PERFORMANCE MENU

JOURNAL OF HEALTH & ATHLETIC EXCELLENCE

ISSUE 56 . SEPTEMBER 2009

TRAINING VOLUME BECOMING A LIFTER GROUP O-LIFT INSTRUCTION EATING FOR PRIMAL QUEST

PERFORMANCE MENU
Volume 5 . Issue 56 . September 2009
4 These Go up to Eleven: Planning Appropriate Training Volume for Weightlifters
Matt Foreman

JOURNAL OF NUTRITION & ATHLETIC EXCELLENCE

A discussion of training volume for lifters

8 Teaching the Olympic Lifts in the CrossFit Setting

Greg Everett

Developing an effective system for teaching the Olympic lifts within the CrossFit group setting

12 My New Lift as an Olympic Lifter

Dutch Lowy

A CrossFitters switch (at least temporarily) to weightlifting

14 Eating for Primal Quest

Mark Drake

The next in the series that covers the basics of eating to fuel the Primal Quest efforts

17 Cooking with Scotty

Scotty Hagnas

Recipes for health, performance and longevity from certified culinary stud Scotty Hagnas

Info
is published monthly in digital format by Catalyst Athletics, LLC.

Contributors
Cassidy Vedic Drake is an avid climber and adventure athlete who resides in Northern Utah. He grew up around athletic parents, and became a three-sport star in High School. He also played junior college baseball. He has now been training and teaching martial arts and fitness for over 12 years. During his time in the military he was exposed to new training methods, and as such has evolved as a coach. He is also a consultant for some of the worlds top climbers and fighters, as well as several military contractor companies. Any and all questions can be directed to coachvedic@ gmail.com. Greg Everett is the owner of Catalyst Athletics, publisher of The Performance Menu and author of Olympic Weightlifting: A Complete Guide for Athletes & Coaches. Matt Foreman is the football and track & field coach at Mountain View High School in Phoenix, AZ. A competitive weightliter for twenty years, Foreman is a four-time National Championship bronze medalist, two-time American Open silver medalist, three-time American Open bronze medalist, two-time National Collegiate Champion, 2004 US Olympic Trials competitor, 2000 World University Championship Team USA competitor, and Arizona and Washington state record-holder. He was also First Team All-Region high school football player, lettered in high school wrestling and track, a high school national powerlifting champion, and a Scottish Highland Games competitor. Foreman has coached multiple regional, state, and national champions in track & field, powerlifting, and weightlifting, and was an assistant coach on 5A Arizona state runner-up football and track teams.

The Performance Menu

On the Cover
Roman Macias

Layout & Design

Greg Everett

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All content copyright Catalyst Athletics, LLC and its respective authors. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution is prohibited by law.

Dutch Lowy lives in Fort Worth, TX. He is a Level 2 CrossFit trainer and trains at Crossfit 7 in Fort Worth and owns Crossfit ATM in College Station, TX. A former collegiate soccer player, he has shifted his focus to training himself and his clients using the CrossFit methodology, as well as being a dedicated student of the Olympic lifts. Dutch travels the country giving seminars on improving the quality of CrossFit programming and training. His website is www.dutchlowy.com.
Scott Hagnas is owner of CrossFit Portland. He is certified as a CrossFit level 2 trainer and Circular Strength Training (clubbell) instructor. He has been riding BMX flatland for 26 years and counting and has filmed/produced/edited several series of BMX videos, plus several training videos. He formerly competed in bicycle trials, placing second in amateur in the World Championships in 1990. Cooking is one of his favorite pastimes.

Weightlifting | Matt Foreman

These Go Up to Eleven: Planning Appropriate Training Volume for Weightlifters

First of all, we need to agree that if you havent seen the movie This is Spinal Tap, youre just letting the best things in life slip through your fingers. In the heavy metal spoof, Spinal Tap guitarist Nigel Tufnel is showing an interviewer the amplifier he uses when he plays his guitar. The most important detail of the amp, as Nigel points out, is that the volume dials all go up to a maximum setting of 11 instead of just the normal 10. Nigel explains that when the band is really rocking hard and they need a massive burst of power, they crank the dial up to 11 for that extra push over the cliff. What Nigel and the band was looking for was VOLUME! They needed to smash through the barrier of a normal amps volume and really go for heavy metal madness, so their amps needed special dials. If none of this sounds funny or you dont get the point, my apologies. However, Nigel and the other members of Spinal Tap were obsessed with volume, and this is where the common ground with weightlifting can be found. Over the years, Ive come to believe that planning the appropriate amount of training volume for weightlifters and other athletes is probably one of the most difficult and extremely important factors in any sport. Coaches and athletes wrestle throughout the year with the question How much is too much? When we talk about volume, obviously, were talking about the amount of exercises, sets, and reps that are performed by the athletes during their workouts and how many workouts take place in a week, month, etc.. Everyone has learned that athletes have to work hard and push themselves if they want to be successful, but it is also equally clear to anyone with experience that pushing too hard will lead to burnout and injury. If athletes dont have enough volume in their training programs, they will never make the progress theyre capable of because they arent working hard enough. If athletes have too much volume in their training programs, they will battle injuries constantly because their bodies cannot endure all the punishment. Therefore, there is a fine line of perfect volume that has to be discovered when a coach/athlete plans out a workout regimen. And that fine line is a slippery little sucker because each athlete has different physical qualities and, therefore, different volume capabilities. Human beings vary greatly in areas like testosterone production, bone density, connective tissue durability, emotional toughness, and muscle recovery speed. To put it more simply, the optimal level of volume for each athlete will be individualized, and the coach who writes the training programs for the athletes has to make adjustments in order to avoid injuries. A good way to analyze this area is to look at two different extremes. One of those extremes will be the training volume of the most powerful weightlifting country in the world right now... China. The other extreme will be the training volume of an aging American lifter who is finding ways to extend his career with little more than muscle memory and a handsome face.

