyhow, after watching the women's 53kg's being streamed live at 3AM on NBC olympics, followed by the men's 56kgs, I finally crawled into bed. Shortly after, I hear a knock on the door....

I thought they were selling something, or maybe trying to convert me. They dressed a like, carried a large touristy, canvas bag AND they were knocking on my "back door" (really, my front door, but this is Maine... everyone from around here knows that ).

As it turns out, they were from USADA. Yes, USA Anti-Doping Agency. And, they came to collect a sample. You know, one of the testers names was also Gwen. huh.

Still, I find their prescence coincidental; interestingly, I had a good competition the weekend prior. I went 6 for 6 at the Connecticut Open (more video below, talk is cheap ;). It was a great location; a very classy sports club outside of New Haven. Free food was provided, which is a step-up from most meets (though the entry fee was more than some national meets).

And now, Olympic Medal moments, that shocked Gwen, in no particular order:

Rybakou losing to Yong in 85's, who saw that coming? Yong jerked 214 like nothing!
Dolega didn't win 105's... or medal?! Wow, and Lapikov made the medal stand. Klokov and Aramnau were easy prediction to win a medal of some color, and Aramnau's huge lifts.
Jang Mi-Ran's easy World records in Women's superheavyweights. No wonder China did not enter a Super. Totaled well over 300kg while being one of the Lighter Super's.
Chen Xiexia, in 48's, is awesome. Her technique is amazing, like Taylan in 2004, snatched near double bodyweight. I want to snatch doublebodyweight!!!!!!
Liu Chonhong in women's 69's by huge margin with Slivenko in second. Note, Oxena Sliveko won the 2007 world's vs Liu.
Prapawadee opened with 120kg in the clean and jerk in women's 53's.
Superheavyweight men- Steiner's 10kg jump to win. Euvgeny Chisigev should win Mr Universe, only a handful of Super's are that athletic looking, and a huge 210kg snatch.
Sa winning the 69's. Totally thought Li Hongli would win after Taner Sagir bombed.
Ilya Ilin is awesome.

All of the above, once again, a reminder to train much, much harder and to stay inspired, not overwhelmed!

Training and other observations of the summer

2008-07-05T09:20:00.005-05:00

Olympic Trials passed and I transitioned over to a two week strength cycle. I think it did me a lot of good. I felt really beat up by Olympic Trials, with all the national meets jamm packed together. My wrist was killing me, finally, I found a decent pair of wrist wraps, flexible enough for performing snatches. (Yes, as you may have guessed, my wrist wraps are Stefan Botev brand... I was using APT ones, before, too stiff...athletic tape loosened up to quickly)

Anyhow, after my two week cycle, I started in early June a complete cycle for the university worlds. We are doing 80% strength conditioning and 20% technique. Its brutal. Lots of reps and the weights gradually increase. The summer heat and humidity do not help either. Who needs Air Conditioning anyway?!

Overall, training is awesome. I only need to keep the momentum going.

Being its July, I already turned in my USADA forms. After hearing of all the recent positives, I am left with a certain feeling of... ehhh.... "Je ne sais quoi" . Basically, filling out the USADA forms, you give detailed info on where you live, train, work; day by day, what hours, cell phone, home phone numbers....etc. It's like the Patriot Act, talk about Big Brother. I'm paranoid about my protein bars and protein powder.

Still, I am not complaining--It makes one feel like US lifters really are clean.
My husband, who has trained and competed all over the world, reports that an elite lifter (230 kg @ 90 kg bdywgt) once told him, "It is not a sin to do drugs, it is a sin to get caught".

Also, interesting is that the US has very good access to high quality protein and permitted by USADA supplements. For example, outside the US, its difficult to find inexpensive and of good quality protein bars ...to think I eat them like candy. In this stagflated economy, soon it will be cheaper to eat US beef than bread or rice. Seriously, beef, a good protein source, is much more expensive in most other countries, except for Argentina.

Now, looking back at what I just wrote, where am I going with this? Not sure. I'll just stick to fillling out my USADA forms, eating lots of beef, and protein bars ... =)

Another hot topic is Olympic slots, countries potentially losing and gaining slots due to drug positives. Some questions which have been popping into my head are:
1. Why are women limited to a max of 4 slots?
1a. In that case, why are men and women both limited to less than full teams for the top countries
2. Why do women have fewer weight classes than men?
Honestly, being from an engineering and Six Sigma background, I am always tempted to do a statistical analysis correlating bodyweight, gender, and lifting results.
.... Another reason I love weightlifitng--- the numbers tell you everything.

