A Philosophy of Strength and Health

I am prompted to ask this question after the death of US strongman Jesse Marunde this week at the age of 27. By all accounts, Mr. Marunde was a terrific athlete, good father, loving husband and human being. He was 6'5" and 300 lbs and collapsed at while working out--possibly just after high volume and heavy squatting. An autopsy is to be preformed, and only then will we know if the event was cardiac, vascular or related to something else. Do we really understand the physiologic stresses a human body must tolerate with the training load and caloric intake necessary to create and maintain such strength and size? I'm not sure we do. Our culture glorifies these larger-than-life men, but I'm not sure we understand the health implications of developing and maintaining such mass and strength. I take the nutrition and the health of my clients and patients very seriously--especially the young people. I try to walk the walk, as well as talk the talk. I had a conversatio...

Thanks to Cory Doctorow and his post on BoingBoing for sharing the link to Vibram's FiveFingers products. If you believe less is more, when it comes to developing and maintaining foot health, these might be right up your alley. Check them out here .

Note to anyone traveling with the helpful and convenient "Stick" . If you have checked baggage, you might want to pack it there, or it could be confiscated at the security checkpoint. Some TSA supervisors and security checkpoints technically consider this a prohibited item , since it might be interpreted to be a martial arts club-like device.

We are 3 workouts into the school-age camp--16 to 17 y.o. athletes. It has been good so far. My goals here are to improve my group coaching & management skills and observe different weightlifting coaching styles. It is never good to get set in your ways and think that one method works best for every athlete. I walk an interesting path among the world of weightlifting, physical therapy and general athletic development. One of my goals in life to facilitate interaction, collaboration and understanding among the disciplines. There are some very talented weightlifters here. However, some of them lack sound general physical preparation and movement literacy, so we are working a bit on that in warm up. The boys have a tendency to want to put a little too much on the barbell, so we spend some time reigning them in and harping on them to focus on body awareness and perfect technique. The girls are just blowing my mind. There is some serious strength and power here and it is cool to ...

Anyone else find this something a little sad about the presence of this junk in the dining hall at the Colorado Springs OTC? Not exactly the beverage of choice of champions in training....

St. Louisan Jeff Wittmer finished 5 th yesterday in the extremely competitive 94 kg weight class at the Pan Am Games. Jeff had a 10 kg PR total of 355 kg (158 kg snatch and 197 kg C & J). Now, he's still 30-40 kg behind the truly elite of his class in the world, but this performance represents a real break-through for Jeff. Anyone who can go 5/6 and hit personal records in both lifts, at a major international meet, should be proud. And this performance makes Jeff a real contender for one of the 4 coveted spots on the 2008 Olympic team. I believe Jeff is 23 (a graduate of Hazelwood East High School) and currently trains in Springfield, MO while he attends Missouri State University. It seems like he is finally getting his weight up to the full 94 kg, something he's struggled with over the last few years. Jeff's father and coach, Mike Wittmer , is a chiropractor in St. Louis and a former lifter himself.

A Philosophy of Strength and Health weightlifting scoop! Bud Charniga ( link to his great site, Dynamic Fitness ) gave me permission to post photos of the new Adidas prototype for the 2008 Olympics. Lou DeMarco looked pretty tough as he trained in them down in the NSCA exhibit hall! The arch of the shoe is covered in a shiny metallic plastic. Bud said they've tried to increase the ventilation in the shoe, as it is anticipated that the competition and training halls in Beijing will be quite warm. And for whatever reason, people like to see that the heel is solid wood, so the heel is again exposed vs the adiStar/Ironwork. Note the single strap vs the 3-strap models currently being sold. Price will likely run similar to the current adiStar model.