Before I get going too far into this, I first want to thank Coach Doug Smith, the Juniata Strength Coach and organizer of the yearly clinic. This is the most cost-effective clinic I know of for the number of CEU’s that are available, and it is my pleasure to present or conduct a hands-on presentation each year.

Unfortunately, I was only able to attend on day of the clinic this year, as my fiancee got pretty darn sick on Friday night. I drove home to take care of her and missed Saturday’s agenda. However, I attended many presentations and hands-on sessions on Friday and I want to go over them here and share with you all some of the highlights the presenters shared.

If you were there, maybe you can post some of the highlights you thought were most impressive, or maybe let me know what I missed on Day 2, or just respond to my thoughts. Here we go…

A Review of Bioenergetics and their Application to Sport Performance

Willard Peveler, PhD.
Assistant Profesor of Exercise Physiology – Northern Kentucky University

This was an excellent presentation on energy pathways, metabolism, glycolosis, etc. Essentially, Dr Peveler blew me away with this presentation. Really opened my eyes to just how much I DON’T KNOW about this stuff and that I need to work on my knowledge base here.

Dr. Peveler spoke a lot about endurance, and I want to write him a note to get his thoughts on how to maximize strength endurance of the hands and whether he knows if any sort of foods are optimally converted to energy for the hands themselves.

Developing a Strong, Durable, and Resilient Baseball Player

Frank Velasquez Jr ATC, CSCS*R
Pittsburgh Pirates Strength and COnditioning Coordinator

No matter what clinic I go to, if there is a presentation on baseball, I ALWAYS try to attend. Frank had a good presentation and I took a lot of notes. Here are some of the highlights.

“Don’t treat the rotator cuff, treat the scapula”

This is one of the points that Frank focused on for a great deal of time in his presentation. What he was saying was that there is often a knee jerk reaction to do all sort of training for the rotator cuff, but neglect the muscles that support and control the scapula.

This is a great point, and it is something that Smitty and I have focused on since the very beginning of Diesel. We always retract prior to exercises such as rows, pull-ups, pull-downs, posterior flies, etc. We also have an exercise index stashed away on complete shoulder health that we are going to put out for the masses sometime before we retire.

Frank also spoke at length on the importance of correct posture. It’s not just something that grandma thinks we should do – it’s damn important for athletes. Think about it this way. You’re away for 16 hours and your asleep for 8 hours. If during 14 of thos 16 waking hours you are standing and sitting with crappy posture, do you really think a few minutes of a two-hour workout is going to negate all that time spent slouching and protracted? NO WAY! Posture is important not just so you don’t develop thos praying mantis shoulder blades, but also functionally as well. Poor posture results in poor performance of the shoulder, BOTTOM LINE.

“Hustle is a talent. You can teach it and track it.”

I thought this was an excellent point. While hustle is natural for some people and not others, it can be taught and reinforced until it is second nature. So if you have athletes who are constantly sluggish and never seem to have any bounce in their step, talk to them about hustle and how important it is, and then keep after them until it is second nature.

“Hamstrings pull because they are weak.”

Frank said that his ball players do some sort of hamstring exercise everyday, because hamstring pulls happen most often as a result of weakness, not lack of flexibility. He showed some of the exercises they do and they varied intensity from day to day. If you or someone on your squad is suffering from reoccurring muscle pulls, maybe it’s time to look at their strength levels and not so much their flexibility levels.

University of Virginia’s In-Season Training Program for Football

Brandon Houragian
University of Virgina – Strength and Conditioning Coordinator

Brandon had a great presentation. He wrapped everything up with a very cool video as well. During the course of his presentation he had some training clips, but he couldn’t figure out how to get them to play. He wasn’t too worried about it, so he just kept on plugging away, but at the end he really wanted to show his highlight reel, so I went up to help him and we were able to figure it out together.

“Guys that don’t play go through a hardcore program.”

The players who aren’t getting as much playing time go through a more challenging routine. They could very well be starters next year, so at Virginia they take advantage of the limited beating their bodies are taking during game time and work them harder in the gym.

Utilizing Complexes and Segments for Developing Stamina

Tony Decker
Temple University Strength and Conditioning Coordinator

Tony showed us many ways to incorporate barbell, dumbbell and odd object complexes into the athletic training program as we as how to implement this approach over the course of the year, but what I liked the most about Tony’s presentation was his focus on avoiding overtraining.

