Double Knee Bend

Perfect song after a hard day of training.  It gets good at 1:40 and on.

Knees back.... then "crack"!  Extend them like a long stay at a 20 dollar motel in a rainy city called Eugene.  "Release the Crackin!" Release the double knee bend only when it's time.  The longer Superman flies, the longer the knees glide back, well...... the more, let's say, bang for your buck you're going to get in the ever so lovely Arched Angel (finish).  The Superman (pull) and the Arched Angel are like a family, that may at times separate for training purposes, but always meet back up for a glass of warm eggnog during the cold and windy time of Christmas.  A family who works like dominoes, a family who depends on each other to make the lift complete.  Once the weight breaks and the sun rises, they all rise, one after another.  Raising their hands high while miss brown eyes pumps through their blood singing the song your mother always sang you in the morning, "good morning to you, good morning to you, you look like a monkey and smell like one too." You know the saying, "Don't bring bent knees into a weightlifting fight".  You better have those knees pushed back and almost extended.  If you want a full tank of gas then this must happen.  Your pull..... wait, I hate this word. Your set up for the finish, must take patience and timing.  I say set up because that's all the pull is, nothing more, nothing less.

Yes, this is art, and yes, it's a sight to see, but even more of a sight to witness.  NASA has nothing on his always double powered bend, creating the Angel we call Arch.  Yes, double is her father, and his tear stained brown leather jacket can show proof of their feelings to one another.   This brown jacket I speak of has much meaning and importance to me, but I won't go into it in this blog, maybe another time.  I have been writing too much about my father lately.  I don't want to be "that guy".  But back to what I was saying.  Just like this song that sings into my ears while we bath in a pond of coffee like childhood memories of summer camping with the family.  It's like the high hang, once you know the man and his mustache, then you easily welcome him into your home.  But the double knee bend is left out in the rain, not welcome for chat.  It is the backbone that goes unnoticed and covers his head with a newspaper and walks off.  The double knee bend is there, and always carries his mighty and powerful self around with a smile, but he never gets invited to the social parties that others like the Arched Angel and the Superman pull get to attend.  Mr. double spends most of his time reading up on the good he does in this sport at his local pancake house.  The waitress he smiles at so nicely fills his coffee cup up for the fourth time.  Hmm a movie, this could be a movie.  I should write a movie.  A movie about a lonely man, the end.  It's perfect. It's my kind of movie.  Nothing fancy, just an emotional picture of a man that does so much, but for some reason has gone unnoticed.  But then again maybe it's the double knee bend's fault.  Every time he gets mentioned nothing good comes of it.  Athletes start thinking too much.  When athletes think too much, or at all, things go south, and fast.  I guess he is like the, "Which foot do I jerk with?" asking person.   The jerk foot has no say, the athlete will step correctly without even thinking.  Bam.... correct.  Bam boom now slam the bar.  Now grab your gold medal and run down the middle of the street free as a bird.  Isn't this thought alone why we do this?  Freedom?

Push your knees back even more, even more, go on....yes...even more.  Now release the hell you have kept inside you for all these years.  Patience is the hardest part of this sport.  Hands down.  Game over.  Mixing your mashed potatoes with your green beans is bad.  Just like in the pull and finish.  The pull and finish are two different sports.  Don't combine them, never.  Set up, then attack.  A bike chain plays in my mind as I take another chug of this coffee, while half of it drips down the side of my mouth.  I say bike chain because everything should move in the pull like it's connected to a chain, moving all together.  Then once you have reached the end of your cul de sac and you parents won't let you wonder any farther, it's time for the finish.

I write to you tonight about this because it's something that has been bothering me.  Knees are not being pushed back enough, creating a "fish out of water finish". A pull and pray finish that only leads to lose teeth and up all nights.  I write you about this because to be honest, I haven't written a technique blog in quite some time, and I guess I feel the need to throw out my two cents.  I don't want to bore you with too many of my personal stories and emotional blogs about drugs, fathers, and coffee. I love technique. I love studying technique and improving my craft everyday.  I love painting a picture of a perfect weightlifter.... or at least trying to paint it.   I find this sport memorizing, intriguing, and fascinating.  The way our bodies move to achieve something so simple, is far from simple.  A ballet of muscles. A double knee bend lifestyle.

I have much more to say about technique, much, much more.  I am sick and tired of seeing how all these crossfiters and weightlifters are being taught how to lift.  It's a scam.  That's why I have taken my mad scientist briefcase, notes, and travel size coffee cup with me all over the world to spread the way one should snatch and clean and jerk.  It is not the 1930's anymore.  Salute.

Incase you missed the live show, here is the link below to listen in to this weeks Weightlifting Talk with guest appearances Travis Cooper and Tom Sroka.  

Weightlifting Talk 08/16 by Weightlifting Talk0 | Blog Talk Radio 

RIO 2016