Daily Squatting and Tips for Optimizing Workout Performance Even Amid the "Dark Times"

Daily squatting came into vogue three or four years ago with the revelations of Jon Broz's "Method" and its predecessor Ivan Abajiev's "Bulgarian System."  The latter's results speak for themselves, as Abadjiev is one of, if the, most successful weightlifting coach of all-time.  And Broz is no slouch, himself.  His gym, Average Broz Gymnasium, is chalked full of strong ass folks – men, women, juniors and seniors (And the presence of such a diversified clientele/athlete base refutes the idea that daily squatting is unsustainable, and applicable only to select populations, but that is entirely different post altogether).  The common denominator in both systems is indeed an emphasis on daily training and daily squatting, in particular, where the athlete works up to maximum single each session.  

"Squat even on the Sabbath," preaches Abadjiev.

A topic related to daily squatting is the "Dark Times," or so that is how Broz describes the earliest period of adaptation.  And having followed a daily squat program on two separate occasions I can attest to the potency of this phenomenon.  When an athlete finds himself/herself itching to squat and irritated until they do, chances are they are suffering through the Dark Times.  I suspect hormonal reactions are the cause of such feelings, and the effect(s) on the athlete's brain may be comparable to those experienced by drug addicts during their repeated use. But, kids, it's better to be addicted to squatting than crack.

Setting aside what I suspect is a failed attempt at humor, mitigating the negativity associated with the Dark Times is important, because performance in workouts often declines before improving.  It's just the necessary evil of adapting to an increased workload.  Lowering expectations pre-workout is one way – and I think the best way – to mitigate the Dark Times. Stop thinking about setting personal records every workout, and focus instead on hitting 90%, or maybe 95%, as often as possible.  By looking at workouts as "work" not "displays of all-time best strength" it relieves the mental stress associated trying to set personal records repeatedly.  As the athlete improves their consistency with heavier weights, the personal records will likely follow in short order.  I also recommend the following advice to all: (1) attempt only one-kilogram personal records and (2) stop a progression after hitting a personal record.  End on a high note even if you think there might be a few more kilograms in the tank.

Now, if an athlete holds a personal record of 140 in the front squat, their progression on a "good day" with this specific 3-2-1 repetition scheme might proceed as follows:

70x3, 80x3, 90x3, 100x3, 110x3, 120x3, 123x3, 126x2, 130x2, 134, 138, 141, 100x3, 105x3, 110x3, 115x3, 120x3

Taking smaller jumps during the first wave primes the central nervous system for the heavier weights while also allowing for mobility work and an accumulation of volume.

Conversely, their progression on a "bad day" might proceed as follows (emphasis on the differences outside of the base repetition scheme):

60x5x2, 70x5x2, 80x5, 90x5, 100x5, 110x5, 116x4, 120x3, 123x2, 126, 129, 132, 70x7, 80x7, 90x7, 100x7

Despite not setting any personal records – and athletes should keep personal records for singles, doubles, triples, fours, fives, sevens, tens and twenties (but only in the back squat for twenty) – the athlete still trained and accumulated much-needed volume.  If they feel "totally gnarly" during warm-up, a few options for alleviating that feeling include: (1) spending an extra few minutes training with the empty bar, (2) performing two sets at the lightest weights, as noted above and/or (3) progressing to their heaviest weights lifted via smaller jumps.  The third approach has consistently proven helpful to me, because it allows for an accumulation of volume while simultaneously "tricking" my central nervous system into handling heavier weights.

But even once an athlete finds himself in "the heightened state", as Abadjiev describes, their workouts will not yield personal records on a consistent or predicted basis.  There will be peaks, valleys and personal record droughts.  The athlete must keep training through such periods. Eventually the valleys will reach higher than the previous peaks, and their personal records will increase, as well.

Marrying Select Applications of Bodybuilding to Athletes' Strength Training

The year is 1984.  Reagan is President.  Springsteen is The Boss.  Bosworth is The Boz.  And Golds Gym in Venice Beach is Mecca, at least for the adolescent American male.  (By happenstance, 1984 is the year of my birth).

Bodybuilding is indeed in its prime coming on the heels of Arnold's Mr. Olympia triumphs. Scores of youngsters flock to their local Golds to pair chest and tris and back and bis.  Swolled out, bro, they shout to one another, being sure to "catch the pump."  Unfortunately, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness . . . ,” as Charles Dickens writes in A Tale of Two Cities, for bodybuilding was about to enter the Lee Haney era, a time when sheer size would trump balance and symmetry.  Fast forward thirty years and bodybuilding finds itself a pariah amid the "functional fitness" craze.  Millions of adolescents still pass through the turnstiles at Golds, 24-Hour Fitness and other commercial gyms, but their efforts for increased muscularity now carry an unfavorable social stigma.  Pass the Crystal Lite, would you?

But here's the rub – in spurring the bodybuilding style of training, strength and conditioning coaches threw out the baby with the bath water.  Yes, there is a time and place for higher repetitions, and no, isolation exercises do not reflect the Devil's work.  Sets of seven, for example, are useful in back squats periodically, prescribed perhaps as back-off sets around 70-75 percent of a one-rep maximum. Higher repetition maximums, ranging anywhere from eight to twenty, are powerful hypertrophy and conditioning tools, too, though their use should be intermittent.

What makes Hercules look so damn athletic in this statute?  It's his truck.  The abdominals and obliques are thick and dense.  Notice also the muscularity of his legs compared to his arms.  Good proportions.  Now let's see those spinal erectors . . .

And hypertrophy is not a dirty word.  Increasing the diameter of a muscle correlates often to gains in absolute strength, but as Louie Simmons says, "big isn't strong, strong is strong,” meaning don’t blindly accrue muscle mass without seeing a corresponding increase in one-, two-or three-rep maximums.  Given this understanding, no program is complete without select applications of bodybuilding-style training.  Indeed, exercises like strict pullups (and chins), Pendlay or dumbell rows, glute-ham raises, hyperextensions, reverse hypers and even bicep curls lend themselves to repetition ranges of 8-12, but maybe even higher depending on the athlete or their capacities.  Sets of ten repetitions in the glute-ham raise might be too taxing on an intermediate athlete; therefore, the repetition scheme should be modified to fit their capabilities.  Similarly, an advanced or elite athlete might be capable of performing a set of twenty or more repetitions of strict pullups.  A strength coach can add external resistance, i.e. a weight vest, dumbell or kettlebell, to limit his total number of repetitions, if deemed appropriate.  Finally, additional lean muscle mass carries increased metabolic demands, meaning the athlete will burn more calories over a 24-hour window.

