Tommy Miller's Page

Tommy,
I still do not perform olympic lifts with the athletes i train. If you have ever seen Charlie Francis' motor unit involvement chart the approximate percentage of an athlete's total motor unit involvement in different activities is the highest with the olympic lifts BUT no higher and in fact are the same as maximal sprints, explosive medball throws and plyometric jumps. i love olympic lifting as a sport but still believe that the body is incapable of developing 2 primary neurologically taxing skills at once. James Smith (my assistant) have discussed this in depth several times and both agree that they have there place in the sport itself and our athletics continune to get stronger/faster/more explosive without them. we can debate this for centuries and never agree. It is like putting a catholic and athiest in the same room and both argue there point. Bottom line it is your program, train them with what you believe in. All programs work, they only work for so long and nothing works forever. All exercises are good and there is no one best exercise for anything. The best program is usually the one you are not on. There can be no perfect training program since there is no perfect training variable. They all have there benefits and drawbacks. Bruce Lee said it best retain what is useful reject what is not. Teach them to train/work and give them an attitude and you will be successful. Master the basics always. Realize NOBODY has it figured out, NOBODY! Hope this helps.