Heading Into the Pre-Competition Cycle

THE TAKANO ATHLETICS NEWSLETTER

Vol. 4, No. 10

May 15, 2011

THE TAKANO ATHLETICS NEWSLETTER VOL. 4, No. 10
This free newsletter is to inform you of events, and thoughts regarding the training of weightlifters and the incorporation of the Olympics lifts and their derivatives into the training of athletes.

HEADING INTO THE PRE-COMPETITION CYCLE

During this first year of training a new group of athletes at Crossfit High Voltage, the yearly calendar has been fairly neatly divided into cycles or periods that has made the planning of training fairly easy. I started with this group on January 2, 2011 and we spent the first month getting to know each other and cleaning up little technical problems.

We entered a meet at Crossfit Monrovia on January 22 to get some idea of how we’re going to deal with competitions, and then we got a semi-peak for March 12, the first PHAT Elvis High Voltage competition. >From that point we decided that the next peak would come in three months on June 4. This would give us two months of prep cycle, and one of pre-comp. For those of you who’d like to follow along and see how that training has been going, you can see the exact workouts we’ve been using by going to the blog page at www.takanoathletics.com. The March 14 workouts start with Free Weightlifting Training Program 150.

Last week’s pre-comp training saw Lindsey Valenzuela hit this PR power snatch of 72.

Most of the prep work has been based on the old Soviet type training. The Pre-comp training which started last week with Program 158, is pretty much Soviet with a Bulgarian twist. The goal of the whole cycle is for everyone to hit PR’s on June 4th.

Now the way that I learned how to write workouts was basically to steal them from knowledgeable sources and then try them out on whatever group of athletes I was coaching at the time. I kept track of what worked and what didn’t work as well and then tweaked them until I could figure out how to write effective training myself.

You’ve got a weekly workout posted on my blog page every weekend that you can apply to your athletes, and find out how they work. By the way, they all work. The tweaking just makes them more individualized and adds a kilo or two here or there.

The next cycle will start after June 4 with the plan of peaking at the California State Games on August 10, and then the next cycle will be for the Americans in early December.

COACHING EDUCATION — some responses In response to last month’s items on coaching education, some replies came in that helped to clarify the problem, if not offering a clear solution. The points that were clear were:

Weekend clinics only serve as an introductory experience, but may in fact empower some individuals to begin coaching beyond their level of expertise.

There is some knowledge of coaching available, but it still needs to be “brought to life” by an internship or some mentorship.

A structured educational approach with some type of clinical or practicum as a culminating activity would be one possibility.

Some distance coaching would have to be a part of the answer as there are not enough knowledgeable coaches to provide localized instruction
or mentorship.

I’d definitely like to keep this discussion going as it provides me with some direction as to how coaching information might be more readily dispensed. At the moment I’m in the progress of writing a book on program planning, and developing a multi-media course on coaching. Any further input would help greatly on the development of both these projects.

P.H.A.T. ELVIS HIGH VOLTAGE LAST CHANCE QUALIFIER — Register on line Everything is in place to enable our local meets to move forward with a little more efficiency and a higher level of audience satisfaction.

First Point: The meet will be conducted in two sessions with the results from the two being combined to determine the ultimate placings.

The first session will weigh-in at 8:00 AM and lift at 10:00 AM. It will be composed of lifters who have NOT equaled nor exceeded the following totals:

Class II Totals: Women:
48 Kg–85,
53 Kg–95,
58 Kg–105,
63 Kg–110,
69 Kg–115,
75 Kg–120,
+75 Kg–125

Class II Total: Men:
56 Kg–135,
62 Kg–155,
69 Kg–170,
77 Kg–185,
85 Kg–195,
94 Kg–205,
105 Kg–215,
+105 Kg–220.

If you have equaled or exceeded these totals, you will weigh in at 11:00 AM and lift at 1:00 PM.

Second Point: THERE WILL BE NO WALK-UP ENTRIES! All entries must be filed and paid for via internet at WeightliftingEvents.Com. You will need to open an account with them, and register no later than May 21, 2011. All you need to do to register is go to http://weightliftingevents.com/. There will be only 50 slots open, and seven have already registered. I had a great phone conversation the other day with WeightliftingEvents.com proprietor Peter Haas, and we seem to be on the same page as far as streamlining much of the logistical aspects of putting on a meet, so as to allow more energy to be devoted to the actual production of the competition.

We’re planning to make this an exceptional event, especially since several of our local lifters will be attempting to put up totals that will qualify them for the National Championships. Leading the way in all probability will be the winners of our American Record Makers, Lindsey Valenzuela and Anthony Pomponio. I look for both of them to turn in outstanding performances. It will also mark the use of some competition bumpers provided by the LWC. Danny McDermott, the LWC President, has decided to leave some bumpers with us to eventually serve as the competition bumpers for the northern part of the LWC.

If you plan on lifting, sign up soon and get your friends and family members to plan on attending.

BOB ALEJO IS NOW ASSISTANT ATHLETICS DIRECTOR OF STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING

Apparently some time when I wasn’t looking some university athletic programs have raised the position of head strength and conditioning coach to Assistant Athletics Director of Strength and Conditioning. One of those is North Carolina State University who just hired veteran S & C coach Bob Alejo away from the Oakland Athletics. Big Congratulations to Bob!

This is definitely a greater recognition and respect for the task of strength and conditioning. It means that more of the folks calling the shots are gaining a recognition of the importance of strength and conditioning in a serious sports program. They definitely got a good one in Bob who’s had experience with 23 different sports while at UCLA. He’s coached Olympic beach volleyball gold medalists Todd Rodgers and Phil Dalhausser, and the aforementioned Oakland Athletics in two different stints.

