Category Archives: Thoughts

Thoughts

Gambling vs. Investing: Part II My Journey

In Part I, I discussed the importance of investing in yourself by getting a good coach to guide you.  Now, I’d like to expand on the topic with my personal experience.  Let’s go back a bit for some perspective.

When I was a kid, I was active, but rarely trained in a gym. When I was about 18 years old, I hurt my back.  Being young, I dealt with the pain until it went away about a month later.  Four years after that, I was in a great deal of pain related to that injury. After six months of chiropractic care, I was on a better path.  The big takeaway from the doctor was to exercise to strengthen my core to hold my spine in line and to stretch my notoriously tight hamstrings so that they wouldn’t pull my lower back out – everything affects everything else.  Over those first few years, I worked out following what I would read in bodybuilding type books (The Poliquin Principles was priceless).  Eventually, someone at work got me to try Powerlifting.  By that point, I had taught myself decent form between what I read in magazines and some VHS tapes.  Ken Leistner and Louie Simmons were early influences in my development as a powerlifter.  Louie Simmons was a big proponent of variety in training.  That’s what lead me to want to try Olympic Weightlifting.

I knew I stood a better chance at learning weightlifting properly if I had a coach.  This was a far more technical sport.  I was very lucky to be referred to National Coach, Jim Hanlon.  From the beginning of my weightlifting journey, I had a great coach and soon to be friend.  With Jim giving me a proper foundation, I excelled as a weightlifter.  This same foundation has served me well as a coach.  Now, all these years later, I still compete in the Master’s division.  Although, we’re talking about an older crowd, don’t sell them short.  There is some phenomenal talent in the Master’s that includes former Olympians and national team members from many countries.  Your “A” game is required.

I had a break in the action around the time my son was born.  After some years, I saw that my buddy, David Miller broke a couple of Master’s records.  That friendly rivalry got me back in the action.  So here I am years later.  My coaching evolved to starting my own team and moving into a great gym as we’ve expanded (props to our extended family – Locomotive Fitness Co).  As I’ve continued competing, I’ve coached myself.  With nagging little injuries, I found myself in a place where I knew I needed help.  I needed objectivity.  My first step was to go to a great PT.  Again, serendipity has smiled upon me as I’ve worked with Justin Feldman and Ashley Witson of Feldman Physical Therapy. Here they helped me to identify my weaknesses and gave me a path to taking care of that part of my problem.  My next step was to get a coach again.  I had to choose someone else who I could vibe with that I knew would be a remote coach.  This was a really tough decision.  I’m fortunate to know quite a few really good coaches.  Without getting into all of my internal deliberations on the matter, I chose a friend and fellow NY Coach Steve Titus.

I am very happy with my decision.  We have great communication and similar philosophies.  When he points out something, I know deep down, he’s right.  I might have made the same call in the past, or I might have ignored it and pushed forward, sliding backward.  Now, this relationship has renewed my motivation and in a couple of months together, we’re seeing real progress. Sometimes, to get where you want to go, you must recognize that you shouldn’t do it alone.  Get the right support, whether it be a coach, PT, chiropractor, nutritionist… whatever you need to move forward.  Find the support team that works for YOU.  Stop gambling and start investing.

Thoughts

Gambling vs. Investing: Wise up Snapperneck

Part I

You may have heard the phrase, “Playing lotto is not a financial plan.”  It makes sense, right?  So why do people still gamble?  Maybe it’s the thrill.  Maybe it’s laziness and simply a poorly planned shortcut.  It can be both.  What does this have to do with weightlifting?

Look at it this way.  Gambling is working out without a plan, or possibly making the plan yourself.  Investing is finding the right person to program for you.  There are some who can write a program for themselves that are quite successful at it.  I believe these are outliers.  I’ve been coaching for many years and have written programs for myself that did help me to improve.  But, was my training optimal?  Despite being a DIY guy, I’ve come to terms with the knowledge that I shouldn’t do everything for myself.  Look at it this way.  If you’re in a relationship, your emotions and ego cloud your thinking and there’s a good chance you’re going to misread something and approach a problem the wrong way.  However, you can objectively look at your friend’s relationship and see exactly what they may be doing wrong.  That objective perspective is priceless.  You may have heard the saying, “A man who represents himself in court has a fool for a lawyer.”  The same goes for coaching.

Here’s where the investment comes in.  I don’t mean the cost involved in working with a good coach. Although, you should recognize the value a good coach will bring to your life.  I’m talking about “buy in.”  This is about investing your time, your effort, and most importantly your trust in your coach.  Trust that your coach has your best interest at heart and sees what you need to keep you on a successful path.  Once you’ve established that trust, now you need to put in the time and effort to make this partnership work.  The Coach/Athlete relationship is a partnership with the goal of making the athlete better.  A perfect program (if that unicorn exists), is useless if the athlete doesn’t believe in it.  If you don’t believe in what you’re doing, how much effort do you really put into it?

