Q&A – 24

Recap
I started the week by trying to break the myth that all lifting will be perfect all of the time. There were tips for coaches and lifters on how to prepare trainees or the self for successful lifting. Tuesday I readdressed the issue of squatting to depth. I believe most of 70’s Big readers train properly, but just in case they didn’t, they know that a partial squat is not a squat. Wednesday we talked about the 70’s Big Workshop in Australia in April and I complained about lazy betties in the gym. Thursday I gave some pointers on the rack pull to ensure that trainees get the full worth of the movement.

PR Friday is a day where we talk about our training ups and downs. It’s a chance to keep other people on the site updated with your progress. The “regulars” all know who each other are and like to see how their internet friends are doing (“I met a cool guy on the internet”). Post your weekly PR’s, but also your training updates to the comments. You lurkers should jump on it too; we’re all friends here.

Weekly Reading List
[spoiler]Last night I finished reading Joe Abercrombie‘s “Best Served Cold” and really enjoyed it. It was the first stand alone book after “The First Law Trilogy”, which is amazing, and the precursor to the recently released “The Heroes”. “Best Served Cold” introduces some new characters, but also uses some side characters from the trilogy. The pacing seems different, as if this book develops more gradual. Instead of constant diabolical activity, it’s larger in scope and the characters develop and evolve throughout the book. Trust in the fact that Abercrombie won’t bore you with a repetitive plot; the second half of the book functions differently than the beginning. I found it interesting how Abercrombie interweaves grandscale plot points into the ending of the book that will resonate outside of this particular story. Since he’s signed on to do several books in this “world”, the books stand apart from one another yet you can see how he’s developing a behind the scenes plot in addition to the one on stage. Abercrombie’s books fit into the new “gritty fantasy” genre infused with medieval and colonial realism and topped with subtle viking overtones. His characters are dynamic, and, just like in George R. R. Martin’s work, the line between good and evil is blurred. “Best Served Cold” may start as a superficial revenge story, but it ends with the characters inadvertently philosophizing to validate the decisions and changes they’ve made. “Best Served Cold” is gritty, bloody, and poignantly satisfying.

Here are articles that were sent to me or that I found:
You Don’t Coach Exercises… – I don’t know much about Mike Robertson, but I agree with his observation here. The difference between us is that I got bored from coaching one-on-one much faster than he did, and “coaching people” still isn’t enough to harness my creative interest (with respect to one-on-one training). The writing style is pretty raw (particularly the constant page breaks), but I’m not a perfect writer. His message is similar to what I’ve been writing about recently regarding coaching the person in addition to the mechanics.

Art of Manliness collection of “Whole Men” – This may deserve it’s own post, but there are very good snippets of men who had brains and brawn.

The Death of Books Has Been Greatly Exaggerated – An article on how the book industry is still functioning with the advent of e-books and e-readers.

Things Happy People Do Differently (sent by Courtney)[/spoiler]

Q&A

CONTINUE READING

Chris asks:

Are you wearing New Balance Minimus shoes in that pic? if so, how do you like them?

Dear Chris,

Those are New Balance Minimus Trails (MT10), and they are my favorite pair of shoes I’ve ever owned. I got them last July and they are a fantastic shoe for running and wearing casually. If you remember some of my foot posts (Foot Awareness and Foot Drills), you’ll know the importance of good foot structure. I no longer wear flip flops all the time because of this and instead have been wearing the MTs without socks when I go outside (granted it isn’t extremely hot outside yet). I have sprinted and ran short distances in them (<2 miles) and they are very good running shoes that allow for good POSE technique. They are not good shoes for agility given the lack of stability in the upper and the lack of "grip" (via friction) in the sole, but they only have a 4mm heel differential and fit my foot like a glove (I have wide feet). I purchased the MX20s (cross trainers), and the sole was entirely too narrow so I sent them back (for a refund, haven't gotten any others). I would not like wearing the cross trainers for casual wear, but I would not wear the trails for lots of "met-con" work (if you're a CrossFitter). I will note that I've done conditioning in the trails and haven't had a problem.
Some “real trail runners” complained that the soles were not secure enough to avoid sharp rocks from hurting the feet, and I can see that happening. However, New Balance just came out with the Minimus Zero series that has a 0mm differential (compared to the previous 4mm), and the trails are supposed to have a harder sole to prevent foot damage when on an actual trail. I’ve never worn the Reebok CF shoes (probably over priced) nor have I tried on Inov8 shoes, but I really like the NB stuff.

