Quote of the Day 3/14/09

“You can never plan the future by the past.” –Edmund Burke

Quote of the Day 3/13/09

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.” –Robert Frost

Daily Quote 3/12/09

“It is not length of life, but depth of life.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quote of the Day 3/11/09

“All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.”

-Henry Ellis

Quote of the Day 3/7/09

“The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.”

-William James

Quote of the Day 9/6/09

“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”

-Charles Darwin

Quote of the Day 3/5/09

“Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets.”

-Arthur Miller

Quote of the Day

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me".

-Erma Bombeck

Quote of the Day 3/3/09

“Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.”

-Mark Twain

Quote of the Day 3/1/09

“Every man dies. Not every man really lives.”

-William Wallace

Quote of the Day 2/28/09

“The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Hind Site is 20/20

In my job as a Strength Coach at a Physical Therapy Clinic I see a fair amount of injured athletes over the course of my day.  Many of them have two things in common.  Lack of mobility at a joint and poor flexibility.  The common answer when I ask them what their flexibility and mobility strategy is goes something like this, “I hate to stretch!”.  I am going to share with you how I effectively get my point across to people with this mindset about the importance of flexibility and mobility training.  Below is a typical line of questioning I will give one of the athletes I work with when I get such a response.  I will put the typical response to the questions in quotations.

How much do you love playing your sport?  “I love it a lot.”

How much does it suck when you are injured and can’t practice and compete in your sport?  “I hate it so much.”

So, if I could tell you I could help you not get hurt by doing something for 5 minutes a day and save you from missing time from your sport. Would you do it?  “Of course I would!!!”

Ok, Then why do you hate to stretch?  “uhhhh”

You can effectively decrease ones risk of injury with flexibility and mobility training, everyone knows this.  But, some of the techniques to effectively do this can be tedious and many athletes just hate doing it.  But, once they understand the power of 5 minutes of performing these exercises or stretches they may be more open to doing them.  Especially if they have missed time due to injury.  Most athletes love their sport and participating.  When they have perceived value to something that will give them better results in there sport, then they will pursue it with as much vigor as their sport.  Giving Injury prevention and flexibility/mobility training this perceived value with my athletes by using this line of questioning I have seen great success with getting them to perform the exercises to reduce their risk of injury and promote mobility/flexibility and in turn improvement in injury rates and performance.

 

Next time you come across one of those Stretching haters try this method and provide them this hind sight is 20/20 enlightenment on stretching.

 

Good Luck

Quote of the Day 2/27/09

“Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.”

–Thomas Jefferson

Quote of the Day 2/26/09

“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.”

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

Quote of the Day 2/25/09

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

-Abraham Lincoln

Quote of the Day 2/24/09

“Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.”

-John F. Kennedy

Some Presidential Quotes

“Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.” – John F. Kennedy

“There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves.” – Lyndon B. Johnson

“A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.” – Richard Nixon

“It's not necessary to fear the prospect of failure but to be determined not to fail.” – jimmy Carter

“There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.” – Ronald Reagan

Support USA Weightlifting Junior National Team

USA Weightlifting has had their operating budget cut.  They will not be able to fund the Junior World team to go to The World Junior Championships in Romania in June.  As of now each member of this team is going to have to shell out the entire $2700. to make this trip.  From a stand point of international meets it is paramount for young lifters to compete at this stage.  Any opportunity that goes by for these young lifters is chances to grow as lifters wasted. 

So, to help out Glenn Pendlay of Muscle Driver USA has started a fundraiser by selling t-shirts for $20. of which $10 will go towards helping get these young lifters to Romania.  As of sending out this blog post there is only $1080. That would not even send one lifter.  So, please got to his site and purchase a shirt and help out Team USA.

The link is:

http://www.mdusagear.com/USAW-Fundraiser_c_13.html

Quote of the Day 2/17/09

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”

-Dwight D. Eisenhower

Coaching Cue for the Jerk

I was competing this weekend at the Atlantic States Open Weightlifting Championships.  I was warming up for the Clean & Jerk portion of the competition.  I was feeling a little bit sluggish on my Jerk.  I was very fortunate to have a bright young up and coming strength coach helping me out with my warm up.  He said something to me that was so simple yet something that is so easy to forget.

Jerking is relatively easy lift to do.  You dip to get the bar moving drive up then get under it.  But, it is easy to lose sight of proper technique and just begin to muscle the weight.  That is what I was doing in my warm ups.  I went into this meet feeling strong and I let that feeling get in the way of proper technique.

So, what was this simple cue this young strength coach gave me.  It was to “get tall”.  That was it! I was focusing so much on dropping under and pushing up that I failed to “Get Tall” or fully extend after my dip to get the bar moving into the Jerk.  So, why do I think this is such a great cue.  Simple, I am 6’4” tall and a former Basketball player.  Olympic Lifting does not come natural for me.  But, what does come natural to me is getting tall.  Those few simple words saved what would have been a long warm up and an atrocious three lifts.  By getting tall the bar was popping up off my shoulders and the weight began to feel light.

So, next time you are doing some Jerks or coaching the Jerk remember to “Get Tall” after the dip and when you are driving up to get under the bar.