Greenwood Weightlifting

Congratulations Fraer Morrow! English 55kg Champion 2019!

Now that my living depends on flogging workshops I thought I’d better let you know a bit about them and what you get when you book one.
Here’s how a workshop goes:
We start off with a powerpoint presentation. Hopefully people ask questions and we have a discussion so specific points are addressed and the group gets a much better understanding of weightlifting technique and how it works. I know watching a powerpoint presentation isn’t always everyone’s idea of a good time but... no-one’s complained about this one yet. The idea of it is to give everyone a grounding in weightlifting technique. What’s important, what’s not etc. That’s about an hour. After the presentation we put the kettle on and have a well-earned coffee.
Next is the practical bit. We start with going through the reverse chain teaching sequence for the snatch with the idea being that the group put into practice what they’ve learned from the talking bit. Everyone practices in pairs so they observe as well as practicing which is very useful for their learning. This is all empty bar stuff but at the end anyone who wants to is welcome to stick a bit of weight on the bar. Then I have another coffee if one’s on offer. Lovely.
Lastly I usually, especially for the coach-targeted version*, realise that we’re running a bit tight for time. It’s all those coffee breaks. We go over the reverse chain teaching sequence for the clean which is quicker than the snatch because it’s so similar and everyone’s got the hang of it now. If we have time we put that together with my split jerk teaching sequence and, once again anyone’s welcome to go a bit heavy if they choose.
At the end I apologise to everyone for running over time and, despite this, still having to chop bits off the end of the workshop. Everyone takes pity on me and says it’s ok and we have a chat & maybe a quick coffee (if there’s time before I have to go and catch my train) to see me home.
If you like the sound of that lot please message me via this page or email me on info@greenwoodweightlifting.com for information on how to book a workshop.
*I have two versions of the workshop. They’re both broadly the same but the coach-targeted one has a longer presentation going over the technical model which the gym-member based one doesn’t cover so there’s less time for the practical. Coaches also tend to ask more questions whereas gym members are more likely to want to get on with the practical and get some weight on the bar**.
**I don't always approve of people going too heavy on the workshop as this can lead to the technical stuff going out the window. If form doesn't suffer though I'm always happy to see people lifting heavy. I'm a weightlifting coach after all. It's sort of the point. The reason I insist on good form is that that's the best way to lift big weights.
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Don't Correct Your Errors!
A big change I’ve tried to make in my coaching style over the last couple of years is to convert my observations of technical faults into positive actions that a lifter can follow when training. I’ve had much more success in fixing technical errors when I’ve been able to say to a lifter “do this” than telling them not to do something. An example I used in the Technical Model series of pieces I’ve posted recently is for the lifter to feel the weight ...through the middle of her feet as she lifts the bar from the ground. This is a goal the lifter can aim at whereas if I’d said “don’t sit back as you start to pull” she’s got an instruction to not do something which is (hopefully) correct but not something she can actually take action on.
It also seems like the “ironic process theory” (I know this as “don’t think of a pink elephant” - I just looked the proper name for it up on google) plays a bit of a part where the instruction to not think of something causes you to think of it. I want the lifters’ mind on correct technique rather than thinking about poor technique (what not to do) when he or she lifts.
So the daft sounding title to this post is partially correct. In my experience, while it’s fine for a lifter to know what they’re doing wrong, it helps to use positive instruction describing the correct movement with no mention of the error rather than instructing them on what not to do.
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The weights might be lighter but I can still do the face! Demo-ing at The Hive - Crossfit Central Lancaster.

Thanks to everyone at Crossfit Central Lancaster for hosting one of my workshops yesterday! Hope you all enjoyed it! (They said they did but they were very nice so may have just been being polite).
If you'd like me to run a workshop at your gym please contact me via this page or email me at info@greenwoodweightlifting.com

