I added this seminar to my list about a week before flying out as I only found it last minute. Whilst not cheapest of seminars, the coaching points alone have made it a worthy experience and I highly recommend it to anyone who's contemplating it.
The seminar spans 3 days. Day 1 was a Friday night and was 5-9pm (so as not to disturb anyone’s work schedule) in South Brooklyn, NY. Keeping up with my regular 'late arrival style', I arrived an hour late - I had immense difficulty finding the gym, but apparently didn’t miss too much. Day 1 consisted of lecture only, concerning coaching points, why and how we need to get stronger, basic biomechanics and how the biomechanics can then be put into performing a technically perfect squat.
Day 2 began with the coaching and learning of the squat, followed by the deadlift and then the press.
Day 3 followed with the power clean, bench press, programming and Q&A with Coach Rip.
Day 1 – Introduction
3 crucially important points for training to get get stronger:
1) Recruit as much muscle mass as possible
2) Use the largest range of movement with the greatest efficiency
3) Use the heaviest weights possible.
We learnt all the basic biomechanics to gain a full understanding of the above points, including the use of words such as 'force', 'acceleration', 'moment arm', 'sarcomere' and a load of other words I don't think I've used since I was revising in Uni.
However, what made this better than my previous biomechanics lectures was A) this was directly applied to the squat and how the squat could be set up and performed in a way that was the most efficient for the lifter, which is always nice to know, and B) the guy giving the lecture was actually funny and fun to listen to
I won’t go into the complete details (considering Rippetoe wrote a book on the subject, I wouldn't even nearly be able to do it justice), but I’ll mention one thing that is relevant to all the lifts: The bar should move in a vertical path (or as close to vertical as possible) in all lifts. If the bar deters from a vertical path, it creates a new lever arm that causes the lifter to waste energy and no longer be lifting in the most efficient manner.
We learnt the difference between the high-bar and low-bar positions and the biomechanical differences between the front squat and the back squat.
Finally, we learnt the importance of being strong. In sports, it is the basis of all attributes to performance. In life, it makes you a better person.
Day 2
Squat
We began with a quick recap of the previous day followed by the exact technique that was expected of us. The squat is arguably the most important of all lifts, so it was taught first and had the most amount of time dedicated to it.
Rippetoe spent a considerable amount of time discussing the Valsalva manoeuvre and then pulled 3 research papers out of his folder (that he claims to carry with him everywhere he goes, because....well, why wouldn't you?) that completely smash the notion that the Valsalva manoeuvre is harmful.
In fact, according to the research (Haykowsky et al., 2003), it actually has protective properties that prevent cerebralvascular damage from being done. Rippetoe’s argument against the Valsalva manoeuvre causing strokes or aneurysms was that, if it did, then the carparks of powerlifting meets would be littered with the corpses of powerlifters, which they’re not.
He made a good point.
With all the lifts, a subject was pulled up in front of everyone and Rippetoe coached them through it, using his set of coaching points, which was available to all of us on a large whiteboard on the wall.
Following this, we were then put into groups of 5 and assigned a mentor, with each of us taking it in turns to coach one another. When it came to my turn to squat, I was in big trouble. Firstly, I was the only person in the room wearing trainers, which compromised my ability to squat with good mechanics. Secondly, we were using the low bar position, which I have never used before and I found it almost impossible (at first) to refrain from trying to maintain a vertical spine. Thirdly, as I had never used this position and apparently lack sufficient external rotation, my shoulders were nastily contorted in a way they never had been in before. As the weights increased, so did the discomfort
By the time I got to the working sets, the pain my shoulders were in was unbearable and it felt like they were going to dislocate. Because of this pain, I A) couldn’t concentrate on any of the other coaching points and B) couldn’t go as heavy as I’d have liked. In fact, the weight on the bar was downright embarrassing and I'm fortunate I didn't get any photos.
Following all of our warm-up sets, we had to perform a working set with a heavy(ish) weight in front of everyone in order for Rippetoe to critique our form. All I wanted to do was get the set done quickly for the benefit of my shoulders, so I don’t remember exactly what his comments were other than my shoes were inappropriate. According to my mentor, I had managed to self-correct my technique as well, which was a touch, because he thought I was heading for a big public disaster.
A couple of guys failed to squat deep for all of their reps. As they had done for the first couple, it showed they were more than capable of doing so. Rip then asked everyone what that meant. When no one responded he made a pretty crude gesture with his hands to symbolise that the man was in fact, a girl.
Key lesson - squat deep. Always.
During the second warm-up set - I ripped my pants. This scared everyone and they immediately stopped talking and telling me how terrible my form was as they thought I’d torn my hamstrings in half.
At least I was able to finish my set in peace.
Deadlift
This is where I began to shine. There were 5 steps to the deadlift. Approach the bar, hold the bar, bend your knees, raise chest but keep hips still and then lift. Simples.
Without meaning to blow my own trumpet, I found coaching the deadlift pretty easy (probably because my guy had good form) and was able execute it myself with great form.
My biggest issue for the deadlift was my trainers – the spongy heel prevented me from really driving my heels into the ground and as a result, my weight shifted forwards. However, my pulling technique was described as ‘perfect’ and considering some of the trainwrecks that were supposed to resemble deadlifts were by guys in weightlifting shoes, I didn't really care.
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| One of the word's authorities saying what a superb job I'm doing (except for the choice of footwear) |
An important point for the deadlift is to do ALL the warm-up sets with a pronated grip as this build grip strength, which is important for athletes. Since only 1 working set is generally required, that can be used with a mixed grip, or if tolerable, a hook grip, which is actually more preferable as it prevents the bar from rotating in the transverse plane, which can (and did for one unfortunate guy) happen with the mixed grip.
Press
Surprisingly, this was the most technical of all lifts, and the only one I really struggled with.
Since bar must move in a vertical path from the shoulders to above the head, it is necessary for the lifter to move their head out of the way until the bar has passed their forehead, then bring the head forward and underneath the bar.
This is where it got tricky. To begin the lift, you need to press the bar up as if you’re trying to hit yourself in the nose, then you need to lean back at the hips and quickly snap the whole body forward again once the bar is clear of the head. On the lowering phase, you need to lower quickly, and once again, aim to hit yourself in the nose. Right before the bar collides with your face, you need to lean back again. But, once the bar has been lowered, you need to immediately press it again and do the required movements of the body around the bar.
My issue was that I kept lowering the bar too slowly and then not staying in a leaning back position at the end of the movement, therefore I was wasting a lot of energy. I need to get back into the gym again sharpish and tidy this lift up....
On the plus side, my mentor 'Julie' found out I was soon heading to Connecticut and recommended a pizza place that got the thumbs up of all the other mentors.
To be continued.....
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