YOU'LL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT KID!

It's been awhile since I have done a post, in that time I have: been married to my lovely wife for all of two months, took part in a weightlifting meet, traveled across the state of Tennessee, studied extremely hard for graduate school, and I have taught my classes at The University of Memphis.  It's been a pretty busy schedule to say the least.  However, I got the idea for the post one afternoon following the Halloween Holiday (for little kids and candy lovers it is a holiday).
I was asked recently about weightlifting and children; a mother in my class began to ramble one day about how children shouldn't work out.  According to her and many others out in the world children would hinder their bodies if they began weightlifting before they were in high school. My answer to that question was not if they have a smart coach. You see an untrained kid plus an untrained  "coach" is no different then Ralphie off of A Christmas Story going outside Christmas morning after receiving his most prized toy a Red Ryder BB gun shooting it and nearly taking his eye out.  This of course after the entire movie every adult said that he would do exactly that. Now, am I advocating that babies should be pushing around a barbell as they learn to walk? No!
Weightlifting is a sport as well as an activity that has a ton of misconceptions. Most people in our society would paint a terrible picture (and plaster it across every news channel) of a young child straining with a weight until finally their face was purple and they had broken every bone in their body. This typically doesn't happen in Weightlifting, it happens in High School football programs due to uneducated, untrained and uninterested position coaches. The truth of the matter is this Weightlifting has a lower injury rate compared to most sports.

How Can Weightlifting Help?

Children before puberty aren't capable of making  great amounts of strength gains due to lack or hormones.  Now for those parents out there that are like minded with my student, you will be saying right now "children don't need to be strong".  My answer to you is this.  What is going to keep your child from breaking something? What is going to keep them safe when they play sports? What is going to keep you away from medical bills? STRENGTH! Studies have shown (Sewall & Micheli, 86; Weltman et al, 86; Servedio et al, 85) that weightlifting allowed for greater flexibility in pre-pubescent boys and girls. Also these studies showed that motor performance can be improved through strength training.

What Age Then?

Typically, the best time to get your child into Weightlifting is eleven or twelve. It allows the individual to increase motor learning flexibility and growth prior to starting any real recreation, or club sports. It is also important because at this age they have very few distractions other than school.  Now you don't have to wait until your child is eleven or twelve to get them active.  It is very important that your child stays active just like you did.  So make them go outside, make them climb trees, get them a bike and teach them to ride.

Food

A lot of parents tell me that their child is allergic to this food or they won't eat that food.  The truth is that most children who do not eat health foods originate it from their parents.  Parents tend to not force good eating habits onto their children.  The best thing is to get your child introduced early to healthy foods and healthy eating habits.  NO CHILD IS GOING TO LOVE GREENS UNLESS YOU MAKE THEM INTERESTING! Add variety to your meals try introducing fruits with treats such as nut butters and dark chocolate.  Adding a little bit of salsa or spice to average veggies will help the child get over any bland tastes that veggies normally had.

Key Facts:
1. Get you kid active at an early age:
- The age of six is a good age to get your child into youth league programs. Sports such as Gymnastics, Basketball, Football, Baseball, etc. are good sources of building body awareness.  Yes, Gymnastics is a great sport to build not only body awareness but also  upper body and core strength that will aid children into adolescence   It also gives them great tricks to pull out at parties.

2. Find a great coach for your children to train under:
- This speaks for it's self.  You don't want some uneducated, untrained, and uninterested football coach training your child. This is the number one reason Weightlifting gets such a terrible reputation.

3. Teach your children proper nutrition:
- This all starts with you.  Your child watches you constantly they watch how you talk and interact with people, how you dress, and how you eat.  If you are stuffing your face with a Big Mac, then they will be more inclined to do the same when they grow up. Do not let them grow up to hate fruits and veggies because you never fed them fruits and veggies.

2012 Memphis Fall Open Weightlifting Meet-Write Up

So this meet went okay for me in a way.  I had some difficulties with my nerves in the Snatch which caused me to have a less then perfect 4 out of six finish.  I totaled 180 kilos which is middle of the road for me in the three meets that I have been in (170ish, and 190ish respectively). I did however, set a new PR on my Clean and Jerk at 110 kilos (this is the weight that I hurt myself on three months ago).  I missed out barely on 112 for my last attempt in the clean and jerk.  Down below you will see my stats.

This biggest thing that made this day is the fact that my former coach, friend, mentor,etc. John Simmons; was able to lift in a meet for the first time in three years.  John has done a lot for me and we go back a long ways, so it was very important for me to have him there lifting next to me.  In return John went six for six on set PR's on his Snatch, Clean and Jerk, and Total.


So what's next for me.  Well we are planning on having another Memphis Open sometime after Christmas.  That gives me about two months or more to train even harder.  I figure I will squat, press, and pull a lot more than normal.  I figure I will also work on my starting positions a little bit more; this way they feel better and I get more consistent with them.

How the cycle has been going.

So for the last few weeks I have been M.I.A. on posting how the cycle has been going.  This is in part because I have had a crazy last few weeks.  I have gotten married, had a honeymoon, and have been trying to get all of the paperwork in order for my wife to change her name and to also get myself a Tennessee driver's license.  Did you know that you had to show three different proofs of citizenship just to get a state id?  Come on Tennessee I think a social security card and a birth record is good enough.  Anyways, I feel that I have been neglecting all of you out there who follow this blog.  So without any more distractions here is how the cycle has been going.

