Q&A – 39

PR Friday

Post your god damn training updates and PRs to the god damn comments, god damn it (relevant). Also, I would like you to share any injuries you’ve had in the past year. Explain what it was, how it happened, and how long it took to recover from.

In other news, look at this Russian girl’s benching arch:

Weekly Challenge

Last week you were tasked with doing side planks after training. None of you probably did this, but it’s one of the more important things you can do for both prehab and rehabbing — especially for lower back, S/I injuries, and psoas tweaks and injuries. Thanks for not participating.

Next Week’s Challenge: See how much butter you can eat in a day. In a week. Use this opportunity to increase your butter intake. I suggest Kerrygold Butter because it’s grass fed (this link will let you know if it’s sold near you). If you’ve been sore, achy, and not recovering well, the added fat calories will go. Use the measurement on the packaging to quantify your intake. Put it on potatoes, vegetables, and cook things in it (I’ve even heard of people putting it in their coffee…seems weird). Eating butter makes you gorilla-like.

Week In Review

The female post focused on the peculiarities of female hormones with respect to training. It provided some context as to why women have a lower 1RM ceiling and why they can handle more work. Then I tackled the “MWOD says no icing” issue by looking at the arguments, research, and discussing it with lots of physiologists and PTs. The following day I provided protocols for icing depending on the injury in the context of a full rehab program. It’s a near comprehensive source on how to rehab training related injuries.

Q&A

Justin,

I’m a recent reader of yours. I’m also in my third week of Stronglifts 5×5 and I am conflicted on whether to use front squats ion place of the back squats. I’ve been reading through the back logs of 70’s Big, talktomejohnnie.com, and some of Mark Rippetoe’s stuff and you all extoll the virtues of the back squat. On several occasions, typically in response to a question on programming, you have been adamant about training for a persons particular sport. Mine happens to be rock climbing, sport climbing to be precise. A friend recently sent me a link to a Steve Maxwell article in which he demonizes the back squat in favor of other squatting forms (eg; front squats, goblet squats, pistols, etc.). In particular he states that combatives, gymnasts, and rock climbers would all do better with a different type of squat. It threw me for a loop and has me thinking, “Maybe I shouldn’t be doing back squats. Maybe front squats would be more beneficial.” Especially if one of my reasons for training is a sport he specifically lists. Should I switch to fronts in place of backs? Do a hybrid of the 5×5 alternating between the two? Cycle one then the other? He mentions in another article, touting the virtues of the pistol squat, that back squats would lead to flexibility issues, a big negative for climbers.

 

Male | 32 | 5′-10″ | 165-170-lbs | BS 190×5 | FS 165×5 | Press 100×5 | Bench 100×5 | DL 230×5

 

Thank you for 70’sBig.com and your time.

Sincerely,

Jonathan G

 

Dear Jonathan,

I can understand your confusion. Let me point out that just because Steve Maxwell doesn’t know how to coach any type of back squat or mobility work to maintain or improve the flexibility of his trainees doesn’t mean that the back squat shouldn’t be used. I can only conclude these two things — that he is not good at coaching the back squat or sucks at coaching ‘mobility’ — because it’s not the case. I can back squat a decent amount, well over twice my body weight, yet I can get up on a wall and have the mobility to climb it. I may not be very good technically, and my mass or weight will be problematic in truly excelling, but my mobility is not going to be the limiting factor.

Now, n=1 is never a good argument, but strong squatters with good, athletic mobility are very common. I would accept his argument if it said, “The back squat puts too much mass on a climber, and therefore he should avoid it because it will inhibit his sport,” then I could understand that. You can be a better trainee than what Steve thinks you can be; you can be strong in a squat and still have good mobility. There are plenty of resources to use like this website or Mobility WOD.

So, no, I don’t think that you  need to front squat instead of the back squat, and you certainly shouldn’t do fucking goblet squats over them unless you just want to be weak and small. If you want to be strong and small, then keep the reps-per-set low (under three reps) to avoid the mass gain, but understand if you’re a beginner you will have a bit of mass gain regardless. If you aren’t silly with your diet, you can remain or become lean, and this will help your bodyweight to strength ratio for climbing.

Keep in mind that strength is what will provide the capacity for you to endure in your sport. Continue climbing as you lift, but if you squatted 300, 350, or 400 and were within ten pounds of your current body weight, you would have a larger capacity for climbing.

Lastly, I’m not a fan of Stronglifts in general or in the context of you using lifting for rock climbing.

