Wednesday, 12/3/14
Competition Squats
- 365x1 (added belt before this)
- 405x1
- 435lbs x 4 - PR +2 reps - had room for at least on more rep.
- 405lbs x 3
Wider Sumo Deadlifts - moving closer to competition stance.
- 365x1
- 405x1
- 455x1
- 475lbs x 3 - +10lbs PR at 3 reps
- 455lbs x 3
Thursday, 12/4/14
More Low Bar Competition Squats!
- 365x1 (belt is on at this point)
- 405x1
- 445x3 - PR!
- 425x3
- 405x2
Close Grip Bench (Paused)
- 225x1
- 235x5x4 sets - Felt fantastic, except for the last set. My elbows started to give me a little trouble at that point, which typically happens after a couple of low bar sessions. Still got the work in though.
Some random accessory stuff to finish out the day.
Friday, 12/5/14
Beltless Paused High Bar
- 365x1
- 375x2 - PR +1 rep
- 355x4 - PR +1 rep
Some accessory work, and done. Squats are going fantastically.
Saturday, 12/6/14
High Bar Squats w/ 4-count eccentrics
- 365x1
- 395x3 - +10lb PR
- 365x5 - new 5RM on this lift
All this despite feeling very crappy going in. The end of the week always feels very crappy for me, probably due to the accumulated volume throughout the week. Finished up with some rear delt work, some transverse ab work, and a little stretching of the external rotators and called it a day.
Sunday, 12/7/14
Front Squats
- 315x1
- 365xfail - bar was just not sitting in the rack like it should. Dropped it on the way down and said screw it.
- 315x2, 2
Called it a day. Kinda pissed off about the performance here. Positionally it just wasn't there today.
Monday, 12/8/14
Bench Press
- 225x3
- 245x3
- 270x3 - ties a PR triple
- 245x3
- 225x3
Some miscellaneous circuit work involving glutes, anti-rotational work, and hanging
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Daily Decrease
Aris
Have you read 'How Much Land Does a Man Need'? A greedy landowner enters a deal wherein for a set price, he can buy as much land as he can walk around in a day's time. Of course, he tries to cover far too much ground and dies in the process (it is a Russian story, you understand). How much land did he need then? Six feet.
When it comes to training, it's always seemed more constructive to me to find out how little you can get by on and then adding pieces onto that foundation, instead of trying to find out how much you can do first and working backwards from there. I recently saw a program designed by someone who supposedly knew what they were doing (BA, MS, CSCS, bunch of years in the fitness industry, trained people from all walks of life, etc.)--here's what it looked like:
-joint mobility warmup
-activation drills
-dynamic stretching
-plyometrics
-olympic lifts
-powerlifting
-bodybuilding 'finisher'
-cardio 'finisher'
-two different kinds of cooldown stretch
Yes, that was all in a single session. Progressions were carefully laid out, as was nutrition, deloads, a supercompensation phase, etc. How much of all that mess was practically usable? Probably none of it. The guy (or girl, I honestly forget where I saw this) was so concerned with doing EVERYTHING in the BEST possible way that they lost sight of practicality and common sense.
On the other end of the spectrum is a hyper-minimalist program that takes out as much as possible. Pavel's 'Simple and Sinister':
-minimal joint mobility warmup
-100 one arm kettlebell swings in 5 minutes
-5 kettlebell turkish get-ups each arm in 10 minutes
-minimal cooldown stretch
Done every day or almost every day... two main movements, takes about 20-25 minutes total.
Which of those two programs do you think is more usable? Most definitely the latter. Better to do too little than too much, as long as the 'little' is chosen intelligently. Especially because the 'skeleton' program can easily be added to, if the trainee wants anything more. My friend Andy did just that with S&S to great success: check out his approach here.
The best question regarding these types of plans is not "how little can I do" (where's the objective there?) but instead "how little can I do and still improve?" Dan John's 40-day plan is one excellent example. It may not be deliberately progressive and it's extremely abbreviated; but it has made quite a few people stronger.
John McKean's strength work is another model. He made himself and many other lifters very successful in competitive powerlifting and all-around weightlifting using routines that were often comprised of just 2-4 lifts for 3-10 single repetitions. One of those might look like this, lifting twice weekly:
Day 1: squat, bench
Day 2: deadlift, close grip bench
Each lift working up to one top single and then 3 backoff singles with ~70% of the top lift emphasizing speed, possibly done against band resistance. There is no fluff whatsoever there. No accessories, no base building, and it probably would involve perhaps an hour or two of lifting each week. McKean himself squatted 600 at 148 with no gear and no drugs using routines like that (in fact, I believe his 600 squat routine was simply: day 1, work up to a max in the squat; day 2, do isometric squats at the sticking point by pushing against pins in the power rack). And many of his own programs throughout the years did not have planned progression either. He called it 'constant weight training.'
To look at a less abbreviated but still 'as simple and as little as possible' example; look at some of Bryce Lane's ideas (which I wrote about here and here); or what Alex Viada does by taking the bare bones of two different programs and combining them in an intelligent manner. Viada summed up his philosophy as being "only do what you have to, do it well, and do it controlled." Here is an example of what he does. It succeeds because it takes all but the essentials out of a plan to create progress in two demanding sports that are on completely opposite ends of the spectrum of human ability.
These last two examples are important in another respect where minimal training is concerned: they both involve, potentially, a whole lot of work. The basic example of Bryce's 50/20 involves doing 100 reps of barbell clean and presses, and 100 reps of squats, each week, with 70-80% 1RM, with short rest periods. That is hard work and a fair bit of it, too. Viada's programming, too--the running portion might be low volume for an endurance specialist, the powerlifting portion might be low volume for a full time lifter, but taken together--it's a demanding week by most standards.
I believe it was Jack Reape who wrote that to get stronger, at some point an individual must either
1. Get heavier
2. Do more work, or
3. Use performance enhancing drugs.
Thus, increasing volume or frequency--i.e. doing more work--is an important aspect of programming. Many seem to associate that increased workload with 'druggsss!11' but look at the strongest people from the drug free era. Their training was all both very simple, and involved a lot of work either in terms of frequency or volume; or, for some (Anthony Ditillo comes to mind) both. This is the second big advantage of a minimal program: more work can be added more easily than to something that already has a whole lot of excess odds and ends tacked on to it. Moreover, when done properly even a very minimal routine will involve a pretty fair amount of total work done--again, see the 40-day plan.
The main danger of uber-minimalist training is, of course, that one might end up taking just a bit too much out and paying the price in health.
Personally, this is the least I did to become stronger (as defined by setting several all-time personal records in several different movements). I was in college at the time, with little time to train:
I'm most definitely going to write more in the future about bare bones programming, but for now, here's a five-step checklist to help make some sense of your programming:
"What am I trying to do?" Identify your goals...
"What do I really need?" ...and a progression towards them. Preferably one based on your past successes/mistakes (i.e. what worked and what didn't under which circumstances).
"Am I covering all bases?" Make sure you've got a push, pull, squat, and hinge in some form. An anterior chain movement and then something in the transverse plane are the next things to add in, if you can. This is where your plan fills out.
"Is this sustainable?" Make sure your progression isn't too ambitious, your overall workload isn't too high, you haven't added too much extra 'stuff' on that last step. Streamline....
