Dutch Lowy

** UPDATE**   The technology for this is even cooler than i thought.  You don’t want to miss this!!!  See ya tonight.

I have posted on this a couple times and the guys at Athletes Forum continue to impress me.  They have developed a system where video can be uploaded and then evaluated while the athlete is online in a face to face chat.  Very cool stuff!

I am lucky enough to be the first coach asked to take part in this technical revolution so if you are interested in getting a couple pointers on your snatch be sure to be there!!   Thursday April 1 at 7PM CST.   Click here to sign up.

In case it fills up, there will be another session next thursday at the same time.  I believe this will be focused on the clean and Jerk but as always i like to mess things up.  If you want snatch help, i’m sure I can take a look.  ( I am always willing to look at a snatch…)

I also hear that Justin of 70sbig.com will be in attendance.  I am sure there will be plenty of friendly banter so if you are entertained by that…

I want to talk about something that i sometimes overlook but can be very useful as a coach/trainer and a client/athlete.

Action Steps

Recently i did a poll of my clients/athletes about what i could do to better their training and my coaching.  Among other suggestions and complaints action steps arose.  This is not exactly the term they used but i like this term.  I actually stole it from an author that i really like Ramit Sethi of I will Teach you to be Rich.com.  At the end of each chapter of his book he has 5-10 action steps.  many times i read things and think Damn!  Thats a great idea and nothing comes of it.  With action steps you have no excuse to do exactly what is listed.

To shift this to training:  I find myself telling people “ok, today i want you to snatch, clean and jerk and the do some pulls.”  Why is this hard to understand?  I think its difficult for two reasons:

First, when i tell someone with a type A personality they are likely to report back that after 100 snatches, 50 clean and jerks and 100 pullups, 60 deadlifts and 50 barbell rows, that that was the hardest workout they have ever done.  Whereas; a person with a dispensation more like mine would come back after 10 light snatches, 5 medium clean and jerks and a couple clean pulls that they aren’t getting any stronger.  What is a better way to get someone to do what you really want?

Tell them exactly what you want:  I want you to snatch 5 sets of 2 from the high hang position working on speed under the bar then clean and jerk a medium weight (75-85%) for 6 singles the do 5 sets of 3  clean deadlifts with perfect technique with a weight just over 105% of their clean.  Focus on the positions.

For any personality or training background this should be comprehensible.  It may require some actual coaching but thats a good thing for both of you.

Lets expand for a second and look at you as a trainer.  For those of you that struggle with getting clients to either take care of themselves outside the gym or to shift their nutrition i would highly recommend dishing out some action steps.  For example, I want YOU (insert name of client) to go home find a tennis ball or baseball and roll for 2 minutes on each body part, your quads, glutes, thoracic spine and lats.  Or, when you get home i want you to eat 5 oz of steak with 1/2 cup of green beans and a glass of water.  If you get hungry later in the evening you can have a handful of almonds. Sounds pretty controlling but in my opinion thats what people are paying you for.

The more specific you are, the easier it will be to understand and the more compliance you will have.  I struggle with this weekly but i am working on it and you should be as well.  If you leave your instructions up to interpretation, they will be interpreted differently than you intended.  As an athlete, if you don’t understand the action steps, ask questions.  You fail if you leave the gym misunderstanding exactly what is asked of you.

Now, Go get better!!

Thanks again Bill.

First of all let me say that this is not an easy question to answer, but that does not make it invalid.  In fact i think each and every one of YOU should answer this question as well: “what makes a real difference in your life?”  That means you too Bill.

I am not religous.  I believe that there is an energy in this world that we can all feel.  Some call it God, Jesus etc…  I like the annonymity of simply an energy that flows through the ground into the trees, through the air and into us.  I think different people feel this energy in different ways and that is the way it is supposed to be.  Discussions on this energy should be really open and listened to, not Judged.  It is not anyone of our places to judge people or their beliefs.  How does this make a difference in my life?

