Slippery Lifting Platform?! Use THIS for Olympic Weightlifting & Strength Training

Do you have a slippery lifting surface? A slick platform can cause a lot of problems, whether you're snatching, clean-and-jerking, squatting, etc., so Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers lets you in on a very simple (and rarely discussed!) method to make sure you've got good grip between your shoes and the platform.

(A Blast from the Past video originally published on 12/12/22)

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At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?

You've Been Unloading Your Barbell Wrong This Whole Time (plus bonus tip)

You’re done lifting - you’ve finished your deadlifts, snatches, cleans, rows, whatever was on the docket for the day - you’ve got a bunch of bumper plates on the barbell, and you’ve got to unload them.

It’s a bit of a pain, of course, and you don’t want to work any harder than you have to, so let’s cover how to make your life easier when unloading your bar (and read to the end for a bonus tip).

You can also watch the video below to see these steps in action.

Step 1: Get all the metal plates or “change plates” off the bar.
Take care of the smaller plates first. If it’s not a full-sized plate (i.e., a bumper plate or a metal 45 lb plate), it’s easy to slide off since it’s not sitting on the floor, so get these plates off first.

Step 2: Outer Plates Off
Move to one side of the bar and roll the innermost plate up onto a small, change plate (a 2.5 lb plate works well). Doing this raises that entire side of the barbell up just enough that you can easily slide off any other plates on that side of the bar (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Step 3: Inner Plate Off
On the same side of the bar, you now have one remaining plate (i.e., the plate that you rolled up onto the 2.5 lb plate in Step 2). This is the only plate that requires a little work to remove. You can pick up the bar with one hand and slide the plate off with the other hand (Figure 2), or your can move to the outside of the barbell and use both hands to pull that last plate toward you.

figure 2

Note: Don’t let that end of the barbell simply drop jarringly to the floor when that last plate comes off. Be kind to your barbell.

Step 4: The Best Part
Grab the empty end of the barbell, walk it up (Figure 3) until the barbell is completely vertical, and then simply pick up the barbell as it slides up and out of the stack of plates now resting on the floor. At this point, you can store your barbell and then easily put away that stack of plates.

figure 3

Bonus Tip:
When getting your barbell out (or when putting it away), if you’d like to conserve some energy, don’t carry it in your hands. Pick it up, place it on one shoulder (one end will counterweight the other end, so this is a pretty easy process), and then carry it over to your squat rack.

figure 4

Since the bar is already on your shoulder, it’s at roughly the same height as your j-hooks (if you’re set up to squat or press), which means you can lean against the squat rack to make sure the barbell is against the uprights (Figure 4) and then just dip slightly until the bar is resting in the hooks.

Note: If there are other people around, make sure you don’t clock someone in the face when carrying it at this height.

As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.

-Phil

PS: Whenever you want even more Testify in your life, here are some free resources:

• Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

• Pick up a free copy of Testify’s Squat Guide: 12 Tips to Improve Your Squat Now HERE.

• Get our free weekly email - containing useful videos, articles, and training tips - HERE.

• Follow Testify on Instagram HERE.

• Subscribe to Testify’s YouTube channel HERE.

(Some links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Testify earns from qualifying purchases.)

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At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?

"Go Home, Get Weak, and Die" | Why Your Doctor is Wrong about Lifting Weights

“Sally” is one of our members and has been training with us for a number of years. Sally is 70 years old, she’s a grandmother several times over, and to be frank, Sally is fairly awesome. (Please don’t tell her that - she’ll be unbearable.) Over the years, she’s gotten quite strong - she regularly squats 200 lb, she’s deadlifted 300 lb, and she continues to train hard in the weight room.

Sally also goes to her primary physician every year for her checkup, and the topic of her strength training inevitably comes up. Sally knows the conversation is coming, she tells her doc about what she does - squatting, pressing, deadlifting, benching, etc. - and her doc always has the same response, which is something along the lines of “Why are you doing this? What are you trying to prove?”

This type of response drives me fairly nuts because what this doctor is really telling Sally - in no uncertain terms - is “Sally, just go home, get weaker, and die.” Of course, he’s not saying this out loud, and he doesn’t mean to tell Sally this, but it’s the message he’s preaching nonetheless.

Go home, get weaker, and die.