The Red Goliath of the East

Chinese lifters won eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Chinese lifters demolish world records. China has become a phenomenal weightlifting powerhouse, and youre not going to read a detailed analysis of their training system in this article because there is an element of secrecy involved with their success. Chinese communist culture, as with all communist systems, never reveals all the hidden elements of their country to the world. The Chinese dont operate under a complete black cloak of mystery, but they also make sure the whole world isnt privy to the nuts and bolts of their operation. Knowing this, what can we say for certain about their program?

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A former Chinese coach once told me that there are over a million registered weightlifters in China. With that kind of talent pool, along with their fantastically organized sports academy system (funded by the government) that channels young athletes into fulltime training from an early age, they are playing with a different set of rules. So, if this article is focused on training volume, how much volume do their athletes use in their training? I dont know for sure, but there is something I know for sure that can give us some solid ideas. At the Beijing Olympics, the womens 75 kilo class was won by Chinas Cao Lei. Cao snatched 128 kilos and clean and jerked 154 kilos, winning the class with a 282 kilo total (16 kilos more than the silver medalist). First of all, you need to get your mind around the idea that a 165 pound woman snatched 282 pounds and C&Jd 339. After youve recovered, remember that Caos performance was mediocre because the Chinese woman who won the 69 kilo class (one weight class lighter than Cao) totaled 286 kilos. Please dont quit, its going to be okay... A reporter for World Weightlifting magazine took notes as Cao warmed up for her competition attempts at the Olympics. Here is her warm-up progression for the snatch: Snatch 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 1st Attempt 2nd Attempt 3rd Attempt Weight (in kilos) 15 15 35x2 35x2 45x2 45x2 65x1 75x2 75x2 85x2 95x2 95x2 100x2 105x2 110x2 110x2 115x1 115x1 120x1 120x1 120x1 120 125 128

opener of 120 kilos three times in the warm-up room before taking the platform and going three-for-three with 120, 125, 128. To conserve space in this article, I wont go through her warm-up progression for the clean and jerk, but she took eighteen warm-up sets for that lift. She C&Jd 145 two times in the warm-up room before her competition opener of 147 kilos. She made 147, 154, and missed 159 on her third attempt. **Side note: Caos failure at 159 was the only failed attempt by any Chinese woman at the Olympics. All of their other women made six flawless attempts. Interestingly, Cao stated that she had missed 159 due to a mental lapse. She attributed the mental lapse to the death of her mother shortly before the Olympics. Chinese lifters live full-time in training camps and they are rarely allowed to see their families, so the Chinese government withheld the news of her mothers death because they did not want to distract her training. Right before the games, her coach decided to tell Cao of her mothers demise. Another Chinese Olympic Champion, Liu Chunhong of the 69 kilos class, stated in a post-meet interview that she had only been allowed to see her family for a week after the 2004 Athens Olympics before she went back to training camp. She was grateful for her 2008 gold medal because she was going to be allowed to see her family again after the Games. Think about these little details when you think about how hard the Chinese train. Back to Cao Lei, taking 22 warm-up attempts in the snatch, including three warm-up attempts at her competition opener, is beyond the realm of normal weightlifting comprehension. This is the most jawdropping example of work capacity that I have ever heard of because, as we know, an athletes warmup progression at a major competition will always be designed to conserve some energy and keep the athlete fresh for the competition attempts. In other words, competition warm-ups will usually be easier than a regular training session because the athlete does not want to risk fatigue at a major competition. If Cao took 22 warm-up sets in the snatch and 18 in the C&J, then we are left with one big question; what do Caos normal workouts look like when she is not at the Olympics? The answer is vague because we do not have detailed transcripts of Chinas workout programs, but we can be absolutely certain that these lifters train with a volume level that fails to comply with any accepted notions of human endurance. Throughout the years, extensive research has been done on the training programs of powerful weightlifting countries such as Bulgaria and the former Soviet Union. We know for a fact that athletes from these countries routinely trained three or four times a day, six days a week, with high intensity percentages at each workout. It stands to reason that

This information was documented by an eyewitness, and you read it correctly. Cao took 22 warm-up sets in the snatch, and she actually snatched her competition

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Chinas gradual rise to the top of the world over the last fifteen years has likely been based on this classical Eastern European training methodology. But now that Chinas success is eclipsing these other traditional power countries, we must acknowledge that they have broken new ground in the training of weightlifters. We can speculate until judgment day about government financial support, drug use, and countless other factors that contribute to their dominance. But the overriding factor of Chinese supremacy is what we can see from Cao Leis Olympic warm-up progression. Simply put, theyre just working a thousand times harder than everybody else.

Saturday - Snatch (heavy) - Clean and Jerk (heavy) - Back Squat (heavy) Thats it, along with some core work and stretching at the end of each workout. The words light and heavy are dependent on how close I am to a meet, and I dont use percentages. My current best lifts (within the last year) are 138 kilo snatch, 165 kilo clean and jerk, and 220 kilo back squat. On a typical Tuesday, I will snatch up to 90 kilos for a few singles and C&J up to 120, followed by five or six triples in the back squat up to 175-190 kilos. On a Saturday, Ill usually snatch between 120-130 and C&J around 145-160, followed by squat triples or doubles up to 205-220. Here are some other pieces of information: 1. As I said, Im 37 years old now. I trained much harder and with much greater volume than this when I was younger. I would not have a 22 year-old lifter use my current workout routine because its not enough work for a younger lifter. You can handle much more volume when youre in your twenties. 2. My selection of exercises (only the snatch, clean and jerk, and back squat) has been determined because of past injuries. Doing pulls and front squats gives me too many problems with my lower back, so I dont do them anymore. But pulls and front squats were a crucial part of my training when I was younger. 3. I train twice a week because thats really all I have time for with my job. Also, I tried going back to three workouts a week last year and I got injured pretty quickly. My recovery time is pretty long now. 4. Im a superheavyweight, usually weighing around 125 kilos (275 lbs.). Heavier lifters have to train with less volume than lighter lifters because their greater mass requires greater recovery time. 5. I started training like this in 2007 after a oneyear layoff. My total has increased steadily over the last two years, despite increasing age and job demands, and Ive had minimal injury trouble.

