Before you get distracted by all the great options you're about to find here, please sign up for Dave's free weekly newsletter so he can continue to encourage and motivate you toward your fitness goals.
Chris M writes: "You blend plain-spoken wisdom, motivational fire and wry humor into a weekly email jolt that leaves me itching to hit the gym. Whether I'm looking for workout routines, diet tips or a friendly kick in the butt, the Bomber comes through every time." ...
Read more...
Now that all of our books are on Amazon and Barnes & Noble as ebooks — other than Stella’s Kitchen, which has too much formatting to work on a simple e-reader — I got to thinking: Why not offer all formats for the same price? Why make a person buy twice just because they want to read on a different device? That would be like making a person buy two copies of a print book because they want to read at home and also on the train. Makes no sense, right?
So that’s what we did. When you buy an ebook from our sites (davedraper.com or otpbooks.com), you’ll get an immediate download link to a ZIP file that contains all the available formats, usually meaning PDF, Kindle and Epub. Regular users have the convenience of ordering on Amazon.com or BN.com for instant access on their devices, but the tech savvy who want to read on multiple devices or the person who just wants the PDF to read or print off the computer can get the full package for the same price as a single format as found on the Kindle or Nook sites. Amazon and Barnes & Noble have a reason to protect their territory, but our interests are the opposite. Let’s read these books however we want to!
I haven’t made my way through the Apple iBook, Google Books or Kobo seller sign-up mazes yet, but those sites all use the Epub format, so you’ll be able to drag those files over to your iPad or email them to your phone if you want a headstart. Setting up publisher accounts with the various resellers is a struggle, and honestly, not worth it other than to support individual readers. Financially, our On Target experience anyway, Kindle outsells Nook about 50 to one, and the other players are farther behind if the rumors are true. Still, while as a customer I appreciate Amazon, as a publisher I want to support the other distributors and will finish the seller applications and uploads. You’d think they’d try to make it a little easier on us if they actually want more books, though. Just saying.
Now we come to the part where you go take a look at what I’m talking about. Here’s our downloadable books page at On Target, and here’s the downloadable page at Davedraper.com. And, of course, these great books are all available on Amazon.com or BN.com as well: Advances in Functional Training, Bill Pearl & Dave Draper: A Conversation, Mass Made Simple, Movement: Functional Movement Systems, Never Let Go, West Coast Bodybuilding Scene, Your Body Revival, Brother Iron Sister Steel, Iron On My Mind, To Grad from Dad.
If you have thoughts on digital book selling, let’s have a conversation. What a fascinating time to be a publisher… or a writer… or a reader.
Lots of bits and pieces getting caught up after crawling out of the new DVD tunnel nearly two weeks ago. Let me do a quick recap in case you’re waiting on something that may have been wrapped up recently, or will be in the next few days.
First, Gray’s new DVD status—shipment arrives Friday and we’ll get the preorders out of here Saturday morning. All US shipments going priority mail will arrive between Tuesday and Thursday; here’s the order link if you want to get a copy on order for pre-Christmas delivery.
Slightly jumping the gun here because I have more video files uploading right now, but since I know people have been waiting for these, here are the downloadable videos currently ready. The others are either uploading or will be ready by the weekend.
I have the epub files for these and will upload to Barnes & Noble and other outlets next week.
Dick Tyler’s classic, West Coast Bodybuilding Scene is at the printer; we’ll have the print book in stock in about a month, and the ebook available slightly before then. The Brother Iron ebook formatting will be done shortly, too.
In case you missed it last week, I grabbed some nuggets from the lectures so you can get a notion of the information quality that makes up the new Perform Better Long Beach Summit Lecture CD set. Check out this line-up, some of my favorite speakers in the world right here!
And finally, I have an update on Mandy. Last week she moved to rehab facility to begin her recovery journey — she’s doing well and has made new progress since arriving just a few days ago. I know she and her family would love to hear we’re thinking of them as they spend Christmas half-way across the country from the Texas they call home.
Here’s the direct address to Mandy’s room.
Mandy Trept, Unit 101
c/o Rancho Los Amigos
National Rehabilitation Center
7601 E. Imperial Highway
Downey, CA 90242
The Miles For Mandy event is this Saturday. The tireless organizers would appreciate your financial support, 100% of which — because they hustled up sponsorship money to cover event costs – is going to Mandy to help with her needs.
Here’s how to donate:
By check to Bakersfield Track Club, c/o Miles For Mandy, P.O. Box 22705, Bakersfield, CA 93390
We got a very nice review of Dan’s Intervention DVD from Lyle McDonald. I know Dan will be very pleased to see this one!
“Dan John’s new DVD seminar set Intervention is an absolute must-see product for any and all personal trainers who are trying to figure out how to deal with a variety of clients. Dan takes his 300 years of personal experience in the weight room and manages, in the span of only 3 hours, to condense his encyclopedic information into a scheme of client analysis and program design that can be followed and applied easily. As always, Dan avoids jargon and technical details and focuses only on the practicalities of what works, introducing concepts such as the role of age, the 4 quadrants of training, the spiral, increasing the size of your cup, realistic repetitions and so much more. Questions are asked and answered and important movements are demonstrated properly by either Dan or seminar attendees.
“The production is good the video and audio clear as a bell (which is not always the case with products like these). In addition, Laree Draper has gone the extra mile with the DVD production. Hard to read points (Dan is scribbling on a whiteboard) are placed to the right of the screen along with PDF handouts that come on the disks themselves. As well, every time Dan mentions a product or website in his seminar, a link is shown at the bottom of the screen for those wishing to seek out more information in addition to what Dan presents.
“Any trainer or coach who works with a variety of clients who differ in age, training status, needs, etc. should buy and watch this disk in its entirety. Then watch it again to make sure you got it all. Just an amazing product all around and one that I can not too highly recommend.”
Now available on CD and MP3 26 lectures, each an hour or longer, including a PDF of the slides from each presentation
I love going to conferences. I love being saturated in a learning experience, and love being with a group of people passionate enough about a topic to spend the time and money to get to a workshop or summit weekend. But when I get home, the truth is I usually go back to work as normal, and fairly often what I learned gets left in the hotel across the walkway from the convention center. The only way this doesn’t happen is if I use the material as soon as I get home, or if I get a refresher very soon after the event.
