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PUBLISHERCrossFit NorCal

DESIGNGreg Everettwww.greg-everett.com

COVERAnnie SakamotoPhoto by Greg Everett

BACKISSUESBackissues are available at www.crossfitnorcal.com

THE PERFORMANCE MENUis published monthly and distributed exclusively to sub-scribers by CrossFit NorCal. Yearly subscriptions can be purchased for $25.00. Visit www.crossfitnorcal.com for more information.

CROSSFIT NORCALPO Box 5501Chico, CA 95927www.crossfitnorcal.com

All content copyright CrossFit NorCal and its respective authors. Unauthor-ized reproduction or distribution is strictly prohibited by law.

FEATURES

3 The Golden Ratio A deeper exploration of the Athlete’s Zone and its relation to the Paleo Diet

12 Guinea Pigs, God, and the ZoneThe wit and wisdom of Brad Hirakawa

13 From the Floor to OverheadAn excerpt on Olympic Lifting from Dan John’s new book, From the Ground Up

REGULARS

8 Recipes for Health & Performance New ways to feed yourself for optimum health and athletic performance

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ISSUE 2 MARCH 2005 3

THE GOLDEN RATIOAN EXPLORATION OF THE ZONE AND ITS RELATION TO THE PALEO DIETby Robb Wolf

Have you heard of Phi? The Golden Ratio of mathematics? One of Phi’s descriptions is as follows:

The legs of a golden triangle (an isosceles triangle with a vertex angle of 36°) are in a golden ratio to its base and, in fact, this was the method used by Pythagoras to con-struct . The ratio of the circumradius to the length of the side of a decagon is also X, Phi is found throughout mathematics and was the basis of some quasi-religious sects finding the Devine in nature. What does this have to do with health, longevity and per-formance? Possibly nothing, but there does exist another Golden Ratio: namely the 40-30-30 ratio of food macronutrients espoused by the Zone, which for many holds the key to their performance goals. Like Phi, the ratios described by the Zone have been open to broad interperatation. Unlike Phi, however, it is obvious when de-tractors have neither read nor followed the Zone, let alone bothered to check the num-bers, when the Zone is called “low carb” or “high protein.” Modern nutritional science seems to suffer simultaneously from the in-ability to interpret empirical findings and the lack of insight necessary to couch ques-tions germane to health and fitness from a reasonable theoretical basis. Much of the confusion surrounding the Zone can be at-tributed to the developer of the Zone him-self, Barry Sears, because of his omission or

underplay of key information. This is unfor-tunate, as the Zone offers a remarkable de-gree of dietary precision.

I would like to set the Zone amidst a broader context and make sure people understand there are multiple facets to the Zone. I’ll use myself as an example and walk through the WHOLE Zone process. I also want to look at the Zone from a Paleo perspective. To do this, I will compare it to the recommenda-tions of Loren Cordain. I discovered a few surprising things in this process that iron-ically paint the Zone as a diet of extreme moderation.

The basic “How To” portion of the Zone fo-cuses around one’s protein requirements. Whether one uses the book or the handy online calculator, one must find his or her lean body mass and factor that into an activ-ity level to discover the number of blocks needed. CrossFit founders Greg and Lauren Glassman can perform the feat of prescrib-ing blocks based on an individual’s height, weight, and visible leanness. Typically they are within one block of what the sophisti-cated calculators recommend, and this is based in part on the fact that most women require 10-12 blocks and most men fall in the 15-17 range.

I am 172 lbs and approximately 6-8% body-fat. This leaves me with 158 lbs of lean body weight, and with a Physical Activity factor of .7 (158 X 0.70, Enter the Zone pg 80), this leaves me with 118. I divide the 118 by 7 (for each block there is 7g of protein) and my Zone block recommendation is 17. I have been doing 16 as per the Glassmans’ recommendation, so you see this is pretty close.

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ISSUE 2 MARCH 2005 4

The Physical Activity Factor is an important point that needs clarification. It is a surprise to most that doing the CrossFit Workout of the Day 3 on 1 off or 5 on 2 off along with martial arts training or other activity only places them in the 0.7-0.80 activity level. The WOD although very intense is not long and does not require that much energy to go through. For one to score the 1.0 level, sev-eral hours of practice in addition to a dedi-cated strength and conditioning program is necessary. This is an important point we will look at more later. In short, I was shocked by how “inactive” I was and pretty spooked at the prospect of dropping my calories to Zone Levels. In light of what we know from caloric restriction, intermittent fasting and the work of Art De Vany, I should not have been so nervous about the prospect of some short term caloric restric-tion with adequate nutrition. This was a classic example of over thinking a situation. Occa-sionally it pays to forget what we know in favor of what we can learn. For now, have some faith you will not wither away and starve on the appropriate block recommendations.