For more on Bob’s thoughts and approaches, you can listen to the interview I conducted with him on the [ downloads page ( http://www.takanoathletics.com/index.php?option=3Dcom_content&view=3Darticle&id=3D100&Itemid=3D241) ] at www.takanoathletics.com.

FORMER USA WEIGHTLIFTING COACH DRAGOMIR CIROSLAN SERVES AS PANELIST AT OLYMPIC SOLIDARITY COACHING COURSE

Recently 19 coaches graduated from the International Coaching Enrichment Certification Program (ICECP), a collaboration between the IOC, the USOC, and the University of Delaware. The May 3 graduation saw 19 coaches from 19 different countries and 8 different sports certified in a variety of proficiencies related to sports coaching.

One of the participants in the final day’s panel was former U.S.A. Weightlifting Coach, Dragomir Ciroslan. He is currently a member of the USOC’s International Relations Department and serves as a vice-President of the International Weightlifting Federation.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

2009 World Champion Nazik Avdalyan was released from a hospital in Armenia and is now walking. She suffered a spinal fracture and bone marrow injury in an automobile accident on April 26th. It is too early to determine whether she will be able to resume her athletic career.

The 2011 Youth World Championships just concluded in Lima, Peru. The women’s team title was won by Russia with 480 points, followed closely by China with 476 and in third place was Mexico with 462. Team USA finished in 7th. China chose to bring only 6 lifters instead of the full 7, and thus was beaten by Russia. The only world records were set by Nadezhda Nogaj of Kazakstan in the +69 category with lifts of 121 snatch and 151 clean & jerk for a 272 total. She also had the highest Sinclair Rating of the competition. The Men’s Team title was also won by Russia with 598. Colombia was second with 517 and China third with 488. Team USA finished in 8th place. Hao Jiang of China established world records of 100 snatch, 121 clean & jerk and 221 total in the 50 kg class. Alexey Kosov of Russia snatched 172 for a new record in the 94 kg class. To get full results download the Results Book for the event at the iwf.net ( http://www.iwf.net ) website.

Josue Cano noticed that I listed Arayik Mirzoyan as the silver medalist in the 85 kg class at the Europeans in my last newsletter, when in fact it was Apti Aukhadov. Thanks to Jose for spotting the error.

1980 Olympic Gold Medalist Yurik Vardanyan was recently discharged from the hospital on May 13. The reason for his hospitalization was not clear.

CALENDAR

The PHAT Elvis High Voltage Last Chance Qualifier will take place on June 4, 2011 at Crossfit High Voltage in Burbank. Class III and under will lift at 10:00 AM, and Class II and above will lift at 1:00 PM. Only 50 berths available. Register at WeightliftingEvents.com ( http://weightliftingevents.com/register/?regevent_action=3Dregister&event_=id=3D13 ). The entry deadline is May 21. No late entries! No exceptions!

NSCA National Conference. I’ve been notified that I’ll be speaking at this summer’s NSCA National conference in Las Vegas at the Paris Hotel. The topic will be The Determination and Planning of Long Term Strength and Conditioning Training Based on the Training of Weightlifters. It’s scheduled for 1:00 PM on July 9th. Hope to see you all there! For more details go to http://nsca-lift.org/.

The USA National Championships will take place in Council Bluffs, Iowa from July 15th to the 17th. See you there!

California State Games and State Games of America will be held at the Town and Country Resort in San Diego, CA on Sunday, August 7, 2011. This will be the first time that the State Games of America will be contested in California. It will involve the State Games Champions of each state competing against each other. Join the PHAT Elvis
Weightlifting Club for this meet in sunny San Diego! On line registration at www.calstategames.org. See you there!

WHAT’S NEW

I ran into Dave Miller at the Orange Lutheran meet last weekend in the O.C. Dave has just recently moved to the San Diego area and will be active in our LWC. Dave has long been one of the most active coaches and weightlifting enthusiasts in the country. Looking forward to collaborations in the future. Great to have you on board, Dave!

The Derrick Crass interview took place just as soon as I sent off the last newsletter to my web guy. I had a great time talking to Derrick and we touched on a number of interesting topics. To hear this conversation just go to Downloads at www.takanoathletics.com, and get a great perspective from a top level lifter. Derrick’s 3 articles on training with blocks are also posted on the [ downloads page ( http://www.takanoathletics.com/index.php?option=3Dcom_phocadownload&view=3Dcategory&id=3D2:instructional-articles&Itemid=3D192 ) ].

The LA Fitness Expo and American Record Makers were the topic of discussion during a phone conference between the organizers and Danny McDermott and myself. They loved the weightlifting competition and are eager to include it again as well as expand it to include a junior division. Keep checking the newsletter for future details as they become available. This event should be even bigger and better than it was in 2011. The date will be the January 28, 29 weekend, the weekend between the Conference Championships and the Super Bowl if there is an NFL season!

FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK! “Like” the Takano Athletics page on Facebook and get the latest announcements and blogs as they come up!!! You can sign up for my blogs at Networked Blogs from your Facebook home page. You can go to Networked blogs for the links to the latest blogs.

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER. Follow Bob Takano for short tweets. You will receive inks to my blogs as they are posted.

FEEL FREE TO DISTRIBUTE THIS FREE NEWSLETTER TO ANY INTERESTED PARTIES YOU MIGHT KNOW!

POST ANY TRAINING QUESTIONS ON THE FORUM AT FORUM.TAKANOATHLETICS.COM

TRAIN HARD AND COACH HARD AND SMART!

Copyright 2011 Robert Takano / Takano Athletics ( http://www.takanoathletics.com/ ). All rights reserved. // Contact Us ( http://www.takanoathletics.com/index.php?option=3Dcom_contact&view=3Dcontact&id=3D1&Itemid=3D220 )