NCCP Certification 2nd Attempt; Hardware for Julian Part I

Julian’s whole weightlifting adventure began last year. In August I asked him if he’d be interested in learning how the Olympic lifts so I could enter him in a meet in December. That would allow me to complete the practical portion of my coaching certification. He seemed apprehensive, but agreed none the less.

Between September and December we met regularly; first in his parent’s garage, lifting with an old York bar that his father had. Before long Julian was able to lift more weight than his father had kept in the garage. At that point we moved on to the West End YMCA.

Julian quickly picked up the technique for both the Snatch and the Clean & Jerk. He was more than ready for the Ontario Junior Championships.

Unfortunately, there was a problem with my evaluation application. The Ontario Weightlifting Association had not received my payment with my registration for evaluation. Without payment, the rest of my application was not processed, so I would not be able to complete the evaluation as planned. Larry Sheppard, my teacher from North Bay, intervened on my behalf and worked out a deal whereby I would receive partial evaluation for Julian’s participation in the Ontario Juniors, but I would have to bring him to the Scholastic Championship in April for full credit.

At the time of Julian’s registration, there was only two other lifters in his weight category, so he expected to bring home at least a bronze medal for his efforts. The day of the competition we learned that someone else had entered at the last minute, so he would have to earn a medal after all. In the end, Julian made four of his six attempts. He snatched 44 kilos in the Snatch and 57 kilos in the Clean & Jerk; totalling 101 kilos. He set a personal record in the Clean & Jerk but not enough to qualify for a medal.

We both went home empty handed.

However, we went back to the weight room and looked forward to the Scholastic meet in April.

In January it was announced that Aikido Master Endo Seishiro would be visiting the dojo that Julian and I train at to teach a seminar in April. Both events were scheduled for the April 7th weekend. Master Endo is our teacher’s teacher and his annual visit is the most important event of the year at Naka Ima Aikikai. Julian and I had a hard decision to make about staying in Toronto for the seminar, or going to North Bay to compete.

In the end, I left the choice up to Julian. He decided he wanted to go to North Bay. So we began preparing in earnest.

My father generously donated his time and his Ford Explorer for the trip to North Bay. Walter picked up Julian and me in Toronto on the eve of the competition. I was curious to see how Julian and Walter would get along. They both have a very dry, sarcastic sense of humour and I wondered if they would blend well or irritate one another. Luckily they spent most of the journey taking turns napping.

We rolled into North Bay shortly after six o’clock. I was surprised to see that the lake was still frozen over. I had been sheltered from a real winter in Toronto. It only snowed once or twice and I had forgotten that other parts of the country had experienced a real winter.

We checked into our motel and had dinner at the Moose. I was pleased to see that it was still open. It had been one of my favourite places to eat during my student days in North Bay.

After dinner we retired to the motel so Julian could get some sleep. His weigh in was at 7:00 AM and I wanted him to be well rested. As it happened, on television Charlton Heston was leading the Jews out of Egypt in The Ten Commandments, in honour of the Easter long weekend. Julian seemed to draw strength from watching the story of his people breaking free of their oppression, but my eyelids started to get heavy somewhere around the 5th Plague of Egypt.

It’s important to take a moment here to acknowledge how difficult it can be to crawl out on that limb and start something new.

I have been more than impressed with all the people that have come out for their first classes in the last couple of weeks. No doubt fueled by recent New Year’s resolutions.

I talked to several of my clients and asked them what they were expecting coming in on the first day. Everyone that I spoke to said they were a little nervous. Many said they had never heard of AikiFit, but had a good recommendation from someone else.  Based on her mother’s description, Karla H said she was expecting a variation on a Pilates class. Maria D said that she was expecting a boot camp. They found that AikiFit is neither, but both were pleasantly surprised.  AikiFit is both and neither at the same time. At AikiFit I avoid Drill Sergeant-style barking or disingenuous bubble gum cheerleading to motivate people.

AikiFit can be especially intimidating for those who have no prior martial arts experience.  Punching, kicking, dragging yourself across the floor; none of these movements are day-to-day activities for most people.  Having been involved in some form of martial art for most of my life these kinds of movements have become second nature.  Sometimes I forget how foreign the idea of hitting a punching bag can be to the average person.

I got a sharp reminder when Alison D and her son Simon came in to try a class. They heard about us through Karla and were eager to try something new.  I heard later that the boxing stations were particularly foreign for Alison. Alison works out regularly and is quite fit compared to most of the people who come to AikiFit for the first time.

This was a good reminder for me to remember to keep a beginners mind. When planning a class, I sometimes get excited and start to try and plan a lesson that will really blow people away. Then I have to stop and remind myself who it is that I am preparing for.