Well, it is important to me to listen.  I listen to people, i listen to the world and the energy in it.  Many times you can sense someones mood just by being in their presence and this sense should tell you how they are in life.  It should guide you in the way you interact with them and how you choose to speak to them.  In order to truly sense this, you must clear your mind of any preconceived ideas about the person or the situation.  To get specifically into training related material.  If a client comes in the door already distraught (i can usually tell, and it usually obvious mid workout where there head is) maybe its not right for them to get a physical workout.  As much as i sometimes hate carrying the burdens of others, i see the lightness on their hearts when they leave the gym.  Regardless what was accomplished physically, the emotional fitness was improved so i call it a success.

In order to feel this energy i was talking about earlier, it is very important NOT to rush through life.  Somethings i do to slow things down:

#1 Put the cell phone down and close the computer and leave the house!  We get so caught up in constant contact that it is liberating to leave this stuff and get away from its clutches.

#2 Look to the sky and soak up some energy (or vitamin D).  Its important to do this especially in the AM as the sun helps us get our day started with energy.  But its also important to do it when you are feeling stressed.  Tap into that good energy floating around.

#3 Take a deep fucking breath!  Put everything down, close your eyes and take a deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth.  Still feel tension? take a couple more.  Feel that?  Thats life!

#4 Go wander around.  Look at stuff, listen to people and talk to people.

#5 Appreciate something.  Art, movement, the trees, a person…

Thanks again Bill.  Your turn.

The Black Box summit is creeping up.  Secure your spot today!  Sign up here: http://www.blackboxsummit.net/?page_id=7

This is a barbell that was given to me by one of my favorite coaches.  It was at a time when i didn’t have much money but an insatiable will to learn.  (I still have the will to learn and teach).  It was an act of kindness that i have always felt i needed to repay.  Although i can’t give Coach B anything but a hard time occasionally i would like to flip the coin and do what he did for me.  If you are interested in lifting and getting some coaching and live in or near Fort Worth.  I will be having “open gym” Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3-6pm and Saturday mornings starting around 10am.  Tonight (3/18) is the first meeting!  I am modeling this after what goes on at Coach B’s in SoCal so please understand that it will be informal and all levels are welcome.  I currently have limited equipment so if you are bringing alot of people either bring your own barbell and some weights or try to be patient with my setup.

If you are interested or want more info please email me at: dutch@crossfitatm.com

Like i said, all are welcome just make sure you bring a good attitude and a will to learn!

Thanks Coach B!!

See ya soon.

Hey everyone!

I had a great idea just now.  I know unusual but it happens.  I am lucky enough to be involved with something called the Athletes Forum (www.athletesforum.net) and will be speaking at my usual time Thursday at 8PM EST.  It is Free so get your spot soon!

I will be taking some of your topics and using them for discussions so don’t feel like i am skipping your request.  I am simply giving you a more direct way to discuss them.  I hope to see you there!

http://www.athletesforum.net/upcoming-events/dutch-lowy-on-gameday-prep/

Dutch

I feel i have a unique insight on this for a couple reasons.  First, i have done it before and saw marginal success (see 2008 CF games).  Second, i program and coach a multitude of other athletes and have seen the benefits of them getting out of their heads. Third, i have had many coaches in many different sports and know the importance of having someone to keep you accountable.

#1

Motivation:  Self programming can mean that only you know what you are supposed to do.  You know you need to do certain stuff but usually procrastinate long enough to not be able to put the proper amount of effort into it.  If you miss something or don’t put up the weights you originally planned to, you can simply modify the program or come up with an excuse for yourself.

#2

Accountability:  This piggybacks motivation pretty well in the sense that when you write your own program, you are less likely to do everything you expected of yourself.  For example if i were to program a set of back squats at 82% for 5×4 and only got 3 sets then i felt tired, i would likely move on.  For some the internal motivation may carry them through, but almost guaranteed they will not prescribe that again.