Remember blocks? The deal with blocks is that they are a convenient unit of measure, like the Mole in chemistry and physics or the Dozen in baking. Specifically, blocks are: protein 7g, carbohydrate 9 g, and each fat block is 1.5 g. Once one knows what a block of any given food is, constructing a two, three or four block meal is easy.

Going back to my seventeen block daily re-quirement, this means I need seventeen to-tal blocks each day. That is seventeen blocks each of protein, carbohydrate and fat. Ide-ally these blocks are broken into five or six meals/snacks. Seventeen blocks could be split into 5 x 3 block meals with a 2 block snack. One can apportion this anyway they like, but it is better to make meals small and

frequent. One need only use the May 2004 issue of the CrossFit Journal to construct meals of the proper proportions.

Let’s take a moment and do a little book-keeping with regards to caloric content and macronutrient ratios. For carbohydrates, we have 9g/block x 17 blocks; for protein it is 7g/block x 17 blocks; and for fat it is 1.5g/block x 17 blocks. This means we have 153 grams of carbohydrates, 119 grams protein (we already knew this one) and 25.5 grams of fat. Don’t forget, we need to double our fat at this point, as the Zone assumes a hid-den block of fat in most protein sources. That means an additional 25.5 grams of fat.

My caloric breakdown (carbo-hydrates and protein both have 4 calories per gram and fat has 9) looks like: C-612, P-476, F-459, with total calories at 1547. If we are diligent and check our work the ratios actually come out to be: C-39.6%, P-30.8%, F-29.7%. Fairly close to 40-30-30, no?

This is one of the first places Barry Sears really loses people, and a reason why research on the Zone has gone badly awry. Sears hangs so much of his evi-dence regarding the Zone on the performance of elite level

athletes, yet he says virtually nothing about the specifics of their process! This has made the little independent research into the Zone all but worthless. Sears asserts that this ap-parent caloric deficit (the ADA would put my caloric needs at around 2800 Cal vs the Zone’s 1550) is fine for the rest of your life. If one is quite sedentary this may be the case, but if one is an athlete, this is not go-ing to work forever. This is where the Ath-letes Zone comes in.

Barry Sears is a master of cooking and re-cooking his material in a staggering number of books but there is only one page in all of them that makes the recommendation of

Important Weight Note

Seven grams of chicken breast on a scale is NOT a block!!! We have re-ceived quite a number of emails from folks con-fused on this matter. One block of chicken breast has a precooked scale weight of approximately 1 oz, which is close to 30 grams. Most of the weight is water, with 7 grams of the weight ac-tually being protein.

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ISSUE 2 MARCH 2005 5

ramping up the mono-unsaturated fat in the diet to support activity level. In Mastering the Zone pg. 42, we get the goods, in a way. We are never told how to ratchet up the fat content, just that it can be done. I suspect the reason why Sears is virtually mute on this fact is that once one increases the fat content the original 40-30-30 is placed in a questionable light. I had never heard of the ramp up until Greg Glassman mentioned that most CrossFitters following the Zone settle at a level of 3-5 times their original fat content. In practical terms, this means that once one has leaned out on the basic Zone, they will increase fat content of each meal between 3 and 5 times. Ideally one takes a week or more at each level to get a feel for things and find their best performance with the least possible calories.

Let’s see what this ramp up does both to ca-loric content and macronutrient ratios:

Once one has revved up to the Athletes Zone it appears one is consuming both a low carb and low protein diet! We recently had a very long debate on the CrossFit mes-sage board regarding the potential health dangers of the Zone. One of the main argu-ments was that the Zone is a “high protein diet.” Perhaps we should only show the 5x version of this diet to the folks with this ar-gument. Frequently, however, the Zone is called a low carbohydrate diet, which, if one is at the original 40-30-30 level, we can explain away by saying “40% of calories come from low glycemic sources, mainly vegetables and fruits.” But what if we are at the 5x level? Did I just start Atkins because our carb percentage is at 24%?! Obviously the answer is no. I am still taking in around

150g of carbs per day. Low perhaps by ADA and vegetarian standards, but far above the level typically recommended by the seri-ously low carb crowd.

Approaching this purely from an empirical, black box perspective, we can reap all the Zone has to offer, and perhaps this is where we should leave it. But how do we know for sure the Zone is not high protein or low carb? What standards are being used here when these statements are made? When our Doctor says “high protein diets will destroy your kidneys,” does this have any basis in reality, or should our health care providers have a bit more exposure to anthropology and a bit less pharmacology?

To understand what is happening here and place all of this in a meaningful context, we need to look at some studies of intermit-tent fasting and caloric restriction, and then some of Loren Cordain’s work.