Taking notes in a live event doesn’t actually work all that well for me. Oh, I take plenty of notes…but I either can’t make any sense of them later, or worse, I sometimes don’t even open the notebook after I get home. (I’m embarrassed to say that, but it’s true.)
Last spring, I had this same conversation with Chris Poirier, the guy who puts together the Perform Better conferences, and we hatched a plan to record the Long Beach lectures and put them all on CD. This way attendees can review the material at home, and even pick up the lectures they missed while they were tossing med balls at Todd Durkin and hopping around one-legged trying to follow along with Mike Boyle.
Even better, those of you who missed the top industry speakers this year can now hear these lectures at home. I know next year’s Summits will be great, but those lectures will all be different—if you missed the lectures this year, that learning experience is gone. Here’s your opportunity to catch up with your peers in the personal training and strength coaching fields: 26 lectures, nearly 28 hours of state-of-the-industry education.
For the fun of it, I grabbed some nuggets from the lectures so you can get a notion of the information quality that makes up this CD set. Sample some of the sounds and atmosphere of the 2011 Long Beach Perform Better Summit via the mp3 snippets below, and note that these are MP3 files, which means the sound quality will be a bit lower than that of the actual CDs.
4-disc DVD set, a joint project from Movement Education Group and Functional Movement Systems
This live workshop, filmed in HD video using four cameras, took place during Perform Better’s Long Beach pre-conference workshop, August 2011, and features Gray Cook assisted by Brett Jones. Their most recent DVDs, Kalos Sthenos, Dynami and Club Swinging Essentials, covered how to do specific exercises right. This one flips that idea and instead covers how to pick the right exercises. It’s a comprehensive 4-disc Applying the FMS Model DVD set that will fill in the blanks and answer your questions about using the Functional Movement Screen when working with your clients, athletes and patients. Although different people have a variety of programming needs, we all require a baseline movement map to enhance safety and maximize results, and this workshop lays down that foundation.
A properly executed movement screen provides a unique perspective, and in this workshop Gray shows us how to use the basic technology as a tool to develop programming unique to each individual. But it’s much more than a movement screen discussion, because what Gray is best at is seeing how people move, how we learn to move, and how we re-learn movement. He’s gifted at explaining what most of us don’t even see, and you’ll find yourself pausing the video over and over to stop and ponder concepts that he makes sound obvious, but that you’ve never considered.
Only about a third of the room had been through the Functional Movement Screen workshop. You don’t need to be FMS certified or even use the screens to benefit from this material. Certainly people who use the screens will get more practical use from the workshop, but Gray’s off-the-cuff pearls and insights? Over and over I found myself stopping to think through these simple-sounding ideas.
I was at the live event, listened to the audio file, edited the text file and worked through the video seven or eight times, and each time I discovered something new, something I missed the other times or that had a deeper meaning as I got more familiar with the ideas. For many trainers, strength coaches and medical professionals, this material could be the key to how you work with clients patients and athletes in the years to come.
The workshop covers the age spectrum of fitness clients, post-rehab clients and athletes of all levels. With tremendous insight and enthusiasm, Gray discusses the logic of movement that all of us share. And because this movement logic is common to all of us, you’ll be able to apply this new material in your work the very next day.
4-disc DVD set—nearly 4 hours, plus bonus material Filmed live at a Perform Better Summit Workshop
Disk One
Introduction
Standard Operating Procedures
Movement Matters
Squat Discussion
Stabilization and Repatterning
Our Movement History
Disk Two
Functional Movement Screen Review
Scoring the Screens
Filters and Key Points
Live Screens
Scoring Criteria
Programming the Results
Disk Three
Screen Results Analysis
Order of Screen Priority
Hip Hinge and Deadlift Strategies
Movement Motor Learning
Movement Principles
Self-Limiting Exercise
Disk Four
Extra corrective strategies footage
Full lecture in MP3 audio format for listening in your car or on your portable device
A 61-page typeset transcript of the lecture
Movement Principles excerpt from the Movement book
FMS scoring criteria and verbal instructions
Presentation slides PDF
Video clips from Gray’s Powerpoint presentation
Self-limiting activities chart
Dropping in with a quick status update (a real one, not a facebook one), because things are looking clear enough to toss out some time guestimates.
The postman carried away the Perform Better CD set on the way to the replicator yesterday; this was one of the three big jobs on the slate, nice to see that list move to two. This is a set of 26 CDs containing the audio files of each of the sit-down lectures from the Summit in Long Beach a couple of months ago. It also includes a data DVD holding a slide presentation pdf from each lecture, plus a folder full of mp3 files of the lecture line-up. That line-up lists some of the best presenters in the field, and soon you’ll be able to listen to their most recent lectures in your car, from your computer or on your iPod. These will only be available at the Perform Better site, and they should have them in about three weeks.
Second in the project list, and now next up, is Gray Cook’s new DVD, which should ship to the replicator in about three weeks, well in time to hit your Christmas list if you plan ahead. This is the live workshop we filmed in Long Beach; it’s four DVDs, plus the audio file of the lecture, a transcript pdf of the lecture, and a pdf of the presentation slideshow. This is step two after learning the Functional Movement Screen — what do you do with the screen results? Gray, with help from Brett Jones, shows example live screens, then we watch while the two of them make corrective recommendations. We also included extra video of him teaching his newest corrective techniques, plus an overview of the full screening system. This will be available on our site, on the FunctionalMovement.com site, and at Perform Better, our partner on this project.
In the ebook department, we’re about a week away from having Dan John’s Never Let Go available on the Barnes & Noble site (it’s already on Kindle). We’re a couple of weeks from having Michael Boyle’s Advances in Functional Training live on amazon.com as a Kindle book, and on bn.com as an epub. By the end of the month, you’ll see Movement in electronic format, and also Dan’s Mass Made Simple.
Toward the end of the month as these get wrapped up, I’ll shift attention back to the audio lecture website we talked about last summer. There are about 35 lectures almost ready to go live, and another 12 recorders in the field. We’ll launch the site by early December with 50 newly recorded lectures ranging from bodybuilding to Olympic lifting, iron history to supplements, hormones to wheat allergies… kettlebells to football strength to physical rehabilitation. Most of these run about an hour, and will be available as an MP3 file with a transcript pdf for $6.95. It’s a wonderful collection; you’re going to love it.
