Q&A – 31

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Edit: See Facebook/Twitter pages for info and updates on USAPL Men’s Nationals.

PR Friday

You know the drill. Post any PR’s you made, but also post your training updates. If you don’t, WHO WILL EVER REMEMBER YOUR NAME???

Weekly Challenge

Last week’s challenge was to eat vegetables in at least one meal every day. Y u no do dis?

Next Week’s Challenge:
On one day next week, put 25 to 35 pounds in a pack, wear it on your back, and walk for 30 to 60 minutes non-stop. If you have a dog, take them. Do this after training or on a day in which you don’t have any training the next day. It shouldn’t be terribly difficult. As you do it, think about how there are soldiers who are doing the same thing at the same time as you somewhere in the world. Except they are doing it with three to four times as much weight and are probably in a dangerous location or preparing to be in one. Regardless of your country — US, CAN, UK, AUS — they made the choice to do it which allows you to not have to. Doing this will probably act as conditioning, but it’ll give you an appreciation for service members.

GR Class 186 carrying a 1200 lb tree through Georgetown last Friday

Weekly Recap

Monday we took a gander at an inspiring CJ by CC, who is coached by Ben Claridad. Tuesday I reviewed the GoRuck Challenge and explained why I think it’s worth your time. Wednesday Jacob Cloud did a solid-ass recap of the 2012 IPF Raw Worlds. Thursday I posted an excerpt from the first chapter of FIT to provoke some thought on fitness and purposeful training.

I’m in DC with NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPTION Chris Riley, and we’ll be doing some touring on the national mall today. Yesterday we walked around to see the monuments in 98 degree weather, and Chris was rewarded with severe chaffing. He’ll also be deadlifting a lot of weight at the Saturday portion of the seminar this weekend.

Q&A

Aaron asks via Twitter:

hey Justin you massive guy you.. I have all of this happening to me… Any suggestion how to help it?? (link)

Yo Az,

The video explains how sitting can shorten the hip flexors and a) prevent quality extension during lifting or athletic movements and b) promote a hyper extended position in the lumbar and/or anteriorily rotated hip (which can have debilitating effects when lifting.

For everyone else, Aaron is a bodybuilder down in Oz, so hip function is important to him so that he can a) get the full ROM when training to improve his musculature and strength and b) maintain good posture to prevent injury, and c) maybe avoid a possible weird posture on stage that might make it look like his spinal erectors are less jacked than they are. If Aaron is hyper-extended habitually, it might prevent those spinal erectors from developing fully; this would also have an effect on his overall strength in squatting, deadlifting, rowing, etc.

How can we improve this? The first thing you can do is work on your psoas, and Kelly explains it well in this video. I would stress that you want to approach the psoas from the lateral portion of your torso (i.e. outside the stomach), because if you just put the ball straight on your belly, you’ll probably just set it on your intestines. You can always double check if it’s your psoas by palpating deep into the area with your fingers while laying on your back. Flex your hip (by lifting your thigh), if you feel a contraction, then that is the psoas. Put the ball there. If it doesn’t contract, then keep hunting.

You’d also want to regularly open up the rest of the hip flexors; the quadriceps, and particularly the rectus femoris, will get tight from sitting down. There will be also some other muscles stretched like the TFL and sartorius on the later side, and some of the anterior adductor fibers on the medial side. If you have a band, you can open up that proximal (upper) hip with some anterior distraction, like in this video. Keep watching and you’ll see the “couch stretch” that I do against the door. If you’re so tight that you can barely get in first position (like I think you are), then just hang out there. Shari will give you some more thoughts on this stretch, I’m sure (they’ll probably include profanity).

jcfendley asks:

WOW. Incredible mentality to not quit.

Just a quick question. I’m in the car traveling this weekend, so I’ve done zero searching on this topic. I’ve been talking to my brother in law about how to best prep my nephew for his first year of junior high football. He’s 13 and pretty big for his age, but not terribly strong. Since he’s so big hes not very quick, but he can build some speed if given time.