A few words of caution regarding hypertrophy.  Athletes competing in sports where they must “carry their engine,” i.e. swimming, track and speedskating, to name a few, should be wary of accruing excess lean muscle mass.  Strengthening the quadriceps, hamstrings, upper back, posterior chain and abdominals will likely result in increased levels of performance, but the law of diminishing returns still applies, thus strength coaches should think twice before prescribing large volumes of bodybuilding-style training.  One or two exercises for three sets of eight to ten is sufficient most often.

Mastering the Mundane

Travis Mash, a weightlifting coach and world-class powerlifter in his own right, spoke at length not too long ago with the guys of "Barbell Shrugged" on the idea of "mastering the mundane." Mash discusses how great athletes seek to optimize their performance by dialing-in the boring, recovery-oriented tasks – eating, sleeping, and mobility, to name a few.  The point Mash makes is that while none of this is particularly exciting or sexy, it is important all the same.

Some may see the lifestyle Mash describes – one devoid of junk food, sugar and late-night parties – as boring or mundane.  But the reality is adaptation occurs most efficiently when external variables are minimized, if not eliminated outright.  How important is an athlete's training to them?  Is it worth their sacrificing society's sacred cows?

Cooking your own meals, going to bed before ten and finding time to address mobility issues is not easy, rest assured.  Advance planning is required.  Here are a couple of suggestions:

(1) Cook a feast every Sunday night, one capable of providing multiple days’ worth of leftovers. The winter months lend themselves to roasts and stews, while the summer one offer optimal grilling weather;

(2) Find your version of "easy breakfast."  Eggs, fresh fruit and sweet potato home fries (plus a few tablespoons of raw nut butter) are my "go to" pre-workout foods if training mid-day.  Note, when choosing between different fresh fruits, select those with lower fructose concentrations, such as avocados, berries, peaches and kiwi.  Charles Poliquin promotes a different approach, preaching the "Meat and Nut" breakfast, and he has penned many articles in its defense.  The meat and nut breakfast also lends itself to the early-morning commuter whose time in precious;

(3) Organize your work-week, to the greatest extent practicable, so that you can get a jumpstart on projects, briefs and papers.  A few hours spent working on Saturday and/or Sunday can alleviate the stress of Monday through Friday, allowing for earlier bedtimes and/or training opportunities.  Consistency is adaptation's best friend;

(4) Learn the difference between optimal and less-than-optimal sleeping patterns. Eight to nine hours of sleep is recommended for hard-charging athletes, but this figure is not the final word.  An optimal sleeping environment is cold, dark and quiet.  Reverse engineering such a state reveals blackout curtails or curtails of heavy cloth, a sleeping mask and temperature controls are good investments.  Clean bed sheets buttress this environment – wash or replace weekly.  It behooves male athletes to note in their training log whether they awoke with an erection (an "E" in the margin next to the date will do), as this is a sign of positive hormone balance; and

(5) If your training facility is not located conveniently to your residence (mine is not), reserve 15-20 minutes before bed for mobility work.  The cost of a pvc pipe ranges from $8-10 at Lowe's or Home Depot (buy two -- a thicker one for rolling and a thinner one for shoulder stretches). With this $20 investment, an athlete can address a number of areas, including the hips, posterior chain and shoulders.  Add in a packet of lacrosse balls and a bike tube tire (which can be cut into a makeshift voodoo floss band) from any other sporting goods store and an athlete's mobility repertoire is largely complete.

It was Mike Tyson who said, "the life of a champion is monotonous," but it is this environment that promotes adaptation and subsequently training progress.  As days become weeks, weeks become months and months become years an athlete can continue to make gains, but as Dan Johns says "plan the work, work the plan."

"Don't reach, young blood."

From time to time, I share the gym with two high school athletes who are training to get stronger for their respective sports, football and squash (hey, no judging!).  Most of the time, their training is organized and programmed by my good friend, who makes them squat, pull and press multiple times per week.  However, any work done in the summer off-season is unregulated.  To their credit, I saw them come in and lift, but the foundation of their "program" was cracked.  Both spent too much time snatching and cleaning, all while neglecting their squats, presses and pulls.  Now, the Olympic lifts are great – arguably the optimal choice for developing power or what Louie Simmons calls “speed strength – but two lifts does not a program make.

I broached the issue tentatively one day as they were gathering up their belongings.  "Y'all done for today?" I asked.  They responded in the affirmative.  "I don't see you guys squatting or pressing too often . . . y'all are pushing those exercises, too, right?"  I mused, knowing full-well the situation at hand.  They looked at each other sheepishly, shying away from my query. "Squats are tiring. They make our legs sore," the braver of the two piped up.  "Guys, you will likely make faster progress in the snatch and clean if you push up your squat numbers," I stressed.  The two nodded in agreement, but turned and walked back to the locker room, whispering to each other along the way.

 

It was this exchange that reminded me of the Pepsi "Uncle Drew" commercials that aired last year.  If you missed them, the plot line centers around two or three professional basketball players disguising themselves as geriatrics, then running ball on the city courts.  As you might expect, the pros whip the youngsters, all under the guise of escapees from the retirement home.  The commercials are damn funny.  My favorite line comes from Kyrie Irving’s character, who repeatedly tells opponents, “Don’t reach, young blood,” meaning move your feet, play defense, work hard.  To those youngsters or Crossfitters out there chasing personal records in the snatch, clean and jerk much to the neglect of their squats, I say, “Don’t reach, young blood.”  Bring your hard hat and lunch pail and set up shop in the squat rack.  Fives are a great place to start, but there are dozens of successive squat programs out there.  Plan the work, then work hard.  Uncle Drew over and out.



Get buckets.  Get squatting.

Dear John

Dear John,

Niccolo Machiavelli wrote The Prince in 1512 to educate young "princes" on the particulars of ruling.  Those lessons were derived not only from his study of the ancient Greeks and Romans but also from personal experiences with princes of the warring Italian city-states.  Seeing as I believe Machiavelli was unemployed at the time of its writing, The Prince can be read as the most famous job application ever prepared.

Channeling my inner Machiavel, this letter sets forth the lessons I learned while training and competing in athletics.  Much like the famous – or infamous, depending on your point view – Florentine before me, the lessons learned and described herein reflect twenty years of personal and second-hand experiences.  Some were gained from conversing with teammates, others the hard way – through making mistakes.  I urge you to heed my words now for their truth is revealed only with the passage of time.

First and foremost, compete.  Always compete.  Never back down.  You may have grown up in the "everyone gets a trophy" era, with parents and teachers praising your "special" abilities, but there are most certainly winners and losers in competitive athletics.  Compete every day: in practice, in the weight room, wherever.  If a teammate challenges you to eat fifty eggs, go all Cool Hand Luke-style on them and get it done. The desire to compete – and win – in anything and everything carries over to gameday.