And now, the training of Mang Foremong...

Now, if the training volume of Chinas Olympic Champions is one extreme end of the spectrum, the polar opposite end will be an analysis of my own training. Before I go into the details of my training week, it is critical that we admit to some major differences between me and the great lifters of China. For the sake of organization, lets look at it as follows: 1. Chinese lifters are in the prime years of their physical abilities. Im 37 years old. 2. Chinese lifters probably train around 30-40 hours a week. I work around 60 hours a week at my job. 3. Chinese lifters have their lives financially subsidized by their government. I have a house payment. 4. Chinese lifters spend their non-training time recovering through the use of massage, icebaths, medical treatment, etc. I spend my nontraining time drinking beer and losing my hair. 5. Chinese lifters are hand-selected, elite physical specimens. I once tore my groin jumping over a fence. 6. Chinese lifters recover from tough workouts quickly because they have more testosterone pumping through their bodies than an 800 lb. Brahma Bull. Im lifetime drug-free. The reason why these factors are important is because most of the people who read this article are probably a lot closer to my end of the spectrum. If youre getting older, you work for a living, and you still want to train effectively, then you live in the world I live in (aka, the real world). Having said that, here is a complete look at my training routine: Tuesday - Snatch (light) - Clean and Jerk (light) - Back Squats (light)

Okay, so which way do we go?

Now, its been a lot of fun looking at the volume opposites of these two scenarios, but youve spent this whole article thinking about your own training. Youre not a Chinese weightlifter and youre not Matt Foreman, so where is your personal answer? How much

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volume is right for you? What should your own training program, and the programs of the athletes you coach, look like? Should you train three days a week, five, seven? Should you do four exercises in each workout, two, six? Should you add running, aerobics, swimming, or cycling into your workouts and, if you do, how much is too much? Thats where the art and the science of this business come into play. It is your job, and your challenge, to find the right amount of volume for yourself and the athletes you work with. You will most likely have to consider factors such as job demands, injury history, training experience, motivation level, and a cornucopia of other distractions that will make your job interesting. There will be some trial and error, thats for sure. My advice for newbies would be to get close to somebody who knows much more about training than you do and let them steer the boat for a while. Youll have a few indicators that shine in your face like a police flashlight and theyll tell you if youre getting it right or not. If your athletes workouts take thirty minutes and none of them are sweating or breathing hard at any time during those thirty minutes, youre probably

not planning out enough volume. If your athletes are getting injured regularly and none of them are making any progress in their lifts, you might want to take a look at their workout routine and change something up. If your athletes are making progress and feeling great, then youre on the right track. You might look at a training routine on paper and say to yourself, This is just too easy. It wont work. But you might be looking at the magic training combination and the only thing that stops you from using it is your desire to be a hardcharging workhorse. A great track coach once told me, Motivated athletes will go hard until theyre in the hospital, and then rest until theyre able to walk again. Lazy athletes will go hard until they see the donut shop, and then rest until their coach yells at them to get working. Since lazy athletes usually just dont hang around weightlifting very long, the chances are that the people youre working with are motivated workers who want to go like hell all the time. Knowing this, your challenge will often be to rein them in before they blow apart. Dont be afraid to pull back when its obvious that you need to. The amp doesnt have to be set at 11 all the time.

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Weightlifting | Greg Everett

Teaching the Olympic Lifts in the CrossFit Setting

Sometimes your clients are confused. Its true. Some want to squat to big padded balls instead of just learning where their asses are and squatting like grown-ups all the way to the bottom. Some want to do low-bar back squats. And some arent very interested in learning the snatch and clean & jerk. Fortunately, as a trainer or coach, its your responsibility to train your clients according to what they need rather than what they wantif they knew what they needed, they wouldnt be your clients. This is not to say that as a trainer you get to determine your clients goalsit means simply that the reason someone is paying you is to determine how best to achieve those goals and to lead them through the process. This often means their doing certain things they may not want to do initially. When it comes to complex lifts like the snatch and clean & jerk, this lack of interest can make learning a difficult and comparatively unsuccessful endeavor. At least part of the issue is that many in CrossFitboth on the client and trainer levelsdont understand the extent of the lifts complexity, and consequently fail to put in adequate time and effort to learning both the lifts execution and methods of teaching them. This magnifies the silliness described previously and leads to behavior such as celebrating lift performances like those seen during the snatch event of the last CrossFit Games. In addition to this, teaching the Olympic lifts in a group setting in which theyre not only not the primary focus of training, but in which individuals are typically all at different levels of experience, skill, motivation, strength, flexibility and similar factors, becomes far more complicated and frustrating. In order to address both basic problems described above, we can create a system of teaching the lifts that accommodates different levels of ability, reduces time dedicated to the lifts within any given training sessionwhich allows a breadth of training as well as minimizes the possible effects of clients disinterest in the lifts and consequent lack of focus and effort yet not only remains effective, but is arguably more effective than more focused teaching approaches.

Building the Foundation

The finer details of the teaching system employed by each gym will vary just as all other details of training with vary among CrossFit gyms. There are numerous possible approaches to teaching the lifts in such a setting, and which is used and most effective will vary depending on factors such as how exactly the group training program is administered and the relative emphases on various training components. For example, a gym with a relatively small and consistent clientele is able to do things differently than on with a large and less consistent clientele. Similarly, a gym that emphasizes strength work will have better options than one that uses the common Jazzercise approach of random and extended metabolic workouts with equally random and infrequent strength work. Thats another article altogether, but suffice to say if your gym falls into the latter category, you have some fundamental restructuring to do before really worrying about getting this jiggy with the Olympic lifts specifically. Get Perspective The first step in develop such a teaching system is learning to consider training in the long term. The failure to do this is a common problem in CrossFit gyms, resulting in random or arbitrary programming that is unable to address long term progress. Your clients will not be training for only a day or a weekwhy would you approach their training plan in such a term?

