Q&A – 3

Happy PR Friday ladies and gents. Post your training updates and PRs. If you have any good Halloween costumes, post them here and we can put them up on Monday. Oh, and speaking of Halloween…stay safe.

Shankle takes bronze, details below

theturgid asks

Hi Justin, quick TM question, do you have experience with someone doing back to back bench or press weeks (i.e. not alternating) for a few weeks while chasing a milestone PR? Is this alright, or not advisable due to recovery concerns? Thanks

Dear theturgid,

I always knew the term “turgid” had a negative connotation, but I didn’t realize it meant “swollen and distended or congested”. Sounds like what happens when you drink milk. Concerning the question, I’ve had lifters bench in consecutive weeks when getting ready for powerlifting meets. “Chasing a PR” would be a similar thing without the meet, so yes, that’s okay. I would still have you press on that Light Day — whenever I have strong guys decrease pressing frequency as they ready for a meet, their shoulders get sore (more on this in the Texas Method Part 2 e-book coming in a week or so).

Evan asks

I grip my strict press in similar fashion to you. When it comes to push pressing, do you grip and rack the bar exact same as a jerk? Delts out for a shelf, etc? With the strict press, shoulders should be tight along with the upper back, similar to benching.

I always get in a rut when I try and push press, because I want to rack the bar like a strict press, and it’s unstable on the upper pecs/sternum without the delts for a shelf.

Dear Evan,

I’m glad you grip the press the way I do since it’s the only way to do it with optimal mechanical efficiency. As for the push press, Dr. Hartman and I discuss this very topic in the podcast we recorded yesterday (it will be out next week some time). Depending on anthropometry, the grip will be somewhere between the press and jerk grip. I widen my grip by a finger width or two so that I can have the bar sitting on my deltoids. It’s imperative the bar rests on the deltoids in the push press so that the trunk delivers the force of the dip/drive instead of it transmitting through the shoulders, down the arms, through the elbows and wrists, and into the bar. The chest will be up, but tightness won’t be as intense as the bench press (since during the bench the shoulder blades are pinched extremely hard with hardcore thoracic extension). Adjust your grip so you can rest the bar on your delts and dip/drive vertically.

A hypothetical weightlifting fan asks,

Hey, what happened in weightlifting in the Pan American Games yesterday? Was their a link? I couldn’t find a link anywhere!

Dear hypothetical weightlifting fan,

I posted the link at least 38 times, so bite me. As for yesterday, Donnie Shankle took bronze in the 105kg class (it was an interesting battle with the Cuban lifter, especially cause Pendlay was in our chat room talking about it as it was happening). For the super heavy females, Amaechi bombed out (it was her first international meet) and Robles was second in snatch at the break, trailing by 1kg. Then Robles clarked the fucking clean three times in a row at 135kg. I don’t have any sympathy for her, but I still support her going forward as an American because I’m not a turncoat piece of shit who low brows Americans for not being good at weightlifting.

Lastly Mendes had his first international meet and didn’t do fantastic, considering the overall standings. He snatched 175, which put him at second with body weight. The leader (a Brazilian lifter who apparently lifts in the U.S.?) snatched 185 (which is the same weight the 105kg Ecuadorian lifter did who won a gold medal, except he made it look like chump change) and clean and jerked 225. Mendes only hit 205kg on the clean and jerk. I think the biggest reason is because he was power jerking (which helped him go 1/3 on CJ) — he apparently does this due to injury. We all hope to see Mendes hitting some bigger numbers and staying healthy.

Saul S. asks on the Facebook Fan Page:

I’m looking at a pair of VS lifting shoes online, anybody know if the sizing is accurate? Should they fit snug or normal?

Dear Saul,

In my experience, VS Athletics shoes don’t fit like normal sneakers, although I would say it depends on the person. I wear 11 or 11.5 in normal shoes, and when I got 11.5 originally, I had to wear two socks to ensure my back foot did not slip when I was doing jerks. When I got my second pair, I got 11s, but they too seemed to have stretched as time has gone by (and I still wear two pair of socks when I jerk). My suggestion would be a half size down as having lifting shoes that are too big is a huge pain in the ass, especially when doing the Oly lifts.