"Is it healthy?" As with my last example; make sure you aren't going to screw yourself up, physically, with some aspect of what you're doing. You may end up sacrificing general health for performance--that's your call. Just be prepared for it to come back and bite you!
One last thing to consider.
As Mark Reifkind told me: "You should know your body better than anyone else. Honestly, if you can’t write yourself a program and follow it, and make those decisions, make those sacrifices to become better, you don’t deserve my respect." (That was his thought regarding coaches and trainers, of course, but I assume most everyone reading this is one of those.)
On the other hand, Dan John (I think that's three references to the guy in one blog post, is that going to summon him or something?) said: "If you coach yourself, you have an idiot for a client."
Who's right? Both of them. I firmly believe everyone should go it alone and do programming for their own goals at least sometimes. On the other hand, I know a lot of smart people who just can't seem to put it together in that regard. For them, finding an appropriate idea from someone like Pavel, or Bryce, or Dan, or just about any strength athlete or coach between 1900 and 1960 would be a great place to start. Never be afraid to try and cut out as much of the excess as possible. Remember the Pareto Principle... and imagine how focused your training would be if all of it was comprised of 'the 20%'.
Have you read 'How Much Land Does a Man Need'? A greedy landowner enters a deal wherein for a set price, he can buy as much land as he can walk around in a day's time. Of course, he tries to cover far too much ground and dies in the process (it is a Russian story, you understand). How much land did he need then? Six feet.
When it comes to training, it's always seemed more constructive to me to find out how little you can get by on and then adding pieces onto that foundation, instead of trying to find out how much you can do first and working backwards from there. I recently saw a program designed by someone who supposedly knew what they were doing (BA, MS, CSCS, bunch of years in the fitness industry, trained people from all walks of life, etc.)--here's what it looked like:
-joint mobility warmup
-activation drills
-dynamic stretching
-plyometrics
-olympic lifts
-powerlifting
-bodybuilding 'finisher'
-cardio 'finisher'
-two different kinds of cooldown stretch
Yes, that was all in a single session. Progressions were carefully laid out, as was nutrition, deloads, a supercompensation phase, etc. How much of all that mess was practically usable? Probably none of it. The guy (or girl, I honestly forget where I saw this) was so concerned with doing EVERYTHING in the BEST possible way that they lost sight of practicality and common sense.
On the other end of the spectrum is a hyper-minimalist program that takes out as much as possible. Pavel's 'Simple and Sinister':
-minimal joint mobility warmup
-100 one arm kettlebell swings in 5 minutes
-5 kettlebell turkish get-ups each arm in 10 minutes
-minimal cooldown stretch
Done every day or almost every day... two main movements, takes about 20-25 minutes total.
Me going through the 'simple' goals (a 32kg/70lb kettlebell)
Which of those two programs do you think is more usable? Most definitely the latter. Better to do too little than too much, as long as the 'little' is chosen intelligently. Especially because the 'skeleton' program can easily be added to, if the trainee wants anything more. My friend Andy did just that with S&S to great success: check out his approach here.
The best question regarding these types of plans is not "how little can I do" (where's the objective there?) but instead "how little can I do and still improve?" Dan John's 40-day plan is one excellent example. It may not be deliberately progressive and it's extremely abbreviated; but it has made quite a few people stronger.
John McKean's strength work is another model. He made himself and many other lifters very successful in competitive powerlifting and all-around weightlifting using routines that were often comprised of just 2-4 lifts for 3-10 single repetitions. One of those might look like this, lifting twice weekly:
Day 1: squat, bench
Day 2: deadlift, close grip bench
Each lift working up to one top single and then 3 backoff singles with ~70% of the top lift emphasizing speed, possibly done against band resistance. There is no fluff whatsoever there. No accessories, no base building, and it probably would involve perhaps an hour or two of lifting each week. McKean himself squatted 600 at 148 with no gear and no drugs using routines like that (in fact, I believe his 600 squat routine was simply: day 1, work up to a max in the squat; day 2, do isometric squats at the sticking point by pushing against pins in the power rack). And many of his own programs throughout the years did not have planned progression either. He called it 'constant weight training.'
To look at a less abbreviated but still 'as simple and as little as possible' example; look at some of Bryce Lane's ideas (which I wrote about here and here); or what Alex Viada does by taking the bare bones of two different programs and combining them in an intelligent manner. Viada summed up his philosophy as being "only do what you have to, do it well, and do it controlled." Here is an example of what he does. It succeeds because it takes all but the essentials out of a plan to create progress in two demanding sports that are on completely opposite ends of the spectrum of human ability.
These last two examples are important in another respect where minimal training is concerned: they both involve, potentially, a whole lot of work. The basic example of Bryce's 50/20 involves doing 100 reps of barbell clean and presses, and 100 reps of squats, each week, with 70-80% 1RM, with short rest periods. That is hard work and a fair bit of it, too. Viada's programming, too--the running portion might be low volume for an endurance specialist, the powerlifting portion might be low volume for a full time lifter, but taken together--it's a demanding week by most standards.
I believe it was Jack Reape who wrote that to get stronger, at some point an individual must either
1. Get heavier
2. Do more work, or
3. Use performance enhancing drugs.
Thus, increasing volume or frequency--i.e. doing more work--is an important aspect of programming. Many seem to associate that increased workload with 'druggsss!11' but look at the strongest people from the drug free era. Their training was all both very simple, and involved a lot of work either in terms of frequency or volume; or, for some (Anthony Ditillo comes to mind) both. This is the second big advantage of a minimal program: more work can be added more easily than to something that already has a whole lot of excess odds and ends tacked on to it. Moreover, when done properly even a very minimal routine will involve a pretty fair amount of total work done--again, see the 40-day plan.
The main danger of uber-minimalist training is, of course, that one might end up taking just a bit too much out and paying the price in health.
Personally, this is the least I did to become stronger (as defined by setting several all-time personal records in several different movements). I was in college at the time, with little time to train:
- 3-4 days per week: Stiffleg barbell deadlift, up to an EDM (roughly 90-95% 1RM) or multiple (5-10) singles with ~80-85%. This generally took about 10 minutes.
- Daily: one arm pushup and pistol squat practice. Focusing on tension with the OAPU, and centering my balance with the pistol. Maybe 2-4 sets of each, in between other stuff.
- 2-3 days per week: several one arm chinup singles each arm, always pulling from a relaxed dead hang. Occasionally, static holds at the top or middle of the movement. Generally followed up by some ABC chinups--climbers call them 'frenchies', I think--chinups with embedded statics. Mainly because my girlfriend at the time seemed to enjoy watching me do them. (About as 'functional' as any exercise can get, really!)
- When walking to class I got into the habit of doing breathing ladders. This was my only concession to heart health/breath control/aerobic work, but it made me feel pretty good.
With perhaps an hour and a half of training each week, I noticeably improved in each of the movements I was practicing, setting all-time PRs in the pistol and the one arm chin, and big PRs in several odd deadlift variants as well.
The biggest problem (that I discovered later) was my shoulders. I've always had 'closed' shoulders, and all the above certainly didn't help with that. The deadlifts were pulled in a slumped, Bob-peoples-esque style; an experiment that yielded huge increases in strength and comfort when it came to other odd deadlift variants but did little for my scap retractors and general posture. The pushups and pullups of course are all internal rotation, too. The result: my shoulders adopted an even more rounded position, certainly not the healthiest thing. Also, for the first time I abandoned elbow prehab while doing the one-arm work. This too was not a smart idea. In this case, a bit of shoulder and elbow work and some spine extension work would have been a relatively small concession to make in terms of general health and gone a long way towards making the plan sustainable.
