By BFS
FROM THE EDITOR A Message from BFS Editor in Chief Kim Goss, MS Game, Interrupted I would say that if Rabinoff were to compile a top 10 list he scandal at Penn State has been the focus of every of what Paterno should have done when he first heard major sports network and the general news media about the sexual abuse, it would probably read something since the arrest of Jerry Sandusky last November. like this: #10 Call the police, #9 Call the police, #8-1, Likewise, this issue of BFS magazine touches on the story, Call the police. but the approach is from two different angles by two indiBecause it will be difficult to find an impartial jury, it viduals who are experts in their chosen field.
may take years to settle the case in The first expert is Dr. Greg court. The damage to Penn State’s Shepard, Founder/CEO of Bigger reputation will take even longer to Faster Stronger. Shepard coached resolve, if ever. As for the financial high school football and also was costs, no doubt the school will a Division I strength coach; his lose millions of dollars in support. body of work includes developing What can we learn from the the Be an 11 character education Penn State scandal? Please read program. It’s one thing for a the “Dark Side of Sports” and Dr. sports writer to talk about how Shepard’s article and consider the Sandusky’s colleagues should have opinions of our two experts.
responded to the problem, but Finally, our congratulations Shepard’s perspective is unique, to University of Houston’s Case coming as it does from both a Keenum for his record-breaking background in the trenches of performance this season, which college football and his cumulative helped his Cougars achieve an experience with youth education. undefeated regular season.
And our Although Coach Joe Paterno condolences to South Carolina’s reported Sandusky’s actions to a Marcus Lattimore, whose run for superior and was not charged with the Heisman Trophy was cut short a crime himself, Shepard contends The Penn State scandal has captured the atby a season-ending knee injury that Paterno was derelict in his tention of all the major news media. shortly after he appeared on the moral responsibilities to the boys cover of our November/December 2011 issue. Lattimore is who were abused between 1994 and 2009. only a sophomore, so expect to see him next year in the race The second expert is Dr. Marc Rabinoff. Rabinoff for the Heisman.
looks at the scandal from a legal perspective. As a college professor who has been an expert witness in over 400 Kim Goss, MS litigations, Rabinoff has the background to address Editor in Chief, the legal obligations of the coaching staff and school BFS magazine administration concerning this scandal.
As a preview, kim@bfsmail.com TJANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012 ISSUE #142 3KRWRE\%UXFH.OHPHQV News and highlights from the world of athletic fitness An interview with Florida’s basketball strength coach, Preston Greene QA look at the Arlanda Jets football program 18 Wrestling to the Top at Jeffersonville High QProving that the best way to excel in one sport is to be good in all of them BFS PROGRAM 22 2011 BFS High School of the Year Q Patric Young, Univ.
of Florida MAGAZINE DESIGN How Dulaney High embraced the principles of the BFS Total Program An interview with body composition expert Francine Savard Salt Lake City, Utah 84119 info@bfsmail.com This is an official publication of Bigger Faster Stronger, Inc. It is published bimonthly. Subscriptions are $19.95 per magazine may be reproduced in any form without the express written consent in this issue are subject to change without notice. All equipment will be shipped the most economical way, F.O.B. Salt presented in BFS magazine is not meant to provide medical advice; you should obtain medical advice from your private healthcare practitioner.
TRAINING AND EQUIPMENT 36 Taking the BFS Dot Drill to the Next Level Q Insight into another application of this great training tool The fast track to developing upper body pulling power PHYSICAL EDUCATION 46 The Dark Side of Sports: Penn State Q Reflections on the right way to handle scandal Unquestionably, the most famous weightlifter in the history of the sport, and one of the most recognizable athletes in the ’70s, was Vasily Alexeev. Alexeev burst on the weightlifting scene in 1970 at the World Weightlifting Championships. At this competition this Russian super heavyweight became the first man in the world to clean and jerk 500 pounds.
Alexeev would call this a good start, as that year he broke a total of 26 world records. Because Russian weightlifters would receive a bonus for every world record, reportedly up to $1,500 each, “The Russian Giant” was on his way to becoming a very rich man – he ended up breaking 80 world records in his career and going undefeated for seven years. Alexeev’s first Olympic gold came in 1972. He had three major challengers, Belgium’s Serge Reding, West Germany’s Rudy Mang and America’s Ken Patera.
