I guess I have heard the phrases "weight throwing," "skill training," and "overtraining" misused and overused one time too many. For all of you "stwength twainers" out there, I'll try my best to be clear and concise in the way I break down these phrases.

*Weight throwing - said definition: type of lifting that requires pure momentum to lift the weight; does not focus on proper muscle contraction or on good form; does not really build strength, but after years of doing it, it merely builds ability to "throw" more weight, not lift it.

*Weight throwing - actual definition: Olympic lifting, one-arm dumbbell movements, lifting that utilizes trainer-generated momentum to lift the weight rather than lifting the weight in a slow, bunny-muscle-building manner; type of lifting that bunnies and stwength twainers are afraid to do because they are afraid that one of those big ol' bars or dumbells will cause them to pull a muscle, which actually happens like everything else when poor form is used.

The main criticism I hear of weight throwing is the momentum issue. Twainers, that momentum is generated by the trainer to lift the heavy weight that cannot otherwise be lifted in a stabilized manner; and frankly, if you don't think it requires strength to cause that momentum, you don't know anything about strength. My goodness, what do you think- that that bar just swings up there on its own and then the trainer catches it in the air and helps it the rest of the way up?

Supposedly, not only does that explosive type lifting not require strength, but it also supposedly won't build strength either. When a 150-lb man can put more over his head, whether slowly or explosively, than a 250-lb man, call me stupid but I call that strong and so does everyone else who knows what real strength training is. The only people who have problems with it are the in-betweeners and the method pushers out to make a buck off of the ignorance of the people who MUST have all of their strength before age 25.

*Skill training - said definition: Olympic lifts and other weight throwing lifts; lifts that are more-skill based than strength based.

*Skill training - actual definition: Olympic lifts, weight throwing lifts, deadlifts, squats, overhead presses, bench presses, any kind of powerlifting assistance lifts or Olympic lifting assistance lifts, and points west.

Need I really say much more about that one? EVERY type of strength lift is a skill lift. Deadlifting is just as much a skill as a power clean. If you can't do it correctly, you can't be as successful.

*Overtraining - said definition: having a training frequency which does not allow "proper" recovery time between sessions; using a training method that will require one to do "needless" amounts of practice to get the technique correct.

*Overtraining - actual definition: training that is supposedly geared toward strength but that rather yields more health and fitness benefits that strength benefits; a term that stwength twainers often use that basically admits they really don't want to get strong and that they really don't plan on making strength building a life-long committment.

What did I mean by that last statement? I have found that most of the time when the term "overtraining" is used, the person using it is complaining that in order to get the technique right so as to increase poundages on certain lifts, one is going to have to (God forbid) put forth maybe a little bit of time & effort. Folks, strength training IS a lifelong committment, and I think that the people who cut down these lifts- not on the premise that they aren't effective strength builders but on the fact that they may take time to perfect- are just slightly more dedicated versions of weekend warriors.

I sincerely hope that I have cleared up what is really meant by some of these terms. Pay attention to folks the next time they use them, and remember what the old man has told you.

Just some useless thoughts from a nearly 64 year-old man!