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Know What Youre Doing This is a fairly important one. If you dont understand the Olympic lifts and how they should be executed, you have no business teaching them to your clients. A Level 1 certification and some CrossFit Journal videos are not an adequate background. Theres nothing wrong with such a backgroundwhats wrong is believing or insisting that it prepares you to teach and coach the lifts. Have the integrity as a professional trainer to recognize this and do your homework. Learn more and get better by working privately with qualified weightlifting coaches and attending seminars. (I know of a decent book that might be helpful too.) Until that point, bring in an outside coach to work with your clients occasionally in a seminar or occasional class format; if this isnt possible stick with the exercises you know how to teach. Anything else is a disservice to your clients, who are likely paying you handsomely for your presumed expertise. They will respect and appreciate you far more for admitting your lack of expertise in a particular special area, than for teaching them poorly. You dont have to be the greatest weightlifting coach in the worldyou do need to have a solid grasp of the fundamentals to avoid teaching your clients so many of the ridiculous things they find out later they have to change. Have a Plan This ties in with gaining perspective. Figure out what youre doing before you start doing it. This saves everyone time and frustration, and allows far more effective teaching. Having a plan doesnt necessarily mean that even the most minute details are in print three months prior to startingit means having a level of detail sufficient to guide you to your intended goals. This plan can be flexible, and must be to some extent considering the setting about which were talking, but at no time should the approach be arbitrary or based on what you happen to feel like doing at the moment.

Different Skill Levels Unless a gym brings on new clients in a structured group format like an On-Ramp program, and subsequently keeps these clients locked into given class times for the duration of their membership, there is bound to be a broad spectrum of skill and experience among clients in a class (even with such a rigid approach, different clients learn more quickly and perform better than others). With an system for teaching the lifts, we need to be able to accommodate all of these clients, not just teach to a certain level because its simplest for us. This is easily the most difficult aspect of the process. The ideal way to address this problem would be to separate clients into different classes based on demonstrated ability. Such stratification is immensely helpful with respect to all aspects of training, but is often very impractical. It means limiting, often greatly, the number of possible classes for each client, while simultaneously increasing the burden of the trainers. There are few gyms that are able to make such a structure work. However, few if any gyms should be unable to separate the absolute beginners from the rest of the clientelethis again can be accomplished by using a system of entry to the program like the OnRamp classes. This alone makes the task of teaching the lifts far easier and more effective by simply removing the least skilled clients from the equation. They dont factor in until theyve achieved a basic level of proficiency with fundamental exercises. The next best option would be multiple trainers working with the clients in a given class so those clients can be grouped together according to skill level and lead through different training during a single class. While somewhat more practical than separating actual classes, this is still difficult and expensive. Instead, we need to find a way to have clients function independently enough that a single trainer can run a class without sacrificing the effectiveness of their training or the trainers ability to provide the necessary instruction. This can really only be accomplished with a genuine plan and structure as discussed previously. In general terms, this means simply determining how much skill variation exists among the clients of a given gym, deciding how many levels of instruction are required to accommodate all of those clients, and then what exactly each skill level will be working on during a given training session. The details of this will be filled out later in the article. Influx of New Clients The regular influx of new clients to a CrossFit gym is the source of numerous problems with regard to class structuring and instruction. How this affects the instruction

Shaping the System

Whatever system is finally established, it must take into account a few key elements: Different skill levels among clients in a class Regular influx of new clients Inconsistent training schedules of clients Available time in training sessions for this component 5. Attention span of clients 6. The role of the lifts in the overall program 1. 2. 3. 4.

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of the Olympic lifts specifically will vary depending on how a gym channels these new clients. A facility that simply jumps new clients into existing classes will have a far more difficult time than one that takes new clients through some sort of introductory class series to establish fundamental exercise proficiency, a base level of work capacity, and a general understanding of how to function as a client within a group training environment. Again, the ideal way of addressing this problem is to use some type of introductory system like an On-Ramp program that separates rank beginners from the rest of the crowd. Inconsistent Training Schedules Often one of the most frustrating and limiting aspects of CrossFit style group training is the inconsistent training schedules of the clients. That is, some may come three days each week, and some six; some may come on the same days and times each week, while others show up randomly. This of course makes programming a far more difficult task, and unavoidably reduces the effectiveness of the program for individual clients. While we cant control clients attendance, we can prioritize clients and channel our time and efforts accordingly. Our commitment as trainers and coaches should reflect the commitment of our clientsthose clients who go out of their way to attend frequently and regularly and train with focus and dedication deserve more attention and effort than those who attend inconsistently and appear to be interested in little more than post-spastic-workout euphoria. This means programming with your priority clients in mind. This can be done literallyconsidering the schedules and needs of actual priority clientsor using a theoretical model of your ideal client (as long as its reasonable). For example, we may program with a consistent 5-day weekly client in mind and simply be flexible for clients who dont fit into this category. Available Time How much time in each training session is available for Olympic lift instruction will obviously shape to a large degree what we do. Ideally the instruction and practice of the lifts is taken into consideration when designing the overall structure of the gyms program rather than it being an afterthought. If it is, this will be far less of an issue because adequate time will always be available. If its not, we will have to work around silliness like medicine ball cleans and sumo deadlift high-pulls in obscene quantities. This just means less time to dedicate to the important things in life like skill and strength.