2008 Olympic Trials

2008-05-18T15:58:00.003-05:00

It was awesome feeling to return to GA Tech, where I received my BS in Aerospace Engineering, to lift at the 2008 Olympic Trials. It was fun to lift on the same stage where I once played my violin in the GTSO. Definitely, this has been an interesting competition year, 3 national meets within 3 months of eachother (nationals, collegiates and Olympic Trials).

The Olympic Trials was also the strangest meet I lifted at- no medals, no placings, 3 sessions based on qualification rankings (best of American Open and nationals results) which were different from the, at the time, current state Olympic rankings (nationals only).

Anyhow, leading-up to the trials, here are some links to news articles on my lifting:

http://www.citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080516/GJSPORTS_01/822921341/-1/FOSSPORTS

http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080518/GJSPORTS_01/870734324

http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080514/SPORTS/805140360

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story_pf.php?id=186981&ac=PHspt

http://gtalumni.org/buzzwords/may08/article542.html

2008 Olympic Trials- thoughts on Bulgaria

2008-04-19T13:37:00.006-05:00

Less than one month to Olympic Trials.

I am really excited to be lifting here, especially as they will be held at my alma mater - Georgia Tech.

This competition season has been more strenuous than normal. With the Olympic Year, American Open, Sr nationals, Collegiates, and Olympic Trials have all occurred with in a few weeks of each other. It is really interesting.. I wonder how things will play out as some lifters are waiting to "peak" at Olympic Trials.

Interestingly, when I was in Bulgaria and Romania earlier this Olympic year, neither country appeared to have a formal Olympic Trials or qualifyng meet.

In Bulgaria, it seemed as though lifters were named to teams based on their training up tot he meet. Some lifters would sit out meets such as the World Championships, due to injury, then be put on a long term training plan for the Olympics the following year.

Rather, instead of havng a series pf qulifyng meets, there is a network of coaches and athletes to fill teams. Inherently, there is flexibility in selecting athletes to teams and incentivization for athletes to continuously improve.

For example, it is interesting to see a lifter like Stefan Georgiev, in his thirties, reappear on the International scene. He competed at 2008 Europeans, and his prior Europeans was 2005. Though he trains in Slavia, he is required to train with the National team every 2 weeks or so.

Likewise, for a system like this to work well, all candidates for national teams and their coaches would need to be tightly networked back to a central organization selecting teams.

SHOES ARE IN STOCK

2008-03-26T22:02:00.004-05:00

After the long and arduous process of bringing high quality, hand crafted shoes from Bulgaria- land of multi-weightlifting champions -- the shoes are finally in MAINE!!

Feel free to place your orders, we accept all major credit cards and checks in USD.

We are also glad to now be a distributor of Werksan products as well.

I'm really excited about these shoes. They truly have that individually crafted look, small nuances, each piece finished with care... not a mass-produced out of a mold look. Just makes the hassle of going through US customs, cargo pickups (lost shoes ugghhh), etc, etc... worth it

Enjoy and hope to hear from you!!

Training in Bulgaria Part IV- More on the Champions

2008-03-10T23:32:00.002-05:00

Recently, I competed at the US nationals (it was going great until I hyperextended my elbow on my 70kg snatch..d'oh I had it too...atleast, that made me forget about my sprained right wrist ;). At nationals, I had the great fortune of running into many weightlifting greats: Tommy Kono, Mark Cameron, Yurik Vardanian, Chinese junior world champions, Abadjiev -(only my husband Ivan got a chance to talk to Abadjiev). It is always a profound experience talking to someone in person before or after seeing them in pictures.

Going back to Bulgaria, what is most surprising about Bulgarian weightlifting is how the champions look in person. It is as though, while lifting --in pictures and video of these lifters-- a different persona emerges.

This impression is, ofcourse, in the context of being s lifter form the US and being exposed to such misconceptions as, to paraphrase, "all great weightlifters have short arms and long torsos" , "get the surgery", and "the solution to all problems is going-up a weight class".

