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?"
...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.
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.
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.
...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--
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."
"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.
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?
Aris
Happy summer! Got something special to kick off the blog's return to activity--an interview with '19kamau79', Timo Lauttamus.
Unless you follow grip sports very closely you probably haven't heard of him, but you may have seen at least one of his videos on youtube. Timo has a ridiculous level of pound for pound strength and all-around athleticism. He can do strict one arm chin-ups not only with added weight but using some extremely challenging grips; heavy deadlifts with one arm, or on a thick bar, or with only one finger on each hand; and heavy pinch lifting. He isn't limited to pulling and gripping power, though--he can also do full splits and heavy 'van damme lifts', weighted pistols, and strict one-arm one-leg pushups with ease. Very impressive for a guy who's over 6 feet tall and weighs north of 200 pounds.
Curious about his training history and thoughts on strength, I asked to interview him and Timo graciously accepted. (Note: this was done in several segments over the course of a few weeks. I've edited it to more of a Q&A style but it reads a bit funny as it wasn't actually done one question at a time.)
AD: Should I just call you 'Kamau' or would you prefer something else?
TL: My real name is Timo Lauttamus, Kamau is just my tribal name from Kenya, I`m married with Kikuyu tribe lady.
AD: According to the internet, Kamau means 'quiet warrior'--that is super badass, my friend. Is the translation correct?
TL: My wife couldn`t translate name of Kamau, perhaps history of that name is very long.
AD: starting the training questions, how old are you, how tall and how heavy? And when did you start training (how long ago) and how did you get started? When did you start specializing with more grip work and heavy chins?
TL: Okay, Borned Jan 1979, so I`m 35yo and 6´1" tall and mostly 200-220lbs.
I was active child, I had couple of active friends at my childhood as well. We used to climb in trees and always small contest as how fast or how high.
One of my friend had older cousin as natural bodybuilder, he just came to visit parents of my friend and brought some old home made barbells, discs and dumbbells to us. I was only 10yo at the moment and was impressed to see that man with good frame 220lbs body. That was my first touch to weight training, but children have many things to do, I was training only year and stopped, same thing happened when I was 14yo (trained weights one year again and stopped) I tried Tae Kwon Do when I was 16yo, then after year and half decided to include some strength training, after two weeks I stopped TaeKwonDo and I`m still on my way. First I was training as natural bodybuilder up to age of 23 years, after that I wanted to focus to heavy chins, but lost my job and became extreme manual worker for years, I only had chance to keep my strength level, 2007 became rapidly shifted factory worker for years again, during those years (2009) started grip training, and finally 2011 I had chance to get my current job, and start focusing to heavy chins and one arm chin ups.
AD: you stopped tae kwon do after two weeks... did you continue flexibility training after that? How did you train for those full splits?
TL: I meant after one and half years of Tae Kwon Do, I included strength training which made me to stop TaeKwonDo in following two weeks. I will continue my flexibility training till the end, stiff lower body is disturbing also strength training, A LOT. I've been training full splits with static 30-60 seconds holds, not much dynamic work after leaving Tae Kwon Do.
AD: What sort of manual labor work, and would you say it helped develop your strength (especially grip strength?)
TL: Manual labor work as packing heavy logs with my bare hands, biggest ones used to be 450lbs each (nearly 40feet tall), moving them one head of time with great technique, but strength was very much involved. Log packing is all kind of lifts during the day with massive workload. What I realized after starting grip training, it was fact my recovering process is much faster than most of us. So, manual labor work gives great foundation for grip training, but nothing can beat natural talent.
AD: Do you think that all the time spent log packing helped with your natural recovery abilities and work capacity even more?
TL: Definitely yes, log packing has been changing my natural recovering.
AD: As a natural bodybuilder, did you compete, and what sort of numbers were you putting up in the gym at the time?
TL: I didn`t compete in Natural Bodybuilding, we didn`t have that class those days, at present time in Finland is that class, called Classic Bodybuilding. Gym numbers as 1x340lbs bench, 1x495lbs deadlift, ATG squat 3x375lbs, ATG front squat 1x350lbs and weighted chins 7 reps +110lbs @ 220lbs.
AD: Did you follow a 'bodypart' bodybuilding split when doing that gym training, and what sort of workouts (high volume, high intensity)?
TL: My training split used to look like:
Mon: Upper body pressing muscle groups (high intensity)
Tue: Upper body pulling muscle groups (high volume)
Wed: Lower body (high intensity)
Thu: Rest
Fri: Upper body pressing muscle groups (high volume)
Sat:Upper body pulling muscle groups (high intensity)
Sun: Rest
Various reps as 1-18 and rapidly changing variations during all those years, I believed to get stronger = to get bigger.
