By Ado Gruzza, Italian Powerlifting National Coach.

A researcher, good friend of mine…..actually an engineer who’s passionate about weight training and weightlifting, has written a book dealing with biomechanics. If it had been written in the English language, it would be in the library of every strength coach I feel. He has always asserted a concept that I think encompasses all the problems that strength training has encountered in recent years in the western world.

He told me that bench pressing has a too low input threshold.

What does it means? It means that to be considered ‘just good’ at pole vault but not to a professional eye. You’ll have to work on technique for months and months, years and years. Because the minimum threshold to be sufficient in the technical gesture is extremely high.

Same thing goes for the Snatch. Seems to have become an easy fashion to take the piss of neo crossfitter logged trendy making a clearly visible horrible Snatch.Too bad that no one is planning to take the piss of some (many) football players, or worse, the well-known guru and renowned strength coach who does not know at all how we should do a Bench Press, or a squat or a sumo deadlift correctly.

This is because Bench Press (like squats) are relatively easy to perform. The apparent sufficiency can be reached in less than 3 sessions. In Snatch it takes at least two years. However, from the minimum level of decency to the technical excellence, there is a huge difference.

And a STRENGTH COACH should KNOW THAT!

If what you want is a REAL ability to display strength, technical excellence is what you need. Technical excellence that rarely (very rarely) we can see form the self-proclaimed gurus of strength training who writes in famous magazine.

Whenever an Athlete, to complete a squat, anticipates the ascent of the barbell with the hips, or falls far below the parallel trying to bounce at the bottom of the movement, he develops what I call a TECHNICAL COMPENSATION.

That means that you don’t really overcome the weight by tapping into your highest potential to generate high levels of muscle tension. On the contrary you learn a tricks, a gimmicks, to lift the weight. Good (although actually only relatively) If you have a local Powerlifting Raw meet however, it is bad for becoming truly stronger.

You learn that lift, not to lift.

You learn to perform that movement, not to output strength.

I have many examples to bring: a young South African National Team Rugby (I tell this story every time I hold a seminar) that with his strength coach made ​​a bench press test of 180 kg. I asked him if he could repeat the test with me, with one, only single, small constraint: no bounce in the chest. Struggling he lifted 140 kg. This means that only one constraint, while remaining in the same line of force, caused a decrease of 22.2% of the total dispensed.

Only one constraint! Think about how many would have met on the field in his sport of belonging. This means that the force developed by those 180kg bench press was a force NOT TRUE. Obviously this was because the athlete was encouraged by the lack of competence of the strength coach to look after the load and not the quality of the lift.

Another guy in this days told me that he was able to take 200 kg squat x 5 repetions. Huh! Not bad for a 90 kg (about 200 lbs) amateur lifter. Since I’m not really naïve, and I saw more squats than tv show in my life, I’ve asked him to go with just 130 kg lowering in 5 seconds and stopping for 3 seconds in the hole. He started to shake like a bush in the wind. He moves muscle that he had never felt in his life. Why? He made huge compensations when lifting. He create such a big bouncing that the right strength line and the right activation of muscles were always bypassed.

Now he use in training many, many kg less, but he is actually much stronger. And over time, not much to tell the truth, he’ll be able to resume the old weight used once.

This is what happens every time you see the maximal strength training in martial arts, in football American and so on.
Take the bench press: because the timing of activation could be optimal, that is the point of being or not being strong, the shoulders blades should remain abducted hard for all the eccentric and concentric.

Not only! The shoulders must be low during the lifting and, above all, the elbows must not move an inch. Whenever the elbows move forward or backward, optimal muscle activation turns on and off, never being able to have a complete motor unit recruitment, spatial and temporal.

When someone speaks of Olympic Lifting, everyone understand how technique and activation is important.
When speaking of ‘slow’ lift, everyone has ever lifted a weight, even if for bodybuilding or just a recreational lifter could consider himself a trainer or an expert.

Many research have been done on squat or bench press without the supervision of a high-level coach, coming to commit blunders in the data analysis. And every time arrives the expert of the moment to say that the technical errors are no more than customization of the lift. Bullshit guys!

You have to make hundreds of thousands of repetitions of bench press, with submaximal weights and a technique always exactly equal to itself, lift after lift, in order to understand how lift. Doing bench press once a week or two makes you a man who goes gym, not an expert.