I'm most definitely going to write more in the future about bare bones programming, but for now, here's a five-step checklist to help make some sense of your programming:
"What am I trying to do?" Identify your goals...
"What do I really need?" ...and a progression towards them. Preferably one based on your past successes/mistakes (i.e. what worked and what didn't under which circumstances).
"Am I covering all bases?" Make sure you've got a push, pull, squat, and hinge in some form. An anterior chain movement and then something in the transverse plane are the next things to add in, if you can. This is where your plan fills out.
"Is this sustainable?" Make sure your progression isn't too ambitious, your overall workload isn't too high, you haven't added too much extra 'stuff' on that last step. Streamline....
"Is it healthy?" As with my last example; make sure you aren't going to screw yourself up, physically, with some aspect of what you're doing. You may end up sacrificing general health for performance--that's your call. Just be prepared for it to come back and bite you!
One last thing to consider.
As Mark Reifkind told me: "You should know your body better than anyone else. Honestly, if you can’t write yourself a program and follow it, and make those decisions, make those sacrifices to become better, you don’t deserve my respect." (That was his thought regarding coaches and trainers, of course, but I assume most everyone reading this is one of those.)
On the other hand, Dan John (I think that's three references to the guy in one blog post, is that going to summon him or something?) said: "If you coach yourself, you have an idiot for a client."
Who's right? Both of them. I firmly believe everyone should go it alone and do programming for their own goals at least sometimes. On the other hand, I know a lot of smart people who just can't seem to put it together in that regard. For them, finding an appropriate idea from someone like Pavel, or Bryce, or Dan, or just about any strength athlete or coach between 1900 and 1960 would be a great place to start. Never be afraid to try and cut out as much of the excess as possible. Remember the Pareto Principle... and imagine how focused your training would be if all of it was comprised of 'the 20%'.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
The Great Squat Experiment, Week 8
Josh Trammell
Lots of driving this week, which means I've had to do a lot more in the way of warm-ups to get ready for lifting. Still getting the work in though.
Wednesday, 11/26/14
Competition Stance Squats w/ Belt
- 365x1
Add Belt
- 345x1
- 385x1
- 405x1
- 420x5 - PR 5RM - I was expecting somewhere between 2-5, based on how the first two reps felt. Told the spotter the same. Turns out, the first 2 reps felt easy, the 3rd rep felt easy, the 4th rep felt easy, and the 5th was slightly grindy, but I had one more rep in me. Very, very, very happy with this PR. Biggest PR of the cycle, in my book.
Sumo DLs w/ Belt
- 365x1
- 405x1
Add Belt
- 405x1
- 465x3 - +10lbs PR - my goal is to just add 5-10lbs on my triples each week leading up to the meet on this day, eventually transitioning to heavy doubles, and max effort singles about 2 weeks out or so. Again, happy with this.
- 425x2 - hexagonal plates were rolling all over the place, whether it was into my shins or away from the body. I got pretty pissed at this point and just called it at 2 reps.
Friday, 11/28/14
Competition Stance Squats w/ Belt
- 365x1
Add Belt
- 365x1
- 405x1
- 435x2 - PR 2RM. Felt pretty crappy after long days of traveling and sitting down in a car. All the sitting down wrecked my hips and threw my groove off (again), but I managed to hit this on a pretty bad day, all things considered.
- 405x2
Close Grip Pause Bench
- 185x4
- 225x5x3 sets - fairly happy with this. Again, max is probably sitting around 270-275 or so. Some elbow pain, not quite as bad as last bench session though.
Saturday, 11/29/14
High Bar Paused Squats
- 365x1
- 365x2
- 345x3
This day felt like absolute crap. Came in and put in the work and called it a day.
Sunday, 11/30/14
Eccentric-Emphasis High Bar Squats w/ Belt
- 365x1
- 385x4 - +1 rep PR
Deficit Sumo Deads:
345 x 1,1,1,1,1
355 x 1,1,1
365 x 1,1
Playing around with this more than anything. Just an experiment. Tried to move bar as fast as possible off the floor.
Monday, 12/1/14
Front Squats
- 315x1
- 345x1
- 365x1 PR + 10lbs
- 345x2 - new 2RM PR
Week really thrown off, but I ended up with a couple of nice PRs.
Lots of driving this week, which means I've had to do a lot more in the way of warm-ups to get ready for lifting. Still getting the work in though.
Wednesday, 11/26/14
Competition Stance Squats w/ Belt
- 365x1
Add Belt
- 345x1
- 385x1
- 405x1
- 420x5 - PR 5RM - I was expecting somewhere between 2-5, based on how the first two reps felt. Told the spotter the same. Turns out, the first 2 reps felt easy, the 3rd rep felt easy, the 4th rep felt easy, and the 5th was slightly grindy, but I had one more rep in me. Very, very, very happy with this PR. Biggest PR of the cycle, in my book.
Sumo DLs w/ Belt
- 365x1
- 405x1
Add Belt
- 405x1
- 465x3 - +10lbs PR - my goal is to just add 5-10lbs on my triples each week leading up to the meet on this day, eventually transitioning to heavy doubles, and max effort singles about 2 weeks out or so. Again, happy with this.
- 425x2 - hexagonal plates were rolling all over the place, whether it was into my shins or away from the body. I got pretty pissed at this point and just called it at 2 reps.
Friday, 11/28/14
Competition Stance Squats w/ Belt
- 365x1
Add Belt
- 365x1
- 405x1
- 435x2 - PR 2RM. Felt pretty crappy after long days of traveling and sitting down in a car. All the sitting down wrecked my hips and threw my groove off (again), but I managed to hit this on a pretty bad day, all things considered.
- 405x2
Close Grip Pause Bench
- 185x4
- 225x5x3 sets - fairly happy with this. Again, max is probably sitting around 270-275 or so. Some elbow pain, not quite as bad as last bench session though.
Saturday, 11/29/14
High Bar Paused Squats
- 365x1
- 365x2
- 345x3
This day felt like absolute crap. Came in and put in the work and called it a day.
Sunday, 11/30/14
Eccentric-Emphasis High Bar Squats w/ Belt
- 365x1
- 385x4 - +1 rep PR
Deficit Sumo Deads:
345 x 1,1,1,1,1
355 x 1,1,1
365 x 1,1
Playing around with this more than anything. Just an experiment. Tried to move bar as fast as possible off the floor.
Monday, 12/1/14
Front Squats
- 315x1
- 345x1
- 365x1 PR + 10lbs
- 345x2 - new 2RM PR
Week really thrown off, but I ended up with a couple of nice PRs.
Sunday, November 30, 2014
The Great Squat Experiment: Week 7
Josh Trammell
Tuesday, 11/18/14
Still recovering from food poisoning, but I wanted to get in the gym and see what I could do. Wasn't going in expecting much - my goal was to come in, work up to 315-365, see how it felt, and if I felt like crap, leave, if I felt good, go a little heavier.
Low Bar Squats (Beltless)
- 365 x 1, 1, 1, 1 - was very out of the groove. A couple of adjustments plus just working at this weight loosened me up and things felt better. Felt good enough to move up.
