Results for “bill starr”

Can you get stronger during your sport’s season? Bill Starr says yes and tells you how to do it.

Strength training currently plays a critical role at every level of athletics, from junior high schools to the professional ranks. Yet, some of us who have been associated with strength training for some time recall all too vividly that this was not always the case.

As recently as the late ’60s, some coaches… Continue Reading

At this video filmed at CrossFit Invictus, Coach Mike Burgener explains why he has athletes jerk from behind the neck.

“Forces me to go straight up. My elbows are where automatically? They’re down. They’re already externally rotated. And I can just really drive the heck out of ’em,” he says. “But the reason that I give my athletes jerk behind the neck is because of confidence.”

Casey, one of Burgener’s sons, could clean… Continue Reading

Good mornings can be done in an infinite number of ways and with several implements, says Shane Sweatt of Westside Barbell. During this CrossFit Powerlifting Trainer Course at Integrated Fitness, a CrossFit box that does sport-specific training just outside Pittsburgh, he begins by talking about good mornings with a safety-squat bar.

“We can do them seated, we can do them standing,” he says as his wife, elite powerlifter Laura… Continue Reading

Bill Starr explains how to incorporate isontonics and isometrics into your strength program.

The isometric concept was the brainchild of Dr. John Ziegler, a general practitioner from Olney, Md., who specialized in physical rehabilitation.

Isometrics, along with the more advanced combination of isotonics-isometrics, swept across the country almost overnight. Then in the mid-’60s, the isotonics/isometrics bubble exploded. Word had finally leaked out that… Continue Reading

For improving jumping, explosiveness and overall athleticism, Westside Barbell’s Shane Sweatt likes training from the seated or kneeling positions.

During this CrossFit Powerlifting seminar at Integrated Fitness, a CrossFit box that does sport-specific training just outside Pittsburgh, Sweatt begins with seated box jumps. To properly execute the movement, the feet come up and are driven into the ground, the chest stays up, and the arms come back and… Continue Reading

Bill Starr offers up an air-superiority program based around squats and calf raises.

Being able to jump high is a great advantage in so many sports. After watching the NCAA basketball tournament, I am always impressed at how the men soar in the air. They not only climb ridiculously high, but they also seem to have the ability to hit a second gear and shoot up another few inches when they need… Continue Reading

In this video, Dan Sturm of CrossFit Johns Creek is doing the so-called jerk and split.

“What he’s working right now is just catching the jerk in the split position,” explains Caleb Williams, head coach at CrossFit Gwinnett in Buford, Ga. As a 69-kg lifter, Williams placed second at the 2008 Olympic trials for weightlifting. He was also a member of the U.S. world and Pan American teams.

During Olympic-lifting workouts… Continue Reading

For amateur athletes aiming to gain strength, seven-day programming is simple, says CrossFit Football’s Ben Oliver.

On Day 1, it’s squats, presses and running. On Day 2, it’s deadlifts and max pull-ups. On Day 3, rest. Day 4 is squats again, plus bench presses and running. On Day 5, do power cleans and max chin-ups. Take two days off and repeat.

Following this easy formula is key to newbies getting stronger, Oliver says. But it’s not without… Continue Reading

Bill Starr explains why all lifters should do deadlifts. Then he explains how you should do them.

It seems that there are two distinct schools of thought when it comes to deadlifts. On one hand, there are those who believe that the lift is a necessary part of the process of getting stronger, while another group of coaches and athletes shun them altogether, stating that the slow movement does not carry over to… Continue Reading

You can push jerk more than you can push press, and you can push press more than you can shoulder press. No secret there.

But did you know that most can push press roughly 30 percent more than they can shoulder press and push jerk roughly 30 percent more than they can push press? So says CrossFit Founder and CEO Greg Glassman.

Although not an obvious core-to-extremity movement, the shoulder press requires midline stabilization, says HQ trainer… Continue Reading

Professional New Zealand rugby player Owen Franks dedicates a portion of his training to Olympic weightlifting. His coach: Lee Attrill of Weightlifting Canterbury.

