Strength and Power Notes June 2008
Plans for the USAW Sports Performance Coach course in Charlotte, NC are now set and on the USAW site. Harvey Newton will serve as the lead instructor for this Friday, June 13 and Saturday, June 14 program. Be sure to sign up with USA Weightlifting. For local details, contact Gina Josey at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Due to lack of sign-ups, both the USAW Club and Senior Coach courses at the Olympic Training Center, Colorado Springs have been canceled.
Harvey Newton will be the featured clinician at a Strength and Power Training for Golfers, July 3-4, in London. This program was developed by Mark Bull (www.totalgolfconditioning.co.uk) and is currently closed with 20 participants (the program filled up quickly!). Check Mark’s site for full details on the program and expect to see a lot more information listed here in the coming months.
Mark contacted Harvey as a result of the latter’s feature in the 2007 The Annual Review of Golf Coaching that questioned current-day golf training and suggested that a more traditional format could be helpful. Featured prominently in this article was an extended look at the highly successful golfer and strength/power athlete of the ‘50s, Frank Stranahan.
This series of monthly installments looks at some highlights of current weightlifting technique instruction offered to fitness professionals. Check for the entire series across several months’ newsletters.
In previous installments I’ve discussed the sometimes hotly debated topic of pull technique for the Snatch or the Clean (or their various derivative assistance exercises). The reason for this examination is to promote further discussion. This came about as a result of a questionnaire I was asked to contribute to in 2006 by Ernie Rimer, then an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ. Ernie was collecting details from various weightlifting and S&C corners related to the so-called “second pull.”
My answers are included in this newsletter over the coming months for your consideration. Ernie is now a strength and conditioning coach for the USA Ski Team’s national women’s downhill team. I recently contacted Ernie to confirm my intended use of this information. I don’t know what the others had to say, but here is my answer to Ernie’s first question:
1) Briefly describe how you would coach an athlete to perform the 2nd pull.
First, one must define terms. What is meant by 2nd pull? In some cases we find reference to 1st-2nd-3rd (or more) pulls. In order to expedite this exchange, I will presume you mean the total effort that occurs after one has executed the ‘1st pull’ (mostly agreed to as terminating around the level of the knees).
From my perspective, what happens before and after reaching the knee is crucial, but pulling around the knees is not a final effort. For lack of a better handle, let’s say a lifter needs to get the barbell from the end of the so-called 1st pull and prepare for the most powerful part of the lift, perhaps known in some circles as the 2nd Pull.
What happens between the 1st and 2nd pulls? Some call this a ‘transition’ stage of the lift.
Back to the question: if we are agreed that the 2nd pull is (hopefully) the most powerful part of the lift, I would suggest having athletes train specifically from this position. Lifters execute one explosive ‘jumping’ or extension of the lower body to create (again hopefully) the highest power production portion of the lift. In Explosive Lifting for Sports, one will note a heavy emphasis on what is known as pulling or lifting from the high blocks. I definitely think blocks are preferred to simply pulling from ‘the hang’ (unsupported barbell).
This position, which resembles a partial Squat, is the posture in which an athlete can exert the most force against the barbell.
I do NOT agree with any attempt at deliberately becoming airborne after the most powerful part of the pull has been performed.
TO BE CONTINUED
