From 20 October 2011
This podcast features a Q&A with American Olympic weightlifting coach Glenn Pendlay from California Strength. Questions were submitted by readers on the 70’s Big Facebook Fan Page. Also check out (and sign up for) the Muscle Driver Grand Prix Inaugural Meet. That’s a lot of links.
Podcast-9-Pendlay-Q&A
(left click for stream, right click and “save as” to download)
1 hour, 30 seconds long
There’s still trouble with the iTunes availability although it has been submitted. Probably has to do with the iTunes tags in the RSS feed (which I don’t know how to fix).
Some topics from the Q&A include:
Push-press utility
The question was specific to the carryover to the jerk (it helps for beginners), but Glenn touted this exercise as one of the best upper body exercises for a weightlifter saying (paraphrase), “If you’re strong in the push-press, you’re strong in everything else: press, bench, jerk, etc.”
This topic also led to a general discussion with strength and weightlifting and what kind of emphasis or frequency strength training would have in a weightlifting program as a trainee advances from beginner and beyond.
Pulling from blocks
The question was specific to when to do them in the program. Glenn addresses the utility in pulling from blocks and when they would be pertinent to a program. There are even times when a beginner would use them as well, but only in a specific situation.
Being an Olympic weightlifter without a coach
The question was specifically asking what would be good resources to use in order to learn or improve the lifts, and Glenn ticks off a few good products and videos. He also gives some advice about submitting videos to forumz on the interwebz for critiquez.
Conditioning in a strength or weightlifting program
General trainees or beginning weightlifters will benefit from conditioning work. Glenn is an advocate for a very simple method of conditioning that is touted by other popular coaches. He also discusses the utility in complexes for ancillary work at the end of a training session. The complexes or circuits aren’t specifically designed for a conditioning effect, but they let the trainee get some accumulated work with assistance exercises to improve their hips, posterior chain, abdominals, lumbars, shoulders, etc. It’s quick and easy, but I want to add here that assuming no other conditioning work in the program that this would act as conditioning since the relative intensity and pace are higher than a standard strength program. At the minimum, a lifter could create a short complex/circuit like Glenn describes to get a slight endurance effect — something that can help their “between set recovery” as well.