The study, “Intermittent fasting dissociates beneficial effects of dietary restriction on glucose metabolism and neuronal resistance to injury from calorie intake,” looks at the effects of intermittent fasting and longevity. I want to devote a whole article to this topic in the future, but for now it can simply be used to shed some light onto our Zone un-derstanding.

Essentially, the acts of caloric restriction and intermittent fasting increase nitrogen (protein) retention. The presence of ketone bodies from high fat intake accentuates this even further. What this means is that when one is following the low calorie 40-30-30 Zone, the mild caloric restriction combined with the by-products of body fat metabo-lism (ketones), greatly reduce the need for protein. Once one has leaned out it is ad-ditional dietary fat that provides sufficient calories and ketone bodies to spare protein. One question you may have is how we are getting ketosis when we are not completely glycogen depleted? In simple terms, all of our metabolic machinery is in action all the

RATIOS

C-40 P-30 F-30C-34 P-26 F-38C-30 P-23 F-45C-27 P-21 F-51C-24 P-19 F-56

LEVEL

1X2X3X4X5X

CALORIES

15501780201022402470

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ISSUE 2 MARCH 2005 6

time. Under the conditions of intense exer-cise, intermittent fasting and increased fat intake, concentrations of circulating ketone bodies increase dramatically, even when liver glycogen has not been fully depleted. Ketones are powerful, and we will look more closely at them in the future.

THE PALEO DIET

Just as a refresher, Paleo really refers to what we are eating, or perhaps more suc-cinctly, what we are not eating. That means no grains, legumes or dairy. Unless one is a serious paleo purist, some “non-paleo” but “good” items make the cut such as olive oil and tomatoes. Now that we have established what to eat, how much of any given thing should we eat? A place many have gone to answer this question is the diets of historical and contemporary hunter gatherers (HGs). Dr. Boyd S. Eaton did this back in the early 1980’s and used the Ethnographic Atlas to determine how much fish, fowl, meat, fruit, veggies, etc. our ancestors ate. From this in-formation, he made recommendations as to what we should be eating. His paper was a powerful turning point for many research-ers, including Loren Cordain.

Professor Cordain was a successful exer-cise physiologist teaching at Colorado State University when he found Dr. Eaton’s pa-per. This paper was apparently a moment of enlightenment for Prof. Cordain, as he from then on approached the research of diet and exercise from the perspective of “Evolution via Natural Selection.” What does this have to do with the Zone, Paleo diet, and most importantly, your performance and happi-ness? I’m getting there!

Prof. Cordain, being the inquisitive guy that he is, started looking at Dr. Eaton’s paper and found that it was thermodynamically im-possible to obtain all the calories sufficient for life on the largely plant based diet given the environment of our ancestors (pre-agri-culture). What had been missed was a large

amount of small game that ended up in the “Gathered Plants” section of the atlas. When Prof. Cordain made some adjustments to the previous calculations, he found that MOST HGs (over 73%) derived most of their en-ergy (>/= 56%-65%) from animal foods. You can read that whole article at www.thepal-eodiet.com/articles/AJCN%20PDF.pdf, but here are a few key points:

1] Peoples living further and further from the equator rely less and less on gathered plants and more on hunted/fished foods.

2] Regardless of location, there exist sea-sonal shifts in macronutrient content.

3] An “average” Paleolithic diet might look like C-23 P-38 F-39

Compared to the Zone, we have some obvi-ous similarities but some significant points of departure. The ratios look pretty good, especially when compared to the Athletes Zone. One obvious difference is the greatly increased protein intake. Cordain’s findings point toward a protein intake more than DOUBLE that of the Zone. Over 350g/day on average for me! Before the Nephrologists in all of you scream out in protest, please consider this is based upon contemporary and historical HGs. These people did not keel over from sudden onset kidney dis-ease. There are plenty of research citation on Medline debunking the high protein = kidney disease myth.

Another apparent departure from the Zone is the total caloric content that Cordain re-comends. From Cordain’s perspective, I should be consuming/expending ~3900Cals. This based upon his work here: www.thep-aleodiet.com/articles/Int%20J%20Sport%20Article.pdf

It looks like things are getting further and further apart, but if you remember we used a 0.70 Activity Factor to determine my pro-tein/caloric needs. This was based on my

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ISSUE 2 MARCH 2005 7

activity level, which according to Cordain and these molecular geneticists: http://jp.physoc.org/cgi/content/full/543/2/399, is too low. If we assume an activity level con-sistent with that of our ancestors and give me a 1.0 Activity Factor, my total caloric in-take at a scaled up 5x Athletes Zone is 3700. The Zone is still lower in protein than Cor-dain’s recommendations, but it is not so far off as to not make sense from a theoretical perspective, and well, the Zone just works! My main point with all of this is that if the diet we evolved on is “reasonably” safe (a remarkable number of people would argue this point) then a protein intake 50% LESS (such as we find in the Zone) is by default safe.

