Matt Foreman
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Risks, Decisions, and Courage
Matt Foreman
| April 26 2012 |
General
This one might not grab you right at the beginning. But if you stay with me until the end, I promise we’ll get something good out of it.
If you’ve read some of my other stuff, you know I’m a fan of Ernest Hemingway. I don’t know if any of you have interest in him or his works, but I’ve been reading him for years and I’ve also learned quite a bit about his life. As we know, he’s generally regarded as one of the best authors in history. But aside from ......
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The Mental Switch
Matt Foreman
| April 18 2012 |
General
All great athletes have a mental switch, and it should be your goal to get one too.
Think of a light switch in your house. You flip it, and the lights turn on. Pretty simple, right? Well, a mental switch is in your brain. When you flip it, your mind goes to a state of perfect concentration, intensity, and confidence. The most experienced athletes usually have really effective, powerful mental switches. They can make themselves internally sharp with a snap of their fingers, just by recog......
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Learning Technique Through Imitation
Matt Foreman
| April 2 2012 |
Ask Greg
Has it ever occurred to you that weightlifting is a monkey-see-monkey-do activity? I’ve thought a lot about this over the years. If there is one thing I’ve become absolutely convinced of, it’s that most athletes learn primarily by imitation. When people are trying a new athletic skill, like a snatch or a clean, the best tool for their learning is to watch that skill being performed correctly by somebody else, and then basically mimic what they’ve se......
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Back to the Bottom: Squat Stance in the Snatch and Clean
Matt Foreman
| March 20 2012 |
Weightlifting
I went to a weightlifting meet last weekend where almost sixty lifters were competing. It was a huge contest and a very long day, but it was a great one too. As with all local meets, there was a wide range of athletes in attendance. I recognized a few experienced names from recent national championship competitions, and of course there was also a large crowd of newcomers who were still in the early stages of their weightlifting training. As I watched lift after lift, I got......
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Hot Streaks in Weightlifting, Volume Two
Matt Foreman
| March 9 2012 |
Weightlifting
Have you ever sat down and written out your lifting goals on paper? I think it’s part of being on a hot streak. When your lifts are going through the roof, you start to think about how much progress you’re going to make in the future months based on what you’ve done recently. So you plan out a month-to-month max out schedule, or maybe you plan out a whole year of meets if you’re a competitive lifter. You write a timetable where you’re going ......
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Hot Streaks in Weightlifting, Volume One
Matt Foreman
| February 28 2012 |
Weightlifting
Let’s talk about “hot streaks.”
Plainly stated, a hot streak is a time period where you’re making major progress. Training is basically perfect, competitions are huge successes, and personal records are falling like Irishmen on payday. It’s a phase you hit where you’re just kicking serious ass, plain and simple. You’re en fuego!
Both athletes and coaches have hot streaks from time to time. As an athlete, it’s p......
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The Pusher Don't Care: Ibuprofen and Weightlifting
Matt Foreman
| February 16 2012 |
Weightlifting
What’s your opinion about ibuprofen?
I know it’s a subject that some of you probably aren’t hip to. Based on what I’ve seen on Catalyst Athletics, I think we’ve got pretty educated readers. It’s obvious from the comments I see on this website that many of you do thorough research on things, so I’m sure there are a lot of you who have done some reading on ibuprofen.
Consequently, I’m betting that many of you have ne......
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What a Lovely Bottom
Matt Foreman
| February 2 2012 |
Weightlifting
Okay, a little personal information is necessary to write this post. I have to talk about myself so I can transition into talking about you. For those of you who don’t know, I had a major knee surgery back in June 2011. It was ACL reconstruction, which is the big kahuna. My surgeon told me that I would be able to expect the following recovery progression after the operation:
- Six weeks post-surgery- box squats above parallel
- Ten-twelve......
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Dilemmas of Competition and Retirement
Matt Foreman
| January 29 2012 |
Weightlifting
I love it when I read things that get me thinking, because that’s when I get ideas for stuff to write.
One of the recent posts on this blog was from my friend Aimee Anaya Everett Fergie Madonna Spears, and one of the big questions in it was whether or not she wants to continue competing in weightlifting. Powerful writing with tons of heartfelt honesty, as is always the case with her. However, I was also really interested in all the comments that followed her blog. ......
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Coach, I totally get it now! Coaching Cues
Matt Foreman
| January 20 2012 |
Weightlifting
Here’s a weird little phenomenon to think about, because it’s something that works as a blessing for an athlete and an irritation for a coach.
In your time as a lifter, have you ever had a situation where somebody gives you a technical piece of advice that totally makes everything click? This is probably a small suggestion, usually from a random person who isn’t your regular coach, and you feel like the secret of the universe has been unlocked when you hear ......
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