But I’m sure that here is a massive outbreak of the other pandemic, ILS (Imaginary Lat Syndrome).
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Absolutely, except we all have to wear eye masks because it’s such an awful sight
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Doing the olympic lifts alone. I lost lost of gains but i just really wanted to learn them because of Thibs so it didn’t matter to me I went to a public facility to train under a good coach who was formerly a 3rd tier coach from China.
Although I got really good and strong at them, I also found out the sad reality that some people just can’t do the full lifts because of the ratio of their limb lengths(can’t remember the word for this) UNLESS they were born with way above average flexibility. I could only do the power version for them.
But I lost lots of gains, both in size and strength even though I was using pretty heavy shit after a couple of months. Only my traps maintained their size. My deadlift dropped the worst. 150lbs.
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When you say just olympics lifting, were you also doing a lot of the standard assistance exercise for O-lifts like your squats and presses, or was it literally just snatch, clean, jerk and derivatives?
This would not fall under kill my gains but what I wished i hadn’t taken out of the mix.
Behind the neck press… after one of my long hibernation phases from lifting. I bought into the sudden trend that they were of the devil.
Dips… because old Louie didn’t like them and felt they were dangerous at one point especially in older lifters
Both movements were bread and butter movements in my younger days.
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This, but not to failure for squats. Mostly technique practice because I was a complete noob and was treated as one. Was initially put in a class full of children and they laughed at me because I couldn’t do squats with without a raised heel with only a broomstick lol. That’s how inflexible I am.
And, as a side topic, 3rd World Squats do BALLS for flexibility. It’s just stupid to use it for anything else other than a warm up. I sometimes used to EAT and watch TV in a squatting position with the back of my feet in the air and my bodyweight supported by the front and toes when I was a kid. And I still can’t do a proper squat without weight on my back.
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Agreed brother.
I see too many people turn their backs into fishing rods to get into a deep bodyweight squat position, and then wonder why they can’t hit depth under the bar
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Wait, sorry, I misread your post.
Yes, we did some assistance exercises but the bulk was focussed on technique since I was already pretty big and I was a noob at the olympic lifts. I think they were more for blood flow and joint health.
From what the coach told me, he would have made someone who wasn’t my size do a lot of “bodybuilding” while slowly coaching the standard lifts but he put me on a “fast track” because I already had “more than enough muscle”.
Since these guys were paid a fixed pay monthly with no commission as it was a public facility I believe he was not bullshitting me since he would have no incentive to prolong my membership.
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I do those with my fingers laced behind my head. That helps keep the spine kinda neutral and chest up/out.
Sometimes just to do it, sometimes as warm up. I don’t compete or need to hit depth for any particular reason, but it does seem to help for front squats.
I think it’s one of those personal metrics people have for absolutely no reason.
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I find it helpful to also reach up with both one arm and two arms to help with thoracic extension and sometimes with a band overhead while in a squat. I also will go back forth between a hips back and knees forward and side to side from both a knees forward and hips back position. In the the knees forward and to one side I’ll put my elbow on the knee to help prepare for proper ankle mobility.
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I’ll try that, but it better not kill my gainz! 
I have yet to meet a situation in life where better mobility was a hindrance, but I’m not a real (competitive) squatter.
Any advice that comes attached with the word “optimal” is almost certainly going to bring your results to a screeching halt.
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Stealing that one
Anything from John Berardi. Not gonna say any more about this or I won’t be able to stop.
I’m so glad he writes like Dan John so I couldn’t get past the first few pages.
(To angry DJ fanboys, I can’t stand his writing style. I know BALLS about his training advice since I don’t read his articles for the reason I just stated.)
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LOL sorry dude I cannot stand it when people write like they speaking in parables. It’s an immediate turn off for me.
I don’t think I’m missing out on anything since there are lots of other good coaches around.
Well he is a professor of religious education so that makes sense. I like his podcast and videos though, I find him very easy to listen to.
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Underrated comment.
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The real issue is my stubbornness. I heard i should squat to failure on the daily, it was bad advice (or at least a bad interpretation of mediocre advice) for me, the worst part about it is I was too stubborn to change once I realized the gains weren’t coming.