PERFORMANCE MENU

JOURNAL OF HEALTH & ATHLETIC EXCELLENCE

RED MEAT
THE SNATCH
MINDFULNESS
OVERHEAD STABILITY
ISSUE 194 MARCH 2021

ENVIRONMENT VS PROGRAMMING
INTERVIEW: FRED LOWE
 The Performance Menu is published monthly in digital format by
Catalyst Athletics, Inc.

Subscriptions
Subscriptions to the Performance Menu are available at
www.performancemenu.com/subscribe/
On the Cover
Back Issues
Amanda Braddock
Purchase back issues at www.performancemenu.com/issues/
Editor in Chief
Individual Articles
Greg Everett
Individual articles from the Performance Menu can be purchased
online at www.performancemenu.com/articles/
Managing Editor
Yael Grauer
Copyright Notice
All content copyright Catalyst Athletics, Inc and its respective
Design
authors. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution is prohibited
Greg Everett
by law.
Issue Layout
Excerpts
Alyssa Sulay
Catalyst Athletics authorizes the publication of brief excerpts
(500 words or less) along with easily visible attribution to the au-
thor and The Performance Menu. Attributions for online excerpts
Catalyst Athletics, Inc.
must include a hyperlink to www.performancemenu.com, option-
catalystathletics.com
ally but preferably directly to the article excerpted.

Disclaimers
The statements and comments in the Performance Menu are
those of the authors and not of the Performance Menu or Cata-
lyst Athletics, Inc. Catalyst Athletics, Inc. and its contributors
do not make any claim or warranty regarding the safety of any
exercise or nutrition information contained herein. Readers are
encouraged to consult with their physicians before engaging in
any physical activity or nutritional practices. The appearance of
advertising in this publication is not necessarily an endorsement
of the products or services being advertised.
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194 VOLUME 17

MARCH 2021
FEATURES
8 Environment vs. Programming: Which is More Important?
14 Mindfulness in Olympic Weightlifting: A Practical Guide, Part 3
17 Overhead Stability: How To Get It & How To Keep It Once You Have It
21 Red Meat is NOT Bad for You: Part 1
25 Observations of The Snatch and Different Body Types

REGULARS
6 Ask Greg
29 Interview
CONTRIBUTORS
Matt Foreman is the football and track & field coach at Mountain View High School in Phoenix, AZ. A competitive weightliter for
twenty years, Foreman is a four-time National Championship bronze medalist, two-time American Open silver medalist, three-
time American Open bronze medalist, two-time National Collegiate Champion, 2004 US Olympic Trials competitor, 2000 World
University Championship Team USA competitor, and Arizona and Washington state record-holder. He was also First Team All-
Region high school football player, lettered in high school wrestling and track, a high school national powerlifting champion, and
a Scottish Highland Games competitor. Foreman has coached multiple regional, state, and national champions in track & field,
powerlifting, and weightlifting, and was an assistant coach on 5A Arizona state runner-up football and track teams.

Greg Everett is the owner of Catalyst Athletics, publisher of The Performance Menu and author of Olympic Weightlifting: A
Complete Guide for Athletes & Coaches.

Cheng Xu is a Catalyst Athletics Level II certified coach and nationally ranked competitive athlete. He has served for nine and
a half years as an infantry officer and paratrooper in the Canadian Armed Forces. He is currently pursuing his PhD and is the
head coach and owner of RX Weightlifting Club in Toronto, Canada. He can be reached on Instagram @Liftingproblems or @
Rxweightliftingclub.

Hannah Gray is a certified personal trainer, writer, and strength athlete (weightlifting and powerlifting). When she isn’t in the
gym working with clients or training herself, she is hanging with her two teenage daughters, writing, playing music or engaging
in bizarre experimental cooking. You can find her on IG @grayareastrength, on Facebook (Hannah Gray), or online at www.
grayareastrength.com.

Andrew Aussem holds a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and has held several professional positions requiring ongoing
knowledge of a range of medical conditions. A personal change in his lifestyle seven years ago led Andrew to pursue his Master
of Science in Holistic Nutrition. With only his thesis remaining, he looks forward to starting his own practice. Andrew also
operates the wellness blog thebarefootgolfer.com, where he combines many of his passions in articles covering everything from
ancestral nutritional to exercise to golf.

Jenny Lutkins is a USA Weightlifting Advanced Sports Performance Coach, Certified CrossFit Trainer (Level 3), and Tennessee
State record holder for Women’s 87+, 40-44 age group. She is currently the head coach at Anchor Weightlifting Club at Whole
Strength CrossFit.
ASK GREG
Send your questions to Greg Everett at ask@performancemenu.com
Paula Asks: Why do my knees come in when
the bar is above the knees before I extend in
snatch?
Greg Says: It’s usually a combination of
weak hips and slack in the system. Include
accessory and prep work that strengthens
transverse abduction (moving the knees
out with a flexed hip) and external rotation
(rotating the upper leg outwardly)—to keep
it simple, exercises that put the body in a
position similar to that position in the middle
of the pull and moving the knees outward.
Throwing a mini band around the knees
during any hip extension exercises like glute
bridges, RDLs/SLDLs, good mornings, and
all of your pull and deadlift variations, and
actively pushing the knees out against its
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021
resistance, is a simple way to help without
adding any time to your workouts.
Next, pay attention to your lifts as you
transition from first to second pull—often
athletes relax and slow down a bit as if
they’re winding up for a harder acceleration,
but this creates slack, which can allow the
knees to move inward. We need continuous
tension—never let up on the effort to drive
against the floor and maintain position.
When you accelerate into the second pull,
just push harder—don’t lift your foot off the
gas pedal to then stomp on it.
You can work on this most easily during pulls
rather than snatches because there will be a
lot less going on to worry about. Slow the first
6
pull down significantly so you can feel that
leg and hip tension and focus on maintaining
it as you accelerate at the top of the pull.
Again, throw a mini band around your knees
also to feel that lateral hip engagement.
Remember that we’re not trying to push the
knees way out, but to maintain that tension
to keep them in place.

PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021 7

Environment vs.
Programming: Which
is More Important?
matt foreman
This is one of those articles where the title
basically explains the main idea. We’re
going to take a look at two of the most
significant factors in a weightlifter’s success:
programming and training environment. And
we’re going to figure out which one is more
important.
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021
Stop for a second and think about your own
weightlifting life with these two things. First,
think about your training program. Do you
get your program from a coach, or do you
program for yourself? How long have you
been following the same program, and what
kind of results have you had with it? If you’ve
been doing the same thing for two to three
8
years, you’ve got enough time invested with
it to answer the only question that really
matters to an athlete…does it work?
Ask some additional questions. Are other
athletes using this same program and
having success? Is it battle-proven? If you’re
getting it from a coach, does the coach
have a legitimate track record of athlete
production? Have you been injured on this
program? If so, how many times? I know, I
know…so many questions to think about!
But take a second and analyze all of them.
You’d be surprised how much you can figure
out just from looking at the answers.
We’ll get back to this stuff later. Let’s take a
hard right turn and do the same kind of Q&A
thing with your training environment. Do you
train in a gym with other lifters, or do you
train alone? If you train alone, do you like it
that way? If so, why?
If you train with other lifters, what’s the daily
atmosphere like? Is there a good team vibe
in the gym? Is your coach a good leadership
figure? Do you like the people you train with?
Are there any toxic twits in the place? Anybody
you’d like to light on fire? Is it a hard-working
program where toughness and discipline
are expected? Anything about it you have a
problem with?
It’s amazing how valuable it is to stop every
once in a while and really take a hard look at
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021
questions like this. Weightlifting is a routine
sport, and it’s very easy to get sucked into
a routine for years without ever stopping to
analyze if it’s a good one. I’ve had moments
in my career where I realized I’d been in a
crappy situation for a very long time, without
even really noticing it. The crappy stuff wasn’t
really visible because it was so normal. I
didn’t snap out of it and realize how lousy
it was until I branched out and saw some
different situations and realized how much
better they were. And this applies to both
programming and gym environment.
I’m not going to give you some fence-sitter
“Well, they’re both important, and neither is
more important than the other” answer at the
end of this. I absolutely think there’s a clear
winner in the programming vs. environment
matchup. But you’ll have to read on to find
out what it is.
Programming first
Let me give you a little personal experience
to illustrate this part of the equation. I
spent two years training for a certain coach
when I was a junior (18-19 years old). This
coach was one of those guys with a good
sales pitch, you know? He sold himself as a
veteran expert, breeder of champions, that
kind of thing. It was all bullcrap, basically.
Truth be told, he had very little experience
with training an Olympic weightlifter. But I
9
didn’t know any better. I was a teenage kid
and he had a strong authoritative presence,
so he seemed like the real deal to me.
For two years, I progressively got worse. My
total plateaued for a long time, and then
it actually started going down. On top of
that, I was getting injured all the time. I was
completely obedient to his programming
every step of the way. Everything he said to
do, I did it. And it basically put my results in
the toilet. No improvement and getting hurt
all the time. That’s not how it’s supposed to
work, especially when you’re talking about a
young kid with talent.
Eventually, I made a switch. I joined a
different program with a different coach, and
the programming was totally different from
what I had been doing. In the first year with
this new coach, my total went from 265 kg
to 300 kg. That’s 35 kg of improvement in
eleven months, at the same bodyweight. No
more injuries. No more frustration. I went
from a scrub ass national lifter to a silver
medal at the American Open under this new
coach’s approach. So yes, programming is
important.
However, I learned something interesting as I
became a regular on the national scene and
started making friends with other top lifters
from around the country. Not everybody
trained the same way, but we all had
success. The club I was training for (Calpian
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021
Weightlifting Club in Washington) had lots
of elite national lifters, and we all trained
using the same basic program. But on the
other side of the country, the Gayle Hatch
Weightlifting Club in Louisiana also had a
big gang of top national competitors, and
their programming was different from ours.
Then you had the Wesley Weightlifting Club
in Missouri. They were cranking out tons
of national medalists, and they had their
own unique style of programming that was
different from anybody else’s.
The list goes on. The longer you stay in this
sport, the more you’ll realize the fundamental
truth of programming: there are many ways
to skin a cat. Lifters can be trained using
a wide range of approaches, and many of
those approaches will produce success.
Anybody who tells you there’s only ONE way
to train great weightlifters is an idiot. You
can even branch this out to the international
level. Chinese lifters train vastly different
from Russian lifters. And guess what? The
lifters from both countries win gold medals
and break world records.
But it’s very important that you stop short
of thinking EVERYTHING works. Think about
the beginning of my personal example. Good
programming can look a lot of different
ways, but there’s definitely such a thing as
BAD programming. The programming looks
different at the Calpian club, and the Gayle
Hatch club, and Wesley Weightlifting, and
10
East Coast Gold, and Team Florida, and on
