Greetings lovely readers. I hope you had a jolly week. It’s PR Friday, so share your weekly PR’s and training updates. Today I want to hear what mobility concerns you have. In other words, what structures/joints do you need to work on the most?
Also, we will continue yesterday’s poll. If you already voted, please refrain from doing so.
[poll id=”36″]
This week started with a short video on Push-up cues that can specifically help females augment their strength training within the confines of a good externally rotated shoulder position. We then discussed what I call “Antagonistic Motivation” to provide long-term motivation in a program. On Wednesday we discussed the importance of keeping a good training log and Thursday we explained and discussed pulling styles in Olympic weightlifting.
The poll above will give some insight as to what style of training 70’s Big readers are distributed into. Weightlifters will be particularly interested in today’s topic while non-weightlifters will think it’s irrelevant, moot, or not understand it. I hope that the short analysis and discussion will spark some conversation related to mechanics as well as help the non-weightlifting crowd understand why the discussion exists.
Background
In a snatch or a clean, the barbell is pulled from the floor and moved upward because of the symphony of explosion from the knees and hips. The movements are more sensitive to technical changes that affect the mechanics, more so than strength lifts like the deadlift or press. This doesn’t mean weightlifting is on a pedestal with respect to powerlifting, it just means it’s very different. As with most sports, technique has evolved over time to improve efficiency, and this is evidenced by the progressive increase of world records over time (link shows WR total in “heavyweight” category 1972 to present).
The United States is so large and weightlifting is such a relatively small sport here that there is not a solidified way to teach mechanics. One would assume that the governing body, USA Weightlifting, would dictate the style of teaching, coaching, programming, and mechanics, but in practice this isn’t the case. Other countries that are successful in weightlifting will have a given system that they utilize, and discrepancies are either invalidated with research or results. Some systems of coaching or programming that come to mind are Bulgarian, Russian, and Chinese.
Keeping a training log is incredibly important for all athletes, but especially for a strength trainee. Athletes and bodybuilders need to record their progress, yet athletes often do what they’re told and bodybuilders run a style of programming for a while and gauge progress by pictures. But for the strength trainee, numbers mean everything. If you lift more this week than you did a year ago, then you are obviously stronger. A training log easily quantifies progress and removes speculation and confusion. If you don’t keep a training log, then this post should convince you to do so. If you already keep one, this post may give you some additional variables to record or some ideas on how to organize the log itself.
What To Use
Any notebook will do, but notebooks without spirals will hold together. Composition books works really well, but they can still fall apart. Use duct or electrical tape to hold them together over the years and avoid turning the covers inside out. Chris has been using the same spiral notebook for several years, and it looks like he’s had it since fifth grade. The front cover is completely ripped off, but he keeps it on top as if it were still attached. The papers are loose, but some how he keeps it together enough where he can reference his training sessions (I’ve requested a picture). I don’t recommend this. Below are two types of notebooks that will hold up better:
The one on the left is a standard composition book, but with a leathery cover. The one on the right is a military field notebook; it was free and the cover is hard back and will hold up for a while. You can use whatever you want to, but I suggest picking something that will hold up for at least two years. My composition notebook above was used for at least 2.5 years.
Why do you train? Do you want to get stronger? Faster? Fit or healthy? Do you aim to compete in a particular sport like powerlifting, weightlifting, or catfish noodling? Wanting to get jehcked is good. Striving to get better in a sport is good. But, I ask you…what is best in life?
So true. Let me ask you another question. When you step into the gym each training session, are you seething? Are you rabid? Are you shaking with hatred, wanting to kick the SHIT out of somebody or some…thing? No, you will never tap into your full power, young padawan. To develop your full destructive capabilities, you must know hate.
If your mom told you that you weren’t supposed to hate, it shouldn’t be hard to remember that your mom doesn’t deadlift 500 pounds. Your preacher can’t press 225 and your grandma can’t squat herself off the toilet. This isn’t a game. This is competition.
My friend Brent has used this mentality ever since I’ve known him. His unassuming method is to observe all kinds of lifters, coaches, and trainees on the internet. Inevitably there will be a good chunk of them who act like dickheads. They may even be stronger than him. And if they are, then beware. Brent’s hatred runs deep, right into the marrow of his bones. Instead of aiming vitriol at his targets, he files it in his brain’s Hate File. The Hate File is a rolodex of names, faces, videos, and…targets. I’ve learned that Brent will sit seemingly calm waiting for his next rep in training. But what’s going on is a whirlwind of accusations and speculation that results in a furious attempt.
So-and-so doesn’t think I’m an athlete.
Fuck-face is squatting more than this right now.
Piece-of-shit is totalling 90% of me…I need to do much more…to EMBARRASS HIM.
Brent not only wants to be better than those he hates, he wants to annihilate them. But he’s not in a hurry. He knows that for some of his tangos, it will take time. And that’s why he places their file gently in his mind, thumbing it every so often to give himself a paper cut that reminds himself why he trains his dick off every day.
This. This is only one way to create Antagonistic Motivation. Strife, anger, and — god forbid — challenge are avoided in today’s society. What enemy can you find or create to challenge you to be better? When I was in high school, my early methods of spiking adrenaline consisted of imagining that a fullback was coming to block me in an iso. An “iso” is a football term for when the full back runs directly at the linebacker (me) to block him with the running back directly behind him. It’s a play dependent on the guts of the fullback and linebacker; who will deliver the bigger hit? Who will blow the other person up to make a play. I would think about this direct challenge to my honor right before squatting. I would routinely squat 425 to 445 for sets of five…beltless and in running shoes.
Is there a specific person or competitor that you will face in the future? Is there a hypothetical fiend on the enemy team who is aiming to make you fail? There is a quote that has percolated around the Special Operations community that reminds trainees of their true threat:
Somewhere a True Believer is training to kill you. He is training with minimal food or water, in austere conditions, training day and night. The only thing clean on him is his weapon and he made his web gear. He doesn’t worry about what workout to do – his ruck weighs what it weighs, his runs end when the enemy stops chasing him. This True Believer is not concerned about ‘how hard it is;’ he knows either he wins or dies. He doesn’t go home at 17:00, he is home.
He knows only The Cause.
Still want to quit?
If you can’t bring yourself to hate, then personify the reason you should be training. In this case, a failure to put full effort into training can result in death, dismemberment, or torture in not only one’s self, but friends. There is no higher antagonistic motivation than knowing that your success effects the lives of other people.
Observe these strategies of Antagonistic Motivation and force a bout of introspection to figure out what you can put yourself against. You’re a desk jockey with no real life threatening challenge? Put yourself in situations of challenge. Aim to medal in your weight class at your next meet. Every day when you walk in the gym, think about how the guys in your weight class are training just as hard, if not harder than you. While they may be at a higher or lower level than you, you ignore those excuses. Instead, focus on your opponent, your challenger…your enemy. Will you let him train harder than you today? Will you let him beat you? You better fucking not.
Here are a few push-up cues to use. Push-ups are important for females because they can significantly enhance the strength of the related musculature (anterior shoulder — delts/pecs — and triceps) which will augment the press and bench. They have more of an effect on girls within their first year or so of training, on taller or long-limbed girls, or girls with a weak upper body. Push-ups, of course, would be used in conjunction with strength training movements like the press, bench, and push-press (dips too, but if the push-ups aren’t great, chances are the dips aren’t possible).
Primary passive/positional cues:
– First finger at 11 & 1
– Hands flat
– Chest up
Primary active cues:
– “Elbows over wrists”
or
– “Elbows to ribs”