 

"My boy says he can eat fifty eggs, he cant eat fifty eggs."



Second, ditch the pre-madonna attitude.  Be the strong silent type.  Every year I get more and more pissed off watching national high school signing day for Division I football.  The kids have turned the whole event into a charade.  Congratulations you are now one of a thousand of Division I scholarship athletes.  Win a Heisman Trophy or become an All-American, then carry on like you are a BFD ("big fucking deal").

Third, practice your craft.  Every day.  On days when formal practice is not being held, spend an hour addressing a technical flaw or sharpening your visualization skills or watching past practice or game tapes.  Consistency is king.  Fundamentally, training is nothing more than moving a big pile of horse manure across the yard.  On the days you feel great, carry a shovelful, maybe two; on the days you feel crappy, carry just a spoonful.  But keep moving that manure.  Be relentless. And be prepared for the stink.

Four, protect your dreams.  The word I heard growing up was "doubters," now they’re called "haters," but the difference is irrelevant.  Losers always try to convince others their dreams will escape their reach.  Don't listen.  Insulate your dreams by surrounding yourself with positive people and supportive coaches.  Distance yourself from everyone else.  Every year hundreds of high school and college athletes are selected in the Major League Baseball draft, why can't you be one of them in four years’ time?

Five, take care of your body.  It was the great John Denver who sang, "early to rise, early in the sack, thank god I'm a country boy."  And contrary to what some might lead you to believe, nothing good happens after midnight.  When it comes to meal time, make sure you consume enough calories to support your training, but do not rely heavily – or at all, if possible – on pizza and other junk foods for fuel.  Garbage in, garbage out, trust me.  Eat something fresh and green at least twice per day.  Fresh spinach is tolerable in an omelet with whole eggs and bacon.  If you don't know how to scramble eggs or cook an omelet, use your iPhone for a Youtube search.  Limit alcohol consumption.  At some point in the near future this will be more relevant than it is today, but in the meantime remember the best-looking girls never waste their time talking to the drunk guy passed out on the couch.

And finally, reflect periodically on why you are training and what you are striving to accomplish. Are you playing for the right reasons?  If you are playing to satisfy someone other than yourself, give greater thought to the matter.  If you are playing to see your name in the newspaper, give thought as to why you think this is important.  But remember this, and remember it always, when you lose the desire to compete in training, walk away from the sport immediately, else you run the risk of suffering deep disappointment.  This, too, I know.

Rich

USA Swimming “Old School vs. New Rules” Dryland Training: A Response

“Don’t be afraid of being different, be afraid of being the same as everyone else.”

– Emily Prost, The #308 Rule of  Lady

Legend has it that in 333 B.C. Alexander the Great attempted the seemingly impossible – untying the Gordian Knot.  His decision to attempt this challenge was one of ambition, for priests had prophesized that whoever bested the knot was destined to rule all of Asia.  But unlike those before him, Alexander did not struggle to find the ends of the cornel bark.  No, he unsheathed his sword and sliced the knot in a single stroke, thereby producing the required ends and giving rise to the so-called “Alexandrian Solution.”  Unconventional thinking at its finest.

The impetus for writing this post came after watching a dryland training video posted on the USA Swimming website, entitled “Old School vs. New Rules” (available here: http://usaswimming.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabId=1890&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en).  As the video buffered, I held hope swim coaches would unsheathe the sword of strength training, and slice the Gordian Knot of improving athletic performance.  Alas this was not the case, as it seems some in the sport remain mired in the “Dark Ages” of athletic development.

 

Some may argue the exercises advocated for in this video are a form of strength training – yes and no.  Bodyweight exercises, such as the push-ups, pull-ups, rows and single-leg work, are good assistance exercises, but under no circumstances should they comprise the bulk of an athlete’s strength training, provided he or she is past the developmental phase and is injury-free.  The kettlebell swing is a good “hinging” movement indeed – one with value as both an assistance exercise and a conditioning tool – but once again its place is secondary.  Substituting these types of exercises for barbell movements like the squat, press and power clean is a mistake.  Why?  Because barbell lifts train the athlete as “one piece,” meaning they force him or her to brace their midline and move their body through a full range of motion, much like their chosen sport(s) require. 

 

Looks like a squat rather a single-leg lunge-RDL to me. 

 

Moreover, the ability of a coach to subject their athlete to progressively heavier loads elevates further the value of these movements.  If an athlete demonstrates an ability to move heavier loads through a full range of motion, a coach can take solace in knowing their athlete is becoming stronger, developing greater work capacity and improving their athletic performance.  The science linking these attributes is settled, as the select quotes below illustrate:

“Muscular strength is perhaps the most important of all factors in athletic performance.”

– Drs. Rasch and Burke, “Kinesiology and Applied Anatomy

“Strength undergirds all other factors when one considers the total functioning of the body movements.  Without sufficient strength, factors such as endurance, flexibility, and skill cannot be used effectively.”

– Professor Gene Logan of Southwestern Missouri State, “Adaptations of Muscular Activity”

Given this body of evidence, why are some coaches still shunning barbell movements in favor of less productive bodyweight exercises?  The answer is simple – fear and insufficient exposure.  People fear what they do not understand.  And too many coaches, particularly in the sport of swimming, do not come from a background where barbell movements are taught properly and practiced for years; hence, they do not understand their benefits firsthand.  Additionally, it takes far less time (and expertise) to teach an athlete how to do TRX push-ups then to squat, press or power clean.  Yet the latter three movements will likely yield far greater improvements in athletic performance than bodyweight exercises alone, assuming they are taught correctly.

 

Introducing barbell movements to athletes sooner rather than later – around the age of twelve – is  optimal because it allows months, or upwards of a year, of training with a pvc pipe or empty barbell, preferably one designed for a child’s hands.  This learning of the squat, press or power clean can be supplemented with bodyweight exercises or gymnastics, but teaching the lifts at this early age will pay dividends years later.  Indeed, a multi-year ramp-up period offers more time to teach the basics and load the barbell with small increases, all while allowing the joints, ligaments and tendons to adapt to the imposed demands (thus reducing the chance of future injury).  As my grandfather would say, “You can’t rush the harvest.”  Designing a multi-year program takes foresight and advance planning, but that is a coach’s job – to determine what is best for their athletes today, tomorrow, next year and five years down the road.

 

Towards the end of the video, the presenter makes the following claim:

 

“Either way I think what you are going to find is that if you start supplementing these for things like bench presses, Olympic lifts, squats and what have you, that you are going to get a nice bump in terms of performance and you are actually going to like how your body feels in terms of making it stronger and reducing injury potential.”

To say I disagree strongly with his conclusion is putting it mildly.