What can we take form all of this besides some paper to line the birdcage?

1] The Zone has a very distinctive start-ing phase and a ramp-up phase for athletes. This has been seriously un-der-emphasized and is perhaps the primary reason the Zone has not met broader acceptance. It is interesting that a research biochemist who has lived in a world where reproducibility is everything does not adequately com-municate how to reproduce his diet!

2] The Zone is perfectly compatible with what we know about human origins with regards to amounts and ratios of food. It is lower in protein but it may be that the Zone optimizes protein uti-lization. There is no doubt that when we increase the intake of a macronu-trient we increase its utilization as an energy source. It makes sense that one would want to be fat adapted but not protein adapted. The Zone may ac-complish both tasks very effectively.

3] The Zone appears to home in on a ca-loric and macronutrient level consis-tent with our energy expenditure even when the activity level is less than what may be optimum for our species.

This is pretty intriguing to me. I sus-pect that both our performance and results would optimize when our ac-tivity reaches that 1.0 Activity Factor (or 50 Kcal/kg per day from Cordain’s work) and our food is scaled to match. Art De Vany has talked at great length about living at high-energy flux. Lots of activity and lots of food. I am seeing a convergence of both clinical experi-ence and theory.

NEXT TIME

One troubling aspect of the Zone (I’m not the only one with this opinion) is its static nature. If we have learned anything from CrossFit and Evolutionary Fitness, it is that intermittency describes and supports opti-mum human performance, longevity and health. Next month I will look at a punc-tuated phase-shift program, The Metabolic Diet, by Mauro Di Pasquale. It is my hope that delineating the similarities between these approaches will help both in what program to choose and ultimately adher-ence to a healthy program for life.

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ISSUE 2 MARCH 2005 8

RECIPES FOR PERFORMANCEBEETS!

“The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious.” Tom Rob-bins, Jitterbug Perfume

Acclaimed author Tom Rob-bins reveres beets in his characteristically wild and en-tertaining novel Jitterbug Per-fume, a book that incidentally addresses longevity, fasting, alternating hot and cold wa-ter immersion, eating frequent small meals, the importance of practicing breathing exer-cises... and sex. His insight into the confound-ing topic of nutrition is also spot on: “...‘tis better to swap bubble gum with a rabid bulldog than challenge a single one o’ the varyin’ beliefs your

average human holds about nutrition...” Jitter-bug Perfume is a thrill, a must read for the fic-tion lover. Enough said. Let’s eat some beets!

First, it must be said that we are talking about fresh beets, not the canned variety. Canned beets frequently contain added sugar, and the processing and breakdown of cellulose that oc-curs during the canning process increases the

beets’ glycemic index.

The Zone places beets in the “unfavorable carbohy-drate” category. We disagree. Fresh beets fall between leafy greens and fruit in carb density and are rich in antioxidants.

‘Tis currently beet season, which means you’ll find loads

of them at your farmer’s market. There are many varieties (try to find some heirlooms) and a vast array of colors. All are delicious.

YOU CAN’T BEAT A BEET

. Nutritious, tasty & seasonal

. Intermediate carb density

. Promotes circulation

. Aids liver function

. Antioxidant rich

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ISSUE 2 MARCH 2005 9

Grated Beet Salad

Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

. 1 medium sized beet, grated

. 1 medium sized chicken breast, grilled and sliced. Olive oil. Lemon juice

Ah, how we love simplicity! Grate the beet, add sliced chicken breast and drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Toss and enjoy! The acid in the lemon juice will tend to hy-drolyze the sucrose in the beet, making it a bit sweeter.

Zone blocks

Every half-cup of grated beets is a block of carbohydrate. 1 oz of grilled chicken is a block of protein. 1/3 tsp of olive oil is a block of fat. Construct the salad to suit your block needs.

The tops of beets or beet greens are also known as chard. They are discarded by many folks, but are in fact quite tasty. You can use them just as you would spinach or kale.

Chard & Cashew Sauté

Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

. 6 cups of chard (beet tops)

. ½ cup chopped cashews

. 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil

Finely chop the chard and set aside. Lightly cook chopped cashews in ½ Tbsp of toasted sesame oil on medium heat for about five

minutes. Add chard, another ½ Tbsp of toasted sesame oil, and sauté for 3-5 min-utes until done.

