I can recall seeing Charlie in NYC in late Nov./early Dec. of 2001. It goes without saying that the information/knowledge conveyed was beyond impressive. To be sure, Charlie’s presentation was not a fancy, glossy production. It was mostly a hand written presentation done on an easel pad and pencil. Incidentally, I too, recall seeing the review of the SWIS conference.
Fast forward almost exactly one year later and after I initially called Charlie having met him the previous year, Brad D. put on the seminar with Charlie (with Derek also flown in to assist with the power point) down here to NC for a seminar. Myself and one of my former high school athletes picked up Charlie and Derek at the Greenville/Spartanburg, SC airport.
I have to believe that both Ange’s and Derek’s input now resulted in Charlie’s presenting of his seminar in a much more visually appealing manner.
Now in my mind, only someone who only responds primarily to an elaborate packaging and superficiality could not find a lot of extremely valuable in the first presentation.
Still, to reach many, if the entire presentation is very polished, the opportunity to reach more people will be much improved. I can recall Charlie asking me what I thought about the differences between the two talks. I told him I thought it was like a night and day transformation and it was. Now Charlie’s work was presented in a way that everyone present could likely get a better grasp for then when his concepts were hand written and the ordering was a bit more scattered/random. He also provided handouts which were a nice addition.
Now, due to the assistance of others who provided support along the way (Ange of course, Derek, Mike H. etc. I’m sure there are others-thanks to you all for supporting CF and his concepts-we all benefitted from this) his works will be even more long lasting and clearer to those who want to learn from the best.
I first became aware of Charlie’s approach from an article in the June 1990 issue of Iron Man Magazine written by Joseph Horrigan. Charlie has a framed copy of the article over his computer that Joe sent him (at least he did when I was there).
If anyone is interested, you can buy a copy of that issue from Home Gym Warehouse, which is Iron Man’s publishing/merchandising division:
If you’ve read Charlie’s other books or followed the forum for any time you won’t really learn anything new from the article, but if you’re a Charlie buff, it’s a great piece of historical memorabilia.
I watched the SWIS presentation after being familiar with Charlie’s work. But still the first thing that came to my mind was “such simple graphs, yet so much knowledge”. I wasn’t aware of this review until now. I am sure though it amazes all regular members here how some chose to focus on the cover…
That’s correct. Just click the link I posted and you’ll see. My copy is buried somewhere and I’ve been having trouble locating it, so I just ordered a new one.
There’s also a great article in there about Joe Horrigan’s soft tissue method, which is essentially ART before his former partner Mike Leahy trademarked the name. This is about 7 years before Kim Goss’s article in MM2K put ART on the industry map.
Ben was not a great technician when it came to cleans but according to Charlie it did not matter. He did them anyway and was strong at no matter what he did.
Merlene Ottey for example apparently did very little lifting at all at least to his knowledge.
To answer your own questions based on the information you have learned here, the people you have learned from and continue to build relationships with others in the field from those out achieving results.
Charlie was the first person to say he did not know everything but he knew enough to go to the ones getting the job done and asking the right questions.
Yes - the same would go for Tim and Marion. I could remember asking them to demonstrate their power clean technique when they were up at York University. Charlie and I winced when we saw one rep of their technique (or lack thereof). Charlie instantly decided to eliminate that exercise from the program. Too much risk, not enough reward. They were high level athletes that were able to get more out of a general lifting program, relying on med-ball throws for much of their explosive work.
If there technique was adequate, would he have kept them in there for long? I’m thinking along the lines of where they fall on the force-time curve and high level athletes.
That’s a good question. The lifts may have been included for more general reasons (i.e. CNS stimulation) as part of the big picture. At the time, their block starts were very good and they demonstrated exceptional rate of force delivery in other activities (i.e. med-ball throws and jumps). So it could be argued that Olympic lifts were not necessary for these particular athletes.
Just my little experience today:my athletes performed wonderfully, and I told them that my discovery of Charli ewebsite and writings in 2001 is what started all for me as a coach.before, I referred to sprinters like those who were used to get strains, pulls, and muscle tears constantly…till they break at young age and they are gone…Thank you Charlie again.
I don’t know if that’s the same talk everyone has been mentioning, but I thought it was great. I learned a lot from it. I’m not one of those people who needs something illustrated with Power Point to find it worth my attention. I’m not saying anyone else here is, either, but a lot of people in this world are. Clarity is always good, but Charlie always seemed extremely clear to me. And even if he weren’t, if Charlie’s talking, I’ll do what I need to do to follow it.
Charlie started out by saying, “It looks like a lot of people are interested in what I’m going to say. I’m kind of curious myself.” He was always funny.
There are so few clear, independent thinkers in the world. The type of people who say things that are extremely obvious, but they’re only obvious after these people say them. Before these people say the obvious things, everyone else is “often wrong, never in doubt.”
It’s terrible to lose someone like that.
I was once involved in a discussion on here, and I made a few posts, and someone asked Charlie a question, and Charlie told the questioner to read one of my posts. A very, very small thing, but man, was I happy about it. I told a few friends about it.
I never met Charlie, and I’m not in track, but I definitely feel a loss. My sympathies to those who knew him.
Ange,
that would be nice but don’t feel you have to do everything all at once and by yourself. You have been through an awful lot lately so take your time and ensure you and James are getting (and asking for) support.