Dave and I went to Oregon to visit Bill and Judy Pearl in the fall of 2005, and recorded a conversation between Dave and Bill that I made into a booklet to include with the Pearl/Draper Bash 2005 Seminar DVD. Today I formatted the transcript for pdf and kindle, added some of my favorite images of the guys, and uploaded it for sale as a benefit for our Mandy Trept fund.
In either format, this 20-page pdf (13,000 words) sells for $3.49. 100% of the proceeds will be deposited into our fund to help out with Mandy’s rent for a couple of months and the family travel costs while she’s in the Bakersfield trauma center.
It’s a donation, but I think you’re going to get a kick out of the conversation, too. I sure did.
Last weekend a group of IronOnline forum friends traveled to Bakersfield, California, for in the Volkslauf Mud Run, a Marine Corp Toys for Tots charity obstacle course. We had a half-dozen participants, and an equal number of cheerful supporters who got especially cheerful about bystanding as we watched our friends struggle through the mud and over some pretty difficult obstacles.
Mark, Lori, Bob
About noon as the next to last of our group finished the course and found dry shoes, we set off to catch up with our final participant, Mandy Trept. An hour later, Dan Martin, the fire captain traveling with us, found the medical tent and discovered she had been med-evaced to a nearby trauma center. Mandy had fallen coming over the top of a 16-foot ladder obstacle and is partially paralyzed from a neck injury. The surgeon is unable to foresee how her recovery might go. He did give a hopeful signal after Saturday night’s surgery, but again said he didn’t know if it meant anything more than that.
Mark, Lori, Mandy, Bob
From our man on the ground, Kyle Estle:
“A local group has been formed to coordinate things for the family while they are here. There is a donor willing to allow the family use of their 5th wheel and hospital administration has allowed them to park the vehicle on hospital grounds so the family can be close.
“A Facebook group has been formed that is taking in donations and updating status as things progress. If you are on Facebook, please join Miles for Mandy.
“A benefit run is in the planning stages, spearheaded by Amy Villicano. The Bakersfield Track Club has been contacted about helping with organizing and coordinating the run. Once a date is set they will help advertise the cause as well. Amy did an interview with a local television station this morning, which will air on the local news this evening. The more eyes we get on this cause, the better.
“There are some really good people involved right now and we have momentum. I encourage all of our brothers and sisters in iron to do what you can, prayers and of course donations are always welcome.”
After the ICU stay, it will be several months before it’s clear what kind of recovery she can expect. Once she’s stable, they’ll figure out how to get her back to her home in Texas for her rehab.
We’ve created a fund to cover Mandy’s family’s travel costs, hotel and to pay a couple of month’s rent for Mandy’s new apartment since she won’t be working while she’s recovering. The fund is growing, close to $5,000 this morning. It would be wonderful to see this fund grow not from big donations, but from an outpouring of the affection of our IronOnline group… small contributions we can afford, and that will make us all part of the only thing we can do now: support her and her family during this crisis.
This is our IronOnline Mandy Fund link via paypal. Please make a small donation so we can tell her a zillion people helped, and so you’ll know you were a part of this instead of a bystander. No contribution is too small; please don’t be concerned about the size of the donation… that’s not the point. If you’d prefer to mail a check, please send that to me at Laree Draper, P O Box 1335, Aptos, CA 95001, and I’ll merge it with the paypal fund before sending off the check, which I’d like to do on Monday, October 24th.
I wish there was something more we could do. For now, prayer and good thoughts, a donation to help the family with travel costs — and let’s pay Mandy’s rent for a couple of months, too — a post here in her training log or over on her facebook page… she and her family will appreciate whatever you’d like to do to express your support.
The other thing we can do right now is send a card. Let’s make the ICU staff wonder who this famous Mandy is, shall we? No flowers or phone calls are allowed in the ICU, where she’s expected to be for about two weeks, but Mandy’s family can read her our cards and she’ll know we’re thinking about her, and that we care. She’s at:
Mandy Trept, C/O ICU
Kern Medical Center
1700 Mt. Vernon Ave
Bakersfield, CA 93306
Each year around the middle of October, our IronOnline forum members band together to challenge each other to get through the holiday season with our training and diets intact. This year’s Year-End Challenge, in which everyone selects their own goal for the next 10 weeks, begins Monday; Mandy was planning her challenge to get through Dan John’s Mass Made Simple.Certainly you can guess we’re dedicating this year’s challenge to Mandy, and we’re jumpstarting the Challenge with a No Junk-Food Monday, with the financial savings dedicated to Mandy. Your assignment, should you feel challenged, is to skip some treat you normally eat or drink, and PayPal the few dollars over to the Mandy Fund. I think a latte’s about $3.50; that draft you normally get is gonna cost you a little more…. and, guess what… you don’t even get to drink it.
When she wakes up over the next few days, we want her to know she’s not completely alone, that we’re supporting her and her family as she begins her long rehab.
What you can do:
1: Join the Challenge
2: Jumpstart the Challenge and contribute the $5 you saved… or the $20 for you twice-daily latte and bagel gluttons
3: Send a card. Her sister’s going to cover her ICU wall with cards; we’re looking for cards from every state in the US, and every country we can find someone willing to buy an international postage stamp.
4: Send some bucks. We’ve got about $5,000 collected from the IronOnline group, and we’d like to double that as we go wider with this. The goal is to pay her rent for a couple of months, pay the family’s travel expenses and build a ramp or whatever accessibility needs she’ll have during her rehab. Help if you can, or send a card instead if money’s tight. Or dedicate your year-end training to Mandy and hit it hard. That’s plenty good!
6. Visit the www.milesformandy.com site for regular updates, and news about the Bakersfield Walk/Run Benefit called Miles for Mandy (see Miles for Mandy facebook group, too), tentatively scheduled for mid-December. There may be a sister walk/run in Dallas the same day.
Dave Yarnell Excerpts, reprinted with permission of Dave Yarnell
When I was recently asked about potentially doing a podcast about the original Westside Barbell crew, I thought it would be a great opportunity and agreed after learning a few details. I did a bit of research on these guys and wrote about them in my most recent book, “King Squat, Rise to Power”. I thought it would be a good idea to bone up and learn everything I could find about Bill West and his associates, and how they influenced the strength game in their time and are still an influence on the power game right to this very day.
All of us in the game are deeply indebted to the original Westside crew for all of the foundations that they laid in paving the way for what has become powerlifting and strength training doctrine.
