A Philosophy of Strength and Health

I've not met her personally yet, but Sara Meeks is one person I'd like to sit down with for a while and talk resistance training, weightlifting and bone health. Sara is considered an expert in the treatment of osteopenia and osteoporosis. She is also a mulitple-time US National Masters Champion in weightlifting. If Sara thinks occasionally training with the barbell is beneficial for herself, then why not any woman?

Something to spice up your Wednesday and your next workout. And if you are blocked from YouTube, go here for a higher quality version. Right click on the player for full screen. It's fun!

The U of C has a rich history and tradition in collegiate athletics. Amos Alonzo Stagg was big into comporting yourself with dignity, recognizing personal integrity and excellence on and off the field. (See two neat videos of him here and here .) He and his counterpart at Chicago, Gertrude Dudley , founded the Order of the C and the Women's Athletic Association ( WAA ) at Chicago in 1904. These organizations are run by and recognize the men and women who participate in athletics at Chicago. Stagg is credited with awarding the first varsity letters to athletes in this country in 1906. Both the Order of the C and the WAA continue in these traditions begun so long ago. As a four year letter winner, I received the following (in order): Letter sweater (v-neck, somewhere in storage) Letter jacket Watch (lost) C-Blanket I will have to say that my C-Blanket is one of my most prized possessions. Both the Order of the C and the WAA present athletes with this award in the same ...

Varsity letter winners at the University of Wisconsin received the following awards (at least from 1979-1983): Letter Sweater (one year): Never worn--way too "Richie Cunningham" for 1980. Not cool at the time. Name embroidered inside. The W is white and crisp. The AD is going to wear this to school sometime this year! Letter Jacket (two years): Very cool to wear (football dudes wore 'em) and very functional in Madison, WI. Letter Blanket (three years): Just a very cool wool blankie. Ring (four years): Nice, but isn't as cool as the big W stuff, IMHO. Boring pic.

Muchas gracias to my wonderful husband for spearheading a "get our shit together" week of organizing things--yard, closets, basement, finances--so cathartic! In the midst of our organization, we came across these classics. Thought I'd share them with you in a few posts. First, we have Kevin's Eau Claire, WI YMCA team jacket. Speedo brand, probably purchased between 1971-2; worn 7th through 9th grade: Next, we have my high school letter jacket and my basketball team jacket. If I'm able to go to my 20th high school reunion in July, I'm wearing that bright orange sucker! Go Lady Tigers!

That was Ryan's comment yesterday after a very nice squat clean from the high hang position. Ryan is a 16 y.o. swimmer/water polo dude who wants to learn how to snatch and clean & jerk. He's got some good basic strength and size (around 185 lbs or so), but he's not gifted with natural explosive speed or hip and ankle mobility. He's also really busy--6 am swim practice every morning, followed by tutoring service hours and then marching band drum line, most days of the week this summer. It is hard to find an hour or two, between all that and the evening swim meets. Right now our focus is on these things: building lower extremity mobility and strength off the floor with hex bar DL's (rather than back squats) building lower extremity mobility, torso stability and a solid receiving position through front squats building lower extremity mobility, shoulder stability, torso stability and a solid receiving position with overhead squats & snatch balances creating a...

USA Weightlifting sent 5 athletes (4 men, 1 woman) to the Junior (20 and under) World Championships this past week in Prague, CZ. We did not send full teams; the thought was to send only those athletes who had the best chance of placing high. So, the qualifying totals were set high and only those who made 100% of that total were allowed to go. Well, 2 of the 5 athletes "bombed" out of the competition; that means they failed to make one snatch or one clean and jerk. Another athlete totaled 20 kg under the qualifying total he made at the Jr. Nationals in March. Another athlete totaled 15 kg less than she made at the American Open Championships in December. The final athlete to compete, Cameron Swart (105+ kg), finished 5th, making a PR clean and jerk (187 kg) and total (337 kg). He was the only athlete to meet or better the qualifying total. Out of a possible 30 attempts, "Team USA" made only 7 lifts. The most troubling part of this story happened a few months ...

