Friday, April 27, 2012

Strength Training or Bodybuilding


by Atomic Athletic on Friday, April 27, 2012 at 4:33pm ·

Can of worms anyone?

I'm going to open one here.  The “strength athletes” of the world, generally, don't want to think of themselves as bodybuilders, but most of us can learn a thing or two from that crowd.  So guys, if you are not doing a little bodybuilding, then you better start.

Start right at the top, with your neck.  The bodybuilders out there might just look in that other direction as well.  If you don't know who Bill St. John is, then you might want to do a little research on the internet.  He was 2nd in the 1971 Mr. USA contest and placed in the top ten in many contests around that time period.  

One of Bill's favorite exercises was the “Dead Hang Snatch”.  He did them for sets of 10 with 315 pounds.  While that movement does many positive things for the lifter, he did it for the neck work.  Like many bodybuilders of his time, he did some Olympic lifting moves, but was not really an Olympic weightlifter.  I know Bill from my time working at the York Barbell company.   

In fact, Bill had an interesting approach to bodybuilding, by the time he was just about finished with his bodybuilding career.  He basically worked his body around his neck training.  Essentially, he did everything he could to increase his neck strength.  You can really see it both in the Strength & Health cover from Feb. 1969.  You can also see it in one of the most incredible feats of neck strength I have ever seen.  Bill is supported only by his heels and his head, between two chairs, while his training partner, Val Vasilef, is doing a hand stand on his chest.

Here are some of the other tools Bill used for his neck work: standard leather head harness and manual resistance.  I believe that if more Olympic weightlifters did bodybuilding for their necks and bodybuilders did more Olympic weightlifting they would each benefit.  Bill St. John certainly did.

Leather Head Harness
http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=BSMA307V 

Band Resistance Head Harness
http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=N01 

Neck Machine
http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=SIS121 

USAWA Nationals
http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=VID004 

Live strong,
Roger LaPointe


Thursday, April 26, 2012

2,000 Pounds of 100's


by Atomic Athletic on Thursday, April 26, 2012 at 3:21pm ·

When was the last time you saw 2,000 Pounds of plates that were all 100 Pounders?

The 2012 Heavy Lifts Championships at the Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic will have that many.  I fully expect that someone will do a lift of OVER 1,500 pounds on Saturday, the 12th of May.

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=PICNIC6B Make sure to check out this web page for photos of some of these monster lifts and the one of a kind Poster! 

We will also have multiple chain lift bars, an assortment of heavy lifting harnesses and hand & thigh bars, not to mention all the smaller plates.  Hopefully, we will even have need for the little Record Maker Plates.  Those babies go down to the 1/4 Kg size.  After all, a 1/2 Kg record is still a record...

The 3 lifts are: The Hip Lift, The Neck Lift and the Hand & Thigh Lift!

We now do our own classic Chain Lift bar design and a USAWA Regulation Bar.  They are slightly different, but the same price.

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=AR004 

Definitely don't miss out on the Picnic!  

Remember, the Picnic and Heavy Lifts Championships are at the Old School on South Main in beautiful Bowling Green, OH.  The action will be taking place on the sports fields with lifting platforms on the basketball court.

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=PICNIC2 

Live strong,
Roger LaPointe 


2012 Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=PICNIC2
2012 USAWA "Heavy Event" Championships will be taking place at the Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic

Friday, April 20, 2012

Neck Lift

by Atomic Athletic on Friday, April 20, 2012 at 3:41pm ·

Neck training could be YOUR missing link.

When I spoke at Ohio State's NSCA Clinic last year, the speaker who was up right after me was Mike Gittleson. For those of you who do not know anything about Mike Gittleson, he was the Strength Coach at the University of Michigan for 30 years. He started under Bo Schembechler. Mike has been on the forefront of research into the football and concussion issue, which has led to his research into very serious neck training.

Try this on for size.

Mike convinced a fellow strength coach, who still occasionally competes in strongman competitions, on a very competitive level, to put several neck exercises into his program. Aside from getting an even bigger and stronger neck, he put 60 pounds on his Press!

How would you like to add 60 pounds to your standing press?

You want a good place to start your education into neck training? Now is your chance to ask some of the best neck lifters in the world about their secrets. The Heavy Lifts Championships are taking place at the Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic this year. This year, the lifts will be: the Hand & Thigh Lift, the Hip Lift and the Neck Lift!

Before you get to The Picnic, you will want to study up on this subject. The best place for you to start is the a past USAWA Nationals, in 2000 that included the Neck Lift. Here is the link:

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=VID004

In addition to the Neck Lift, that Nationals included: the One Hand Snatch, Clean & Press with Heels Together, One Hand Ciavatone Deadlift, Pullover & Push, Hack Lift, Clean & Jerk Behind the Neck, and the Zercher Lift. It was one hell of a contest.

If you don't have one, check out our standard heavy duty leather Head Harness:

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=BSMA307V

Live strong,
Roger LaPointe



2012 USAWA "Heavy Event" Championships will be taking place at the Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Master's Age Lifting & The Safety Squat Bar

by Atomic Athletic on Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 4:52pm ·

All of the young guys out there are welcome to ignore anything you want in this Atomic Athletic Bomb Proof Bulletin.  I have written this one for the Master's age lifter and anyone who wants to continue lifting real weights after they are no longer “young”.  Masters are welcome to ignore me as well, but I know you won't. 