Zone blocks

3 blocks carbohydrate, 15 blocks fat (a great 5x meal)

Coconut Beet Borscht

This is a hearty and flavorful dish. The fat content of the coconut milk makes it perfect for those following the athlete’s zone.

Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

. 5-6 medium beets (a variety of colors makes for a radiant dish!). 1 yellow onion. 1 can coconut milk. ½ cup minced ginger

Mince ginger and chop the onion. Infuse both in a small amount of olive oil for 3-5 minutes on medium heat. Chop the beets into bite-sized pieces and add to the pot. Add about ½ cup of water, cover and let steam for another 5 minutes. Add coconut milk and stir. Cook covered for 10-15 min-utes on low heat, stirring periodically. When the beets are tender enough to stick a knife into them, you are ready to eat!

Zone blocks

As prepared above, the recipe contains 14 blocks carbs (every ½ cup beets is 1 block of carbs) and 45 blocks fat. This makes for a convenient 3x fat meal. Each ½ cup of the finished product yields 1 block carb and 3 blocks fat. Add a lean protein source and you’re set.

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ISSUE 2 MARCH 2005 10

dium heat. Peel and chop garlic and add to the beef. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add green onion and cook an additional 2 min-utes. Mix the eggs in a bowl and add to the skillet. Cover and im-mediately reduce heat to low. Cook covered until done (approxi-mately 10-15 minutes) keeping an eye on the

center, as it will be the slowest to cook.

Zone blocks

If you are following the Zone, you will want to construct the frittata according to your block needs. The recipe above, when cut into quarters, makes four 4-block meals, or three 4-block meals and two 2-block snacks. This is perfect for someone on a 16-block plan.

If you think ahead a bit it becomes easy to construct a frittata that will cover your block needs for the entire day.

You will need to round out your meals with some carbohydrates, as the frittata is primarily protein and fat. The green onion and garlic are negligible when it comes to overall carb content.

Not So Corny “Corned Beef”

I’m Irish. Well, I’m mainly Swedish and Scottish, but I know there is some Irish lurk-ing in here somewhere. This may account

Frittata Fun

For a breakfast that can also serve as lunch, dinner and snacks, a frittata is the way to go. Depending on how you scale it, you can get 4-5 meals from one of these relatively sim-ple beauties.

There is no end to the creativity that can be applied here. Frittatas can be comprised of virtually anything, so long as the wild com-binations you come up with actually appeal to you. Onions, garlic, any type of meat, a variety of veggies and spices, all can be thrown in to create a tasty frittata. The one we are featuring is a simple but delicious combination of lean beef, garlic, and green onion. And of course, eggs!

When creating varia-tions of the frittata, be sure to add slower cooking ingredients first, followed by those that cook more quick-ly.

Note: For this recipe you will need a non-stick skillet with a well-fitting lid.

Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

. 8 oz lean beef

. 8 eggs

. 2 cups chopped green onion

. 8 cloves of garlic, chopped

. Dash of olive oil

Cut beef into small pieces and place in skil-let with a dash of olive oil. Cook on me-

GARLIC PEELING 101

Many of you may know this little trick, but for those who don’t it can save mountains of time when trying to peel the skin from a clove of garlic. Here’s the easy way:

. Separate cloves from the head of garlic. Cut the tips off the end of the cloves. Use the flat side of the knife to forcefully press down on the clove (try to almost flatten it). This breaks the skin so that it virtually falls off in your hand! . Now you’re ready to chop or mince!

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ISSUE 2 MARCH 2005 11

for my calm demeanor while driving and my penchant for odd foods, for example corned beef and cabbage. Perhaps not as bad as liver and onions (don’t worry, we are not planning an issue devoted to organ meats... well, hmmm...) Corned beef and cabbage brings me back to my childhood. Especially since St. Patty’s is arriving in just a few days. So to help you experience the joy of being Irish, here is a Paleo-friendly gem from the Emerald Isle.Time 10 minutes prep.

Ingredients

. 1-4 lbs of London Broil (Brisket is tradi- tionally used but is quite marbled. For a leaner cut choose the London Broil). 1 head green cabbage chopped in long thin strands. ½ cup peppercorns. 5-10 bay leaves

Pour pep-p e r c o r n s into the bottom of a slow cook-er. Brown meat for 1 minute on each side in a skillet with a small amount of olive oil. Place meat atop pep-pe rco rns . Cover meat with bay leaves then cover with c a b b a g e . Set slow cooker on low for 4-5 hrs or high for 2 hrs. The meat should be very tender, but one may slice it thin and serve with some of the cabbage. Don’t eat the bay leaves!

Zone Blocks

Each 1.0 oz. of cooked meat is one block of protein. Each cup of cabbage is 1 block of carbs. This recipe is going to be a little skin-ny on the carbs. Check out our beet salad to help round out the meal.