AD: What are your best lifts now and how did they compare to when you were doing just normal gym training? How do you feel now compared to then (stronger/weaker in or out of the gym, more or less athletic)?
TL:Focusing is the key, I can`t bench 340lbs at the moment, but I couldn`t do my recent lifts at my past.
Here is the best ones of 2013:
Weighted chin up +206lbs
OAC with middle finger @ 204lbs, using standard size 28mm bar
OAC +23lbs using hooked towel grip
One arm straddle style deadlift 440lbs
....Slightly lower bodyweight makes me more athletic.
AD: you've emphasized the genetics/natural talent angle. What are some examples of things you've seen untrained people do?
TL: There is this cool, native, Estonian giant:
I have met him couple of times, he doesn`t train, he`s just coming to show off for trained persons how to do it. He`s 200cm / 6`7" and 110-120kg / 245-265lbs, having quite impressive general strength with long levers and without training, but grip is brutal, video is only example for bigger audience, with specific grip lifts he can do shit MUCH harder than this. He shocked me at our first meeting:
165lbs farmer weight (1 inch attached handle) timehold with one middle finger 50 seconds without chalk
165lbs farmer weight, hopped with one PINKY!! after hearing benefits of chalk (most impressive grip lift I've ever seen)
Two 165lbs farmer weights with one hand = 330lbs double handle farmer, held it for 1min. 17sec.
That`s natural talent.
One young man shocked me at gym:
2 inches vertical bar lift 210lbs at BW of 148lbs and at age of 14!!! That`s natural talent.
I know only two men in our village who will beat that, and one of them is myself. I bet out there is endless amount of stories about natural talent, but this is two which I always remember.
So, this is example about genetic advantages, even lifts on the video are extremely hard to reach without any gifts, even impossible for some of us.
AD: Those are indeed some crazy lifts, yours as well as those others. I don't believe I've heard of someone as heavy as you doing a one-finger OAC on a bar rather than a loop or strap.
You must live among superhumans... if you have read the article series 'finnish deadlift secrets' it talks a lot about genetics and natural 'base' strength, you and your fellows definitely prove that!
TL: Actually you picked my hardest feat as example (OAC on the bar with middle finger), loop, ring or comfortable strap makes it much easier, most of heavy dudes are not going for these, personally i never thought it`s impossible for +200lbs, and i believe out there is guys much more gifted than myself, question is where is the limits of human kind?
Yes, we have lot of gifted deadlifters in Finland, Veli Kumpuniemi was the one of kind, Finnish logger became everlasting IPF 82,5kg class WR holder with massive 357,5kg deadlift (weight classes has changed), LOT of gifts involved.
AD: Yeah I've read about Veli. Very strong lifter. I like Ano Turtiainen too and there is a very cool video of Ismo Lappi on youtube as well.
Turtiainen hacklifting 360kg for a triple
Ismo lappi pulling 340kg @ 75kg (single ply?)
Now getting into the questions about your current training: Do you have a regular routine or do you just go by feel?
TL: At the moment I go by feel at gym, running and hiking are a bit more planned.
AD: how often do you do heavy chinups and do you have a specific routine for those?
TL: Just three times in a week (basic training) at the moment, but used frequency training method at last winter, 4-5 times in a week with rising amount for the three weeks, after that one lighter week and strength test at end of the week, that method is not for the beginners!!
AD: any elbow or shoulder prehab work, to stay healthy and uninjured?
TL: My prehab work is only daily shoulder stretches, that`s all.
[Note: that's insane. It takes a lot of prehab work for me to keep my shoulders and elbows healthy and strong while doing regular, heavy pullup or OAC work, and I am only ~63kg...]
AD: I saw some pistols and medium weight front squat videos, is leg training more of an afterthought now for you and why is that; just personal interest or is there another reason?
TL: Focusing for heavy chin ups and OACs includes only lighter lower body work, if I will take deadlift goal I will drop amount of chin ups and focus more for lower body, focusing for all doesn`t give time enough for recovery.
AD: Your own deadlift goals are all grip-focused now, correct?
TL: My own deadlifts goals are basically finger deadlifts (one finger per each hand) and one arm deadlifts.
AD: what exactly do your hiking goals entail and how are you training for them?
TL: My first hiking goal is Kilimanjaro, after that I`m planning to go for couple of East African peaks (lower but more technical). At the moment I do only hiking itself, fast walking, jogging and interval running on the track, Kilimanjaro is not technical. Next goals requires also climbing skills, been starting already bouldering which is easiest and safest way to learn climbing techniques.
