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Launching "Ever Stronger"

After 24 years in coaching, 18 as a collegiate head strength coach, I have launched my twofold "Ever Stronger!" consulting - personal workout programs, and clinics for school S&C programs. MORE

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Olympics Observations

It has been a pleasure to watch the Beijing Olympics, both on television and over the Internet. My entire family has enjoyed everything from gymnastics and trampoline to rowing and, of course swimming, with the amazing Michael Phelps.

As I've watched the weightlifting, I can't help but remember a study tour of Bulgaria and the former Soviet Union that I took right before the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. The Bulgarians were amazing in their training, but they contributed one of the most bizarre chapters of Olympic weightlifting history.

They won the first two weight classes in Seoul. However, after drug tests turned up positive, the IOC stripped Bulgaria of the two gold medals. So the Bulgarian governing body pulled the whole weightlifting squad out of the rest of the Olympic competition.

I urge you to watch the competition, if you haven't already. Take note especially of the clean-and-jerk event. The power generated by the human body in a clean-and-jerk is more than any other athletic movement. It is just incredible the flexibility shown by the performer, along with the tremendous strength and power. One of my strength coach colleagues once had a sign in her office that said something to the effect that, "Somewhere in the world there is a little girl warming up on a platform with your max."

For many athletes, that is far more true than most people would realize. Commonly, women Olympic weightlifters clean-and-jerk close to or more than twice their body weight. That is pretty impressive for a young lady weighing only 100 pounds, and no less impressive if the body weight is 200 or more.

I have watched some of the men's weightlifting in this Olympiad. The strongest football player that I ever coached lifted 434 pounds in the power clean (just half of the clean-and-jerk). When I see men snatching 400 pounds overhead in one movement and going 500 in clean-and jerk, it always gets my attention. I see those much the way swimmer Michael Phelps's races awe viewers, even if they aren't familiar with the times of various events. Or the way Kobe Bryant and LeBron James wow a crowd in a sport where most everyone is familiar with how spectacular their moves are.

To describe the two Olympic lifts briefly:

On a snatch the bar is pulled from the floor and hoisted overhead in one powerful movement, featuring a wide hand grip.
In the clean-and-jerk, with a grip slightly wider than shoulder-width,

the lifter makes one explosive clean movement to the shoulders,
and then jerks the weight overhead in a second movement that usually involves splitting the feet forward and back.

The lift in each event is complete only when the lifter stands motionless with the weight overhead.

High school and college athletes in all sports often use the Olympic lifts in their training, but the weight isn't nearly as heavy. The objectives are different. In athletic weight training, my career, the point is to give athletes the benefit of the lifting exercises in developing power for specific sports, and even specific positions or movements within different sports.

In Olympic weightlifting, the lift is the sport. The one who lifts the most, wins.

Injuries are a part of weightlifting just like any other sport, to which Hungary's Janos Baranyairi can attest after blowing out his elbow in Beijing.

Having coached many fast athletes over the years, I always enjoy the sprints in track and field, or, as they refer to it in international competition, Athletics. Jamaica's Usain Bolt's 9.69 clocking in the 100 meters was unbelievable. He cruised the last several yards, and yet, right there in my Sunday paper was a picture of him winning by nearly 10 meters! (good slide show here) Those other guys in the race aren't chopped liver, you know.

Those fast football players that I've coached, like Terence Newman of the Dallas Cowboys, Yamon Figurs of the Baltimore Ravens, and Darren Sproles of the San Diego Chargers, would have lost to Bolt by more than 10 meters. Wow! Bolt's race was one of the most amazing single feats I've seen in awhile.

As an old, and I do mean old, discus thrower, I loved seeing that an American, Stephanie Brown Trafton, won gold in the women's discus competition (video here). It took a little math, but I converted the metric measure of her throw to see that her winning toss sailed just over 210 feet. I'm not sure I could have thrown the women's discus (which is lighter than men's) 210 feet in my prime.

