More than just Duck Walks …
Dmitry Klokov shows Overhead Duck Jumps.
I assume that just like Overhead Duck Walks, these are a great hip opener and also good for getting comfortable in the bottom position of the Snatch and build stability.
Update: He did 140 reps of those with 40kg in 23 minutes.
Update 02.05.2014: A variation with BTN Presses in between jumps.
Perfect…this will create some awesome YouTube videos of new lifters dropping bars on their neck and cracking their skill open. Can’t wait
Skull
It’s okay. That’s how you learn to work on flexibility and pressing the bar. I’ve dropped 135 lbs on my head before. You learn real quick….
Exactly, was about to say the same. Crossfit fail compilation coming soon. Wonder if they’ll be trademarking hard hats as crossfit gear…
Back to serious mode: old exercise, simple barbell jump variation with barbell in snatch squat position. Good for preparatory period, nothing more than basic GPP and hip loosening. 25-30% of max snatch or less (rkite has a point), emphasis on fluid transition between jumps.
I think its important to remember that for most this should be done with no weight. Klokov obviously snatches close to 200kg, but is using 50kg! Thats 25% of his best lift. Obviously this is for demonstration purposes but I doubt he would use much more then this.
I know the chinese do duck WALKS with no weight as a warm-up also
Tried it out today but hopped up and down instead of forward.
I felt it open up my hips more and got a great stretch.
Performed with just the bar.
This reminds me of the 72 documentary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOEWUsM9KqQ
The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming!
Emergency, Emergency…Everyone To Get From Street!
I hope Dmitry and The Usual Suspects have a great time here in the US, make good money, and make good connections with Coach and the CF HQ staff. If the come any where in Texas I will be there.
I hope that the US weightlifting can learn something from them. The Russians have owned the Platform for a long time.
I am glad that CF helped save weightlifting in the US.
Russians are smart and are trying to capitalize on the quick buck opportunity that CF represents. Just that. Business.
As for saving WL in the US or any part of the world for that matter…WL was there before CF ever existed and will be there after CF goes away. It is not a fast-food-workout (FFW) concept that is going to save it.
The physical and psychological demands of WL make it an elite sport and that will not change. As big (commercially) as CF is right now, 99% of the people who do it are just after the quick thrill/flavour-of-the-month and will be out in no time.
WL has much higher recruitment potential in PL and SM.
Words about the concepts and politics only. Not in any way trying to diss hard-working CF’ers. But elite WL is 2-3 training sessions a day, 6-7 days a week, injuries and discipline of steel. Whole different ballgame.
Wrong. Especially when it comes to female lifters. I mean how many 17 year old females do you think are dreaming about standing on a podium lifting heavy ass weights in a singlet ?
They come in contact with the barbell at CF-gyms and transition into OL. It happens all the time now. OL-coaches can finally earn some money in teaching CF:ers which means they can spend more money on educating themselves and travel getting more experienced.
We will probably not have a world champion in OL coming from CF ever but what I am saying is that CF brings OL into the open making it more available to everyone and even at dinners some couples can finally ask the other couple “How much ya Snatch ?” 😉
Wrong? How so?
I agree that CF can bring WL coaches some extra money and this extra income can be put to good use. And I surely agree that WL will benefit from the increased exposure. And that bringing WL lifts to the general public is a good thing (I guess we all do agree on this point).
There are technical issues worthy of consideration, though: the technique level of CF’ers doing WL, even when instructed by “qualified professionals”, is mediocre at best. Having such “brilliant” ideas (lunatic if you ask any serious WL coach) as high-rep snatches to failure and the like further aggravates technical inconsistencies.
I also believe you when you say that there are lots of people transitioning from CF into WL. But, when they really find out what WL is all about – i.e., if they’re serious about it – they will transition right back or move on to the next flavour-of-the-month group fest.
So, while CF may bring WL some money, it will hardly bring in any competitive athletes, let alone champions.
And while people can say that bringing money in is the most important thing, I beg to differ: in my opinion the most important thing that must be done – in order to save WL in the US – is a change of attitude and mentality.
In Russia (and Eastern Europe in general, and many other countries) there are athletes training with rusty, bent old barbells, no heating, no showers, no nothing. Sometimes they have to walk 30-60 mins to get there. Sometimes they get home after a 2-3 hour workout and all they have to eat is a modest supper, no supplements or “grass-fed” beef. And yet they produce results much superior to those in the U.S. Why? It’s not anabolics as many like to say. It’s just mental toughness and work ethic.
You sir are naive if you believe that the only thing that needs to change to make WL in the US successful is a change in attitude and mentality. Money and economics play a major role in any sport becoming mainstream or having an available talent pool to choose from. And lastly thinking that anabolics don’t play a role in any strength sport at the elite level again shows a disconnect from the reality.
I advise you to re-read my post before using such words as “naive” or “disconnect from reality”.
I didn’t say that the only thing that is needed [in order for WL to be successful in the US] is a change of mentality and attitude. I said that it is the most important thing, and I stand by what I said.
Economics and investment are extremely important, of course. But when you travel the world over seeing weightlifting gyms in many countries [some of which we could estimate invest more into weightlifting than the US] and the conditions [or lack thereof] some international-level athletes have available, you will quickly realize that there’s really more to it than just pouring dollars at the sport. To put it more bluntly, there are olympic medalists and world championships winners training in conditions much inferior to those that US amateurs have at their disposal. Please refer to ATG’s articles on how Ilin or Aryamnov live, or the recent tour of the Taganrog WL academy. See how they live. And these people are the best in the world at what they do.
