Rest

Power Snatch 3-5×2/75%
1 Snatch Pull + 2 High Hang Snatch Pull 3-5×1+2/80-90%
Push Up w/ Feet up on bench. 5×8

Misinformation Engineering©
Andrew Charniga, Jr.
www.sportivnypress.com
2009

Section A: The Marketing of Functional Isometric Contraction in 1963

The Commercialization of Functional Isometrics: 1963

The January 1963 issue of Strength and Health features Bob Hoffman’s report of the 1962 World championships {S&H 01:62:1963}. Yoshinobu Miyake wins the first ever world title for Japan. Hoffman notes that, “for the first time since 1932 no American lifter won a world title. We were robbed of two gold medals….”

In the reference to being robbed of two gold medals, one of these was won by Veres of Hungary whose presses were completed with a large backbend. In contrast Hoffman wrote of T. Kono that, “many people commented that he is the best presser in the world, for he stands perfectly erect and simply presses.”

These comments illustrate one of the root causes of the USA’s coming problems at the international level.  Veres had to “cheat” to keep up with Kono in the press, but Kono was unable to keep up in the clean and jerk. See Schemansky’s comments in section B.

However, it was this “cheating”, which eventually turned the press into a speed strength exercise that the lifters on this side of the Atlantic were late in adopting because they were tied to developing strength and doing partial movements in the power rack, and, to a lesser extent, the officials in the USA were late in becoming more lax with the rule book.

On the other hand, in an article about the Russian pressing technique {S&H 03:40:1963} “The Russian Pressing Style,” Hoffman concludes that, “All of this proves just one thing, that a lifter who ‘presses without sin’ cannot hold a world record.

Hoffman notes Bill March “is the best built of all the competitors” at the 1962 world championships.

The training of Tony Garcy, a member of the 1964 Olympic team, appears in Strength and Health {S&H 02:14-15:1963}. Nine of the 11 pictures accompanying the article are of the lifter performing Functional Isometric Contraction exercises in a power rack.

An ad for the $5.95 postpaid “Strength Builder” {S&H 02:6:1963} for the first time features a female model performing an isometric exercise dressed in a blouse, skirt, and high heels.

In the latest technical article on FIC “The Physiology of Strength,” Hoffman quotes extensively from the work of Hettinger and Meuller  {S&H 04:24:1963} and relates once again how Bill March made great gains using FIC by improving his press from 110 kg to 162.5 kg.

Later in 1963 {S&H 08:14:1963}, Hoffman railed that this same progress came at the expense of the lifter’s results in the snatch and the clean and jerk. However, there is no connection made between the isometrics having a negative carry over to dynamic exercises like the snatch and the clean and jerk.

Hoffman asks Dr. Meuller, while in attendance at one of his lectures, if he has heard of his work with Functional Isometric Contraction for developing the whole body. Meuller acknowledges hearing about it but knew no specifics. Most of Hettinger and Meuller’s experiments are  tests with the arm flexors at an angle of 90º.

There are six pictures accompanying this article with one athlete, one weightlifter, and three bodybuilders performing isometrics in power racks and the strength builder. They represent the core focus groups of the marketing of FIC. A full page ad for power racks and isometric courses appears at the end of the article.

Hyberole Run Amuck

The first article in Strength and Health by Canadian scuba diver John McCallum appears {S&H 04:34:1963}. Rather bizarre pictures of the author exercising with barbells in bare feet and scuba gear accompany the article. Many articles will follow for years to come.

And so began a prolonged campaign of confusion.

The substance of this series of articles, known as “Keys to Progress,” were profoundly simplified, folksy, geared to the man in the street tales of how to develop big muscles. They were essentially about developing bulk and power; as to what end one should pursue this course of action, it is never made quite clear. These articles will feature such verbose, loquacious, grandiose, and redundant titles as: “Bulk,” “Squat,” “Sleep,” and “Run.” Much of the content from these articles was evidently misplaced; it belonged to the funny pages.*

These articles ultimately add to the confusion created by the magazine’s mixed content which was designed to draw a readership large enough to remain profitable. Because it is unclear, first, what makes this middle aged, stocky scuba diver an expert on any of these subjects, and, second, the exercises and programs featured draw from Olympic lifting, bodybuilding and powerlifting. So, it was easy for young weightlifters, for instance, to think that some of these programs would be helpful for weightlifting and follow them verbatim. And, this did occur with disastrous results.

The Socialization of Weightlifting in the Caribbean

A letter to the editor informs the readers of Strength and Health {S&H 05:08:1963} that Yuri Vlasov visited Cuba and gave a weightlifting clinic. The editors note that, “the Russians have sent numerous coaches and champion performers to Cuba for propaganda purposes.” Call it what you will; “propaganda” or the socialization of sport, those “visits” ultimately produced results for the Cubans in numerous Olympic sports.

For instance, A.I. Muelberg, a Soviet sport scientist specializing in weightlifting, went to work with the Cuban national team during the 60s. It was not long after that the Cubans became the dominant weightlifting team of the western hemisphere.

The Russians taught the socialist countries weightlifting. They failed to win a single gold medal at the 2008 Olympics. Charniga Photo

Read more…..

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