You're (Probably) Destroying Your Squat . . . Before You Even Start.

It’s entirely possible that you’re ruining your squat before you even start the descent. If so, this problem needs to be fixed right away.

Are You Committed?
Today’s error is that of not getting correctly positioned before you unrack the barbell. In other words, how much effort are you putting into that process - how uncomfortable are you willing to get before you unrack the bar?

If you’d rather see this process (i.e., the mistake and the solution) in action, check out the video below.

When you stand the barbell up that two to three inches from the hooks of the rack, be sure to think of that movement as your first rep (no, you don’t get to count it), and as such, you need to get tight and correctly positioned before you do it.

Figure 1: don’t be like this fool.

What Not To Do
You certainly don’t want to get under the bar in a loose, relaxed, sloppy manner (Figure 1), then stand the bar up, walk a step or two back to take your stance, and then have to get tight under the bar - i.e., squeeze your chest up with shoulders back - when you’ve already got 100 lb, 200 lb, 300 lb, etc. on your back.

What You Should Do
Instead, be sure to position yourself and brace correctly before you stand the bar up from the hooks. Your chest is up, shoulders back, you’ve performed your Valsalva, and every muscle in your trunk that can be contracted tightly is contracted tightly so that you are rigidly braced (Figure 2).

Getting tight and properly positioned under the bar takes work and effort. If you feel relaxed and comfortable before your unrack the bar - it’s wrong.

Get uncomfortable.

figure 2: This is much better.

Your set starts before you think it does - it starts when you unrack it - so prepare yourself accordingly.

Be committed to the entire process and be sure to get tight before you unrack the bar. Your squat will thank 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:

• 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?

Warning: Tire Conditioning May Cause Unstoppable Swagger

(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 06/30/23)

Tires can provide you with some great conditioning options - whether you're using large tires (e.g., tractor tires) for tire flips and sledgehammer strikes or you’re using smaller tires for something like a sled pull. Also, they are generally free; it costs money to recycle tires, so if you contact a tire dealership, you can typically get a tire or twelve for free.

And - let’s not forget - it looks cool.

With this in mind, let’s cover a few easy-to-implement conditioning options - although not easy to do, mind you - that involve tires and sometimes a few other simple tools. You’ll see these options in action in the included video as well:

Option 1
5-10 rounds:
30 sec tire flips (as many as possible)
30 sec rest

Get a tire that’s heavy and challenging to flip and flip it for as many times as you can in 30 seconds. Then rest 30 seconds. Repeat this process for a total of 5-10 rounds.

Option 2
5-10 rounds:
10 sledgehammer strikes (5 left, 5 right)
100 ft sled push (50 ft down-back)
1 minute rest

You’ll need a sledgehammer for this workout, and if you don’t already have one, you can easily get one at your local hardware store. You’ll also need a sled (or prowler) to push. If you don’t have a sled, you can drag a small tire instead (see Option 3).

For this option, perform 10 sledgehammer strikes - 5 from the left side and 5 from the right side - and then push the sled a total of 100 ft (50 ft down, turn around, and then 50 ft back). Then rest 1 minute. Again, repeat this for 5-10 rounds.

Option 3
10-20 rounds:
50 yd tire drag (25 yd down-back)
1 min rest

To drag a tire, insert a few eyebolts into a small tire, hook a tow recovery strap up to the eyebolts, and then place some weights inside the tire. You can drag the tire by walking forward or backward.

Scaling Up
Over time, you can increase the difficulty of any of these options by doing one or more of the following:

• Using a larger tire for tire flips

• Adding weight to the sled (for sled pushes) or tire (for tire drags)

• Reducing the rest time

• Increasing the number of rounds

As always, we hope this helps you get stronger - or at least better conditioned - 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?

What His Poor, Sad Bench Press Was Missing

Are you missing out on using your lower body in the bench press?

Sure, the bench press press is an upper body lift in the sense that the prime movers of the lift - the pecs, the triceps, and the delts - are located in the upper body. However, if you’re not using your legs effectively, you’re leaving pounds, well, off the barbell.

Using your legs efficiently provides three benefits when benching, so let’s dive in (and if you’d like to see this in action, watch the video below).

Benefit #1: Stability
The bench itself isn’t very wide and thus doesn’t provide much in the way of stability. You, however, are smart enough to take a roughly squat-width stance, and you also drive your body up the bench ( i.e., toward the direction of your head) by driving your legs into the floor.

As a side note, you drive your legs diagonally downward into the floor. You don’t drive them straight downward as this will cause your hips to come up off the bench, which means the rep doesn’t count. You also don’t drive them straight forward as they’ll simply slide across the floor when you do that. Think diagonally downward.

Benefit #2: Support
The use of your legs supports your arch and ensures that you can maintain this position efficiently and consistently when performing each rep.

Benefit #3: Rigidity
We humans are naturally soft and squishy, and you don’t want to bench from a soft and squishy platform - it makes for lousy force transfer between the things moving the weight - your arms - and the support surface - the bench.

Think of it this way - in the squat, your lifting shoe is the interface between the load and the platform, while in the bench press, your entire body from your shoulders downward acts as this interface - in other words, everything from your torso downward acts as the lifting shoe, so you want everything to be rigid.

Driving with your legs creates a compressive effect, and this helps ensure that your body is as rigid (and thus stable) as possible when benching.