One Memory to Rule Them All

“I had a lot of dates, but I decided to stay home and dye my eyebrows.” – Andy Warhol

The memory has not faded with time – I sit alone in the empty weight room of the Summit Area YMCA, the hum of a pedestal fan providing the musical accompaniment to the clanking of metal weights.  It is seven o’clock on a Friday night the summer before my senior year of high school.

The life lessons – “preparation precedes success” and “success requires sacrifice” – are what keep this memory alive.  Forged in the fire of training, they were tested and re-learned months later in the competition pool.  When I lost sight of these lessons my senior year of college, I came to understand what President John F. Kennedy meant when he said, “Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.”  It is with this in mind that I protect my memory of that night, remembering how the gym towel felt coarse against my skin and how the plastic chair flexed under my weight.  The emptiness of that room still speaks volumes about work ethic and sacrifice.  Nothing has changed except the venue.  Success still requires sacrifice.

I recently heard powerlifter Brandon Lilly, a world-class athlete, say, “If I could tell you how much I have missed and how much I have sacrificed, I would probably feel a whole lot more guilty about it than I really do now . . . [but] it is what it takes.  We all make sacrifices in this life . . . and to answer that question honestly that is what you are going to have to do.”  Profound indeed.  Do I have memories of cruising around town, drinking beers and taking girls out on dates?  A few.  But none are as vivid as my memory of the Summit AREA YMCA that hot summer night.

Raise the Black Flag



Grinding through the final repetition of a new personal record, you release a primal growl, one that causes others to jump.  The barbell continues to oscillate as you return it to the squat rack, the red, twenty-five kilogram plates still reeling from their struggle against gravity.  Others in your vicinity look onward with the same disgusted, confused look, "Why does he train with such intensity?  Why is he so loud?  Why can't he find somewhere else to train?  He is going to kill himself one day."  Raise the black flag, my friend, you are part of the pirate brethren.

When most people think of "pirates" they conjure images of the 18^th century Bahamian pirates, who were, by all accounts, a close-knit, albeit peculiar, fraternity.  Many served freely, rejecting the oppressive institution that was the British Royal Navy and defying the Hanoverian dynasty that was ushered into power under George I.  The political conscientiousness of the English and Irish pirates during this time should not be dismissed; after all the notorious Edward Thatch, i.e. Blackbeard, named his flagship Queen Anne's Revenge after the fallen British monarch.  And while most of the Bahamian pirates were English or Irish, large numbers of Scots, Frenchmen and Africans – many of whom were former, escaped or freed slaves – filled their ranks, so did smaller numbers of Dutch, Danes, Swedes and Native Americans.  Adding to the peculiarity, this fraternity ran their ships democratically, a rebellious idea considering the European monarchs of this time were "divined by God" to rule their subjects.  In another departure from 18^th century ruling practices, the Bahamian pirates elected and deposed of their captains via popular vote, shared plunder equally and made decisions in open council.  Some historians argue the seeds of the American Revolution were first planted by the Bahamian pirates, outlaws who were both feared and revered in North American British colonies.

A similar defiance has long existed at the heart of the Crossfit culture, bonding members within "the community" irrespective of external differences.  Political, religious or sexual beliefs fade in the backdrop as the barbell gets heavier, leaving only the work.  Hard work.  Lunchpail and hard hat work.  "Old Country" work.  You, yourself, welcome the opportunity to train alongside those who shares your commitment to this ideology.  It matters not whether the bar weighs 70, 170 or even 270 kilos.  The work is the same.  You find fulfill in setting personal records – scribbling the letters "PR" in your training log in shaky handwriting – but you also enjoy seeing others improve on their previous bests.  You cheer for a nascent training partner as they push through the final repetitions of a twenty-rep-max back squat.  All members of an egalitarian society must share in the work.

Maybe we are "different," us pirates, because we refuse to play by society's rules.  But I yearn to live in a society where hard work and unconventional thinking are welcomed, not shunned.  Hoist the colors, my fellow pirates!

Overhead Squat: "Death on a Stick"

This is a great video from Glenn Pendlay and Jon North, both formerly with Cal Strength.  The latter  provided the subtitle for this post, "death on a stick."  Funny.

The overhead squat is a useful diagnostic tool for assessing an athlete's mobility as hip, ankle, thoraic, shoulder and even wrist flexibility all come into play.  An added benefit is the limited margin for "cheating" this movement due to its emphasis on positions.  Other benefits stemming from the overload squat include strengthening the trunk and overhead position, reinforcing the vertical torso position, challenging maximum depth on the squat and building confidence for heavier snatches.  Despite the value overhead squatting provides, I rarely see people in the gym training this movement, let alone going heavy.

Critics argue the overhead squat is a poor movement for building strength as a result of the lighter loading when compared to the back or front squat.  I agree with this argument.  The overhead squat is inferior to the aforementioned squat varieties.  However, that does not mean the movement should be discarded completely.  It still has its place in a well-balanced training program.  For instance, the overhead squat fits nicely into a four-day-per-week training schedule (Monday - back squats, Wednesday - front squats, Friday - back squats and Saturday - overhead squats).  This is the way I organize my own squatting when training four times per week.  I want to reiterate greater emphasis is placed on the back squat days.

Much like the front squat, I think fives or threes are a good place to start once an athlete has developed a working competency with the overhead squat.  More advanced athletes can progress to, and benefit from, singles or doubles as the lower number of repetitions allow for near-maximum loading.  Taking a page out of Bill Starr's book, I think an athlete should be able to overhead their bodyweight for a set of five before progressing to lower rep schemes, but this standard is not set in stone.  "Supers” – men weighing over 105 kilograms (230#) and women weighing over 75 kilograms (165#) – may need a lower benchmark, but it all depends on the athlete and their mobility.

Some years ago, Dan John challenged athletes everywhere to try and overhead squat their bodyweight for fifteen repetitions.  The best way to train an athlete for tackling this challenge is to push up their back squat and press/push press numbers; continue to improve their thoraic and shoulder mobility and perform higher-repetition sets of overhead squats once a week.  This can be accomplished as either "back-off" sets after training the snatch or as part of a Crossfit-style "couplet."  My favorite couplet is pairing overhead squats with strict toes-to-bar, possibly three rounds of ten overhead squats plus twenty strict toes-to-bar (I don't have a problem with an athlete kipping the latter movement, but I, personally, suck at kipping due to lack of coordination).  The load for the overhead squat should be challenging, but not too heavy, as the athlete needs practice staying tight during higher-repetition sets.  Something like 75 percent of a three-repetition-maximum strikes me as reasonable.  I have also found Prilepin's Chart to be a valuable tool when self-programming.



Road Trip!