Ok, you’ve listened. You’ve found a great coach. Now what?  Communicate!  Your coach needs to know what’s going on in your head, not just what they see.  They should be doing their best to explain what they want you to do.  You should be doing your best to let them know what you feel is working, not working, painful, mentally taxing, scary… Lifting can be more mental than physical.  Knowing where you are mentally, will help your coach properly prepare you to progress.

You want to be better, right?  Don’t gamble.  Invest!

News, Thoughts

Onward We Tread

This pandemic has thrown everyone into a bizarro world.  There are real concerns on every side with understandable  anxiety and fear for our welfare – physically, mentally, financially and for our friends and families.  One thing weightlifting has taught me is that through stress, we can come out of a situation stronger.  We may take a beating for a time, but we usually  come out of it in a better place mentally and physically.

For a time, we were scared of losing the gym – our sanctuary.  Thankfully, we’re still there. In fact, after some tough losses, we’re starting to grow again.  There is real excitement and a great communal vibe in the air. With reduced capacity, masks, etc., we are not only managing, we are starting to thrive again and it feels great.  I am very excited about our new members and our vets that continue to put in the work and improve regularly.

Many pundits were writing off gyms after they were closed for so long and people set up home gyms to keep lifting.  The fact is a home gym is great, but it doesn’t give you the communal vibe that training together does.  We are communal by nature and do better when we’re around others who support us, push us to be better than we sometimes allow ourselves to be.  There is an undeniable energy that’s shared in a good gym.  It’s a great feeling to be training and coaching in a great gym.  We’re not only blessed with our team’s synergy, we also vibe off our extended family – Locomotive Fitness Co.  Come on down and join us. Be part of our renaissance.

Thoughts

Lift With Intent

Lift with intent!

You may have heard this before. Approach your current lift with a commitment and an express decision to successfully complete the lift. This little nugget of wise advice goes far beyond your current rep. As an athlete, that intent needs to go beyond that immediate rep for long term success. You need that same level of commitment for the training session, training block, and so on. But it goes further than that. Are you intentionally preparing yourself for success as an athlete when you’re not in the gym? Are you prioritizing getting enough sleep, proper nutrition, doing what’s necessary for optimal recovery? Persistence is the necessary ingredient here. This is how we build great habits that pave the way to success. 

COACH WITH INTENT! 

Coaches program using immediate, short term & long term goals. I’ve found that coaching to the individual athlete yields far better results than a “cookie cutter” approach. So, from a coach’s perspective, I do my best to focus on what the individual athlete needs to successfully reach their goals. To truly optimize my approach and do the best I can for my athletes, it’s important to also continually educate myself to be a better coach. You can say that I coach with intent. I need to focus on what my athletes need right now with an eye on what seeds I need to plant for future growth. 

LIVE WITH INTENT!

These same principles apply to life in general. Think about what matters and don’t let yourself be distracted by negativity. Intentionally seek out positive, supportive people and focus your efforts on what’s important. Avoid distractions that take you off track and bring the focus back on what matters to you. Educate yourself – never stop learning. Always seek to improve. Re-evaluate where you’re at periodically & redirect yourself as necessary. 

Weightlifting is a process. Life is a journey. Live it with purpose. Live it with intent.

Thoughts

Why You Should Consider Becoming an Official

This weekend I tested out to become a USAW National Referee.  Why, you ask?  Well, in case it didn’t occur to you, without officials, there is no sanctioned competition.  I’ve enjoyed competing for many years and it’s important to recognize the efforts of the people who make it happen.

Over the years, I’ve gotten to know many officials and witnessed them working hard to make sure competitions are run right.  A few years ago, I noticed the strain this put on a relatively small group of people.  It sounds cool to be a National or International referee, but it does take a good deal of work to officiate at a competition – especially national competitions.  What makes it harder is the small pool of qualified officials to draw from.  This is what motivated me to step up and get my LWC Referee certification and now the National Referee certification.  Eventually, I hope to get to IWF Category 1 Referee, the highest level – able to officiate at the Olympics.

There are additional benefits to becoming certified.  For instance, having a better understanding of the rules of competition and the ins and outs of how a competition is run is a great benefit as a coach or a lifter.  I’ve seen plenty of coaches’ and lifters’ mistakes hurt the athlete’s performance due to a misunderstanding of the rules and procedures followed in competition.   Becoming a referee also enhances a coach’s eye – or a lifter’s eye. That is a huge benefit to aid in perfecting and maintaining proper technique.