Random pic: me communicating with fake Klokov at the Arnold.

aramirez asks:

Justin, you bring up the noncoached trainee. How would you recommend a noncoached trainee stay motivated when multiple failures/resets happen?

Dear aramirez,

Your question is broad, so it’s difficult to get specific with my advice. The first thing I would say is that there’s always a reason that failures occur. Whether it’s due to mechanics, a bad program, too much frequency or volume with a given lift, poor nutrition, bad sleeping, and, the most common, poor mobility. One thing you can do is film your sets and send them here. The other you can do is learn as much as you can about programming (I routinely try and teach it here), but you can also questions on this site, Twitter, or the Facebook Fan Page. For example, if you’re on a 5×5 program, that would probably explain why you’re unable to recover. If you’re squatting 3x/week and near the end of your linear progression, you probably should look into a 2x/week squatting program (Greyskull LP helps a lot of guys that had trouble in later stage SS). You might be trying to make progress too fast, or you may be trying to do much. Who knows? But I do know there’s a reason you’re failing, and so let’s figure it out.

Oh, and constant resetting is not going to be conducive for progress. If you’ve reset several times and are (allegedly) recovering properly, then you probably need to stop banging your head into the same program.

Maslow asks:

Last year you gave me some very helpful advice for choosing my powerlifting attempts. Lisa and I are competing on April 14. I think I know what to do, but I’m not sure how to choose her attempts. I’ve read about how females tend to have a 1RM that is closer to their working weight. Since this is her first meet I just want her to go 9/9, but I also want her to lift something that she can be proud of. She’s been doing a 3×5 linear program.
Here are her recent working weights:
Bench: 95 lbs (attempted 3×5, got 3,2,3)
Deadlift: 215×5
Squat: 170 3×5 (a few were close to being high)

E-mail continues talking about strategy leading up into the meet and choosing attempts. I trimmed that part off.

Dear Maslow,

Here is a table from “The Texas Method E-book – Part 2” from the “Using the Texas Method for Powerlifting” chapter. Primarily look at the “Intensity Day” sessions at the end of the week since you guys are not using the TM (click to enlarge):

You can see the overall strategy. Note that two weeks out, all of those singles are starred. This is because I don’t think they should be maximal efforts, but they should be at least “second attempt efforts” (this is explained in more detail in the chapter). When you said you guys were going to deadlift maximally two weeks out, instead I would “single on up” to something that isn’t nut/ovary-busting, but something that breaches into the “maximal” arena. The squat and bench singles are there so that they lifter can perform them with the judging commands; this will be a good refresher for you, but good for Lisa given that this is her first meet. Have someone sit in a chair in front of you guys and perform the normal “squat/rack” commands, and do the same on bench. If Lisa hasn’t paused her bench yet, then this will give her some practice with it. Just like in your plan, there is no deadlift the week before. At most there could be a few speed pulls just to practice the movement, but that is only necessary if the lifter hasn’t been deadlifting full ROM reps (perhaps they were doing haltings, or something else I wouldn’t recommend).

As far as choosing attempts, stick with the mindset of “easy opener, moderate second attempt, match or set a PR on third”. Especially with Lisa. You want her to crush her opener. It might even be something like 150 pounds. Sure, she’s doing 175 for reps, but some are high. The point is you set her up for success early, but don’t make too big of jumps. You will probably make a 10kg jump to her second, and then a 7.5kg or 5kg jump to her third, depending on how it looks. I’d suggest aiming to hit a third of 180 or 185, so 175 on the second, and 155ish on the opener? Remember that she probably isn’t adapted to the higher intensity lifting, so be more conservative than you think you need to be.