It’s summer time here in the Nation's capital and that means two things – humidity and road trips.  And as much as I love sweating through my dress shirt before nine in the morning, this post will focus on the latter.



Road trips pose obstacles for the nutrition-minded athlete, but all are surmountable with proper preparation.  The recommendations below are divided into two categories: training protocols and steps that can be taken outside the gym.

Training

Do Your Homework.  Before departing, check to see what facilities may be available to you. Crossfit gyms are great, especially if you want to continue Olympic lifting, but a run-of-the-mill Golds Gym can suffice in a pinch.  Commandeer a squat rack and get in a higher volume of strength work.  A few extra sets of squats and presses are good for the metabolism.  Should you choose to drop-in at a Crossfit affiliate, though, call ahead and ask about the daily schedule. Don't be "that guy" who shows up and interrupts a class.

Prioritize Strength.  This point dovetails, to some degree, with the one made earlier, and is especially relevant for the athlete who is pressed for time.  Focus on barbell lifts (squats, presses and pulls), and leave the conditioning for another time.

If you want to kill two birds with the one stone, try one of the following workouts: (1) one snatch (or clean) every minute on the minute, for twenty minutes (you can either start with 75% of your maximum and work your way up or you can attempt all twenty singles with 80-85%) – try two reps per minute if performing either of the power variations; (2) timed squats (see pgs. 83-84 in Bill Starr's "The Strongest Shall Survive" for discussion of this training protocol); (3) power cleans complimented by max repetitions in the front squat afterwards – I have found a 5-7 minute-time domain with 80% of your maximum to be optimal for skinning both the “strength” and “conditioning” cats (a good goal is 30 reps total) or (4) barbell complexes (my personal favorite is 1 Power Clean + 2 Front Squats + 1 Push Press + 1 Jerk).

Trade Intensity for Volume.  The stimulus provided by a change in training environment can have a peculiar effect on the athlete's workout.  A different backdrop for snatches or cleans, larger J-hooks in the squat rack or the simple math of converting kilograms to pounds can all affect that day's training.  Having learned these lessons the hard way, I have found success in trading intensity for volume.  By reducing the percentage used for working sets, the athlete can compensate for the additional stimuli while continuing adaptation.  Five-by-five across is my preferred set-rep scheme for squats and presses.

Take Advantage of Your Surroundings.  Time spent lifting weights or conditioning indoors is great fun, but sometimes you need to go outside and mix it up.  Go for an open water swim.  Hike a mountain pass.  Traverse a new rock face.  Pitting yourself against Mother Nature is "fitness" in the most primal sense.  In the immortal words of the band Alabama, "Swim across the river. Just to prove that I'm a man."

Outside the Gym

“The Best Damn Cooler in the Business.”  John Welbourn said it best in his "2010 Recap" when he wrote, "Don’t be lazy.  Pack a lunch .  . . We are adults and can plan ahead."  Indeed.  Here are a few prepared items I have brought with me on assorted road trips: 

(1) Cheesy Bacon Egg Cups.  (Insider Tip: pre-cook the bacon for ten minutes in an oven at 350 degrees.  Food poisoning is no dice on a road trip).

(2) Grilled Flank Steak. (Insider Tip: once cooled, cut the meat into bite-size strips to allow for hand-to-mouth feeding.  Be forewarned, this style of eating is not always popular with female passengers).

(3) Paleo Meatballs.

(4) Spinach Salad with Red Onions, Grape Tomatoes and Blue Cheese Crumbles and dressed with Extra Virgin Olive Oil. (Insider Tip: pack the dressed salad in a gallon-sized ziplock bag and use a plastic fork for eating. The plastic fork will not puncture the bag, unlike a metal fork).

Water Consumption.  Water consumption is important, too.  Urine should carry a diluted lemonade color, nothing darker.  The best way to stay hydrated while spending hours upon hours in the car is to pace your liquids consumption with the gas gauge.  The closer you get to an empty tank, the more you are allowed to drink.  Be sure to drink an extra glass of water before bed that night.

Multiple Choice is My Jam. Aside from the aforementioned prepared items, here are some store-bought foods that are most excellent for travel: (1) whole milk cottage cheese (my "go to" brand is Kalona SuperNatural, it’s the bomb-diggity), (2) any of the hard cheeses made by Kerrygold, (3) berries of all kinds (Insider Tip: remove the tops of the strawberries to avoid a mid-drive nuance), (4) raw nuts (cashews are my favorite, but almonds and macadamia nuts are good, too) and (5) extra virgin raw coconut (it’s more solid than oil).

Additionally, if you are spending six-plus hours in the car, be mindful of your carbohydrate intake, and stick with low-carb foods like cottage cheese, raw nuts and raw coconut oil. A full belly is your best defense against junk food snacking.

Re-Mobilize. Spending hours upon hours in a static, seated position can wreak havoc on your hip and thoraic mobility. Shortly after arriving at your destination, go for a short walk and then spend a good twenty minutes un-fucking yourself.  I keep a thick pvc pipe and lacrosse ball in the trunk of my car to avoid last-minute packing debacles.  Mobility is an everyday task.  There are no excuses.  It is easy.

The Bacon and Egg Breakfast

Disclaimer: This post has nothing to do with the Paleo Diet and everything to do with life.

I graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2007, one of the premier educational institutions in the United States and a place where every twenty-two-year old is overly convinced of their own brilliance.  The graduation speaker that year was Brian Billick, the then-Head Coach of the Baltimore Ravens.  Many of my classmates, particularly the "intellectual ones," scoffed at this choice, believing there was nothing they could learn from a football coach.  They would have preferred the Director of the National Institutes of Health, or some other academic, give the address.  After all, athletes are stupid, meatheads, duh.

Billick's speech centered around the bacon and egg breakfast, an analogy emphasizing the commitment of one animal verses the lack thereof of another.  As you might expect, the pig is committed whereas the chicken is not.  Consistent with their biased expectations, the majority of my classmates dismissed Billick's speech as the thoughts of a simple-minded football coach.  I did not share their view at the time, and over the years I have become more convinced of the speech's wisdom. 

Commitment is difficult to define, yet it is divining rod for success.  An athlete either demonstrates a willingness to pursue success, or they make excuses for their "less-than" performances.  I see this contrast every day at the gym where people put forth the minimum amount of effort yet expect the maximum of return.  They feel entitled to success, because they "showed up."  The Woody Allen adage states, "Showing up is 80 percent of life,” but people have paraphrased the quote to state, “90 percent of success is just showing up.”  I think that's crap.  Showing up earns an athlete a "C" in my book, because they met the minimum requirement.  To earn a higher mark, they must show me more – did they arrive early to perform a complete warm-up? did they take care of their dietary needs between workouts? did they prioritize recovery outside the gym, i.e. go to bed before midnight? did they spend time addressing their personal weaknesses? Positive responses to these questions reflect an athlete's commitment; negative answers reveal their lack thereof.