The talent pool argument is a non-issue as well. People can cry all they want about how all the best athletes go on to football or T&F and all weightlifting gets is leftovers. It doesn’t work that way. Even if you subtract all these supposed talents [it is still just speculation to assume that these football/T&F superstars would come in and crush everybody in WL – I for one don’t buy it at all], there’s still plenty of athletes to choose from, surely much more than in some countries which outperform the US by several orders of magnitude.
Lastly, nowhere did I say that anabolics do not play any role at the high levels of strength sports. Anabolics are extremely important, some would/could say crucial, for success at elite level. What I said is that anabolics is not what makes the Russians/Chinese/Bulgarians/[insert country] better than the US athletes. Doping in the US goes on as much as it does in Russia or any part of the world (refer for example to the BALCO process). And yes, I am having in mind the rigours of the resident-athlete anti-doping control program when I say this.
So, sir, if you think that US WL would reign supreme (or at least fare much better) were it to have chinese-like investment and talent pooling and russian-like doping programs, it’s you who are naive and disconnected from reality. Even if all these conditions were met, the difference would probably be marginal.
In my humble opinion, one of the things that must be addressed urgently is training methodology in the US. This methodology, as most things in life, is a consequence of social and moral values, and of course several other variables. As mentioned above, there’s a generalized lack of work ethic and mental toughness.
I agree with you to some point on the topic of training philosophy/modality needing to evolve in the US as compared to other parts of the world with regards to WL and strength development for the sport. But we are still on very different pages when it comes to the economics for progressing the sport. I agree that in the US training facilities are far more “advanced/comfortable” than in other parts of the world but this is not where I believe money should be invested in. The cost of living in the US is definitely higher than it is in other countries and this drives potential athletes away from pursuing the sport full time. I have had the opportunity to live and train in several countries (US, Europe and Latin America) and the fortitude and mental strength of elite athletes is very similar in nature yet the living conditions that you are put in greatly varies. It is very easy to fully concentrate on training when you know that $25 will get you through the week without any problems what so ever but not so much when that same amount won’t even get you more than 3 meals in a day. The socio-economical conditions/status play a huge role and this is where I believe the economic effort should be invested in.
You make an interesting point. Full state support for elite athletes is a must, in my opinion. Top athletes get a room/house, a car or similar, a monthly salary which allows them to support their family, and other essential commodities. This surely contributes to peace of mind and to better focus on the training process.
On the other hand, if we look for example at how Ilin lives (this was an official newspiece and, as such, will hardly be 100% accurate or faithful to truth), the conditions are still very modest by US standards. So the basic model for athlete state support that we see working in Eastern Europe or Latin America or Asia would definitely have to undergo major changes before being deployed in the US. Otherwise there’s just so much more money to be made in other easier sports or even non-sport jobs that WL will hardly have any appeal to the american dollar-oriented mentality. But what is the government to do? Pour NFL or NBA-like dollars into the best WL athletes? A difficult question.
We also cannot forget that the elite athletes in WL (or any given sport) are 1% (more or less) of the total number of athletes training and working hard to pay the bills. Most elite athletes spend a good deal of their formative years in sub-par conditions (remember, for example, the Klokov story about the basement) and only at a later stage have access to optimum/better standards. In other words, “elite” living standards come after becoming elite, and not the other way around. So the reason why there is an Aryamnov or a Ilin is that there are thousands of quasi-Aryamnovs and quasi-Ilins trying hard to get to the top, maybe working 2 jobs/nights as a doorman in order to pay for extra supplements/meals/medications. The tougher and most gifted ultimately make it, the rest gets left behind, but the truth is that the champions wouldn’t be where they are were it not for the tough competition in sub-par conditions.
Having said this, when you have a full-fledged state system in effect, such as in China (the Russian one still has much to go to recover its former power), things are definitely different in that there are better conditions and orientation from the start. This undoubtedly plays a role in the Chinese WL success.
When the USSR fell apart, even (some, not all, depends on sport and federation) elite athletes were left with no source of income and had to work hard to support their families. Many quit. Many depended on help from patrons (see the Pisarenko interview at the Chidlovski website). But many still made it to the olympics and worlds and still – albeit not in the same scale as before – delivered results. Even when the system crashed.
As you may know, Russia and Ukraine are the top nations in Powerlifting (IPF, the serious one), and the number of state-supported athletes is minimal. The great Belyaev, for example, one of the best powerlifters of all time, has to work hard at a regular job to support his family. And he still delivers. Some Russian superheavies with elite totals are working as bouncers at night to be able to pay for the training, plus regular jobs during the day.
So, while economics is definitely very important, there’s much more to it than that.
Anyway, I appreciate the good and civilized discussion. It’s a rarity nowadays. Cheers.
Now we are in agreement. Elite athletes will always find a way to raise to the top and the purported benefits should come after they have proven themselves not just because they can possibly prove themselves. To the victor goes the spoils.
And yes I know that there are multiple top world ranking athletes that have a “normal” life with work yet they find the way to train and be competitive at an elite level.
But unfortunately I don’t think that the US is at a point were WL is so highly respected that just the pride of being involved in the sport is enough to carry it through.
“Anyway, I appreciate the good and civilized discussion. It’s a rarity nowadays. Cheers.”
You are welcomed and thank you back for the same.