The Technical Model Part 3. Coaching (at last!)
Now that I’ve obtained a technical series and analysed the lift I can do a bit of coaching. Even when it’s not actually necessary to bother with the steps of videoing, producing a technical series then having a look at it to see what’s wrong (we might already have done the analysis from a previous workout, we might be coaching beginners who’s technical flaws are obvious etc) I have this process in mind and think of the lifts as ...
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The Technical Model Part 2: Technical Analysis
Once you’ve taken a technical series, as described in the previous article, you have a few photos in a nice little line because you’ve edited them in photogrid or whatever you’d use. As mentioned previously, anyone should be able to produce this series of photos by following the instructions. No weightlifting knowledge is necessary. The next thing to do is to have a look at the technical series to see if there’s anything that nee...
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The Technical Model
From several conversations I’ve had it’s clear that there’s some misunderstanding of what the BWL technical model is and what it’s useful for. Seeing as I wrote the technical model I thought it might be a good idea to try to explain myself so I’ve written a short series of articles to explain what the technical model is and how we use it. This is the first of these. I've kept them as short as possible and tried to be clear but please feel free to ask for c...
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Hello!
For the last three years or so I’ve been neglecting my business in favour of working for British Weightlifting (BWL) at their High Performance Centre (HPC) based in the Powerbase Gym, Loughborough University. Now that the job has come to an end (not through gross incompetence, inappropriate behaviour or bullying on my part: the funding ran out) I thought I’d share a few reflections on my time, first as Resident Coach at the HPC then as Head of Coaching for BWL.
I’m sa...
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If you use Crystal Palace and appreciate the effort Keith and his minions put in to provide competitions for us throughout the year please fill in this survey to support the venue.

A helpful calculator from US coach Sean Waxman. Stick your results in the classical lifts plus various assistance exercises in and it suggests where you should focus your strength training so improvements are most likely to carry over to the snatch and clean & jerk. It says I should do more squats! Bah.

Getting stronger (in the right places) increases your potential to lift heavier weights. Good technique allows you to use that strength to realise your potential. You need to be strong and technically sound to perform to the best of your ability. Here's GB junior international Fraer Morrow applying good technique to a heavy weight.

A first run-out for my new coaches workshop today. The first half is a talk about weightlifting technique, coaching cues and general coaching points. The second half is putting it into practice by learning the reverse chain teaching method.
I enjoyed it, which is the main thing. Hope everyone attending found it both enjoyable and useful as well. The small group format allows everyone to ask questions and get involved which worked well so I'll be keeping them to 8 or less in future.
Thanks to the folks at Performance Ground for providing the (very nice) venue.

"Social Media & Your Goddamned Phone I would rather, by orders of magnitude, have my lifters paying attention to the music playing than getting on their phones and looking at social media between sets. If listening to music while you train helps reduce your compulsion to scroll through millions of posts you’ve never needed to see, then please do it."
Well said Greg. Again.
I don't mind a bit of music in the gym. Makes it less quiet between sets. And I've learned from the musi...c in the gym I work at that them hoes ain't loyal and where I can find 50 cent at any given moment (he's in the club). I'm still waiting to hear what I'd be turning it down for though which is frustrating.
before you ask, yes, this is now the Greg Everett fan page
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I found myself teaching the back squat during my annual stint providing some weightlifting education to the S&C MSc students at the University of East London today.
My knowledge of mobility drills isn't the greatest so the method I've had most success with when trying to get people squatting better is to convince them to change their priorities.
Most people have their priorities set in this order:... 1. Weight 2. Depth 3. Position
They don't mean to and aren't being difficult. Most of us do this in the gym fairly regularly and end up performing a lift in poor form.
If you can convince someone that: 1: Position 2. Depth 3. Weight is the correct way to order their priorities you can use the correct weight and get them to go as low as they can but stop when they start to feel their back round, their knees collapse in, whatever you're worried about. They'll learn to feel the errors and self correct. They'll gradually squat lower, inch by inch, as they hold a correct position and challenge their hips to mobilise and usually they'll be squatting correctly and low enough in a few weeks.
The addition of specific mobilisation techniques or stretches may accelerate this process but I've had plenty of success just applying this basic principle. It's nothing new. Don't load until you've got good technique but we all need reminding of this occasionally.
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Greg Everett is so sensible. And he writes well. Listen to Greg and do everything he says.

The April 29th coaching workshop has now sold out! If you're interested in attending a workshop to improve your understanding and coaching of the Olympic lifts please message this page and I'll contact you as soon as another date is arranged.
Thanks to everyone who's booked on. See you on April 29th!

Individualised or Generic - Why Choose?
It's easy to think that personalised training programmes are superior to a one-size-fits-all approach. There are obvious benefits to writing a programme for a specific athlete. You'll take into account what they need to work on and tailor their training to address their needs.
This approach can sometimes ignore the benefits of group training. It's no coincidence that squad training is a common factor in training athletes from all sorts ...
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Just one place left on the Coaches Workshop on April 29th!

This place rocks