AD: And now for the grip questions... There is very little carryover between different grip events (pinch, finger lift, hook, crush, etc.) but from each category, which one has the most carryover to the others of the same category? So for example, in your experience is the blob or the plate better for general pinching strength, and finger pullups or finger DL better for finger lifting.
TL: I don`t see much carry over between grip events, there is good pinchers without good support grip, and other ways as well, still I would think massive pinch grip (comparing support grip) gives more carry over to the other events. General pinch strength should be trained with various grip widths from narrow to thick blobs, there is not one particular width more general than the others. I would say finger pull ups are purely strength involved, finger deadlifts are slightly more technical but still great training method for stronger fingers.
AD: How would you advise someone just beginning grip training for the first time, to get started?
TL: Beginner without tools could try two hand plate pinch holds, one arm overhand grip deadlift sets, bar hangs starting with both hands, then with four, three, two and one finger per each hand. Axle deadlift with overhand grip is great (if possible), vertical bar lifts or rope climbing is great (if possible). Amount of holds and reps are more important than maximal effort at every week, biggest mistake in grip training is maxing out weekly, strength test is not progression, progressive training is progression. Grip should be trained 3-7 times in a week (individual differences).
AD: When you yourself are specializing on general grip feats, how is your training laid out?
TL: Specializing one event means focusing for that, example when I had pinch lift goals, I was pinching 4-5 times in a week and training support grip and finger lifts only once in a week. At the moment support grip (as hook) and finger deadlifts are on the work list, I train them often as possible (skin issues involved) and pinching only once in a week. Bouldering is very general grip training as well, doing that often as possible at the moment, basically too many things to do for middle aged man with daily slowing recovery!
AD: Anything else you would like to add? Stories, advice, clearing up misconceptions...?
TL: Stories about hardest grip feat I`ve ever heard, it`s coming out from climbing circle, few climbers (at 150lbs) has done one arm pull up with fingertip of the middle finger using less than one inch ledge, THE FEAT is totally insane!!
How long it takes to develop that kind of finger strength??
Answer is way more than lifetime for billions of us, same as to become under 10 seconds runner of 100m, basically never.
Only very gifted athletes are doing hardest feats in the world, that`s simple fact.
When it comes to advice, all of us (gifted or not) are able do good and solid progress for sure. It`s important to set your own goals and keep training for them with knowing it`s more than possible you will never be one of bests, but you can do YOUR best.
....Wise words from Timo Lauttamus. Thanks for taking the time to do the interview, Timo! Readers, be sure to subscribe to his youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/19Kamau79
And stay tuned for some more great blog articles this summer.
Aris DeMarco
Affecting Gravity is pretty much all about goal-oriented programming. That is:
1. Come up with a goal
2. Ensure that you have a base in place
3. Plan intelligently
4. Work hard
5. Profit!!
Very logical, very simple. It being a new year and all, people are throwing around goals left and right. I've noticed that a lot of men from strongfirst would like to do a pullup with 48kg extra weight--the 'beast' kettlebell--while women would like to nail the 16 or 24. (And there are plenty of other people who would like to simply get stronger at their weighted chins and pulls, too.)
I recently commented on one of these posts with a tip that, as it turns out, not everyone knew, so I figured I'd share it here. First things first, though, let's break this down.
Goal: improve weighted pullup (specifically--pullup with 100lb added weight)
Okay, step one completed. Easy peasy, you're well on your way!
Base:
For your base, you'll probably need to be able to do pullups with at least some added weight. And to do that, you need to be decent at doing pullups with just your bodyweight. And to do that, you need healthy, flexible shoulders. Check this out. It's a great article by Eric Cressey regarding some of the problems associated with pullups and how to fix them. See how this works? In my opinion, if you can't hang, relaxed, from a bar without arching your back due to lack of overhead mobility, you shouldn't be trying to do pullups.
Plan intelligently:
For the sake of argument, let's say that you have a fairly healthy shoulder girdle, you're decent at pullups, and are actually somewhat close to your end goal of +100 pounds. You weigh 180 and can do a pullup with 70 pounds. (Let's also assume you're a male individual, unless I have blog readers from Themyscira.) You have some problems activating your lats, though, and notice that chasing 1RMs too often bothers your elbows. Sets of 4-8 are fine, though. Also, when you just did bodyweight pullups you could do them every day, but heavy weighted pullups more often than twice weekly have caused shoulder pain in the past. (These are all great examples of paying attention to what works--and what doesn't--in your own training, too.)
