Author Topic: Chris Korfiist Interview (Read 18783 times)

AlexV · « **on:** February 18, 2010, 05:49:56 pm »

Hey guys I added an interview with Chris Korfist. In it we discuss a bit about foot function and some inno-sport stuff. Check it out at:

http://evolutionaryathletics.com

adarqui · « **Reply #1 on:** February 18, 2010, 05:54:12 pm »

Quote from: AlexV on February 18, 2010, 05:49:56 pm

Hey guys I added an interview with Chris Korfist. In it we discuss a bit about foot function and some inno-sport stuff. Check it out at:

http://evolutionaryathletics.com

nice, gonna check it out in a sec.

big fan of korfist.

adarqui · « **Reply #2 on:** February 19, 2010, 01:53:59 am »

im confused, korfist didn't know who he was talking too? wtf?

i thought he was talking to nuttall etc..

my main problem with korfist, in regards to his opinion on squat, is how he just generalizes it too much.. he acts as if people who squat, have to be squatting deep with considerable volume.

i'm a low volume, high intensity, don't go deeper than perfect form / natural leverages allows, and keep feet neutral..

a question to him could be, "well how would you implement squat correctly, if you had to implement it"..

LBSS · « **Reply #3 on:** March 31, 2010, 09:19:54 am »

Just got around to skimming that interview. Guess you kind of said it already, but this Korfist guy goes on the Mike Boyle Memorial Coaching Dumbass Hall of Fame. Figured I'd quote the offending passage in its entirety because really, you can't make this shit up:

Quote

Special. Just special.

AlexV · « **Reply #4 on:** March 31, 2010, 12:34:21 pm »

Quote from: LBSS on March 31, 2010, 09:19:54 am

Just got around to skimming that interview. Guess you kind of said it already, but this Korfist guy goes on the Mike Boyle Memorial Coaching Dumbass Hall of Fame. Figured I'd quote the offending passage in its entirety because really, you can't make this shit up:

Quote

Special. Just special.

I have a coup[le pointsin CK's defense:

1. He is not anti-squat, rather he doesn;t like the way it is coached and performed. I would agree with him on this. You want to squat in a way that carries over to the field of play and doesn't create "compensation patterns". Everyone has to agree wtih the NSCA comment. They preach all you need is squats and olympics and anyone who disagrees is basically a nut.

2. Most importantly don't throw the baby out with the bath water. How many people give jay schroeder a chance with all of his ridiculous and BS claims (right adarqui) like adam achuletta holding a squat with like 500lbs in the ATG oposition for 5 minutes and then having to stand up with the bar? Or the russians, like verkhoshansky bondarchuck and zatsiorsky , who claimed that they had athletes doing depth jumps off a 20 ft tall building (this is true they used to claim it and that is prolly why jay used the example in that interview). Of course we know this was BS or didn;t agree with it but it never stopped anyone from reading supertraining (which is a way harder book than the inno-sport book). point being is that CK is a very bright coach and we can learn a lot from him, don;t let the squat thing or the fact that he challenges some deep seeded beliefs throw you off. I should note I am a bit biased because the athletes who I can get to use the CK's style of squatting see enormous improvements in performance indicators (like VJ and Sprint). The problem is attention to detail and ego. Most athletes can't spend time lifting light weights to relearn the squat.

LBSS · « **Reply #5 on:** March 31, 2010, 02:52:09 pm »

Yeah but my point was that the vast majority of what he says in that extended quote is

re

tar

ded.

adarqui · « **Reply #6 on:** March 31, 2010, 03:40:22 pm »

Quote from: AlexV on March 31, 2010, 12:34:21 pm

Quote from: LBSS on March 31, 2010, 09:19:54 am
Just got around to skimming that interview. Guess you kind of said it already, but this Korfist guy goes on the Mike Boyle Memorial Coaching Dumbass Hall of Fame. Figured I'd quote the offending passage in its entirety because really, you can't make this shit up:

Quote

Special. Just special.

I have a coup[le pointsin CK's defense:

1. He is not anti-squat, rather he doesn;t like the way it is coached and performed. I would agree with him on this. You want to squat in a way that carries over to the field of play and doesn't create "compensation patterns". Everyone has to agree wtih the NSCA comment. They preach all you need is squats and olympics and anyone who disagrees is basically a nut.