While Bill West is a name that is familiar to many, even most lifters these days, not many know many details about the original Culver City California version of Westside Barbell or the many tremendous lifters and even bodybuilders that were associated with this crew in some way. A cursory search via any of the standard internet search tools will turn up a few tidbits, but a lot more work was required to gather all the information which I will present here.
My initial efforts left me somewhat frustrated, and if you have been wondering why there is not much stuff out there, or at least why it is so hard to dig up.
~Dave Yarnell
Here is an excerpt from the Bill West section
The tremendous success of Bill and his friends and their revolutionary techniques did not go unnoticed. The famous bodybuilding entrepreneur, Joe Weider, realized Bill’s genius and from 1965 to approximately 1971, Bill wrote a series of articles in Joe’s magazine outlining the techniques that he popularized and that would later be used by virtually every powerlifter from then until the present day. Here is the impressive list of articles which revolutionized powerlifting—
1.) Dec. 1965 – Muscle Builder Magazine, “The Touch System”
Bill told of how the touching of the hands on the lifter in all three powerlifts helps him psychologically and physically get used to heavier weights.
In 1966 Bill wrote the following articles in Muscle Builder Magazine—
2.) The Bench Squat: How to make attempts feel lighter by squatting on a high bench or box
3.) Triceps Power Cheats: How to cheat on the triceps extension to produce higher poundage
4.) Powerlifting Aids: This was the first written account on wrist wraps, elbow wraps, knee wraps, flat shoes for the squat an deadlift, wide part of the belt in front for the squat and sponge rubber pads on the chest for benching
5.) Incline Power Rack Presses: How to properly use the power rack and incline press to isolate middle sticking points in the bench press
6.) The Extended Deadlift: How to provide a greater range of motion in the deadlift by placing blocks under the feet
7.) The Touch System in Bench Pressing: How to place the hands on the bench press bar which one’s partner is using to assist in a sticking point. This is now called forced reps.
8.) Using the Touch System in the Deadlift: How to make one’s deadlift feel lighter by using a physical assist from one’s partner
9.) Lockout Prones for Power: How to increase one’s bench press using the power rack
10.) Build Power with These Rack Deadlifts: How to increase one’s deadlifting using the rack
11.) 775-lb. Deadlift: How I Did It: The deadlift training philosophy of Bill West and George Frenn
Note that most of these articles were actually written by others, most often Armand Tanny, though the concepts were strictly those of Mr. West & crew.
Peanuts West, deadlifting from blocks
*Joe DiMarco told me that these blocks were solid planks, 9 inches thick, 12 inches wide and 3 feet long, with a 5/8 inch rubber mat on top, and that these served their purpose for about 20 years or more! He said most of the crew had the bar just around the bottom of the Kneecap at the bottom, and these were often done along with stiff legged deadlifts.*
This author defies any powerlifter to say he has never used at least one of these techniques at one time during his career. Practically all powerlifters today use a routine or power aid that was popularized by the great Bill West, Joe DiMarcoand George Frenn. The Original Westside crew’s genuine and unselfish interest in helping others has created a science that has lasted and prevailed even unto the present day, and a lengthy list of records by male and female lifters who have used his techniques. On behalf of every powerlifter who has ever broken record, personal or otherwise, using techniques whose origins were unknown until now, this author would like to extend thanks to Bill “Peanuts” West.
Author’s Note: It is unfortunate that the author of the above article seems to have completely overlooked one of the key guys in the Culver City equation, Joe DiMarco, but his input will not go on unrecognized if I can help it. Bill was a great personal trainer, and was thrilled when anyone made a gain, as if it was his own gain. While Bill was a great motivator and was the “sparkplug” that fired up as many as a dozen other lifters during a training session, he was not big on writing down programs or any sort of deep analysis of a program, which was more Joe’s role early on, and then as Frenn became more educated he began to analyze why their system was working as well as it did (this was around 1965, according to DiMarco).
A bit of the section on George Frenn
“It was then, almost as an afterthought that he held out his hand. “I’m George Frenn,” he said, still very quiet and polite, with no hint of expectation that I’d even remotely recognize the name. I later told some friends that I had done a squat workout with George Frenn, but I neglected to mention that I took 3 plates a side and then bowed out.”
Deadlifting Theories of George Frenn
by Ron Fernando (1981)
As older followers of Powerlifting will recall, PL in the early 60’s was popularized by George Frenn of North Hollywood, Ca. Frenn has always been outspoken regarding his theories and their application. Indeed, he has every reason to be, since his 2100 lb total (853 [actual weight] – 520 – 740) was years ahead of his time. There are some who may argue that there were excessive wraps – even ‘bed sheet technology’, used in the squat and that the depth was not what it should have been, and in the bench press the use of elbow wraps (a legality in those days) might give a rather distorted view of his total. Regardless of these arguments, few can voice any doubt as to the authenticity of Frenn’s deadlifting and back power. The 775 he pulled was a record, and in addition, Frenn exhibited awesome displays of back power in Olympic lifting movements which enabled him to be a success in that field as well. Oh, and let’s not forget that he was a bonafide Olympian, who for a time was the ranking hammer thrower in the United States and one of the tops in the world. Reliable sources indicate to me that he still has the ability to throw better than 225 feet in the hammer and 42 plus in the weight throw (an event in which he still holds the world record!). His powerful back has enabled him to successfully bridge the three rather diverse worlds of powerlifting, Olympic lifting and weight throwing. I had a chance to speak with George at length about back training and here are some of the pertinent points of the interview.
PLUSA (Powerlifting USA magazine): George, from the years of experience that you have described, would you give your views on the deadlift.
FRENN: Basically, there should be one main philosophy behind deadlifting, something that I have shown countless times and that many of the other great lifters have shown. That is, the willingness to continually lift heavy weights. You have to mentally, emotionally train yourself to pull those big numbers, regardless of the time of year it is.
A good analogy would be that you cannot train yourself to throw a 16-lb ball 230 feet until you can throw a 14 lb 230 feet. Peter Karpovich was very succinct in his theories – in order to get stronger, you have to lift progressively heavier weights.
PLUSA: Well, what about cycling – that seems to be the most logical approach towards peaking out and avoiding overtraining.