The fact of the matter is most people are living disconnected from their bodies. As Ken Robinson, an educational theorist describes in one of his TED Talks, “the body is a form of transport for the head.” They have the same relationship with their bodies that an urban commuter has with a bus or subway car. I often see this when new people, both children and adults, come in for their first (or second or third or tenth) Aikido or AikiFit class. Some people have trouble getting their left and right feet organized. Verbal cues don’t transfer from the ear to the brain down to the appropriate appendage. Often (especially with the youngsters) I have to physically take hold of the arm or leg and put it in the right place. Maybe they are just tactile learners and don’t pick up on verbal cues.

The only way to get over this is to get through the first day. Day 2, Day 3… it gets easier and easier as time goes by, but you have to get through Day 1.

Wtih the holiday season and the new year fast approaching, many of us are thinking about changes we would like to make for coming year.

Millions make a pledge to change things in the New Year, and abandon their quest before February rolls around.  Following this simple guide can make your New Year`s Resolution into a lasting change, rather than something that goes out the door with the Christmas Tree.

In order to be successful, you have to be SMART about your goal setting.

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic
• Timely

Be SPECIFIC about what you want to accomplish. If you are saying to yourself, I want to get back in shape or I want to lose weight  your ideas are too vague.  Say exactly what it is that you want to do.  Statements like, I want to run 5 Km or I want to lose 10lbs. These kinds of statements are achievable and you can track your progress towards them.  You need to clearly identify your target before you can ever hit it.

It is also helpful to write your goal down. People who write down their goals are more likely to reach them than those who merely fantasize.

When choosing a goal it is important to make it something you can MEASURE. This allows you to track your progress. Even small steps are steps closer to your goal. If your goal is to lose weight, give yourself an amount of weight or number of cm that you want to lose. Even small measured progress toward your goal will keep you moving forward. If your goal is to run 5 Km, work on running the first Km and then the second. Measuring your progress allows you to take pride in how far you have come instead of fretting about how much further you have to go.

In order to make your goal ATTAINABLE you have to identify practical steps needed to reach your target. If you plan to squat 220lbs, you won`t walk into the gym tomorrow and throw four big plates on the bar and start lifting. Not only would you would break your back; you would probably give up weightlifting all together. Goals you set which are too far out of your reach, you probably won’t commit to doing. Although you may start with the best of intentions, the knowledge that it’s too much for you means your subconscious will keep reminding you of this fact and will stop you from even giving it your best.

The goals you set also need to REALISTIC. If your goal is to be 10 years younger, you are not going to be successful. If instead, you decide to fit into the pants you wore 10 years ago, you are on the right track.

Your goal should also be TIMELY, that is, you should set a time frame in which accomplish your goal. A deadline will help to keep you focused and motivated.  Instead of saying I want to get in shape someday, give yourself a specific date.  I want to get back into my swimsuit in time for beach season.

Each of these criteria relate to one another. Setting a time limit is also part of being specific. The time limit can also be a part of making the task measurable.

Following this simple plan will help to stay on track with your New Year’s Resolution.

In September, Julian began his training at his home, literally in the drive way. On one occasion lifting while a light drizzle fell; humble beginnings to say the least.

As mentioned earlier, he had an old set of weights that his brother used in the garage. Unfortunately his father had put the weight bench out on the curb only a few months before. The absence of a weight bench meant that Julian would have a very tough time performing the bench press. This meant that the Modified Kono Course I had prescribed for him would have to be modified further.

The Squat and Overhead Press (S&OP Push Press) was inserted into the menu as the first exercise in Julian’s routine. I decided to take out the bench press and replace it with the S&OP.  For a novice weightlifter the S&OP is a superior exercise for the following reasons:

• This exercise engages all of the ‘push’ muscles in the arms and legs, so works as a great warm up exercise.
• The S&OP is a ground based exercise. That means that the stabilizer muscles of the abdomen are engaged and prepare to handle the weight in the same way required in the Olympic lifts. Because the athlete lays supine during the bench press, these muscles are not activated and the triceps (back of the arm), deltoids (shoulders) and perctoralis major (chest) are isolated.
• The S&OP provides the lifter with an extra set of squats, strengthening the gluteus maximus, hamstrings and quadriceps, the weightlifters most important group of muscles. This group of muscles is responsible for the explosive upward thrust necessary to elevate the bar quickly overhead.
• The S&OP engages many of the same muscles that are activated in the recovery phase of the Snatch.

For the first few lifting sessions, I began teaching Julian how to execute the Hang Snatch and Hang Clean. These lifts are performed with the bar at the lifter’s pelvic crease.