First off, there is variation in body type from word champion to world champion in Bulagaria. It seems that most lifters are more on the "leaner" side or atleast excess bodyfat deos not appeared to be valued. For example, Peschalov is several inches taller than Stefan Georgiev,
even though they lifted in the same category at some point in their career. Both look much different in person.

Peschalov is about 5' 6" lean and more lanky than stocky in appearance . He remarked that he is a weightliftier, not a body builder, and is not concerned with having huge muscles. Also of inerest, he has had significant injuries to his legs throughout his career. Despite these injuries, he opted not to have surgery, recovered through physical therapy, and still went on to win Olympic medals.

Similarly, beyond his portraits of victory in weightlifting magazines, Stefan Botev is also a fascinating character. Botev, in person, is well spoken, well dressed, about 5'9", and good looking. Though he won his last Olympic medal for Australia, Botev conducts much business in Bulgaria. His shoes can be seen worn across the Balakans and other parts of Europe. He has a sucessful line of sports products and supplements as well. Aside from being a successful entreprenuer, Botev is active in the local parliment.

Though Botev no longer competes, stories of his lifting regularly surface in the training halls of Slavia. In Slavia, Botev clean and jerked 260kg at a light 110kg lifter. Shortly after hearing of Botev's success, the president of the federation requested to see Botev perform the weight, at which point Botev injured his hamstring. Years later, while training at the OTC in Colorado Springs with team Australia for the 1996 Olympics, my brother witnessed Botev power clean 250kg.

No doubt it is only a dynamic and forward thinking person, such as Botev, that is able to in one fascet succeed at the highest levels of sport and, later, succeed in the promotion of sport while bringing such preciseness, quality, and range of products to his sport.

Perhaps, I'll end this post and begin the next post where I began: Reflecting back on the recent US Nationals and myself qualifying for the Olympic Trials, I am reminded of the insights I gained on Bulgaria's methodologies for selecting natonal teams. ....

Farewell Adistars, Hello Botev's, more on Bulgaria

2008-02-27T11:30:00.000-05:00

It's the US nationals/Arnold Expo this weekend. Assuming they make it through the meet, this will be my last meet wearing the Adistars =)

Best to all competing this weekend.

Posts on Bulgaria will continue after nationals.

Ordering shoes in next months?

2008-02-20T22:11:00.002-05:00

Please post your shoe size to this post's comments. The purpose is to right size our inventory. This will enable us to keep prices down, especially with the US dollar's volatility.

Botev Shoes

2008-02-16T08:48:00.006-05:00

Ivan and I would like to introduce the America's to Stefan Botev Weightlifting shoes. These are fantastic, high quality shoes made in Bugaria, worn by actual Bulgarian lifters using the Bulgarin training system. Even lifters in Romania were seen sporting these shoes (they do over 600 reps per week!).

**See bottom of blog for detailed pictures; we also are offering leather weightlifting straps.**

It is our goal to bring a long needed alternative shoe brand-- a high quality/highly durable brand that can endure over 20,000 repetitions per year. Please look at picture on right hand side of page of Sylvia and Nikolai. They are shown training in Botev shoes which are over 4 years old, over 20000 reps per year. Please also look at my Adidas weightlifting shoes for comparison; my shoes are 3.5 years old and see a meager 10,000 reps per year.

Perhaps, the best aspect of the shoes is Stefan Botev's close involvement of the design and manufacture of the shoes. As multi-time Olympic medalist and World Champion weightlifter, he sought to create shoes from a weightlifter's perspective. Over the years here are some features he incorporated:

1. Above all, made in Bulgaria and European Union to ensure high qulality. (not to mention, associated Euro working conditions)
2. The Textured rubber footing design has eveolved over years of lifter feedback. He even chose to import expensive rubber footing from Spain, as in this case, Spanish rubber has less slippage and longer life.
3. Botev, specifically, eliminated that annoying strap at the top of the shoe.
4. Lots of double stitching. Double stitching enables the leather outer to hold-up to the routine beating associated with training the Bulgarian way.
5. Inside of heal is lined with leather - not synthetic material. The intent is to mold nicely to the lifters heal, preventing heel of foot from sliding out of shoe.

Contact me or Ivan at 207 319 7607 or gsisto@netscape.net
( I'm recommending you please email my netscape email. Many reported problems with the bittume_32@yahoo.com address, perhaps its the "_" between "bittume" and "32").

