And it’s getting worse fast! 17-Zip as I speak!
[quote]firebug9 wrote:
I think they need more than the bone! LOL[/quote]
G’day Mike,
I’ve got a question about my back squat form.
The last few times I have been doing squats I have noticed that after moving a few inches from out of the hole I felt a slight forward movement/lean in my back. I was a bit worried that I might be letting my lower back round forward so last night I got two guys at the gym to check on my form to see what might be happening. It appears that I am leaning forward slightly and shifting my weight more on to my toes before correcting the movement and straightening up OK.
One of the guys was an instructor who actually knows what he is talking about (a rare thing at my gym!) and said that I should concentrate on driving with my heels more and sitting back. I tried it and definitely noticed how much more difficult it was to perform a squat.
My question to you is what would be the main cause of this type of problem? Hip flexibility? A dorsiflexion problem? Hip/glute/ham strength? Lower back strength?
I have great hamstring flexibility, maybe not as much in the hips but I have no problem getting full ROM, the problem may be when there is a heap of weight on my shoulders.
BTW I squat Oly style with a shoulder width stance.
I may have answered my own questions I just need some sort of confirmation/advice on what I could look at doing to fix this up.
Thanks Mike,
Ben
All of the above could be an issue, but here’s my .02.
If you have a short torso, you’re probably trying to shift the weight to your stronger erectors. I typically do this, in fact.
As well, you could have very strong quads; shifting the weight to your toes would increase the quad activation. On the flip side of this equation, you’d want to strengthen your posterior chain.
If you can get deep and not have any issues, I doubt you have any issues w/flexibility.
Any of these sound like they describe you?
Stay strong
MR
[quote]bg100 wrote:
My question to you is what would be the main cause of this type of problem? Hip flexibility? A dorsiflexion problem? Hip/glute/ham strength? Lower back strength?
Thanks Mike,
Ben[/quote]
[quote]Mike Robertson wrote:
All of the above could be an issue, but here’s my .02.
If you have a short torso, you’re probably trying to shift the weight to your stronger erectors. I typically do this, in fact.
As well, you could have very strong quads; shifting the weight to your toes would increase the quad activation. On the flip side of this equation, you’d want to strengthen your posterior chain.
If you can get deep and not have any issues, I doubt you have any issues w/flexibility.
Any of these sound like they describe you?
Stay strong
MR
[/quote]
Yeah, sounds a bit like me, especially the quads, which have been developed from a fair bit of bike riding over the years, plus I used to be one of those leg press/hack squat machine fanatics when I first started training as a teenager. I’ve only been doing deads, GHR etc for about 1 year since discovering T-Nation, so there is probably still an imbalance there.
I don’t know about having a short torso, I’m about 5’11", but I don’t think my torso is short relative to my overall height.
Is there anything wrong with shifting the weight to the erector muscles? One of the guys checking my technique specifically mentioned that this seems to be what I am doing. I guess the danger is turning it into a bad good morning lift rather than a squat. Are you doing anything to correct this at all i.e. if it is a problem?
I probably could still work on flexibility a bit, I keep meaning to do your Hardcore Stretching program each day but haven’t done it very regularly. My work for the past 3-4 months has pretty much been all sitting at a desk rather than being out and about on construction sites, so this may be a contributing factor.
Thanks for your advice, I think I will try to stretch more and drop the weight a bit to focus on perfect form whilst working my posterior chain a lot more.
Cheers,
Ben
Mik, i PMed you awhile ago, ever recieve it?
I’m on people; hit me up!
Hey Mike,
I have a friend that suffers from extreme altitude sickness - and with Womens Nationals being in Denver, well, I was wondering if you have any suggestions as to how to prepare for the event?
To be honest, I’ve never dealt with anyone who has this.
How early are they getting there? If possible, I would suggest they get there up to a week early and get some training sessions in to acclimatize. I’ve heard of endurance runners getting at a site up to 2 weeks early to acclimatize and get used to the altitude.
Stay strong
MR
[quote]firebug9 wrote:
Hey Mike,
I have a friend that suffers from extreme altitude sickness - and with Womens Nationals being in Denver, well, I was wondering if you have any suggestions as to how to prepare for the event?[/quote]
hi mikr i have a couple of quick questions. I am trying to find a way to balance my scap retraction work with all of the non scap retraction work. Would pairing my rows not only with my horizontal pushing exercises but also with my vertical pushing/pulling exercises be an effective means to do this. Lets say i did flat db presses along with seated rows then face pulls and overheard press/dips/decline benches and maybe chins/pulldowns with incline rows. I paired depressors and elevators together and i am not suggesting doing all the exericses in the same session just each pair together during the same session.
