Who needs leg drive?

[Anthony Esquerdo]

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:BB: Always gets me when I see this guy press 502lbs barely using his legs at all.

[Jay O'Neill]

That is awesome power!!! However in that lift.. "The Press" It is illegal to use leg drive!

[Alex Klotz]

I wish I was that strong.

[JimmyHerbst]

Just for debate purposes: What do you guys think of learning the Olympic Press technique as an alternative to push jerks? For some of us, despite being able to squat a ton, still have a hard time with the coordination of explosive over heads - would the olympic press be something worth training as an alternative?

[Paul_Koskinen]

Work on the coordination since it will come in handy. Meanwhile, lifting anything overhead has to be beneficial so lift via press or jerk. You can only get stronger.

[Jay O'Neill]

Just for debate purposes: What do you guys think of learning the Olympic Press technique as an alternative to push jerks? For some of us, despite being able to squat a ton, still have a hard time with the coordination of explosive over heads - would the olympic press be something worth training as an alternative?

If you have a strong Bench press it woud probably help you.... Because when the press is executed correctly, yo are bend over backward "benching" the weight up...

[davebeers]

If you have a strong Bench press it woud probably help you.... Because when the press is executed correctly, yo are bend over backward "benching" the weight up...
if i was built like the guy above then i wouldn't need to push-jerk either

[Barney Shannon]

Serge Reding was a very powerful librarian from Belgium. He died very young from a heart attack during training in the Philippines.

[Barney Shannon]

Serge and Phil Gripaldi at the old Belleville Barbell Club in NJ. Serge is long dead and Phil is back in the big house for the third time. :rolleyes:

http://www.usbachelor.com/sitebuilder/images/Serge_Reding_Phil_Gripaldi_at_BBC-196x160.jpg

[Tom Yannuzzi]

hey barney, is that the weightroom that was under the highschool stadium? i live in belleville and i heard about the barbell club

[Joshua Davis]

If you have a strong Bench press it woud probably help you.... Because when the press is executed correctly, yo are bend over backward "benching" the weight up...

It was because of this backwards lean that the press was removed from olympic weightlifting. Originally the intent was to execute a military style press. I love pressing like this but I think there were some concerns about safety because some of the lighter lifters from russia and poland would have even more back lean than in your photo.

[Alex Klotz]

http://jva.ontariostrongman.ca/BACKBE10.gif

[Tony Moses]

The main problem with the olympic press was that very layback. The rules were actually amended at one point to say no "excessive" layback was allowed. That left it pretty much up to the judges' discretion with no guidance whatsoever.

Many judges were basically intimidated in the Soviet Union into passing lifts that were essentially a standing incline press after the Soviets declared an all out assault on the weightlifting record books, while other lifters got no lifts for presses that were actually much better.

So, the judging was not only inconsistent, but also out of control with some of the crap that was getting white lights. As press numbers began to creep up to and even surpass jerk numbers (which will never be the case with a strict press, but once you change the leverage and do more of an incline that changes), weightlifting kind of said "enough is enough" and in 1973 the press was no more.

The guys with disproportionately strong presses like Ken Patera took up new pursuits because the sport no longer had a place for "teddy bear" type lifters with just brute strength and huge pressing ability. Weightlifting became a platform for super fast, super athletic, squat powerful athletes. Power lifting experienced a huge growth after '73 though as all the big pressers wanted to get into benching.

I kind of got a little carried away though, but hopefully somebody found that interesting, lol.

All that said, Serge Redding had one of the cleanest presses in weightlifting and did them the way they were intended to be done. If anybody can believe it, the guy started out as a gymnast, but put on so much muscle so easily that he outgrew the sport and had to find something else. To put into perspective just how dense he was, he weighed around 330lbs at 5'8" during his prime.

[Kevin Nee]

Serge and Phil Gripaldi at the old Belleville Barbell Club in NJ. Serge is long dead and Phil is back in the big house for the third time. :rolleyes:

http://www.usbachelor.com/sitebuilder/images/Serge_Reding_Phil_Gripaldi_at_BBC-196x160.jpg

hey barney,

do you know bob wentlejewski? he use to train with phil gripaldi back in the day in jersey. now he lives in AZ and i train with him probably twice a week. he was also on the us olympic team

also from what i have heard, serge died from a gun shot....???

can anyone confirm that

[Paul_Koskinen]

Reads like his death was due to health reasons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serge_Reding

[Tony Moses]

Yeah, to my knowledge Redding died of a heart attack at a very young age, I think 33. But, I can't confirm that.

[Barney Shannon]

hey barney, is that the weightroom that was under the highschool stadium? i live in belleville and i heard about the barbell club

Maybe but I never heard of it being under the hs stadium Tom.

[Barney Shannon]

hey barney,

do you know bob wentlejewski? he use to train with phil gripaldi back in the day in jersey. now he lives in AZ and i train with him probably twice a week. he was also on the us olympic team

also from what i have heard, serge died from a gun shot....???

can anyone confirm that

I don't think so Kevin. I'm pretty sure that Serge died from a heart attack but the gun shot thing makes a better story.

[Barney Shannon]

I wish Phil Gripaldi followed a different path. He would have made a great coach.