If she hasn’t been paushing on bench, I would aim to get a 95 lbs meet PR. You could see how she does in the next few weeks, but 100 may be doable. With experienced guys, I know that if they can double it touch-and-go, then they can pause it (but don’t apply this to Lisa yet).

On deadlift, I prefer the strategy of
1st – last warm-up
2nd – intermediary jump between 1st and 3rd
3rd – the target weight for the meet

NolanPower is the first person to have drilled this idea into me. The first meet or so, we kinda did this, but he developed the idea for me. Notice that Chris opened DL at 595, then went 650, then went 705 at this last meet. The announcers commented on how much of a huge jump it was to the second attempt. Not really; he can pull 650 for multiple reps. But it was the intermediary jump to get to the 705. Had Chris done something like 640/665/700, he wouldn’t have had any gas in the tank for the third. I think this is where raw lifting differentiates itself from geared lifting; wearing gear (even though it doesn’t help as much on DL as it does on squat) may allow the lifter may be able to do multiple near max deadlifts, but raw lifting doesn’t.

For Lisa, I would suggest an easy opener (like 190), then 215 on her second (she’s done it for five), and then go from there. Perhaps 231? 236? (Those are the kilo jumps of 105/107.5). Either way, it’s cool that she either pulls 225 lbs or 100kg in her first meet (the same way that benching 100 lbs in her first meet is cool). They are milestones in a lifting career. The data you collect in the “singling on up” training session can help you. I wouldn’t have her pull more than 220 or 225 in that session though, and I would need to see the rep before that if I was going to clear her for 225.

Overall, my coaching strategy for meets is to be more conservative than not so that the lifter has more success. Remember that it’s about tacking on pounds to the total. If you go too high on a third attempt and miss it, you’re left with only your second attempt and the total is lower than if you made a smaller jump to the third. Once a lifter has done a few meets, then you can start pulling the trigger. I pulled the trigger on Chris’ 650 deadlift in 2010, and it didn’t happen. I pulled the trigger on a 666 third deadlift attempt at 2011 nationals and he got it. We programmed his training better and I pulled a big fucking trigger on the 705 this month at the Arnold, and he got it. It’s all about the lifter and coach learning together, but third attempt success can be traced back to the program itself. The point is, early in the “career”, be more conservative, especially when the lifter hasn’t been hitting maximal reps in training.

Dan T. asks (in response to the half squatting article),

Dan Tara Do the same anterior forces apply to the knee during dip/drive from a push press and or jerk?
I edited it slightly for clarity

Dear Dan,

It depends; such a glorious answer! It depends if the lifter is utilizing his/her hips in the dip/drive or if they are primarily intending to use their knees. If the lifter “uses their hips”, then their knees typically go out and they also bounce off the stretch in their posterior chain. If the lifter “uses their knees”, their knees translate forward and they primary bounce off of the knees and quadriceps. I do not like the latter because it neglects musculature that I train people to get strong in and it puts a lot of anterior stress on the knee. As stated in the half squat post, achieving a full depth squat will engage the hips — even if it’s a high bar squat. But the dip/drive has a limited range of motion so mechanics will need to change if the hips are going to be used.

The best example I’ve seen of the hips being used is Ben Claridad’s homie, CC:


She’s pretty awesome, huh? Here is an example of someone that shifts their knees forward. I do not like the “knees forward dip/drive” because I think its mechanics are inferior in how they use the musculoskeletal anatomy; it reduces the amount of musculature used and puts unnecessary stress on the anterior knee.

How can it be cued so that it looks more like what CC is doing above? I’d have to see it in person, but placing the weight on the heels (“heels”) and shoving the knees out on the dip (“knees out”) can help. However, a demonstration drill is probably necessary. The hamstrings and posterior chain need to be engaged, so the hips will move back slightly, but not so much that they angle the torso forward. A trainee can practice this by standing up (without a bar), and only bending their knees to dip/drive. Then they can dip/drive with their knees and hips while keeping their chest up. I typically run someone through this drill and make simple corrections (difficult to do via text), and then shift them back to the bar. It’s easy to coach, yet hard to explain from afar.