With Julian, the reverse chaining method was employed. In reverse chaining, the Snatch and the Clean are broken down into Chunks and taught one at a time in reverse order.

I began by walking Julian through the Snatch Catch with his York bar, a one inch steel bar with no weights. The stripped bar weighs about 10 kilos. It is best to have, “the athlete hold a bar above the head with a wide grip. The bar has to ‘sit in the slot’ – up over the shoulder blades – with the elbows perfectly locked.” Holding the bar in this position, with the knees bent and feet slightly wider that shoulder width, helps the lifter develop a feel for the catch position of the Snatch.   I had Julian perform some Squats from this position to help him develop some balance with a load overhead; 3 sets of 10 repetitions (3×10).

Next Julian had to learn how to get the bar from his hips (the Hang Position) to the overhead catch position.  I did this by breaking the movement down into another group of Chunks.

First, I had Julian try some Vertical Jumps. To complete the Vertical Jump he would have to hold the bar in the Ready Position (wide Snatch-grip on the bar, feet shoulder width apart and knees bent) and jump as high as possible without moving his arms. This action teaches the lifter how to explode upwards while holding the bar, and develops a feel for the ‘triple extension’(explosive extension of the hip, knee and ankle joints) necessary to raise the bar up into the catch position; (3×10).

Once Julian was comfortable with that, we moved on to False Starts. The False Start is similar to the Vertical Jump described above, but instead of jumping as high as possible, I had Julian rise up onto the balls of his feet (the triple extension) and come back down. This is done twice, and on the third Julian was to raise the bar over his head and drop into the Catch Position we practiced earlier. (5×5)

Now that Julian was able to complete this movement with some degree of skill we moved on to the Hang Snatch. The Hang Snatch is a False Start with the initial bounces up onto the balls of the feet removed. Julian had to pop the bar directly over his head in one sharp action and catch the bar in the slot; (5×5).

After this introductory Snatch lesson, we continued with the pulling movements of Julian’s hypertrophy routine: Upright Row, Bent Row & Dead Lift.

Next time: Cleaning Up

Meet Julian, a sixteen year old high school student, and the monster to my Frankenstein. He and I practice aikido together at Naka Ima Aikikai in Toronto. He also assists me in running the after school children’s program at the dojo 3 days a week.

This fall Julian agreed to take part in an experiment. I wanted to challenge the dogma that martial artists should not lift weights. Conventional wisdom insists that weightlifting will lead to the development of bulky cumbersome muscles and hamper performance. As mentioned in previous posts, when I refer to weightlifting I mean Olympic-style weightlifting as opposed to body building (for more information on the differences click here).

Cracks in this dogma have been developing for some time. Contemporary mixed martial artists include some strength training in their regime. Before his rise to fame, even Bruce Lee recognized the value of including weightlifting in his practice.

I have provided strength coaching for other martial artists in the past, with favourable results.  Those athletes were already competitive fighters when I met them and had some experience with strength training in addition to their martial arts practice. I wanted to go one step further and see what would happen if a pure aikido-ka were to begin lifting. To achieve this, I required a tabula rasa (someone with no previous training experience outside of aikido).

Some people might describe Julian as a book worm. At sixteen he has already graduated from high school. While in school he managed to avoid playing organized sports and concentrated on his aikido practice. Julian began training in aikido at the age of twelve. Equally impressive for someone his age, he is already a 2nd kyu, two grading’s away from his black belt.

Once Julian agreed to participate in my experiment, I got to work designing a program for him. Coming in with no previous lifting experience, I decided to start Julian off with Larry Sheppard’s modified Kono Course. The Kono course is the routine American Olympic champion Tony Kono used while serving in the armed forces.    According to Sheppard this routine, “is the most useful introduction to resistance (strength)  training that anyone could have.”

Larry Sheppard's Revised Kono Course

There are many features to the Kono Course that make it a great starting point for a novice weightlifter. The main one is that the barbell movements mimic the motion of the bar during the Clean & Jerk (one of two Olympic lifts). These motions include the Deadlift, Upright Row, the Back Squatand the Military Press. Each of these exercises is a key chunk of the Clean & Jerk,  performing them builds a foundation for the lifter. Allowing them to properly put the elements in sequence in order complete the Olympic lifts.

I introduced the routine to Julian in the dojo, walking him through each of the exercises and explaining the keys to proper technique. He dug his older brothers York bar out of the garage and began to get to work. I put him on a 4-week muscle building (Hypertrophy)  phase to begin,  doing each of the exercises for 3 sets of 10 repetitions (3×10).