 

It took me years to define "commitment" and apply the lessons, but Billick's words still ring true today – "In a bacon and egg breakfast, the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed.  Be that pig."

A Boy Named Sue

 

Straight Cash, no chaser.

Growing up I had the good fortune of swimming for tough coaches.  They recognized my abilities, challenged my mental toughness, and kept their approval just outside my reach.  Their approach paralleled John Broz's teaching that "a minnow can never become a shark."

 

But growing up this way was hard.  My innate talent lent me to swimming with high school kids when I was just 12 years old, but I was not ready physically or mentally to handle the training environment.  Exacerbating the situation were my training partners – the high school boys, in particular – who picked on me mercilessly, both in and out of the pool.  Their idea of fun after practice was pushing me in the handicapped shower, and throwing my clothes under the running water (Thank god Facebook had not been invented yet, for I may not have survived.).   Nowadays people frown on "hazing," but all of it, much to my chagrin, helped in my preparation.  To quote Johnny Cash, ". . . I grew up quick and I grew up mean, My fist got hard and my wits got keen."  I never forgot those guys, especially the ones who were mean to me, and I made sure to kick the crap out of them later in life.

 

Another dark side of my coaches’ philosophy was my feeling like an underachiever.  The best race of my high school career came at the national meet my senior year, but the most disappointing race came the following morning.  Of course my coaches harped on how I bungled my best event, never mind I swam lights out in my second best event.  This was a bitter pill for me to swallow, and it took me the better part of two years to recover from that disappointment.  My situation did not improve in college where I felt the weight of lofty expectations starting on Day One.  I went on to win 13 NCAA All-American honors, but my worst championship meet came my senior year when I swam terribly.  This was a difficult way for me to end my career, and I still suffer from swimming-related nightmares from time to time.

 

It was this disappointment that I think fueled my pursuit of weightlifting.  I did not want to end my athletic career "a loser."  I wanted a chance at redemption, and I saw weightlifting as my ticket.  Maybe that's why I have never felt a desire to compete in the sport.  Knowing that I did not end my athletic career on a low-point has been enough for me.  I've conquered my demons . . . or locked them in a closet . . .  at least for the time-being.

Weightlifting Platforms: The Dance Floors of Strength

 

An 18th century map of anciet Boeotia.  This is where the shit went down in Ancient Greece.

Warfare in Ancient Greece, circa 700-650 B.C., was dominated by hoplite soldiers, heavily armored infantry who took their name from the hoplon, a bronze-covered wooden shield that stood approximately one meter high and weighed upwards of 15 kilos. Individual hoplites formed a phalanx by standing in a series of rows with their hoplon shields overlapping, thereby allowing each soldier to protect not only himself but also the right side of the man standing to his left.  Advancing, fighting, and holding this formation amid a chaotic battle required precision and discipline.  In one of history’s great paradoxes, the phalanx formation emerged as the national tactic characteristic of the Greek poleis despite a scarcity of level, unbroken land suitable for set-piece battling.  Thus, geography explains why Epaminondas, a Thebian general writing later in the 4^th century B.C., called the Plains of Boeotia, a large fertile plain in central Greece, the “Dance Floor of Ares,” i.e. the Dance Floor of War.

Weightlifting platforms are reminiscent of the Plains of Boeotia in that success there requires both precision and discipline.  Footwork is where it all starts, and weightlifters would be well-advised to take a page out of the boxer’s playbook and jump rope for several minutes before moving on to dance with empty bar.  Jumping rope “wakes up the feet,” and gets a weightlifter thinking about moving fast in all three lifts – the snatch, clean, and jerk.  However, weightlifters should not confuse jumping rope with rolling onto the toes in the lifts, for, as Donny Shankle says, this is “the cancer” of weightlifting.  Instead, stay back, be patient, and pull through the heels. 

Wait, “dance”?  Yes.  Weightlifting is a dance more than anything else, a ballet between an athlete and the bar.  Watch any great weightlifter, and see how they move in tandem with the bar.  It is beautiful.

Several Greek poleis fielded hoplites during this time period, but history remembers the Spartans as the premier fighting force on the Peloponnesia, and possibly the finest heavy infantry anywhere in the world.  Sparta’s victories at Marathon and Plataea – plus its eternal last stand at Thermopylae – support this claim.  Sparta also defeated Athens in the Pelopennesian War, a victory that turned the polis into region’s hegemonic power.  Why were the Spartans victorious time after time?  Because they trained the hardest.  Case in point, all Spartan boys deemed physically fit for military service were sent to the state-sponsored military training school, the Agoge, at age seven, and it was there that they learned the skills, both mental and physical, required of a hoplite warrior.  Surviving the Agoge was no cakewalk, and it was not until age twenty that Spartan men were allowed to move into the military barracks and become full-time soldiers.  Their military service lasted until age forty, after which time they were held in the reserves for another twenty years.  (Fun facts: (1) Sparta was the only Greek polis without a city wall, inspiring the phrase, "Our men are our walls;" and (2) neither Alexander the Great, nor his father Philip II, ever tried to conque Sparta, fearing its marital skill and not wanting to risk heavy casualties.).

Aspiring weightlifters – and athletes of all stripes, come to think of it – need to learn it takes years to “master” their craft, not weeks or month.  Years.  Just like the Spartan warriors before them.  And channeling that inner grit on the tough days is what separates athletes over the long-run, with weightlifters being no exception.  If an athlete has ever found themselves standing alone in an empty training hall trying to lift a heavy, innate object they know what I am talking about.  It is these athletes who are continuing the dance that started several thousand years ago.

There's Something About Mary...and Fives

"Hey, you want to go upstairs and watch SportsCenter?" into my garage and front squat?



Why do I advocate fives for basic barbell movements, like squats, presses, and pulls?  Because they work.  Plain and simple.  To paraphrase Burton Malkiel, an economist at Princeton University, strength training should not constitute a random walk down the training hall floor. Instead, athletes' training should be modeled on the successful protocols of those who came before them.  And what former lifters/coaches advocated the use of fives?  The list is impressive, to say the least (listed in alphabetical order): Aita, Furnas, Gallagher, Karwaski, Koan, McCallum, Pendlay, Rippetoe, Starr, and many others I missed.  They all used fives to some degree or another.