Training in Bulgaria, Part III - Stoichkov and the lifters

2008-02-08T22:29:00.000-05:00

In Bulgaria, there seems to be three categories of elite past lifters: Olympic Champions, Stefan Botev, and European/World Champions. We'll leave Stefan Botev, who I like to think of as the Bulgarian Arnold Schwarzenegger for another post. Stoichkov fits into the third category.

Going back to our arrival in Slavia, General Secretary Tenev gave us a poster comemmorating 100 years of Bulgarian weightlifting. The poster tallied World, European, and Olympic medals and had pictures for each of Bulgaria's past champions in these 3 categories. Lifters who "merely" medalled at Worlds, Olympics, and/or Europeans did not have their photo on the poster--this even includes our multi-strength sport prodigy, Euvgeny Popov, who won Silver at Europeans! (see below pictures of Popov today). The poster was our first view of Stoichkov.

When we meet Stoichkov in Slavia, he looks relatively similar though now about 92kgs bodyweight vs 75kg at his zenith. Coming from America, I had never heard of Stoichov before. Sure, I was very familiar with Botev, Georgiev, Boevski, Minchev, Peschalov, Ivanov, Vanev, Dobrev ..etc, etc... but I had not heard of Stoichkov. By the end of the week, this all changed my view on Olympic greats and the ramfications of boycotting Olympics.

Anyhow, soon we see pictures in the lifting office of Stoichkov winning the Druzba Game in 1984. I then realize-- he out clean and jerked my all time hero Pyrros Dimas!! Stoichkov had lifted 167.5 and 211 at 75kgs bodywieght, and , at 82.5kg , he did 217 clean and jerk! He had accumulated atleast 6 senior world records plus Junior world records. He had a standing long jump of 380 cm !! And, again, did I mention, he out clean and jerked at lighter bodyweight my all time hero, Pyrros Dimas !?! ...And I had never heard of Stoichkov before?

With the above, I have another epiphany: due to misfortunes of boycotted '84 Olympics followed by knee injury, Stoichkov, perhaps like American athetes in 1980, would outperform the 1984 Olympic Champion at an Eastern Block supplementary meet but never have the benefit of being called "Olympic Champion". Having not been alive in 1980, the '80 and '84 boycotts were always someting of an after thought - ya know "it happens". Now, I really appreciate the gravity of it. Sport transcends politics; it is the athlete who is the ultimate ambassador for unity (Not Jimmy Carter ... ahhhhh ...and I'm usaully partial to Carter as he also spent time at Georgia Tech and is a nuclear engineer ).

Aside from past achevements, Stoichkov is a fascinating character. At 42 and 92kgs, he works out between training sessions. He does light sets with over 200kgs in Back Squat and did vertical leaps at eye level. Most surprisingly, his biceps are huge!! Seriously, look at the pictures; one might never guess that his biceps are larger than my calves-- maybe, even larger than my quads.

What surprised me mst was the appearances of Georgiev and Peschalov later in my training camp. The first few days, Stoichkov was coaching 3 male junior lfters and 4 female junior lifters (3 of whom had been lifting barely a month). His son, Nikolai , was one of the most advanced lifters: about 85 kgs with lifts easily rivalling our best JR's in the US and good looking. There was Munchel lifting about a month; Sylvia, schoolage champion; "Howa", the not so serious JR lifter; two girls who'd show up; and the 12yr girl, super dedicated and fluent in English. Stoichkov was also named coach of Bulgaria's 2008 Junior World Team within the first few days of our stay in Bulgaria. From the above, I had the inital impression that Stoichkov coached mostly Juniors. Then, Georgiev and Peschalov show-up.

Serendipitously, the training cycle for the Bulgarian Olympic team started a few days into our stay in Bulgaria. Stefan Georgiev had already been named to Bulgaria's 2008 Olympic team and began showing-up for double sessions to train with Stoichkov for the Olympics. Apparently, there is another training facility for the national team, but Georgiev prefers training in Slavia and must stop in for training with the national team every few weeks. Similarly, Peschalov, lifting for Croatia but living in Bulgaria, arrives to train with Stoichkov. It is then I also learn that Peschalov trained with Stoichkov prior to his gold in Sydney.

