Topic: DISCUSSION OF COACH BURGENER INTERVIEW

[Mike Wittmer]

1.) Around what age should athletes begin to train as weightlifters?

I started my children Casey, Beau, Cody, and Sage at very young ages-8 or 9.

Hmmmm, I would guess that Casey had that PVC pipe in his crib!  And, I would guess that he took his first step after his first set of 10 squats.

Seriously, I think that starting young is critical.  Years of developing those motor skills are needed before maturation in order to benefit fully during the growth years.  This is where we miss the boat, mostly because we lose athletes to other sports, and mostly because of the lack of scholarship opportunities in weightlifting.

3.) Do you recommend that young athletes pursue other sport interests while competing in weightlifting, and if so, how do you determine whether and when they should begin to focus solely on weightlifting?

Agreed, I found that soccer players pick up weightlifting skills quickly, perhaps because they are so leg oriented.  I think that around age 14-15 the other sports should be dropped and for two reasons, one, those involved in other sports are, at that age, likely focusing on that particular sport, so it will be hard to compete unless you are doing the same.  And second, I think energy spent doing the other sport(s), at a higher level, starts to negatively impact training.

8.) Often we hear of coaches promoting one of two training philosophies, Bulgarian and Russian, while others prefer to modify those training methods or create their own. How would you describe your approach to training weightlifters?

As Steve Gough has coined: Americanized Bulgarian. Snatch, clean and jerk, and squat - as heavy as can be tolerated and recovered. I do work weaknesses depending on the athlete and the weaknesses that they have.

I think both these coaches make a lot of sense.  In Jeff's case, he started making big gains around the time he turned 18, and a major reason was following Steve Gough's advice and training heavy most of the time.  He did, and still does, use assistance exercises (currently a lot of overhead work because the jerk is his weak point), but we cut the volume and increased the intensity.  Obviously one's training program is built around the lifts, but I do feel there is a place for other exercises, at least until the lifter reaches an advanced level.  Pete Kelley comes to mind as an example of such a lifter.

11.) How important is it to modify training based on individual
weightlifters?

I could not agree more on this point.  This is coaching.  I don't believe there is one system that is best for everyone.

[Steve Gough]

"I don't believe that there is one system for everyone."

I think you could easily spot differences between what Mike and Mike and I teach, but in reality they would be minor. Any one of our athletes would easily step into each other's gym, philosophy and methods and feel quite at home. The main core, the basic principle, the bedrock will always be snatch and C&J in an approach and an environment specifically directed towards competition. We each tweek it maybe a little differently, but none of us are above learning from the other. And I don't believe that any of us have radically departed from the approach.

On a personal note, I printed-up Mike's interview and delivered it to two of my local high school's football coaches. They have heard my mantra over and over for years, never really fully buying into it. Seeing Mike's interview on paper (the printed word), his experiences, his philosophy and his results was like receiving Moses down from Mt. Sinai. Mike has organizational skills with large numbers of young kids far beyond my meager ability. I am sure that there are many coaches out there who have gone unheard on this forum who may possess alike-skills and experiences such as Mike. And I encourage them to take part. We need to know that you are listening...

Steve

[Don Weideman]

Steve and Mike

I don't know if this is german, but I asked Schmitz once what his training
philosophy was for individual athletes and without hesitation he just looked at me and said, "I give him what he needs".

Don

[Steve Gough]

Don,  

I guess that sums it up pretty good.

Steve