Mark Rippetoe put it best when he said, "Fives are almost too powerful.  They should be reserved only for those who want brutal strength."  Fives can indeed be used for a wide range of barbell movements -- back, front, and overhead squats; presses; bench presses; and Pendlay rows.  Not many people use fives for the front squat, but Starr recommends using fives until an athlete can front squat 300# for a set of five, aka until they are damn strong.  Starr also calls for fives in the power clean, a recommendation some in the weightlifting community would consider a cardinal sin.  I, myself, donned weightlifting's scarlet letter by performing fives in the power clean and front squat during my last training cycle (For reference, my 5rm front squat was significantly more than 137 kgs prior to this training block  My best was 164 kgs for three sets of three).

Having never performed front squats or power cleans for fives before, I started my progression at 80 percent of my best triple in both exercises.  I figured this would afford me at least a month to adapt to the increased training volume.  The lighter weights of the first few weeks also provided me an opportunity to work on positions and speed, two points that should never be far from an athlete's mind.  Fast forward six weeks, and the fives are starting to pay dividends.  The musculature in my back has never been more pronounced, particularly through my spinal erectors, and my "yoke" is...well more "yoke-ish," albeit I'm still a ways away from Jim Wender level. A second benefit I overlooked originally was cardiovascular conditioning. Fives in the power clean can definitely get an athlete conditioned as well as help them shed some bodyfat, assuming their diet is locked down.  My rest heart rate, taken first thing in the morning, fell from an average of 43 beats/minute in Week One, to 39 beats/minute in Week Six, an almost 10 percent reduction in the absence of traditional “aerobic” conditioning.

In conclusion, I would encourage athletes to use fives in a wide range of barbell movements, including the front squat and power clean (I would, however, restrict the use of fives in the power clean to intermediate athletes who understand positions, speed, tempo and proper lifting technique, in general). Who knows, an athlete might even grow a pair...of spinal erectors that is.

Fishin' in a Crawfish Hole

Developing comfort in the bottom of the squat, aka "The Hole," is very important for a weightlifter, as the snatch, clean, and all variations of the squat (back, front, overhead, and even the squat jerk, if performed) require the athlete to spend time down there.  This much is accepted by all members of the weightlifting community – athletes and coaches, alike.  Where these respective parties differ is how to build this comfort.  Some coaches prescribe exercises such as pause squats to build strength and emphasis speed for driving out of the hole, believing such work as a hand in producing heavier lifts.  This may be true, and I have several friends who advocate the use of pause squats.  Others, like Donny Shankle, for one, shun the use of pause squats, arguing they make a weightlifter sticky in the bottom.  And I can understand this line of thinking, too, especially when it comes to the clean. 

In my own training, I try to strike a balance between these two diametrically opposed positions. When performing strength-building exercises like back squats and front squats, I bounce out of the bottom as quickly as possible, for any time spent down there only robs me of kilos on the bar (and the whole point of strength-building exercises is to add weight to the bar).  The same is true for cleans.  I always seek to bounce out of my cleans.  After all, the jerk is my goat (In the event a weightlifter consistently fails to catch the bounce out when recovering on the clean, there may be a fault with their pull line, possibly a coming onto the toes or not finishing through the hips). Conversely, when performing other exercises like snatches, overhead squats, and squat jerks, I try to "stick" my lifts and hold the bottom position for a few second.  This serves two purposes: it affords me the opportunity to regain my balance, and it strengthens my truck and overhead position.   After all, I stopped “doing abs” years ago.

This approach has served me well – and I think it would work for others, too – but everyone is different when it comes to training.  What works for one person might not work for another. Experimenting with cycles of pause squats might help a weightlifter who continues to get pinned at the sticking point by heavy cleans, or sitting in the bottom of an overhead squat might alleviate fears in another.  But the only way to learn is to try it for yourself.  At worst, you will probably succeed in strengthening your spinal erectors and improving your mobility.  That's a pretty reasonable risk, if you ask me.

My words of caution are this: a weightlifter must have the prerequisite mobility before performing movements such as the pause squat.  Holding a valgus knee, i.e. an inward collapse, for a prolonged period of time would most likely, if not certainly, wreak havoc on an athlete's knee structures (ACL, MCL, etc.).  Therefore, it is essential for a weightlifter to continually improve their hip and ankle flexibility, as well as strengthen their glutes, so that a valgus knee can be avoided.  Strive to have the femur track the toe angle.

Eat Organ Meat to Grow Big and Strong

Before reading Bill Starr's seminal work, "The Strongest Shall Survive," I was not a connoisseur of organ meat.  Far from it.  My idea of "adventurous eating" was wolfing down the dark meat after Thanksgiving.  And by that point, the giblets were long gone via the trash. 

Several factors contributed to my "fear" of consuming organ meat: (1) neither my mother nor my grandmother cooked liver, heart, or kidneys for me as a kid, (2) finding high-quality product was more difficult than popping down to the neighborhood grocery store and chatting up the butcher (more on this shortly), and (3) the texture grossed me out a bit.  But I am the type of athlete who will eat just about anything if a respected coach like Bill Starr says it will improve performance. So with that, pass the salt, bro. 



 

Starr discusses liver and its many health benefits in his chapter devoted to "super foods."  "The liver acts as a storehouse for vitamins, it balances hormones, builds amino acids, it secretes bile to govern intestinal activity. The liver controls bleeding, combats dangerous clotting, fights viruses and bacterial poisons, releases energy from food, and performs an amazing variety of functions," he writes.  Starr then goes on to describe an experiment in which liver-fed rats outperformed their vitamin-enhanced peers in a genuine test "life or death" endurance – the rats were placed in a drum of water from which they could not escape, and were required to keep swimming or else drown.  While the vitamin-enhanced rats swam for an average of 13.4 minutes before they gave up, the liver-fed rats swam for 63, 83, and 87 minutes, respectively, while the remainder of the latter population was still swimming vigorously at the end of two hours.

Now was Starr ahead of the proverbial curve in touting the health benefits of liver, or was he merely regurgitating long held beliefs?

Of course it is the latter, but, to his credit, he was smart enough to recognize the success of certain practices.  Prior to the industrial revolution, the cuisine of native populations often included the consumption of organ meats.  In fact, in Steve Ambrose's book, "Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West," the author, citing to Lewis' original journal entries, describes in graphic detail the eating of buffalo organs by Native Americans immediately after a hunt.  If memory serves me correctly, the natives supposedly began eating the organ meat before the buffalo was even dead (apologies for not citing to the specific passage, but it seems I have misplaced my copy of "Undaunted Courage"). 