Week 3
Went pretty well, it was kind of broken up with the wedding and the honeymoon.  I did have some issue coming back from a week off and hitting the same intensity and volume that I had previously done the week before.  I ended up having most of my erector muscles bunching up and causing me some low back pain.  I ended the week with a trip to the chiropractor to get rid of some of that discomfort. As far as weight is concerned I pushed everything up ten pounds like normal and met some new Pr's.

Week 4
Went pretty good too.  I did stall out a little bit on day four with my Push Presses.  One of my coaches Doug Larson helped me with my set up on Snatch.  I am pushing my knees out a little bit more at the start of my first pull to help keep myself over the bar and back on my heels.  This will help keep the bar in line with my body and allow me to hit in the right spots in my second pull.

I hope that at the meet on October 27th at the University of Memphis Field house I can make a 200 or 205 total. The USAW hasn't come out with the totals needed to qualify for Collegiate Nationals so it is all up in the air for right now.

This One Is For You Ryan Malone Press On… Press On…

I am sure you guys think the title of this article is a little bit odd and redundant.  However, there is a very important story behind this title.  I was driving from work on Friday morning; before I got home my gas light began to shine its amber light as an indication that I should probably get gas before I ended up stuck on the side of the road. I took this warming and pulled up to my local Kroger to use a somewhat useless ten cents off at the gas pump.  I turned my truck off; I opened the console to grab my Kroger card.  However, I was somewhat stupefied or amazed to find an old rubber band bracelet. This bracelet wasn't some dumb Live Strong bracelet, or something that was massively reproduced so that he could break on you two days after you bought it.  No, this was a bracelet that I had received while playing for The University of Mississippi Football team.  As I held it and ran my fingers through the letters P..R..E...S..S..O..N.. I began to have nostalgic flashbacks of Coach Houston Nutt in the team meeting room preaching to us and motivating us.  I was filled with happy memories and good feelings.

                

           This is where the story goes a little south! As I pumped my gas into my truck, my cell phone buzzed, it was another Facebook notification.  This time it wasn't a simple break up, or engagement, or photo, or even a stupid comment about a few sorority sisters happiness on bid day (or even one girl face planting in the grove when she was running to her new sorority house).  It was a message about a young man named Ryan Malone.  Ryan Malone was a graduate student at The University of Mississippi he was also a local who I had grown up with and one of the first training partners I ever had.  Ryan died overnight in his apartment, his girlfriend found him and rushed him to the hospital but he was already gone.  Ryan was twenty-four and was to finish his master’s degree this summer. As I drove home, I held that rubber band bracelet. 

Press On…

                

             I thought about Ryan most of the afternoon and even into training. I remembered when we were in high school and how we lifted together.  Ryan was your typical meat head and basked in the glory of being one.  He tried Power lifting, but that wasn't his love; Bodybuilding was. Not to say he didn't have other aspects that he trained.  All I could think about was Ryan and Press On.  I began to think about what Coach Nutt use to say all the time “These are the best days of your life.”  So I made a promise to Ryan and myself.  That every day from this point on, I was going to live and train because these are the best days of my life; I will train like Ryan would; attacking lifts and making progress by fighting for it.  I would press on during days that I didn't feel right or on lifts that I missed.  I won’t let others bring me down, and I won’t allow myself to bring myself down.

             Ryan, you had a profound effect on me. Without you, I wouldn't have taken pride in training. If I hadn't taken pride in my training I probably wouldn't have gone to college for football.  If I hadn't gone to school for football I wouldn't have met the coaches that opened my eyes to the profession of Strength and Conditioning, or Olympic Weightlifting.  If I hadn't opened my eyes to the profession of Strength and Conditioning, or Olympic Weightlifting, I would have nothing right now. So from the bottom of my heart I want to say thank you Ryan Malone.  Without you, I wouldn't have had anything that I have right now. I wish you the best up there and we love you brother.

PRESS ON……

Mrs. Paleo: Apple Pie!!

Mrs. Paleo: Apple Pie!!: Saw a recipe for apple pie and decided to tweak it into my own creation. It turned out to be yummmmmyyyy and just what i wanted. The apples,...

Mrs. Paleo: Pound Cake

Mrs. Paleo: Pound Cake: This is SO perfect for summer! Top it with fresh strawberries or peaches and raw whipped cream if you tolerate dairy - if you don't feel f...

3 Week Strength Block Week 1

I stayed very conservative at the start of this cycle.  I finally got it in my head that the race is not a 100 yards that it is 1000 miles. I had been focusing lately on one thing and one thing only the Memphis Fall Open (our local weightlifting meet).  I believed this was the only chance I had to qualify for the 2013 Collegiate Nationals Championship.  It isn't.  I have a long road ahead of me and weightlifting career; I am twenty three years old, and in pretty good health.  With that in mind I decided that I would start on a foundation of strength and build from there.

With that being said I set 85% of my lifts as my 5RM.  Next, I followed somewhat of Glenn Pendley's 5x5 approach and took about 15-20% of that as my training weight.  Each week I will add ten pounds to the lifts.  If my hypothesis is correct within a four week period I will be lifting 90% or more of my 1RM for a 5RM. This will continue into my next strength block or until my coach decides otherwise. I am eager to build strength. I am eager to get stronger.  Being stronger will help me Jerk, Squat, and Pull. 

The heavy volume has helped me with my problem areas.  I feel my upper back, core, glutes, and hamstrings have gotten stronger and built up better. The addition of close grip bench press has added more strength towards my lockout in the Jerk. I have great expectations for this cycle and my overall performance.