- 385 x 1 - felt good, moved up
- 405 x 1 - felt easy
- 415x2 - new 2RM. No video, unfortunately. Wasn't prepared to set a PR after food poisoning.
Paused Low Bar
- 365x3
Called it quits. Who says you can't set PRs after getting sick and not eating much at all for 3 days?
Wednesday, 11/19/14
Low Bar Squats with a Belt
- 365 x 1 (add belt), 1,1
- 405 x 1
- 425 x 1
- 450 x 1 - PR +5lbs
Conventional Deadlifts w/ Belt
- 365x1
- 405x1
- 455x2 - PR 2RM - Not really KK/ Pete Rubish like. First time I've videoed these. Felt good though.
Sumo Deadlifts w/ Belt
- 365x1
- 405x1
- 455x3 - PR +1 rep
- 435x3
Thursday, 11/20/14
Felt very exhausted going on. That's why, typically, the day after deadlift days is a Pause squat to reduce absolute volume/loading and compression on the spine.
Pause High Bar Squats
- 355x1
- 375x1 - could've gotten 2, but it would've been a real grind. Decided against it.
- 355x3 - PR 3RM +10lbs I believe
- 315x3
Short ab/decompression/stretching circuit, and called it quits.
Friday, 11/21/14
4-second Eccentric High Bar Squats w/ Belt (That's a mouthful...)
- 365x1, add belt, 1
- 385x1
- 405x1
- 415x1
- 385x3
Not a particularly big fan of these, but I never work on the eccentric phase of the lift, so I figured it was time to do so. Plus, it is a nice change of pace.
Saturday, 11/22/14
Felt absolutely wrecked going into this session. Tired, worn down, not really ready to get a lift in, honestly.
Low Bar Squats w/ Belt
- 365x1 - add belt
- 345x1 - moved down to get my groove
- 385x1 - felt horrible
- 405x1, 1 - both sets felt awful. This is something I did earlier in the week, without a belt, with ease. Just called it quits here. Still got quality work in that 85%+ range, so it's all good.
Sunday, 11/23/14
Front Squats
- 315x1
- 355x1 +10lb PR. Haven't done these in like 6 or 7 months, so I was very pleased with the speed of this on camera. Also pretty obvious that there are some left-right differences in front rack flexibility from this video. Not very comfortable looking front rack, probably due to the fact that I just haven't done them in a while.
- 315x3 +40lb PR
'Speed' Sumo Deadlifts
- 345x 1 x 10 sets - about 60-90s rest between sets, focusing in on maximal velocity off the ground to lockout. Felt decent.
Paused Bench Press
Haven't been able to bench press due to elbow pain, but I got my compression cuff in, so I wanted to test it out.
- 225 x 3 x 3 sets - not too bad. Had a couple reps where the left elbow just gave out on me, but I'm still probably good for about 270 right now. Could've done all sets for 5 reps. Decently happy with that. Need to get my speed back, but everything else was fine.
Monday, 11/24/14
Remedial circuit and recovery work. Nothing of note to post about.
Tuesday, 11/18/14
Still recovering from food poisoning, but I wanted to get in the gym and see what I could do. Wasn't going in expecting much - my goal was to come in, work up to 315-365, see how it felt, and if I felt like crap, leave, if I felt good, go a little heavier.
Low Bar Squats (Beltless)
- 365 x 1, 1, 1, 1 - was very out of the groove. A couple of adjustments plus just working at this weight loosened me up and things felt better. Felt good enough to move up.
- 385 x 1 - felt good, moved up
- 405 x 1 - felt easy
- 415x2 - new 2RM. No video, unfortunately. Wasn't prepared to set a PR after food poisoning.
Paused Low Bar
- 365x3
Called it quits. Who says you can't set PRs after getting sick and not eating much at all for 3 days?
Wednesday, 11/19/14
Low Bar Squats with a Belt
- 365 x 1 (add belt), 1,1
- 405 x 1
- 425 x 1
- 450 x 1 - PR +5lbs
Conventional Deadlifts w/ Belt
- 365x1
- 405x1
- 455x2 - PR 2RM - Not really KK/ Pete Rubish like. First time I've videoed these. Felt good though.
Sumo Deadlifts w/ Belt
- 365x1
- 405x1
- 455x3 - PR +1 rep
- 435x3
Thursday, 11/20/14
Felt very exhausted going on. That's why, typically, the day after deadlift days is a Pause squat to reduce absolute volume/loading and compression on the spine.
Pause High Bar Squats
- 355x1
- 375x1 - could've gotten 2, but it would've been a real grind. Decided against it.
- 355x3 - PR 3RM +10lbs I believe
- 315x3
Short ab/decompression/stretching circuit, and called it quits.
Friday, 11/21/14
4-second Eccentric High Bar Squats w/ Belt (That's a mouthful...)
- 365x1, add belt, 1
- 385x1
- 405x1
- 415x1
- 385x3
Not a particularly big fan of these, but I never work on the eccentric phase of the lift, so I figured it was time to do so. Plus, it is a nice change of pace.
Saturday, 11/22/14
Felt absolutely wrecked going into this session. Tired, worn down, not really ready to get a lift in, honestly.
Low Bar Squats w/ Belt
- 365x1 - add belt
- 345x1 - moved down to get my groove
- 385x1 - felt horrible
- 405x1, 1 - both sets felt awful. This is something I did earlier in the week, without a belt, with ease. Just called it quits here. Still got quality work in that 85%+ range, so it's all good.
Sunday, 11/23/14
Front Squats
- 315x1
- 355x1 +10lb PR. Haven't done these in like 6 or 7 months, so I was very pleased with the speed of this on camera. Also pretty obvious that there are some left-right differences in front rack flexibility from this video. Not very comfortable looking front rack, probably due to the fact that I just haven't done them in a while.
- 315x3 +40lb PR
'Speed' Sumo Deadlifts
- 345x 1 x 10 sets - about 60-90s rest between sets, focusing in on maximal velocity off the ground to lockout. Felt decent.
Paused Bench Press
Haven't been able to bench press due to elbow pain, but I got my compression cuff in, so I wanted to test it out.
- 225 x 3 x 3 sets - not too bad. Had a couple reps where the left elbow just gave out on me, but I'm still probably good for about 270 right now. Could've done all sets for 5 reps. Decently happy with that. Need to get my speed back, but everything else was fine.
Monday, 11/24/14
Remedial circuit and recovery work. Nothing of note to post about.
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
The Great Squat Experiment, Week 6
Josh Trammell
Wednesday, 11/12/14
Wide(r) High Bar Squats w/ Belt
- 315x1 - Add Belt
- 315x1
- 365x1
- 405x1
- 415x3 - PR + 10lbs - around a 10 RPE though. Went a little too hard. Was pissed from the struggle all last week though.
- 385x3
Narrow Sumo + Belt
- 365x1 - Add belt
- 405x1
- 455x2 - ties previous PR at a narrower stance
- 425x3
Felt like crap, so I stopped.
Thursday, 11/13/14
Beltless Low Bar Squats
- 365x1
- 395x1
- 405x3 - Rep PR + 2 reps (also, PR + 20lbs)
- 375x5 - Rep PR +2 reps
Felt like crap, but it appears fast on video, so I'll take it.
Friday, 11/14/14
Birthday Pause Squats (low bar)
- 365x1
- 395x3 - PR + 40lbs (haven't done triples for weight in a while)
- 365x3
Saturday - Monday:
Ate at my favorite restaurant for my birthday, and managed to get food poisoning in the process. Thus, no training happened on any of those days.