Fortunately, Sally is rather stubborn and doesn’t listen to her doc when he says such things. She returns to the gym, she continues to train, and she keeps striving to get stronger because she understands that strength is independence.

Strength is important at all ages of life, of course, but the older we get, the more important strength becomes. Strength is independence, it’s the ability to play with your kids, it’s the ability to pick up your grandkids, it’s the ability to get up off the toilet by yourself.

If you’re in your 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, or older (and if you’re not, you know someone dear to you who is) and you strength train, you too may have been told something like what Sally’s been told. It might not be your doc; instead, it might be one of your family members - one of the people that love and care for you. Yet, unfortunately, they say things like, “Why are you doing that? You don’t need to be lifting those heavy weights. Just lift some lighter weights, or maybe don’t lift at all - you don’t need to be doing that kind of thing. What are you trying to prove? Who are you trying to impress?”

Again, and although they don’t mean it, they’re simply saying, “Just go home, get weaker, and die.”

I challenge you - do not listen to them.

You know more about getting stronger than they do. Strength is not their specialty - it’s not their field of expertise, nor have they tried to learn about it like you have.

There are only two options - stronger and weaker. I exhort you to choose the former - get stronger. It’s good for your muscles, it’s good for your bones, it’s good for your tendons and ligaments.

We’re not talking about the sports of powerlifting, weightlifting, strengthlifting, or anything like that. Sure, many of our members have participated in those because they are fun ways to motivate one’s training, but most of our members didn’t start training with that in mind. Sally has done many lifting competitions, but she will be the first to tell you that she never thought she would do something like that when she started training with a light, empty barbell years ago. To this day, competitions are still not the reason she trains (although they do provide some fun and motivation!).

Sally and her friends at Testify train to get stronger. They know that stronger and weaker are the only options. Endeavor to get stronger so you can live better.

-Phil

PS: Whenever you want even more Testify in your life, here are some free resources:

• Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

• Pick up a free copy of Testify’s Squat Guide: 12 Tips to Improve Your Squat Now HERE.

• Get our free weekly email - containing useful videos, articles, and training tips - HERE.

• Follow Testify on Instagram HERE.

• Subscribe to Testify’s YouTube channel HERE.

(Some links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Testify earns from qualifying purchases.)

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At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?

Correct Grip for Snatch, Clean, and Jerk | Olympic Weightlifting Technique

Gripping the bar for the Olympic lifts shouldn't be complicated, but there are a few simple things you must do to ensure you're getting the most out of your lifts. Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers explains.

(A Blast from the Past video originally published on 10/10/22)

Whenever you want even more Testify in your life, here are some free resources:

• Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

• Pick up a free copy of Testify’s Squat Guide: 12 Tips to Improve Your Squat Now HERE.

• Get our free weekly email - containing useful videos, articles, and training tips - HERE.

• Follow Testify on Instagram HERE.

• Subscribe to Testify’s YouTube channel HERE.

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At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?

Easy Fix for a Slanted Lifting Platform (cheap & fast)

If you’ve got a slightly sloped platform, and if it causes the barbell to roll a bit when setting up for pulls from the floor (e.g., deadlifts, rows, snatches, cleans, etc.), this problem needs to be addressed. There are a few ways to fix the issue, so let’s cover them quickly.

Solution #1: Shim the Platform
If the slope is significant, the best solution is to shim your platform. My wife and I often train in our garage gym, and the garage floor has a pretty decent slope to it (as most garage floors do for drainage reasons). We shimmed our platform when we built it, and as a result, the platform is level and works wonderfully for training.

Although very effective, shimming a platform is a pretty involved project and a topic for another article or video as we’re talking about a relatively small slope today. With this in mind, let’s move on to . . .

figure 1: got a bar that rolls away from you? just stand on the other side of the bar.

Solution #2: Lift From the Other Side of the Barbell
If the barbell wants to roll away from you when you set up to deadlift, simply step over the barbell, turn around, and set up facing the opposite direction (Figure 1). The bar will still want to roll, but now it will roll toward you, and your shins will serve as a good barrier for the bar’s unruly behavior.

The drawback here is small but worth noting - we want to set up with the bar over the middle of the foot, and since the bar will roll toward your shins, you’ll need to actually roll the bar forward just a bit when setting up. In summary, it’s not ideal, but it works. Better yet, go with . . .