Honestly Ive never played, so I know zilch about the skill related prep. But I really feel like I need to give him a decent strength and knowledge base as a buffer to injury and bad habits. I really feel like I’m capable of getting him to a good place and providing enough good guidance to keep him progressing.

I’d like to start him out for a while with just body weight movements, help him get some spatial awareness, an understanding of mechanics, and his ability. Then move into a slow LP. Then probably into something like CFFB over the longer term. Just have to get into it and find out what he’ll stick to.

What advice do you guys have?
What resources should I look to for programming at his age / ability level?
When / where should I look at starting the oly lifts with him?
Too long. Sorry.

Dear jcfendley,

These issues are typically dependent on how far into puberty the kid is. However, strength is still the fundamental capacity. Even if you had a background in football and could teach him skill dependent things, he would still get a better return on his time/effort investment if he focused on strength training. That body weight and spatial awareness stuff you wanted to work on could be used as a warm-up for his squatting, pressing, or benching. You can have him deadlift too, but don’t let him do it shitty. I’d rather see quality RDLs than B- grade deadlifts.

As for Oly lifts, you probably have a lot more simpler stuff to worry about. Can he even squat properly to depth with his knees shoved out? Can he do back extensions and RDL’s properly? Again, it all depends on his puberty development. I’ve had a 12 year old kid who was 6′, 200 pounds while another 12 year old was 5’3 and 90 pounds. It just depends. If you want him to do explosive work, just have him do tuck jumps, squat jumps, or broad jumps. You could have him do some short sprints as well. Another effective thing is to have him laterally shuffle back and forth, then give him a randomly timed signal to sprint forward. This would be my extent of his “agility” or “football” drills, because, again, increasing his strength is going to augment all of his other physical attributes. The football coaches will condition him for football.

mfgilbert asks:

Why would a strength and conditioning coach not program deadlifts?

The reason I ask:
So I was working today and happened to walk into the strength facility for a Colorado high school( a big one) with an epic almost Olympic like feel. Turns out it was designed with the help of the good folks down at the Olympic training facility. So I struck up a conversation with the strength and conditioning coach who had built the facility to his specifications(fucking amazing place to his credit) and we were talking lifting and he just kinda casually dismissed deadlifts because in his opinion the slow motion of a deadlift didn’t compute to strong, quick, powerful athletes. I told him I disagreed but I didn’t delve to deep. I’m just confused how a guy with the obvious mindset of having strong athletes can dismiss the deadlift? Does that kind of mindset happen often? Extra questions I know but they go with the overall question.

Thanks
Gilbert

Dear Gilbert,

It’s pretty common, especially in high school athletics. For example, I never deadlifted in high school and only did them heavy a few times before I moved to Texas. We did do power cleans and RDLs, though.

The reasoning is that the deadlift, being a slow and straining type of movement, is perceived at making an athlete slow. This ignores that the deadlift can improve structural integrity of the lumbar and hips, something that will help make young kids faster, more agile, and helps prevent injury. However, I’d more so be concerned with the deadlift’s effect on recovery. For football players, heavy deadlifts are going to cause a lot of local and systemic stress and probably have an effect on football practice or other weight training and sprint sessions during the week. My guess is that the “effect on recovery” isn’t one of the reasons they avoid the deadlift, but it should be. There are many types of programs that I write or approve of that don’t include deadlifts on purpose. Some populations include, but are not limited to in season athletes, soldiers/SOF, and hikers. It just depends on what they need to do and how they are going to use the deadlift (they could be used light, but the deadlift is almost always an ego lift).

Back extensions and RDL’s aren’t a perfect substitute for the deadlift, but they can still get good muscle action on the structures. The power cleans will emulate a pull and develop power, which is important for hitting people in football.

cfitz asks:

Any thoughts on wearing vibrams for this (the GoRuck Challenge)?