Wednesday, 11/12/14
Wide(r) High Bar Squats w/ Belt
- 315x1 - Add Belt
- 315x1
- 365x1
- 405x1
- 415x3 - PR + 10lbs - around a 10 RPE though. Went a little too hard. Was pissed from the struggle all last week though.
- 385x3
Narrow Sumo + Belt
- 365x1 - Add belt
- 405x1
- 455x2 - ties previous PR at a narrower stance
- 425x3
Felt like crap, so I stopped.
Thursday, 11/13/14
Beltless Low Bar Squats
- 365x1
- 395x1
- 405x3 - Rep PR + 2 reps (also, PR + 20lbs)
- 375x5 - Rep PR +2 reps
Felt like crap, but it appears fast on video, so I'll take it.
Friday, 11/14/14
Birthday Pause Squats (low bar)
- 365x1
- 395x3 - PR + 40lbs (haven't done triples for weight in a while)
- 365x3
Saturday - Monday:
Ate at my favorite restaurant for my birthday, and managed to get food poisoning in the process. Thus, no training happened on any of those days.
Thursday, November 13, 2014
The Great Squat Experiment: Week 5
Josh Trammell
I will preface this log by saying I spent around 20 hours driving in a car from Monday - Wednesday afternoon. Hips were destroyed, didn't get any lifting in, generally felt like crap that first workout back. Anyway, here it is.
Thursday, 11/6/14
Beltless High Bar Back Squats
- 365x1
- 395 x miss (what the hell?) - hips shifted out behind the bar. Got pissed. Took another shot at it
- 395 x 1 - kept hips in a better position, less shifting, more lifting. Still pissed though
- 335 x 5
Friday, 11/7/14
Beltless High Bar Squats
- 365x1
- 385x1
- 405x1 - get recruited by powerlifting team, turn them down
- 365x3
- 315x3, 3-second pauses at the bottom of each squat, cause I felt like it
Conventional Deads (no belt)
- 365x1
- 405x1
- 405x5x3 sets - PR + 20lbs and 2 sets
- Starting to get the hang of conventional pulling. Took a while. Turns out my build favors a KK/Pete Rubish-ish type of pull. Almost enjoying conventional now, after hating it for so long.
Going to play around with 2 deadlift days: 1 conventional (for volume), 1 sumo, where the intensity will be upped. See how that goes along with all the squats.
Saturday, 11/8/14
Staying on the strugglebus...
Pause Squats - beltless
- 315 x 1
- 345 x 1
- 365x2 - PR +1 rep (cheap, I know)
- 335 x 3
Sunday
The strugglebus continues!
Beltless High Bar
- 365x1
- 385x1
- 405x1 - a little slower than normal, still haven't fully come back from that dang car ride.
- 365x3
- 315x3
Monday - Recovery/Pump Day
1A) Kossack Squat -> crossover Step-Up 3x12/leg
1B) Chest Flies 3x12 (5-10s eccentric for the stretch)
1C) Rear Delt Flies - 3x12
2A) Bar Hangs x a decently long time
2B) Bear crawls focusing on neutral spine and breathing
2C) Half Kneeling Chops - 3x8-10/side
Week 5 sucked.
I will preface this log by saying I spent around 20 hours driving in a car from Monday - Wednesday afternoon. Hips were destroyed, didn't get any lifting in, generally felt like crap that first workout back. Anyway, here it is.
Thursday, 11/6/14
Beltless High Bar Back Squats
- 365x1
- 395 x miss (what the hell?) - hips shifted out behind the bar. Got pissed. Took another shot at it
- 395 x 1 - kept hips in a better position, less shifting, more lifting. Still pissed though
- 335 x 5
Friday, 11/7/14
Beltless High Bar Squats
- 365x1
- 385x1
- 405x1 - get recruited by powerlifting team, turn them down
- 365x3
- 315x3, 3-second pauses at the bottom of each squat, cause I felt like it
Conventional Deads (no belt)
- 365x1
- 405x1
- 405x5x3 sets - PR + 20lbs and 2 sets
- Starting to get the hang of conventional pulling. Took a while. Turns out my build favors a KK/Pete Rubish-ish type of pull. Almost enjoying conventional now, after hating it for so long.
Going to play around with 2 deadlift days: 1 conventional (for volume), 1 sumo, where the intensity will be upped. See how that goes along with all the squats.
Saturday, 11/8/14
Staying on the strugglebus...
Pause Squats - beltless
- 315 x 1
- 345 x 1
- 365x2 - PR +1 rep (cheap, I know)
- 335 x 3
Sunday
The strugglebus continues!
Beltless High Bar
- 365x1
- 385x1
- 405x1 - a little slower than normal, still haven't fully come back from that dang car ride.
- 365x3
- 315x3
Monday - Recovery/Pump Day
1A) Kossack Squat -> crossover Step-Up 3x12/leg
1B) Chest Flies 3x12 (5-10s eccentric for the stretch)
1C) Rear Delt Flies - 3x12
2A) Bar Hangs x a decently long time
2B) Bear crawls focusing on neutral spine and breathing
2C) Half Kneeling Chops - 3x8-10/side
Week 5 sucked.
Thursday, November 6, 2014
The Great Squat Experiment: Training Log, Week 3 (or 4?)
By: Josh Trammell
*Note: This is a little over 3 weeks into the training cycle I'm currently in, experimenting with very high frequency, every-day max (EDM) style squatting. I won't go into the specifics of the plan here (future article will), but here's my log from the last week.
Previous videoed PRs:
385lb Belt Pause Squat x 1
Beltless, 415lbs x 1 High Bar Back Squat
Competition Stance Low Bar Squat 435lbs x 1 with a belt
445lbs x 1 Competition Stance Low Bar Squat, with Belt
Wednesday, 10/29/14
Beltless, Low Bar Back Squat:
- 365lbs x 1
- 395lbs x 1
- 420lbs x 1 - +5lb Beltless PR
- 385lbs x 4: +1 rep PR @ 385lbs
- 355lbs x 3
Thursday, 10/30/14
Beltless High Bar Back Squats
- 365lbs x 1
- 390lbs x 1
- 365lbs x 5 - +2 rep PR
Bench
- 225lbs x 1
- Elbow decided to crap out on me. Called it a day here. No use in aggravating it any more.
Friday, 10/31/14
- Beltless, Paused High Bar Squats
- 355lbs x 1
- 375lbs x 1 +10lb PR
- 385lbs x 1 +20lb PR
- 335lbs x 3 new 3 rep PR
Conventional Deads:
- 365x1
- 405x1
- Add belt: 405x5 (7 RPE)
Narrow Sumo:
- 365x1
- 405x1
- 455x1 - tied Beltless PR with a narrower stance. Oh, and I haven't pulled sumo in around 6 months
- 425x3 - 7 RPE
Sunday, 11/2/14
Safety Bar Squats
- 330x1
- 380x1
- Add Belt: 410x1 - +60lb PR
- 350x6 + 35lb PR
- no belt: 310x5
*Note: This is a little over 3 weeks into the training cycle I'm currently in, experimenting with very high frequency, every-day max (EDM) style squatting. I won't go into the specifics of the plan here (future article will), but here's my log from the last week.