Tony reminded us that overtraining is a result of too much volume. He specifically pointed to the fact that many people when they feel worn out and overtrained try to reduce the weight and get the reps in when this can actually be counterproductive. Volume is key in fighting overtraining, so keep that in mind whether you are training athletes, clients, or just yourself. ANYBODY can get overtrained.

“We’re not the ones in the pads.”

Tony talked about the importance of listening to the athletes. Are they reporting reduced performance on the field after the workouts we’re putting them through. We’re not the ones wearing the gear and going through the plays, so we have to take their feedback into consideration. After all, the coach isn’t going to be happy with a bunch of overtrained players in-season.

Myofascial Release / Health is Just Skin Deep

Nancy Hawkins Riggs MS, CSCS
Be-Fitness Delaware

Nancy and her two colleagues introduced us to her version of myofascial release, called Mashing. These ladies promote soft tissue health by doing myofascial release on their clients in socked feet!

This presentation was the “Outside of the Box” presentation of the weekend. I am sure most of us have never heard of “Mashing” especially done with the feet. Regardless, when they asked for volunteers, my hand immediately shot up to get my left forearm worked on. It felt great to get worked on, although it is kind of hard to relax with all the people in the classroom watching you get your arm “mashed.”

The idea behind this and the application to a sports team, is that by working one another’s muscle and fascia with the feet reduces the stress put o the hands and more soft tissue work can be done. The ladies demonstrated several techniques, using the toes, side of the foot and even the heel to moderate the amount of pressure applied when mashing.

Balance – Proprioception Training for Performance, Injury Reduction & Lower Rehab

Lori Swaldi DPT, VCS; Tom Swaldi DPT, ATC, CSCS
Star Physical Therapy

Very good presentation. I enjoyed the review on the three balance systems.

Somatosensory System – Maintaining balance by the signals interpreted through the feet (or hands if you’re doing hand balancing)

Visual System – Maintaining balance by the signals received by the eyes and interpreted by the brain

Vestibular System – Maintaining balance by the signals received by the organs of the inner ear

Another cool point Lori brought up was Gaze Stability, which is the ability to maintain focus during movement. These points had my mind racing about how to train baseball and softball players, especially for tracking the ball into the strike zone, and also watching the ball into the glove when chasing down a fly ball.

Now it was time for the hands-on sessions. These are always a great time, because you get to interact with the speakers and often get to try new methods of training. I missed Mike Rankin’s Ring Training portion because I was setting up my hands-on so I missed my opportunity at trying a muscle-up on the rings, darnit.

The very first thing I did during the hands-on sessions was to go find Dick Hartsell. If you don’t know Dick Hartsell, he is the inventor of FlexBands and has built some of the strongest ankles in the world. He puts his ankles through a beating every year at Juniata. I’ve seen him jump straight up in the air, come crashing down on his ankle and say “Any questions on ankle stability?”

Ankle stability and being in a viral video are not why I wanted to talk to Dick. I wanted to touch base with him because I wanted to thank him for fixing my thumb. If you remember, about a year ago I was struggling with thumb pain. I had tried everything and could get no relief. I spoke to Dick at Juniata last year and showed me a compression method that within weeks had brought my thumb back to about 95%, and continuing to do it was a major reason why I broke the record in the Two Hands Pinch and I wanted him to know it.

Next, I went over to my buddy Dan Cenidoza’s hands-on presentation, Steel Bending and Other Feats of Strength. Dan is really dominating the strength feats these days and walked a bunch of the strength coaches through the process of bending nails, horse shoes, long steel bars as well as phone book tearing and other feats of strength.

He also let me try one of his sinister 60D nails that he found in his adventures that he rated near an IronMind Red Nail. I was able to DO it easily with my wraps, which are thick and hard. I also got it with no problem with his thin flimsy wraps. I tried my hand at a horse shoe (not sure what it was) and was able to straighten it pretty easily.

I bounced back and forth between Dan’s Hands-on and Todd Hamer’s Hands-on. Todd spoke with the coaches about using strongman training in the athletic program. Hamer is a good one to speak on this, because he competes in Strongman Competitions and does well.

At this point it was time for my Hands-on Presentation. The Strongest Strength Coach at Juniata!