This is worth of strength training in the Western world.

Now take the best lifters in the world, category by category:

59 kg Sergey Fedosienko, Russian school.
66 kg Sergey Gladkikh, Russian school.
74 kg Yaroslav Olech, Poland.
83 kg Eugeny Vasiukov, Russian school.
93 kg Sergey Mashintsov, Russian school.
105 Anibal Coimbra, Luxemburg but Norwegian trainer.
120 Maxim Barkhatov, Russian school.
Plus 120 Tetsov, Konovalov, Christensen. Ukraine, Russia, Norway.

This guys represent all the greatest school of powerlifting: Russian, Norway, Ukraine. That a look at the quality of lifting of this guys. It’s very easy with Youtube.

We should learn from the best, not from the worst.

One thing that all of these schools of thought have in common is their dedication to quality rather than the load.
Move the focus from the series (such as how many repetitions can I do with 100kg) to the repetition.

The Repetition is the athletic gesture of the strength athlete. Should be treated like a temple.

Everyone in western magazine (paper or web) is looking for the best training plan. The problem is that everyone puts in front of the wrong issue: every one is looking for something that exalt the possibility of activation, while activated is very very easy. To control, the contrary, is the K point.

A good training program is simply a program that allows you to maximize the motor gesture to improve the technique of execution. Nothing more, nothing less. Take the best plan of worldwide powerlifting coaches (international level, IPF, not Circus federation) and they are all devoted to allow the athlete to raise the coordinative skills on a par with those conditionals. Not so easy concept in western strength training. Where too much hide bodybuilding is is behind every famous method. Just think of the 2 or 3 most famous programs.

Think back to all the famous work plans: those that concentrate on technical quality are those on which you have to point your attention. Those full of complementary, low-volume and high-load, with a few sets and a few sessions, although very stylish, made ​​of facts is not worth more than a dime.

Improvement in technique generates a positive loop able to do to become a mule in a horse.

All Olympic weightlifters that we so much admire, have gone through years of incredible dedication to the technical movements. All gymnasts able to perform movements from indescribable quality are passed by tons of hours dedicated to the movement. Decades of knowledge handed down from person to person.

In the world of NOT Olympic weight , the technical gesture is completely and utterly underestimated. To the point that there are no known strength coach who really have minimal technical skills required of a technical stage any federal country.

My advice is to form a critical conscience studying lines of force in the competitive practice.
I invite you to review your concept of guru and never to be confused with the true fitness strength training. The secret of strength lies in the ability of technical movements and nothing else.

Remember to move your focus from the sets to the repetition. Every single rep of every single workout, should be treated with the attention that you would have the Olympic final.

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Thanks Ado Gruzza of Italy Powerlifting Federation for coming with this FANTASTIC article. I’ll begin blogging more soon. Been far too busy working on a certification with my coach.

I really wish I learned how to write and read in Chinese when I was a kid.

Google translate’s gotten better progressively through the years though. At least I don’t have to run to my mom for 2 hour translations while she gets pissed at me anymore.

Currently I’m uploading a video, that details a bit of what the Lifthard Chinese Weightlifting System is built upon. In this installation, I’ll be documenting 6 of the reasons, I think this system works so well.

1. Skills – The skills that I force you to pick up, can sometimes seem unrelated to weightlifting. Example, bouncing on a trampoline, jumping from a pole to another pole
2. Variety – I make you use a huge variety of movements that are somewhat weightlifting specific, just to force you adapt to various muscular/neurological connections
3. Volume – There’s tons of volume in this system
4. Load – The amount of weight used, is very heavy considering the reps I prescribe
5. Perfection in skill – Remember this quote “If perfect technique, was created so you can lift most weights, what makes you think you can lift better with imperfect technique?“
6. Balance – Structural balance is arguably one of the most important factors to allow you to really “drive” into the bar

Just watch the video and hopefully you’ll learn something. Cheers!

If you don’t wanna watch me babble, which I think you should though, here’s a point breakdown to why I believe variety’s a key component to making this system work;

1. Variety creates a larger “base” to enable longer term progress and enjoyment to training
2. Longer term progress comes from the CNS learning those movements and is able to “pick” patterns more effectively
3. It also teaches the body to go from “misalignment” to “alignment” which I feel, has a major contribution to creating power more effectively.
4. More skills, more coordination, easier to pick up those neural pathways again when necessary
5. And a few other things that I talk about.