Overall, yes, the dip/drive in a jerk or push-press can create anterior knee force. This is why a workout like Fight Gone Bad can result in sore knees (via push presses and box jumping). However, if the posterior chain (which includes the hamstrings) are utilized in the dip/drive, then it reduces the anterior knee force. Besides, if we’re going to spend time getting the posterior chain strong, then we might as well use them in the dip/drive.

53 thoughts on “Q&A – 24

  1. Thanks for answering the shoe question, Justin. I have worn flip flops from the start of spring right up to the start of winter for years, but after watching Kelley’s video on it, I think I should try to spend a bit more time in shoes.

  2. I <3 the merrell gloves, a LOT. they have new lifestyle styles that you (specifically women) can get away with wearing at work. I love this

  3. I still think the new wave of “minimal” footwear looks goofy as hell, but at least it’s a step up from the deplorable Vibram trend that seems to be dying off (still see dudes squatting in them though).

    I switched to an almost entirely-Olympic weightlifting focus about 5 weeks ago after never done much more than a power clean in my programming and have to say I am loving weightlifting more than I ever have before. Still mixing in some PL stuff because why not, right?

    Pulled 455 on Saturday after literally ~25 snatch singles and ~25 snatch pulls. PRs at the end of a workout = feelsokay.

  4. whats up internet kind of friends. Prs this week- 85sn off low blocks times two, shankle complex with 105. I have been fixing my snatch start and jerk the past few weeks as well as getting the diet solid so it has been kind of an up and down last few weeks, but I feel mad pumped to lift with nova strength at annandale crossfit tmr morning. Having a coach makes a massive massive difference… just saying.
    Also this week I bought some pendlay 25kg elite plates and let me tell you something, they are the same thickness as my 10kg hi-temp bumpers and liftign with them makes a huge difference as well.
    Unrelated note- buddy of mine is dieting down to look “jacked” for the beach and so he is doing a vegetarian diet… and when I busted his balls about the pussy move that being vegetarian is, he said “bro I am lifting pretty heavy, 285 smith machine squat for reps.” Jesus god, where has this world come to.

    As far as the jerk question goes, I was watching the 2000 Euoropeans where Vanev runs shit and I noticed on his jerk that points his toes kind of out and then dips by shoving his knees and hips out and down rather than straight up and down- doing that has changed things a lot for me. Hoping to take a sniff at a 100 sn tmr if the stars align

  5. Thanks Justin! I’m going to follow your guidance.

    Training Update:
    Deadlift: 435 4×1; 350 3×3–PR
    Clean and Press: 150 7×1; 130 4×3
    Front Squat: 135×5; 185 2×3
    Squat: 385 5×1; 330 2×3–PR
    Bench: 285 4×1; 240 3×3
    Bodyweight: 194 lbs.–good to go.
    Here’s a video of the deadlifts http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1F88_iaWtA

    We’ll test our singles and see what we can do. For me I hope to pull at least 450 and squat around 415. My bench is kind of messed up due to an injury setback, so 300 would be a cool number to do. +1 for the minimus trail shoes. I really like mine. You can tell a lot about a person by their shoes; where they go, where they’ve been. I’ve worn lots of shoes…

  6. Training Notes:
    Bench: 190×5- not a PR but right on schedule, next week I’ll bench that much or more 4 times and should set an actual 5 rep PR
    Deadlifts: 365×5- light weight, getting the groove tuned back in, one more week of 5s, then dropping to triples.
    Rack Pulls: 495×3- thanks Justin for the tips on setup. I didn’t really feel them in my hamstrings, but I’ll get it next week.

    Jackedness: down to 215, on track to make the 198 class in May.

  7. Horror show of an intensity day today.

    Squat 127.5kgx2
    Hit this for an ugly 5 last week.
    Didn’t increase the volume on Monday.

    Bench 78kgx4,1.
    Hit 76.5×5 last intensity bench.

    Deadlift 120kgx0
    That was meant to be my last warm up and it didn’t move one lousy mm. Hit 131×5 pretty easy last week.

    Had the week off, slept well, ate well (except maybe today but I still had a big breakfast and a big meal before training). So I’m pissed I performed shitty and pissed I cant find the reason.

