Veteran’s Day is a holiday that is formerly called Armistice Day that commemorates the armistice between the Allies and Germany in World War I. It took effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. In the Commonwealth it’s known as Remembrance Day to remember those that have died in the line of duty. In the United States it honors all military veterans.
There are many different types of jobs that military servicemen can hold, but the common theme among them is sacrifice. The infantryman sacrifices for long months in the most barren areas of the world. He sacrifices years of his life in combat zones and sacrifices bodily harm — some more so than others. Some are hit by flak, some are blown up, some are shot. Some are medevaced and some are patched up and step outside the wire again because they can’t bear the thought of letting their friends down. He sacrifices his emotion as he leaves the combat and steps back into civilization. Many sacrifice their ability to un-see their friends falling apart and killed in front of them. Others wish that it were them instead and live with the guilt that they survived and others didn’t.
The medic, the corpsman, the nurse sacrifices daily to keep friends and strangers alive. They may live with the horror of losing someone in their care, whether the victim could have been saved or not. The maintainer works on aircraft, vehicles, and other pieces of equipment that others rely on. They pull extended duty to make the impossible happen whether at home or deployed. They keep the world functioning for pilots and drivers. They provide covering fire as door gunners, they ensure the safety of their cargo, whether it’s human or supplies. They sacrifice back-breaking hours and efforts to assist those in the direct action, often finding themselves in the thick of it.
The special operations units engage in dangerous missions, putting their lives at risk daily for recognition that they will never receive. The things that they accomplish are hardly televised, they will never receive thanks, and often their job isn’t known or understood by a civilian. And they wouldn’t want it any other way.
Above all, each soldier, Marine, sailor, and airman sacrifices freedom. They are held to higher standards, meticulous laws and orders. They are taken from their families and often miss their children being born or growing up. They cannot travel on a whim and are underpaid. They lose relationships, break their bodies, and struggle with their memories. They know their country will never fully pay them back for everything that they’ve sacrificed. They lose the freedoms and liberties that a civilian takes for granted, but in the end…they, above all, earn that freedom.
Some veterans still find it odd to be thanked for what they do, but they should know that the thanks is there.
It’s also PR Friday. Post training updates or PRs to comments. Weight is irrelevant — you don’t have to be strong as everyone else to post here, just work hard. What is your least favorite lift to do?
Follow the jump for the Q&A (coming in a few minutes).
Note: If the question comes from the comments, you can click their name and see the comment and the post it was asked in.
wreeder Says:
(In his comment on last Friday’s deadlift discussion)
At first glance this makes sense. But then I realized that when comparing hip/shoulder width pulls, this will probably turn out to be minor. Your legs being narrower, lengthens the pulling distance because you are standing up taller. Thereby negating the lengthening of the arms by having them more vertical. So unless your anthropometry is really weird (long arms, long femurs, and short tibias), it stands to reason that it would even out.
Dear wreeder,
Your analysis is a correct one, yet it ignores muscular action in this movement. Remember that the more narrow stance allows for more external rotation in the hips (since the knees should be touching the inside of the arms). I’ll remind everyone that this external rotation a) prevents hip impingement with the femur and the ASIS (hip bone) which b) allows the lower back (lumbar/sacral) to be extended better and set for an optimal pulling position compared to a slightly more rounded position had the knees not been pushed out, c) contracts the external rotators creating some torque and tightness around the hips, and d) stretches the adductors and subsequently hamstrings more so that they have tension in the starting position and subsequently in the early part of the pull off the floor.
There was a guy in the 83kg class in the IPF World Championships that had a wide stance and wide grip, and he missed his second and third attempts about three or four inches from lockout. There’s no way to say why this could have been, however the wider grip is not doing him any favors. A lifter who has continuously deadlifted with sub-optimal mechanics will develop musculature to support this movement. Such a lifter may not pull more if he adjusts his feet and grip width, yet most readers here are not advanced to the point of havingbalanced strength and musculature, and following the “stance/grip width” information provided here, they will more fully develop their musculature for general strength or powerlifting.
artesuave asks
Justin,
what do you consider acceptable with regards to rounded backs for females? Should they be treat the same as men?