A second question deals with balancing leg training. Leg training doesnt seem to fit into nice categories like upper body training(horizontal push opposite of horizontal push) I was wondering what the most appriopriate way to balance leg training might be? What are your thoughts on using quad dominant and hip dominant exercises in the samae session? Compound quad/hip dominant exercises both at least include hip extension and knee extension. Either a deadlift or a squat will cause both simlutaneous movements(hip/knee extension) would it still be necessary to do a hip or quad dominant exercise in the same session to balance the focus of the exercise between hip and quad or could doing just one lower body compound exercise in a session be enough to tax the entire muscularity of the leg.
I really enjoy doing antagonist pairings and as i mentioned legs dont seem to fit into such nice categories. I know leg raises have been used as antagonists to squats and trunk flexion to trunk extension, how do you feel about that kind of pairing, or would it be best to pair hip and quad exercises even though there is redundence in the movements.
I appreciate any help you can give. I am trying to piece together my own kind of total body sessions as they seem to fit best into my schedule, it seems to be a little harder to balance things this way but i really enjoy training the body as a whole instead of in pieces.
For my rep ranges i was thinking about doing somethings like 5 sets 3 5rm on day one 3-4 main exercises and 2-3 rehap/prehab accessory work. day 3 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps using the same break down as previous. day 5 would be 4 sets 5-6 reps again using same break down. one not acessory work will not follow the same rep scheme as the compound lifts in general. i will rotate them betweem 6-10 reps. It gets a little hard to balance my training and also do some accessory work while using total body routines. i am trying to keep sessions to about 30 mins as my recovery wont allow much more(hectic schedule, possible mono, and sleeping issues that i am trying to fix) an insights are much appreciated.
sorry for the lengthy post i also sent a similiar question to eric because i had no idea who was on tonight. I respect your opinion just as much and would appreciate any feed back.
one finally query if i could what do you think about continuum training. should someone trying to once again be an athlete train using the whole force velocity curve. i read over an article christian wrote hear on t nation dealing with them. doing all of this is probably much to advanced for me right now, i need as you say more time doing the big lifts and adding in tempo, eccentrics, and isometrics might complicate things(though i have tried some iso holds to help better learn the movement and to extend that set on hip and back movements. thanks again mike really appreciate it.
well my mind never stops working. one nutrition question. do you have any carb limits you adbide by. i have been doing the low to moderately low carb thing for a while (under 100 on non lifting days, 200 or less on training days) and my weight doesnt seem to change and i just feel like crap all the time. possible sleep apnea, i snore but my girlfriend has never noticed me to actually stop breathing. all blood tests are good, sugar and such, could i just need more carbs. again sorry for length appreciate whatever it is you answer.
Thanks – last time she was there she said she was sick from the time she got off the plane and the whole 4 day trip - until 30 minutes after getting back to home. Not sure how she is going to do nationals at that rate.
Malinda
[quote]brotzfrog10 wrote:
hi mikr i have a couple of quick questions. I am trying to find a way to balance my scap retraction work with all of the non scap retraction work. Would pairing my rows not only with my horizontal pushing exercises but also with my vertical pushing/pulling exercises be an effective means to do this. Lets say i did flat db presses along with seated rows then face pulls and overheard press/dips/decline benches and maybe chins/pulldowns with incline rows. I paired depressors and elevators together and i am not suggesting doing all the exericses in the same session just each pair together during the same session. [/quote]
That sounds pretty good, but don’t forget you also need to get external rotation work to balance the internal rotation, and stretching for the internal rotators as well. It’s not just lifting but everyday life that leads to postural distortions.
To be honest, I think of these in general terms, but I’m not too anal about them. For example on leg days I’ll start with either a squat or pull, then typically do the opposite type of movement (squat then RDL, pull then quad dominant movement).
As well, most single leg movements might get more contribution from the quads/hams, but they are always co-contracting. Lunges are a quad-dom movement, but they also hit the hammies and glutes hard.
Again, I don’t mess too much with pairing, just making sure the total volume is about equal throughout the training week/mesocycle.
Just don’t overthink things; there’s no such thing as a perfect training program.
I’m not a huge fan of the undulating periodization approach, but if it works for you, go for it.
[quote]sorry for the lengthy post i also sent a similiar question to eric because i had no idea who was on tonight. I respect your opinion just as much and would appreciate any feed back.
one finally query if i could what do you think about continuum training. should someone trying to once again be an athlete train using the whole force velocity curve. i read over an article christian wrote hear on t nation dealing with them. doing all of this is probably much to advanced for me right now, i need as you say more time doing the big lifts and adding in tempo, eccentrics, and isometrics might complicate things(though i have tried some iso holds to help better learn the movement and to extend that set on hip and back movements. thanks again mike really appreciate it.[/quote]
Yes, but remember that if you aren’t strong, it’s going to be hard to be fast or powerful. Get strong first then mess around w/the F-V curve.