Client Attention Spans CrossFitters tend to have comparatively limited attention spansthis characteristic is part of the attraction to a training system that prides itself on constant variation, extremely brief workouts and goals that are by design entirely non-specific. This needs to be taken into account when designing a system of teaching involved and complex movements, particularly when so many clients will have been convinced that the Olympic lifts are not actually technically complex and can be taught adequately in three minutes with a medicine ball. Part of solving this problem is educating and reeducating your clients regarding the lifts and their role in their training. If your gyms program, from the beginning of each clients exposure, emphasizes the importance of technical proficiency, strength and Olympic lifts, structured programming, and long term planning, you can expect little if any resistance. If instead your program evolves into this from the Jazzercise type of random metabolic conditioning workouts with infrequent and equally random strength training, clients may have difficulty with the transition simply because theyre not accustomed to the new format. As the trainer, its your responsibility to stand by your decision. Dont feel obligated to explain why the change is being made unless asked. Sputtering on about training theory to clients to arent interested simply makes you appear unsure about what youre doing and why youre doing it. Its easy to be confident regarding your programming if you develop it logically; if youre not confident in your gyms program, you have some serious re-evaluation and restructuring to do. This will in part, along with the role of the lifts discussed next, determine how involved and technical the instruction of the lifts is. That is, shorter attention spans mean more focus on drills to teach the body how to lift and less focus on actual technical education regarding the finer details and reasons why. Role of the Lifts A final consideration when developing your training system is what role the Olympic lifts play in the overall training program. That is how much emphasis is placed on them relative to other lifts and other types of training, and how will they be usedindependently as real lifts, within metabolic workouts, or both. Additionally, this will be part of the determination of how technical teaching is. The greater the role the lifts play in the program, the more technical their instruction will need to be in order to improve clients execution.

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The Lifts within the Training Program

All this talk of mixed skill levels and the importance of technical proficiency begs the question: How do we use the Olympic lifts within metabolic conditioning workouts in a group? The easiest answer is not to. The reality is that the overwhelming majority of CrossFit clients will never reach a level of technical proficiency that makes the lifts use within metabolic workouts a great idea, simply because the proportion of their training time dedicated to the lifts is minimal. There are better options for conditioning that wont hinder further development of lift technique while still providing a large metabolic dentarguably more of one, in fact. Additionally, dumbbell, sandbag, and other implement variations of the Olympic lifts can be used to provide most of the metabolic effects desired from the liftsthese lifts require far less instruction and practice to be effective and are distinct enough to not interfere with technique for the barbell lifts. (It should be noted that these exercises do not include the medicine ball clean, because it is hopelessly lame and has no place in anyones training.)

Within a CrossFit gym with clients who have established reasonable technical proficiency with the barbell Olympic lifts, these lifts can be used within conditioning workouts if desired. The solution to mixed skill levels within a class is to simply scale the workouts with respect to exercise variationfor example, the top-tier clients may snatch; a middle-tier may 1-arm dumbbell snatch; and a bottom-tier may do jumping dumbbell squats and/or overhead squats. This allows the more advanced athletes to train more effectively, and allows the more novice athletes to train more appropriately without separating them entirelythis helps foster a team atmosphere by keeping everyone performing a similar workout in essence, but doesnt compromise individual clients training.

To Be Continued
In the next issue, well finalize this process with the steps of designing the program itself, as well as a sample program to get you started.

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Weightlifting | Dutch Lowy

My New Life as an Olympic Lifter

The days of furious air squats and massive quantities of pull-ups along with 400 m runs are over... at least for me and at least for the next couple months. I have started a new journey as an Olympic lifter. Here are my observations, experiences and grievances so far. Why? Well thats an interesting question. I have a couple reasons. Number one is that for me, Olympic weightlifting is fun. I enjoy the complexity of the movements and the precision needed to lift to my potential. Number two is more a developmental stage I am going through. I believe that if you are weak you are limited in your development as an athlete, and I dont want to be weak anymore! Lastly, I am ready to be good at something. Without devoting myself to one sport, I will continue to be average at everything and never be really good at anything. I am willing to sacrifice capacity in other areas to succeed in one specific area. For me right now that is the sport of Olympic Weightlifting. The first thing on my agenda as an Olympic lifter was equipment. Checkthanks to my girlfriends vigilance on Craigslist, I have an awesome set of York bumpers and thanks to Coach Burgener, I have a great bar to lift with. My shoes were a birthday gift, so I am all set in the equipment department. Next task: Find a coach. Because Olympic lifting is a little more obscure than say baseball, this is no easy task. Thanks to CrossFit, I have been lucky enough to meet and train with some great coaches. Coach Burgener, Greg Everett and Aimee Anaya to mention a few. I feel like I have been given a solid foundation as a CrossFitter due to the importance I placed on the lifts. I feel they are one of the most important tools you can use to develop an athlete for any sport, including golf. My mechanics were pretty good for a CrossFitter, but as i was about to learn, I am weak! This is not good when your sport is lifting heavy things. Fortunately, it is also very technical, and I will be able to add a couple kilos to my lifts just by solidifying some technique. That will give me time to get stronger and therefore lift more. I am getting ahead of myself. I need a coach. Since the coaches I know live in California, I will have to rely on delayed feedback while I search for a local coach. I was, however, able to get Greg to write a program for me. I trust him and Aimeethey have seen me lift quite a few times and know their shit. But, like I said, delayed feedback is tough when its something small.

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I continued my search by contacting Tim Swords down in Houston who referred me to Richard Flemming in Richardson, TX. Not really my back yard, but its less than an hour drive each way, so once or twice a week is doable. Richard is a retired firefighter and has been around the Olympic lifting game for 50+ years. He coaches out of a garage much like Coach B does in Cali. The only difference is that A/C is a must in Texas, so there is a little wall unit that quite honestly makes a huge difference compared to my garage. Ok, so I have solved two problems, and probably the most important, so I am ready to go. Being a recovering CrossFitter, I am used to going outside, warming up, and then doing a timed WOD and being done in less than 30 minutes total. The only time this changed was if the workout was something that gave me that feeling in my stomach. You know the one. The one that causes you to warm up for 30-45 minutes for a 3-minute workout. The whole time trying to talk yourself out of doing it or trying to come up with an excuse why you dont need that stimulus today. I no longer have that luxury. If I waste time like that when I am lifting, I will spend 3+ hours in the garage and never do anything productive. Time to get on the ball. Greg started me off with a Bulgarian cycle. For those of you unfamiliar with what that is, it involves doing virtually nothing other than the snatch, clean & jerk, and front and back squats. My program for the first 4 weeks being a lifter consisted 3 days each week of going for a max for the day in both the snatch and clean & jerk followed by anywhere from 4 to 10 singles at a set percentage. I was then to do a heavy squat at the max clean for the day or an absolute max for the day. The other two days, I snatched and clean & jerked to lower percentages for singles.