goes the list. But each of these programs
produces great weightlifters. Then you’ve got
the situations like my two years with my first
coach. Athletes who have the ability to do
well in this sport, but they never go anywhere
because they’re not being trained properly.
If you’ve been using the same program for
three years and you’ve been kicking ass and
staying healthy the whole time, you’ve got a
solid methodology. If you get hurt a lot and
your total won’t budge, something is wrong.
Think about these things.
And then there’s environment
Let me return to my personal example for
a moment. Remember when I was training
with that bad coach for two years? Oddly
enough, I was the best lifter in the state at
the time. It wasn’t because I was anything
remarkable. There just wasn’t a lot of high-
level weightlifting going on in my state. I was
in the old 90kg weight class with a 265 kg
total. Nothing amazing, but I was the god of
my local scene.
Then I moved to Washington and joined the
Calpian club, and my time of dominance
went flying out the window. All of a sudden,
I wasn’t even the fifth best lifter in the GYM!
Almost everybody on the Calpian team at
that time was competing for national medals
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021
and international teams, so I was basically
the bottom-feeder as soon as I joined the
program. Every day, I came to the gym and
the other guys lifted more than me (and
talked shit to me about it every step of the
way). And every few months, they got to go
compete in national meets I couldn’t qualify
for.
Needless to say, this wasn’t much fun. And
I went on a kamikaze mission to work my
way up to the top of the pack. Yes, the
programming was outstanding. Yes, that
made a world of difference. But when I think
back about that time, I realize the main
reason I put 35 kg on my total in that first
year was simply my desire to be one of the
best lifters in the gym on a daily basis. It was
peer pressure, plain and simple. Everybody
else was good, so I had to be as good (or
better) than they were.
We were also a family, which is a huge part
of the environment conversation. Aside from
the competitive atmosphere that drove us
all upwards, we were also having a lot of
success because our team was something
special. Sure, we had squabbles. It wasn’t
always one big happy family. But at the end of
the day, we were a true team. We supported
each other. We liked training together every
day. We had each other’s backs. Lazy people
and toxic twits were pushed out of the mix.
They just didn’t fit in. The strength of our
program wouldn’t allow it.
11
So let’s think about your environment. How
competitive is it? How supportive is it? Is your
coach a good leader? These are big questions,
and they’re big players in your own personal
results as a weightlifter. At this point, I’ve
been in weightlifting for over 30 years. I’ve
been a part of many programs, both as an
athlete and a coach. And obviously I’ve had
a good look at lots of gyms, coaches, and
teams. You don’t really understand this sport
until you truly understand the power and
potential of a winning environment. It can
literally be the difference between greatness
and failure.
BUT what about those elite weightlifters who
train alone in their garage full time? They’re
out there, for sure. They don’t need a team to
be great. They don’t need daily atmosphere
to train well. You can just put them in a room
with a platform, bar, and bumpers, and they’ll
win championships. This is possible, but it’s
rare. Most of the time, lifters are going to
do their best work when they’re training with
other people. That’s why most lifters do it
that way.
The answer is...
In my opinion, environment is more
important than programming. Why do I
say that? Because 99% of the time, a lifter
with mediocre programming and a great
environment is going to be more successful
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021
than a lifter with great programming and a
mediocre environment.
Notice I said the word “mediocre.” That was
very intentional. You can’t really go anywhere
with BAD programming. If you’ve got bad
programming and a great environment,
everybody is just going to get hurt. They all
love and support each other, but they still
wind up broken because the plan they’re
following is destined for failure. They want
to get better, so they push hard, but they’re
pushing hard with poor methodology. Recipe
for disaster.
Likewise, you can have the best programming
in the world, and if you drop it into a gym full
of wet noodles, nothing is going to happen.
I’ve seen these scenarios play out in real
life. Over the years, I’ve seen several gyms
with the following combination: a competent
coach with adequate basic programming,
and hard-charging lifters with team spirit
and hunger for progress. Trust me, this is
a lethal equation. Gyms like this often turn
into powerhouses. Work ethic and hunger
outweigh genius in this sport.
A lot of it has to do with leadership. Many of
you are coaches, and this is where you come
in. Brilliant programming doesn’t make a
great coach. It’s part of the package, but it’s
not the whole enchilada. The ability to inspire,
motivate, and drive athletes to new heights
12
is where the greatness comes from. And let
me throw in a cautionary note as well. I’ve
seen some good gyms with good people that
turned into toilets because the coach was
a dysfunctional loser. It’s entirely possible.
If the leadership is bad, absolutely nothing
is going to be accomplished, no matter how
much talent is in the room.
When you have great programming, great
coaches, and great athletes, it’s not hard
to see what kind of results you’re going to
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021
get. Medals, records, and championships
will flow from that combination. But when
you’re ranking the components for success
and trying to figure out which ones are most
important, my experience has taught me that
the daily atmosphere and gym environment
are the top of the list. You just can’t beat a
collective vibe of enthusiasm, camaraderie,
and hunger. Keep this in mind as you continue
your journey, and especially if you’re ever the
one in charge.
13
Mindfulness in Olympic
Weightlifting:
A Practical Guide Part 3
The What and the How of Mindfulness, Bringing it All Together