Kumquats

A tasty citrus option that many have never tried! They require no peeling, just pop the whole thing in your mouth and chew. Tangy on the inside with a much sweeter peel, they are a refreshing treat. As an added bonus, the d-limonine in the peel is a potent anti-tu-mor agent. D-limonine is found in most cit-rus peels, but since eating orange and lemon peels is something that most of us avoid,

kumquats provide the perfect op-por tuni ty to get some of this good stuff.

Most fruit being 2 blocks, it can some-times be cha l l eng -ing when n e e d i n g a 3 block m e a l . . . what to do with the remaining

half piece of fruit? Kumquats are a good solution. Four of these little guys make a block.

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ISSUE 2 MARCH 2005 12

GUINEA PIGS, GOD & THE ZONEby Brad Hirakawa

I have two pet guinea pigs. Really, I do. I’m weird like that. And it makes me laugh when I tell my friends what I do for a living, right after I tell them about my pets. Plus, I once had a seven-foot boa, and they make great boa snacks. My theo-ry: God is busy, and can only look in on your life a few times each year. You know, like San-ta. So, I’m g a m b l i n g that he sees me caring for these guinea pigs and says, “That Brad... He’s a good guy.” The unfortunate other side is that he sees me experimenting on lab ani-mals and says, “That Brad... send him to the

hell of 10,000 rats.” The Zone point... One pig eats the zone, and the other eats your standard guinea pig chow. I will post videos of them, with highlights

of the zone guinea pig repeatedly k i c k i n g the other pig’s ass, having his way with him (it’s a don’t-ask-don’t-tell cage), while run-ning laps around the cage with the fat pig sitting in the middle asleep. It’s just like my grap-pling ses-sions with

my high-carb runner/cycler friends. Well, minus the me having my way with them.

How much more proof does anyone need?

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ISSUE 2 MARCH 2005 13

FROM THE FLOOR TO OVERHEADWorld renowned lifter and thrower Dan John has a new book available for FREE!! The following is from Chapter Three. Go to his website. Read the book. Or else.

Squat right. Clean right. Put the bar over-head. Repeat. That is usually my little for-mula for teaching people the basics of get-ting strong. But, people always insist on the follow up questions: What do I do now? How do I measure up?

I can remember being told that the Olym-pic Lifts were dead just a few years ago. The machines, the “protocols,” the safety issues, and the this’s and that’s had put the nails in the coffin for those who snatch and clean and jerk. Do a snatch at a spa and the first question from the spandex bunch is “what does that build?” Then, the owner kicks you out for scaring the grandmas in the step aer-obic class.

But recently, there has been a surge of inter-est in the sport and the lifts. Football coach-es, breaking from the decades of “following the follower” and non-productive training, have embraced the snatch and clean as basic training for their athletes. Of course, track and field athletes, at least at the elite level, seem to have continued pulling and push-ing in the increasingly darker ends of gyms and spas. The internet, for all its problems, seems to have been part of this phenomenon that has found a resurgence in the popular-ity of the O lifts.

Starting the true neophyte off in the O lifts is a matter of debate, but I would follow the Bulgarian method. Simply, the Bulgarians begin by teaching a perfect deep back squat. This means that the athlete has a high bar

placement on the upper traps, the chest is held up, and the lower back tucked in. The athlete sits straight down “between” the legs and continues down until “the ass is on the grass.”

What does “between the legs” mean? One of the true keys to squatting and the O lifts is this simple concept. I teach it this way: have the athlete stand arms length from a door knob. Grab the handle with both hands and get your chest “up.” Up? I have the athlete imagine being on a California beach when a swimsuit model walks by.

Immediately, the athlete puffs up the chest which tightens the lower back and locks the whole upper body. The lats naturally spread a bit and the shoulders come back “a little.” Continuing with the arms in the “hammer throwing” position, with the Muscle Beach chest, lean back away from the door.

Now, lower yourself down. How? Well, I teach young lifters to think that their feet were stuck to the ceiling and they would have to pull their butt to the ceiling. Sure, an odd image, but it works. What people discover at this moment is a basic physio-logical fact: the legs are NOT stuck like stilts under the torso. Rather, the torso is slung between the legs.

The Front SquatBar resting on the shoulders

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As you go down, leaning back with arms straight, you will discover one of the true keys of lifting: you squat “between your legs.” You do not fold and unfold like an ac-cordion, you sink between your legs. Don’t just sit and read this: do it! To develop the ability to squat snatch or squat clean hinges on this principle!

Foot stance, hand grip, and most questions are not as relevant as the key point of sit-ting between your legs. I must admit, I usu-ally just have someone jump two or three times. Note where they land on jumps two and three. Have them look at their heel to toe alignment. “That” is the stance. A touch wider, a touch narrower, it takes a few tries, but I think it is fairly natural.