Make sure you use your legs the next time you bench - your future PR will thank you for it.

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?

Squatting Deeper - Don't Make These 2 Mistakes!

(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 05/07/21)

When people are endeavoring to squat deeper - whether because their coach told them too or because they’ve recorded themselves on video and seen the disheartening proof of a “too-high” squat - we often see two mistakes:

1. The lifter descends significantly faster than before without actually squatting deeper.

2. The lifter leans over too much.

With regard to mistake #1, remember that going deeper doesn’t mean descending faster. In fact, 50% of the time, going down faster doesn’t change anything except the speed of the descent (yes, duh) and the other 50% of the time, the lifter actually cuts off his squat even higher when he tries to descend more quickly.

Julie makes mistake #2 as she leans over too much in an effort to achieve the proper depth. Note that the crease of her hips have not passed below the level of the top of her kneecap and are, in fact, well above height of the kneecap.

Mistake #2 - leaning over too much - comes from a misunderstanding of how depth is achieved. Depth is achieved when the crease of the hip passes just below the height of the top of the patella. In other words, you squat deeper by taking the hips lower - not by taking the barbell lower.

JULIE HITS THE CORRECT DEPTH ON HER SQUAT.

If the hips go lower, everything else above the hips goes lower as well - including the bar - but the reverse is not necessarily true. When starting your descent, leaning over (as you shove your knees out and reach back with your hips) is important, but once you’ve set your back angle by doing so, keep it constant - don’t lean over more than you already have.

If you struggle with either of these two mistakes, try the cues “stretch deep” or “reach deep” the next time you squat. With the “stretch deep” cue, you are reminding yourself that you will experience a stretch in the hips as you descend lower into the squat, and with the “reach deep” cue, you are reminding yourself that you reach downward with your hips - not the bar.

“Stretch deep” and “reach deep” - give these cues a try, and as always, we hope these tips help 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?

He Stopped Pressing Like This. You Should Too.

Today’s press error is not difficult to correct from a technical standpoint, but it can be an annoyingly persistent habit, so let’s address it quickly (i.e., before the mistake becomes more ingrained in your movement patterns).

The Mistake: Winding Up the Hips
When you correctly initiate the press, you do so by sending the hips forward (Figure 1). As you reach forward with your hips, the barbell dips slightly, and you get a nice bounce out of the bottom of that movement.

figure 1: Mike demonstrates the correct initiation of the press.

In anticipation of the forward motion of the hips, however, some lifters will make the mistake of accidentally pushing the hips backward first - “winding up the hips” in a subconscious effort to get a bigger forward reach (Figure 2).

figure 2: Mike incorrectly reaches back with his hips at the start of the press.

Why Is This a Problem?
This backward movement of the hips causes the bar to travel forward, which means you’ve now introduced unnecessary forward motion of the bar. As the press is already very susceptible to perturbations in the bar path, this forward motion is the last thing we want to happen.

The Solution
First of all, you need to be aware of this error, and many lifters are not, so the next time you press, record yourself and then watch the video to see if you’re committing this mistake (compare your video to the demonstrations that Mike provides in the video below).

If you’re winding up the hips, simply cue yourself “hips only go forward.” You are reminding yourself that the only place for the hips to go at the start of the press is forward (and therefore not backward).

If you still find yourself pushing your hips backward first, then slow yourself down and use the following mantra: “Breath, stop - then hips forward.” In this situation, you’re commanding yourself to breathe in and get tight, then stop all motion for a moment, and only then do you push the hips forward.

By the way . . .
Don’t bother telling yourself to avoid reaching backward with the hips. Negative cues - cues wherein you try to avoid doing something - rarely work in these types of situations. You are far better off focusing on what to do as opposed to focusing on what not to do.

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?

One Cue to Rule Them All: Fix Every Single One of Your Lifts

(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 06/23/23)

Let’s quickly cover a cue - specifically a type of cue - that helps every single one of your lifts.

What Could Possibly Help All of My Lifts?
When giving yourself a cue, use a positive cue - not a negative cue. I don’t mean a positive cue in the sense that it makes you feel good - you’re not doing this to feel better about yourself or your lifting. A positive cue simply means that you give yourself a task to accomplish. More specifically, give yourself something to do - not something to avoid doing.

Example: The Squat
If your knees slide forward on the squat, don’t tell yourself, “Stop letting my knees slide forward.” Instead, use the cue, “Set my knees” or “Block my knees.” Again, you’re giving yourself something to do rather than something not to do.

If you ride a motorcycle, you’re already familiar with this concept. When instructors teach you how to ride, they teach you to look where you intend to go - do NOT look where you don’t want to go because whatever you look at is invariably what you ride toward. Same idea here.

Example: The Clean (or Snatch)
If you’ve got an early arm pull on your clean or snatch, don’t cue “Don’t bend my arms.” It might work, but most of the time, you’re better off using a positive cue such as “Long arms,” “Straight arms,” or even “Tight triceps.”

Example: The Deadlift
If you’re letting the barbell drift away from you on the deadlift, don’t cue “Don’t let it get away from me.” Instead, try “Pin it to the shins” or simply “Keep it close.” If the bar is looping because you’re pulling around your knees, try cueing “Push the floor” or “Stay over the bar.”

Again, give yourself a job to do, not something to avoid doing.

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?