This program was very simple, but yet very ingenious especially for a new lifter. It allowed me to learn efficiency in working to a max for the day and also taught me that it is important to recover. Even though i was doing less than 30 working reps in a day, I was wrecked! My muscles hurt, my joints hurt and my ego hurt even more. In this time I PRed a couple times in the snatch and clean & jerk, but more importantly got some great exposure to the lifts and handling heavy loads 5 days a week. In this time, I worked with Richard as well as Greg and Aimee via video and had a couple aha moments. First was that the most important thing I could do was get into a good position off the floor. For me that meant maintaining a consistent back angle off the floor as well as shifting the weight from the balls of my feet to my heels as the bar comes to mid thigh, or the end of the first pull. This patience and willingness to stay over the bar a little longer has helped tremendously. Second was that it was OK not to PR everyday. I was stuck on my numbers and felt like a failure if I didnt hit them every time I lifted. I soon got over that when I realized that each day was a new day and all I could do was the max FOR THAT DAY. If I snatched 70 kilos and it felt heavy, then that was it for the day. I am currently on a strength cycle where I am doing 4 movements a day with a focus on strengthening my back and legs. My total volume has grown to between 75 and 95 reps a day with lots of percentage work. It is not unheard of to do a couple 5x5s in a day. Talk about hard work! Many times I slump into my beach chair in the garage after a tough set and think that CrossFit is easy compared to this. For now I am excited to be progressing in something new, but I wouldnt count myself out as a CrossFitter just yet...

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Endurance | Mark Drake

Eating for Primal Quest

This month we are diving into how a few teammates and I eat in preparation for this adventure race. That being said, this is somewhat endurance-biased. At the same time, I have used it on quite a few clients in the past, and will be trying to implement it even more, as I will be teaching a first responder PT course for Northern Utah. First off, let me say that many people online, or in the general public, consider me to be anti-carb in my approach. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am anti-bad carb, and the conditions that they cause. Our amount of carbs may vary upon which stage we are in. Do I recommend low-GI carbs PWO? Simple answer is yes, although at times of the year modifications are made. Here is why I choose to take that stance. are not needed at all and can contribute to excess glucose circulating. Meaning in the first 30-60 minutes PWO, there is a rapid synthesis of muscle glycogen that requires no insulin whatsoever. Following this rapid phase, it slows considerably for the next few hours. However, when carbohydrate ingestion is delayed by several hours, this may lead to about 50% lower rates of muscle glycogen synthesis. Simply stated for us, there is absolutely no reason for High-GI Post workout. Oatmeal is commonly what we use. Now lets dabble in Glut4 receptors, how they are triggered, and why it further influences what we do. Following is a abstract of a study performed by Ivy:
Regulation of GLUT4 protein and glycogen synthase during muscle glycogen synthesis after exercise. Ivy JL, Kuo CH. Department of Kinesiology, The University of Texas at Austin, 78712, USA The pattern of muscle glycogen synthesis following its depletion by exercise is biphasic. Initially, there is a rapid, insulin independent increase in the muscle glycogen stores. This is then followed by a slower insulin dependent rate of synthesis. Contributing to the rapid phase of glycogen synthesis is an increase in muscle cell membrane permeability to glucose, which serves to increase the intracellular concentration of glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) and activate glycogen synthase. Stimulation of glucose transport by muscle contraction as well as insulin is largely mediated by translocation of the glucose transporter isoform GLUT4 from intracellular sites to the plasma membrane. Thus, the increase in membrane permeability to glucose following exercise most likely reflects an increase in GLUT4 protein associated with the plasma membrane. This insulin-like effect on muscle glucose transport induced by muscle contraction, however, reverses rapidly after exercise is stopped. As this direct effect on transport is lost, it is replaced by a marked increase in

LOW-GI Post-Workout
If you read enough bodybuilding boards, or other fitness forums, you know what I am speaking about. Its standard for people to say that high-GI is needed PWO. Dextrose, Maltodextrin, grape juice the list goes on and on, as people have a belief that it will help the recovery of glycogen. Mind you almost all of these people dont perform metcon training or endurance training. Glycogen stores just dont deplete as quickly as some would like to believe. Not to mention, when it comes into immediately restoring these glycogen amounts, I always have to ask, What are you eating the rest of the day? Meaning a steady influx of proper carbs throughout the day is as much as 95% of the population needs for proper replenishment. Now let us dive into that a little further. Lets get a couple things clear that some may not understand unless they have done quite a bit of nutritional reading, or university work. First off, glycogen replenishment is biphasic and is insulin-independent during the first phase (30-60 minutes). Excess amounts

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the sensitivity of muscle glucose transport and glycogen synthesis to insulin. Thus, the second phase of glycogen synthesis appears to be related to an increased muscle insulin sensitivity. Although the cellular modifications responsible for the increase in insulin sensitivity are unknown, it apparently helps maintain an increased number of GLUT4 transporters associated with the plasma membrane once the contraction-stimulated effect on translocation has reversed. It is also possible that an increase in GLUT4 protein expression plays a role during the insulin dependent phase.

