I usually try to write everything from scratch but I felt that my recent blog recounting my impressions of the just concluded Olympic Lifting certification held at Max Mormont's Crossfit Balboa in Costa Mesa best describe what took place over the February 20-21 weekend.

I have to admit that it was the best one I've ever been to. I've attended one and coached at three and under the leadership of Coach B, they just keep getting better and better.

Mike Burgener is, by far, the best at coaching a large group on the fundamentals of the snatch and clean and jerk. Using the experience gained during 30 years of teaching the lifts to high school P.E. classes, Mike has refined the process to work for the Crossfit nation in a certification that is so popular that 53 of them were scheduled for 2010 and requests for more were coming in for 2011. I believe that this is the most popular of the certifications offered by Crossfit.

Furthermore Coach B provides additional material through his website to those participants that e-mail him a critique of the clinic. In this way he is regularly receiving feedback, identifying weak points, massaging strengths and generally improving the product in an ongoing process. Talk about conscientious instruction.

Almost entirely hands-on, the certification offers plenty of opportunity for participants to practice the technique of the Olympic lifts, and then to spend considerable time reviewing what they've learned by teaching it to each other. This keeps everyone paying attention and constantly thinking of ways to express what they've learned in an instructional dialogue.

With a number of assistant trainers available to assist with break out groups, Mike, coordinates the learning schedule and almost everyone goes away with the feeling of having been exposed to a great deal of knowledge.

Personally, as one of the trainers, I am impressed by the enthusiasm, athleticism, and general good will of the Crossfit participants. Some of them came from as far away as Canada and Washington to participate. There is plenty of cooperative learning going on and everyone is encouraging of each other's efforts to learn the movements. The enthusiasm is high and most people leave with plenty of enthusiasm, eager to learn even more.

If the Olympic lifts are a topic of interest to you and you have little previous experience, consider signing up for one of these certifications if you can. They sell out rather quickly. There are still some slots available for one in Ramona, California over the March 13-14 weekend. Check it out at http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/specialty_certs.html.

Coach Mike Burgener instructs the group on the fine points of the split jerk (Takano photo)

One fan has written me an e-mail asking about one of the training programs posted on the website. It was the one I used in the first 10 months or so of training Adam Zuckerman. All of the details were included. Exercises, sequences, sets, reps and actual poundages.

The reader wanted to know how to convert the poundages into percentages so that the training could be applied to his own condition. OK. Here's how it's done.

At the end of the 10 months, Adam snatched 90 kg. and cleaned and jerked 110. One has only to take all the snatch exercises (snatches, power snatches, snatch extensions, snatch high pulls, snatch deadlifts) and divide those weights by 90 kg. This will provide you with percentages. You can multiply the weight you plan on lifting at the end of your cycle by those percentages to get the specific weights to train with.

Back Squat percentages should be used on a 100% figure that is at least 130% of the clean and jerk weight planned for the end of the cycle. Front Squat percentages should be based on a figure that is at least 110% of the clean and jerk maximum.

100% figures for presses, good mornings and some other exercises do not have any specific numerical relationship to the snatch, clean and jerk, back squat or front squat and may vary widely from individual to individual, even those in the same weight category. Some empirically derived knowledge will help you figure out appropriate weights.

Train hard and Coach hard!

The rain was treacherous this past Saturday as we rode down the I-5 to San Juan Capistrano (the one where the swallows fly back to) for a weightlifting meet.  My wife, Marta did a great job of navigating the road, unperturbed as we passed a spot where the oncoming traffic was stopped by a portion of highway that was completely submerged.

You never know what to expect at a meet in a distant location where not many meets are held.  You don’t have a feeling for the number of participants, the quality of the field or the quality of the coaching.  The quality of the coaching can be a problem in a crowded field because you may run into a lot of people that aren’t familiar with proper warm-up protocol or warm-up room etiquette.

Fortunately the moderately sized field of 7 women and about 15 or so men made for a manageable meet with most people doing well, and no logistic problems cropping up.  A tip of the hat here to meet director CJ Del Balso who did a great job of organization.  Meet directing is one of the more unsung roles in the sport since you mostly get noticed if something goes wrong.

I was very pleased with the results of my two lifters, Aileen Wu and Ashley Weber.  This was the first meet in which I had a chance to work a two month cycle with Aileen after her technique was pretty much solidifed.  I was thus afforded a chance to find out how the training had worked and how she would respond to a competition with good technique.  I’ve had a little over a month to work with Ashley so this was our get acquainted meet.  She came to me in need of technical coaching on her top pull.  I have to say that the results justified the training approaches.

Aileen missed an easy opener in the snatch with 44 kg, so I decided to gamble and go up to 46 for the second and then 48 for a PR by 3 kg.  This was a close to flawless lift.  Aileen then went 3 for 3 in clean and jerks with lifts of 56, 58 and 60.  The last two lifts were PR’s, and the total was a PR by 8 kg.  Great day!  The peaking worked.

Ashley was only slightly better as she snatched 58, 61 and 63 kg, the last a 1 kg PR.  Her clean and jerks were 75, 78, and 80, the final jerk also being a 1 kg. PR.

Both lifters were faster, and more explosive than they’d been in training, and both stood up from cleans with greater ease than they had in the previous few weeks.  Aileen and Ashley also reported that the weights felt relatively light. See two of their PR’s in the attached videos.

San Juan Capistrano Winter Open 021

Aileen Wu jerks 60

I was really thrilled with the outcome of the training.   I’ve found that in order to perform my function as a coach, very early on I must have a vision of how a lifter should perform in the meet we are training for.  This includes with some accuracy, the specific poundages that are to be lifted in the meet.  Furthermore existing weaknesses should show some considerable signs of remediation.

In order to accomplish this the training must be carefully designed so that strength, speed and technique are optimal.  The psyche of the athlete must also be prepared and that is done through the training and the attitude of the coach toward that training.

For those of you who are interested in finding out more about peaking an athlete for a performance, take the time to download and study the long term training programs from the www.takanoathletics.com downloads section.  All of them have worked, but the only way to understand them is to try them out and take note of the outcomes!

We are very proud and honored to bring back the P.H.A.T Elvis Weightlifting Club and Coach Takano to Team CrossFit!  Coach Takano has been working with our Coaches here at Team CrossFit and now he will be on our regular schedule with daily classes for anyone that is looking to take their Olympic Lifting to new levels...and maybe even the Olympics?  That's right folks.  He is one of the very few Coaches in the world that can get you to that level and we are excited to have him as part of our TEAM!  For more information on Coach Takano, check out his website - Takano Athletics