I have a couple of girls who you could call lifting CFers, one 56 and one 60kg (Louise and Laura). Louise pulls 125×3 and Laura 122.5×3 (Louise is 5’3 and Laura 5’6), but because they’re women I do hold them back more than the guys.
Dear artesuave,
I’m not a fan of any relatively inexperienced lifter (under 12 to 18 months) excessively rounding their back just to pull a heavier weight. Powerlifting is different as the point is to lift more weight, not do it correctly to develop strength evenly through a full ROM. If these girls are not competing and are within my above time frame for consistent lifting (dabbling in CrossFit doesn’t count), then I would rather see them develop their posterior chains so that they can lift correctly. Developing and strengthening the posterior chain will help improve their shitty-round-back-deadlifts anyway.
I see this a lot in CrossFit: girls will have developed quads and no posterior chain due to the vertical emphasis in all squatting within CF (high bar, front squat, overhead, ‘air squat’, lunges, pistols, etc.). Furthermore, they think that just because they can pull decent amounts of weight that their posterior chain is strong. Not so. I have friends who can pull lots of weight, albeit pretty rounded, and they could stand to strengthen their hamstrings (to the benefit of everything, including the deadlift).
Since women typically lack a background in lifting, I will have them RDL consistently (at least once a week). Use 3×8 or 3×10 every week, and focus on the technique and muscle action instead of driving the weight up. Once the weight progression slows, use 3×5 for strength, yet still focusing on the technique. The same goes for guys if they can’t pull heavy weight with decent technique.
lunamud asks:
“That’s pretty solid technique for a max rep, especially for a female (round backs are the norm)”
Could you explain/expand upon this statement?
Dear lunamud,
Sure. Women typically don’t have good posterior development or strength and often pull with a round back. See the previous question.
Jonas e-mails:
Hi Justin,
I have a question I was hoping you could help me with, for a couple of weeks I’ve been thinking about the nervous system and its role in weightlifting, in essence the question is do you think that it would be helpful to take some sort of supplement to help boost neurotransmitters before workouts? I try to keep supplements to a minimum but in this case I am unsure and would really appreciate your opinion.
Dear Jonas,
It’s a misconception in modern online fitness and strength communities to say “my CNS (central nervous system) is burned out”. This is a silly simplification of a system that that integrates the information that it receives and coordinates the activity of the body. Instead, we should think in terms of the “neuroendocrine system” because it concerns the interaction between the nervous and endocrine systems. To say, “my CNS is fried” is just a pseudo-intellectual way of saying “I experienced too much stress and now my system is suppressed”. The “achy” feeling that you may have from high volume or high intensity is a combination of the high localized stress imparted on individual muscles or groups of muscles compounded with the fact that recovery processes are in a chronic deficit as a result of not getting a chance to recover and supercompensate.
So, in other words, the nervous system is merely a piece of the giant, complex, fascinating system that makes the body. When we combine this beautiful system with stress to improve its performance, things are even more complicated than they already are. I know this firsthand after seeing a dissected body and observing it’s complexity in anatomical structure. To give you an idea of how complicated metabolism is, look at this thumbnail for a wall map (the map is probably 5×5 in feet, at least). Now compound all of that craziness with how we are applying stress and changing variables through training, eating, supplementation, sleep, stress, rehab, recovery, rest, and more. It’s really fucking complicated, and cannot be simplified in terms of the CNS. So stop saying that (getting off soap box).