2. Most importantly don't throw the baby out with the bath water. How many people give jay schroeder a chance with all of his ridiculous and BS claims (right adarqui) like adam achuletta holding a squat with like 500lbs in the ATG oposition for 5 minutes and then having to stand up with the bar? Or the russians, like verkhoshansky bondarchuck and zatsiorsky , who claimed that they had athletes doing depth jumps off a 20 ft tall building (this is true they used to claim it and that is prolly why jay used the example in that interview). Of course we know this was BS or didn;t agree with it but it never stopped anyone from reading supertraining (which is a way harder book than the inno-sport book). point being is that CK is a very bright coach and we can learn a lot from him, don;t let the squat thing or the fact that he challenges some deep seeded beliefs throw you off. I should note I am a bit biased because the athletes who I can get to use the CK's style of squatting see enormous improvements in performance indicators (like VJ and Sprint). The problem is attention to detail and ego. Most athletes can't spend time lifting light weights to relearn the squat.

bball2020 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 31, 2010, 03:55:53 pm »

alex what do you mean about the CK style of squatting. Any videos or more in depth form information on it, ie width, depth, any westside "sit back", high bar low bar etc etc?

LBSS · « **Reply #8 on:** March 31, 2010, 06:24:20 pm »

Charlie Francis lists the half squat as a key exercises for sprinters and repeatedly talks about how important it was for Ben Johnson (steroids or not). Saying that sprinters shouldn't train like powerlifters is so obvious as to be completely meaningless. No coach worth anything has ever said that they should. Worst. Straw man. Ever. But just because a sprinter's training should revolve mostly around sprinting (um, duh) doesn't mean that squats are evil.

Yes, getting caught up in too much squatting is counterproductive if you want to be good at anything but squatting. See my own stupid training for evidence of this. And I'm not even good at squatting. I digress. But throwing the baby out with the bathwater, Boyle style (as Alex V put it), is just as counterproductive.

Jumping high requires leg strength improvement. Squats are a fantastic way to do that. So are lunges and leg presses. If you're super tall and you've got long femurs, then squatting is not required to help you jump higher because (full) squatting is potentially dangerous. Every exercise is just a tool. Unless you're a PL'er or OL'er, obviously. Otherwise it's just another potential aid to your training.

AlexV · « **Reply #9 on:** March 31, 2010, 06:41:18 pm »

Quote from: LBSS on March 31, 2010, 06:24:20 pm

Charlie Francis lists the half squat as a key exercises for sprinters and repeatedly talks about how important it was for Ben Johnson (steroids or not). Saying that sprinters shouldn't train like powerlifters is so obvious as to be completely meaningless. No coach worth anything has ever said that they should. Worst. Straw man. Ever. But just because a sprinter's training should revolve mostly around sprinting (um, duh) doesn't mean that squats are evil.

Yes, getting caught up in too much squatting is counterproductive if you want to be good at anything but squatting. See my own stupid training for evidence of this. And I'm not even good at squatting. I digress. But throwing the baby out with the bathwater, Boyle style (as Alex V put it), is just as counterproductive.

Jumping high requires leg strength improvement. Squats are a fantastic way to do that. So are lunges and leg presses. If you're super tall and you've got long femurs, then squatting is not required to help you jump higher because (full) squatting is potentially dangerous. Every exercise is just a tool. Unless you're a PL'er or OL'er, obviously. Otherwise it's just another potential aid to your training.

Couple points:

1. Ben Johnson... Yes but every strength coach will point to his 600lb squat for 6 reps proving the significance of PL type lifing (PS I am a PLer)

2. CK is not throwing the baby out with the bathwater. He supports proper squatting technique. He supports a glute dominant squatting style that carries over more to speed than the WSB style or the traditional squatting style. That is the point that everyone misses cause the get so pissed about the painful "anti-squat" remark.

3. Again CK is an advocate of a squat style that transfers more to the track and field of play than traditional squatting.

Side rant not aimed at anyone here: Most HS and College SC coaches SUCK!!! SUCK!!! oh they SUCK!! We get so many kids with problems that could have been prevented with solid coaching that it makes me sick!

This is a call em out to all HS SC coahces:

Get your head out of your ass. Cause Good Ol' Boyd did it in the 90's doesn;t make it right. Try something new like being open minded and learning something once in a while. Get your head out of your ass.

If your fucking kid cant squat right what makes you think, in your feeble mind, that you can coach a proper clean or snatch!

True dat mofo

adarqui · « **Reply #10 on:** March 31, 2010, 07:02:39 pm »

Quote from: LBSS on March 31, 2010, 06:24:20 pm

Charlie Francis lists the half squat as a key exercises for sprinters and repeatedly talks about how important it was for Ben Johnson (steroids or not). Saying that sprinters shouldn't train like powerlifters is so obvious as to be completely meaningless. No coach worth anything has ever said that they should. Worst. Straw man. Ever. But just because a sprinter's training should revolve mostly around sprinting (um, duh) doesn't mean that squats are evil.