FRENN: From what I know about cycling, I personally don’t believe in it per se. Yes, of course, I realize that one cannot (especially in the beginning stages of his career) lift max 100% weights every session – however, even a beginner can respond well to utilizing 85% of max for a certain number of reps. Cycling is fallacious to me because it seems that the environment controls the lifter – you have to control the environment. By building up a physical ‘bank’ of strength and emotion by simply doing the lift with heavier and heavier weights, one can always ‘peak’ for any given meet. For example, I entered (and won) the YMCA Nationals in 1976. Prior to the meet the very best that I had pulled in the deadlift was 585×5 reps. Yet by drawing on these reserves in my ‘bank’ I was able to pull a 765 that day.
A little of the section on Pat Casey
I’m Going to Bench Press 600 Pounds!
by Pat Casey, as told to Bill Pearl (1964)
Strength is something that has fascinated me ever since I was old enough to realize that some people are stronger than others. Even as a young boy I can remember trying to pick up heavy objects just to see if I could do it. This is probably a normal thing to do because most youngsters admire strength. Yet, this is something that I have never seemed to outgrow. I still admire strong men and have always trained with the intention of becoming stronger than anyone right from my first workout, which was over eight years ago. I started training when I was 15 years old and weighed around 180 pounds at the time. While in high school my goal was to do a bench press of 400 pounds or more before I graduated. During my senior year at Washington High School in Los Angeles, at the age of 17, I was approximately 40 pounds heavier in bodyweight and was able to do a strict bench press with 420 pounds and this with a two-second pause at the chest. Previously I felt that if I could do a 400 pound bench press I would be well satisfied. But now I find myself changing my goals and striving for higher poundage.
Pat Casey
I wanted to bench press 500 pounds before I was 20 years old. Again I reached this goal. In my mind I hoped that someday I could become the world’s champion bench presser, and this is the goal I’m working towards now. During my career I have collected much material on the exceptionally strong men in the weight field and have studied and pondered their training programs in an effort to extract anything that I felt would benefit me.
In this category were Marvin Eder, John Grimek, Buster McShane, Doug Hepburn and Paul Anderson, just to name a few, all of whom have been a great deal of help to me in reaching my goal. Personally I feel that Marvin Eder was one of the strongest men, pound for pound, I had ever heard about for overall strength. In fact I tried to fashion my early training after his. Also, I always admired Doug Hepburn, who actually was not a big man at the beginning of his weight lifting career (weighing approximately 160 pounds), nor was he any stronger than the average person. But because of his tremendous drive he was able to add well over 100 pounds of bodyweight to his frame and became one of the strongest men in the world. Anyone who can take 500 pounds off the rack and press it overhead has to be strong! Buster McShane, a lifter from Belfast, Ireland, has been the British Empire 165 pound weightlifting champion a number of times. He also has done an official bench press of 450 pounds at this bodyweight.
We corresponded for several years; passing information back and forth that we felt would benefit one another in improving our bench press. Little has to be said as to why I admire John Grimek. I don’t know of any bodybuilder who has not had Grimek as his idol. Here is a man who has held numerous weightlifting titles and a physique that is ideal. He not only has the physique that is Herculean in appearance but has the basic power to back it. I have talked to many of the top physique stars and they all seem to agree that John has done more for bodybuilding than any other person, and has set many of the standards that we follow today. Paul Anderson has always been admired by me because of his exceptional strength and the way he can toy with such tremendous weights. This always amazed me. I find it hard to believe that anyone can do a full squat with 1100 pounds, when my back nearly breaks under 600 pounds. He has given all of us power lifters many goals to shoot towards.
Last July I set an unofficial world’s record in the bench press with 541 pounds at San Pedro, California. My official world record was 530 pounds. This was made in Pasadena, California during 1963. My goals have changed again, however. I am now shooting for a 600 pound bench press and I am confident that I can do it with the training program I am following. In the past few years I have changed my training program many times with the idea of finding ways to increase my power in this lift. Lately I have confined most of my training to four different exercises, and these four seem to help me more than all the others I used to employ in the past. These exercises are: (1) the incline press with dumbbells, (2) parallel bar dips, (3) triceps press on a flat bench, and (4) the regular bench press. I have achieved maximum gains in the bench press while using these exercises. In my own case I use very heavy weights, low repetitions and repeat each exercise in several sets.
While I can’t say we’re consistent… well, let’s just say it’s been fun. Here are the most recent episodes of Gray Cook Radio.
Click on the episode link to listen here
Right or command click to save to your computer
Episode Nineteen:
Today Gray tells us about his summer MovNat experience and his conversations with Erwan LeCorre. Here’s where to find Erwan and his MovNat workshops.
Episode Eighteen:
Today Gray talks about his work on the Golf Digest golf combine
Episode Seventeen:
Now here’s a fun one: Gray’s take on isolation exercises—What’s a bodybuilder to do?
Episode Sixteen:
Today Gray talks about his Perform Better Pre-Conference Workshop. The full transcript is also available here.
Episode Fifteen:
In this episode we discuss the workout, specifically where do correctives go and when do we re-introduce sports training after a problem is found in the screen.
I can say with confidence: Anyone who trains, coaches or treats individuals or teams will find value in this text.
Chapter 1—Introduction to Screening and Assessment
This introductory chapter builds the foundation you’ll need to fully understand the purpose of screening movement. You’ll learn the concept of movement patterns and how to recognize these patterns in action, as well as the history and primary goals of movement screening.
Chapter 2—Anatomical Science versus Functional Science
The next 16 pages expand on the differences between authentic movement and scientific anatomical function. The functional systems of muscles, joints and ligaments are covered, as are the fascial matrix, breathing and the neuromuscular network. Understanding movement deficiency and dysfunction and how these develop will illuminate your work, and clarify your explanations to your athletes, clients and patients.
Chapter 3—Understanding Movement
In Chapter 3, you’ll gain an appreciation of the natural laws of basic movement before specific, with an overview of how to use screening, testing and assessment to classify movement proficiency or deficiency. You’ll also get a summary of the differences between the two systems, the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) and the Selective Functional Movement Assessment (SFMA).
Chapter 4—Movement Screening
Where in your intake process should you screen? Can you screen an injured client or athlete? This section will help you place movement screening in your existing business model, or it will show you where your program structure might be improved.
Chapter 5—Functional Movement Systems and Movement Patterns
This summary explains the differences between the two systems, the FMS for fitness professionals and strength coaches, and the SFMA for medical professionals. You’ll get a brief look at the systems, and finish with an appreciation of primitive and higher-level movement patterns.
