bench, squat notes from coach

notes from coach:

-----Original Message----- 

 From: meg holliday

To: urbankstrengthteam

Sent: Wed, Feb 19, 2014 8:31 pm

Subject: Hip stretches 

Hey Lindsey, 

Any stretches you particularly like for someone with tight hip felxors? My right is really bad right now, worse its ever been. Also, my left i.t. band is pretty tight lately, should I just stick to rolling it out? 

Thanks!Meg

On Feb 21, 2014, at 6:53 AM, urbankstrengthteam wrote: 

For hip flexors I do leg swings and lunges with a pelvic tilt. Vince has very tight hips and likes to foam roll them, and lunge on a bench supporting his upper body on the barbell.
Pigeon pose is a fairly good it band stretch; keep foam rolling it, have you tried using a tennis ball on it?

-----Original Message-----

From: meg holliday

To: urbankstrengthteam

Sent: Fri, Feb 21, 2014 10:58 am

Subject: Re: Hip stretches 

I have gotten into my i.t. band with tennis and lax balls before... so tight these days, that the thought of doing that makes me wanna vomit. 

I recorded a bunch of sets from tues training (link below). Do I pause long enough for the pause squats?  And I've been benching on my toes to get the arch, but in NASA, I have to go flat footed. If I can get this hip stretched back to life, I don't thiiiink that'll be a problem...???? 

http://youtu.be/0nPZfmDWZy8 

---

To: teeny-wahine

Subject: Re: Hip stretches

From: urbankstrengthteam

Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2014 12:33:02 -0500 

If you have bands you could try doing some muscle flossing or doing some light exercise or dynamic stretching before static stretching. I'd also suggest a heat compress or hot tub/shower, followed by manual massage, stretching, and foam rolling this will ensure that your muscles are more relaxed and pliable before hand.

Are you benching in your oly shoes? You may also want to take a few extra sets with the bar during warm ups or back bends to stretch your hips and back. Guys have to warm up their hips and legs for squat, we need to warm up our back and hips for benching. 

A few questions on squat. Do you have wrist wraps? Do you normally squat in chucks or oly shoes?

Try to do your warm ups to the same pace and depth you will do your heavier sets (i.e. just below parallel). You want everything to be as much the same as possible and practice the way you will perform. This is a video of Vince squatting 135 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg4c1WbKPkI (although the video is a little jumpy, damn webcam), you can see he is consciously loading up his hamstrings on the eccentric portion of the lift. This allows the hamstrings to build and store tension, and also helps stabilize the knees. If there is too quick of a descent, the hamstrings will be come inactivated, and then have to become reactivated again, this tends to cause the torso to lean forward. 

The 190 rep on squat was good, but it was a bit of a grinder; in the future, if you have a grinder don't go up in weight. Lifts should be practiced explosively to build speed. If you need to grind in a meet that's totally fine; do what you gotta do to get your lifts and PR's; but in practice it's your environment and you call the shots, make it as advantageous for yourself as possible.

The bench form looks good. Good pace, soft touch on the chest (no heavy hits or bouncing). If you aren't already; grab the bar HARD when you lift and try to bend the bar as if you were going to turn it into a horse-shoe, everything from your forearms to your calves should be tight on bench (it is literally the most uncomfotrable lift known to mankind, and the entire point of finishing the lift is getting out of that position quickly, lol). You may also want to try an alternate set up from time to time, it is brutal on the hips but  it may help you stretch, http://youtu.be/jqtEguPxzlo . It puts your in more of a back bend position, where your but barely touches the bench but can't pop off the bench because you would have to arch more (which is nearly impossible, and I actually have to use the weight to some degree to push my butt down to touch the bench).

Yes the pause on the pause squats in long enough,  you just want to reach a point of motionlessness, maintain hamstring and glute tension and reverse the motion. On these, you'll want to be squatting to just below parallel as well, it's a more optimal range for muscle power (when a muscle is fully stretched it cannot generate as much power).

On floor press, try to descend the last inch or two a little slower, so you touch more softly with your elbows, it will help maintain tension in your upper back, which you can turn around and use as power in the press.

---

To: teeny-wahine

Subject: Re: Hip stretches

From: urbankstrengthteam

Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2014 12:34:39 -0500 

Another quick blip on squats, try wearing your belt a little lower and make sure you are taking a deep breath and pushing your belly out for every rep.  

-----Original Message-----

From: meg holliday

To: urbankstrengthteam

Sent: Fri, Feb 21, 2014 12:50 pm

Subject: RE: Hip stretches 

I bench and squat in sneakers (vans, chucks, whatever...).  high bar back squat I've always done in oly shoes.  I've never even tried low bar in oly shoes.  and I have wrist wraps, but have only ever used them doing high rep bench, never for squats.  should I be trying oly shoes and wrist wraps? 

so many good notes on squats; all make great sense to me!

To: teeny-wahine

Subject: Re: Hip stretches

From: urbankstrengthteam

Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2014 14:38:45 -0500 

Yes, try wrist wraps and oly shoes next week. You can even bench in your oly shoes if you want to try that, when I bench flat footed I prefer to wear my oly shoes, I strongly prefer oly shoes for all squatting (save maybe a few variations like cambered bar or SSB).