Charles Staley

The gentleman above is Charles Staley, strength and conditioning coach, and the creator of the EDT or Escalating Density Training system. Essentially EDT first consists of picking two "antagonistic" lifts which when trained hard will not have too much impact on the other (e.g., double kettlebell front squats and barbell military rack presses). Then the first lift is performed for fifteen minutes with the number of successful attempts recorded. This is then repeated with the second lift. Each subsequent session, one tries to get in at least one more rep of each lift than the previous session. A more detailed article on Dragondoor can be read here.

Having learned about Charles through Dragondoor and the success of his methods applied to kettlebell training, I was surprised and pleased to learn that Charles is also 50 year master Olympic weightlifter. The link here is an hour and half interview of Charles with Senior RKC Instructor Geoff Neupert of Kettlebell Secrets where within the first twenty minutes Charles gives a deal of great insight on what it means to train as master lifter.

Below is a instructive video of Charles titled "The Illusions of Olympic Weightlifting".

My training went very well this week with the highlight on Saturday where I squat snatched three consecutive singles with 70kg. I have also been experimenting with adding relatively moderate kettlebell mini-maintenance sessions back into my training. Below is a wrap up of the week:

Wednesday, December 9 2009

Morning home kettlebell maintenance session:

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

25kg x 5 x 20 2-Hand Swings at the top of the minute

BW x 2 one minute push up planks

BW x 5 Evil Wheel on knees rollout, 10 sec hold, rollback

Thursday, December 10 2009

Evening Olympic Lifting Session at Excel Fitness and Sports

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch (kg):

40 x 2 x 3

50 x 2 x 3

55 x 1 x 2

60 x 1 x 2

Clean & Jerk (kg):

40 x 1 x 2

50 x 1 x 2

60 x 1 x 2

70 x 1 x 2

80 x 5 x 2

Front Squat (kg):

40 x 1 x 3

50 x 1 x 3

60 x 1 x 3

70 x 1 x 3

80 x 1 x 3

90 x 3 x 3

Walking Lunges (lbs):

45 x 1 x 10/10

95 x 1 x 10/10

115 x 1 x 10/10

135 x 1 x 6/6

A very solid session.

Friday, December 11 2009

Morning home kettlebell maintenance session

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

24kg x 1 x 4/4 -TGU

BW x 2 one minute push up planks

BW x 5 Evil Wheel on knees rollout, 10 sec hold, rollback

Saturday, December 13 2009

Noon Olympic Lifting Session at Excel Fitness and Sports

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch (kg):

40 x 1 x 3

45 x 1 x 2

50 x 1 x 2

55 x 1 x 2 1x

60 x 1 x 2 1x

65 x 1 x 2

65 x 1 x 2 1x

65 x 1 x 2 1x

70 x 3 x 1

Snatch Balance (kg):

40 x 1 x 3

45 x 1 x 4 1x

50 x 1 x 3 3x

45 x 1 x 3

Clean Pull (kg):

70 x 1 x 3

80 x 2 x 3

90 x 3 x 3

I was very pleased to make all three of my singles attempts with 70kg. Normally it takes three to five attempts to make this lift. By consciously pushing with my feet from the floor up and keeping my chest over the bar has helped considerably. When I forget to push with my feet I tend to use my arms and generate far less power.

Sunday, December 13 2009

Morning home kettlebell maintenance session:

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

25kg x 5 x 20 2-Hand Swings at the top of the minute

BW x 2 one minute push up planks

BW x 5 Evil Wheel on knees rollout, 10 sec hold, rollback

Half way there ...

Around four months ago, I set a medium term goal of a 75kg snatch and a 100kg clean & jerk. Tonight at the end of the session, after missing the lift five times in a row I made a full squat snatch with 75kg thus I'now "half way there". As for a 100kg c&j, I've front squatted 100kg for triples and have rack jerked 100kg several times. I will be focusing on putting these altogether within the next three weeks to complete my goal for the year.