  8. PR is realizing I probably have one leg longer than the other.

    Started squatting with terrible lower body mobility (long-ass legs + no stretching ever). Since I’ve been squatting, my ass always slides to the right (every squat, BW to work sets).

    Improved mobility seemed to help it, so I hammered away at KStar-type stuff for months.

    Finally got another video, and fuck me, still doing the same thing. Tried squatting with one leg slightly ahead of the other and BAM, perfectly symmetrical (side to side) squat. Going to set up an X-ray to make sure, then look into getting my Do-Wins shimmed.

  9. Squat 430 x 3
    press 195 x 3
    bench 275 x 2 (was going for 3)

    I am really liking this Heavy, Medium, light/accessory set up. I got a capoeira session last Saturday (about an hour and a half) and I don’t think it affected my lifting in the slightest.

  10. Fresh of a bad case of Strep Throat and right in the middle of some gnarly allergies. I took 2 weeks off, and decided to begin lifting again because i was feeling better…might have been too soon.

    Any breathing work I do fucks me up…my capacity feels so low right now. On the strength end, I feel relatively weak and it sucks…

    6 weeks of strength started on Monday. Pretty classic Texas Method plan w/ LIGHT oly skills work on recovery days, some long slow distance stuff, and a few IWT’s mixed in here and there.

    tonight I am working up to a heavy triple in the F-Squat and Press, then Rack Pulls immediately followed by hand over hand sled pulls. Plank hold on rings to accumulate 300 seconds to finish.

    QUESTION: for a 3×3 rack pull, would you use the same percentage charts from Prac. Programming to determine load (so, 3 @ 90% for “heavy”)??

  11. Also…would you warm up rack pulls like any other strength lift (w/ a work up?) or come into them warm from your previous lifts, or say, light DL’s, and go directly into the rack pull work sets?

  12. @strongerthanyesterday – Good luck with the snatch tomorrow, 100kg is a tasty benchmark. Have you trained with the NOVA group since the DC workshop, or is this your first time with them?

  13. Squatted 135 for 3×5 on monday.
    Since then, I’ve done something to my left bicep. Arm is swollen. I can snatch and pull okay, but can’t get the position. the swelling makes my arm feel like a sausage. i shall see a doctor

  14. been a crazy day – my mentor retired and i got a promotion.

    now gym time, 3×5@280lb squat (first time here since 4 months ago, post back injury).

    Deadlift 1x5x305lb.

    everyone have a great PR day today, slay that dragon!

  15. Bench 230×5
    Deadlift 365×5

    Hey guys quick question. I’m just over a month into Texas Method. Anyway, last week I missed my squat volume day because of bad sleep and not much food, I’ve eaten and slept reasonably well this week and the squats were just as difficult as last week and after a few sets of good mornings and caving knees I finally bagged it and just benched and deadlifted. Btw I squat high bar and I’m just wondering if there’s anything I should be doing because I feel like I should be doing far better than I am. Thanks guys.

  16. Bench 295×1
    First time I have done 1RM bench in 2 years.

    I have a soreness in my hips that is affecting my squats. I have tried every mob on KStar’s website and rolled the hips with everything possible and I still have this lingering soreness. I feel it in the bottom of my squat when ever I have weight on my back. I low bar and didn’t have this issue till I squated 3 times a week. i cut it down to 2 times per week and now it just lingers. never gets worse or better. I’ve narrowed it down to the iliacus or psoas muscle

    Anyone have the same issue? How did you correct it?

  17. Started 5/3/1 this week, with the Boring but Big assistance template. I realize I can get faster gains on a TM setup, but honestly I was just burned out on it. I felt like I needed a solid hour and a half to train (including changing, shower and warm ups) and I had to eat exactly right at exactly the right time beforehand to get anything done, and it just wasn’t fun anymore – to the point that I would dread it or even avoid it outright. I also wanted to started doing some more conditioning work and I didn’t feel like I had room for that. So I’m willing to have slower gains for awhile in exchange for not feeling like a fat fuck who gets out of breath walking to the top floor of the library, and also looking more jacked. If I’m not happy with where I am in 6 months and my personal life is more conducive to it, I’ll try a TM style program again.