Reding was a powerhouse who had broken five world records and could full squat 880 pounds for reps; Mang had broken the world record in the press earlier in the year; and in a tune-up meet for the Olympics, Patera had lifted over 500 pounds in the press and the clean and jerk. But when the chalk dust settled on the Olympic platform, Alexeev had broken all the Olympic records and ended up 66 pounds above his nearest competitor. At the 1976 Olympics, as with the 1972 Olympics, Alexeev had worthy challengers.
One was East Germany’s Gerd Bonk, who had placed second to Alexeev in the 1975 World Championships and just before the Olympics had broken Alexeev’s world record in the clean and jerk by 11 pounds with 556. And then there was Bulgaria’s Khristo Plachkov, who in the previous two years had broken eight world records, including the best result for the total of the three lifts. Plachkov did not compete in the Olympics, but it appeared that Alexeev was ready for anyone. He won the competition over Bonk on his first clean and jerk of 507 pounds, and then jumped to 562 pounds to reclaim his world record.
He passed on his third attempt, although prior to the competition he’d said that he was prepared to attempt 573. After seven straight years of winning every contest he entered, Aleexev was finally defeated – by himself. Competing at the 1978 World Championships, Aleexev appeared on his way to another easy victory, but he injured his hip during his first clean and jerk and could not complete the lift or any additional attempts. He elected not to compete in 1979 but earned a spot on the 1980 Olympic team. He was 38 at the time. Although reportedly in top shape and capable of a 556-pound clean and jerk, Alexeev missed all his snatches at 396 pounds.
His Russian teammate Sultan Rakhmanov won easily with lifts of 424 in the snatch and 523 pounds in the clean and jerk. Alexeev was a tremendous competitor who dominated his competitors and brought worldwide attention to the sport of weightlifting. He died on November 25, 2011, but his legacy as one of the world’s greatest weightlifters will live on for all time. JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012 To Pad, or Not to Pad?
The Evolution of Chin-Ups In setting goals for physical achievements, it’s interesting to see what others have done. For example, on November 5, 2011, former BFS magazine cover athlete Case Keenum achieved his goal of exceeding Timmy Chang’s NCAA career passing record of 17,072 yards. But you should be realistic in your goal setting. If you’re a sprinter, it might be a bit optimistic to set your sights on exceeding Usain Bolt’s record of 9.58 in the 100 meters, but you can certainly set a percentage of that.
According to Guinness World Records, rules for chinups (palms facing you) and pull-ups (palms facing away from you) include the following: Pull-ups in 1 minute: s - *ASON 0ETZOLD 53! *UNE s & !LICIA 7EBER 53! !UGUST Chin-ups in 1 minute: s - *ASON 0ETZOLD 53! !UGUST s & !LICIA 7EBER 53! !UGUST Pull-ups in 3 minutes: s - .GO 8UAN #HUYEN 6IETNAM s & !LICIA 7EBER 53! !UGUST Chin-ups in 3 minutes: s - *ASON 0ETZOLD 53! !UGUST s & !LICIA 7EBER 53! !UGUST Pull-ups in 1 hour: s - 3TEPHEN (YLAND 'REAT "RITAIN August 1, 2010 s & !LICIA 7EBER 53!
&EBRUARY When setting these official records it is permissible to dismount (although the clock will keep running). So now that you have the standards and know what’s humanly possible, start setting your own goals for chin-ups and pull-ups.
The BFS staff has been asked to address the pros and cons of wrapping pads around barbells to make them more comfortable when performing back squats. This is how we responded: “Many beginners find it extremely uncomfortable to hold a barbell on their shoulders. Using a supportive device such as the Manta Ray often resolves this problem, as it distributes the pressure over a larger area. That being said, competitive weightlifters and powerlifters prefer no supportive devices, as they believe it reduces the ‘feel’ of the bar on their shoulders. In fact, with powerlifting barbells, there is center knurling that serves to help dig into the neck for a more secure feel.
“With the Manta Ray, the barbell is just supported from a higher position. Wrapping a towel around a barbell, or using a padded device that wraps around the bar, pushes the barbell backward on the shoulders, which in turn decreases the stability of the exercise. To compensate, an athlete will often roll their shoulders forward, thereby putting the spine out of optimal alignment – this is compounded by the fact that a wrap increases the distance from the bar to the hips, and as such increases the stress on the lower back. The wrap also may increase the risk of neck injury, as it puts the head out of normal alignment. Further, such a wrap increases the risk of the barbell sliding off the back.