Dear cfitz,

Wearing vibrams for a GoRuck would be an excellent way to fuck your feet, ankles, and lower leg up. I figured this was a troll question, but I wanted to address vibrams…again.

I fucking hate when people lift in vibrams. It’s inefficient (i.e. bad mechanics), and efficiency is the same thing as safety in lifting. It’s one thing to do your “functional fitness” portion of your workout in them (though I would still recommend against it), but it’s another to wear them all the time in the gym. Besides, wearing vibrams isn’t something that is going to strengthen your feet properly; proper foot mechanics when barefoot is what will strengthen your feet properly . Most people have externally rotated hips that result in their toes pointing out. Most people have navicular drop, which is a collapsed arch (that results in a totally FUCKED ankle joint). Most people walk around slapping their feet like ducks instead of transitioning from heel to toe evenly across their feet. This has a direct effect on efficacy in athletic movements, preventing injury in any movement (from running to rucking), and lifting. If you realize that you have crappy feet or mechanics, then it will require mobility and strengthening exercises (see post one and two for more on this). It won’t improve over night, and it certainly won’t improve by continuing to move shitty with vibrams on due to simply being “barefoot”.

I’m fine with people wearing vibrams outside; they help protect the soles of the feet for soft-skinned folks. They are effective on the beach, in rocky streams, and during kayaking. First, learn what good mechanics are. Second, start implementing the good mechanics in movement. Third, work on your feet with proper mobility and strengthening. Lastly, get outside in your bare feet and practice good mechanics. It’s all irrelevant if you’re repetitively using shitty mechanics.

And to bring this back to the topic of rucking, only a fool would ruck in vibrams. I would expect significant strains int he tendons, ligaments, and fascia of the foot, ankle, and shins. Shoes have a purpose, people. They protect our feet from extraneous forces.

96 thoughts on “Q&A – 31”

  1. No actual lifting PRs for this week but hopefully stuff will really start clicking in the next couple of weeks.

    Life Priorities PR: I quit my current job because it was screwing up my ability to actually train (among other things.)

  2. Haha interesting response. It wasn’t a troll question, I’m just a 17 year old kid interested in your opinion. I lift in oly shoes and condition in vibrams. PRs: 415 squat and 265 bench. @Justin: how long do you typically have between attempts in a pl meet?

  5. cfitz – Since Justin is busy in DC this weekend, he might not respond quickly. I’ll grab the low hanging fruit on this one and say I’ve seen meets have anywhere between 6-20 minutes between lifts. The difference comes in size of the flight and efficiency. Count on about 9-11 minutes for a good meet.

  6. Squat 3x5x125 ( I stalled here last time )
    Bench 3x5x102.5

    Pre season foosball training has begun, so will be shifting to
    The S&C program with some tweaks.

  7. No PRs this week as I’ve still working my way back up on the Texas method.

    I did have greens twice a day all week – as I always do.

  9. Had two hours of sleep last night due to studying for an exam. Still managed to hit a couple PR’s. I’ve never had a bad training session while hungover/sleepless. Strange.

    Press – 165×3
    Deadlift – 390×3

  10. No PRs this week, decided against a deload, went into the gym, and tweaked a muscle in my neck on the last rep of push presses.

    Sooooooo…. Took it easy this week. Got some good assistance work on my hams and back, left the main lifts super light. Worked out my squat stance, which I had messed up before now. Makes a big difference!

  11. Last week I squatted 110Kg for 5/5/2 (last set was failure). I’ve never been under a bar that heavy, even for a 1 RM attempt. I’ve reset and implemented some greyskull type rep schemes. This week I hit 80Kg for 5/5/20 and then 82.5Kg for 5/5/20 a few days later. Previously I have managed 12 reps at 80Kg.

