06/17/10 – 15 rounds of Cindy

Todays Links –

• Anyone remember this guy? – 70’s Big
• Vitamin D – Loose Ends – Mark’s Daily Apple
• Jim Wendler – Off The Cuff – T Muscle
• It’s our own darn program – Whole 9 reflects on their own experience with the Whole 30 program

I noticed yesterday, while going through pictures of Monday’s OHS workout that there was one common theme.  Most people lost technique in the bottom of an overhead squat.  From my perspective, the glaring issues were 1.) lack of shoulder/thoracic spine mobility and 2.) lack of hip mobility.  I’ll take 100% responsibility for these issues.  I am your trainer, and I am the one who teaches you how to squat properly.  You all hear me yell out things like “Chest up,” “Keep the weight on the heels,” and “Knees out.”  However, what good are those cues if you don’t have the flexibility to get into a good position.  I know our mobility warm up is long, and we’ve deliberately created it that way to get all your joints loose and muscles firing, but I think a little extra attention could do everyone some good.  Show up early, or stay late and stretch your shoulders, thoracic spine and hips.  Stronglifts.com has a great article here about squatting with proper technique so we don’t hurt ourselves.

I could literally put up a whole slew of photos and nit pick, but I don’t want to point fingers.  I simply want to make YOU feel like YOU should want to have a better squat.  We all don’t wake up wanting to squat 300lbs with perfect form, but some of us do.  So I’m going to pick on two of our members, who both shouldn’t care because they both are strong boys, but 100% know that some major flexibility issues are holding them back.

What do you notice about Rick in this picture?  What strikes me is his knee placement.  His knees are well inside of his feet, causing his weight to shift to the front of his feet.  It’s also tough to tell from this angle, but his bar placement seems a bit off (i.e. too far back) which probably also stems from the hip issue.  If Rick could push those knees wider, it would allow his hips to shift forward and  torso to be more vertical and thus put him in a much stronger position to keep the bar overhead.

How does Peter’s knee placement look vs. Rick’s.  I would say a lot better.  His knees are pointing in the same direction as his toes, which is the ideal position.  However, Peter has some shoulder tightness, which also puts him in an imperfect overhead squat position.  This is something Peter noticed a long time ago, so he works on it when he gets to the gym.  He performs pass throughs, wall slides, cuban presses, PVC OHS against the wall.  His form has improved drastically.  As his shoulders open up and thoracic spine becomes more mobile, Peter will be able to correct the overhead position.

Schedule –

• Foam Roll / Mobility Warm Up / Burgener Warm Up
• Complete 15 rounds of the following for time:
  • 5 Pull ups
  • 10 Push Ups (Chest must touch ground)
  • 15 Air Squats (Hips must be below parallel)
• Finisher – 4 rounds bottom to bottom tabata squats
• Stretch