Back to your goals. You've got your base: good shoulder mobility, good bodyweight pullups, and a decent amount of weight--enough to make +100 a good goal achievable in a few months. So you start to get your plan together:
-Add 30 pounds to my weighted pullup
-Improve lat activation
-Keep my shoulders healthy
-Don't use heavy singles or doubles in my programming, stick to moderate reps when possible
-Only do weighted pullups twice each week
As you can see, this significantly cuts down on your options for programming, which is a good thing. It narrows your focus and enables you to hone in on the best options for you.
There are good ideas and bad ideas. Then there are groundbreaking ones.
Here's where that little tip comes in (did you snicker? Jeez, grow up). You want to a pullup with 100 pounds, you weigh 180. That's 280lb total weight. Yes, definitely factor your own weight in your programming for weighted bodyweight work, after all, it's a pretty fair percentage of your total load.
You know that you want to stay away from heavy singles and doubles, so decide to try and get the 100-pound pull by using a top set of 5. Here's how you know when you'll be ready. You know your current 1RM (180+70, or 250 total). Now, find your 5RM. Warm up without tiring yourself out, like so:
Bodyweight x5
Bodyweight +25x5
Bodyweight +40x3 (could do five+ , but want to save energy... you think 50x5 is there)
Bodyweight +50x4 (ehhh... not quite)
You decide to use 50 as your 5RM for your calculations anyway, as it's conservative. So, 180+50 is 230. That's 92% of your 1RM. Thus, to do a pullup with 100 pounds, you should aim for 92% of that, 257.6, for a set of five. Rounding up a bit, that's bodyweight +80 for a set of 5.
Now, there are many, many ways you could work this information into your program. You could do ladders or pyramids of 1,2,3 or 3,2,1 with your 5RM, density work, whatever; but you want to keep the heavy sets to a minimum and so set up a simple linear cycle of a single top set and a few backoffs.
Day 1: Top set of five, two backoff sets, extra work for the scap retractors
Day 2: Top set of five, one backoff set, extra work for the arm flexors
You need to keep your shoulders healthy, so you decide to warm them up first, stretch your lats between sets, and do rotator cuff exercises after your pullups. You also need to work on lat activation, so you do some of that after your joint warmup.
Here's what your actual workout would look like on day one.
-Scap retraction/protraction in pushup position with band resistance
-Hardstyle plank x10 seconds
-Hollow hold on bar x10 seconds
-3 to 5 fast pullups focusing on pushing your elbows down, not pulling yourself up
(Do as a circuit for 2-3 rounds, don't tire yourself out)
Workout:
Pullups +20x5
Pullups +35x3
Pullups +50x5 (sweet! New PR!)
Pullups +40x6 (backoff set one, just drop 10 pounds off)
Pullups +30x8 (backoff set two)
(There are many options for progression here but the simplest would be to add 5-10lb extra weight every time you hit 5 solid reps on the top set. When linear progress slows down, having a heavier and lighter day each week, or doing pullups one day and chinups the other, could help keep things moving. Backing off and cycling back up, or switching from single to double progression, would be great options too. That's a subject for another article, though.)
Bent-over row 1x10 warmup, 3x8 work sets (use the same weight for all sets, add weight when you can do 3x12--simple double progression on the supplementary exercise). A note on form here--when using them to supplement your pulls/chins, letting your elbows flare out so that lats don't take over, and pausing for a second with the bar at your chest, will do wonders.
Cooldown/Prehab:
Straight-arm band pull for rear delts, 1-2x25-50
Rotator cuff exercise of choice, 1-2x25-50
Stretching
There you go. Fairly expansive, yes? With a program this specific, you won't be able to do a whole lot else on your two pullup days unless you have all day to spend in the gym (comparatively, anyway, keep in mind that the general idea of my advice on this blog is for people to be able to train intelligently even if they don't have much time to commit), so the rest of your training week will have to be planned accordingly. Something like:
Monday: pullup day one
Tuesday: Press
Wednesday: Squat
Thursday: pullup
Friday: press day two
Saturday: pullup day two
This assumes, of course, that the rest of your goals are also strength-related. If they aren't, I'm sure you could come up with something else. If you really wanted to focus, doing something like doing presses before your pullups for a few high tension sets of 3-5x3-5, and doing lower body exercises the same way after your pullups, could work well too. This would give you two strength days and free up the rest of your week for conditioning and other stuff. Plenty of options, and this blog is long enough already.....
Remember that this is a purely hypothetical example that shows what I think a good thought process should be for someone designing his or her own training program. Any individual might need a completely different approach even for this same goal; changing the exercises, frequency, volume, intensity, etc. to fit their own needs. Hopefully, though, there was some information here that you can make good use for your own purposes!
Samurai cat says "crush your enemies." The enemy in this case being your pullup 1RM.