Previous videoed PRs:
385lb Belt Pause Squat x 1
Beltless, 415lbs x 1 High Bar Back Squat
Competition Stance Low Bar Squat 435lbs x 1 with a belt
445lbs x 1 Competition Stance Low Bar Squat, with Belt
Wednesday, 10/29/14
Beltless, Low Bar Back Squat:
- 365lbs x 1
- 395lbs x 1
- 420lbs x 1 - +5lb Beltless PR
- 385lbs x 4: +1 rep PR @ 385lbs
- 355lbs x 3
Thursday, 10/30/14
Beltless High Bar Back Squats
- 365lbs x 1
- 390lbs x 1
- 365lbs x 5 - +2 rep PR
Bench
- 225lbs x 1
- Elbow decided to crap out on me. Called it a day here. No use in aggravating it any more.
Friday, 10/31/14
- Beltless, Paused High Bar Squats
- 355lbs x 1
- 375lbs x 1 +10lb PR
- 385lbs x 1 +20lb PR
- 335lbs x 3 new 3 rep PR
Conventional Deads:
- 365x1
- 405x1
- Add belt: 405x5 (7 RPE)
Narrow Sumo:
- 365x1
- 405x1
- 455x1 - tied Beltless PR with a narrower stance. Oh, and I haven't pulled sumo in around 6 months
- 425x3 - 7 RPE
Sunday, 11/2/14
Safety Bar Squats
- 330x1
- 380x1
- Add Belt: 410x1 - +60lb PR
- 350x6 + 35lb PR
- no belt: 310x5
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
S&C Internships: The 'Difficult' Coach
By: Josh Trammell
For part I of the S&C Internship series, click HERE.For a fascinating look into the world (and exploitation) of your fellow interns, check out this book: Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy
Let me introduce you to Coach Jay*. Coach Jay is an archetypal example of a coach who just couldn't care less about you. He's a dick and he knows it.
"Stop bein' lazy man! You keep that up and you'll be an intern for the rest of your life."
(said in front of the ENTIRE football team)
He went on to tell the intern to "go eat some donuts."
Obviously, this is a rather extreme example of a coach who really doesn't give a crap. But, while this is extreme, there are difficult coaches out there, and the goal of this article is to present some options on how to deal with those same coaches.
Option 1: Avoid the Coach in Question
...I would not recommend this option, for the simple reason that you'll be spending the next 2-3 months (or longer) working with this person. Also, you're an intern, which means you're not worth much - there's no reason to dig yourself an early grave.
Perfect example: after the coach in the intro did this to one of the interns, I actively avoided him...for about a week. Unfortunately, this coach used me as an example of what NOT to do when coaching a particular movement for another intern (even though I was teaching it the way another coach requested). I'm definitely human too, and this was a huge mistake that I quickly corrected.
Option 2: Ask for Advice from the Coach in Question
Once I saw how badly option 1 worked, I changed tactics. For every exercise I wasn't 100% clear on, I approached Coach Jay and asked him how he wanted it performed. Everything from depth for front squats to bench press, coaching cues, and so on.
This approach works much better than the first. For starters, by going to the coach for guidance you are establishing him as the expert and presenting yourself as being a humble intern.
Many interns (myself included) go into the internship thinking they know everything about everything... and while you may know a lot, context is important and you may suck at applying what you know in a team sports context with lots of constraints. So, shutting your mouth and listening while establishing that coach as an authority is a very valuable skill.
Option 3: Does the Coach have an ego? Yes? Show off.
This one may sound funny, so I'll just use another personal example to illustrate the point.
Coach Jay was a former NFL pro for a few years before turning to coaching. He has a lot of confidence (rightly so) and thinks he can do pretty much anything he tries. Awesome.
One day, another intern and I were practicing some handstands, and he comes up and says "Hey man I can do that too. That's easy."
"Sure thing Coach Jay."
"What, you don't believe me man? Watch me."
He proceeds to kick up to a handstand...and falls over. He decides to try again...and gets the same result.
"Dang man! This is harder than I thought. Can you show me again?"
"You want me to show you the same thing, or do something else?"
"Show me something else man."
"Alright Coach."
I then proceed to do the following: Handstands Galore
Coach Jay tries it again...and fails.
"Mad respect dawg." Bro hugs ensue.
...And that's how I got Coach Jay's respect. Seriously. Immediately after that, he started talking to me, asking how I was doing, etc.
Is this option appropriate for most coaches? Probably not. BUT, in certain situations this may work (but KNOW the coach's personality first).
Option 4: Always be seen Working
You'd think this would be obvious, but from stories I've heard from other internships and about past interns, apparently, it's not. One of the biggest keys to getting on a coach's good side is to be working AT ALL TIMES when you're out on the floor.
Towels need to be picked up? Pick them up.
Weights on the floor? Pick them up.
Working out? Don't rest for 10 minutes between your sets while that coach is around (even if you are a powerlifter).
Does an athlete need a weight gain shake? Make him a weight gain shake.
The point: ALWAYS be moving around, doing something. Don't wait to be told to do something, show some initiative. This, more than anything else, will get you noticed and respected.
Is this stuff simple? Yes. Should I really have to write about it? No. Some of you will run into difficult coaches, and my hope is that you remember these lessons (and my blunders) and find a way to make it work to your advantage.
*Fictitious name for a real coach.
*Fictitious name for a real coach.
Have some questions? Want to learn more about S&C internships and what they're all about? Shoot me an email at jtfitnesssystems@gmail.com and I'll help you out as much as I can.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
The Zercher Deadlift
Aris DeMarco
Of all the many ways to pick a barbell up off the floor, the zercher deadlift is perhaps the most dangerous, and definitely one of the hardest. It's a way of making a simple act unnecessarily difficult; kind of like putting a feral cat in the tub before taking a bath. It's basically the 'overly manly man' of deadlift variants.
Of all the many ways to pick a barbell up off the floor, the zercher deadlift is perhaps the most dangerous, and definitely one of the hardest. It's a way of making a simple act unnecessarily difficult; kind of like putting a feral cat in the tub before taking a bath. It's basically the 'overly manly man' of deadlift variants.
...you get the idea.
Ed Zercher was a lifter in the 1930s and quite a strong one at that. According to Rogert Lapointe, in one weightlifting competition Ed managed the following numbers--
One Hand Snatch 120 lbs.
One Hand Clean & Jerk 130 lbs.
Two Hand Military Press 170 lbs.
Two Hand Snatch 145 lbs.
Two Hand Clean & Jerk 200 lbs.
--Weighing only 156!
Zercher's lower body strength was even better than those numbers suggest, however.
Wally Strosnider writes: "Ed trained a lot of different lifts. He did Hip Lifts, Harness Lifts, One Hand Deadlifts, One Finger Deadlifts, Bent Presses, Side Presses, Crucifixes, Two Hands Any How (actually the name of a lift), and more... Ed would lay on his back on the platform, place an Olympic Bar on his bare feet and do Leg Presses - full and deep. I saw him do 250 lbs. for 100 reps at a meet at the state pen. I saw him do reps with the bar loaded to 250 lbs. and his 225-lb. son-in-law sitting on the bar. Ed was in his late 60's at the time."
...Yeah...
The barbell leg press, which was actually fairly commonly done at the time; was one way Zercher had of building leg power without a squat rack. I haven't tried it and don't intend to, but it appears that heeled boots, spotters, and ridiculous hip flexibility are necessities to perform that lift, as well as a honey badger's attitude regarding life.
