Robertson's Lair of Strength

Training Powerlifting
21

Sam,

Pin presses would be a viable option in your case. To decrease the load/strain on the shoulders, make sure to perform the negative portion of the lift, as I’ve heard some horror stories with newer trainees blowing their shoulders up doing concentric only lifts. It’s still not as good as a true full-ROM bench, but it’s better than getting your windpipe crushed by a couple hundred pounds!

Stay strong
MR

[quote]sam747 wrote:
Mike, I was asking about benching by yourself the other day. I was thinking about doing pin presses or whatever they are called w/ the bar resting on the pins right above the chest. Do you think this move has any merit and will it help save the shoulders?

Thanks[/quote]

22

Mike

Glad to here that you and EC have a dynamic stretching article for the site. Should be good stuff

Ok, now the question.

What type of conditioningdo you like to do with you athletes, particuarly football players (linemen)? Do you favor an approach like Charlie Francis by using tempo runs, or go more along the lines of full speed drills with minimal recovery? If you could just list some of the different drills you do along with some general guidlines that would be great.

23

Hey Mike,

I’d like your opinion on training lower back. I train using the Westside principles and typically, I train lower back on ME and DE leg days. I don’t have access to a GHR or a Reverse Hyper machine so I pretty much use the regular gym equipment.

My question is how do you to recommend training the lower back in terms of intensity. Do you recommend one day of training with heavy weights (for eg: ME legs) and one day of high reps (DE legs)?

Also, what would be beneficial in terms of developing strength and maintaining lower-back health (preventing injury in the long run).

Currently, on ME days, I end up doing heavy 45-degree back extensions. On DE days, I do high-rep back extensions or pull-throughs.

I realize that back gets trained doing the main ME exercise and the supplementary exercises as well (eg: GMs, RDLs etc.) but how should I cycle the exercise that I devote exclusively for lower-back. Currently, I cycle between pull-throughs, back extensions etc. for lower-back.

Thanks for your help.

Gary

24

Buckeye,

In the off-season, you can do more general stuff like wheelbarrow, sledgehammer, tire flips, etc. Not only will this improve conditioning, but it’s more fun for the athlete as well. I believe Joe D. wrote an article on this topic a while back.

As we get closer to the season, you can get a little more specific with the drills like hitting the sled, etc., but you don’t have to kill the linemen with conditioning; they usually only hit for 5 or 6 seconds before they get a break!

Stay strong
MR

[quote]buckeye75 wrote:
Mike

Glad to here that you and EC have a dynamic stretching article for the site. Should be good stuff

Ok, now the question.

What type of conditioningdo you like to do with you athletes, particuarly football players (linemen)? Do you favor an approach like Charlie Francis by using tempo runs, or go more along the lines of full speed drills with minimal recovery? If you could just list some of the different drills you do along with some general guidlines that would be great. [/quote]

25

Gary,

Your ideas are very sound. Just keeping mixing up the exercises, sets, reps, intensities, etc. and you should be fine. Don’t forget that RDL’s and good mornings also build a high degree of static strength in the erectors.

As far as keeping the back healthy, focus not only on strength, but ENDURANCE with exercises such as static back holds on a back extension machine. I believe I covered this in one of my articles, just not sure which one :wink: With that being said, I also focus on flexibility in the hip flexors, hamstrings, gluteals and QL’s to keep the back healthy. (BTW, I just saw that you mentioned RDL’s and GM’s, sorry!)

Finally, I’d be interested to see how big of a weakness your low back really is because you are devoting a lot of attention to it between your core exercises, supplemental and then accessory exercises. I have no idea what kind of training volume you can handle, but I would be leery of adding much more low back specific stuff. Good luck and I hope I got to everything!

Stay strong
MR

[quote]chints wrote:
Hey Mike,

I’d like your opinion on training lower back. I train using the Westside principles and typically, I train lower back on ME and DE leg days. I don’t have access to a GHR or a Reverse Hyper machine so I pretty much use the regular gym equipment.

My question is how do you to recommend training the lower back in terms of intensity. Do you recommend one day of training with heavy weights (for eg: ME legs) and one day of high reps (DE legs)?

Also, what would be beneficial in terms of developing strength and maintaining lower-back health (preventing injury in the long run).

Currently, on ME days, I end up doing heavy 45-degree back extensions. On DE days, I do high-rep back extensions or pull-throughs.

I realize that back gets trained doing the main ME exercise and the supplementary exercises as well (eg: GMs, RDLs etc.) but how should I cycle the exercise that I devote exclusively for lower-back. Currently, I cycle between pull-throughs, back extensions etc. for lower-back.

Thanks for your help.

Gary

[/quote]

26

Ok people, I think that’s it for tonight. Thanks for all your questions!

Stay strong
MR

27

Hi Mike,

I’ve got a friend who just started training with weights after years of martial arts. There’s one thing about his posture that’s quite strange, when he stands relaxed, he has excessive forward head lean, as if the lordotic curve in his neck is non existant. He’s not hunched over like a caveman, shoulders are down and back, just his neck and head is poking forward a fair bit. What sort of exercises/ stretches would you recommend in correcting this?

Thanks

28

Nice article, your so right about the power naps & getting enough sleep. I can’t wait for the NBA season to end, because It’s hurting my workouts with the staying up late wathching all the great games! Hahaha.

I do alot of hard training like, b-ball, tennis, strenght & explosive workouts, etc. So I sure do need more sleep’ it has really caught up to me this week, I’m dragging big time. Thanks again for the reminder.

29

I’m on for Round 3 here, so fire away with questions!

