I'm Back

I know it's been quite a while since my last post; long story, but the gist of it is I got a new laptop. So be prepared for more posts and information in the days ahead.

Be a Student of the Game

I was watching the US Open the other day and as I watched Tiger Wood's swing it reminded me of something I read a long time ago: if you want to get really good at something, become a student of it. That is find everything you can about that subject (books, videos, role models, etc.) and absorb it.
What does Tiger's swing have to with weightlifting and this post? It's serves as a warning to be careful of whom you emulate. Fundamentally speaking, Tiger's swing sucks. It is not what one would describe as perfect, but it works for him.
Say you want to learn golf and you watch video after video of Tiger's swing and then you go to the driving range and try to emulate what you've seen. How do you think that session would go? My guess is not well.
As far as weightlifting goes look for lifter who are similar to you in body type. If I have long levers (arms and legs) is it going to be really beneficial to me to watch stocky lifters?
It's fine to have idols, but be careful to study lifters that are similar to you and not the ones that just lift a ton (save those for motivation). Learn the "proper way" first than adapt it to how you lift.

PURPOSE!

"A soldier who only has legs, he gets tired." That was the response from a Chinese soldier in the 1930's when asked what kept the army marching for long stretches. It means that when a man has purpose (or in the case of the soldier why he's walking from point A to B) it gives him more strength or a boost. What effect does this have on weightlifting, or anything else for that matter? People work harder when they have a reason behind it. In Geoff Colvin's book Talent is Overrated he talks about deliberate practice or doing things with reason. How many times have you walked into the gym with a program you got from a magazine or online? You probably saw some results, but did you really know the reason behind those programs? Probably not.
Know where you want to go. Novices see letters, the good see words, while the best see meaning in those words. See the meaning behind the work you do.

23:1 Rule.

"It is a favorite belief of mine that no student ever attains very eminent success by simply doing what is required of him; it is the amount and excellence of what is over and above the required, that determines the greatness of ultimate distinction.", Educator Charles Kendall Adams. That is a fairly apt summation of the 23:1 rule. What are you doing outside of the gym to perform better inside the gym? 

I first heard of the 23:1 rule while attending my first CrossFit certification. The theory is that there are 24 hours in  a day. Most CrossFitters spend about one hour in the gym. That leaves 23 hours to screw up all the gains you made in that hour. It does no good to bust your tail in the gym and then go out and eat HoHo's (no matter how delicious they may be) and McDonald's for your meals.

If you know you have a weakness (like posture or adductors) work on that daily. My weakness is grip strength. I have a couple of choices on how to work this. I can either, 1) spend part of the "hour" (one my weightlifting days I might spend a lot more than one hour in the gym), or I can, 2) work on it throughout the day. I chose 2. I bought a grip device that I take to work and work on my grip strength throughout the day. Maybe your weakness is your posture. You can work that very easily. Sit up straight while you're at your desk. Don't have a desk job? Work on it while you drive (or commute if you don't drive). Don't make excuses not to, find reasons to. 

"Don't pray for an easy life. Work to be stronger men."

Watch What You're Doing

Technique, technique, technique! So important I said it thrice. Proper technique ensures efficiency, safety,  and proper imprinting on the nervous system. It would be very difficult for me to try to teach proper technique of the classic lifts on a blog, but I can tell you where to look and why.
Head position plays a vital role in proper technique and overall posture. Thrusting the head forward initiates forward momentum while throwing it backward initiates rearward movement. That helps us out a little in weightlifting, but how does it really effect movements? We teach a neutral head position in the starting positions (cue would be look at a spot on the ground four feet in front of you) because flexion of the neck (looking up at the ceiling say) causes a relaxation of the erector muscles of the back. Conversely, exaggerated extension  (looking down at your feet) might cause a arching of the lower back which, needless to say, would place the lifter at a bio-mechanically disadvantageous position. Placing the head in such a manner to facilitate the lumbar spine being in placed in a neutral position is ideal.
Perfecting the classical lifts (snatch, clean and jerk) are hard enough as it is, but the lifter must also focus on proper head  position at different stages of the lifts. Rotating the head can cause the spine to rotate. Titling the head too soon while pulling from the ground can cause the bar to fly too far away from the body. While looking up at the bar at the bottom position of the snatch or over-head-squat can cause the lifter to fall backward.
Watch what you're doing. Not really. "Action of the eyes is closely related to action of the head, so it is essential to facilitate correct body or limb posture by using the eyes to guide the head into position which is most appropriate for each stage of a given movement. Generally, the neutral spine position is maintained most easily if the eyes are looking almost directly ahead and fixed on a distant object." (Supertraining  by Verkoshansky and Siff)  Fix the eyes to keep the head neutral to keep the spine neutral.
A drill to help this (and a good drill overall) is to pick a spot on which to focus then close the eyes. This will also enable the lifter to have better awareness of where the body is in space at different stages of the lift.

Practice Makes Perfect

Visualization, mental readying, focusing call it what you like, but the relationship between mind and body cannot be ignored. We've probably all heard that old saying that "practice makes perfect" or "perfect practice makes perfect", but I submit to you that "Mental and physical practice makes perfect". Let's focus in on mental readying (which fits the discussion). If we want to get good at something we need to wrap our minds around it. No one was perfect the first time they tried something ( basketball for example). Through practice and watching "film" (either games on TV or in real life) we learned movement patterns from our favorite players. How many kids started hanging their tongues out after watching Michael Jordan do it? And not just that, but they studied his style of play and started to emulate his actions. We can do the same thing for weightlifting. In this day and age of the of the information superhighway it's easy to find video of your favorite weightlifter to watch. Watch their style, their movement, and their technique. Watch someone with a similar body style. It wouldn't be quite as effective for a superheavy weight to try to emulate the style of "Pocket Hercules". 

Become a student of the sport. Watch video and then replay that video in your head the next time you head to the gym. 

Watch it, think it, do it.

Box Squats

What is the Law of Accommodations? In laymen's terms it means that doing too much of one thing will get you nowhere. We, as humans, are highly adaptable to our environment. Sometimes we need to shake things up in order to progress and move forward. Box squatting can be one method to rattle the tree.
So how do we box squat? Sit back, knees out, back arched, and head up. Ok, that was overly simplistic, but not really. When learning to box squat build from the bottom up, In this case the bottom being the lower body. We want to take a wide (a lot wider than shoulder width) stance and move the hips first and back so that we end up sitting on the box in a position that will allow the shins to be perpendicular to the ground (or slightly behind the heels if we're focusing on Glute/Ham strength). The knees are pushed outward and track over the feet. The back is arched and the head is neutral (looking straight ahead or slightly up). Pause at the bottom for a second or two and relax the hips, but nothing else. Then explode out of the hole by flexing hard with the hammies like you're performing a leg curl. Think "spread the ground apart" with the feet and knees instead of applying pressure straight into the ground. See, easy.
Don't get too hung up on the details. The bar should be place on the shoulders where it is "comfortable". If the bar is in an uncomfortable place for the lifter it will throw them off. The depth of the box will be based on the flexibility of the lifter. Ideally it will be 1-2 inches below parallel. Fill the abdomen with air (belly breath) before the start of the movement and hold it until you're standing again.
Keep repetitions and weight low while the sets can be higher. We're looking to improve explosive strength by moving the bar quickly. Once the bar stops moving quickly (either through too many reps or too much weight) we're wasting our time.
If done right (as with most things in life) box squatting is safe. One last thing to remember: most people sit on the toilet with better form than they squat with.