Sunday, December 7 2009

Morning home kettlebell session

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

20kg x 5 x 20 2-Hand Swings at the top of the minute

BW x 2 one minute push up planks

20kg x 3 x 20 Swings 1-hand + roundabouts at the top of the minute

Tuesday, December 8 2009

Evening Olympic Lifting Session at Excel Fitness and Sports

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch (kg):
40 x 2 x 3
45 x 1 x 3
50 x 2 x 2
55 x 2 x 2
60 x 1 x 2 1x
60 x 1 x 2
65 x 2 x 1
70 x 5 x 1 5x
70 x 2 x 1
70 x 1 x 1 1x
70 x 1 x 1
70 x 4 x 1 4x
60 x 1 x 1
60 x 2 x 1

Clean Deadlift (kg)
90 x 2 x 2
100 x 2 x 2
110 x 3 x 3

Overhead Squat (OHS) (kg)
40 x 1 x 5
45 x 1 x 5
50 x 1 x 5
55 x 1 x 5
60 x 1 x 5
65 x 1 x 5 PR
70 x 1 x 2

Snatch (kg):
75 x 5 x 1 5x
75 x 1 x 1 PR!

Today was the first day in two months that I was able to perform a few 70kg snatches. Athough a paltry 3 out of 13, I was nonetheless pleased. This was followed with clean deads which I maintained strict form. Because of the overload of the deads, the OHS were easy .. I power snatched the beginning of each set to get the bar OH. Hitting five reps with 65kg was unexpected but I noticed I was using more quad and pressing upward.

Following these I was feeling so confident I knew I should try for a 75kg snatch. On the sixth attempt after being warned on the fifth not to overdo it, I made a solid full squat snatch.

Training Consistancy

Another great Thanksgiving has passed. The food and drink were superb and I did let myself indulge a bit more than usual. Up until last Wed I was still enjoying leftover turkey with all the trimmings. To deal with turkey withdrawal, I've ordered a fresh twenty pounder which will provide me with large quantities of high quality protein for week at least. My thanks to all the turkey farms for raising such fine tasting bird!




Nothing special to report in these last eight sessions other than putting quality time into my training. In particular, I've temporarily let go of feeling the need to achieve new competition lift PRs. Instead, since the recovery of my left knee, I have focused on technique. To this end my primary coach, Ben Fuller, has been extremely helpful towards getting me a more consistent, improved lifting technique. In conjunction with this, at Ben's urging, I have been hitting the assistance lifts hard to increase my strength and have recently seen some good results here as well.

Perhaps most importantly I have been really enjoying the training lately for its own sake. I will not have another competition until February and this does takes a lot of pressure off.

Tuesday, November 17 2009

Evening Olympic Lifting Session at Excel Fitness and Sports

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch (kg):

40 x 3 x 3
50 x 5 x 2
55 x 1 x 1

Cleans (kg):
60 x 1 x 3
65 x 1 x 2
70 x 1 x 2
80 x 4 x 2 1NoLift
90 x 1 x 1
90 x 1 x 1 NoLift
90 x 1 x 1
90 x 1 x 1 NoLift

A very difficult session as would normally not miss 90kg cleans. All the extra kettlebell work is taking its toll and I will have to cut back.

Thursday, November 19 2009

Evening Olympic Lifting Session at Excel Fitness and Sports

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

3 Position Snatch (kg):
40 x 2 x 3
45 x 2 x 3

Clean and Jerk (kg):
45 x 1 x 3
50 x 1 x 2
60 x 1 x 2
70 x 1 x 2
75 x 4 x 2

Front Squat (kg):
50 x 1 x 5
70 x 1 x 5
80 x 1 x 4
80 x 1 x 4

Four sets of double c&j with 75kg was very draining. As a result I had to cut my front squats off early.


Saturday, November 21 2009

Afternoon Olympic Lifting Session at Excel Fitness and Sports

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

C&J (kg):
40 x 1 x 3
50 x 1 x 1
60 x 1 x 2
70 x 1 x 2
75 x 1 x 2
80 x 1 x 2
85 x 1 x 1
90 x 1 x 1 Missed Jerk
92 x 1 x 1 Missed Jerk
95 x 1 x 1 Missed Clean
90 x 1 x 1 Missed Jerk
80 x 1 x 1

Clean Pull (kg):
90 x 5 x 3

Clean Deadlift (kg):
100 x 1 x 3
110 x 1 x 3
120 x 1 x 3
130 x 1 x 1 (PR)

Rack Jerks off Jerk Blocks (kg):
60 x 1 x 3
70 x 1 x 2
80 x 3 x 2

I was surprised I missed all the jerks but realized I had been over-training the week before with too much high volume kettlebell work. I will need to cycle the high kettlebell work less frequently perhaps just once a month.

