Friday, March 23, 2012

Picnic World Records

by Atomic Athletic on Friday, March 23, 2012 at 3:03pm ·

He set both the Left and Right Hand One Hand Deadlift World Records at last year's Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic. What will Andrew Durniat do this year?

In addition to the USAWA Heavy Lift Championships, this year's Picnic also has an Invitational World Record Breakers!

I just got confirmation that Durniat will be one of those lifters and the record he will attempt to break is NOT the One Hand Deadlift! He is going to attempt an overhead lift, soon to be announced.

Stay tuned...

Live strong,
Roger LaPointe

Link:
2009 Picnic DVD
http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=VID212


Andrew Durniat World Record at the Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde-Time Strongman Picnic 2011

Thursday, March 15, 2012

One Hand Swing

by Atomic Athletic on Thursday, March 15, 2012 at 4:49pm ·

Quick lifts seem to be all the rage right now, for good reason.

The One Hand Dumbbell Swing is one explosive lift you do not see a lot of, but you are really missing out if you aren't doing it.  It was one of the contest lifts in Ambridge, PA last weekend, at the Ambridge Barbell Club USAWA (All-Round) weightlifting meet.  

First of all, the guys in that organization are a treasure trove of information.  I had been casually training the lift for about a month.  The deeper I looked at it and experimented with it, the more interesting it became.  As with many All-Round Association events, I came out of the meet with a far greater understanding of the lift than when I went in.  You may have noticed, that I tend to repeat lifts from one meet to the next.  The idea is that in a 6 month period of time, you can then have two contests where you can show some improvement from the first to the second.

EQUIPMENTTo start with, you want to lift on the most appropriate equipment.  It doesn't have to be the most expensive, but there are certain key factors to consider.  Now, my favorite dumbbell at the meet was the one I used for my final attempt, which was a good one.  However, if I were trying to set a record, or push my absolute limit, I would NOT have used that dumbbell.  I like that dumbbell because it was an antique Jackson solid, globe head, dumbbell.  It was down right cool.  Yet, the grip area was much too long and unknurled.

Ideally, you want a rotating Olympic sized plate loading dumbbell with a handle that is similar diameter to an Olympic barbell.  I have one in my collection that measures 1 1/4 inches in diameter and it is simply too big.  The goal of a swing is not just to work your grip.  A swing should be a test of your back, hips and traps.  You also need to have very solid collars.  There is no way I would trust little spring collars or something made of plastic.  I use leather lined Spin-Lock Collars that you can crank down on.

TECHNIQUE1. Make sure you get a good grip.  I also like to have the thumb side of my hand cranked in tight to the inside collar.2. Don't do too many swings, three should be enough.  More than that and you are wasting energy and explosiveness.  With your final swing you want to go up more than out with a genuine triple extension.  3. Don't forget you can also drop under it and catch it in a split.  There will be more looping of the dumbbell than in a snatch, so you will want to practice the split.  You could could catch it in a quarter squat type movement, but you will probably have to jump backward to receive the dumbbell.  That is possibly stronger, but chancy.  I started off using that method, because of my Olympic lifting background. While that swing split is certainly different from a barbell jerk split, I am gradually switching and adapting to it.  4. Finally, lock your shoulder right into the side of your head.  There is a really cool screw type motion that makes it stunningly solid.

Finally, if you are not already doing full barbell Olympic weightlifting, then start.  The application of that type of training to the One Hand Dumbbell Swing is so obvious as to not even warrant discussion.

Have fun.  Today is a good day to lift.

Live strong,
Roger LaPointe


Links/Photoshttp://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=BK12 

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=HIB20ZR 

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=Y36043 

photo of John McKeanhttp://www.usawa.com/ 

Friday, March 9, 2012

New Lifts

by Atomic Athletic on Friday, March 9, 2012 at 4:36pm ·

I love new lifts.  I love changing up my lifts.  In fact, some of you will notice that I seem to focus on some new lift just about every month.  

Guess what?

You are correct.  I look at a new “competition” lift every month.

 I also have some foundation lifts.  The basic ground work of my routines is solidly in the world of Olympic lifting, but I love to change up a few things now and then.  This is where the USAWA (All-Round Weightlifting Association) comes in.  Their rule book has more lifts than anyone could really concentrate on in a lifetime.

New lifts are great because they force you to think in new ways.  For example, 15 years ago I did a series of interviews of Norbert Schemansky.  One question asked about some of the lifts he did outside of strict Olympic weightlifting.  One of the lifts he casually worked on was the crucifix lift.  

I thought the crucifix was a very strange lift for him to train.  After all, no competitive organization like the USAWA existed at that time, the 1950s, and no one kept real records for that sort of thing, so why do them?  First of all, they were fun and Norb did some pretty big weights with it.  So it became a cool local gym challenge.  Secondly, it helped his pressing.  Norb could Clean & Press over 400 pounds on a regular basis.  He claimed that it helped, so who am I to second guess the IWF's “Lifter of the Century”?

The key to new lifts is to keep a solid foundation.  I talk to lifters every day and the ones who seem to succeed have one thing in common.  They all have a solid foundation of strength, but they also do everything they can to keep from going stale.  In that regard, I try to pick “new lifts” that don't stray too far from my foundations.  For example, for this coming meet (tomorrow in Ambridge, PA), I have been working on the one hand dumbbell swing, and the the hack squat, but I still do snatch based moves as well as working my Olympic Clean & Press and the crucifix.  I have played around with, but not spent much time or energy on the Pullover & Press, which is one of the competition lifts this weekend.  I am not a bench press guy and I have realized that my technique with the competition style pullover really needs the help of a coach who has a clue.  I have always loved the pullover, but that competition style is very different.  I am going to use this meet as an opportunity to get some technique training from experts in this lift.

Enjoy those new lifts.

Live strong,
Roger LaPointe