Lessons the Shirt Taught Me
Things got real weird on Friday night training with Ryan. What was scheduled to be a regular heavy bench session turned into my first time putting on a bench shirt. I have helped Ryan with his powerlifting gear many times before, but I've never really experienced first-hand how it feels to be in a squat suit or a bench shirt. Lesson #1: It's Not Comfortable
I learned very quickly that it doesn't feel too awesome being in the shirt. Getting it on was a pain, but I knew that was coming. I was used to being the guy on the other side of the shirt trying to force the shirt onto another human being, so I expected some discomfort. Luckily however, it was Ryan's old single-ply shirt and his enormous gunzzz stretched out the sleeves pretty nicely, making it a relatively smooth process to put it on. By the time we got the shirt on and got the sleeves and seams exactly where we wanted them I already wanted to take it off. It's super tight and forces you into a weird mummy-like position with your arms dangling out in front of you. You can't really do much about this situation until the shirt comes off.
I found myself rushing the rest periods between sets because I was more focused on getting the final set over with so I could take the evil thing off.
Lesson #2 I Couldn't Keep My Arch
The arched back seen in bench pressing is often demonized as being a flaw in technique or disadvantageous when trying to target the pecs. Whatever. I use an arch when benching because it helps to keep me tight on the bench, allows for better leg drive and provides better leverage overall to perform the lift. When benching "raw", I feel pretty confident about my arch, and I can keep it tight during the entirety of the lift. When benching in the shirt, however, I found myself losing my arch midway through the descending portion of the lift. This leads me to lesson #3...
Lesson #3 My Upper Back Is WEAK!
The shirt exposed my deep dark secret that my upper back is not up to par. When bench pressing in gear, the bar will not come down to your chest without a fight. You literally have to PULL the bar down while forcing yourself to maintain a proper arch. This takes some serious upper and mid back strength that I just didn't have. I could feel my arch collapsing and my once tightly packed shoulders becoming... not so tightly packed. Even when benching raw I always remember the cues to "row the bar down with the lats" and "keep the upper back tight," and I felt that I understood. The shirt let me know that what I originally thought was "tight enough" was an epic fail waiting to happen.
Although the shirt made me feel like a total n00b I walked away from the session with a lot to think about and a lot learned about my bench technique. I probably got some pretty good "overload" stimulation from the heavier weights that the shirt enabled me to use as well. Until next time, I'll just keep hammering away at heavy rows and pull-ups.
For your entertainment, here are a couple videos from the Friday night bench party.
Description vs. Evaluation
Last week I was in Atlanta at the 2012 AASP (Association for Applied Sport Psychology) Conference. At the conference a presenter talked about the difference between description and evaluation. In sport, we often confuse descriptions with evaluations, which can impact where we direct our attention. Let me explain.
A basketball hoop can be described as being 10 feet tall, with a white net, and an orange rim. That’s what it is. It’s a clear description. Factual. When we describe we speak with certainty of what we see, but not necessarily how we feel.
An evaluation is based more on feelings. We evaluate and create opinions of how we think things will go in the future, or how they went in the past. Evaluations are opinions that lead to rankings, predictions, and analysis, but those aren’t facts. For example, I used to have an NBA draft website where I evaluated how prospects would transition to the NBA. Those evaluations were solely based on opinions, and trust me, I was wrong plenty with my evaluations.
Sports have become extremely evaluation based. Everyone wants to know which team is the favorite, who is the #1 seed, and who is the next great athlete. But, those aren’t facts, they’re simply how people evaluate the current situation. If sports were played simply based on evaluation they wouldn’t need to be played at all.
It’s important to be able to describe who you are. Be you and be that well. Even more importantly, as a team, make sure to direct attention to descriptions and leave the evaluations to the pundits.
SAPT Exercise of the Week: Over Hurdle Jump to Falling Start
Note: I leave for a backpacking trip to Europe in a few days (returning October 29th) so this will unfortunately be my last post for a couple weeks. Hang tight, and see you all when I get back!
The falling start is a fairly ubiquitous drill in the strength and conditioning sphere, and for good reason. It creates a fantastic way to train the acceleration phase of the sprint, helping the athlete create momentum via forward lean, and can be employed with very short distances (15 yards or less) to reduce the risk of injury in the early phases of sport preparation.