Simply stated, muscle contraction, and the exercise itself performed by anyone at a high enough level, enables glut4 to work its magic in a biphasic series of events. In another study performed by Costill, a few other things were found in regards to carbs, before during, and after exercise. The mechanisms responsible for optimal glycogen storage are linked to the activation of glycogen synthetase by depletion of glycogen and the subsequent intake of carbs. Although diets rich in carbs may increase the muscle glycogen stores and enhance endurance exercise performance when consumed in the days before the activity, they also increase the rate of carb oxidation and the use of muscle glycogen. When consumed in the last hour before exercise, the insulin stimulated-uptake of glucose from blood often results in hypoglycemia, greater dependence on muscle glycogen, and an earlier onset of exhaustion than when no carb is fed. Ingesting carbs during exercise appears to be of minimal value to performance except in events lasting 2 hours or longer. The form of CHO (i.e., glucose, fructose, sucrose) ingested may produce different blood glucose and insulin responses, but the rate of muscle glycogen resynthesis is about the same regardless of the structure. In essence, through studies and other conversations with trainers, and what we have seen work in our arena, the entire replenish glycogen quickly theory went out the window for us long ago. Now I know some of you are saying, Well what about marathon endurance events, since that is what we do? There was a study done at the University of Western Ontario which stated:
The effects of simple-carbohydrate (CHO)- and complex-CHO-rich diets on skeletal muscle glycogen content were compared. Twenty male marathon runners were divided into four equal groups with reference to dietary consumption: depletion/simple, depletion/ complex, nondepletion/simple, and nondepletion/ complex. Subjects consumed either a low-CHO (15% energy [E] intake), or a mixed diet (50% CHO) for 3 days, immediately followed by a high-CHO diet (70% E intake) predominant in either simple-CHO or in complex-CHO (85% of total CHO intake) for another 3 days. Skeletal muscle biopsies and venous blood

samples were obtained one day prior to the start of the low-CHO diet or mixed diet (PRE), and then again one day after the completion of the high-CHO diet (POST). The samples were analysed for skeletal muscle glycogen, serum free fatty acids (FFA), insulin, and lactate and blood glucose. Skeletal muscle glycogen content increased significantly (p less than 0.05) only in the nondepletion/simple group. When groups were combined, according to the type of CHO ingested and/ or utilization of a depletion diet, significant increases were observed in glycogen content. Serum FFA decreased significantly (p less than 0.05) for the nondepletion/complex group only, while serum insulin, blood glucose, and serum lactate were not altered. It is concluded that significant increases in skeletal muscle glycogen content can be achieved with a diet high in simple-CHO or complex-CHO, with or without initial consumption of a low-CHO diet.

That being said, it is completely why we keep a steady stream of carbs throughout the day, while at the same time, adjusting the amount of carbs PWO. While we may up the amount of carbs PWO, the structure or GI level of the carb does not change. We just havent found a reason to yet, and its been about ten years now. I like to refer to it as eating the rainbow of carbs. I know most people reading this are Zone or paleo eaters, so its not too far-fetched. I eat a large amount of veggies each day. Peppers, squash, zuchinni, bok choy, collard greens, the list goes on and on. However, I will try to eat differing colors throughout the day. Is it backed by science? Of course not; however, I have found it to be helpful in keeping my kid interested in cooking and picking things out, while staying completely healthy. Enough about carbs; lets get to fats, how they are mobilized, why we keep a steady stream of them in our diet, and how.

The Fat of the Matter

Lets dive right into the numbers game, and why it is so important in the way my team and I train and eat. When performing mild exercise at about 25% of VO2 max, 20% or less of the energy comes from carbs; the other 80% of energy comes from fat. Some studies indicate that exercise-induced lipolysis usually provides FFA at a rate higher than what is needed for exercise. What this means is that the plasma FFA coming from the adipose tissue is the main source of energy while engaging in mild exercise. However, the use of FFA decreases and the use of muscle triglycerides increases when you step up the intensity to about 65% of VO2 max. When this happens, fats and carbs appear to be used about equally for energy. FFA and triglycerides contribute almost equally for the energy that comes from fat. When exercise exceeds 85% of VO2 max, carbs increasingly become the dominant fuel that is used. At this point, the fat amount used diminishes as

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muscle glycogen becomes the preferred source of energy. One key point, however, is that these numbers will be quite a bit lower in untrained individuals.

The Limiting Factors Involved

In studies performed by Wolfe and Lange, some interesting theories have come into play. Lange found that humans are not designed to use fat during exercise, and also stated that fat oxidation can be used to keep a metabolic rate up to 60% of VO2 max. Other theories abound such as inadequate FFA being mobilized from adipose may in fact limit FFA being delivered to the muscle. However, Wolfe states that fat oxidation is largely increased when effort increases to 85% of VO2 max. However, carbs are still the dominant energy source. Also, sub-optimal muscular procedures can limit fat oxidation. Meaning the high amount of carbs being utilized at high intensity exercise may limit the amount of fats being oxidized. The intake of carbs before or during exercise delaying fat oxidation is a common mistake amongst trainers. From the physiology side of things, although fat oxidation may actually be reduced, the available carbs would provide a more valuable energy source. When it comes to bonking, or hitting the wall, carb intake before or during prolonged exercise can help. But once you cross 90-120 minutes or more of high intensity exercise (climbing mountains etc), glycogen stores become very low and the body shifts to an increased FFA use, which in turn can lead to a decrease in the effort put towards the exercise. In extreme endurance events such as Primal Quest, FFA may provide nearly 90% of the energy that is used in the latter stages.

athletes. Dr Costill stated that highly trained athletes could use as much as 75% of their energy from fat, even when performing at above or about 70% of their VO2 max. The ability to use this in this manner is huge, saving glycogen for the later stages of the race, when the push is needed. At the same time, it becomes necessary to consume carbs during the race to help prevent complete glycogen depletion. Relying solely on fatty acids would ensure a slowing down at the end of the race. In conclusion, I hope this cleared up the way that we do things. Carbs and fats both play an extremely important role in our training. The teeter-totter of how to plan it out is a whole other ball game. Next month we will dive into protein and supplements that we use to improve our times. The month following that, we will cover how we tie it all together. I encourage discussion on this, whether you are from the PM boards, sherdog, or wherever. I can be reached by email, or PM on a site. I would also like to thank Robb Wolf, Alan Aragon, Greg, Everett, Kim, and a few others over the years for teaching me what they know off merely posting in forums and having conversations. Good luck in training everyone!

