A Philosophy of Strength and Health

This is a little montage of the members of the 2006 USA World Team. They will compete in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) next week. This world championship event is very important, as it is the initial competition for team slots for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The US is hoping to score big points on the women's side and field a full team (4 athletes) for the 2008 Olympics. The men have a tough road ahead of them, but may benefit from many recent positive drug tests at the European Championships. In fact, the Iranian team had 9 lifters (all male I presume) test positive and the entire team was banned from competing next week. The US could score some higher places and needed points if we do well. Our athletes face a very challenging task, competing against some teams and federations who expertly and systematically apply doping science and practice. In a fine show of the political cesspool of elite international sport, the current superheavyweight world and Olympic cha...

I NEVER watch the morning news shows, but am watching this morning as CBS is having a young female weightlifter, Michelle Glasgow, on. The content of the shows and the commercials are just stupefying. How can any person with half a brain watch this stuff? Drugs, crap food and more drugs to make you more comfortable eating the crap food. Then I saw the commercial for Organic Rice Krispies???!!! You have got to be kidding me. The absurdity of it all...

Frank DeFord had a great commentary on high school sports yesterday. My husband is feeling the pressure as his school gears up for a new capital campaign for new and improved athletic facilities. Everybody else in the conference is building additional gyms and putting in turf fields. Here we go.... TJ did not make his select club volleyball team. I was bummed. Went to the tryout on Sunday for a bit--it was overwhelming. There were so many, maybe 60, 17 year olds trying out for 20 spots--two teams of ten. It was clear he did not have the skill level or physical prowess necessary to "hang with the big dogs". By age 17, the players on this club demonstrate a fairly high level of sport specialization AND athleticism. And it became clear to me that there is little room on these select teams for a true generalist--a decent team utility player without exceptional physical traits or capabilities. There was nothing 2 months of basic strength, agility and movement training ...

Joe P. emailed to inquire about AJ. She’s doing very well—no shin splints or anything. Works with me one day per week and 2x on her own, assuming she has one competition on Friday or Saturday each week. Here are her results thus far (keep in mind she was 101/164 last fall at the Missouri 3A State Championships with a 22:55 5k as a sophomore, on a hilly course ): Fleet Feet Nike Run 2 miles 2 nd of 100 12:59 First Capitol Run 5k 15 th of 250 21:50 MICDS Invitational 5k 7 th of 96 21:40 Lutheran North Inv 5k 6 th of 100 21:03 We are looking to 5 weeks or so of continued strength improvement. Right now, AJ is working on not going out too fast, but really coming on strong in the last mile. At the Lutheran North race, she negative split the mile 3 vs mile 2. I monitor her as best I can to make sure we are not ...

Sorry no exercise training stuff right now--I'm inundated with Dartfish training this entire week. I had a long, but satisfying day training the great staff at St. John's Sports Medicine. These people get it. They know how to integrate video into their practice--not simply to say they use technology, but to use it to improve patient care. After 8 hours of talking almost straight and troubleshooting hardware conflicts, I was ready to decompress and clear the mind. Needed to just be quiet and close my eyes a bit before dinner. Headed down to a local Japanese restaurant for a perfect end to the day. The soft music and the gentle boats gliding in front of me at the sushi bar floated away all stress. I feasted on a beautifully presented plate of seaweed salad, veggie rolls (radish, avocado, cucumber) and avocado rolls. As I was finishing my tea, Mr. Locutus of Borg Jr. walked in. He was immediately recognizable by his glowing blue electronic ear piece. Did you know the Bo...

Your mom is always your mom no matter how old you are. Got this email this morning, after not yet returning my mom's call from this weekend: dear tracy, how are you doing? I have been worried about you and hoping you were okay and not sick after eating spinch. I told Angie you were probably in the hospital unconcise. Please call me and let me know me kown if everything is everything is okay, or if you are just busy. tell Kevin and the kids hi and that i love them very much. i have a suprise to tell you , I got something new. call me when you can. love g So I called her today and told her I wasn't unconscious and in the hospital from eating E.coli infested spinach or spinch (or unconcise either, although I have probably been known to be unconcise, but I wouldn't want my mom to know those stories). You gotta love your mom, spelling/grammar errors and all . Hi G! We love you! Tracy, Kevin, Millie and Murphy These furry people are very helpful when blogging.

Recovering from my long drive from Colorado Springs. I had a great time at the OTC, but discovered a few things while there. Despite what you might think, the resident athletes here don't always have access to the best and most progressive information regarding rehab and conditioning. That has much to do with who the sport coaches are and how much access s/he gives them to the staff strength & conditioning folks. I saw lots of "old-school" warm-up and cool down activities. Lots of traditional ab exercises. Lots of muscle imbalances, even in American record-holders, that could be addressed and significantly improved. The most disappointing aspect, in my opinon, is the sports medicine situation. The OTC rotates athletic trainers and other health professionals on a yearly/quarterly basis. So, taking weightlifting as an example, their current ATC will be with them for 3 months, then rotate to wrestling or speed skating. THIS STINKS FOR THE ATHLETES AND THE CLINIC...

I'm at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center, taking a coaching course. It has been very refreshing to interact with the other professionals here. It is not often I get to be around so many other women who enjoy sport, especially weightlifting and weight training in general. The other neat thing is getting to watch the resident weightlifting athletes train! Since the World Championships are at the end of this month, it is even better as many athletes are hitting heavy lifts at this time. We did some practical stuff this afternoon--and it was hysterical to have tourists press their faces up against the window, staring at us lifting! Pretty sad if our little group would be mistaken for elite athletes! I am very happy to be the weakest woman in the room--good motivation to keep working hard. I will post more as I have time, but this is a highlight from todays 2nd training session. Natalie Woolfolk made two personal records today, after a morning workout, squatting at >...

Well here it is Labor Day and I actually labored a bit. Actually most of the labor on this project was completed a week ago or so, but I wrapped things up today and sent off my review. I am currently on the editorial board for the International Journal of Sport Science and Coaching and this is my second paper review. The review process for this journal is open, so the author knows who the reviewers are and the publication acknowledges us as well. This review was quite challenging for me, as I had to review a paper submitted by a former mentor and noted expert in weightlifting/strength & conditioning--someone who no longer wishes to collaborate professionally. How to constructively criticize someone who taught you much of what you know, how you think about and view the very topic addressed in the paper? How to criticize someone who has been the editor of a journal himself? I could hear every phrase in the paper as I read it, as I'd heard them a thousand times before. The...

Thanks to "2 Old 2 Go Slow" for his comments on working with me! You can check out much of our journey so far at his blog site, Two Wheel Blogs . Find his latest post here . As many of you can tell, I'm pretty old-school and basic when it comes to rehab and conditioning. But technology has its place and this is an example of using technology (Dartfish) to help elucidate an issue that fairly complex, yet subtle in its nature. When it comes to cycling and bike fit, a few millimeters here and a few degrees there can create "massive" (said in my best Paul Sherwin voice) changes in power output and lead pain/injury over time. From this photo, does it follow that 2 Old 2 Go Slow's issue is on the L side?

Here's my latest foray into video compilation. It is dedicated to the athletes who persevere on the platform day after day--even when gravity gets the best of them. Have a great weekend and stay strong!