THE EDUCATION OF CHRIS KORFIST

CHAPTER TWO

Around the same time I was taking a deep dive into Dr. Tudor Bompa, I started hanging around Dr. Phil Claussen, a Chiro and strength coach for both the Cubs and White Sox. He was ahead of his time and had quite a posse. In fact, he was innovator in strength and conditioning for baseball. Claussen directed workout groups at a local gym and was willing to share his ideas.

Our workout group included Carlton Fisk and Joe Girardi. You couldn’t find a more giving person who just wanted to help people and develop as athletes and coaches. We just hit it off and he took me under his wing. Phil Claussen was the guy who pushed me to learn more. It started with an old Applied Kinesiology manual  and a flip to the classifieds of Powerlifting USA (yes, this was pre-internet) which opened a whole bunch of manuals that I could buy. I also found the phone number to Westside Barbell. 

I made the call and made the trip to Westside Barbell. I had read all of the articles by Louie Simmons and felt armed to go out to Demorest Road, a strip mall on a hill in Columbus, OH. I was there with the strength staff from University Of Washington. The gym was a great host, allowing access to workouts, information, and even offers to join them for meals and workouts. I could not have asked for a more eye-opening adventure into the strength world. When I left, Louie gave me a journal (pic below), a path to more people to investigate. Louis also left me with the idea that there is more than one way to “skin a cat” and that it was OK to experiment, fail and to think outside the box.  

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” ~Henry Adams

When I returned, we raised money for Reverse Hypers, Belt Squats, chains, Dick Hartzell rubber bands, and a whole bunch of Russian journals. And using the Westside, we got stranger and did improve. We started to get strings of 300-pound bench pressers and big squatters. And, we started to look the part. Using Westside, I got my first two Division I athletes and my first state qualifiers in the 100 and 400.

It also started my descent into the Russian manuals. Many times Louie stated he got all of his formulas from the manuals. I thought I could also  find gold there as well. I found well-planned formulas for mostly Olympic lifts. If you follow them properly, you can get really strong too. I did the best I could since some of the programs were designed for seven days and at most I could see my athletes 6 days.

But then I used my history degree (thanks Dr. Bruce Lincoln). I knew that the entire Soviet system was based on order, including sports. I also knew that to keep a decent lifestyle, Soviet coaches had to produce or it was back to the breadlines. Even more importantly, the system had to produce multiple champions to show not only the athletic system worked but also the entire Soviet system. 

“Chaos was the law of nature; Order was the dream of man” -Henry Adams

The Soviets would stop to no end to make sure the system worked, which included drugs of various types. It makes me think of the old Saturday Night Live skit which was called the all drug Olympics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAdG-iTilWU

While I understood their purpose and got a few nuggets, I knew this type of training was not reasonable for a high school athlete

After a few more visits to Westside, I felt comfortable with Westside training. Then I found out Louie was going to hold a conference with Charles Poliquin. It was held in Columbus where the two of them alternated one hour talks on various topics. I owned the Poliquin book and was familiar with his techniques, including his snatch grip deadlift to improve acceleration. Poliquin got my attention because he was training bobsledders and some other athletes that moved more than a powerlifter, and faster than one doing GPP sled walks.

I was lucky enough to be able to have lunch with Charles and discuss training even though his personality was, well, let’s just say “French”. He certainly did not have the midwestern, open attitude that Louie had. But more importantly, the first edition of “Super Training” was for sale. I now had the guide that would help me through all of the Russian stuff. Difficult on the first read, it helped me to start to try to apply “Special Strength” principles like isometric training and a better understanding of plyometrics beyond the Dr. Chu books.

And, it started to suggest the idea that sprinting was to be treated as an exercise rather than an activity. 

Stay tuned for PART THREE.

Link to Part One of The Education of Chris Korfist.

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