The one and only Dmitry Klokov was coaching a seminar in Glasgow hosted by Varsity Gym which I had the good fortune to attend.
Highlight reel
It was awe-inspiring to see him lift in person, when he busted out a cheeky front splits for a flexibility demonstration I was blown away seeing such a big guy have that range of motion. First time I have really been exposed to that.
The day started with his workout, he said it was a light day since he did some crazy Crossfit challenge down in London and his legs were fried. Then folk moved onto some pulling drills for the snatch and a couple of exercises to help people stay over the bar a little more, he walked around giving people some one on one time during all stages of the drills. One thing seemed pretty constant for people, their lower back were too weak for the lifts and cheated the position with the legs. My training buddy bore the brunt of that statement and he had to sit and wait over the bar with Klokov slapping him about! We then Snatched to a near RM with the drills still fresh in memory.
Another thing that was pretty evident was how limited most peoples’ internal rotation of the shoulder was compared to Klokov.
We then moved on to the Clean and Jerk and did similar drills to bring that bar into the lifter on the first pull. I am going to add some of them into programming for the University and see if there is a positive return. Less time was spent on the clean and we moved a 1 RM pretty quickly.
Klokov then sat us down and went through his assistance exercises for Weightlifting. He is a big fan of a Snatch Highpull / No Feet Snatch complex which he aims to do almost every session.
High Pull Complex – The accordion makes it.
For weak legs he favours Deficit Snatch Deadlifts and for a weak back he would aim for a lot of Hyperextensions, No Leg snatch Deadlifts and some Stalling Snatches. He stressed how important it is to make your training and programming a personal thing so you are always making movements fit your body. His foot position and Jerk position overhead are due to limiting factors in his body. I will put some videos up of the assistance exercises for the lifts in the training videos section.
Overall a great learning experience and definitely a humbling one.
Barbell Meditations 