Stay strong
MR

30

Any tips for staying on your heels in the back squat? I totally fell forward today and almost decapitated myself. I try to keep my chest up but find myself shifting the weight to my toes. Is this just and issue of too much weight?

31

your favorite strength and condtioning book?

32

what would you recomend for increasing flexibility. I need to increase my flexibility, have very tight hammies that were the cause and result of a lower back injury(sacrum).

do you have any specific ideas or should I just go with a general flexibility work, or maybe yoga or something along those lines. I hvae looked into things but I can’t really figure out what to do to keep things on track with stregnth adn lifting and I can’t find any Doc’s around me(Delaware) that know much about training. Thanks Alot

BB

33

Read my “Six Tips for a Sexy Squat” article; it’s got tons of tips for keeping that chest up.

Real quick, bring your hands in on the bar, arch your upper back, force your chest out, and try turning your toes out to force you onto your heels more. As well, make sure your posterior chain is up to snuff and that it can handle the weight!

Stay strong
MR

[quote]sam747 wrote:
Any tips for staying on your heels in the back squat? I totally fell forward today and almost decapitated myself. I try to keep my chest up but find myself shifting the weight to my toes. Is this just and issue of too much weight? [/quote]

34

Supertraining is a great resource, as is Science and Practice by Zatsiorsky. Both are must reads, IMO.

Stay strong
MR

[quote]bigpump23 wrote:
your favorite strength and condtioning book?[/quote]

35

Um, stretching? Just kidding…

Eric and I have a piece on Dynamic Flexibility that should be out any time now. This would be a great start, as dynamic flex will have the most carryover to your weight room work.

I’m also working on a piece regarding static stretching; it may sound boring, but I’m trying to spice it up and convince some of you that static stretching can be a useful part of your program. In the meantime, I would focus on perhaps getting some PNF work done to loosen the hammies up in the meantime; a good PT or physio should be able to help you out.

Stay strong
MR

[quote]biggieben wrote:
what would you recomend for increasing flexibility. I need to increase my flexibility, have very tight hammies that were the cause and result of a lower back injury(sacrum).

do you have any specific ideas or should I just go with a general flexibility work, or maybe yoga or something along those lines. I have looked into things but I can’t really figure out what to do to keep things on track with stregnth adn lifting and I can’t find any Doc’s around me(Delaware) that know much about training. Thanks Alot

BB[/quote]

36

Mike,
Real Quick, :wink:
My chiro says that when I do a pushup that my right serratus is not firing. what can be done at break neck speed to rectify this?

No pressure, man.

Disc Hoss

37

Just so I know, how did he determine this?

A DB push-away is your best bet here; I think we outlined it in the NNM articles, but not sure. Anyway, here goes:

Lay on a flat bench with a DB in hand and arm extended (like you are about to DB bench). Instead of lowering, you’re going to PUSH the dumbbell farther away without bending the elbow. There isn’t a lot of ROM here; this is an activation exercise.

Let me know how this works out!

Stay strong
MR

[quote]Disc Hoss wrote:
Mike,
Real Quick, :wink:
My chiro says that when I do a pushup that my right serratus is not firing. what can be done at break neck speed to rectify this?

No pressure, man.

Disc Hoss[/quote]

38

I’ve got a question…

With the correct volume & intensity, how could an exercise would simply jumping up holding a dumbell in each hand? I find that great because it’s as specific as you can get and don’t have to overworry about form, ie knee past toes in squats etc…

And what would the recommended volume/intensity for this type of exercise be?

Thanks!

39

[quote]Mike Robertson wrote:
Just so I know, how did he determine this?

A DB push-away is your best bet here; I think we outlined it in the NNM articles, but not sure. Anyway, here goes:

Lay on a flat bench with a DB in hand and arm extended (like you are about to DB bench). Instead of lowering, you’re going to PUSH the dumbbell farther away without bending the elbow. There isn’t a lot of ROM here; this is an activation exercise.

Let me know how this works out!

Stay strong
MR

Disc Hoss wrote:
Mike,
Real Quick, :wink:
My chiro says that when I do a pushup that my right serratus is not firing. what can be done at break neck speed to rectify this?

No pressure, man.

Disc Hoss

[/quote]

Thanks, Mike. He had me do a pushup while he stood behind me. I have very little strength when it comes to holding an object directly in front of me at arm’s length on the right side. Say as if I were handing you a gallon of milk, my arm wants to drop.

Also, in this “offering” postion, my right scapula seems to be poking out (backward) and it feels like it needs “anchored”. That is the word I use with him to “explain” how I feel. It seems like my whole scapula needs pulled in and tightened.

My standing BB curls have seriously suffered from this and when I get a bit heavy in my close grips (16" grip) then my right shoulder wants to raise off the bench. During curls my right shoulder elevates toward my ear. To top it all off, the lat, bicep, and tricep on the right side don’t seem to be able to contract as forcefully as the left. And I am right handed.

DH

40

Jump squats are great for developing power, except we’ve always done them with a bar in a Smith machine. Explosive sets of 2-3 reps with around 30% of 1-RM has been found to be optimal for training power.

If interested, check out any of the work by Dr. Robert Newton; he knows a thing or two about power production.

Stay strong
MR

[quote]adifoyle wrote:
I’ve got a question…

With the correct volume & intensity, how could an exercise would simply jumping up holding a dumbell in each hand? I find that great because it’s as specific as you can get and don’t have to overworry about form, ie knee past toes in squats etc…

And what would the recommended volume/intensity for this type of exercise be?

Thanks!
[/quote]