I expected a ton of competitors, but unfortunately only 5 decided to go after the title: Jerry Shreck (Bucknell), Andrew Jakeyow, Rob Klancher, Tyler Harshbarger, and Dan Cenidoza (BeMoreTraining.com).

There were three events: Keg Press Medley, Sandbag Hold for Time, and Keg Walk for Distance.

For the first time in my experience, all five events were finished in the exact same order every time. Here are the final standings.

1. Dan Cenidoza – 3 points
2. Andrew Jakeyow – 6 points
3. Jerry Shreck – 9 points
4. Tyler Harshbarger – 12 points
5. Rob Klancher – 15 points

These guys did a great job, and the Keg Walk was torture! Two minutes of walking with a keg between two lines – sick! But nobody complained. They just kept moving forward.

So, it’s another Juniata Clinic in the books. It was great to see everybody again and I got to network with some of my closest friends on an upcoming project.

While I am at it, I also want to thank Niki DeSantis for hooking me up with some killer phone books. Nice thick Virginia phone books are always a good tear. THANKS!

In closing, if you’re a strength coach in the state of PA or a nearby state, keep your eyes open for this clinic. It is always a good, affordable time where you learn a lot and meet other good strength coaches.

Until then, thanks and all the best in your training.

-Jedd-

P.S. An Offensive Explosion is returning to the game of baseball. Here’s why = > Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball

How to Bend Nails | How to Tear Cards | Feats of Grip Strength Explained | How to Build Your Own Equipment | How to Lift Atlas Stones | The Sh*t You’ve Never Seen | Sled Dragging for Athletes | The Road to the Record DVD

Similar Posts:

• Coming to Juniata
• Slippery Rock Strength Clinic Rundown
• Strongest Strength Coach / Challenge Yourself
• Strongest Strength Coach at Juniata
  Demonstrating the Lifts for the Competition
• Wild Card Grip Strength Challenge #3 – The Medley

Obviously ya gotta have the basics like clothes and shoes, but there are plenty of other things that you should have with you so you are able to capitilize on all the hard training you have done.

I’ve gotten to strongman comps and not been prepared. I don’t want that to happen to any of you, so recently, I started this series, “13 Things You Need for Your First Strongman Contest.”

(Here is part one ==> Strongman Contest & Part II ==> Strongman Equipment)

Below is Part III, the final chapter in this series.

What did I miss???  If you have any other suggestions, leave a comment below!

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Chalk

You need to bring your own chalk when you go to your first strongman contest. You just can’t rely on the promoter to have enough available. All the guys competing are going to be using it. Sure enough, there’s always a dude that isn’t happy with a block of chalk so he crushes the entire thing in his hand and turns it to dust. Next thing you know, a strong wind picks up and half the block of chalk blows down the parking lot like a tumbleweed in the desert.

So, this is what you need to do. Get yourself a decent size Rubbermaid container or other plastic container with a lid that snaps on really tight. Stick the chalk block in this container and keep it with you. The container should fit pretty well right into your bag that you take to the contest.

Another thing that we did for years is put a garbage bag inside a pail and then threw the chalk inside the garbage bag. When we needed chalk it was all right there. We could stick our hands down inside the bucket and chalk up real well and since the pail was nice and high, any dust would just get caught in the garbage bag and we would not lose any of the dust down the prairie…

Sun Block

At the very beginning of the day, you should load up on sun block prior to the contest, especially if you are competing outside. The worst thing that can happen during an outside strongman contest is getting sunburned. Sunburn leaves you dehydrated and fatigued – two things that make your strength levels plummet.

I usually competed with a tee shirt on, so I would make sure to cover my arms thoroughly, as well as coating my nose and face. I would also often wear a baseball hat during the contest, so my head was covered. I do not recommend applying sun block to your forehead, especially if you sweat a lot and definitely not if you have water proof sun block. If the water proof sun block gets into your eyes, it can be very difficult to get out of them. I have actually heard of people who have had to go to the emergency room because water proof unblock ended up getting into their eyes and doctors had to use a special solution to get it out of their eyes.

Remember what Terry Silver tells Daniel in Karate Kid Part III. If a man can’t see, he can’t fight. He can’t very well win a strongman contest either.