Tomorrow!! I need to sleep now!! Omg…..things are finally cleared. Yes! I’ve confirmed my flight ticket back to Malaysia! Dropping by London, then Singapore, then Malaysia, then going to Perth, then Vietnam, HK, Italy! WohoO!!!!

http://www.accademiaitalianaforza.it/modello-di-approccio-e-periodizzazione-cinese/

In May, I’ll be going to Italy to conduct a seminar for powerlifters. This is thanks to Ado Gruzza who has apparently been implementing my methods for the Italian Youth Powerlifting team. Will likely be going to Perth, Australia with Coach Wu himself as well either in April or June, for a 10 day training camp so if anyone in Oz’s interested in that, we’ll be releasing the details soon. We’ll be explaining the newest development in both the Chinese weightlifting systems and what Coach Wu and I have developed through the years of analysis.

Some have actually asked, does the whole of China uses the same system. The answer to that, is a solid, no.

The Chinese have different methods from different provinces, but one province that is hugely dominant in weightlifting is Fujian. And then guess who’s born in Fujian. Yeah, the man himself before moving to Guangzhou. During the short period that I’ll be home in Asia, before moving to Canada to coach, I’ll be working on going to China to get some training videos, some of their textbooks which are becoming increasingly difficult to find and of course, like every trip to China, to learn more.

The more I learn about the methods of other coaches and other nations, the more I see why the Chinese spend crazy amounts of money for research and their sport teams. They’re always trying to make learning, easier. To make those little centimeters, grow. I heard rumours that the Chinese government spends about $100 million a year on weightlifting alone.  This includes their travels, the support of the teams, the stipends, the research, the coach’s salary, the rewards when they win. One Olympic gold medal = just chill out for the rest of your life, you’re good.

I’m certain some of the information that I will present during this seminar would’ve changed from the last time I wrote about it. Yet that’s the beauty of training isn’t it? Analyze what you know, expand, research a little deeper, find better solutions, get lost in your work. The old school, works amazingly well. The new school, with intention to achieve results and respecting the old school, and not marketing & advertising, can be better.

Just friggin busy right now. The posts will come, but a little more slowly. Many things learned since recently releasing the Lifthard Chinese weightlifting systems. If you’re interested in purchasing a copy, email me at kirksman@gmail.com

Cheers!

So I’ve went through the literature written by the Russians and I went through one phrase that seems to contradict what the Russians do. I think Zatrioski said this. So did Medyev. There’s a phrase that goes something like;

“The more varied your skill sets are, when building the foundation, the easier you will be able to pick up new movement skills as you progress through your career”

And the other one was;

“Variation is what keeps the body guessing and recalculating its movement patterns”

Now, the Chinese believed in this too and they taught me how to draw the entire system, based on many of those principles. That’s why I get the guys training under me to do things like band pull-aparts, hand-walks, tumbles, play on a trampoline if they have access to it.

However, it seems that some of the Russians that program for some of the American lifters, have a very almost “set” program that doesn’t seem to offer much variety. Does anybody know why this is the case?

Here’s a lifting tip.

Sometimes, variety is as simple as putting one extra pull before a clean or one extra overhead squat after a snatch. Doesn’t have to be so complex. I’ve had a guy report hitting a 95KG snatch pull+panda pull+hang snatch when his actual snatch is only 90KG. I’d take that as a PR.

A few of the guys have been hitting PR’s in “random” places like the panda pull, the complexes, the pause squats, the hang snatches, the back squats, behind neck presses, behind neck jerks, their handstands, the amount of time they can hold a weighted plank, and all the “weird” places.