The best way to fix squat problems is to...squat. I think that alternating the three great variations (back, front and overhead) as well as occasionally adding the “old” lifts like Jefferson or straddle the bar squats or Hip Belt Squats (a special belt with chains is at-tached to the weight and you simply squat up and down) is the best way to fix prob-lems. Overhead squats teach the arch of the lower back better than any drill, as well as providing a superior back isometric. Front Squats certainly push the stress more to the quads as well as demanding increased flex-ibility. Back squats clearly help the other two variations by pushing the load higher. So,...if your struggling on one: focus on the others!

The Overhead Squat Bar locked out over the head

To Summarize:

1] Sit “between your legs” 2] Minimize shin movement 3] Keep a big chest and big arch in your

back 4] Every time you get hurt, not sore,

squat ting...have someone watch your shins; they shouldn’t be coming for-ward very much at all.

5] Done correctly, squats may be the sin-gle exercise you need to do for suc-cess in sports. Done correctly

Next, the Bulgarians teach the clean, argu-ing it is simpler than the snatch. This par-allels my learning experience, too. Grow-ing up with the Ted William’s Sears cement filled barbell, we all cleaned and pressed as young lifters.

1] That Muscle Beach chest position, with the lower back locked in and lats puffed et al, must be maintained throughout the lifts.

2] As you address the bar, the “get set” position, think of your arms as ropes or cables. Keep them long and loose.

3] I like to start with my hands on the bar and my legs “sorta” straight, then squeeze my hips down to the starting position. It helps for me to flex my lats and literally pull my butt down BE-FORE I begin the pull.

4] The best advice I know to get the bar going up is to “Push the Floor Away.” You need to hold the hips and shoul-ders in the same angle to the floor for “as long as you can.” Physics and physiology will help you finish the lift correctly. Former champ, Russ Knipp argues that all you ever do in pulling, throughout the whole clean or snatch is to focus on pushing the floor down. Think of this first part, the “first pull,” as a leg press on a machine. An even better image is to think of pushing

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your heels all the way through the earth.

5 For new lifters, I stress a drill that sounds crazy, but works well. I teach new lifters to take the bar from the floor to about two inches above the knee as SLOWLY as possible, one inch a sec-ond. Why? It teaches the core truth of lifting (and throwing events): proper acceleration. When the bar gets to that spot two inches above the knee: jump! That’s it. Snatch or clean, you have just learned the key principles.

After mastering the clean, while continuing doing the squats, it is time to put the bar overhead. In the ideal world, the athlete would have a set of tall boxes two feet lower than shoulder height. The bar would be placed on these high boxes, the athlete would grab the bar, place it on the chest and stand tall. Standard racks work well…very well, in fact…but there is nothing that builds confidence more than a safe place to dump a lift. Pad the floors, if you must, and consider buying bumper plates…those rub-ber plates that cushion the sound and pro-tect the gym.

Over a period of weeks, the athlete would learn the true military press, the power press (the lifter starts the press with a leg push), the power jerk (after starting the lift with the legs, the athlete “catches” the bar with bent legs when the momentum stops), the split jerk (the athlete dips the bar by bending the knees, drives it over head, then catches the bar by slapping the feet fore and aft) and the behind the neck variations of the same lifts.

Finally, the athlete would slide the hands out to the snatch grip, push the floor away, jump and “snatch” the bar overhead. Throughout this basic training, the athlete would be exposed to variations of the squat

(basically the front and overhead squat) and lots of flexibility work, as well as an orienta-tion to the history of the sport and the rules of the sport.

If you have no interest at all in these lifts…shocking!...here is a simple addition to add to your workout:

Pressouts. I learned this trick from Pacifica Barbell Club coach Dick Notmeyer. Simply, at the end of any overhead lift, including presses, jerks, or push jerks or presses, finish the set with “pressouts.” As you stand tall, with arms locked out overhead, bend your

elbows so the bar moves no more than three inches. Continue to do this up to eight times. Now, put the bar down. As simple as this seems, this exercise builds the whole support system. Soon, you may notice the serratus muscles, the “fin-gers” on the rib cage, be-coming a lot more notice-

able. As your body tightens to compensate during the pressouts, you are building sup-port strength. This idea may be used any time. Try sneak-ing the pressouts into a workout, by the way, it also works in bench presses, but have a good spotter. You’ll see the difference in your ability to support the big weights.

Now, let’s go from floor to overhead with the bar. Why?

1] Great for cardiovascular condition-ing… try it and see!

2] True measure of strength 3] Impress your friends! 4] Get functional strength 5] Lift in REAL meets!