So, here I am in Slavia, and I find myself surrounded by a 12 year old girl doing jumps, a 14 year old female champ, a 15yr old guy whose been liftng for a month, Howa, Nikolai Stoichkov....AND Georgiev AND Peschalov. Each lifter getting appropriate attention from Stoichkov. The Champions, Georgiev and Peschalov, each having a turn racking or loading the 12yr olds' weights. When I am liftng, I even notice the Champs paying attention to my lifts- some eye contact, politely not talking.

I cannot not describe how nervous I was just cleaning 80 kgs when Peschalov walked-in: it was like being in high school...thinking to myself "please don't look stupid, please don't screw up".
I should also mention that several champions stopped by just to hang out, including Svedalin Minchev, Stefan Botev, and 56kg Olympic Champion Gidikov. Evoking similar sentiments of admiration.

Training in Bulgaria - Intro to Slavia

2008-02-01T23:38:00.000-05:00

At 10 AM, Ivan and I arrived at Slavia for our first training session. Slavia is south of Sofia's city center. Located here is a training complex and adjoined hotel, Hotel Champion. The complex houses over 15 sports. There is even an equestrian rink and track and field stadium on the premises. All sports are under the same team founded in 1913. Athletes from different sports and coutries (perhaps part of IOC Olympic solidarity?) could be seen arrving to hotel Champion.

The weightlifting hall is about two stories high and rectangular in shape. On one of the longer sides is stadium seating, with the top most row of seats bounded by glass windows and doors leading to other areas of the facility. Opposite this is a wall covered with large portraits (pictures about a meter in length) of famous Slavia Alumni: Botev, Peschalov, Stoyanov, .... etc. Overall, the hallis very Eastern European in look: no frills/utilitarian, slightly delapidated, and muted earth tones.

The weightlifting hall has about 7 dedicated wieghtlifting platforms which are arranged in a U-shape. It is stocked with Eleiko bars and a melange of bumper plates. Plates range from vintage to new Eleiko training, columbian plates from the 1998 Sofia Jr Worlds, and Leiko.

Upon arrival, we are met by the Coach Zdravco Stoichkov. Again, initial greetings are formal- polite, lacking vivacity . We set-up training times and --oooohhhh-- sauna times (my usual New England "sauna" being steaming hot bath ). After seeing the attention paid to energy/cost savings during winter time, the sauna priveleges are much appreciated. To Ivan's delight Stoichkov knows Rhumen Stoyanov, one of Ivan's Bulgarian friends from competing abroad in the 80's. Stoichkov points out Rhumen's portrait on the training hall wall.

Anyhow, my first training session is quite eventful. I complete my strenght cycle and do snatches from the hang up to 72.5kg and power clean and jerk 80kg. At the sametime, Stoichkov lifters are training; at this point, 3 junior men and 2 junior women. On day 2, I go up to 70 kg in full snatch, which is actually more difficult than my 72.5 from hang.

And this brings us to our initial glimpse of Bulgarian lifting wisdom. According to Stoichkov, roughly, a lifter's best snatch should be the same as their best/MAX power clean. To elaborate, let's use a -- perhaps a bit self fulfilling-- example from my training:

OK, if I power clean 80kg, I should snatch 80kg, ATLEAST 75kg (53kg bodywieght) . So why am I such an under achiever ?
Start position! (see photo below) AND we are talking MINOR flaw in position. Just having the hips a hare high causes the bar trajectory to pull forward as well as lost opportunity for generating additional kinetic energy from the floor to above knee. My ability to snatch the same from the hang as the floor is another clear indication. Likewise, this means my 2nd pull and expolsiveness are just Fabulous. Wow, I can feel the kilos piling on to my total with this start positions epiphany

By my 3rd training session I learn that:
1. My start position is off - AND how to fix it
2. I should be lifting a lot more (always love to hear that especially form an expert)
3. I need to do lots of front squats (ehh old injury stopped me squatting b4 american open)

Honestly, to travel to Bulgaria to train does pose some risk to a lifter's ego. What if I'm told I have the poor body proportions, or I'm too slow, or my technique is awful...or I plain I suck?!? I mean no one ever told me to quit my day job and trian full time. Usually, the type of lauding I get is "you're really tough" not "you're the future of weightlifting in the US". Seriously, isn't that what every nationally ranked lifter wants to hear? Does doubt ever enter one's mind when a competitor lifts a few more than you and gets disproportionatley more attention? I mean, I dont exactly exude that "I'm so athletic look", well in American terms anyhow; espcailly, when I have been told, in the past, that I didnt need to do sports since I'm smart (huh .... maybe that was a backhanded compliment come to think of it).