Ya but in the same instance, about ben & other sprinters concerning Francis, he considers squat/lifting as general, and sprinting taking precedence over it. Plenty of coaches out there are putting lifting BEFORE sprinting etc. I think that's what Korfist is getting at... So that might be a "duh" to us, but it isn't to many-many coaches. These coaches I'm referring to, are so into the weight-room numbers, that they let it fog their head. They'll let shitty form skate by because it's adding to the total.

I've personally run into this plenty of times. During summer camps, we had kids from one team, about 6 of them, all come in bragging about their squat numbers. All of them had squats over 350-400 lb. I of course didn't believe them, and had them pin squatting deep with proper form, a different pin for each kid so that form was adhered to, but needless to say not one of them got over 185 lb for 5. One of the kids showed me a video on his camera phone, it was a belted quarter squat with knees shifting forward. The s&c coach for that high school was a "former powerlifter". We have a member on this forum that knows exactly what i'm talking about, since he was on that team, but he'll never read this message (haha).

Now I know that's an extreme example, but it's part of what Korfist is talking about, since he deals with it very often.

A meathead approach really isn't that bad, but only if form isn't sacrificed in favor of number inflation.

but ya i luv teh squats.

btw, there's vid of ben johnson box squatting here:

http://www.adarq.org/forum/index.php?topic=591.msg3960#new

adarqui · « **Reply #11 on:** March 31, 2010, 07:12:12 pm »

Quote from: AlexV on March 31, 2010, 06:41:18 pm

Quote
Side rant not aimed at anyone here: Most HS and College SC coaches SUCK!!! SUCK!!! oh they SUCK!! We get so many kids with problems that could have been prevented with solid coaching that it makes me sick!

This is a call em out to all HS SC coahces:

Get your head out of your ass. Cause Good Ol' Boyd did it in the 90's doesn;t make it right. Try something new like being open minded and learning something once in a while. Get your head out of your ass.

If your fucking kid cant squat right what makes you think, in your feeble mind, that you can coach a proper clean or snatch!

True dat mofo

ya..

I'm confused by the coaches that teach oly's, that don't know how to teach oly's or do them themselves.

That never made sense to me. Maybe it's similar to this basketball coach I had when I was like 10. This guy told us to shoot EVERYTHING off the backboard, even freethrows etc. He wore his shorts VERY high, higher than john stockton. I didn't listen to him, I wasn't retarded, but other people did. I think the point here is, how can you teach a jump shot if you can't do one yourself?

H.S. / College coaches that are USAW certified usually aren't going to let people perform clean pull reverse curls. They usually will hold athletes back, on a proper oly progression, while improving strength on the side, instead of just loading it up and acting retarded. That being said, for most athletes, I personally only think the pulls are needed.

pc

bball2020 · « **Reply #12 on:** March 31, 2010, 07:24:32 pm »

darq, how would you describe you squatting style? Have you changed it up since you last trained for vert at all, besides not doing much full squatting anymore?

adarqui · « **Reply #13 on:** March 31, 2010, 07:43:16 pm »

Quote from: bball2020 on March 31, 2010, 07:24:32 pm

darq, how would you describe you squatting style? Have you changed it up since you last trained for vert at all, besides not doing much full squatting anymore?

you mean for me personally? well, my squatting style changed alot when I got oly-shoes, I got deeper instantly with better form.

So, with oly shoes:
- mid bar
- slightly below parallel
- feet slightly turned out, a little wider than shoulders width

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS8YsL64NRw

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS8YsL64NRw" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS8YsL64NRw</a>

It worked good but, I was getting hip pain at times, that I just cured with some stretches, but I didn't realize how bad it was actually getting. So eventually I had lots of hip pain, it lasted for a month or more, so I stopped going deep. I ended up changing my form to:

New form:
- Close stance, feet neutral
- regular shoes (mostly, sometimes olys)
- mid bar
- half squatting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKd87aDtHGA&fmt=22

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKd87aDtHGA" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKd87aDtHGA</a>

So that led me to my biggest PR's in RVJ. I was still getting lots of hamstring in the movement, even more quad, and some glute. I focused on glutes using walking lunges and stepups.

My squatting now, as of like 3 days ago, is deep. If I feel alright I'll do my half squatting. I'm trying to go light though, so I'm not really going to be pushing the weight on my deep squatting.

So my current form is:
- heels elevated in flats
- mid or high bar
- close stance, feet neutral
- very deep (deeper than initial vid)
- lighter weight, higher reps

OR for strength:
- same as my half squat thing above

I'll get vid of my very deep squatting eventually, should look very different than anything I've put up before.

peace man

Adam. · « **Reply #14 on:** April 01, 2010, 10:36:14 am »

bball2020, I am also on board with Andrew, at least with my own squatting. While I can get deep and maintain proper form, I see lots of little issues from time to time.

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Author Topic: Chris Korfiist Interview (Read 18783 times)

AlexV

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