TRAINING LOG: Daniel McKim

Pingleton wrote: Dan, Are we going to see some video? Who is Wheat thin?  440 hang clean is major.

Wheat thin, is Nathan Wheat.  He is a 6'8" 330lb monster roaming around Omaha.  He competed with Dan in college and is a mutual friend.  He is freaky strong and big.  I brought him out one day to try the games and he liked it, but not really enough to train for it.  He claimed a 440 hang, and I believe him based on his other lifts.  He had a great throwing coach and lifting coach in college, Andy Meyer.  

1/27/2011
Wt: 300

I'm real pleased with my body weight gain over the past few months.  I finished the season about 290, then after a few weeks off, hit my training at 280.  I've been going up, for the most part, about half a pound a week, which has been great for the mid-section.  I was hoping to be 300 by April, so I'm ahead of schedule a bit.  I'm guessing to maybe hit 305 in five weeks from now.  I know this sounds trivial to some, but the past seven months I've really focused on my meals, calories and protein intake.  It's been good.

Incline
315x8
325x8
335x8

Seated Sh Press
205x8
225x8
235x8

Pull ups 3x8

Side db raises 3x8

Shrugs
585x8 (x3)

Curls

1/28/11
Wt: 301

Felt absolutely miserable Friday morning (no matter how many times I do it, 4:30 a.m. just comes so early).  I thought it was just fatique and soreness, but I wound up calling the workout early and going home from work.  Strep throat.  Bad.

I'm never to make excuses, but considering I had strep, I am really pleased with my last set of hang snatches.  I tied my three-rep PR: 305.  Now, it's ugly, and took me five pulls to get three in, but with how I was feeling, I now understand why the pull was slow and not explosive.  I did get it on my phone though; again, I know these reps are ugly, I normally feel much more explosive and stronger than this. 

135x3
185x3
225x3
275x3
295x3
305x3

Daniel McKim wrote: Full power cleans are how I hurt my back three years ago, and it took me two and a half years to fully recover. Plus, I don't think they translate near as well as the hang clean and hang snatch. I feel that those two put you most in the positions you are in while throwing. All our throws are from the hip level with the legs in a slightly bent power position. Just my philosophy.

Dan,

FWIW, while I mostly agree with your philosophy, and totally understand your reluctance to include Power Cleans in your training after what happened in 2008, one thing needs to be said for the benefit of others (with all due respect of course).  You are an extremely strong guy, very experienced in the weight room, and a great thrower, all of which makes the following observations even more instructive.

"Full Power Cleans" per se are NOT what hurt your back.  As the old joke goes (sorry) - Power Cleans are not bad for your back, but whatever you were doing certainly is!  Specifically, you let your lumbar spine flex significantly as you initiated the pull from the floor, putting your back in a VERY poor position under very significant load (365 lbs.) while accelerating hard.  This is basically the equation for a lower back injury.

You still have the video posted on your website:

http://www.believethrower.com/5.html

Stop the video at 0:23 and again at 0:38-0:39 (repeated in slow motion).  Not good!  I literally cringed when you posted this at the time and I came very close to sending you a message telling you to stick with Hang Cleans (which you perform very well), then a day or two later you posted that you had hurt your back:

http://www.nasgaweb.com/forums/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=654 4&KW=Bulging+Disk

The point I am hoping to make for others is not to blame an exercise for one's failure to do the exercise properly, and also to point out the significant downside of doing any given exercise improperly.  Just because some prominant thrower or coach says an exercise is great doesn't mean you should necessarily include it in your program if you do not know how to do it properly or are unable to get into the proper positions for some reason (lack of mobility etc.).  Doing a great exercise improperly is usually much worse than not doing it at all.

Again, no disrespect Dan!

Daniel McKim wrote: Full power cleans are how I hurt my back three years ago, and it took me two and a half years to fully recover. Plus, I don't think they translate near as well as the hang clean and hang snatch. I feel that those two put you most in the positions you are in while throwing. All our throws are from the hip level with the legs in a slightly bent power position. Just my philosophy.

For basically all sports, the hang stuff is money. Full cleans are for olifters.