Sandi asks via Facebook:

Hey Justin!
So, I am about 4 weeks into my Linear Progression strength program and I have definitely made some gains since my first cycle this summer. My 1RM Back squat is upto 205#, my deadlift is upto 210# (not what it used to be but happy with that number since I had not been able to deadlift more than 135 since my back injury in January) my clean is 120# and I am doing 3×5 RDLs at 100#. The only lift that has not improved is the strict press. I am stuck at 80# and I have not made much improvements in any other overhead lift (push press, jerk). My push press is at 105# and my jerk is at 115# (body weight). How do i improve this or is simply about patience? I read your post about pressing and I have been trying to be conscious of it when I lift but of course its difficult to critique yourself

any tips would be appreciated
btw – GREAT posts on female lifting – i look forward to your monday posts.

Dear Sandi,

I’ve already replied to you on FB, but I thought this would make a good addition to the Q&A. One thing I didn’t address in the message is that if you aren’t bench pressing, your press will not progress as well as it could. The bench press is one of the major upper body strengtheners; the bench and the press augment each other. I’m not sure if your gym has the equipment to bench, but if it does, utilize this movement.

Remember to micro load your movements as you progress them. For many reasons, women won’t progress very easily on these exercises and their weight increases will need to be small. If you don’t have one pound plates, you should find them at a sport store (1 pound baseball bat weights work well and are cheap).

Another option is to press on Monday and push-press on Friday. This would allow you to handle heavier weight on Friday while getting a normal press session on Monday; girls especially benefit from handling some heavier weights in training as it seems to promote an adaptation in their neuromuscular efficiency. You could even handle heavier weight on Monday by doing singles on the minute to accumulate some volume. 10 singles on the minute with a heavier weight on Monday and push-press doubles (three to five sets) on Friday would get you using a higher intensity. After four to six weeks, you can switch the press workout to 3×3 or 3×5 (and keep the push pressing on Friday) and you will probably be able to use more than where you are at now.

Tobi asks

Hi Justin,
I did the SS novice plan for a long time, but started Power Cleans as recently as I switched to a better Gym this year.
I wanted to Clean more so i tried to change my old plan.
[spoiler show=”Show more of this” hide=”Hide all that”]
Monday:
Power Clean
Bench
Squat
—–
Wednesday:
Press
Deadlift
Dips
—–
Friday:
Power Clean
Bench
Squat

That was my basic plan for the last Months, if there was enough energy at the end of monday/friday I did chin Ups/pull ups at the end of the session.
I really like to Clean/Deadlift and want to push those lifts, so I put the Squat at the end of my sessions.
My question is whether this plan makes sense and gives a good possibility to recover from it.

[/spoiler]
I am 6″3 at about 210-215lbs. Deadlift is at 152.5kg 1×5, Squat 132.5kg 3×5, Bench 92.5kg 3×5, Press 62.5kg 3×5, Power Clean 82.5kg 4×3

Thank you!

Dear Tobi,

I couldn’t help but notice your lack of curls in this program. You must have biceps like me. But let’s get serious. I don’t think this is a bad program, but I don’t think it will be conducive to progress. When I did my linear progression (starting in January of 2009), I power snatched Monday, deadlifted Monday, and power cleaned on Friday. The fact that I didn’t have any friends at the time and was doing the power cleans late on Friday nights alone is immaterial. It didn’t take long to drive my dick in the ground since I was pulling in all of my training sessions (I was also not adapted to pulling a lot).

Methinks you have good intentions, yet your dick will be underground doing your program. Maybe not next week, but eventually. This is all dependent on your rep schemes and weights, but you can still make progress on the power clean by training it once a week. You could always do it lighter on the Friday workout to drill technique or speed. You could also consider removing the deadlift for a time in the program (4 weeks, for example) if you specifically want to push the power clean. If you did that, I’d put RDLs in your program once or twice a week. RDLs are fantastic and can maintain deadlifting strength and improve the very important hamstring strength and musculature.

All right guys, it’s been fun, but I’ll talk to you here in a little bit.