#3

No outside perspective:  Alot of the time we get really wrapped up in what we need to improve on and can’t really see the big picture.  This is a HUGE problem if you expect to improve yourself through programming.  I think when we analyze our own performance, we tend to see what we want, however when someone else looks at you and your performance, you can’t really mask anything.

#4

Outside Expectations:  When someone else believes in you and knows you can accomplish something, you will try like hell to make it happen!  I had an interesting conversation with Ursula Garza at a recent Coach B cert in Dallas.  She is a senior International USAW coach and a pretty accomplished lifter herself so i listen when she talks… Well most of the time she talks.  She mentioned to me that she thinks i could snatch 120 and clean and jerk 150 within a year.  I looked at her and made sure she knew what my current lifts were (105 unofficial, 130) and that she knew i still had a broken collar bone.  She confirmed these little bits of knowledge and in doing so lit a fire under my ass!

The Black Box summit is creeping up.  Secure your spot today!  Sign up here: http://www.blackboxsummit.net/?page_id=7

I want to have a short conversation about common sense when training.  For many of you this will be obvious and you will wonder why i am writing this but recognize that if you think this is a silly post, its not for you.  If you get some good info out of this post, well i don’t know what to say….  We can’t all be smart..

First tip:

I know CF is all about performance and we all want to get better at every workouts.  I also know that we are constantly evaluating ourselves compared to others in the gym.  For those of you serious about training that really want to see marked improvement in your performance, Please understand that its acceptable, if not normal, to perform at submax levels on a daily and weekly basis.  By submax i mean NOT hitting a PR everytime you do a movement or a certain workout.  For those of you without an exercise science background, or athletic background for that matter.  There is a theory called super compensation.  basically it says training will cause you to appear deconditioned for a period of time before your body adapts and swings your performance into the green and you actually get better.  Ideally this is when you should attempt PR’s.  Conversely when you attempt max efforts while in the red or “deconditioned” state you should not expect record times or weights.  This is simply an indicator of an effective training program.  A good sign that you are on a good program is that you start to hit record weights or times in your last week of training before a competition.  Moral of the story, don’t freak out if you don’t PR everytime you attempt a lift or workout.  In fact be proud of yourself because your PR’s are actually good representations of your abilities.

TIp Two:

Are you hurt, injured, or does it just hurt?  I began my weightlifting career with a bulgarian cycle.  The bulgarians believe that in order to get better at the snatch and clean and Jerk, you must snatch and clean and jerk nearly everyday.  You must also front squat and thats basically it!!  Sounds great in theory right?  In practice it is a beat down of a program and forces you to work at relative max loads (see tip one) on a daily basis.  This hurts.  Like down in the bones hurts.  Now, lets distinguish between injury and being hurt, or hurting.  An injury is essentially something caused by some outside agent and can include anything from a broken collar bone to a bruised toe (both severely painful) and will require time off to heal.  Hurting is simply a painful sensation, either caused by physical suffering or mental anguish.  The mind can derive some weird shit when it gets pushed to the brink.  Think about the post fran feeling.

So now, enters one of my favorite questions to ask people when they are training and decide something hurts.  Are you hurt or injured?  When i ask this i am looking for an answer that tells me if the specific movement we are doing will make whatever is hurting worse.  If it will make it worse, you are likely injured.  If it doesn’t make it worse, you are just hurting.  Hurting is ok, Injury is not.

tip Three:

If it seems like a bad idea, it probably is.  My first back injury occurred after, or rather in the middle of, 15 deadlifts at double bodyweight.  From the first rep i knew it was a bad idea but i’m stupid so i did it anyway.  I know look at any workout with deadlifts over 225 for more than 5 reps at a time as dangerous and won’t prescribe it nor do i even like watching people attempt it.  Another potential example would be “flying pullups” in a competition…

Enough for now.  I will see what comes up and possibly add to this post later.  I have lots to take about and i wanted to thank you all for the support and brainstorming for me.

The Black Box summit is creeping up.  Secure your spot today!  Sign up here: http://www.blackboxsummit.net/?page_id=7