Lastly, it’s important to give back.  This is a great sport and, overall, a very supportive community.  I encourage you – yes, you – to step up and join the ranks of technical officials – an integral piece that keeps the sport going.

Thoughts

A word on age

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As a master lifter (read.. older athlete), I can speak from experience when it comes to the benefits of weightlifting.  This applies to any physical endeavor – “use it or lose it” – is an absolute truism.  I recently had a good conversation on the subject with my good friend and awesome master lifter, Jim Storch.  Whatever minor aches and pains we get from pushing ourselves to excel in this sport at our age, it pales in comparison to the aches and pains we feel when we don’t workout.  More importantly, as we age we naturally lose bone density.  Numerous  studies have shown that strength training increases bone density at any age, even  if you never trained before.

That said, as you get older, an important part of training – recovery, becomes even more important.  Recovery includes rest, massage therapy (and derivatives), sauna, etc.  If you have a given injury, you need to rehab it and work around it.  “Pushing through” will only make matters worse.  This applies to any athlete, not just master athletes; however, our bodies are less forgiving now than when we were younger.

You CAN continue to improve, especially those of you who started later in life.  Those whose glory days are behind will need to put today’s numbers in perspective.  That said, if you track your Sinclair-Malone-Meltzer numbers, you can see progress relative to age and bodyweight.  Here’s the IWF link to their calculator.

As I get older, my passion for this sport continues to grow.  I truly enjoy the challenge, the camaraderie, and the benefits to my health.  I hope you do, too.

Thoughts

The First Competition

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Yesterday, Three of our athletes competed for the first time. All of them performed great, with many personal records tied and surpassed! All of them are new to the sport. This was a great time to enter a meet. There is always anxiety when performing in this setting. It’s important for an athlete to experience this early on, when there is less pressure on how the athlete will stack up against their competition. At this time, it’s all about feeling what it’s like. This is nothing like training in a gym. The competition setting is a great place to hone your skills in overcoming anxiety, using your nervous adrenaline to your advantage, and to learn to focus when your mind is all over the place – a time to build mental strength.

There are other athletes at different levels of skill doing great and having a bad day. There are many teaching points that can be reviewed after the meet. This is the time where the athlete can learn to appreciate having a coach working with them – counting attempts, talking them through this crazy time and, yes, slapping them silly when needed (you’re welcome, Pete). Even though the lifting is an individual effort, the team’s emotional support can have a great impact on the athlete. All these little things are experienced in competition.

After the competition, celebrate! You trained hard and you put it on the line. No matter how long you are in this sport, immediately after competition, the athlete’s mind is racing with all of the things he/she wants to improve to do better the next time. Don’t be too self-critical! We are always hardest on ourselves. Listen to your coach! This is a great time to evaluate your performance and plan to improve it. Do you feel angry about your performance? Use that energy positively, put in more effort, but in a smart way. Hone your technique. The great lifters, lifting what seemed to be ridiculous weight on that platform, didn’t start yesterday. They put the time in and worked at it. There are no shortcuts; you will have to put the time and effort in also. It is absolutely worth it!

Nick, Heather, and Pete – you all rocked it yesterday. You all fought through the challenge and I couldn’t be prouder as your coach. Your teammates and family were there to support you and felt the same way. Ready for the next one?

Thoughts

Greetings

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Welcome! This is where I would like to share my passion for weightlifting. The first thing I would like to do is thank everyone who got me started and has supported me through the years.

I guess I should start with Stimpson’s House of Nutrition in Poughkeepsie. They referred me to my Coach and friend, Jim Hanlon over 15 years ago. Jim is a great coach who is the most incredibly generous person I know. He is also a very knowledgeable and skilled coach. My education started with him.

I must also thank:
Tony – a terrific friend, workout buddy and the former Empire State Games Hudson Valley Coach/Weightlifting Chair who turned over those hats to me and continued to support me after I took over. I miss the games.

Leo Totten/East Coast Gold President/Former Olympian – Our team leader and head coach, along with my ECG teammates/Coaches – including Jim Storch & Mike McKenna. Of course, the rock star attached to ECG is Mike Walters – the most amazing masseuse I have ever known!!!

Rob Arroyo – A good friend and Master’s teammate who has joined me for the last few years in competition and supported & inspired me to greater efforts.

Joe Triolo and my friends at Lost Battalion Hall – Joe’s been a great friend and helped me win the 2015 National Master’s Championship.

Additional shout outs to: Dave Miller of Fortius Weightlifting, Osman Manzanares of Nashville Weightlifting Club, Carlos Rivera, and to the next generation of lifters who inspire me to keep going and to share what I’ve learned, like: Nick, Flavia, Jonathon, and Jared Fleming and anyone else I might not have mentioned here.