Change of Clothes

If you are pushing the fluids and pushing your limits, you are going to be sweating your ass off. For that reason, you should have at least one full change of clothes that you can jump into about half way through the competition. I’m talking everything from head to toe – not just a different tee shirt and shorts.

If you are going to be driving several hours back home after the contest like we used to do then you probably want to have another extra set of clothes for the drive back.

Foam Roller

Warm-up is important for being successful at your first Strongman comp. Make sure you warm up the right way. Pack your foam roller, dense medicine ball, or pipe made of cardboard or PVC. This will get your soft tissue right before the comp.

I’ll tell you another reason to have a foam roller with you at a strongman comp. In 2005, I did a backwards truck pull. My quads swelled up so bad from the ridiculous pump, that I couldn’t even move afterwards. In fact, I am convinced that I would not have been able to continue if I had not gotten Rick Walker to stretch me out. I am also convinced that if I’d had my foam roller there, I would have been able to loosen back up my quicker.

Jump Stretch Bands

Again, warm-up is important. You don’t want to head into one of the events cold or you could end up getting injured and being unable to finish the contest. What I would do is carry some purple Jump Stretch Bands right in my equipment bag that I could pull out and hit some reps with to get warmed up prior to the event. I liked to hit squats, good mornings, rows, military press, flyes, etc to get the blood flowing before going out to lift.

Stone Tacky for Hands & Arms

If the stones are in the contest, then you are going to need tacky in order to keep a level playing field with the rest of the competitors. Everybody uses it. You are going to need it, and you never know if the other competitors are going to let you borrow it or be a prick about it. Get some and keep it in your cooler until just before the stone event. You want it to stay sticky so it helps adhere your skin to the stones. If you leave it out, it will get greasy and will not offer much for improving your grip or speed in the stones.

Spray Tacky for Shoes

Believe it or not, some promoters will allow you to spray your hands with spray tack for stone flipping. They will also sometimes allow you to spray the bottoms of your shoes. We attended one strongman contest held an ice hockey rink. The ice was covered with a very slippery layer of plastic covering, and the competitors could spry the bottom of their shoes to keep from losing their traction in events like the tire flip and keg run.

Tacky Remover

You’re going to need something to get the tacky off your hands and arms after the atlas stone event. You don’t want that stuff all over the rest of your gear, your car, and your girlfriend. Unfortunately, many people do not know how to remove tacky once they are done with it. Don’t scrub for half an hour with soap and water – remove that stuff in minutes with some baby oil gel. Put a generous amount on your hand and rub vigorously over the area with tacky. After rubbing, wipe off with a towel and most of the tacky will be cleared off. There may still be some spots here and there, so just apply more gel.

Once you clean off the tacky with the gel, then is a good time to hit the soap and water. This is good to do in order to make sure that you get all the gel off your hands before the next event. Leftover gel will make holding things very difficult if you don’t get it all the way off, so attention to detail is important here.

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Well, my friends, there you go. 13 total things you need to have with you in your bag when you go to your first strongman contest. Now, obviously this is not and exhaustive list. Many people have already left suggestions in comments in the other two posts, including first aid kits and other things.

If you have any more suggestions that will help other new strongman competitors in the Diesel Community, please post them in the comments section below.

You guys really know your stuff, as evidenced by the post on how to do a muscle-up.

Blew me away! Thanks for your comments and thanks for your support!

Until next time, all the best in your training!

-Jedd-

P.S. If your first contest has the Atlas Stones for an event, you might want to check out our Stone Lifting DVD. It has everything you need to know to prepare you for “the stones,” including how to apply tacky, various techniques for lifting the stones off the ground, how to load stones and how to incorporate stone lifts in your daily lifting routine.

Check it out here Stone Lifting Fundamentals DVDSimilar Posts:

• 7 Reasons to Start Lifting Stones
• Diesel Stone Lifting Chronicles – Part 1
• Grip Considerations for Lifting the Husafell Stone
• Diesel / Slater Strongman DVD Now Available
• More Medley Training for Serious Athletes

Shortly after that contest, we got our own stones and we have loved stone lifting ever since. They have been an exciting form of training to go back to every so often for that spark that breaks up the training program and brings about challenges amongst one another in our crew. In fact this past weekend, I went back to stone lifting, going after my 405-lb stone. You can see the video here ==> Diesel Stone Lifting, Kettlebells, and Phone Book Tearing.