CHENG XU

In this last article in the three-part mindfulness
series, I want to bring both the what (observe,
describe, and participate) and the how (non-
judgmentally, one-mindfully, and effectively)
skills together and carve out the pathways to
reaching that mystical place of mindfulness
and the proverbial nirvana state of mind in
Olympic weightlifting—a state called Wise
Mind.

PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021 14

We live in a culture where we see emotion
and reason as diametrically opposed to one
another. We sometimes say a person is overly
emotional and that causes them to make bad
decisions. We also sometimes say a person
is too rational, cold, and calculating, and
it’s a person that’s difficult to relate to. Yet,
ironically, our society makes us think that
the pathway to effectiveness is to disavow
emotional decision making and act with
pure reason (thanks Western philosophy).
In weightlifting, we often believe that our
emotion gets in the way of lifting, and that we
need to reasonably, and rationally breakdown
what we need to do in order to be successful.
This I believe is a mischaracterization that
does a disservice to the important functions
of both. Your two states of mind, emotional,
and reasonable, exist synergistically, and to
get yourself to a place of mindfulness, is
to dialectically find ways for them to work
together.
Allow me to illustrate with the most basic
example of how emotion and reason do
not necessarily work antagonistically: if
you are walking through the forest at night,
and you hear a rustling in the bushes, the
fear you experience triggers your fight or
flight response for self-preservation. Is that
an emotional or rational response? The
only correct interpretation is that it’s both.
The emotion, fear, is activated for rational
purposes, survival. So why do we think that
in order to be effective in other areas of life,
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021
we should cast aside our emotion mind and
rely purely on our rational mind?
You absolutely need emotions to be good at
Olympic weightlifting. The best weightlifters
I have ever met and coached are passionate
people. People who love the sport that
they’re willing to put themselves at such
inconvenience and discomfort just to train.
They’ll battle pains and injuries and absorb
huge financial costs year after year just to
put themselves on the platform. Tell me this
isn’t someone you want to work with and train
alongside. The trick, is to be able to control
and regulate your emotions when you need it
so that they serve your purposes, rather than
prevent it.
On the flip side, the reasonable state of
mind, which we often put on a pedestal, can
get us into a lot of trouble in the effective
practice of Olympic weightlifting. Ever heard
of analysis paralysis? You can do all of the
technical learning you want about the sport,
about each movement, about biomechanics,
anatomy, physiology, and kinesiology and all
of that information can make you overthink
the simplest task of executing a pull from
the floor. I personally think there is too much
information out there to reasonably expect
someone to be able to absorb it all and
effectively incorporate it into their practice.
After all, all you have to do is go online and
start a debate about the most effective school
of training, Chinese, Korean, Russian, or
15
Bulgarian, and you’ll get legions of internet
coaches coming out of the woodworks, all
offering their, often very reasonable, rationale
about why one is superior to the other. But
how does that help you improve as an athlete
if that’s not what’s going to work for you?
How you’re going to figure out what works
for you is to walk the middle path, to bring
yourself to the place of Wise mind with your
mindfulness skills. You need to be able to
acknowledge your emotions as well as see
the reason in your participation in this sport.
After all, why are you here? Why are you
reading my words? Tap into that emotional
self, and ask what you are getting out of the
sport, then tap into your rational self, and
ask what you need to do, and what the cost
and benefits to doing those things are. This
is how you’re going to find your own wisdom
in your weightlifting practice. You’ll be able
to recruit your passion, your joy, and even
your anguish and sorrows (and I know there
are a lot of those), and synergize it with your
knowledge, your technical skills in order to
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021
maximize both your performance and your
ultimate sense of enjoyment and fulfillment
in the sport.
I want to conclude this series by leaving
you with two thoughts. The first, is that the
philosopher Nietzsche once famously said,
“those who have a reason for why, can handle
almost any how.” To me, this beautifully
encapsulates what it means to be in Wise
Mind. If you are clear in your own purpose
and your own direction, you will be able to
do the most effective thing, and make the
best decisions on getting yourself there. The
second, and I hope you truly take this to
heart, is that a world without pleasure and
passion is a bleak one. I wish that you are
all doing this sport because you ultimately
enjoy it, and find it pleasurable and fulfilling.
Because not only are you making this sport
better for yourself, but you’re making it better
for everyone around you. Looking around at
the state of the world, I’m sure we all wish
for it to be a little less bleak. So exercise your
mindfulness and let’s all be a little wiser.
16
Overhead Stability:
how to get it and how
to keep it once you
have it
hannah grey

Lots of people can’t put their arms over their
heads by the time they hit 30, and then
they join a CrossFit gym and get hurt doing
500 snatches for time. Without sounding
like a hater or getting into the reasons why
that’s maybe not an awesome idea, let’s talk
about shoulders. Every shoulder is a special
snowflake and they are all a little different,
even when two of them belong to the same
person. A stable overhead position looks

PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021 17

slightly different for everyone. Here are the
basic governing principles and what to try if
the basics aren’t working for you.
If you are a North American weightlifter, you
probably started in early adulthood, after
your shoulders were starting to show signs
of age. Most of us discovered weightlifting by
watching the Olympics or following the great
weightlifters on social media, or maybe it was
through CrossFit or a weightlifting club at
your local gym. A lucky few were introduced
to weightlifting by good college strength
coaches who included the snatch and the
clean and jerk in sport-specific programs. The
bad news is that early adulthood is usually
too late to build a good weightlifter— years
of sitting too much, forward head posture,
and rounded shoulders have already taken a
toll on the structure of the shoulder girdle.
Now, I’m not telling you that all is lost - but
you will need to take care of those shoulders
and make sure that your overhead position is
solid so that you can continue to lift over the
long term.
The shoulder is made up of four joints: the
glenohumeral joint, where the humerus, or
upper arm, joins with the glenoid fossa on
the scapula; the acromioclavicular joint,
where the clavicle, or collarbone, joins with
the acromion process on the scapula; the
sternoclavicular joint, where the proximal
end of the clavicle with the sternum; and
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021
finally the scapulothoracic joint, where the
scapula joins with the rib cage. The four
joints together form a ball-and-socket system
whose strength and flexibility we depend
on for flexion, extension, adduction, and
rotation. With a complex series of tendons
and ligaments in close proximity, there’s not
much room for things to go wrong - even five
milliliters of extra fluid in the joint can really
impede motion. So it’s no wonder that when a
person who spends many hours sitting every
day, shoulders rounded and head forward,
decides they want to put a loaded barbell
over their head, things can get...interesting.
Generally when new weightlifters start
learning the overhead position, they are
taught to pull their shoulder blades up and
together to create stability, with the bar over
the back of the neck and the head forward.
This is the most mechanically sound position
and the best way to go IF the shoulders are
healthy and mobile. If the shoulders are
habitually rounded and flexion and external
rotation is limited, for example if you sit in a
chair hunched over a computer keyboard all
day, your shoulder mobility may be a little
tied up and this position can give way to a
host of other issues.
If this sounds like you, try this quick
assessment: find a convex corner or door
frame in your house or your gym, and line it
up with your spine so that you can feel the
corner between your shoulder blades. Bend
18
your elbows to 90 degrees and externally
rotate your shoulders. Can you feel your
shoulder blades squeeze that corner? If
the answer is yes, can you reach your arms
overhead and do the same thing? IF you can
still feel your shoulder blades squeezing the
corner then you are probably in good shape
to get a barbell over your head comfortably.
If not, you have some work to do.
Here are the two most common errors in the
overhead position and how to correct them.
1. Shoulders are shrugged up aro-
und the ears and the shoulders
are internally rotated
If your neck disappears when you catch
a snatch or a jerk, you need to work on
scapular retraction. But don’t worry; you
aren’t alone. Lots of strong athletes can’t feel
the difference between scapular elevation
and retraction. It’s a fairly easy imbalance to
correct but it takes some patience and some
focused work in your warm up.
Start lying supine on a foam roller that’s lined
up with your spine. Keeping the shoulders
away from the ears, pull your shoulder blades
around the foam roller. Maintain that hug
while you circle your arms overhead. Next,
add a light resistance band and do a set
of pull aparts in the same position, paying
attention to the sensation of squeezing the
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021
shoulder blades around that roller with each
rep. Finish with moving the foam roller to the
wall. Lean against it standing up, and do a
set of overhead presses - maintaining that
good scapular position you had on the floor.
Do 20 reps of each of these exercises and
you will be on your way to developing strong
rhomboids, good scapular positioning, a
happier neck, and better posture.
2. Torso is too far forward and
shoulders are cranked too far
into external rotation
We’ve all seen those lifters that look like their
arms are going to snap off at the shoulders
like Mr. Potatohead in their catch positions.
If you are one of them this is something that
needs fixing pronto because if you don’t
have shoulder pain now, you are going to!
The shoulder joint is not all that structurally
stable in that dumped-forward position
and loading there can lead to irritation and
tearing.
To correct this, two things need to happen.
First, you need to develop sufficient thoracic
extension to support the weight with a more
vertical torso. Do this by spending some extra
warm-up time on a foam roller, working into
extension under control, one vertebra at a
time. This is NOT a relaxation exercise; focus
hard and work at it. (Click HERE for video.)
Second, work on strengthening the muscles
19
that depress the scapula (the serratus
anterior, lower trapezius, and latissimus
dorsi). Add a wide variety of pulling exercises
to your accessory work. Focus on retracting
the scapulae with horizontal pulls and
depressing the scapulae with vertical pulls.
Once you’ve established a good overhead
position, it’ll still require some work to
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021
maintain. Extra time spent warming up your
shoulders will always pay off by keeping
them strong and healthy over the long term.
It will also help you maintain good posture
and stay injury free in the rest of your life,
just in case you like doing things outside the
gym like having a family, career, and maybe
even other hobbies. It still doesn’t mean that
500 snatches for time is a good idea!
20
Red Meat is NOT Bad for
You: Part 1
Andrew Aussem
Red meat increases your risk of dying, red
meat is as bad as smoking, red meat causes
heart disease, red meat causes cancer.
These are the type of headlines that get all
the attention over the years for reasons I
cannot understand other than the fact that
controversy generates views. Other reasons
seem to fall to factors like biased scientific
funding, political motives, corporate motives,
and many other things that I am not an
expert in. Regardless, the result is that the
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021
science and media coverage of this topic
makes things very confusing for the general
public. Whether or not someone eats meat
is an individual choice that I support either
way. However, we all have a right to accurate
and complete information so we can make
properly informed choices. That is what this
series of articles is about.
There are many people out there who are
vegetarian or vegan for no other reason than
21
the fact that they believe it is their healthiest
option because that is the message they get
from the media, friends, and many healthcare
professionals. Regrettably, most people do