“I like to train for sport, train for competitions and compete internationally at high levels,” says Attrill, a strength coach and former Olympic lifter.

In this video, Franks, who plays for the New Zealand All Blacks, begins his day with a 90-minute morning session of… Continue Reading

Bill Starr explains how to plan strength work for maximum gains.

If a program for beginners is fundamentally sound and they get in their workouts consistently and put lots of effort into them, they will make progress.

The very best program for beginners is one that gives equal attention to the three major muscle groups: shoulder girdle, back, and hips and legs. Gains come quickly and steadily, and if the athletes are… Continue Reading

Bill Starr says a logbook and a calculator can help you avoid strength plateaus and keep your numbers marching upward.

When my strength gains hit the wall, my first thought was that I was doing too much, so I cut back on the number of exercises I was doing in a workout. That made matters worse, so I reversed the procedure and added in yet more work. That didn’t work either.

I… Continue Reading

Bill Starr on what bench pressing can do for athletes in any sport—even Olympic weightlifting.

The bench press has always been a part of the routines for bodybuilders and strength athletes. It’s an easy exercise to learn and do and takes a minimum of equipment.

When I first embarked on my guest for greater size and strength, I wanted to include bench presses in my routine. Later, I became interested in the… Continue Reading

When Kulsoom Abdullah found CrossFit Atlanta several years ago, it was her desire to learn the Olympic lifts that brought her there.

“I had the drive. I really wanted to learn lifting, and I really wanted to go do it,” she says.

She either ignored the stares or tried to be assertive and talk to people. But not all women are like that, notes Abdullah, who last year became the first woman to lift in sanctioned U.S… Continue Reading

Find out what it’s like to train with 2009 CrossFit Games champion Mikko Salo and Dan Bailey, first-place finisher in the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games Open, as filmmaker Sevan Matossian captures their training in preparation for the 2012 Games season.

In Part 6, Salo and Bailey hit ring dips ... with a weighted vest, of course. Interestingly, Salo feels the effects of the dips more in his triceps, while Bailey says it’s his chest that… Continue Reading

Join Shane Sweatt and Laura Phelps-Sweatt of Westside Barbell as they demonstrate bench-press set-up and technique. Phelps-Sweatt’s best bench is an incredible 530 lb.

The first cue Sweatt has Phelps-Sweatt demonstrate is to set her shoulders back in their sockets, pinching her shoulder blades behind her so her shoulders are well supported to reduce the risk of injury. She gets under the bar and lifts it to hold it over her chest, not her… Continue Reading

The individual PDF articles published in November 2011 are collected here in a single download.

The video and audio articles are not contained in the PDF.

The articles included here are:

Keeping Kids Corralled - Martin
The Kitchen WOD - Massie
“I WOD for Ted Hoyt” - Goodson
Climbing the Urban Jungle - Ford
Breakfast Pizza - Brown/Dazet
Bearing the Standards - Tucker/Hyland
New Jersey Gets Nasty - Achauer
In Service to Their Country - Wagner
Run, Baby, Run! - Achauer
Talking a Good Game… Continue Reading

Bill Starr explains how to sensibly integrate limit lifts into a strength program.

There are definitely two schools of thought in terms of doing singles in a strength routine. Some coaches believe athletes shouldn’t do them at all because they pose a much higher risk of injury than higher reps.

I’m very much in favor of utilizing singles in any strength program, and this includes programs for females and young athletes. Older… Continue Reading

This video series provides a fresh look at skill-transfer exercises and midline stability, combining the powers of Kelly Starrett and gymnast Carl Paoli. Both San Francisco CrossFit coaches add their expertise to refine basic CrossFit movements with the aim of improving power output.

In Part 7, Paoli demonstrates the ring dip. The same “turning out” used for the bar dip in Part 6 adds external rotation, torque and stability to the shoulder in the… Continue Reading