Strongman Origins for AOBS

Circus strongmen, bodybuilders, Olympic weightlifters, throwers or all sorts, boxers, professional wrestlers, these are all athletes who have been a part of the Association of Oldetime Barbell & Strongmen. One of the founding members and most influential strongmen, was Vic Boff.

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=BK22

In addition to owning and operating one of the premier health food stores in New York City, Vic actually grew up in Red Lion, PA, where his father had owned a small department store chain. This is important because York, PA is practically right down the street!

Growing up with the Olympic weightlifting team training nearby and during the Great Depression, Vic came up with and learned a lot of training tricks that most people simply wouldn't consider today. Most of these were simple, yet highly effective.

Here is one that Vic taught me, the very first time we met. Start collecting quality solid dumbbells, like the York Solid Dumbbells. Instead of buying pairs, get different, somewhat lighter sizes, such as a 25 pounder and a 35 pounder. Because of the unique shape, you can stack them across the handles and now you have a 60 pound implement that will be fantastic for grip work, curls and a unique type of clean & overhead press. Vic was full of ideas like this. His book, Vic Boff's Bodybuilders Bible, is simply packed with them.

In honor of the AOBS Dinner this weekend, Atomic Athletic has a special on Vic's book right now. Don't miss it!

Here is the link:

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=BK22

Live strong,

Roger LaPointe

PS I hope to see many of our Atomic Athletic Bomb Proof Bulletin readers at the Dinner this coming weekend.

Olympic Weightlifter Honored

Three time Olympian Fred Lowe will be honored this weekend at the Association of Oldetime Barbell & Strongmen Annual Reunion Dinner. For those of us who know Fred, this is not surprising, giving both his achievements and his long dedication to the sport of Olympic Style Weightlifting.

Congratulations Fred.

If you would like to see one of Fred's Mini-Clinics, check it out on our double DVD of the 2009 Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic. Fred is not just a coach, as he still competes, having recently won Best Lifter at the Masters World Championships in Poland.

If you are interested in learning more about the AOBS Organization, just click on the their highlighted link.

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=VID212

Live strong,

Roger LaPointe

PS I hope to see many of our Atomic Athletic Bomb Proof Bulletin readers at the Dinner this coming weekend.

British Army Rope Climbing

I just got a copy of the British Army Council's “Manual of Physical Training 1931”. Yeah, it is some dense heavy reading. The ending is quite clear. Follow this manual and you will be fit and strong. This is not a mystery.

To head off any questions right from the start, my copy is not for sale. However, if you keep paying attention to my bulletins and the BLOG, you will get some great chunks of knowledge.

The British military has always been fond of basic body weight exercises and the beauty of this book is not that they are telling me much that I haven't seen elsewhere, it is the way they do it. Instead of giving one photo or illustration and then a written description, this book has detailed sequential photos!

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=ROPE09S

For example, Figure 58 “Climbing on a rope” has 19 detailed photos in the sequence showing everything from how to grasp the rope with the hands to wrapping the feet around the rope. The following sequence in the series shows one how to do the same thing without using the feet.

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/category.aspx?categoryID=755

If a frightening grip, concrete core and powerful back are of interest to you, then you need to check out those links. If not, just ignore them.

Live strong,

Roger LaPointe

A Real Pain in the Knee

“Runner's Knee” is a big problem for anyone in a running sport, but especially for the track and cross country athletes. For those of you unfamiliar with the problem, I will boil it down to it's essentials, medical personnel can quit reading here as you will certainly cringe at the simplicity of my explanation. Basically, the knee cap floats around. Some sports, combined with individual body types, form an imbalance in the muscles, ligaments and tendons around the knee, which will move the knee cap slightly off track during some positions in the range of motion of knee bending. The result is pain. This is also the “Not Good” type of pain.

Many doctors will tell the athlete to quit doing the sport until it gets better. Reality shows that this is not the best solution. Sure it will ultimately solve the problem, but it takes a long time. We are also battling psychology here. If this athlete has that problem, it is likely due to being an over achiever that pushes him or herself too hard, thus the problem. That athlete won't sit on the sidelines. Instead that athlete will go back to the offending motion and “push through it”, causing far worse problems down the road. I have seen this happen again and again.

The best solution is to actively solve the knee problem. It will engage the athlete in a physical activity. It will also be an activity which fixes the problem long term and get that athlete back out on the field. Otherwise, the athlete will just go right back to the same old habits that started the issue in the first place.

One solution comes by way of that classic training tool, the Iron Boot, or as Bob Hoffman called them, “Health Shoes”. Basically, they are dumbbells for the feet. Here is a link:

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

Until recently, the only option was the Iron version, which has an empty weight of about 5 pounds, depending on the straps being used. We now also have Aluminum Boots, which are only 1 pound. That may seem like a waste of time, but if the Runner's Knee pain is too extreme, that may be the athletes limit for some exercises. Here is that link:

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=IB2AL

We will get into more on this later.

Live strong,

Roger LaPointe

Cargo Net Special

Anyone up for some boring cardio work?

Maybe we can stare at a wall and run like hamsters on on treadmill?

On the other hand, let's head outside and put together our own obstacle course!

Cargo net climbing is fun. Fun means interesting, which means that you, your buddies and/or your clients will NOT be skipping their summer training sessions.

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

That link is for our Weekly Bomb Shelter Special, which is CARGO NETS. These are the last few of our military surplus, real rope, cargo nets. I wanted one of these for years, but simply could not find one. Then I landed on several pallets of them. They are used, but in great shape. This is exactly the type of thing that I talk about on page 67 “Sport v. Reality: The Mental Game” in Traditional Training Legendary Strength .

Get yours before they are gone. When they are gone, they are gone.

Live strong,

Roger LaPointe

PS. Remember you can always save on shipping if you pick it up at our warehouse/showroom!

Atomic Athletic Small Granite Ball Training

Giant Killer Returns

The Farmers Walk Event at the Detroit Highland Games had more competitors than I have ever seen! We had 25 competitors this year, but a local Detroit Police officer beat them all.

Atomic Athletic is a regular sponsor of the Detroit Highland Games Farmer's Walk Event. The games typically get around 15,000 spectators, but I am sure there were a lot more this year. I have never seen it so packed. This is a big event, but that 200 Pounds per hand is a little daunting for most people, so we regularly get about 15 guys trying it out, but not this year.

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=SUT002

Our giant killer was Jared Spybrook. While Jared is no small guy, he does typically compete in Strongman contests as a lightweight, meaning under 230 pounds. My guess is that there were at least half a dozen guys who were much heavier than him. That included professional and amateur highland and strongman athletes. The talent really turned out this year.

Many of you have been wondering where Jared has been during the last year. Well, if you see him, you can also congratulate him on the addition to his family. During the last year, the Spybrooks had twins. As anyone with kids knows, it can certainly have an impact on contest participation as well as training. While Jared said he is only getting in about two good training days a week, he looked great on the field. He was strong and extremely fast. Whatever he is doing, it is working.

The Detroit Highland Games take place at the Greenmead Historical Park in Livonia, MI. It is located between 7 Mile Road and 8 Mile Road, on the East side of I-275. If you want to put it on your calendar for next year, it is always the first Saturday of August, or August 6, 2011.

See you there.

Live strong,

Roger

PS. The kettlebell handles were a hot topic at our booth this year. I think there will be a lot of guys buying them in order to make their own farmer's walk handles. We have a great diagram of the Kettlebell Handle Farmers Handles at this link:

http://www.atomicathletic.com/articles/detail.asp?ArtID=94