not have the time to do the research necessary
to find out that this belief is not true. The
information on this topic can be complicated
but the bottom line is the science is far from
conclusive.
In this article, I will try to unpack the different
lines of evidence used to demonize red meat
and make it as simple and understandable as
possible. I will not be discussing the ethical
or environmental considerations of meat
consumption; there are many more qualified
people out there to do that.
Red Meat and the World Health
Organization
Around 2015, the World Health Organisation’s
International Agency for Research on Cancer
classified red meat as group 2A, meaning they
believe it is probably carcinogenic to humans.
However, the report specifically states that
“There is limited evidence in humans for
the carcinogenicity of the consumption of
red meat” but then goes on to say “Positive
associations have been observed between
consumption of red meat and cancers of
the colorectum, pancreas, and prostate.”
Given that the report admits there is limited
evidence that red meat causes cancer in
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021
humans, why is it classified as “probably
carcinogenic” and why does the media so
often say it “is” carcinogenic? The scientists
labeling red meat as probably carcinogenic
aren’t even convinced; no wonder the general
public is confused.
Now let’s have a look at some of the current
science and dive into why many scientists
don’t agree with the belief that red meat is
bad for our health.
Understanding Relative Risk
Before going any further, understanding how
risk is reported is very important. I am not a
statistician, but here is my best explanation
of relative and absolute risk. When you see
headlines like “an extra serving of meat
increases the risk of cancer by 18 percent”
(otherwise written as 1.18) it is an example
of relative risk. Obviously, 18 percent doesn’t
sound unimportant when you see it; however,
reporting findings in this way appears to
enhance the impact. Hypothetically, let say
the risk of cancer in a vegetarian population
is 2 out of 100 people. Next, let’s say the
risk of cancer in those who eat meat is 18
percent (1.18) higher than the vegetarian
population. Although the relative increase in
risk is 18 percent, the absolute increase is 2
x 1.18 = 2.36. An 18 percent increased risk
sounds much worse than an increase from 2
in 100 people to 2.36 in 100 people.
22
Another consideration is that in other areas
of epidemiology, for a relationship to be
considered possibly causal (one thing causes
the other), the relative risk must be at least
100 percent, more commonly 300 percent
or higher. Going back to the above example,
instead of 1.18, we would be looking at
somewhere between 2 and 3. However, for
some reason, in nutritional epidemiology,
articles that report relative risks of much
less than 100 percent are taken to support a
causal relationship even though with relative
risks that low, the results cannot truly be
separated from chance.
Epidemiological Studies on Red
Meat
Although many epidemiological studies
report an increased risk of cancer/disease
with increased meat consumption, the results
are not without significant criticism. The
relative cancer risk reported in most studies
is well below the 100 percent requirement
for a causal relationship and many studies
have methodology issues including small
sample size, not separating fresh red meat
from processed meat, and not controlling for
sufficient variables.
Meta-analysis studies are studies that take the
results of multiple individual studies on the
same topic and combine the data into a single
study, creating a larger sample size. A more
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021
recent meta-analysis looked at 27 individual
studies since 1994 and determined that the
relative risk of colon cancer equated to only
11 percent (remember we need at least 100
percent to even think about considering a
causal relationship). Furthermore, when this
study only included individual studies that
specified fresh red meat, the relative risk
dropped to only 5 percent.
Additionally, study quality is consistently
brought into question with epidemiological
studies on red meat. Study quality can be
impacted by controllable and uncontrollable
factors. Earlier studies appear to show a
higher relative risk of cancer than more
recent studies and this is thought to be due to
better study design in more current research.
This would include more comprehensive
food questionnaires, properly controlling
for processed versus fresh red meat, and
including controls for other confounding
lifestyle factors.
Another issue is researcher bias and conflicts
of interest. Because the results of these
studies are based on calculations from the
data in the food questionnaires, it is quite easy
for bias and conflict of interest to influence
how the questionnaires are interpreted.
Finally, because there are so many diet and
lifestyle factors that can impact our health,
it is near impossible for a study to control for
every factor aside from red meat intake. In
23
health studies, this problem goes by the name
Mechanistic Evidence
of the healthy user bias. Since not eating
meat is considered healthy, vegetarians and
Now that we have discussed the issues with
vegans are much more likely to be otherwise
epidemiological studies and that relative risk
health-conscious while those who eat meat
reports do not really indicate red meat is a
are much less likely to be health-conscious.
cause for concern, let’s look and what’s called
mechanistic evidence. Typically, when it is
A few studies have tried to address the
determined via epidemiological studies that
healthy user bias by isolating health-
factor A is a likely cause of factor B, studies
conscious omnivores and comparing them
begin to look at possible mechanisms for how
to vegetarians, the results of which show
A might cause B. Since the epidemiological
no difference between the two groups and
evidence on red meat is far from conclusive,
both groups are healthier than the general
you would think that there would be limited
population. Ultimately, because of the high
to no investigation into mechanisms for
probability of confounding factors and
why red meat may be detrimental to our
the low relative risks that are consistently
health; however, this is not the case. There
reported, it should be considered quite an
are several suggested mechanisms for
embellishment to conclude that red meat
why red meat might cause cancer and be
causes cancer.
otherwise detrimental to our health including
saturated fat content, polycyclic aromatic
The above is just the criticisms regarding
hydrocarbons, heterocyclic amines, TMAO,
red meat and cancer, but the connection
mTOR activation, and heme iron content.
between red meat and heart disease is
just as controversial and criticized for the
The second article in this series will focus
same reasons. Such factors include low
on revealing why the above mechanistic lines
to nonexistent relative risks, lack of food
of evidence against red meat are also far
questionnaire detail, food questionnaire
from conclusive and discuss the nutrients
inconsistency, food questionnaire
meat provides that are either impossible or
interpretation, and inability to control for all
difficult to get from other foods.
health-related variables making the healthy
user bias a major limiting factor.

PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021 24

Observations of The
Snatch and Different
Body Types
Jenny Lutkins
The snatch is very dependent on joint mobility
and precise technique. However, people
of many different body types have been
successful with variances in that technique.
Differences in limb length and hip anatomy
call for slight changes in coaching cues.
The snatch is defined by the International
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021
Weightlifting Federation as, “The barbell is
placed horizontally in front of the lifter’s legs.
It is gripped, palms downwards and pulled
in a single movement from the platform to
the full extent of both arms above the head,
while either splitting or bending the legs.”
There is a lot of room for variances in a
“legal” snatch, and I would like to highlight
25
some of my weightlifting friends to point out
those variances.
I have two tall, friends that have a noticeably
different snatch technique than mine, or some
of my shorter lifters. The main difference
is in the back angle. Long femur-ed lifters
have to be able to stand up with maximum
power in the posterior chain without hitting
their knees with the bar during the first pull.
Therefore, they have to lean their shoulders
over the bar farther than is normally taught,
with the back and thighs at a more acute
angle. In this photo, we see Jennifer on the
left with a deeper angled torso than Liz, on
the right.
Beyond the setup, you can watch three
differently proportioned lifters here. What
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021
you will see is that Jennifer and Jana (the
first two videos in the clip, respectively) must
start with that more acute back angle than
Liz (third video in the clip). Jennifer and Jana
also have slightly different setups as well, as
Jana’s torso is longer than Jennifer’s. Jana
can afford to sit up a little higher and still
create tension in her posterior chain and
move the knees out of the way of the bar.
The second difference to be noticed is with
the second pull to the hips. This takes longer,
obviously since the femur is longer, so the
snatch can look segmented or slow compared
to a shorter-limbed athlete.
In the receiving position, longer femurs mean
that the torso must lean forward more to have
the bar balanced over the center of mass.
26
This is, of course, if the athlete isn’t better
suited to receiving the bar in a split snatch.
My adaptive athlete recently discovered that
if she splits, she can receive the bar lower and
with more stability, as her narrow hips and
use of only one arm make it difficult to get
low enough in an overhead squat position.
Arm length variations are simply addressed
by adjusting the grip width on the bar. As
long as the barbell makes contact on the
hips when fully upright, a successful second
pull can be achieved.
For most athletes, a little trick I learned for
optimal snatch set-up is to first, find the
appropriate grip width by standing upright
and making sure the bar makes contact with
the hip, so that if bent forward, the barbell
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021
sits in the hip crease. Next, with the barbell
on the floor, place the feet hip-width under
the bar so that the large joint of the big toes
(or first laces of the shoes) are directly under
the barbell. Without moving the feet from that
position, lower into a squat straight down,
placing the hands in the grip position found
earlier. If this procedure is followed, the
knees should be at or past the elbows and the
athlete’s back angle will be appropriate for
his or her limb length and center of mass. If
the athlete executes the first pull by exerting
force through the feet, pushing against the
floor, without changing the back angle, the
knees will stay back out of the way of the
upward trajectory of the bar, no matter the
femur length of the athlete.
While there is no argument that some body
types are better suited to snatching, athletes
with long femurs, long torsos, long arms,
or the opposite can find success with the
snatch by making small adjustments to the
grip and back angle. The key to efficient
performance is first, to exert the most force
possible against the ground. Finding the
position of the back relative to the thighs
in order to fully activate the hamstring and
gluteal muscles is paramount. Second, the
grip needs to be such that continued upward
force can be exerted on the bar at full hip
extension, so not too high or too low as to
miss the hips in the second pull. Finally, a
balanced catch position relies on the torso
to thigh angle once again, making sure the
27
barbell is directly over the athlete’s center of coaching and maybe even video analysis,
mass. This may mean a more forward leaning any body type can find the positioning for a
torso for taller athletes. With appropriate successful snatch.

PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021 28

interview:
Fred Lowe
Matt Foreman
We do athlete interviews every month in this
magazine, and we’re always happy to do
them with many of the biggest names in USA
weightlifting. But it’s not very often that we
get to interview a living legend. That’s exactly
what Fred Lowe is.
Most of you aren’t historians, so you don’t
know anything about him. I’ll start by blowing
you away with his list of accomplishments.
Fred started weightlifting in 1965, and
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021
he went on to make three Olympic Teams
(1968, 1972, and 1976). There’s only a
small handful of three-time Olympians in
our sport’s history, and he’s one of them.
He also made four World Teams, won eight
National Championships, and broke multiple
American records along the way.
Veterans of this sport will often tell you one
of the most amazing performances they’ve
ever seen was at the 1981 Nationals. Fred
29
had stepped away from competition after
making his third Olympic Team in 1976, and
many thought his phenomenal career was
over. But in 1981, he returned to the platform
and won the National Championship, where
he became the first US lifter in the 165 kg
class to clean and jerk 400 lbs. (at the age
of 34).
And after that, he simply never stopped.
Most people don’t know this, but Fred is the
only weightlifter in history to compete in
the National Championship in six different
decades (1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, and
2011). That means he was still competing at
the national level when he was in his sixties.
And I don’t mean the masters national level.
I’m talking about the REAL national level.
But don’t worry…he’s done okay in the
masters division, too. He’s won fifteen
Masters Nationals, nine Masters Worlds, and
he’s been inducted into eight Halls of Fame.
Folks, there’s simply nobody like Fred Lowe.
His longevity in the sport eclipses absolutely
everybody who’s ever done it. You could make
a very strong case for him being the greatest
weightlifter in American history. He’s been
one of my biggest inspirations throughout
my entire career, and I’m overjoyed at the
tremendous honor of sharing his story with
you.
Tell us about your background. Where are you
from, where do you currently live, what’s your
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021
occupation, family life, what kind of sports
background do you have outside of lifting, etc.
I am originally from Lambertville, MI, in
the extreme Southeast corner of Michigan.
I currently live in DeWitt, MI, which is the
Northern suburb of Lansing, the state Capitol.
I’m currently teaching at the Community
College in Lansing, supervising a fitness lab
for adults of all ages. I’ve been on furlough
since 3/16/20. I’m married to Chrisann (33
years this coming May) and she qualified
for sainthood long ago. My two main sports
growing up were baseball (ages 10-18) and
wrestling (ages 13-17).
Describe your weightlifting history. When/how
did you start? Who have your coaches been?
What are your proudest accomplishments?
I started weightlifting at the urging of an
older cousin, Jim Bearinger, on 7/8/65. He
was my first coach 1965-1967, but I got a lot
of information for print sources during that
time as well. The only direct supervision I had
during my career was Mike Huszka’s coaching
at the Duncan Y in Chicago from September
1967-June 1968. After that, I continued to
draw information from numerous sources
throughout my career.
As far as accomplishments go, I’m most
proud of representing in three Olympiads,
six U.S. records, eight Senior National wins,
and nine World Masters wins. Those I would
30
consider the high points, but there are a lot
of others as well. As a Master, the best meet
I’ve ever had was the Pan Am Masters in
Savannah in June 2001. The clean and jerk
(130) and total (230) are still World Masters
records after nearly 20 years.
Unlike most lifters, you continued to have
success on the platform in your older years.
Describe how your training changed as you
aged into the masters division. What advice
would you give to older lifters?
Training –that’s an interesting topic. When
I was younger, my training frequency was
three days per week for the first two years.
The third year under Huszka, it was six days
per week with an average intensity of 72%. I
got married after Mexico City and during the
rest of my Senior career, it was three days
per week due to work, school, and family
commitments. I didn’t compete 1984-
1992 and decided to return only after the
masters program came under PED testing
requirements in 1993. As a master, I’ve
always trained three days per week.
My advice to master lifters is the same as
I give to everyone: train at a frequency and
intensity that you can recover from and stay
healthy with. Work hard on your mobility;
you’ll need it long after your joints will tolerate
doing lifts. Don’t execute poor movements
just to get a few more kilos up. That’s about
it.
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021
Describe some of the obstacles you’ve faced, or
maybe some things that frustrated you in your
weightlifting life. What kinds of changes would
you like to see, either personally or with the
sport in general?
Pursuing anything as demanding as
weightlifting is strewn with obstacles, and my
career has been no different. I had to decide
if the self-actualization outweighed other
difficulties. For the most part, it did. I did
what I did and I’m happier for it than I am
sorry. As an elite level athlete, I would have
profited greatly from a residential program
completely dedicated to the sport. None
existed at the time.
Changes I’d like to see - that’s a complicated
one. Firstly, total eradication of drugs from
the sport would be nice. Since all this stuff
began 67 years ago, you had no way of
knowing who the best athlete really was.
Some international lifters were no better
than a clean state champion when they were
off the stuff. Who was really the best? The
athlete who could take one more pill or shot
than someone else of equal ability? The
athlete whose body responded the best to
pharmaceutical compounds? Willingness to
work was never an issue in weightlifting. But
who was really the best on their own? No one
will ever know.
31
What are your plans and goals for your
weightlifting career? How do you see your future
in the sport?
My goals for the remainder of my career
include training moderately and competing
occasionally, continuing to execute
assignments as an IWF Technical Official,
promote local meets, and coach others to
find the fulfillment and benefit this sport has
given me.
Who are some of your major influences, people
you look up to, etc.? Who are the people you
want to thank for your success?
There’s always a laundry list of people who
helped you and sacrificed along with you in
pursuit of your dreams. I will actually make
a list:
Jim Bearinger- my cousin who introduced
me to the sport
Harland Lowe- my father who, in addition to
providing a work ethic model, drove me to
New Jersey in his 11-year old car so I could
lift in my first Teenage Nationals
Chuck Never- my former brother-in-law, who
drove me to Indiana for my second meet
Bob Gajda- 1966 AAU Mr. America, who
brought me to Chicago to compete for Duncan
Y and whose YMCA foundation paid my out
PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021
of state tuition my third year of college
Mihaly Husza- 1960 and 1964 Olympian
for Hungary and my coach Sept 1967-
June 1968. He taught me the value of
undulating programming and speed
Bob Hoffman- founder of York Barbell
Company. He provided the only significant
sponsorship during my career from 1969-
1981
Lou DeMarco- one of the best platform
coaches ever, he handled my efforts at
the 1967 Teenage Nationals, 1972 Srs/
Olympic Trials, 1981 Senior Nationals, and
1983 National Sports Festival
Carl Miller- his newsletters in 1973 were good
information and his two books are excellent
Tommy Kono- provided an example of what
class looks like in an athlete and official. His
coaching tips were excellent as well.
Bill Starr - the promoter of my very first
meet. He later became the managing editor
of Strength and Health magazine. He
eventually wrote two books, both of which
are excellent.
Maureen McBride-Russakof- my first wife and
mother of my two children. We got married
young and didn’t last long. She made a lot
of sacrifices.
32
Stephanie Davis- my second wife who Lastly, I have drawn, and continue to draw,
assumed the difficult role of stepmother for inspiration from lifters of all ability levels
my kids. She made a great many sacrifices. by viewing their dedication and devotion to
their pursuit of “the white moment.” We are
Chrisann Lowe- my third wife. I was not a very diverse group in pursuit of one thing.
competing when we got married; five To me, that’s a very good thing.
years later I became a Master. She too knows
this sport has many demands. Fred, on behalf of everybody in the sport of
weightlifting, thank you and congratulations on
Casey Larose and Frederick Lowe- my your career. You’re a hero to anyone who picks
daughter and son. Both competed in up a barbell and works to be successful in this
weightlifting, coming to it later in their 20s. sport, and we appreciate everything you’ve
They got to find out firsthand what the big done. Catalyst Athletics wishes all the best to
deal was. I am sure their perceptions of you and your family!  
being my son and daughter would be worthy
of a book.

PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 194/ MARCH 2021 33