I think I've mentioned my musculoskeletal wellness dream world before, right? It is a land where health insurance covers the following: Dental health (dentist) check up every 6 months Nutrition/diet health (dietician) check up every 6 months Musculoskeletal health (physical therapist) check up every 6 months Teach and remind people how to floss, what good food choices are, how to move well with exercise, etc. and they can hopefully keep their bodies as healthy as possible. I did a little check up on my 75 y.o. mother-in-law this week. She walks and swims for her exercise, but her L hip has been a bit painful, especially early in the morning, when she walks with my father-in-law. Ended up doing a few gentle distractions and posterior glides; taught her a pretty nice little home exercise program (HEP) that included supine and standing hip mobility work, sit-to-stand, single leg stance, yellow band side steps/monster walks and side step ups. We also did some fun balance work with ...

Had a great time this weekend in Hyde Park. Saw many old friends and colleagues. Swam in the Myers- McLoraine pool and got in a workout in the Bernard Del Giorno Fitness Center. The Ratner Athletics Center is just outstanding. The building is filled with images and trappings of the history of physical education and athletics at the University. Jay Berwanger's Heisman Trophy now has a proper home. Makes me so proud to know I also earned that C blanket. Got in a little schmooze time--with Bernie and Gerry Ratner --at the University Club during the Order of the C reception. Hit the Medici and Salonica . Stopped in to salute Hanna Gray in all her glory in Hutch Commons. This little postcard goes out to all of our Chicago friends, with special thanks to Rosie and Brian. Thank you for taking great care of us this weekend. We miss you, your wisdom, intellect, mentoring and humor. You remind us that coaching is a noble endeavor, and that brains, athletic skill and personal...

"Thank you for your application concerning the Assistant Resident Coach position at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO. Another candidate was chosen for this position based on his experience and skills." Well, there it is in black and white. Finally--after almost 4 months. This was a very interesting adventure. I was encouraged to apply by a few key people and so I did, knowing I was a long-shot for these reasons: I barely meet the Senior Coach criteria (athlete production). I do not have any strong connections (BOD members as mentors) to really argue my case. I am a female in a male-dominated sport. I DO NOT make the last two points not out of any resentment; in the real world we all know it is "who you know" that often makes the difference in getting a job. Outsiders, for whatever reason, aren't often let in to small groups or organizations. But that's fine. On the other hand, I have tremendous academic background in kinesiology / bi...

...for knowingly exposing people (six plane flights in two weeks!) to his particular strain of TB? I say we sentence the personal injury attorney to a lifetime service as a public defender in an urban or rural setting of our choice (once his TB is cured or he is no longer contagious), at the current federally mandated minimum wage of $5.15 per hour. He "hopes people forgive him" for possibly exposing them, unknowingly, to a potentially fatal disease? Mr. Speaker, I hope your conscience, if you have one, haunts you for as long a the potential for TB haunts every person you came into contact with. But Robin, commenting on the WSJ law blog says: Why so delicate? Andrew is an Anapolis drop-out (or kicked out), at least he finished his undergrad elsewhere, who works for Dad - a politically connected Atlanta attorney. If he had been anything but a well-connected Atlanta mucky-much…they would have shot him on the tarmak . Comment by Robin ...

For those of you interested in the sport of weightlifting, please check out the latest issue of USA Lifting Magazine . Click on the May 31, 2007 issue to find some very interesting articles, including one by me. I put together (on a whim the other morning) an informal discussion of the snatch velocities and trajectories of two US athletes, Cheryl Haworth and Norik Vardanian. The magazine is entirely developed by volunteers, in an effort to create informative and instructional content--content that many feel USA Weightlifting should be providing to it's members, but is not. FYI, you can finally access the first online versions of Weightlifting USA, the NGB's quarterly, official magazine here . (Warning, the link is directly to a fairly large PDF file, so it may take a while to load.) Joe Prusacki, the developer of the Weightlifting On-Line Magazine website , actually does the dirty work of putting the text and images together. The majority of the photos are provided by Bru...