  12. No PR’s today cause I did not get up in time to get my training in today before I had to be at work. Have to move my session to tomorrow so I will update then. Also wanted to ask if anyone is currently doing Greyskull LP? I am still using the SSLP and when my gains cease there I was contemplating doing the GSLP prior to going into TM. Any thoughts and/or recommendations from anyone here at 70’s big would be great…

  13. Getting back into heavy weight since rehabbing multiple injuries.

    Squatted 325×5 today (previous 350×5)
    Deadlifted 305×5 DOH (no hook or chalk), which is, sadly, a PR. I feel so sad seeing everyone with similar squat/press/bench stats as me, with deadlifts like 150lbs heavier.

    Started doing light Klokov presses. Did 90lbs 3×5 today, and am going to up it 5-10lbs a week.

    Bodyweight PR of 197lbs @5’9″. Heaviest I’ve ever been, and I still have visible abs somehow.

    Ate veggies every meal this week except yesterday, where I was never home and was forced to eat shitty fast food all day.

  14. @mrkent69: when u start failing to progress every day on starting strength u could turn the Wednesday into a light day with about 80% of Monday’s weight and continue to progress twice a week on Monday and Friday using 3×5.

  15. Only PR to report is a 210 lb Snatch from yesterday. 5 lb improvement, and 10 lbs above body weight. Oh wait, there’s also 3×5 Overhead Squats @ 160…
    Anyways, I’m finally gonna be buying my own Olympic bar and bumper plates next week, mainly because the place I’m lifting at now only has the Rogue Fitness over-sized, multipurpose bars, which, while they spin okay, have been messing up my Snatches. For some reason, starting a couple weeks ago, I just wasn’t able to catch my snatches right. So yesterday was supposed to be a Snatch, C&J, and Row day, but when I Snatched up to 185, then missed 155 consecutively, I decided to make it an all Snatch day. Finally figured out that my hook grip wasn’t gripping, so I started chalking up, and finally hit the 210. If I hadn’t taken so long to figure that out, though, I might have been able to hit 215… Messed up my left thumb, however, so it’s a good(ish)thing I’m taking next week off, anyways…

    Also, thinking about starting TM for my squats. Not sure, however, about how I’d structure my classic lifting while doing that…

  16. I was beginning to think Justin was making up all the responses himself, what with all the italics and all.
    Met this weeks challenge every single meal this week, but that’s nothing new. Looking forward to rucking with the dog next week.
    Squat PR today: did the last two sets of my 3×5@220#, so that was cool. School being out for the summer makes for the opportunity for more sleep and I’m starting to notice the sweet training effect it has on me. Hope to set some more sleep PR’s soon.

    In regards to Vibrams: going barefoot/wearing Vibrams SHOULD be as natural as any man being able to squat 405. It’s just that hardly anyone is adapted to barefooting to the extent that they could survive a serious ruck, as mentioned above. To not progressively adapt the feet to such loads would be akin to me attempting a 405 squat: I’m gonna have a bad time. I’ve seen the light with regard to proper lifting shoes, but I also see great utility in having healthy, strong feet. So thanks Justin for the knowledge.

  17. Life PR: wearing my five fingers only for washing my truck

    Body Weight PR: 194#

    Squat PR: 385#

    After next week’s meet I will switch from Broz’s powerlifting template to the TM with hiking programmed in for carryover for the zombie apocalypse and close-grip bench for the girls.

  19. Finished the Advanced TM ebook and modified what I was doing to the suggested powerlifting program.

    BS: 400×2, 410×2, 420×2
    Bench: 230×2, 240×2, 250×2
    Speed Deadlifts: 225x1x10 OTM (very easy)

  21. Pressed 155 for 5 reps. Still working on it.

    Question about a righteous deep ache in my left ass cheek. I was doing some digging and I’m guessing it’s the piriformis? No matter how much rolling around I do on a softball, foam rolling, stretching, it never seems to go away. It’ll ease up every now and then but it’s always there. It’s also a reason why RDL’s are and good mornings are difficult. Sometimes it feels like someone took a hot butter knife and stabbed my butt.