Ed patronized another variety of lifting, however, one that retains his name to this day--he took to lifting barbells in the crook of his elbows instead of in his hands or on his shoulders.
The 'zercher lift', a USAWA/IAWA competition lift, involves sumo deadlifting a barbell, resting it on one's thighs before sliding one's arms under the bar and squatting it up from a dead stop. Here's Ric Garcia adeptly demonstrating that movement:
As can be seen, it is a fairly drawn-out lift and involves a satisfying effort of coordination. It's also harder than it looks at first glance... the lack of stretch reflex from the 'dead stop' makes the squat portion quite difficult.
Here I am in the start of the 'squat' portion. Way more than I can actually Zsq, by the way.
It's an excellent lift to teach grinding a lift without any momentum; wedging between the bar and the floor, and hinging properly at the hips. Due to the bar being a bit closer to the lifter's center of gravity, and not being restricted in its placement by an individual's shoulder mobility; the Zsq is quite a valuable teaching tool. Strongfirst teaches the Zsq (taken off the racks, and starting from the top) as one of its primary barbell squatting variants, along with the front and back squat. I'll leave it to Pavel to describe the benefits of the Zsq in full: http://www.strongfirst.com/the-best-squat/.
The zercher deadlift (which I've also seen referred to as the 'spider lift' and 'mansfield lift') is basically the same thing, but picking up the barbell in the crooks of your arms from the floor instead of your legs. Think about that for a second... it is an incredibly awkward lift. First, it drastically extends the range of motion of a normal deadlift--for me, it's roughly equivalent to doing a 16'' deficit deadlift; or starting with the bar 8 inches below floor level. And, of course, 'lockout' has the bar quite a bit higher than a normal deadlift as well. Second, it requires the lifter to assume a rather uncomfortable hunched-over position. Some degree of spinal flexion is unavoidable, and a lot of hip (flexion) and ankle (dorsiflexion) flexibility is required to even reach the bar.
What's it look like? Here's my best ZDL to date:
300x1 weighing 138, which is actually not bad.
And here is a picture of Pavel Tsatsouline doing a ZDL in Stuart McGill's lab:
As is readily apparent, the position for the ZDL is perhaps best described as 'compromised'. The vast majority of people will not be able to perform this lift safely with heavy weights. Two simple tests:
1. Put a pair of 45s--or bumper plates of any weight--on a barbell, squat down, slide your forearms under the bar, and wedge yourself tight under the bar. If you cannot do this comfortably (i.e. without over-stretching anything), you should not try heavy ZDL.
2. Have you adapted to loading your back in a position of flexion? Unless you have done specific work towards this purpose, or are a very strong grappler (accustomed to lifting opponents at odd angles and without a flat back) or a strongman (accustomed to lifting atlas stones), or perhaps have a history of manual labor (and no back pains or injuries as a result) you should not try heavy ZDL.
2a. If you have tremendous hip flexibility and excellent T-spine mobility in flexion, you may be able to perform the ZDL with a neutral lumbar region. Do not try to do so unless you are accustomed to deadlifting heavy with a neutral low back and 'relaxed' upper back, as David Hansen and Konstantin Konstantinovs do; and have the flexibility to maintain this position for the ZDL.
The ZDL will always have some degree of risk due to the rather extreme position, but if you keep the above in mind the danger should go way down. A few years back, a few people on an internet message board had a very motivated competition to get the heaviest ZDL possible. Safety? Ha! They liked to say that 'Crom will protect us'. As it turns out, none of them got injured and some of them went quite heavy--400 @ 220, I believe, and 352 @ 180 or so. I believe the former person had a long history of manual labor, though, and the latter was a grappler. This adaptation to loaded flexion is more likely to have protected them than Crom, but it's a nice idea nonetheless. Anyhow....
Who/what is the ZDL good for? I'm not sure if it's really worth doing for anyone, though it could be an exercise for grapplers in the offseason--bodyweight on the bar x5 slow and controlled reps with a 'silent set-down' might be a good goal. Pavel wrote someplace that Alexander Karelin did ZDL with 440 for sets of 10, which is rather sobering. The ZDL could also be a useful accessory for strongmen competitors who do not have access to atlas stones. After all, the ZDL resembles nothing so closely as a stone lift from the ground:
Bryce Lane on the ZDL:
"...It takes wild flexibility and some degree of reckless courage.... Gave it a shot. 300#/3r from the floor. Not so elegant on the last one though. Using a thick bar helps comfort, it also makes it easier to roll out of your arms... I just try to keep it as close to me as possible so the leverages is better and it won't roll so easily. Brian Amundsen worked up to the mid-300s on this lift to help his stone lifting a few years back."
Brian Amundsen:
"I've done 345 in the spider deadlift/zercher deads. After a few sessions getting down to the bar is not too hard. I worked up to the mid 300s... was pulling mid 500s at the time. If I could do... 405x5 I'd think the carryover would be similar."
his stonelifting-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3PFfHhntCM
Louie Simmons:
"Zercher lifts will build every squat and deadlift muscle in your body with the exception of your hands... Ed Zercher intended for the bar to be lifted off the floor in the crook of your elbows. At 181, I made 320 off the floor and an official deadlift of 670 in 1973. But at 198, I could no longer bend over far enough to hook the bar in my elbows" (Westside Barbell Book of Methods pg 179).
I believe Louie classified the ZDL as a special exercise for the deadlift, but I'd have to go back and re-read WSBBBM to check. He also invented a zercher harness for... ahem... larger lifters to get some benefits of doing the zercher squat/deadlift.
Adam Glass:
"Start light and work up... your back will round over some just like picking up anything in real life. This is an essential drill for grapplers."
Ben Edwards:
"I used to be very flexible when my bodyweight was 150lbs (until I was 25 years old) and this was a strange lift that I was way above average on the first time I tried it. I know I did over double bodyweight the first time I tried it, but I don’t remember if I hit 315lbs or 325lbs at 150lbs bodyweight.
Never “trained” the lift, but I do recall doing it maybe a half dozen times from 1993 to 2001. I saw a guy in the rec center here in Lawrence (KS) doing it back in 1993. He was about 6′ and probably close to 250lbs. Over 50 years old, but he never told me exactly how old he was. Very muscular guy. He called it a “prisoner lift” – which is what he said it was referred to as when he was serving a prison sentence in the 80s.
[He did] 315lbs for a single as a “warmup” lift in the Zercher Deadlift,[which was] remarkable. He moved the bar so fast with 315lbs on it that the bar jumped off his elbows at lockout. Given the ease of the lift, all of us in the weight room were surprised when he dumped the bar (no bumper plates) from above waist height. Then he loaded the 90lbs back on and left the weight room for so long that I thought he had gone home for the day... about 30 minutes later he strolled back in (he addressed the room and said that he had “fallen asleep” in the locker room) and did an ugly Zercher Deadlift with 405lbs. It was an amazing lift. One I will never forget witnessing."
The strongest ZDLs I've seen online come from a quadzilla named Matt Hastie. Here's 440x5, he also has a video of 400x10 and claims 510x1. No idea of bodyweight.
