"Gems" from Dan John

Dan John getting after it.

I'll read anything Dan John (or Bill Starr, for that matter) writes. John's exposure to a wide variety of different sports -- football, throwing, wrestling, Highland games, weightlifting, etc. -- plus his countless hours spent in the weight room (not to mention his coaching pedigree) make him, in my opinion, a leading expert on all things athletic.  For this reason, I was super excited to watch the eight-part interview he did with Mark Rippetoe on the Starting Strength series. Sufficed to say, I was not disappointed. The man drops more "gems" than Stevie Wonder in Tiffany's.

Some of my favorites include: (1) the "80-20 Rule," meaning one out of every five workouts, meets, etc. will be lackluster; (2) prioritizing “competition events” within an athlete’s training  (this should fall into the "duh" category, but some “coaches” never cease to amaze); and (3) the value of incorporating kettlebell work.  An in-depth discussion of all three points would exceed the scope of this post, so I will instead focus on the kettlebell piece.

In my past training, the kettlebell played a small role, usually relegated to a few sets of heavy swings once or twice a week, but rarely much more.  The John-Rippetoe interview led me to rethink that approach, and over the past several weeks I have been mixing in more KB training. Ten straight minutes of swings, cleans, presses, snatches and squat varieties makes for an efficient full-body warm-up (add ten more minutes of soft tissue work and mobility, and you're all the more prepared for your next workout). Among the squat varieties are goblet, front, and overhead.  Furthermore, don’t make the same mistake I did and write off the goblet squat as an exercise only for skinny-jean hipsters; it reinforces proper torso position on both the back and front squat like whoa. 

Good call on the kettlebells,  Dan John.

PS – My favorite moment of the interview is when Dan John talks about attempting a 185# press "tabata."  You must be strong as hell to even consider that idea (however, based on his exchange with Rip, I don’t think it worked out too well for him).