IOL Strength and Conditioning

Nestled at the base of the breathtaking Utah Wasatch Mountains rests the 57-acre Juan Diego High School campus where Dan John teaches and coaches, and where he hosted a group of IronOnline forum members June 5-7, our 9th annual Bomber Bash. Dan’s an outstanding writer (author of the new book, Never Let Go), and a champion athlete, but I won’t have to stand alone if I say where he really shines is as a teacher. He’s a gifted speaker, and like all good high school coaches, has eyes in the back of his head. How he knew what each of the participants needed to hear or be shown, I have no clue; each of us got a bit of private attention at just the right instant to change something important. He was remarkable, truly remarkable.

Dan John lecturing, June 2009

From the chalkboard to the platform, to the squat rack, over the hurdles, down the tumbling mats and onto the floor, no part of this tremendous weight room went untouched.

Kettlebells of all sizes — 140 of them was the rumor I heard –  lined one wall in preparation for our first few hours of workshop practice. With kettlebells, sometimes it’s the subtle things that make all the difference in the world, and under Dan’s direction, we got the nuances that sharpened the skills of both beginners and accomplished.

Mark getting the Dan John rack treatment

Over in the far corner stood a collection of PVC pipe lengths, enough for everyone and then some. Those we used to practice our Olympic lifting skills, racking, power cleans, snatches and overhead squats, the perfect selection for a group of mostly middle-aged Olympic lifting novices.

A simple tip perfects Hannah’s overhead squat

Complicated ideas were made simple; training theories he spent a lifetime learning and practicing, Dan was able to hone down in ways we could all understand and take home to put into practice on Monday. Everyone left with several completely new exercises, or others with small tweaks to make a world of difference to the experienced trainees.

Josh Vert serves as Dan’s model, and as our guide throughout the weekend.

A change in the knee angle brings Paul upright

Propped next to the squat racks were several of Dave’s top squats; I knew Dan had those, and figured he was using them to teach the young kids squatting form, since they’re excellent at forcing good form in beginners. Not exactly. Dan had us using the top squats with chains and dangling kettlebells, and yes, he passed by mid-squat and gave the ‘bells a swing to get our attention.

Dan Martin doing kettlebell Koji squats with the top squat

There are three threads in the forum if you have time to continue reading:

• Utah Bash photo thread
• Images and discussion of Dan’s chalkboard notes
• Attendees notes of what they learned

Over the course of Friday and Saturday, Dan gave us more than ten hours of information, motivation and inspiration. And guess what? It’s all on film! Sunday morning over breakfast, videographer George Pradel of Pradel Productions slipped me a box of video tapes, two cameras running for a total of 16 hours of film. Can you guess what my next project is? To say I’m eager to start video editing sounds trite; there isn’t a word to describe the grin the project gives me.

You can be sure I’ll keep you updated on the dvd editing progress. I’ll try to change the blogging subject once in a while between now and when the dvds are done, but… well… you know.

Laree Draper