Now, going back to Jonas’ question, worrying about what your neurotransmitters are doing is like worrying about the left pinky finger of one soldier of the 300,000 Persians attacking the Greeks at the Battle of Thermopylae — it’s irrelevant. Are you ample enough protein? Are you sleeping at LEAST 8 hours a night? Are you on a good program? Is your body fat under control? Have you been lifting consistently for at least two years? Are you supplementing vitamins, minerals, fish oil, BCAAs, and possibly creatine effectively?
If you answered “no” to any of those questions (along with many more similar questions), then you have no business worrying about this. At all.
All right, well it’s been fun guys. I’ll talk to you here in a little bit. Be on the lookout for Facebook/Twitter posts on the IWF and IPF World Championships.
Suggested reading:
http://www.rangerup.com/the45.html
To my current and former brothers and sisters in arms, my boundless thanks. In particular, Rangers lead the way!
PRs being attempted in a couple of hours: 265x5x3 squat, 135x5x3 push press, 290×5 deadlift.
Education PR: I attended the Starting Strength Seminar in Springfield, MO last weekend.
In addition to learning a fair number of things I met some cool people. I’d recommend it to anyone interested in strength training.
While I haven’t attended one of Justin’s seminars, I’d bet the same goes for it. Meet good people, learn things, lift heavy stuff… and maybe as a bonus eat a lot of good food.
I used to travel as one of the coaches for the SSS. It’s always a good time and attendees learn a lot.
–Justin
Pulled 375 for a triple while deadlifting this morning. Technically a PR, but I was shooting for 5.
I’ll get it next week.
Least favorite lift: Does conditioning count?
Pressed 225 for the first time yesterday, pretty happy about that.
Nice. That’s a fun bench mark to get.
–Justin
Big thanks to all of our serviceman on this day.
Front Squat PR of 150kg this week. up from 140 a couple weeks ago. Also a weight PR of 197, up from 184 at the beginning of the semester.
Least favorite lift is definitely the press, the mortal enemy of former soccer players everywhere
PRs:
Squat: 360 9×1; 290 3×3
Bench: 270 9×1; 220 3×3
OHP: 150 8×1; 125 2×3
Deadlift: 405 6×1; 325 5×3
I’m really enjoying this Hepburn program. It’s tough, long workouts four times/week, but doing singles rather than long sets is nice. I set those squat and bench PRs in the 5 a.m. hour yesterday. For me sometimes it’s either lift before work or don’t lift at all. I do it even though it feels terrible at the time.
My least favorite lift has to be the power clean because I can’t fucking figure it out. I’ve watched the videos, read the books and made videos and everything but my form is still terrible and I can only clean less than half of my squat. However I am committed to mastering it. I will. Do or do not, there is no try.
Fiance’s lifting is coming along very well. She’s made steady linear progress for two weeks now. She thought she was going to hate squats the most but then she discovered the OHP and pull up. I think she’ll be able to do at least one pull up without me helping her within a month or so.
Workshop coming to Wahsington area. Prob in January. We can fix that clean.
–Justin
Clean and jerk – 80 kg. PR clean and PR jerk. Best thing ever.
Press – 1 x 110 lbs, 4 x 100 lbs
Squat – 1 x 240 lbs
Front squat: 1 x 200 lbs
The squat and front squat PRs were tiny because I was lifting in pounds at a friend’s gym. Still, a PR is a PR.
Everyone who has questioned my choice of programming, coaching, and technique can kiss my fat ass.
PR’s of the day
Squat 1x3x182
Bench Press 1x3x113,5
Deadlift 1x5x180
all in kilo’s I love me the metrics system!
Deadlift – 225#x5x5
Benchpress – 140#x10x4
Least favorite lift is the front squat. Hurts…
Want to learn the power clean and clean and jerk, but alas, no Oly or Power lifters at my gym and don’t know any…
Damn, Tbone, those are some legit numbers. What weight class do you compete in?
Deadlifted 520 x 3
Benched 285 x 3
Failed a midterm for the first time.
brb, playing Russian Roulette.
