|
Posted on Sunday, September 09, 2012 11:17 PM
I just replied to a post on a popular Forum with a program which will, in my opinion, get someone stronger. It's not a rocket science program; essentially, it's three weeks of lifting hard followed by a week of taking it easy. But I told the guy that his real problem is strength; any 215 pound man who can only squat 300 pounds needs to get stronger.
WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT McKenna, what are you talking about? 300 pounds is a lot of weight.
No, really, it isn't. And yes, I know that I have a distorted idea of weight and strength. |
|
|
Posted on Thursday, July 19, 2012 2:28 PM
In order to succeed in lifting, you need to lift. Maybe you need to do sprints, maybe you need to stretch and foam roll, but stretching and running alone won;t make you a decent lifter. To be a decent lifter, you must lift, and lifting three, four, five, 10 times a week is often a grind. The grind leads to boredom and staleness for many and so they avoid it with herky-jerky exercises where puking is the goal; for others, the grind is a deeply spriritual experience and you look forward to it daily and view it as a source of inspiration and meditation. |
|
|
Posted on Tuesday, April 03, 2012 11:23 AM
Back in the 1990s, a friend of mine talked to me about the Russian Squat Cycle. He said it would add pounds to your Squat if you did it correctly, and he swore by it. But, he then added, he did the program based off a max less than what he could squat.
*Incredulous stare*
Dude, how can a program work if you don't follow the program?
I've also heard of many people modifying the Russian or Smolov Squat program by stretching it out and doing it over an extended time period. |
|
|
Posted on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 4:38 PM
Okay, so once we know we can squat, what do I do and teach? There are three basic squat variations we do in the gym with a barbell: Back Squat, Front Squat, and Overhead Squat.
Since we don't need to rehash all that material yet, let's talk about the back squat today. In my opinion, three different types of back squats exist in the training world: The Powerlifting Back Squat, the low bar back squat, and the high bar back squat. |
|
|
Posted on Sunday, November 27, 2011 8:13 PM
One of the long term topics I've wanted to write on is squats. I love squatting, and I have many thoughts on the subject. I've squatted often, a lot of weight, high reps, low reps, etc. Here are a few of the basics in which I believe:
- Squatting is necessary in a program
- deeper is better
- light is just as import as heavy
- minimal assistance gear
Any good program has squats in it. Any personal trainer, coach, whomever who doesn't have people squat is a joke of a trainer. This doesn't mean that people have to high bar back squat for 5x5; but the squatting movement is the foundation for everything else in a training program (in my opinion). |
|
|
Posted on Thursday, October 20, 2011 10:24 AM
I'd like to take the time today to talk about two women from the gym. Lisa T. and Caprice T. (no relation) are both in their 40s and started working out with me in 2010 in the original Strength Training for Women class. Neither had ever lifted weights before, and each came in with different physical problems. Lisa's was her back pain; Caprice had some pretty serious mobility issues. In the last two years, both have gained strength, confidence, and transformed themselves into competitors. |
|
|
Posted on Sunday, September 25, 2011 8:55 PM
A buddy of mine, who is an okay Olympic lifter, posted a video of his friend overhead squatting. That video is why I'm writing this post; I hope you read this guys. In order to avoid many basic questions about the overhead squat and why it rocks, please read this article before reading todays blog post:
http://danjohn.net/the-overhead-squat-article/
I always- always- evaluate beginners with the overhead squat. It tells me about people and what they can do. Sometimes, though, people need more remediation before even putting a broomstick overhead; in these cases, I know that when they can do an OHSQ competently, program difficulty can increase significantly. |
|