I won't belabor the point any further, however, as I wrote an entire post on the falling start HERE.
We can progress the falling start through a variety of modalities, either utilizing offshoots of the specific drill itself, or moving on to a different drill entirely (ex. a Rollover to Sprint or a Side Shuffle to Sprint).
One of my favorite ways to progress the falling start is to preface the "fall" portion of the drill with eccentric muscle contraction and subsequent force absorption. This, provided the athlete does it correctly, will lay the groundwork for better-stored elastic energy and augment the individual's concentric strength.
How does one do such things, you ask?
Utilize an altitude drop or hurdle jump variation immediately before the falling start. These will force the athlete to demonstrate dynamic stability, on top of "priming" the muscle spindles prior to the sprint.
Hurdle Jump and Stick to Falling Start
As you can see, you'll simply jump over an object (short or tall), stick the landing, stand up, and then immediately move into a falling start.
A regression to this drill would be to have the athlete perform a Level 1 or 2 altitude drop (less eccentric control required here), stick the landing, then sprint. Either that, or you could simply stand on the ground and perform a "hop-back" into a falling start.
A progression could be applied a few ways:
A) Instead of pausing after the jump (as I did in the video), immediately transition into the falling start.
B) Vary the jump prior to the sprint. This could be accomplished through assorted tumbling drills before the jump, or varying the landing stances of the athlete. No need to get super wild with these, however; simple will be best.
C) Wear a superhero costume, pretending you're leaping over tall buildings and chasing down evil villains.
How To Incorporate It Into Your Program
Four primary ways I like to do this:
- Perform all the sets in a row on an "upper body" focused day, resting a few minutes between every two to three sprints.
- Do them on a lower body day, but complete only HALF of your total number of sets (say, two of four, or three of six), prior to your resistance training, and then finish the remainder of the sets toward the end of the session.
- Utilize a "throughout the session" method. Choose a number of sets x reps (e.g. 5x2) and intersperse them throughout the day as you see fit. For example: do two sprints after your warm-up, two more sprints during your warm-up sets of squats, two sprints in between sets of accessory work, etc. etc. etc.
- Do them on a day completely separated from the resistance training.
I recommend erring on the side of 2-3 "reps" of 10-15 yards per set, ensuring that you're taking your time walking back to the starting line.
SMR: Self-Myofacial Release, Magic Without a Wand
For us Muggles, a foam roller is more effective than a wand.
Yes, SMR is more important than a wand is to Harry Potter. Why? The short answer is we have a lot of gunky junk in our muscles that are impeding movements and causing aches and pains. And who wants to feel like a bag of junk?
Those in the fitness-know-how have probably heard of self-myofacial release (SMR) or at least have seen foam rollers lying around a lot of gyms (or, if you're us, lying around the house). A little rolling here and there does magical things for the body! One can instantly feel the difference even after only one time on that foam roller. What is this witchcraft? Let us delve into the magical world of SMR.
What SMR does NOT do:
- Lengthen tissue/muscle- you'll hear this occasionally and SMR does NOT lengthen the tissues because a) the joint position doesn't change b) the SMR modality (aka foam roller) applies compression at a 90 degree angle to the muscle. Unless force is applied more along the length of the muscle, no lengthening will occur.
- Allow more fluid to the muscle- what? SMR is not open a flood gate of fluid to rush into the muscle.
SMR does not equal flood of Isengard
What SMR DOES do:
- Releases tension in the muscles. How does it do that? Let's say there is a knot in the muscle (ball of fail, junk, gunk... pick you favorite term) and you sit on a foam roller or lacrosse ball and apply pressure to the knot.This provokes the ball-of-fail enough to cause it to release the tension. Kinda like a pesky little brother, he pokes you in the shoulder (SMR modality) until you finally explode out of annoyance (release tension).
How does that happen?
Our muscles are encapsulated in a tissued called fascia (there are SO many trails and tangents I could go on regarding fascia, but we'll stick with this for now). The fascia has little receptors (rufini corpuscles and pacini receptors for those who want to know stuff like that, they sound like Italian food.) that generate and relieve tension in a slow, deliberate pace.