Only 1 PR this week:
Push Press: 235 x 5,5,4 (wtf 5th rep)
I freaking love this lift. I only started going heavy on these recently, and I’m already seeing some huge gains.
Least favorite lift? Probably front squats. I’ve been trying to do front and back once a week since I’ve been getting into weightlifting, but damn I hate those heavy front squat days. My main problem is curvature in the thoracic spine, I gotta work on keeping that chest up.
Getting serious numbers again, finally. PRs coming up next week and afterwards.
Squat: 395×3 (ten pounds to old PR)
Deadlift: 475×1 (not pretty, took 8 seconds to break past the knees and 15 seconds overall)
Pressed and benched fairly high volume this week, nothing crazy.
Bench 175×9 (technically a PR, but meh)
Tried Press Lockouts and Overhead Squat lockouts today after regular lifting, a fun change of pace. Worked up to 305 on the overhead squat lockouts with about a foot and a half range of motion. Fun stuff and wicked for overloading the arms.
Squatted 505 in wraps last saturday. Also deadlifted 465 for a single. On monday I benched 265 for a single and also benched 220x5x5 yesterday. Also cleaned up my diet a lot this week. Makin’ progress over here.
Today:
Bench: 110 lbs x4 (110×5 would have matched a PR)
Squat: 150×5 (post-injury PR)
DL: 200×5
Pressed 80×5 last Friday.
None of these are lifetime PRs. But definitely the best numbers I’ve seen in six months, due to injury, travel, illness, etc. I’m particularly happy with the squat. Squat PR is 195×10. Then I busted my hip. I’ve been pain-free for a few weeks now, so I’m on my way back up. TM is treating me right.
TBone: damn, lady, those are some impressive numbers.
Still running linear progression – no stalls yet! I was supposed to squat today, but I went to a different gym that didn’t have a fucking squat rack. I decided to power clean instead.
Bench: 220x5x2, 220x7x1
Weighted Dips: #25x7x1
Bodyweight Dips: 10/8/6
DB curls – 2 sets
Power cleans: worked up to 215x3x3
No PRs, Ugh. But I did reset my deadlift to 405×5 and i used the steel plates. Even though I deadstopped the rubber plates, these steel plates felt tough. But good kind of tough. Diet has been poo the past two days. not enough protein and little sleep.
Will work on this. But I feel pretty awesome.
@DaveN and @karibot – Thanks!
DaveN, right now I am 75 kg. I competed earlier in the year as a 69, and almost everyone who had coached me at any point was pushing me to move to 75. I actually talked to Justin about it because he thought I should try to push my lifts up as a 69 before I gained weight, and I kind of felt the same way. I had a few months where I tried to gain, and I didn’t feel like my lifts went anywhere, and I was stuck right in the middle of weight classes. So, I decided to go back down to 69.
But, right around that time, I started working with Jim Moser and switched to Bulgarian programming. I realized it would probably be a very, very stupid decision to try to cut weight on that programming, especially when I was just starting. So, I committed to 75 and basically forced myself to eat a lot more.
So far, I’ve been able to maintain weight for the last month or so, and my lifts seem to be going up like crazy. Therefore, I will stick with being a 75 until I need to worry about qualifying numbers or records. I’d really like to snag the masters national records in the 35-39 year old 69 kg class, but I have three years to do that.
Rough day but was able to squeeze out a couple PRs.
Front Squat: 375×1 (10lb PR)
Press: 215×1 (10lb PR), 225×1 (20lb PR) really happy about this…long time goal accomplished.
SQ PR: 365lb 3×5
Lifting Album of the Week – Garage Inc. by Metallica (1998). Squat Track – Free Speech For The Dumb.
Been sick. Only half a session of training all week.
Press 200lbs 3×3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_uxIm3QaXk
Yes i know my technique was bad. That is why my elbows hurt. Will fix.
Not bad on the press. The only thing I could critique is maybe grip width (can’t see) and try and make “getting under it” smooth. Nice job though; those were grinders.