I don’t set a limit on carbs, but I do try and take in only healthy sources of carbs (veggies, fruits, whole grains) and just eat clean in general. I think people would be surprised at my nutrition, b/c I’m definitely not on a low-carb diet. If you have sleep apnea, though, get it checked out as I’ve known several that have it and swear by their masks.
Stay strong
MR
I’m not either, but give her my best and hopefully she can get there a little early!
Stay strong
MR
[quote]firebug9 wrote:
Thanks – last time she was there she said she was sick from the time she got off the plane and the whole 4 day trip - until 30 minutes after getting back to home. Not sure how she is going to do nationals at that rate.
Malinda[/quote]
Thanks - I will keep searching to see if I can find something to help her. She is a good 105 lb lifter, she will be at the Pan-Am’s next month.
Malinda
Are you against doing a “Quad dominant” session and then a “ham glute” session? Not that you could purely seperate it. It’s pretty popular with some bodybuilders, especially if you’re doing 2-a-days.
Are you picky about this? Are there any crazy neural confusion things happening with something like that?
Mike, do you have any ideas on testing for a left right leg imbalance and then what percent of volume should be done to correct it? Thanks.
Not picky at all, especially considering that most bodybuilding programs I’ve seen suck.
Not sure what you mean about neural confusion, but I think in general most people need stimulation to muscles more than 1x per week. Just because you torch your quads 1x per week doesn’t mean it’s optimal training.
Stay strong
MR
[quote]IHateGymMorons wrote:
Are you against doing a “Quad dominant” session and then a “ham glute” session? Not that you could purely seperate it. It’s pretty popular with some bodybuilders, especially if you’re doing 2-a-days.
Are you picky about this? Are there any crazy neural confusion things happening with something like that?[/quote]
[quote]bg100 wrote:
Mike Robertson wrote:
All of the above could be an issue, but here’s my .02.
If you have a short torso, you’re probably trying to shift the weight to your stronger erectors. I typically do this, in fact.
As well, you could have very strong quads; shifting the weight to your toes would increase the quad activation. On the flip side of this equation, you’d want to strengthen your posterior chain.
If you can get deep and not have any issues, I doubt you have any issues w/flexibility.
Any of these sound like they describe you?
Stay strong
MR
Yeah, sounds a bit like me, especially the quads, which have been developed from a fair bit of bike riding over the years, plus I used to be one of those leg press/hack squat machine fanatics when I first started training as a teenager. I’ve only been doing deads, GHR etc for about 1 year since discovering T-Nation, so there is probably still an imbalance there.
I don’t know about having a short torso, I’m about 5’11", but I don’t think my torso is short relative to my overall height.
Is there anything wrong with shifting the weight to the erector muscles? One of the guys checking my technique specifically mentioned that this seems to be what I am doing. I guess the danger is turning it into a bad good morning lift rather than a squat. Are you doing anything to correct this at all i.e. if it is a problem?
I probably could still work on flexibility a bit, I keep meaning to do your Hardcore Stretching program each day but haven’t done it very regularly. My work for the past 3-4 months has pretty much been all sitting at a desk rather than being out and about on construction sites, so this may be a contributing factor.
Thanks for your advice, I think I will try to stretch more and drop the weight a bit to focus on perfect form whilst working my posterior chain a lot more.
Cheers,
Ben[/quote]
Mike,
I made sure I actually went through the stretches from the Hardcore Stretching article last night. The hip flexors did feel a bit tight, especially during those “lunge stretches” on one knee. So this might be the main problem causing me to tilt forward.
Yesterday you mentioned that you also seem to shift weight on to the stronger erector muscles, is this a bad thing to do and are your trying to correct it, or does it go along with having a particular body type like you mentioned?
Cheers,
Ben
Typically between their ability to balance, lunge, step-up, and squat/pull you can tell. It’s all in the observation.
Hopefully, they can tell as well 
Stay strong
MR
[quote]sam747 wrote:
Mike, do you have any ideas on testing for a left right leg imbalance and then what percent of volume should be done to correct it? Thanks.[/quote]
What are the limiting muscle groups in the pullup? Is it the brachilais most of all? Or is it effective to isolate the lattisumus?
Brandon Green
What are your thoughts on what could be causing chronic hamstring injuries in an athlete, specifically a football player?
Vaugue question I know but just curious to get the ball rolling.
Thanks for your time!
Pat Battaglia