In other words, transcending the technical analyis I receive is the realization that I can do something in this sport. Rather, I have gotten confirmation that aspects of my lifting most influenced by my genetics -- flexibility, speed, body type -- are great. That my major obstacle to realizing my potential is having my butt 2 inches too high at the start of my pull. Most importantly, I am receiving this affirmation from someone who's opinion is objective and well informed. (Sure, Ivan has always told me that I have conditions for being a great lifter, but we are married... ha ha ha! )

Take away point: you must always believe in yourself first, before worrying about whether others believe in you.

Still, let us examine my prior sentence though -- "affirmation from an objective and qualified coach" . What exactly invokes such respect for Coach Stoichkov......

Training in Bulgaria - Part 1

2008-01-24T22:30:00.000-05:00

Bulgaria. What a fantastic place.

First off, the food is fantastic. Imagine going to a restaurant and ordering anything off the menu, and everything is good and full of protein. Even the yogurt is so much better: it is the high protein thick European kind, not the starchy type proliferating on supermarket shelves in the US.

The city of Sofia is beautiful. The downtown is very walkable. Of note is the main boulevard, Vitosha (think W. Broadway in Soho), which is lined with boutiques. At night, Vitosha is canopied with evenly spaced Christmas lights. It is a fun place to hang out after double workouts. Even the old communist buildings are not as soulless looking, in contrast, as the lanes of identical high rises in Bucharest.

The people are great. After initally reserved greetings, most Bulgarians seemed to warm-up easily and were very easy-going and layed-back. .. so easy going. This is, ofcourse, in contrast to 40+ hours a week working in the Boston area, where every thing is rush-rush-get-out-of-my-way-stop-holding-up-traffic-rush-rush.

And then there is weightlifting. Would there be any better place to train for competitive weightlifting. Bulgaria is weightlifting's Mecca. Bulgaria is home of how many world, Olympic, and European champions? It is home of the elusive "Bulgarian training system". This is what brings me to the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation earlier this month.

Ivan and I arrived at a federal looking building on Vasil Levski, home to Bulgaria's sports' federations. At the end of a U-shaped (maybe L shaped) hall on the 4th floor is the weightlifting federation's office. We meet with General Secretary Tenev. We walk into an office, about the size of my kitchen and living room. On the back wall is a large trophy case completely full with gleaming metallic cups and medals.

Instantaneously, I think back to the times I have visited the USAW office during my numerous National JR Squad training camps at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. The magnitude of the Bulgarian team's acheivements hit me -- so many championships. I can't help to think that I never saw as an exuberant collection of team trophies back at the US OTC. More so, it is a feeling of admiration and respect for the accomplishments of Bulgarian Weightlifting and inspiration for what can be.

We sit at a large oblong conference table. Initially, Tenev seems formal, reserved, professional. Svetalina, a lawyer of the consulting company hired by the federation, translates the conversation for us. A highlight of the conversation is Ivan remarking "Weightlifting is the universal language" and Tenev agreeing with animation, no translation needed. We leave with training details, promotional posters, and our first of many great experiences in Bulgaria. I have only good things to say about the federation and General Secretary Tenev.

Eye of the Tiger and other Rocky references

2007-04-10T18:15:00.000-05:00

It's less than one week till the meet!

My SI joint and rhomboid have been coming along. I started hitting the heavier weights again this past Sunday.

Today's workout, my husband had me do power snatches and power clean and jerks. My technique felt fantastic; it's hard to explain other than I was just hitting the lifts in the right spot each time. The bar's trajectory and acceleration was just perfect.

Now, comes the fun part .. the stay focused/eye of the tiger/be tough part ... not getting seriously injured, staying-on weight, keeping proper intensity in workouts, and controlling the mental anticipation until Saturday.

In terms of te competition:
I'm so excited. I just want to go out there and hit some Personal Records. I am prepared, I'm strong, and I just have to do it. EXECUTE!

As I get closer to the meet, I'll really need to keep focused on my lifting. I think that mental aspect is the key to having a good day. Eliminate unnecessary stress, like the snow storm that's supposed to hit New England Thursday...I'll just have to get to the airport real early on Friday.