Solution #3: Use Your Wrist Wraps
The easiest way to solve the problem is to take your wrist wraps, lay one of them flat on the ground immediately in front of the plate(s) on the right side of the barbell, and lay the other wrap flat on the ground immediately in front of the plate(s) on the left side of the barbell (Figure 2). Of course, you can use socks, sponges, lifting straps, etc. - the key is to use something soft and relatively thin (i.e., just thick enough to keep the bar from rolling)

figure 2: Phil & Loren have put wrist wraps on the ground in front of the plates, and this solution stops the bar from rolling.

This solution will arrest the bar’s roll, so you can set up according to a stationary barbell, which is what you’d have if you were lifting on a level platform.

I do not recommend using a small metal weight plate (e.g., a 2.5 lb plate) for two reasons. The first reason is that if you set the bar down slightly forward of where you picked it up - thus landing on the edge of the plate - the bar may come careening back toward your shins, and shins and rolling barbells do not get along well (hint: the barbell wins every time). The wrist wrap solution is much better in this regard since you can set the bar down directly on the wrist wrap with no adverse effects - it has enough “squish” not to pose a problem.

The second reason to avoid using a small plate is that - again - if you set the bar down slightly forward of its original position, you may chip either the small plate or the larger plates on the barbell. Since you obviously don’t want to damage your equipment, just grab your wrist wraps, and you’ll be good to go.

Finally, if a wrist wrap won’t stop the barbell from rolling, your platform probably has enough of a slope that you need to shim it. More on that another day.

As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.

-Phil

PS: Whenever you want even more Testify in your life, here are some free resources:

• Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

• Pick up a free copy of Testify’s Squat Guide: 12 Tips to Improve Your Squat Now HERE.

• Get our free weekly email - containing useful videos, articles, and training tips - HERE.

• Follow Testify on Instagram HERE.

• Subscribe to Testify’s YouTube channel HERE.

(Some links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Testify earns from qualifying purchases.)

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At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?

Stop Using Your Hands to Catch Your Cleans!

(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 01/22/21)

The clean is racked (i.e., caught or received) on the shoulders. Not in the hands.

Figure 1: This is the correct way to rack a clean.

When you rack a clean, you do so by rapidly punching your elbows forward and up so that the barbell can sit on the shelf provided by your delts (Figure 1). This shelf is extremely strong, stable, and it can support a lot of weight - more than you can clean, in fact.

On the other hand - or rather, hands - if you receive your cleans by supporting the bar in your hands (Figure 2), your poor, tiny, bent wrists will hate you for it, and it’s possible that your collarbones will too.

Figure 2: Don’t rack your cleans like this. Your wrists will despise you.

To rack the bar properly, jam the elbows forward and up and receive the bar with a loose grip - be sure to let the thumb slip out of the hook grip as you punch the elbows forward.

Figure 3: Elbows forward and up and a loose grip on the bar

It’s possible that your pinky finger (maybe even your ring finger) will slip off the bar during the catch, and while this is not ideal (especially if you need to jerk the barbell overhead yet), it’s not the end of the world. Do whatever you need to do with your grip to permit the receiving of the bar on your shoulders.

Your wrists will not be straight when you catch a clean, and that’s perfectly fine. Whether a lifter receives the bar correctly on the shoulders or not, the wrists will be bent backwards in extension, but a bar caught on the shoulders (with elbows forward and up) is supported by the shoulders, so the wrists - although bent - do not take any of the load. A bar caught with low elbows, however, cannot be successfully supported by the shoulders and is instead supported on bent - and usually painful - wrists.

Tommy doesn’t even need hands to rack his cleans. (We do NOT recommend trying this at home, folks)

Be kind to your wrists and commit to catching your cleans on your shoulders. You’ll enjoy the lift far more when your wrists aren’t screaming at you.

As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.

-Phil

PS: Whenever you want even more Testify in your life, here are some free resources:

• Follow Testify on Instagram HERE.

• Subscribe to Testify’s YouTube channel HERE.

• Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

• Pick up a free copy of Testify’s Squat Guide: 12 Tips to Improve Your Squat Now HERE.

• Get our free weekly email - containing useful videos, articles, and training tips - HERE.

(Some links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Testify earns from qualifying purchases.)

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At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?