I guess that's why I've always watched the Olympics on TV instead of being there as a competitor. With the outstanding athletes in this 29th (I'll spare you the roman numerals) Olympiad, it's an honor just to watch on the screen. I hope you've enjoyed the Olympics as much as I have.

Ever Stronger!

THE TURKISH GET UP IS AN ASSESSMENT TOOL FOR FITNESS & WORKOUTS.

To add a new wrinkle for your workouts, I'd like to give you a quick and easy self- assessment. You don't need a workout gym for this, or a weight room. Just a little corner of any room, a book, and a few minutes of your time. You don't even have to put on workout clothes.

First position to start the Get Up exercise

Standing up to complete the Get Up drill

The photos with this article show my son Kade, who is 15, performing a Turkish Get Up with a 30-pound dumbbell. He has three years left to prepare for college, where he wants to play football or baseball, or possibly both. He did this demonstration when I consulted with a small college recently. (By the way, photo credits go Kade's sister, Kressyn, who is 13 Head shot of Kressyn the photographer and loves photography. This is Kressyn.)

Just follow these instructions carefully. A few minutes later you'll know all you need to know about your balance, coordination, flexibility, shoulder strength, and even your core strength.

Grab your Webster's Dictionary from the bookshelf, or any hardback book about that size.
Go to an open space in your house.
Hold the dictionary in one hand at arm's length while lying flat on your back on the floor.
Now, get up! And get up this way:

Keep the arm with the dictionary locked out.
Hold the book overhead as you work your way to a standing position.

Do this, then come back and read the rest....

* * *

OK, how'd you do? You've just performed an exercise called the "Get Up," or, more specifically, the "Turkish Get Up."

Many strength coaches or personal trainers would have given you significantly more instructions on how to get up. I refrained, because I like the problem-solving dimension of the drill. I feel it is important for you figure it out.

Had I been coaching you, I would have helped you along with tips whenever you struggled. For the most part, though, this drill can be figured out with a little persistence and practice.

I have used this drill many years as an assessment. It works not only for the average person, but for athletes. Big athletes, not so big athletes; elite athletes, average to middlin' athletes; all athletes. It's especially effective when they are just coming into a program, as a freshman or a transfer.

After administering five minutes of Turkish Get Ups, I can look at a group of newbies and tell who is the most flexible and coordinated, who has the best core strength, and who has the best shoulder strength and flexibility.

All from lifting a book with one hand. (Well, not quite. College athletes would perform Turkish Get Ups with a dumbbell, something between 30 and 60 pounds, not a dictionary.)

The mental side of the equation is always interesting, too. Some individuals take to new things and catch on quickly, while others fight it, complain, and are quick to give up. It's amazing what a few minutes of work can tell a coach.

If the Turkish Get Up with Noah Webster's masterpiece seemed fairly easy with your dominant hand:

Try it again with your other hand.

And then again with two hands on the book.

After that you are ready to try it again one-handed with the opposite hand not touching the floor as you get up! (That's the way my wife, Stacey, did it the first time she tried it.)

After all that, graduate upward. Make all the lifts all again with a 10-pound dumbbell or weight plate, and then continue working up in weight.

Special note to young athletes: If you are a scholastic athlete and aspire to compete in college, when you can do the Turkish Get Up with a 50- or 60-pound dumbbell, you might be ready. Keep practicing just in case.

In working with college athletes, our staff would revisit the Turkish Get Up every so often in workouts. That way we could measure the overall improvement that our program was giving us in functional movements.

I recommend this exercise once a week or so, just to see if it is getting easier as time goes on. If it's not getting easier, you may want to rethink your program.

At that point, I'd be pleased to help you do that.

The Turkish Get Up is just one minute tool in my kit of various methods as I work with athletic programs, and I thought you might enjoy giving it a try.

If you'd like some consulting for your personal workouts, just send me an email, webatt@coachrodcole.com and we'll set something up. Consulting can take place by telephone, by email, or in person.

My workout tool kit has a lot more tools to help you reach your goals, too. Let's work together on the central theme: Ever Stronger!