Here in the non-buffalo roaming swamps of Washington, D.C. I have been able to procure high-quality beef liver at Eastern Market, an all-season farmer's market located only a ten-minute walk from my apartment.  For those unfamiliar with cooking beef liver, or for those just curious about someone else's preparation methods, I have provided a recipe below:

Ingredients:

Whole milk – 1 – 1 ½ cup(s)
Large ziplock bag - one gallon with zipper top
Bacon, preferably of a thicker cut – ½ pound or slightly more
White or yellow onion - one, large
Beef liver - 3 pounds, fully thawed
Garlic - fresh, one clove
Cast iron skillet - one
Large bowl - one, just about any size will do
Himalayan salt and pepper

Cooking Instructions:

Place thawed livers in large ziplock bag.  Add whole milk so that milk covers all livers.  Let sit for one hour.  This step is critical and should not be overlooked, as the milk eliminates any funky smell from cooking the liver.  If pressed for time, allow to sit for at least fifteen minutes while oven pre-heats and bacon, onions, and garlic are prepared.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Remove outer layers of onion and garlic and slice into long, thin strips (I halve, then quarter the onion, at which point I cut on a diagonal line to produce thin slices).  Garlic cloves need only be chopped roughly.

Cut bacon into approximately one inch chunks.

Once oven has reached temperature, warm skillet on moderate-high heat (I use a 7/9 setting at home), then add onion slices, garlic bits, and bacon chunks.  Allow several minutes to cook on each side.  The pieces should be about 75 percent cooked through by this point.  Remove bacon, onions, and garlic while attempting to keep juices in the skillet.  This is good favor.

Turn down burner heat one notch (6/9 for me), then remove livers from bag and place in skillet (avoid “overlapping” livers in skillet).  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Allow to cook for approximately two minutes before flipping (this should be enough time for moderate browning, but if not, allow to sit for another 30 seconds).  Repeat on other side.  Cooking on other side will probably need less time than first due to residual heat in skillet.

Once second side is browned, add bacon, onions, and garlic back in, dispersing evenly across skillet's face, and place whole skillet in oven.  Set timer for four minutes.  Chef beware: overcooked liver is gross, and I have read it tastes like shoe leather.

After removing skillet from oven, let sit for five minutes or so.  When you cut into liver, it should still hold a slightly pinkish color.

Now, personally, I don't like hot beef liver, so I let pieces cool then pack them up for breakfasts. That's right, I prefer my beef liver as leftovers served with three-four fried eggs over easy and sweet potato hash browns for breakfast.  Save your Wheaties, this meal is the breakfast of champions.

My Public Opinion Baths



Every day I spend roughly an hour riding the D.C. metrobus to and from work.  My commute is sobering, to say the least.  As I look into the eyes of my fellow passengers, I realize this country is full of listless people.  Assuming there was a fire, it was extinguished long ago.  These people now "exist" in the "gray twilight" that Theodore Roosevelt reserved for those who know neither victory nor defeat.

My rides on the city bus are checkered with the usual suspects: young mothers, homeless men and women, day laborers, construction workers, and various working professionals, like myself. Two of these populations routinely catch my eye.  The young mothers, many of them still girls, not yet women, are often times lugging around two or three children under the age of five.  All are eating candy and drinking soda for breakfast.  Some of the older ones are already showing signs of Type-II Diabetes.  This breaks my heart, because these children stand virtually no chance of success.  Maybe a few will rise like phoenixes from the ashes, but the vast majority will not, and these are the ones who will continue to perpetuate the downward spiral.

The other population that draws my attention are the "blue collar" workers, the construction guys, the day laborers, etc.  These men and women inspire me day in and day out.  Though low on energy, many are justifiably exhausted from working two, or even three jobs, all while struggling to raise a family in one of the country's most expensive cities.  Who am I to complain about lifting some weights, or working a 10-plus hour day?

Even as I write this post, a pungent "aroma" of ammonia, a smell derived from human urine, and cigarette smoke is wafting through the bus, courtesy of the homeless woman sitting in front of me.

President Abraham Lincoln used to call receptions with "average" members "of our whole people" his "public opinion baths."  And although Lincoln supposedly heard a number complaints from citizens on "utterly frivolous" matters, he nonetheless concluded these receptions were critically important because, in his own words, " . . . I have but little time to read the papers, and gather public opinion that way; and though [these receptions] may not be pleasant in all their particulars, the effect as a whole, is renovating and invigorating to my perceptions of responsibility and duty."  With the utmost humility, I share President Lincoln's view that if one only interacts with a small handful of people their views will, as he said, become "arbitrary."  Against this backdrop, my public opinion baths give me great cause for concern, but rather than leave me depressed, they serve to reinvigorate me and challenge me to exemplify the changes I want to see in the world.

It was Alexis de Tocqueville, the 19^th century French political thinker, who wrote, “ . . . a nation cannot long remain strong when every man belonging to is individually weak; and that no form or combination of social polity has yet been devised to make an energetic people out of a community of pusillanimous and enfeebled citizens.”

Strickland Syndrome

 

"Far better is it dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure . . . than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."

 -- Theodore Roosevelt

It goes without saying that failure is part of life, but most people never experience full-fledged failure because they never committed themselves – mind  body, and spirit – to their goal in the first place.  And it is easy to understand why.  Far easier is it to stand on the sidelines and say, "Well, if I had tried as hard as him (or her), I would have done just as well or maybe even better."  That's the definition of cowardice, in my book.

I call this "Strickland Syndrome," named appropriately after my sophomore year college roommate.  Anyone who saw him, or watched him swim, could tell this guy "had the goods." Vested with all the physical skills one needs to be great in the sport of swimming – tremendous size, a beautifully efficient stroke, and good “feel” for the water – Strickland never reached his potential (and that's putting it mildly).  Part of the reason for this was Strickland suffered from an inflated view of his own "talent."  Sure, he had some skills, but not nearly enough to coast through practice every day and still win multiple All-American honors.  The other reason for Strickland's underachieving was his unwillingness to give a damn.  Apathy was the comfort blanket, which allowed him to "pack it in" when times got tough, both in training and in the biggest meets.  As a result, he had zero tolerance for pain.  Zero.

I've always been the opposite kind of person, the one willing to sacrifice or endure pain.  This approach, however, is not without fraught.  Most people can't handle my intensity or single-mindedness of focus; sometimes my wife is even taken aback, this after five-plus years of living together.  But I've come to expect this from people.  In college, some of my teammates laughed at me, called my goals "outrageous," and ridiculed me for my subtle self-motivating tactics.  Whatever.  The clock never lied, and I learned to let my performances do the talking.

More recently, I've learned that life is full of "has beens," "back in my day-ers," "just wait till your my age-ers," and "if I had your talent-ers."  Yeah, guess, what?  I don't give a shit, and I would have kicked your ass back then, too.  Go home, and tell yourself whatever you must to fall asleep.  And sleep well, for tomorrow, when you roll over, I will have already been hard at work for several hours.

I will end this post the same way I started it -- with a quote.  "Anything in life is worth over doing, moderation is for cowards."  Thank you to our Navy Frogmen, and their families, for their service.