Tommy Kono is a legend in the weighlifting world. Born in 1930 in Sacramento, CA, Kono was the only lifter to set world records in four weightlifting classes. He was also a gold medalist in the 1952 and 1956 Olympics in Helsinki and Melbourne respectively. Tommy earned a silver medal four years later in Rome. He was world champion from 1953-1959, garnishing 21 world records along the way. He won three Pan-American Games championships during his illustrious career. In 1976, Kono was the US Olympic coach for the games in Montreal.
In addition to his highly successful Olympic weightlifting career, Kono also won the Mr. Universe bodybuilding competitions in 1957 and 1959.
Mr. Kono penned a piece titled “If I Had My Way”. It should be on the wall in every gym as it contains his philosophy on how things should be in the gym and it is based on respect and responsibility. It is reproduced here.
As an athlete, should you consider it an insult if someone says you are “quad-dominant”? Why? Because it implies the athletic muscles from your posterior side, the backside, are under-developed. Simplistically speaking, the front muscles; bi’s, tri’s, pecs & quads are known as “beach” muscles and while there is nothing wrong with developing them and looking good, the real athleticism comes from the developed posterior chain muscles, joints, ligaments and tendons of the hips, spinal erectors, glutes, hamstrings, calves and down to the ankles.
Since, as Dan John says, “the body is one piece”, you need to work the entire body and not give short shrift to those muscles, ligaments and tendons “hanging out” behind you. Developing these muscles make you more athletic, stronger, faster and a less likely chance of injury. You can’t get any more functional than that, can you? The beauty of human movement is the synchrony of the hips, glutes and hamstrings firing off at just the right time.
Good stuff happened this week and Tuesday was a high volume, CNS-blasting session, masterly programmed by the Brengel. The week finished with a deloading week, starting on Saturday, followed by an unexpected, surprise training session Sunday.
Olympic lifting has a long tradition in sports other than Olympic weightlifting for strength, power and conditioning but it is not without it’s detractors by strength coaches mostly, I suppose, because of the steep learning curve it takes to master the lifts. Many coaches are of the opinion the time could be more effectively used for other movements that provide similar benefits.
According to Zach Even-Esh, who dug this up, this footage is from Poland in the early 1970’s. Good display of assistance exercises too. The black & white makes this look even older.
There is something about dramatic effect; the right music and slo-mo that really adds to the speed, strength and power exhibited by the athletes and measured by sport scientists and engineers in this video, Super Strength.
Another excellent week of training with Scott expertly mixing in some new technical movements like, um, the Bunny Hop, when mastered, may become one of my favorites. No question, over the last three weeks, I am training with the highest volume I have ever done. Should really have done this 30 years ago. Who ever says, “never too late” is invited over to the gym!
A little over a month ago, in “Random and Structured Training” I wrote of the differences of each type of programming and said I trained sort of in between the both with my training approach.
I am in the midst of the third week of highly structured and programmed training after signing on with my friend, pro strongman Scott Brengel of EastWestStrength, (not sure if he is my “friend” anymore)!
Tommy Kono is a legend in the weighlifting world. Born in 1930 in Sacramento, CA, Kono was the only lifter to set world records in four weightlifting classes. He was also a gold medalist in the 1952 and 1956 Olympics in Helsinki and Melbourne respectively. Tommy earned a silver medal four years later in Rome. He was world champion from 1953-1959, garnishing 21 world records along the way. He won three Pan-American Games championships during his illustrious career. In 1976, Kono was the US Olympic coach for the games in Montreal.