If an athlete wants more support or finds that the bar digs into the back too much, they can simply use a closer grip.”
WHAT’S HAPPENING BOOK REVIEW:
For a detailed history of competitive bodybuilding, the best, most extensively researched book on the subject is Muscle, Smoke & Mirrors: Volume 1. The book is 562 pages and took author Randy Roach five years to write, an impressive accomplishment when you consider that Roach is visually impaired. His newly published follow-up book, Volume II, is a massive 703 pages and includes a brief history of strength training. The parts that strength coaches will find of most interest are chapters 32 and 33, beginning with comments that Bob Hoffman made in 1936 in his magazine Strength and Health: “What I can never understand is why some athletic coaches will condemn something they know nothing about….
Star weightlifters are the fastest, strongest, most enduring, and most athletic of men.” From that introduction Roach talks about how Alvin Roy became the first NFL strength coach in 1963, employed by the San Diego Chargers, and also discusses the creation of the National Strength and Conditioning Association in 1978. Using a parallel timeline, Roach examines the influence of Nautilus founder Arthur Jones, and how he got his machines and controversial training methods into West Point and many NFL teams. Roach also includes a detailed discussion of Russian influences on strength coaching, particularly the concepts of sport-specific training and plyometrics.
Because Roach’s books have been self-published and are not available in bookstores, the best place to purchase Muscle, Smoke & Mirrors: Volume II is through the author’s website, www.randyroach.ca.
Charles Poliquin’s gym, the Poliquin Strength Institute in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, was featured in our January/February 2010 issue. His gym is 5,200 square feet and is primarily used for teaching seminars for personal trainers and strength coaches. Because of the success of his company Poliquin Performance, construction will begin this March on a new Poliquin Strength Institute that will include a 20,000-squarefoot private gym.
Sports Medicine Breakthrough: The FAT-Tool One of the latest treatment methods used by progressive sports medicine practitioners is the Fascia Abrasion Tool (FAT) developed by Dr. Mark Scappaticci. Dr. Scappaticci is best known in the iron game as the individual who invented Scap Jacks, which is a method of increasing muscle fiber recruitment by training an agonist and its contralateral antagonist at the same time (such as performing a biceps curl with the right hand and a triceps pressdown with the left hand). The FAT-Tool provides a method of treating the connective tissue called fascia, which when injured can restrict mobility and affect athletic performance in many other ways.
The FAT-Tool features multiple treatment edges and profiles in an all-in-one tool. A unique professional set of FAT-Tools includes a large and smaller tool created for health care providers to manage a variety of difficult-to-treat soft-tissue conditions.
There is a separately designed FAT-Tool for personal trainers and coaches to assist in mobilizing fascia to help improve areas of decreased range of motion. A short video presentation by Dr. Scappaticci is available on his website, wts.fat-tool.com.
Coming Next Issue The March/April issue of BFS magazine will have more news of how the OptoJump is revolutionizing testing and training in schools across the country. There also will be many inspiring BFS success stories and articles about the latest in training methods and strength and conditioning equipment.
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9HUVDWLOH ([SDQGDEOH Technique Attachment - $215 Dip Attachment - $205 TEAM SOLUTION %(1&+(6 3/$7)2506 +$/)5$&.6 Expand Your Rack! Add Body Weight, Suspension Training to your rack for only $249 'RXEOH6LGHG (OLWH+DOI5DFN :LWK3ODWIRUPV DEDICATED TO HELPING ATHLETES SUCCEED SINCE 1976 POWER CENTER The Bench is the Heart of Your Upper Body Program 2O\PSLFGHFOLQH 2O\PSLFEHQFK 2O\PSLF,QFOLQHDQG 2O\PSLFPLOLWDU\ GHJUHHV X%XLOWVWXUG\IRU\RXU VWURQJHVWDWKOHWHV ÁDWWRPLOLWDU\ GHJUHHV X+HDY\GXW\%XLOWWR ODVW X(DV\WRPRYHZLWK KDQGOHDQGZKHHOV DEDICATED TO HELPING ATHLETES SUCCEED SINCE 1976
From BFS Magazine — January/February 2012. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).