*Side note* Our muscles also have similar receptors, the golgi tendon apparatus and muscle spindles, that react much more quickly to changes in length and tension in the muscle. For example, when the doc tests your reflexes by tapping on your knee, what he's doing is stretching the tendon quickly, which causes the muscle spindles in the quad to react, a signal is sent to the brain and the quad contracts (thus extending the knee a bit). It's actually really cool.
Anyway, these slower receptors also have neural components that govern them. What foam rolling does is short-circuit the neural components and the fascia-imbedded receptors (usually) freak out, shut down and take the tension with them.
Since they're slow-acting receptors then we need to foam roll/use a lax ball s-l-o-w-l-y. Hang out on those junky spots and you should feel them release a bit, then you can move one. Check back on Friday for Part 2 and I'll have some videos of how to roll the various body parts.
Until then, just sit on a lacrosse ball. Your glutes will thank me.
Our New Coach & The Double Knee Bend
Our New Coach
I'm pleased to welcome SAPT's newest coach, Tadashi, to our staff! Tadashi interned with us last spring, then went on to the University of Maryland for another internship, and is now on our staff permanently!
From the word "Go," Tadashi established himself as a coach with an excellent eye for detail and a passion for the field. Please help us welcome him to the blog and the training floor over the next several weeks!
The Double Knee Bend
Have you ever wondered about the elusive double knee bend in the clean? Well, if you want to see what it is, check out my video below. I've attempted to breakdown the footage to illustrate how the legs straighten, then re-bend right before the second phase of the pull. (Bear with me on the video... I just got this program and I'm not super smooth with it yet.)
Some people say the double knee bend cannot be taught... that you either have it or you don't. I can't say I necessarily agree with that, as I was taught to execute it in this fashion. Regardless, this technical point is so fine and specific that it is a PRIMARY reason why some strength coaches (like those of us at SAPT) choose to explore other variations of triple extension and speed/power work well before we would implement a clean or any of its variations.
And, please, if we have any champion internet coaches reading this post... I know my form is not picture perfect, you don't need to tell me!
I Love My Fear
One of my favorite quotes is from Dave Tate. He said, “Real fear makes men do amazing things they would never do without it.” I’ve done a lot of reflecting over the past couple of weeks and what Dave said has really stuck with me. As I lead my life in other directions I look forward to but also fear the future. I fear falling into “that’s just the way it is” mindset, I fear defeat, I fear feeling I put myself in a situation where I can’t make a difference, I fear that I’m leaving a one-of-a-kind place. But just as Tate says, I love my fear. Is that weird that I feel that way? Is it weird to say that yes, I do love my fear. If I was just a normal person who had never set foot in SAPT’s doors then maybe it would be. However, as I leave SAPT I feel ready and able to embrace my fears. Reflecting back on the years at SAPT I remember vividly entering the facility for the first time and being in awe. I was in awe of the work ethic, the drive, the training, the coaching, it was all amazingly overwhelming. I felt like I couldn’t hang with any of them; the coaches, the athletes and clients, they were all above me. What could I offer these people? As I’ve gone on these past couple of years those fears have gone away; I’ve become a good coach and an even better man for being at SAPT. The coaches who I now call family and the athletes and clients I’ve worked with have made me understand that if you embrace your fears you can make a difference. I don’t know if the coaches and people of SAPT understand just how important they’ve been in making me the person I am but I hope they do. I hope they realize how thankful I am to all of them for everything they’ve given me. Leaving SAPT is extremely hard for me and I want everyone to know that I am eternally grateful and I truly wish you all nothing but the best life has to offer.
As I said before I fear the future, I fear falling into “that’s just the way it is” mindset, I fear defeat, I fear feeling I put myself in a situation where I can’t make a difference, I fear that I’m leaving a one-of-a-kind place. However, in reflection I’ve come to understand that I am not truly leaving SAPT because SAPT is not something you leave. Once you’ve been there it becomes a part of you and it is a place that will be with me always. With all this said if there is one thing the people and coaches of SAPT have taught me it’s that, you have to love your fear.