  24. If you don’t have squat shoes on you or access to a hard soled shoe, then what is so wrong with lifting in vibrams? Barefeet/vibram, same same.

  26. @mrkent69

    I did Greyskull LP for a while, transitioning to it from SS. It’s basically the SS program with a light squat day added (which Rip has advocated himself I believe), and some extra assistance work thrown in. It’s a good transition and will keep progress going for a bit longer.

  28. Quick update on yesterday’s workout:

    Got 295 for 2 on the first set, but failed on the second rep of the second set. Going for a PR next week.

  29. Spent most of the week studying for the bar exam, which fucking sucks, btw. I don’t recommend it to anyone.
    PR’d my snatch today for the first time since March 18 – 56kg, which is still really pathetic, but I’m working on it.
    Went on to PR my C&J 78kg, so I had a PR total today. Bottom line: I should drink tequila the night before I lift more often.

    I won’t be satisfied until I hit 65/90, but you have to crawl before you walk, I guess.

  31. First PL meet ever (100% Raw Federation American Nationals in AZ), weighed in at 68.3kg and hit a few PRs to make “best female lifter” and 1st in my weight class for age group (25-29) and weight class.
    –Squat 120kg (bonus 4th attempt at 125kg, both PRs)
    (–benched 60kg, not a PR but that’s cool)
    –dead 137.5kg (PR, but probably should have just sucked it up and pulled 140)

    Long, but overall very good, day

  33. Been a while since I posted anything.

    PR’s

    Squat 305 1×5
    Press 160 1×5
    Bench Press 250 1×3
    Deadlift 365 1×5

    Just started an intermediate style of training with conditioning. More PRs next week!!

  34. Probably no good posting so late in this thread, but…

    My lower back is on fire after squats. I’m doing 5/3/1 lowbar squats and using boring but big as my assistance template. About the 2-3rd set into my sets of 10 my paraspinals get really tight and on fire. Foam rolling and time does the trick after, but how do I prevent this before?

    I have pretty significant anterior pelvic tilt which I’m working on correcting but when I have a spotter they say my back looks good when I hit proper depth (but lose it too deep)

  35. Late to the party, regular training on hiatus, the one piece of lifting i did was:
    Bench 5×10@75kg
    Challenge ticked off, vegetables or salad eaten every meal- bar breakfast.

  36. I am trying to drop about 20 pounds so I can move down a weight class for oly lifting. Any suggestions about conditioning work that will not decrease my strength? Farmers walks? Have successfully dropped weight before sprinting but it decreased my length strength and snatch/CJ. No sled at my gym but we do have a heavy bag and medicine balls I can throw around
    Thanks

  38. I restarted my Hepburn-ish program. I started with lowish (conservative) numbers to allow for a smooth transition followed by steady progress.

    PR–Spent the weekend fishing. I caught about 70 fish (various species, mostly small and mostly perch, croaker or smallmouth bass, mostly non-keepers) in about 12 hours total out in a skiff on the potomac. I did push ups on the boat, naturally.

  40. @TBone — thanks! I still prefer Oly… but I think I’ll do another 100% Raw PL meet in September (the Mid-Atlantic Championships), maybe even drop a weight class. I can sweep the country, right?

  41. Decided to squat without the box. I got 300 lbs x 1 (belt). With a box I max at 365 (no belt). Both are low bar with 2.5 lb plates under my heels. My squats look and feel better with my heels slightly elevated. Need to get Oly shoes.

  43. Recovery from mono is going well, I did some cycling and played hockey. If all goes well, I’ll start lifting again July 2. Will be talking to my coach about a powerlifting program

  44. I was able to complete a whole week’s workouts feeling strong, my back injury is healed! I mobed every day, and hit some conditioning twice.

    Vegetables? I eat them all the time. Favourite breakfast is a protein shake and a bag of carrots. Easy to eat at my desk!

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