We met at his parents’ house in Etobikoe a few times over the next few weeks. Lifting weights in the driveway. Danny Robitaille, the president of the Ontario Weightlifting Association, once told me, “You don’t need a lot of fancy equipment to teach weightlifting.  All you need to teach a weightlifter is a York bar from Canadian Tire.”

Traditionally weight lifting and the martial arts have not gone hand in hand.  Due to the dogmatic nature of martial arts training, exercising with weights has been thought to hinder the development of one’s technique. By building larger, slower muscles the martial artist prevents himself from delivering an accurate, lightning fast strike when the opportunity presents itself.

In the coming weeks this blog will examine different weightlifting routines and discuss the different benefits and outcomes. In addition, I will also tell the story of my experiences preparing a martial artist to lift in an Olympic weightlifting contest.

If weight training is examined from the perspective of body building, as is often the case in North America, this holds true. I always think back to the body building documentary Pumping Iron featuring the head to head showdown between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno (or Conan the Barbarian vs the Incredible Hulk) for the 1975 Mr. Universe contest; in particular, the scene where Schwarzenegger is trying to run out of the water onto the beach through the surf.  His awkward, loping stride is a perfect example of how weight training can impair athletic performance.

On the other hand, you have Bruce Lee. If not the best Lee is certainly one of the most famous martial artists the world has known. Lee made weight training a cornerstone of his training regime without sacrificing speed, power or flexibility.

Let’s compare the weekly lifting schedules of Schwarzenegger and Lee:

Arnold’s Routine according to http://www.trulyhuge.com/news/tips63jb.htm

Lee’s Routine according to http://www.mikementzer.com/blee.html

The major differences that are apparent when we compare these routines are volume and exercise selection.  We will examine these and other factors, in greater detail later. For now I think it should be understood that anyone other than a sponsored professional bodybuilder would have enough time to complete Schwarzenegger’s routine each day. A martial artist attempting to copy this routine would have no time or strength left to practice any technical aspects of their art (kata, pad and bag drills, or sparring).

The following posts will look more critically at the two routines.

We are pleased to announce that starting October 15th, classes will be on Saturdays offered at 14:30.

This came to us from one of our first members. She has been with AikiFit since we opened in April.

“Aikifit is an intense but fun way to get fit.  I have been attending the classes regularly because each day has different exercises so it was not boring and good stress reliever.  The exercises are challenging at first, and eventually, you can do it and push some more.  The classes started with twice a week and after the 1st 10 sessions, I was able to lose 10 lbs (and one dress size-so I can wear some of my clothes I stopped wearing), and some people in the office (and some friends) started to notice (and this really boosts my self-confidence).  Unfortunately, most of my friends live and work outside Toronto (and because of schedule constraints), so they can’t come and try the class with me.  Now that there are 3 classes per week, I will be attending all classes so I can reach my next goal (of losing the next 20).  Last but not the least, the instructor also motivates us in a positive way, not like a mean drill sergeant you typically see in a fitness boot camp.  He attends to each of his students who need help in executing the exercise or correcting the form.
So, thanks a lot to you and Aikifit ”

As of this writing, she has made the crossover from AikiFit to Aikido and is training with her son.

Way to go!

Genesis

AikiFit is the brainchild of Greg Angus and Jesse Brown, two long-time practitioners of several martial arts disciplines.

Greg Angus is a godan (5^th-degree black belt) and chief instructor at Naka Ima Aikikai www.nakaima.ca .  Greg has practiced martial arts for over 30 years and is also a yondan (4^th-degree) in karate. At 13, he began his martial arts training in Karate, a discipline he pursued throughout his high school and university years. In 1986, upon completing his graduate degree in Fine Arts, Greg traveled to Japan to further his Karate studies. Once there, Greg encountered Aikido and immediately began his practice at the Hombu Dojo in Tokyo. His Aikido training continued throughout his 10 years in Japan, primarily under the direction of Endo Shihan.

Jesse Brown is a nidan (2^nd degree black belt) in aikido and shodan (1^st degree) in Iaido. He has also studied kick boxing, karate, kung fu and boxed competitively in high school. He also spent several years in Japan, training intensively, though under a different instructor, Shimamoto Katsuyuki Shihan. Upon returning to Canada, Jesse enrolled at Canadore College and studied Strength Conditioning under the guidance of Larry Sheppard.

Greg and Jesse got together hoping to create a bridge between traditional martial arts and modern sport conditioning adaptations. They had two specific goals in mind:

1) make aikido more accessible to people put off by the acrobatic flipping and falling aikido is famous for

2)  use sport conditioning to improve the health and extend the careers of practicing martial artists.

AikiFit is that bridge.

There will be no classes on Friday May 20 as I will be  attending a seminar in Montreal.

I hope everyone a good May 24th weekend.

See you next week.