 

Hi Justin, I’ve bought book 1, and have a question:

Figure 2.5 (attached for ease of reference), says that, when pressing on Monday/Friday, benching is done on Wednesday. However, it says “light” bench. When benching is on Monday/Friday, pressing is done “medium” on Wednesday (Edit: image is below)

 

So, why the difference, and what percentages would you shoot for for the “light” and “medium”.

Thanks for writing a great book and for continually putting out quality information on your site!

 

–Brian

Dear Brian,

The reason I made bench light and pressing medium is because benching is more stressful than pressing. Light benching and medium pressing are closer to each other in stress imparted on the structures. “Light” percentages are probably around 70% and “medium” is probably gonna be 75 to 80%. Keep in mind that these are ball park figures and your true intent on the light day is to not interfere with the Intensity Day. Also, for early stage Texas Method users, they won’t really work off of percentages because their hypothetical 1RMs and percentages will change every week. Keep the Light Day benches and presses where you aren’t going to be sore for Friday.

 

Hey man, great ice post. Impressive work. I’d love to hear what you think about this:

 

http://www.allthingsgym.com/2012/08/car-polisher-next-level-self-myofascial-release/

 

After I saw this I went out and bought a $20 buffer to see what it was about and hit my legs hard. I’m in the middle of a new linear 3×5 program since switching to high bar and usually feel a lot of doms in my legs. I squatted yesterday and feel almost nothing today. My joints feel a little achy but that’s it. I think the buffer worked? My diet didn’t change, my schedule didn’t change. I even got a little less sleep than usual. The only thing I can think of is maybe I spent more time with the buffer than I do with a foam roller because I was excited to try it. Totally possible but I would love to hear what you think.

 

Thanks.

–Caleb

 

Dear Caleb,

It’s not surprising that Clint Darden’s “hardware store sander” suggestion is helpful. There is research that shows how massage is beneficial to reducing Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), which is the standard soreness you feel a day or two after training. Sports massages have been around for decades and are used because they help the muscle recover better (check out this clip of Werner Gunthor getting a massage in the midst of his training montage. As a side note, the minute or so after this starting point had a huge effect on my summer clothing style a few years ago, especially the beach scene).

This is the reason why the “self myofascial” release revolution got so popular a few years ago and it’s continued into what we now just sum up as “mobility”. The vibrating sander that Clint and you have used allows you to work on your muscles in a similar way to break up adhesions or fascia, or just generally apply a massage to increase blood flow and healing. Other tools like foam rolling, PVC rolling, The Stick, and a Theracane can all accomplish similar results. Let this be a reminder to serious, competitive trainees that comprehensive rehab and recovery will better prepare you to lift. That’s one reason why professional athletes can do what they do, because they have people automating this process and doing it for them.

 

 

@70sBig can you help me understand why blood vessels pop during lifts and any health problems that it may cause. Thank you!

 

Dear Matt,

When a person lifts properly, they are holding their breath and using the Vasalva Maneuver in order to increase the intra-abdominal and thoracic pressure. It provides a pneumatic brace against the spine and helps strengthen the torso to transmit force more effectively. Doing the Vasalva will increase blood pressure, but it’s something that our bodies adapt to, especially with a gradual progression that most beginner’s will go through. Some people erroneously point to the increase in pressure in the cerebrospinal fluid, but there is an equalizing of pressure up through the spine and around the brain, so this isn’t an issue (Starting Strength has an excerpt about this).

The reason blood vessels rupture, and produce tiny red dots on skin that is relatively thin (shoulders, neck, face, and eyes) is because the blood vessels are not adapted to the higher pressure. There have been several instances in my life where I come back from a short break (5 to 14 days) from lifting and pop a few blood vessels. This is usually associated with higher intensity (i.e. heavier weights) and the reason why if you try a heavy deadlift or squat without the intensity adaptation and strain very hard, chances are good that you’ll pop a few of them.

Keep in mind that when I say “blood vessels”, I mean small capillaries. And, no, this isn’t a big deal. It can happen with normal, non-training people (if they strain very hard pushing their car or dropping a deuce), but their cardiovascular systems are not trained to handle higher pressures and therefore it will take less to rupture the vessels in someone who doesn’t lift. Don’t worry about them occurring, but do worry about the more likely scenario: that you’ll pass out from not being adapted to the pressure change. To avoid this, just let out some air through grunting during the grinding portion of a lift.