Many people at the gym are stuck in a boring routine they have done for years. It’s all they know. They are dying for something new to come into their workout lives. I firmly believe that they would enjoy the feeling and challenge of stone training as much as we do here at Diesel Crew. While there’s dozens of reasons to include stone lifting in your training, here are the top seven reasons to start doing it today.

Please send your friends who are suffering from the most boring workout ever this way and we here at Diesel will show them what they are missing. Until then…

Here are the top 7 reasons to lift stones

1. Manly Fun

What do you think of when you see a giant freakin’ rock? You think about how massive the sucker is. You wonder how the hell it even got there. You think, man, I want to try to lift that thing.

Stone lifting is just plain fun. Picking them up and throwing them around makes you feel good and makes you look forward to the next stone workout.

2. Super Strong Back

Most personal trainers will tell you to keep your back straight when lifting weights. While this is a good idea to a degree, the fact is real life situations don’t always involve setting your back in perfect posture.

Breaking a tackle, pushing your car out of the mud, loading the keg into the kegerator, flipping your friend’s Honda, fighting a bear – sometimes, your back is going to be rounded. Atlas stone lifting puts you in the round back position and prepares you for real life force production.

3. Killer Instinct

You have to be somewhat of a psycho in order to lift stones. Your mind has to be just mixed up enough to put yourself through the tasty torture of stone lifting.

There is pain involved as the stone scrapes off your forearm skin. But the pain also brings power, and when you start improving and begin lifting heavier and heavier stones, it’s the biggest rush you can have. Nothing matches the feeling of lifting a new PR stone – bungee jumping, asking out a chick, robbing a bank – nothing else comes close.

4. Monster Core Strength

You might not get a rock hard six pack from lifting stones, but you can bet the rest of your core that actually matters is going to be solid. There won’t be any worries about strength in your lower back, lats, hammies, and glutes after a few months of stone training.

5. Big Meaty Arms and Shoulders

Stone lifting involves a great deal of pulling and stabilizing throughout the full range of the lift. This time under tension pumps your arms up and inflates the shoulders. Your shoulders will be so wide after stone lifting that you’ll be blocking out the sun and they’ll be showing drive-in movies off your back.

6. Get the Reputation of a Bad Ass

There’s no need to grow a stove pipe mullet to show you are an intimidating S.O.B. Lifting stones for fun will set you apart from everybody else!

The whole neighborhood is going to refer to you as that crazy guy that lifts stones. If people can’t find your house, just tell them to ask one of the neighbors who the strongman is. At least that’s what I do. Prepare to be the talk of the town.

7. Athleticism

The force needed to shoulder stones and load them onto platforms simulates the very important athletic movement pattern of triple extension – the near simultaneous straightening of the ankles, knees, and hips, which is responsible for many powerful movements in sports.

Triple extension is responsible for movements like sprinting, leaping, bounding and other sports power movements. Start lifting stones and you’ll be playing above the rim, leaping over linemen and speeding around the base path.

Specific Training for Strongman Contests

I know you want to try out a strongman contest – everyone does. The sport is so awesome, you can’t resist it. But you’re pretty much guaranteed that the atlas stones are going to be an event, so you might as well start training them today. While we used sand-filled kegs for a degree of success at our first strongman contest, the best thing is to get your hands on the real thing and either buy or make your own atlas stones.

Injury prevention is important, and make no mistake about it, Stone Lifting involves a bit of risk, especially if you have no idea how to lift stones with proper form.

For that reason, it is important to train with a coach or a partner that already knows what they are doing.

If you don’t have either of those, then we have the perfect stone lifting resource for you.

Check out our Diesel Stone Lifting Fundamentals DVD. This DVD will tell you everything you need to know about how to get started in stone lifting, how to do it without getting injured, and how to excel to the next level.

What is your number one reason for lifting stones? Post it below in the comment section!

All the best in your training,

-Jedd-Similar Posts:

• Diesel Stone Lifting Chronicles – Part 1
• How to Begin Training with the Atlas Stones
• More Medley Training for Serious Athletes
• 13 Things You NEED for Your First Strongman Contest (Part III)
• Strongest Strength Coach at Juniata
  Demonstrating the Lifts for the Competition