The Champ’s Corner: Lessons from Klokov

It’s difficult to summarize a Dmitry Klokov weightlifting seminar as so much was covered in just two days. We began with an overview of the different philosophies behind the major training systems and then moved into learn-by-doing sessions where everyone received a lot of individual attention and constructive feedback. In a short amount of time, it was obvious why Dmitry is a world champion.

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Trust Your Technique

With the recent release of the latest Star Wars movie, I vividly recall watching the original Star Wars with the climactic scene where Luke Skywalker is the Rebellion’s last hope to destroy the Death Star. When the time came take the critical shot, Luke is advised by Obi-Wan Kenobi to turn off the guidance system and trust the Force when taking the shot. At the time, I could not believe he would turn off the computer. But, of course he did, and later we realize that was the only possible path to success.

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The Bar Path Obsession

All too often athletes and coaches become fixated upon bar path. With the proliferation of both easily recordable and shareable videos and bar tracking apps, there is a seemingly growing list of tools that can be used to analyze lifts.

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Meet The Coaches

While we often put up pictures and videos highlighting all of the lifters within the New York weightlifting Academy, seldom do we feature any lifting or credentials from the coaches.

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Don’t Neglect Your Warm-up

The most important aspect of training that many people neglect is the warm-up. Without a proper warm-up, the entire subsequent training session will be affected. Often times, people are eager to get into the gym and begin their training immediately – whether it’s due to the fact that they are short on time, or just their overall enthusiasm to begin weightlifting.

Without warming up properly, your body will not be prepared to move in the fashion that it needs in order to perform these complex exercises correctly. The need to warm those areas up further is incredibly important, especially for athletes who have had injuries or are tight in specific areas. I tell people all the time that if they have an hour allocated for training, it is more beneficial to spend forty-five minutes warming up and fifteen minutes lifting rather than spend five minutes warming up and fifty-five minutes lifting.

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Inversion Seminar for Beginners

Handstands, walking on one’s hands, and inversion in general are fun skills, but generally, and unnecessarily, limited to gymnasts and the “elite” athlete.

The legitimate concern of falling over backwards is what thwarts most people from mastering handstands. This nagging apprehension, lurking at the periphery of the psyche prevents one from fully committing to the movement. Happily, a few simple principles can ensure falling safely, even gracefully.  This 3-hour course has 3 main objectives:

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Keep Swinging Low

Weightlifting is a sport where you’re constantly fighting against gravity. Gravity is a force that we face in our every day lives that we must constantly counter and resist. When trying to hoist more kilos overhead, our bodies are always going to be fighting harder against the effects of gravity.

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What is Rolfing, and is it good for Weightlifters?

The notion that body maintenance, such as chiropractic, massage, acupuncture or self-care such as stretching would have a benefit to weightlifters does not seem difficult to accept. But what the devil is Rolfing, and would that be of at least equal benefit as the above-mentioned modalities to the weightlifting community?

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