Topic: DISCUSSION OF COACH LUNDAHL INTERVIEW

[Scott Safe]

Very interesting interview.  For the father of a teenage female weightlifter, it is very good to hear her views on training, etc.  I have to say that with Cori, the type of training that Ms Lundahl describes has worked best for her.  It is also something she is mentally better with.  Heavy all the time till failure only works with her for so long, probably the 3 weeks Ms Lundahl explained.  I would like to hear from other coaches of female lifters about their experiences.  Great interview

Scott

[Karoliina Lundahl]

Physically and mentally heavy singles training is hard on anyone. Females tend to focus on all the missed lifts instead of the ones they made. For example Sage had an awesome snatch workout yesterday equalling her competition PR and making two excellent attempts at the next weight (+2.5kg). I was pleased to see her fight and give it all she had since it was a heavy workout: we went up three times to max with singles. Afterwards she was not pleased with the workout because of all the misses she made! And that was the best snatch workout I've seen her do!

So it's a tough decision. You need the singles (year's main competition coming up) but how many times do you let her attempt it so she doesn't let the misses get to her? I make the decision by looking at her physical capability at that moment (yes, she can take it; no, she's too tired/can't focus etc.) and then I ask her, "Do you believe you can make it?" Because if she doesn't believe she can take it, it can do more harm to attempt it than letting it wait for a better time.

[Scott Safe]

Hi Ms Lundahl;

Thanks for the great interview and reply.  I've got another question for you.  You talked about wanting Sage to hit x amount of reps (70% and up) annually and build that volume as she can handle it.  How do you know when to add volume?  Just by your eyes?  Is there some sort of system you follow?  My daughter is 18 and has been lifting many years (since about 12 yrs old)  she has done 72.5/82.5 in competition@69kg.   any feelings on what type of volume she should be looking at?  Also, she likes to squat on a separate workout later in the day, with c&j or snatch in the am?  I'd be interested and appreciative of any input you have.

Thanks!

Scott

[Karoliina Lundahl]

How much volume a lifter can handle is individual. I like to see a lifter lift technically sound lifts because especially as a junior lifter it's very important to learn proper lifting technique. Thus the number of +70% lifts depends on the capability of the lifter - how is the lifting technique and what is the general level of conditioning. Without having seen your daughter lift it's impossible to say precisely what those numbers would be for her at this moment.

I started with a straightforward program with Sage: lifts, legs, pulls, upper body and mid torso work. I studied her past workouts to see what kind of training she had been used to and based my numbers on those. Then it's about communication. The athlete needs to tell the coach if she's tired or feels like she could have done some more work. I stress the fact that one needs to train at such hard intensity during the two hard weeks that one can't wait for the resting week! Being tired at the end of the two week phase is good but being injured and sick is not. It's all about how the athlete looks and feels.

Depending on how much time Cori has in the morning versus the evening workout I would recommend squatting in the morning and focusing all the day-time energy to the lifts. Lifting is more demanding than squatting because of its complex technical aspect. But it also depends on what do you mean by "morning" - is it 6am or 11am? 6am I would definitely do 'no brainers' like squatting, pulls and upper body & mid torso exercises and leave the complex exercises snatch and cl-j to the evening. But having said that it's possible that the lifts in the morning and squats later during the day work out better for her since I am not acquainted with her daily schedule. But on the topic of squatting in a separate workout from the lifts, that is the way to go.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Physically and mentally heavy singles training is hard on anyone. Females tend to focus on all the missed lifts instead of the ones they made...You need the singles (year's main competition coming up) but how many times do you let her attempt it so she doesn't let the misses get to her? I make the decision by looking at her physical capability at that moment (yes, she can take it; no, she's too tired/can't focus etc.) and then I ask her, "Do you believe you can make it?" Because if she doesn't believe she can take it, it can do more harm to attempt it than letting it wait for a better time.

I agree. It is very tough for anyone to handle a lot of heavy singles in the lifts, especially the clean and jerk. It is probably more difficult for females to deal with a lot of heavy singles. I also agree that how well you can adapt to a lot of heavy singles is in large part psychological. But, then, I think most of sport is psychological.

I also go through some questions in my mind when making a decision on whether to take an extra set above the program or stick to a program that looks like it may be too difficult on a given day. Some of them are the same questions. Does she look strong? Is the iron hot? Is she confident? How has her training gone in the week so far? Has she had workouts that ended with a positive feeling? Has she gotten a decent amount of work in or is she on pace to get a good amount of work in for the week? What training remains for the week? Is it likely that this extra set will affect her ability to perform as expected in the next workout, the rest of the workouts for the week, the next week? Usually, if I think she looks strong, looks/sounds confident, and want to lift it, I will take it. But, if the preponderance of the other questions are in the negative, this might overrule a positive choice.

Still, reading the discussion of the interview up to this point makes me focus on one question. Coach Lundahl, do you believe that the central focus of training is to gradually train the lifter to handle an increasing number of 90, 95, and 100% lifts in the program? Because, this kind of seems like what you are saying. I must say my training philosophy has shifted more in this direction although I do believe there is a place for training the ability to handle a little more volume at slightly lower percentages (70-90%). I just don't think increasing work volume capacity at 70-90%, beyond a decent base, truly is the key to lifting bigger weights, especially with elite/mature lifters. I think you need some of that volume training as a base, for a while, but then I don't think we should be focusing on getting in shape to handle large volumes. I think focusing on handling very heavy weights more frequently is probably a little more productive toward increasing the total. Naim "The King" Suleymanoglu  seemed to train this way from what Dragomir said to me and from reading his biography available at Dynamic Fitness.

Am I making any sense to anyone?

Coach Lundahl Interview With The Weightlifting Exchange

[Karoliina Lundahl]

My first response got lost somewhere (aaarrrggghhhh!!!). Here's a simple recap (I hope I don't forget anything!):

Basically the workload will increase in both categories as a junior lifter progresses but more so in the 90-100% category than the 70-89% category.

Take this snatch workout from Sofia Academica, Bulgaria from the fall of 1980 (Bulgaria - Painonnoston pikkujättläinen, Kuoppala 1980). It shows the intensity and volume a mature elite lifter can handle:

(2x3x40%, 3x50%, 3x60%) 3x70%, 2x80%, 2x90%, 2x1x100%, 2x90%, 3x85%, 2x90%, 3x85%.

This workout is challenging for many elite lifters (to whom it was written) and in my opinion is too much for most junior lifters. Before I would give this kind of snatch workout to a junior I would do the following changes:

(same warm-up) 3x70%, 2x80%, 1x90% (only a single), 1x95%, 1x100% (only one single at today's max - NOT competition max) then either

1) 2x90%, 3x85% (very tough workout),
2) 2x2x85-90% (challenging workout), or
3) 3-4x2x80-85%, (intensity endurance - requires lots of time and focus).

By dropping percentages and reps one can ensure a better quality workout for a junior lifter with more technically sound successful lifts.

In other words the reps and intensity I took away from the original adult workout represents the workload increase a junior athlete has to work hard for. Most lifts fall in the 90-100% category but some fall in the 70-89% category.