I caught a lot of hell for my last bulletin, because I recommended using a Safety Squat Bar.  One guy wrote, “Real lifters don't use that kind of crap.  Grow a set of balls”.  He is welcome to his opinion.  In the mean time, I hope to continue breaking records.

Here is the basis for my current use of a Safety Squat Bar.  I have identified a weak point, which is my partially torn right rotator cuff.  I have a couple of lifts that aggravate the tear, but still need to be worked. When I do serious back squats, that will also aggravate it.   I tend to go a little gung ho with this stuff.  Using the Safety Squat Bar allows me to get the benefit of back squats and those other lifts with blazing fast recovery.  I have worked around a long term problem with continued improvement.

Safety 

I do several other things that also keep me in the game.  From now until the Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic, I will continue to hit that topic.  If anyone wants to ask me about them, in person, at the Picnic, get your list together.  There will be a whole bunch of other guys, some are nearly twice my age, who will also be glad to help out.

Picnic Link:
http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=PICNIC2 

Heavy Lifts Championships Link:
http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=PICNIC6B 

Live strong,
Roger LaPointe


Thursday, April 12, 2012

Building Bigger Legs

by Atomic Athletic on Thursday, April 12, 2012 at 5:06pm ·

The secret to building bigger legs is really knowing the tools of the trade.  You simply don't build a skyscraper without a solid foundation.  To build that foundation you need the right tools.


I had a great conversation, which did result in a sale, with a very high level basketball coach.  As you might expect, he is dealing with very tall men who really are not built to be weightlifters.  Yet, they do need the strength and explosiveness in their legs that serious weightlifting will bring them.  We talked about the various bars I personally use, unsurprisingly, they are the same type of bars he uses, with slight variations.  I regularly use an Olympic weightlifting bar with super smooth rotation, a stiff thick bar, a shrug/trap type bar, and a safety squat bar.  At a height of 5 foot 3 inches, I am using them somewhat differently than his potential NBA recruits.


These are the exercises you need to do for building big and explosive legs:1. Back Squats2. Clean Pulls or, better yet, Power Cleans3. A grip building exercise, such as Thick Bar Deadlifts4. Front squat type movement – for some coaching situations, based on sport, facility resources, and/or body type – shrug bar deadlifts or a safety squat bar squats will be best


Now you need to apply these correctly.


Live strong,
Roger LaPointe


PS.  If you can possibly get there, you need to come to the Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic.  The real draw is the other people who attend.  We have had coaches from the worlds of: football, track & field, basketball, mma, wrestling, cycling, boxing and a wide variety of other sports.  This is your chance to pick their brains.  Don't miss it.  Who knows, they might surprise you and try to pick your brain... 

Safety Squat Bar with Standard Plate (1") Sized Bar Ends - Roger La Pointe doing repetition lunges in the winter of 2010. http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=SSB

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Hip Flexors Iron Boot Training

by Atomic Athletic on Thursday, April 5, 2012 at 4:31pm ·

I had a sprinting coach in here the other day. He wanted to know what my best tool was for training the hip flexors. I asked him what his athletes were currently doing. They were using a variety of tools, but he really wanted to know if he should add the Iron Boots.

Here are 5 exercises that would work both the hip flexors and the ankles:

  1. Hanging Knee Raises
  2. Thai Knee Kicks
  3. Inner Thigh Work
  4. Leg Raise Foot Circles/Flutter Kicks
  5. Alternate Bent Knee Crunch Touches

Every one of these exercises will help a runner, as well as a fighter, weightlifter or soccer player. Try them out. Even with an empty, unloaded Iron Boot, these are tough moves that will work your body in ways that you simply can't get with any other tool.

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=IBC

By the way, there will be a number of people at this year's Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic who will be glad to give you more ideas about Iron Boot training.

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=PICNIC2

See you there.

Live strong,
Roger  

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Durniat's Amazing Ranking from Picnic Lift

by Atomic Athletic on Wednesday, April 4, 2012 at 5:18pm ·

Fan's of the Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic are well aware of Andrew Durniat and his amazing feats of strength. Some of you are also aware that he also has actual World Records in recognized competitive lifts. Historically, that is a very unusual thing for a performer. Many performing strongman “records” are actively debated today.

Al Myers, the Secretary/Treasurer and prolific writer for the USAWA web site, has come up with his Top 10 Lifts of the past year. Andrew Durniat's World Record Left Hand Deadlift of 519 Pounds, at last year's Picnic, came in at number 4. Not too shabby...

To see the rest of that Top 10 List, see the USAWA site at: http://www.usawa.com/

Andrew and I have been looking at what lift he is going to try to break this year. Will you be there to see it?

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=PICNIC2

You can see a photo of that amazing deadlift on this year's picnic poster and at the picnic page on the site.

Enjoy.

2012 Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=PICNIC2

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Olde Time Strongman Picnic

by Atomic Athletic on Tuesday, April 3, 2012 at 3:41pm ·

Check out the 2012 Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic page. We are taking pre-Orders for T-shirts right now!

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=PICNIC2

Make sure to write down the picnic address, we are back on green grass!

You can see lots of past picnic photos on our Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/AtomicAthletic/

Live strong,
Roger LaPointe