Apocolypse averted

2007-04-10T18:02:00.000-05:00

Yes, my training has been going awesome again. See below.

About a week ago an old injury from someone rear-ending my car flared-up. Ughh my rhomboid was so tight, I couldn't turn my head. We had to scale back training quite a bit.

I saw my DR last week, and I'm still on ---USA Anti-doping approved for in and out of competition use--- prescriptions. Yeah, my back like REALLY hurt.

Also, to aid recovery, I did combination of icing and steam bathes. I'm working on getting some extra sleep this week... I say working on getting sleep because I have 2 team STAMP analysis's due for my MIT class next week. More specifically, one project is for NASA'a Europa space mission, and each team in the class is to repirt their analysis out to NASA engineers. Out of professional respect as well as wanting to get an "A" in this class, my team and I do not intend on slacking on this assignment, rather more likely we plan on being "team overacheiver" for next week.

Anyhow, my injury seems to be calming down a bit. I'll squeeze in a physical therapy session before the meet per Dr's orders.

Landmines and goldmines

2007-04-03T08:32:00.001-05:00

First the goldmine: Yesterday, I had an awesome workout. I did a slew of doubles with 80kg in the front squat, followed by more doubles at 70. ...And it was light!! ... And I was tired ( it was after 9PM, long story)!

I haven't front squatted 80kg, so easily, since I weighed 69kg. Yes, I used to compete at a weight class 30 lbs heavier than I am now.In terms of bodyweight, I was on weight again this morning.

Still, sometimes I wonder if I spend more time focusing on my bodyweight than my lifting technique. .. and hence I'll segway into today'ds potential landmine:

Today my co-workers and I are taking our manager out for a farewell lunch.
Engineer Farewell Lunch: engineer/professional ritual occurring when manager and/or
co-worker moves to a different group with in or leaves the company. The group takes leaving party out to lunch (group= organization within co. structure).
My theory is that we are really creating a sort of " Free-lunch Kharma" - what goes around
comes around. In this case, gourmet food.

So why is this a potential landmine?
Restuarant food is a total blackbox. I could order something "grilled" and still wind-up eating a days worth of calories in 1 meal (1200 calories)!

Fortunately, We are:
A. Not going to a chain restaurant -> higher quality food = less calories
B. Going to a trendy Thai place = lower cal, small portions, spicy

On top of this, my kind co-workers brought in boxes of Bakery quality muffins and cinnomin rolls --- Not the "partially-hydrogenated-transfat chain donut place " kind, in front of me are "the New Englander, family-owned since 1901 bakery" kind of pastries. All I can say is, I got a mug of green tea and 1/4 protein bar to stave me over till lunch.

Aurevoir pour maintenant

Don't drag your feet in the gym

2007-03-29T21:37:00.000-05:00

Today, I had a good workout. Did sets with 60 in the snatch, some power snatches, and front squats. Front squats were light; I did doubles with 80.

Though the first half, I was dragging. There is a difference between working out and doing your workout. It is so important not to let the commute home, the work/school week, and other distractions (I've had nagging pain in my SI joint left over from someone rear-ending our car a few months ago...ugghh) wear you out before a workout. In order too succeed, you need drive everyday, every workout.

So, I may have "done" my snatches at the beginning of my workout, but I didn't pull as hard or be as explosive as I could be. That's when my husband/coach comes in. He gave me a reality check, and,well, I brought the "fire"for the remainder of the workout. Just like Rocky, you got to have the "Eye of the tiger".

Diet and lifting

2007-03-28T10:53:00.000-05:00

Today, I'm off from training .... So, on my mind is on diet!

Fortunately, I have been close weight , even with eating chocolate! Not that I've haven't made some sacrifices. I have to eat within +/- 200 calories a day, that's like cutting-out one latte a day.

Seriously, I have been doing a low starch/high protein/high fiber diet. I'm getting in about 1gram of protein per pound of muscle a day. Still, there exists a dilemma: I have limited calories to eat in a day, yet I need to get in a lot of protien. When faced with the choice of eating 200 calories of pizza or 200 calories of chicken, I'm probably going with the chicken.

Losing bodyfat is just a matter of strict discipline; ofcourse, easier said than done. Between spending time on a college campus and 40 hours a week in an engineering office, I dodge a plethora of free pizza, donuts, and girl scout cookies on a daily basis.

I'll write more on this later.