–Justin
Oh i almost forgot! Justin thank you for the tip on bat weights. They were easy to find, cheap and work perfectly.
Bodyweight PR 170 lbs.
Bench PR: 225 lbs.
Deadlift PR: 405 lbs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVIrC_8G5vU
Feels good
PR 300×5 squat (high bar, due to fucked up tendonitis in arms)
325×5 deadlift
155×5 bench.
Least favourite lift? Bench. I suck at it. I have also made it a priority to suck less. I’ve really worked on my deadlift technique and 325 felt great (previous pr of 255×5?fuuark) and I think I can do more. Also Pr’d on chinese food consumption before training last night.
Squat PR 175# x 1.
I am still so excited. A year ago 75# felt like a ton of weight on my back.
Decided to dock 60 pounds off of squats so I can try and go deeper. Apparently, I wasn’t at parallel at 285 but I felt like it. I’ve also adopted a slightly wider squat stance which feels a little more natural. I guess these would be tweaks more so than PR’s but I’m going in the right direction. I need some help, though, as I’m not sure my deadlift form is spot on
Can anyone check that out? I’m kind of tall at 6’4″ but I’m not really sure how my anthropometry stacks up.
That’s a deadlift vid, brah.
–Justin
and go Air Force!
Coming off a few weeks abroad with limited training time.
backed off the squats a bit and should have done the same for bench.
Deadlift PR 1 x 5 400
Could we hear a little more about this Washington seminar?
First time posting. I’m running Gresykull LP. Took a week and a half off before this week because I was IN VEGAS BABY! Had a free room and I made enough money playing craps to break even on the trip(not including plane tickets).
Squat: 300lbx5x2, 6×1 (PR)
Press: 135lbx5x2, 10×1(rep record for 135)
Bench: 207.5x5x2, 9×1(just reset my bench)
DL: I can’t say I actually had a work set on these this week. Thought that I’d be fine to jump right back into it since I did with the squat but when I got to my work set of 345 I couldn’t even get 1 rep.
Well my lease favorite lift this week was definitely the deadlift since I blew it. Normally the power clean, though. I cannot get the form down.
Squat: 375×5
Fairly easy. I’ve known for awhile that I could hit this but due to minor injuries and switching to TM it got held back. From here on out, every intensity day for the squat should be a PR.
Squat 320×3 [url]http://youtu.be/tizXHEmF0qU[url\]
Got 165 for C&J on Thursday. Not much, but it was still awesome.
Least favorite lift is the curl. I hate it because it’s not fun and still in the program.
Justin, saw the post to Maslow above, please tell me the workshop will be on a weekend? I may kill someone if I miss out due to school.
Lifetime deadlift pr 255kg
^ Congrats! 6 wheels here we come eh?
At our first meeting of the Chicago 70’s Big Lifting Group, I tested my 1RM, right arm dumbbell curl. Hit a pretty solid 30 lbs. Failed at 32.5lbs. Dunno what the HELL to make of this . . . but I know I’ll get it next time.
Justin, would there be any chance of getting somewhere on this site where members, i.e. us, could post their training logs? Would be pretty cool.
Will have a feature for this when the site is updated. Soon…soon…
–Justin
Speaking of veterans, the WWII in HD and Vietnam in HD shows on History Channel are fantastic. I was absolutely glued to the tv when I found them last night.
Bench Press 230 x 6
Press 145x 6,6,5
Thanks for correcting my comment. I figured there was a muscular component in the mechanics that I was ignoring, but I wasn’t sure what it was.
PRs for last week:
Squat: 300# 3×5
DL: 335#x1 (huge fail, supposed to be for 5)
PC: 185# 5×3
@ JUSTIN
i already fixed grip width thanks to you and my press shot up after being stalled @ 165 3×5 for a couple months so THANK YOU! yes i always have to remind myself to get under the bar.
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