Chapter 6—Functional Movement Screen Descriptions
The chapter used to cover the FMS will teach you the seven basic screens in detail, including where to stand, what to watch for during the movements and how to plan your modifications. You’ll get a description of each screen, the purpose of each, tips for testing, implications and photographs showing how to score each test.
Chapter 7—SFMA Introduction and Top-Tier Tests
The top-tier assessments of the SFMA are covered in these 26 pages, which contain a discussion of the overlying considerations of functional versus dysfunctional and painful versus non-painful, the overriding criteria of the SFMA system. The seven elements of the top-tier will direct you to the breakout tests found in Chapter 8.
Chapter 8—SFMA Assessment Breakout Descriptions and Flowcharts
Taking 58 pages and 66 photographs to cover the SFMA breakouts will serve to remind medical professionals of the individual assessments, and at the same time make fitness trainers and strength coaches aware of the tests used by professionals to whom they refer clients and athletes. The rationale for each of the breakout regions will pull the process together for you as it simplifies the overall approach.
Chapter 9—Analyzing the Movements in Screens and Assessments
Chapter 9 teaches how to analyze the various test results. Using the tests of the Functional Movement Screen as the base, you’ll learn what mistakes most beginners make in screening, how to distinguish between stability and mobility problems and how to determine asymmetries. Here you’ll get your first introduction to reverse patterning (RP) and reactive neuromuscular training (RNT), two of the primary corrective tools of the Functional Movement Systems arsenal.
Chapter 10—Understanding Corrective Strategies
This begins the wrap-up: What do you do with the resulting screen and assessment information? The 20 pages of Chapter 10 comprise the performance pyramid and how to use it to form your corrective strategies. Understanding the differences between correct and corrective exercises, between challenging versus difficult, and having a selection of self-limiting exercises in your exercise menu will give you confidence as you assign and program exercises.
Chapter 11—Developing Corrective Strategies
Now that you’ve discovered dysfunctional patterns in your clients, athletes and patients, the next section will guide you in the corrective decisions that make up the three primary categories of mobility, stability and movement pattern retraining. You’ll get comparisons of conditioning and corrective exercise, movement prep and movement correction, skill training and corrective prioritization, and understand when each is appropriate.
Chapter 12—Building the Corrective Framework
This chapter provides a checklist for your corrective decisions: pain, purpose, posture, position, pattern and plan. Even though every person’s movement is unique, without this framework, your corrective path will not be as clear as it could be. You’ll also become familiar with the basic structure involving special considerations and populations that may make up part of your client or patient base.
Chapter 13—Movement Pattern Corrections
Chapter 13 builds on your knowledge of basic mobility and stability corrections and movement pattern retraining. Using passive, active and assistive techniques, you’ll be able to help your clients, athletes and patients recover lost mobility. Understanding stability and motor control, transitional postures and using facilitation techniques such as reactive neuromuscular training will give you the tools to challenge that new mobility. You’ll also become proficient at rolling after practicing the material in this rich chapter.
Chapter 14—Advanced Corrective Strategies
Finally, in the 24 remarkable pages of Chapter 14, you’ll learn how to make corrective exercise an experience. This is how corrective exercise actually works in the human body, and the thorough discussion found in this chapter will teach you how to create this for your clientele. Using PNF, RNT, reverse patterning, conscious loading, resisted and self-limiting exercises, you’ll grasp the concept of the manageable mistake zone, and you’ll be able to use these ideas and techniques to stand out in your crowded professional field.
Chapter 15—In Conclusion
This wrap-up section pulls the material together for one last review of where the industry is now, and where it’s heading. When you finish this section, you’ll have a complete understanding of the 10 principles of the Functional Movement System. These principles will guide you in learning and training authentic movement.
Appendices
Michael Boyle: Joint-by-Joint Concept
Gray Cook: Expanding on the Joint-by-Joint Approach
Greg Rose: SFMA Score Sheets and Flowcharts
Laurie McLaughlin: Introduction to Breathing
Gray Cook: Introduction to Heart Rate Variability
Gray Cook: Functional Movement Systems Team List
Gray Cook: Early Perspective and the Jump Study
Phil Plisky: Core Testing and Functional Goniometry
Lee Burton: FMS Scoring Criteria and Score Sheet
Authors: FMS Verbal Instructions
Gray Cook: Conventional Deep Squat Evaluation Process
Patient Self Evaluation Forms
List of Illustrations
References
Index
About Movement, head of the Russian Kettlebell Certification and author of Enter the Kettlebell! Pavel Tsatsouline wrote, “Once a decade comes out a book that you will keep reading, rereading, and crowding with notes until it falls apart. Then you buy a new copy and enthusiastically start over. In the 1990s it was Verkhoshansky and Siff’s ‘Supertraining.’ In the 2000s McGill’s ‘Ultimate Back.’ Enter the 2010s and Cook’s ‘Movement.’ It is a game changer.”
The remarkable presenter list from the Perform Better Summits is truly a who’s who of strength and conditioning experts, each one a headliner. These two-and-a-half day conference events, held annually in Providence, Chicago and Long Beach, are broken up into four lectures per 75-minute time block and, as I noted last year, it’s an internal fight to choose. Imagine my pleasure at having not only permission, but actually orders to move between lecture rooms to monitor recording equipment! Get this: Chris Poirier, the guy behind these stellar Perform Better events, gave me the lucky task of recording the lecture sessions for a 27-CD live-recording set. Assuming my work next month goes as planned, you’ll see the CD recordings of these outstanding lectures on their site in about six weeks.
This assignment gave me something else, too: upfront access. Through Dave’s history in the early bodybuilding scene and in my work with guys like Dan John,Michael Boyle,Gray Cook and Lee Burton, I do have unusual connections to some of the leading experts in the fitness field, but recording the event added another element of entry. You’ll see more discussion of this as we begin to talk about our new audio lecture site featuring many of these speakers and their peers, set to launch early November. I’ll keep dropping hints for another month or so as we build up the content—specifically when we have about 50 lectures recorded, edited and transcribed for the audio product library.
We began the Long Beach immersion on Thursday by filming Gray’s four-hour pre-conference workshop as he built upon the movement screening foundation by showing the attendees what steps to take after the initial screen. What do you do with the screening results? This was where he answered that important question.