I’m telling you, the best single investment you can make is a piece of PVC pipe or an old broomstick. Use the stick to perfect your positions. In addition, the athlete would be

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exposed to lots of repetitions with broom-sticks while learning the basic terms of training and method. You will be amazed at how much sweat this stick can produce!

Dave Turner’s Hercules Barbell Club begin-ners use a simple program for learning and developing the rudiments of strength. Three days a week, the team members go through a ten minute warm up of shoulder “dislo-cates” with broomsticks, overhead squats with broomsticks, followed by front squats, then a “cardio-like” few minutes of snatch-es and clean and jerks with the broomsticks. Dave reinforces the terms used in lifting: “Get set,” “Push the floor,” “Jump,” “Dip,” and “Down.”

Then, Dave’s team does the following sim-ple workout three days a week:

Warm Ups with the Broomstick

Snatch: 8 Sets of Doubles (A “Double” is two perfect repetitions)

Clean and Jerk: 8 Sets of Singles (A “Single” is a perfect repetition)

Front Squat: 5 Sets of 5 Repetitions

Press: 5 Sets of 3 Rep-etitions

If your form is perfect, you add weight the next work-out, if not, you stay at this weight. I know, I know, it looks easy on paper. Try it...then, tell me it is easy.

Dave is teaching his lift-ers how to lift during the warm ups! I stole this idea for my discus throwers and our throwers warm up with the basic move-ments…over and over and over again…of “Stretch-1-2-3.” They hear the terms,

do the movements and warm up their bod-ies and their techniques at the same time.

Next, Dave’s workout is always the same…with one variation. The athletes all do the same program but they start at different lifts. A typical variation:

Clean and Jerk: 8 Sets of SinglesFront Squat: 5 Sets of 5Press: 5 Sets of 3Snatch: 8 Sets of Doubles

So, one day, an athlete might start at the Clean and Jerk and finish with the Snatch, the next workout Front Squat first, the next Press, and the next week begin with the Snatches and finish with the Presses. A little variety is nice…that’s all the beginner needs! But, just a little…

The genius of Dave’s system is two fold; first, the athletes are preparing from the moment they enter the gym to lift on the platform at a meet. All their training is focused on the two meet lifts: the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk. The Front Squats and the Presses are the “strength” moves.

“Yes” is the answer to what most people then ask: “this isn’t what the guys in the

NFL/Bulgarian Olympic Team/World Champion-ships do, right?” That’s right, they don’t do this stuff now. But, you can almost be certain that the great ones had a long pe-riod of learning the basics.

Performance of the Lifts

One thing Dick Notmeyer, coach of the PBBC, was ad-amant about, perhaps even obsessed about, was the insistence that his lifters never “power” the weight up but always take the lift

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to the deep position. He felt that power lifts taught the wrong pull and would fail the lifter on maximum attempts. I think the be-ginning lifter would be wise to follow this advice. The more experienced an athlete is as they enter the sport of O lifting the more likely it is for this athlete to find that their power is far beyond their technique. Hang in there for a few months and learn to do it right!

What’s a “Power” Movement?

Simply, it is lifting the bar as high as you can versus “just” high enough to squat un-der the bar.

So, somebody asked me, “What would you do if you could get in a Time Machine and start all over again?”

1] I would have an excellent coach.2] I would have excellent facilities.3] I would have the patience to take the

first few years to learn the sport with light weights and broomsticks.

4] I would have started at age 8.

But, since there is no magic machine to do this…let’s start doing it right right now!

Some standards I have used with boys in the high school setting:

No, it’s not perfect. I don’t have weight classes nor do these take into account all the varieties of humanity. But, it’s funny…having a standard seemed to make the kids

make the standard. Could this be the secret to success?

Summary

1] As a coach, with beginners, I need to be ruthless in cutting to the core of what works and spend all of our time repping those things that work. A freshman team is not like the NFL, your local church basketball team is not the same as coaching the Lakers, and you shouldn’t train a beginner like a member of the Bulgarian Na-tional Weightlifting Team!

2] The job of a coach is to think tacti-cally. Part of preparation for competi-tion is to put the athlete in a setting that reflects competition. An endless variation of “if-then” does not prepare the beginning athlete for competition. The novice needs to do “this.” One thing. If you follow this advice, you will soon find that your athletes make very few mistakes in competition. Re-cently, Jimmy Johnson said on Fox Sports that “you always play the guy who makes the fewest mistakes, not the guy with all the talent.” There’s a gem right there.

Grade

9th10th11th12th

Snatch

95 lbs115 lbs135 lbs155 lbs

Clean & Jerk

135 lbs175 lbs200 lbs225 lbs

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