The Effect of Training on Fat Metabolism

What we are looking at now is how fat utilization changes somewhat for endurance athletes over others. However, it also depends on if you do hours of MMA, BJJ, hiking etc Some of us may not be endurance athletes so to speak, but enjoy getting out for hours on a bike, or hike, and dont realize that some things may need to be adjusted around that time period, such as upping the amount of carb PWO. The theories that abound are still being researched and tried. Coggan and others have found some interesting things on energy used in endurance athletes, and how the numbers can change. They have suggested that endurance athletes may actually use fats more efficiently at levels near 75-80% VO2 max. Pendergrast and crew also found that fat, especially intramuscular fat, plays a huge role as exercise gets bumped up to 80% or more in endurance trained

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Cooking with Scotty | Scotty Hagnas

Paleo Chicken Alfredo

Alfredo sauce and pasta is about as far from Paleo nutrition as you can get. However, here is a simple way to create a Paleo version. I am using kelp noodles here, but if you cannot find them where you live, spaghetti squash is a nice seasonal alternative. Check back issues of the Performance Menu or Cooking for Health and Performance for basic spaghetti squash preparation. Time: 45 minutes 1 lb chicken breast 1 12oz package of kelp noodles 4 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 tsp olive oil 2 tsp tarragon 1 cup cashews 1/2 tsp onion powder 1/4 tsp garlic powder 1/4 tsp mustard powder 1/4 tsp sea salt 1/4 tsp pepper 1/8 tsp paprika Add the olive oil to a large skillet. Saute the garlic over medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Chop the chicken into 1 inch cubes, then add to the skillet and cook until browned on all sides. Rinse and chop the kelp noodles. Add them to the skillet along with the tarragon, cover and cook on low for 30 minutes. Then, pour the liquid from the skillet carefully into a small container for use in the sauce. Add the cashews, onion powder, garlic powder, mustard powder, salt, pepper, and paprika to a blender. Cover and blend into a powder. Add the reserved pan juices slowly, blending into a thick sauce. Youll have to use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the blender periodically. Add the juices until the mixture reaches the desired consistency. Add the sauce to the skillet, then mix well. Cover and continue to cook for 10 minutes longer, until the kelp noodles have become tender. Zone info: 4 servings at 1 carb block, 4 protein blocks, 10 fat blocks. (9g carb, 28g prot, 15.5g fat)

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Sauteed Summer Squash

Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes 2 yellow crookneck squash 1 medium zucchini 5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped sliced red onion, optional 1 1/2 tsp olive oil 2 tsp oregano Slice the squash and zucchini crosswise, then roughly chop your garlic. Garlic lovers can definitely add more if desired! Slice the red onion if you wish, as well. Add the olive oil and all of the remaining ingredients to a large skillet. Cover and cook over medium to low for an hour or more, stirring occasionally. When the vegetables are very soft, they are ready to serve. I like to save some of the cooked squash to add to salads or other dishes later on. Zone info: 3 servings at 1 carb block, 1 fat block. (9g carb, 1.5g fat)

1/2 cup of beef broth (chicken stock will work, too) 1/2 tsp arrowroot, optional Make a simple marinade with the rosemary, sea salt, pepper, beef stock, and Dijon mustard. Mix well in a bowl. Refrigerate the steaks in a bowl with the marinade for a few hours, then remove to room temp. Cook in the oven at 425 degrees F, fat side up. Cook for 20 min or so for rare. Tent the meat on a plate, let sit for 10 minutes. If you want, you can transfer the pan juices to a skillet and reduce to a nice, thick sauce. Add the arrowroot to thicken the sauce if desired. Add any other seasonings you like here as well. Zone info: 4 servings at 3 protein blocks, 9 fat blocks. (20g prot, 20g fat) This will vary depending on how lean your cuts of meat are. Mine came out as above.

Steak Tartare
Steak tartare is an Eastern European dish made from chopped or ground raw beef. There are many variants, depending on the region the recipe comes from. This recipe is a simple one that combines a few of the common themes. Feel free to experiment with different seasonings. Also, some traditional recipes will top this with a raw egg. Many cringe at the thought of eating raw meat. If you are careful with the preparation and have a good source of quality, grassfed meat, then this is actually safe and very nutritious. Eating the meat raw greatly reduces cooking generated toxins. In addition, youll

Tri-Tip Marinade
Cooking time: 30 minutes 1 lb Tri Tip steaks 1 tbsp rosemary 1/4 tsp sea salt 1/2 tsp pepper 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

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avoid nutrient and enzyme destruction or alteration. Personally, I have regularly consumed raw meat for years. Time: 10 minutes 12 oz grassfed steak tenderloin 3 Tbsp finely chopped red onion 3 Tbsp chopped green onion tops 3 tsp capers 3 tsp Worcestershire sauce (look for no HFCS or gluten) 1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard lemon juice sea salt and fresh ground pepper Finely chop the steak. Divide into 3 small serving bowls. To each bowl, add: 1 Tbsp red onion, 1 Tbsp green onion tops, 1 tsp capers, 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard, a squeeze of lemon juice, and salt and pepper. Mix and serve! This is good served with heirloom tomato slices drizzled with Balsamic vinegar. Zone info: 3 servings at 4 protein blocks, 5.5 fat blocks. (28g protein, 14g fat)

Moroccan Carrot Salad

Time: 10 minutes 5 medium carrots 3 Tbsp chopped cilantro 1 Tbsp lemon juice 1 Tbsp olive oil 1/2 tsp cumin 1/4 tsp sea salt 1/8 tsp cinnamon 1/8 tsp cayenne Grate the carrots with a food processor, then toss together with the cilantro in a bowl. In a separate small bowl, mix all of the remaining ingredients and whisk together well. Pour over the carrots; toss well. Zone info: 4 servings at 1 carb block, 2.3 fat blocks. (10g carb, 3.5g fat)

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