These clients of mine have hit these PR’s in what they perceive as “random places” because it’s not the squat, snatch or clean and jerk.  I’ve studied the Chinese ways, the Bulgarian ways, the Russian ways as people would call it and have come to a few “IDEAS” as on why they all work and how they work.  I’ve personally spoken to both camps and these are their realizations (not mine);

Let’s first see the “idea” behind the Bulgarian methodology. I’ve spoken to a few guys that have trained under Ivan Abadjiev and coaches that swear by this system. Abadjiev does;

• Almost no back squats or pulls (Unless injured)
• Snatch, CNJ, power snatch, PCNJ, front squats, every single day
• Doesn’t allow any exercises outside of the basic 5
• Tends to work up to a max, then do 2-3 sets of 2 reps after that, with 10-15KGs less
• Works to a maximum, every single day
• Is very difficult to accomplish without a heck load of faith in the coach (my observation)
• Is extremely simple looking, but had definitely gotten really complex reasoning behind its works.
• No %

The Russians/Soviets do;

• Planned %’s. Often doing 4-5 sets of 2-3. Usually using a 7 week block period
• Has a few exercises more than Abadjiev. Do use pulls and back squats and even muscle snatches, push presses, etc
• Believe that accessory movements should be pretty similar to the snatch and CNJ in most cases
• Don’t really like maxing up too often

Then we have the Chinese method;

• No calculated percentage
• Uses a different method of calculating %, based upon repetitions, weakness and feeling
• Has tons of repetition
• Uses very heavy loads for the amount of repetitions that’s prescribed per set
• Uses time as a gauge. The more work you get, in the short amount of time, the better
• Love working from the partial positions
• Strong believers of half squats to assist full squats, but don’t hold these movements as priority
• Art, is the main concept behind lifting. Heavily influenced by gymnastics. Finesse.
• Perfect form, is not recommended. It’s the only way to lift.
• Tempo is compulsory. No rushing when lifting.
• Requires a mix of neural wiring and hypertrophy
• Has a huge variety of movements, which are constantly rotated in a systematic order following a skeleton that the Chinese created. This is to ensure you enjoy training because even Aristotle said this, “Pleasure, puts perfection in the job“
• Appreciates simple solutions.

I’m only capable of explaining the idea behind the Chinese methodology. Others, if I try dissecting it, people are going to go apeshit because it’s the internet and everybody’s the most important person, in their heads.

So far, this has been second week of me working with the weightlifters. Gotten a few PRs, hopefully I smashed a few stupid self limiting thoughts that run through the head of so many of these guys. Big shout-out to Matthew for really sitting down, understanding, asking and talking to me to understand the system properly. I learned a lot from his comments and all the other guys too, but he really understood the value of the high rep stuff that we do.

Above all though, I think the biggest part of the Chinese system is how the coaches talk to you. They respect you as an athlete, they respect your fears and they know how to handle your fears. Many athletes will want to stay in the comfort zone of 70-90% and they rarely want spend time in the suck zones of 95% on-wards for the weightlifting movements. What the Chinese coaches will always say to their athletes, are things that give them faith that they have it. They’ll always raise the squats and pulls, in tandem with the snatch and CNJ, so that the athlete realizes, “Yes, my squats and pulls have risen. I’ve enough in me to lift this”.

The hardest part for a coach, is the psychology part of the game. My coach would say things like;

“My faith in you, is rock hard. I know you have it. Come, let us (us is the word that’s used) show these other guys.”

“My only fear is that this weight is too light for you. It’s alright, let’s just do this and then we’ll add some real weights on (This is for PR attempts man..)”

“You didn’t do this the last time. How many times do you want to fail this and waste both our time? Get this so I can buy you a new shoe”

But if you miss….you don’t get the “It’s alright”. You get a dirty look of “I trusted you” that you just feel so bad for missing. This is the part where perception makes the difference. You could either take that as a “I failed…shit…” or you can take that as “Fuck!!!!!! I’m gonna KILL this motherfucking weight!!!!!” and you approach it with literally, drums in your head because you’re so upset that you disappointed the coach. And as a young athlete, you’re sure to reach for the bar and just do anything, so my coach used to pull me aside and say something like “You want this? Then show me. Don’t show me your aggression. Just show me the lift”

It’s not so much even the training program sometimes that I feel makes the difference, it’s the connection you have with your coach.  It’s the coach, with a winner’s mentality.  He used to always tell me that he believed in me, far more than I believed in me. And that’s why he succeeds with many of his athletes.

If you want to get into this whole system of training the right way, with more feeling than science because you clearly don’t understand the application of science anyway if you’re reading my blog, contact me at kirksman@gmail.com and we’ll talk business. No turd polishing. Just work.

And friggin excited to be in London in 3 weeks !!