After a brief introduction to the Functional Movement Screen for those who weren’t familiar with it, several of his colleagues ran audience members through screening, and then Gray and Brett Jones reviewed the results and provided guidance on what each person would do next. Gray and Brett are a hoot together, solidified by a 15-year friendship and a love of teaching, and, as always, Gray was simply brilliant and a joy to watch. We had three cameras on hand to capture the event,which you’ll see available on DVD in early November.
The next morning, early Friday as I hauled recording equipment from the hotel to the near-empty, still quiet Long Beach Convention Center, the first person I bumped into was Ed Thomas, whom you may remember from Gray and Brett’s Club Swinging Essentials DVD as the guy responsible for keeping Indian Club swinging popular here in the States.
As it turns out, he’s been an inversion advocate since the early ’70s when he made a trip to Santa Monica and discovered Franco Columbu hanging upside down from a pullup bar. That was the trip when he met Dave at Joe Gold’s old gym, a meeting that made an impression on him which he told in a story that choked me up through the grins.
Last year on Gray’s recommendation, I bought an inversion table, but it made me nauseas and I quickly gave up on it. Ed, a passionate teacher, spent about an hour with me over the course of the weekend, gave me a vestibular green light and showed me how to get my feet high and my head low. It’s a wonderful feeling that we’ll be talking more about here as he prepares his forthcoming inversion instructional material.
There were about 900 energetic people scurrying between the four conference rooms, but no chaos other than an errant fire alarm, and even that only gave the speakers fodder for laughs and presented no problems. The Summit’s lecture topics ranged from barefoot training to speed work, professional business guidance to nutrition; from kettlebells to ropes, women to youth and rehab to Olympic weightlifting. Regardless of niche, no one went away unsatisfied.
The event ended for me mid-day Sunday, when other than the Perform Better crew doing tear-down, I was the straggler in the convention center. By then I was carrying such a load of priceless treasure that I couldn’t bear to haul it through the maze of air transport. What if I lost track of a hard drive of film footage? These things happen in airports! With a canceled flight and a rental car, the drive home would let me keep my eyes on the film and audio footage packed tightly into barely zip-able bags. Interesting, this turned out to be a settling way to decompress after four days of activity, and whenever possible future recording trips are likely to include a calm drive home.
While the lectures were fabulous—highly recommended for anyone in this profession—for me, events like this are all about the camaraderie. It’s wonderful to sit back and watch the connections, excited chattering as trainers and coaches from Michael Boyle’s StrengthCoach.com forum meet for the first time in person, or presenters make instant decisions to collaborate on future events or projects. I got to see Gray, Lee, Brett and Mark Cheng meet Craig Liebenson for the first time after years of mutual appreciation, and looked on as Dan met Todd Durkin and re-connected with Ingrid Marcum and guys like Charles Staley and Thom Plummer. And even though he was only there one day, Michael, as always, was a crowd-pleaser with his happy laugh. But of course, that could have been because when he makes his quick-turnaround travel plans, his stay somehow always includes the free-beer social. He’s definitely a hit at free-beer socials.
It’s a remarkable blessing, and believe me, I do not take it lightly.
The Association of Oldetime Barbell and Strongmen (AOBS), an iron enthusiast group going strong since Vic Boff started it in 1982, awarded Dave its Vic Boff Achievement Award in 2007. We had a wonderful Jersey weekend with the group, the noise level increasing hour by hour, until car by car the camaraderie drifted back toward its origins. Now that was a weekend to remember, which I did right here.
Happily, the AOBS dinner is not one of those nostalgic “remember when” reminiscences—oh, no, these guys get this thing ramped up annually. In fact, your sweet memories, your big guns, your hefty deadlift, your might grip can be a part of this year’s camaraderie during which Olympian Frank Capsouras, thinking-man’s Mr. Universe Bob Gajda and everyone’s favorite Eugen Sandow will be honored.
You’ll need to preregister first, then get yourself over to Jersey, Newark, to be exact, Saturday, September 17th. Plan to spend the day—you may even find the daytime more exciting than the dinner event—and if you can, hang around for breakfast Sunday, because you’re really going to have a hard time saying goodbye as Saturday turns into Sunday.
Scheduled events include a collector’s historical meeting (those guys tell tall tales), followed by an Olympic Lifting Made Easy seminar, then come the cool kids: Oldetime Strongman Feats. Seriously, you don’t want to miss a minute—the memories start rolling before the sun sets on Friday.
Here are the rest of the details (not that you’d need more—just go sign up!): AOBS Reunion Dinner.
I’m back with a new status report, a couple of additions, changes and a comment about audio lecture products. This is a fast-changing marketplace; it’s a blast to be a part of, and is keeping me on my toes. It’s also keeping me locked in at this desk, which is sort of the opposite images and I guess the toes metaphor fails. Let’s go with keeping my brain buzzing, because that is for certain what’s going on lately.
The Digital Progress
The progress with digital files here has been huge, and includes downloadable videos and ebooks—
In the current state of ebook flux, formatting for ebooks is something of a nightmare. While it’s true there are no print costs for ebooks, the time and expense is in extra formatting, partly because the major e-readers all use a different format and the pages have to be set up for each. For our books, though, it’s a little worse because those that have two-columns (the 8.5×11 books) have to be completely redone to fix a 6×9, single column format, and those with images or tables need to be re-worked also. That’s why this ebook conversion is taking longer than you, the authors or I would like. We’re getting the easiest stuff first, and I’ll keep plodding along on the rest.
Video turned out to be more difficult than expected, too. My intention was to make all our videos available, and in as many different formats and qualities as possible. We’ll get to the other formats, but will have to stick to the lower quality because it appears few of us have connections or browsers robust enough to handle files greater than 2gb. Normal DVDs are 4.7gb, and you can see that the quality is going to be lower. Most people using downloadable files are probably watching on a computer monitor or laptop… or phone… and in that case, the quality of these HD video will be excellent.
In the middle of that experimentation, I filled and subsequently crashed our website server. My favorite techs at our hosting company, Hostasaurus, fixed us up by deleting some old files and are building us a new, larger-than-average server. Once we’re moved over, I’ll have more room for video format experimentation and will get back to work on converting and uploading the rest of our DVDs.
The Forthcoming
Simmering in the background, the rest of the formatting, for sure, but you’ll also see a flutter of activity about Gray Cook’s Perform Better Pre-Con workshop DVD, which we’re filming in Long Beach in about three weeks. Around and through all that, our new lecture site is at a full boil, set to launch mid-September. We’ve got about 10 lectures ready to go, and another 10 recorded or nearly recorded. You’ll see about 25 audio lectures available for download or CD when the site goes live. I’m very excited about this one and will keep dropping hints as we move along.