    Also, I’ve decided to enter the highland games at the St. Louis Scottish Festival in September. Haven’t mailed in the form yet, but I’m fully committed to going and I expect someone on here to yell at me if I puss out. Now I just have to make some implements and learn to throw.

  18. I messed around a little bit this week.
    PR’s
    ME RB high bar- 525×2 with orange bands.
    ME bench 315 + red bands
    Probably going to have to restart my Pendlay Row LP. 275 3×5,5,4.

    I think I am going to start wearing boat shoes while squatting. Keeping it classy.

  19. Up and down week for me. More down than up, but dems the brakes.
    Front Squat 91kgx1
    Started snatching again after a shoulder injury. So things can only go up from here.

  20. @magillaguerrilla

    i had that problem too. took a week off entirely and did a lot of couch stretching, especially with the band. seemed to do the trick for me.

  21. Just about 1 year after starting my linear progression, I competed in my first meet last Saturday.

    This is my 3rd squat attempt. It is a PR in more than one way. I think you’ll like it.

  22. First PR Friday post.
    Bombed out on my squats, tweaked my volume from 5×5 to 3×5 and only got 197.5kg x 4. Ill add another set in and i should hit it for 5 next week.
    Pressed 77.5 x 5
    Looking forward to the Sydney weekend workshop! If all goes well i will be hitting 200kg on the Saturday there if theres a chance.

  23. Rolled my ankle pretty badly on tuesday playing soccer. slight discoloration and swelling the next day, but its been going down and is almost painfree now. I needed a break anyway, and I’m across state for an architecture conference all weekend anyways, so I couldn’t train either way. This will just give me more needed rest.

  24. Question for errbody:
    (Feel free to play the “Man Up” card. Over the last week or two, I’ve been having a reduced appetite. Work have been throwing some crazy hours at me and sleep and food seem to have taken a back seat unfortunately. Im drinking 6-8 pints of milk a day but feel I’m starting to rely a little too much on drinking my calories simply because I dont wanna eat food. Anyone else had any experience of this? If so, what was the cause for you?

  25. @bigfudge:

    If you have to drink your calories, so be it. Milk is probably the single best thing you can replace solid calories with, possibly ousted only by a protein shake with milk(depending on your macro needs).

    now, calories aren’t calories. But milk calories are about as good as it gets.

    Lastly, lack of sleep and stress with absolutely affect your appetite in a huge way. But it’s for work, so there’s not much you can do. Try your best to relax and get as much sleep as you can.

  26. I guess I should stop lurking and just embrace this…

    PR’s this week:

    225lb Male

    Shoulder Press 5x190lb
    Back Squat 7x 385
    Weighted Chins 5×75
    Bench Press 5×275

  27. New Balances: I’ve had the MT101’s for about a year and wear them as my casual shoe, as my running shoe as my metcon shoe, to hike in etc…for $45 it might be my fav shoe ever..that said, I got a killer deal on the Merrell Mix Master so I’m giving those a go.

    DL: Hit 430×3 easy last week, got 435×1.5ish yesterday… pretty pissed off. Busted a bunch of vessels in my face in the process and I look like hell.

    Not sure why I missed the lift, had swat training on Monday which included our biannual PT test but I don’t think it should have thrown me for a loop..it did throw me off my sleep schedule..

    I’ll go back to 425 next week for a confidence boost.

  28. Good week, switched to 3-5-1 from 5-3-1 with singles on the 3 and 1 weeks and set or matched a few PRs.
    Press 1x145lb matched PR
    Deadlift 1x365lb 7lb PR
    Bench 1x200lb 2lb PR
    Squat 1x310lb most I’ve squatted outside competition
    Power Clean 1x145lb maybe matched a PR
    All at a weight of 150lb. Now to figure out how to maintain the strength gains while entering race season.

  29. @hsilman

    Thanks for the response. I follow the CFFB recomendations very rarely stray from it otherwise I feel like shit.

    Gains are good, feel strong but sleep is shot to shit. If only I got paid to workout!

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