.
Mel Siff:
<If one could Press a heavy load, then one could easily jerk at least that
same amount and usually about 20kg more, so that many big pressers could
defeat a lifter who had a good snatch, but a weak jerk.>
A member wrote:
<<Not necessarily, in my humble opinion. A jerk and the press aren’t that
closely related as they seem to be.
Obviously if your press is larger, so is your jerk. But superior technique is
a must for a big jerk. My current 1RM press is 65 kilos and my 1RM jerk is
75. Obviously technique has a lot to do with it. I have a relatively strong
press considering my experience in weightlifting but as you can see, the jerk
is a lot about technique and agility in the legs. As an example is a lifter
in the gym where I train who has a 80 kilo press for 2-3 reps and has a max
jerk of 135 kilos. His massive load in the jerk comes from technique.>>
Mel Siff:
*** Note that I stated “usually”, not “always”. My remark was based on many
years of competitive and refereeing experience with the Press. And to back
this up, here are some randomly chosen Presses and C&Js of a few top lifters
from the good old Pressing days up to 1972: Read more…
.
Here is some more feedback from various experts on weightlifting pulling
style (some names have temporarily been withheld until such time that the
persons concerned join our list):
1. This letter was sent to me by one of the most famous Eastern European
lifters, a legendary world champion and one of the few in the world who ever
managed to snatch twice bodyweight in the heavier divisions:
The topic of the week [on the weightlifting pull] was very interesting to me.
I do have only one problem with the flatfooted pull. As they say, “the
flatfooted pull will give you flatfooted results”. We certainly don’t want to
get that. We do know for a fact that the lifters are trying their best to get
to fully extended position before get under the bar. I do not see it
happening, by staying on your heels. Another small detail – if you go to an Read more…
.
A member wrote:
<Dr Siff, the information on the kettlebell training was informative. Many of
the studies and techniques can be found in Pavel Tsatsouline’s ‘The Russian
Kettlebell Challenge.’ I purchased a solid kettlebell (KB) from
www.dragondoor.com after previously purchasing kettlebell handles from
www.ironmind.com . The benefit of the handles is that weight can be added to
any amount versus the fixed weight of the solid KBs (16 kg, 24 kg, and 32 kg).
The disadvantage, for myself, of the handles is that for cleans, presses,
jerks, etc (overhead movements) the plates slide around and are not too
stable. The handles are great for pulls, swings, extended pulls from blocks
while the solid kbs are more stable for overhead movements.
Dr Mel Siff: Are there actual studies or references to Russian scientific journals in
Pavel’s book? If so, please cite some of them here for our interest.
A Member wrote:
<As one gentleman stated in a past post, it is easy to overtrain with the kbs
as the tonnage mounts very rapidly especially in high rep swings, cleans, Read more…
.
<Any thoughts on this [squat jumps]? I would like some advice as I have a
friend who insists on doing this potentially harmful movement with heavy
weights to increase his “explosiveness”.>
*** You do not necessarily have to jump off the floor when doing “jump
squats”. You can try to produce as much vertical force as possible so that
you may rise high onto your toes without leaving the platform. Explosiveness
is not a quality which is best developed by producing large forces under very
heavy loading, but with less heavy weights which allow one to produce high
RFD (Rate of Force Development) and peak power. This means executing
stretch-shortening or prestretching exercises which have a short coupling Read more…
.
This ACSM article which summarises some of the history of sports science and
exercise physiology in the USA may be of interest to list members. If anyone
has come across a comparable resource on sports science in Europe and other
parts of the world, please share them with us. I have provided some of the
history of strength science and training in Ch 1 of my “Supertraining” book
and David Webster has given extensive information in his “Iron Game”. Dr Read more…