Technique for the ZDL? There isn't a whole lot, but for those of you who believe you can perform the lift safely (or don't, but are using substances impairing your better judgement) here are some pointers. If you've ever lifted atlas stones, most of these cues will come pretty naturally to you:
-Put your feet somewhere around the stance you use for your conventional DL. Turning your feet out more than your normally would is probably a good idea, it'll help get your knees out of the way. The bar should definitely be right up against your shins... leverage is everything with this lift.
-Wedge your elbows in along the insides of your legs and get the bar on the meat of your forearm right below the inside of your elbow. A lot of chalk here will help keep the bar from rolling away. Don't use a towel or pad unless you want the bar to slip. You'll get some interesting bruises the first time but it doesn't hurt as much as you might think.
-Get TIGHT. Push your feet into the floor, maximally depress and protract your scaps, squeeze your glutes and clench your fists. Try to 'connect' your abs, lats, glutes, and erectors. Hollow position!
-Start slow. Definitely do not yank the bar off the floor. Begin by 'pushing your feet through the floor', but try to get your hams and glutes to take the brunt of the load. Optimal leverage will be different for everyone; for me my hips are actually above my shoulders when the bar leaves the floor.
-Once the bar gets above your knees think of rowing it back into your belly with your lats. This seems to be the most dangerous portion of the lift, as the bar tends to drift out in front. Don't let this happen--get it in close to your stomach and only then push your hips forward to finish.
-Do not drag the bar up your legs or rest it on your thighs.
-Do not try and put the bar down slowly from the top. Just drop it and make sure it doesn't hit your knees on the way down.
-If you are ever in any doubt of completing the lift, just drop the bar. I haven't had a heavy weight pull me out of my braced position with this lift but would not like to find out what happens if it does....
For those of you who do not plan on doing heavy ZDLs but have read this far:
I've got a little something for you too. It's a warmup drill that kinda mimics the ZDL and will help stretch out your hips and hamstrings by adding an extra step to the goblet squat. Basically, do a prying goblet squat:
But as you 'pry' at the bottom, place the bell on the ground. Slowly raise your hips while keeping the bell on the ground, and your elbows inside your knees. When you feel a strong stretch in your hamstrings, curl the bell back up to the top position and slowly hinge forward to stand up (think of a barbell good morning). From the top:
-squat down
-pry back and forth
-bell down
-raise hips
-bell up
-hips forward
Potentially, reverse the movement from there:
-with the bell held at the top...
-hinge back until your elbows touch your knees
-slowly lower your hips into a full squat
-pry
-raise hips again and hinge forward to finish
I'm not sure what to call it (goblet good morning?), but 'discovered' this move when I was fooling around with ways to make the ZDL useful and... I really like it. I'm going to be incorporating it into my warmups from now on.
(If my explanation isn't good I can take some pictures/videos when I get a free moment).
As always--hoped you enjoyed the article. I've been frightfully busy as of late but learning a lot, much of which will be the subject of future blog posts.
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Strength and Conditioning Internships: When Reality Strikes
By: Josh Trammell
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
"Aggghhhh!!!"
That's my alarm. It's 4 AM and I’m pissed off. Welcome to the world of the strength and conditioning internship.
5 AM: "I need 24 reds, 12 blues, and 12 yellows outside."
In coach speak, this means the following:
- 24 reds = 24 45lb plates
- 12 blues = 12 35lb plates
- 12 yellows = 12 25lb plates
In total, this is approximately 1800lbs. What you don't know is that by "need" what Coach really wants is for the interns to carry those plates about a quarter mile out to the practice field (in addition to 6 prowlers). Additionally, we have to:
- Set up the weight room
- Make smoothies and protein shakes for the athletes
- Make sure all water tanks are full
- Fold and distribute towels to various locations, and
- Stock the athlete's locker room with a various variety of snacks and food for the day.
And all this is expected to be done prior to the 6 AM football group.
8 AM: “Josh, I need you to stay here and make sure all of the athletes on the special weight gain list come in here and drink 2 shakes and finish off a bag of trail mix before they leave.” Awesome. Baby sitter status achieved. “Man, why I gotta stay?? You ain’t make no otha players stay. Mann…” Berated by the players on the special weight gain list for upholding the rules? Check.
11 AM: Lunch time! But oh wait… I’ve already worked 6 hours, and have about 90 minutes to train and eat before setting up for the 1:30 group. Did I already mention us interns had moved over 1800lbs of weight outside? I REALLY don’t feel like training.
2 PM: Three athletes in one particular group have thrown up, and conditioning has just barely started. One coach jogs up to me and says "Hey man, you look pretty fast, go join that prowler group and help them out." Needless to say, this is not what I had in mind on the first day of my internship.
Here, they have a singular rule: the athletes (and coaches) are forbidden to put their hands on their hips, heads, or bend over at all during conditioning. So, an hour later, after doing my best not to wheeze and keel over after several series of prowler sprints, I took the group through their weight training for the day.
5 PM: The last group has finished up, and it's time to clean up the weight room. This includes disinfecting the bars and dumbbells, wiping down any benches or machines used during the training sessions, cleaning out the blenders, and making sure the weights are where they're supposed to be on each rack. But wait, there's more! Remember those weights we took outside? Now we get to take them ALL inside and put them in their respective spots!
Doesn’t that schedule just sound fantastic?!
Contrary to what the tone of the article may imply, I'm not trying to steer anyone away from interning for collegiate strength and conditioning programs. However, I'm not going to ignore the harsh realities of the internship . At times, there WILL be days like this, or days where you’re in the gym from 5 AM to 7 PM, sweaty and exhausted, and just want to hit the drive thru at McDonald’s and go to sleep. That's just how it is. Is it worth it? I’ll leave that up to you to decide. One thing is for sure: you WILL work 50+ hours a week some weeks, WITHOUT being paid. Here, you have three options: 1) suck it up, 2) quit, or 3) be lucky enough to receive one of the VERY, VERY few paid internships that exist here in the United States. By the way, you have to know people to even hear about some of these.
So here’s the deal. You’ve got a crazy schedule. You’re going to be working extremely hard. You may or may not have a good internship coordinator. If your coordinators suck, here’s what you can expect to encounter: coaches who may or may not berate you in front of the entire sports team; coaches who get pissed off at you for teaching a lift how one of the OTHER coaches taught you how to teach it; coaches who decide to change a lift mid-session and NOT tell you about it; and coaches who simply want to use you for what you are to them - indentured servants disguised as ‘interns’. You will experience the feeling of ecstasy you get when teaching an athlete a difficult lift and it all ‘clicks’ for him or her, as well as experience feelings of tremendous self-doubt when no matter what you do, your athletes continue to suck it up. When you look all around you and see players get injured left and right, and realize the programming is probably responsible for most of these overuse injuries, the cognitive dissonance you will experience while continuing to coach said program will be astounding.
“How in the world do you deal with those issues?”
I’m glad you asked! In the coming weeks, this series of articles will contain several tips:
- Dealing with a terrible intern coordinator staff
- Dealing with coaching inconsistencies
- Being prepared for the worst (when sessions get turned upside-down)
- How to address self-doubt and cognitive dissonance
And other issues besides. My internship experience has proven to be very successful despite dealing with all of the above issues, and I think my experience can add tremendous value to any potential internships you may have. It’s not all bad, and if you play your cards right, coaches will grant you more and more responsibility, and your network may just explode with potential.
Sounds good right?
Now it’s your turn - what weird, ridiculous, or otherwise crazy stories do you have from your internships?
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