Although I made the 130kg Clean deadlift PR, I did tweak my lower back right side. Not serious but annoying as although I can train through it while it heals, its is annoying.

As I said before, I love using the jerk boxes and I'm very pleased they are viewed as a real asset to the club.


Tuesday, November 24 2009

Evening Olympic Lifting Session at Excel Fitness and Sports

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch (kg):
40 x 3 x 3
50 x 3 x 3
55 x 5 x 2
60 x 7 x 2
60 x 1 x 2 1NoLift
60 x 1 x 2

Back Squat (lb):
135 x 1 x 6
185 x 1 x 4
225 x 1 x 2
245 x 1 x 2
255 x 2 x 2 PR
245 x 1 x 3
245 x 1 x 4

Rack Jerks off Jerk Boxes (kg):
70 x 1 x 3
80 x 1 x 2
90 x 1 x 1
100 x 1 x 1
105 x 2 x 1 2-NoLift
90 x 1 x 2

Great volume with the snatches. At Ben's urging working the following:

• Keeping the bar close to the body
• Waiting for 2nd pull until the bar brushes the upper thigh
• Keeping my chest over the bar
• Curling my wrists under
• Pushing with my heels for as long as possible

The two sets of double back squats with 255lbs was a PR. I believe a 130kg=286lb squat is not too far off. This would tie my clean dead.

The rack jerk misses with 105kg were not really close but I'm glad I attempted them. This weight is starting to feel much lighter in the rack position.

Saturday, November 28 2009

Afternoon Olympic Lifting Session at Excel Fitness and Sports

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch (kg):
40 x 1 x 3
50 x 3 x 2
55 x 2 x 2
60 x 3 x 2 4-NoLift
65 x 1 x 1 NoLift
65 x 3 x 1
60 x 1 x 1 NoLift

Front Squat (lb):
135 x 1 x 5
155 x 1 x 5

A very rough workout following a week of Thanksgiving gluttony.

Tuesday, December 1 2009

Evening Olympic Lifting Session at Excel Fitness and Sports

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch (kg):
40 x 2 x 3
45 x 1 x 3 2-NoLift
50 x 2 x 3
55 x 2 x 3
56 x 1 x 3
57 x 1 x 3
58 x 1 x 3
60 x 1 x 3
60 x 1 x 3 2-NoLift

Front Squat (kg):
40 x 1 x 5
70 x 1 x 5
80 x 1 x 5
90 x 1 x 5
85 x 1 x 5
85 x 1 x 3
80 x 1 x 5

Hang Snatch (kg):
40 x 3 x 2
50 x 4 x 2

Good volume for snatch triples. The front squat goal was work sets of five reps with 93kg but after one set of five with 90kg I was spent.

Thursday, December 3 2009

Evening Olympic Lifting Session at Excel Fitness and Sports

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Cleans (kg):
40 x 2 x 3
50 x 1 x 3
60 x 1 x 3
70 x 1 x 3
80 x 3 x 3
85 x 2 x 3
87 x 1 x 3 PR

Clean Pull (kg):
90 x 4 x 3

Back Squat (lb):
135 x 1 x 5
185 x 1 x 5
225 x 1 x 5
232 x 5 x 5

I love triples .. they are challenging but doable. I triple cleaned 87kg for the first time and they were solid. I set another PR with five sets of five reps with a tad over 105kg back squats.

Saturday, December 5 2009

Afternoon Olympic Lifting Session at Excel Fitness and Sports

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

One Hang Snatch followed by two full snatches (kg):
40 x 2 x 2
45 x 1 x 3
50 x 3 x 3
55 x 2 x 3 1-NoLift
60 x 1 x 4 1-NoLift
60 x 3 x 3

Rack Jerks off Jerk Boxes (kg):
70 x 2 x 2
80 x 1 x 2
90 x 1 x 2 2-PressOuts
90 x 1 x 2
92 x 1 x 2
95 x 1 x 1
100 x 1 x 1
103 x 3 x 1 3-NoLift

An easy session with great triple snatch volume. After pressing out 90kg twice I with my right arm I was able to correct by getting under more quickly and locking both arms. My 100kg jerk was the best ever with my 1RM. I missed three times with 103kg with the last the closest .. this should fall over the next few weeks.

105 x 2 x 1 2-NoLift
90 x 1 x 2