The Sound of One-Hand Lifting

NEW ARTICLE:

An excellent new article about the Bent Press, entitled, "The Sound of One Hand Lifting," has been put up on our website by guest author Dave Whitley. This is a lift that was commonly practiced 100 years ago, but is now only commonly known among the few of the hardcore communities. It is a practical application of the science of the body. If you can master it, it is the way the most weight can be lifted overhead with one hand. It requires tremendous balance, flexibility, coordination, supporting strength and torso strength. It's the lift that allowed Arthur Saxon to put 370lbs overhead with one hand at only a 210lb body weight. This is a great introduction to this classic lift. Don't miss out on reading it.

ABOUT DAVE:

Dave is an up and coming author and kettlebell competitor. His other articles can be seen on his website, http://irontamer.com, as well as DragonDoor and Rugged Magazine. He's one of the only people I know actually actively working on the bent press, not just talking about it. Plus, he will probably be one of the first master of sports in kettlebell lifting in America. He's also a massage therapist and trainer and generally a very nice Christian guy. Be sure to check out his site and if you can possibly make it don't miss his November Kettlebell Clinic and the December 4th Cross Country Kettlebell Meet. He's hosting the Tennessee leg of this unique competition. He's the real deal folks. A big strong guy who's knowledgeable about training. not a musclehead.

TIP:

Check out the windmill. Great strengthener.

One of the lifts I've been working on lately is the windmill. It's basically a toe touch while holding a weight overhead with one hand. There are multiple variations for multiple different purposes. It is the precursor lift for the bent press and or the Two Hands Anyhow. It's also a tremendous torso and shoulder strengthener. Seeing as it's mentioned heavily in Dave's new article on our site and I've been playing around with it, we went out and took a few pics this morning in a quick workout. My wonderful wife who is a computer genius, far beyond my meager technological abilities, has put them together into a video slide show presentation for everybody to check out.

It would be what I'm calling a "Power Windmill." Not the strict version which is done with more straight legs and is more of a stretching exercise.

The last slide is a pic from the strength ministry we did at West Orange Baptist church in Orlando this month. We were privileged to work with a strength ministry called the Power Company out of Georgia. They were down visiting some schools and churches in the area and asked me to tag along. My eight year old son, Noah, also came along and performed with us. The last pic is of him deadlifting a pair of 40kg kettlebells. That's 176lbs with thick handles. He weighs 105lbs.

By the way the windmill with me is 180lbs. Technically it's a two handed clean, one arm side press, then the windmill, but you'll get the idea. Outside the kettlebell community this lift is almost unknown and hardly ever practiced. You probably won't ever see this anywhere else. In future newsletters and on our site we'll be discussing more of the technical aspects of the windmill and its application in training. One things I think it definitely does for me is allows me to work on many things at one time. It makes your shoulders more stable. That's definite. It increases your balance and flexibility. I work on them when I'm already doing one arm presses so it allows me to add extra torso strengthening with minimal addition to my program in an exercise I'm already doing. More tips on this in the future.

Be sure to check this out! http://strongerman.com/windmill.wmv

AN IDEA:

If you get these tips you probably come to it through looking for weightlifting information. And. you will get quite a bit of it, but you'll also notice that we heavily mention spiritual things as well. While we never want to offend anyone we will not apologize for our belief in God, and for publicly giving Him the glory. We also believe that you simply cannot separate the physical from the spiritual and mental aspects of a man. "Isolation" as it were, especially in this idea is a total myth. Everything that you believe effects the rest of your life. And all of the areas interplay with each other, just like strength and endurance. It might be more effective business-wise to totally drop that and simply talk weightlifting, but I don't think you should want to deal with a man who's afraid to express what he believes. That's part of being a man. The truth is, I'm not good enough to accomplish anything without God's help. Neither is anyone else if they're truly honest.

I said all that to explain to some people why you get those spiritual references in a weightlifting newsletter, and this is how it ties in with our idea. This is a message specifically for the Christian lifters out there. We want to create a database or network if you will, of Christian strength athletes (competitive or not), and performing Christian strongmen. We think this will be useful for all of us. It will help you hook up with other like-minded individuals in your area or when you're traveling. If you're looking for places to train on the road or churches to attend or other lifters to visit OR someone to perform a strength ministry at your church/school/business or whatever the case may be, this will help us all recognize and be in touch with each other. There are many people actually doing this (Christian strength athletes or performers), but unless you're really well known we don't know each other. This might help us to unify and work better together. If you're interested, or if you know of someone who might be, or if you know of a performer or team please email us. budjeffries@strongerman.com

We never intend any spiritual discussion to be a problem for anyone in our newsletter or on our site. But it's a part of our life therefore it's going to be here. We hope that we can help everyone to get stronger and in better shape, but we also hope to help strengthen lives and spirits. Physical health is truly important, but without happiness and spiritual peace, what do you have?

BARBELL TRAINING FOR ODD OBJECTS:

For more info and specific training on how to give your strength training and odd object lifting a major boost, check out our video, "Odd Object Lifting - Barbells." It's just over an hour long and it contains what I feel are the most productive exercises for giving you the strength to lift stones, logs, bulldozers, uncooperative mother-in-laws, couches, and whatever else you might come across. It covers thick barbell lifting, deadlifts, rows, plate rows, zercher squats, dumbbell pressing and lifting as well as why everything works the way it does and why it's the right variation to use. It will help you achieve your strength goals.