This was supposed to be an announcement that Dan’s Intervention DVD was ready as a downloadable product, but unfortunately I only have an “almost” for you today. Uploads take longer than downloads; my machine is chugging away and I have -0- clue how long it’ll keep up this grinding. When it’s done, and when I get things set up correctly, we’ll We have four packages for you, for now available via ejunkie, here:
An mp3 audio file of the full lecture (without video), with a transcript pdf, Dan’s newest writings on Intervention (unpublished elsewhere), and the workshop handouts, $20
Downloadable video file of Disc One, $20
Downloadable video file of Disc Two, $20
Downloadable video file of Disc Three, $20
I’ll update the above with live links, hopefully tomorrow. And of course, all of this is part of the DVD physical package, available now for $129, here: Dan John’s Intervention DVD.
The e-book addition of Michael Boyle’s Advances in Functional Training is nearly done. We could see that in two or three weeks, And the softcover edition of Gray Cook’s Movement is heading for the printer next week. While all this is in motion, our new audio lectures line is ramping up. This is you catching a whiff, and you’ll get hit with the full blast inside of a month.
Now for the surprise. We have a new email acquaintance who’s been collecting Don’t Make Waves photographs for the past 40+ years. I’ve been watching the Don’t Make Waves memorabilia for about 25 years — seems like he swooped up some of this long before I came along. Much of it I’ve never seen! DMWs is newly available on DVD at Amazon.com.
In the turmoil of Dan’s Intervention seminar, as we filmed for DVD, I took in… pretty much nothing. Later, I listened as the attendees gush (it’s true, they did), but it wasn’t until my fourth or fifth pass through the material that the built-in critic who poses as an editor began to subside and the breadth of the material began to seep in. Dan made such an organized, methodical march through a mountain of material—a solid thirty years of learning and coaching—that much later that I realized what a volume of thinking had been so simply laid out. It’s, I guess you could call it… stunning.
Here’s a clip in which Dan shows his newest concept for teaching hip hinging, the Hinge Assessment Tool, HAT.
Included as Intervention 3-discs of workshop lecture
Various handouts, including a new e-booklet on Intervention
Full lecture transcript pdf
Full lecture mp3 audio file
Disc One: 75 minutes
Introduction to Intervention
The Health Lights System
The Fitness Spiral
Absolute Strength
The Impact of a Strength Coach
Qualities
Quadrants
Disc Two: 67 minutes
Age: Hypertrophy & Joint Mobility
Basic Human Movements
Patterning
HATE, Hinge Assessment Tool
Squat Patterning
Loaded Carries
Slow Strength, Grinds
Standards
The Four Steps
Asymmetrical Training
Disc Three: 70 minutes
The Triad Combinations
Testing
Rep Rules
Corrective Exercises
Scheduling Correctives, Strength and Skills
Programming the Elements
Example of Programming for an Elite Athlete
Other Programming Examples
Practicing Intervention
The Warmups
The Intervention Tool Kit
In the Realistic Reps clip below, Dan introduces his thinking behind rep ranges.
Over the course of the editing, I must have watched this seven or eight times, and each time, something else stuck out, some little nugget I’d missed the other times through. That’s one reason I’m especially pleased (giggle to myself from time to time) that we added a a surprise to the package: The entire lecture is transcribed — there’s a PDF of the workshop included on the DVD. And oh, yes… wait for it… we also included an MP3 audio file so you can listen to it again during your flight to Perform Better. Or maybe it’ll have to serve as a week’s worth of commute learning. We’re also going to release the MP3 audio file and transcript as a stand-alone product later this summer.
All Dan’s handouts are on the DVD, plus he’s written new material in a PDF only available on this DVD, to expand on his thoughts since recording the workshop. This is one fabulous package, and we’re so confident you’ll agree, we’ll guarantee it. If you missed the video clips from last week or you’d like to place an order, grab a ride on this link, here.
I’m clawing my way out of a three-month deadzone, that place that swallows everything when a project gets exciting. It’s fun in the depths, and it’s even more fun on the way out… where I am right now. AKA, FINISHED! Dan’s new DVD shipped to the replicator Monday and will be here in just under two weeks.
My expectation is that over the course of the three-and-a-half-hour lecture a realization will wash over the viewer what an astounding amount of material Dan compiled. This is his training and coaching over the decades all distilled into a precisely defined system, an organizational feat that flows so smoothly it takes a second and third thought to recognize how complex the material is because it feels so simple.
Over the course of the editing, I must have watched this seven or eight times, and each time, something else stuck out, some little nugget I’d missed the other times through. That’s one reason I’m especially pleased (giggle to myself from time to time) that we added a a surprise to the package: The entire lecture is transcribed — there’s a PDF of the workshop included on the DVD. And oh, yes… wait for it… we also included an MP3 audio file so you can listen to it again during your flight to Perform Better. Or maybe it’ll have to serve as a week’s worth of commute learning.We’re also going to release the MP3 audio file and transcript as a stand-alone product later this summer.
All Dan’s handouts are on the DVD, plus he’s written new material in a PDF only available on this DVD, to expand on his thoughts since recording the workshop. This is one fabulous package, and we’re so confident you’ll agree, we’ll guarantee it.
Included as Intervention 3-discs of workshop lecture
Various handouts, including a new e-booklet on Intervention
Full lecture transcript pdf
Full lecture mp3 audio file
Disc One: 75 minutes
Introduction to Intervention
The Health Lights System
The Fitness Spiral
Absolute Strength
The Impact of a Strength Coach
Qualities
Quadrants
Disc Two: 67 minutes
Age: Hypertrophy & Joint Mobility
Basic Human Movements
Patterning
HATE, Hinge Assessment Tool
Squat Patterning
Loaded Carries
Slow Strength, Grinds
Standards
The Four Steps
Asymmetrical Training
Disc Three: 70 minutes
The Triad Combinations
Testing
Rep Rules
Corrective Exercises
Scheduling Correctives, Strength and Skills
Programming the Elements
Example of Programming for an Elite Athlete
Other Programming Examples
Practicing Intervention
The Warmups
The Intervention Tool Kit
Loading ...
Mandy at Bash 2010
