Lifters' Corner: Looking Down in the Squat

Loren looks at a point on the floor a

few feet in front of him.

When we teach the squat, we teach people to look at a point on the floor about 3-6 feet in front of them. In other words, we look down (and forward, but I digress). But why?

Let's chat . . .

If you lifted in high school, you probably heard some “coach” tell you to look up when squatting. “You gotta look up to go up!” is the loud refrain heard throughout high school weight rooms and powerlifting meets ‘round the world. Rarely is any type of rationale given for this advice, but if pressed for a reason, people might offer something like “ . . . your body follows your head, so to stand up, you should look up.”

This might sound reasonable at first, but let’s think about it. Do you look at the ceiling when you get up out of bed in the morning? What about when you get up out of a chair? I’m going to guess your answer is no. Considering this, we can see that the body doesn’t necessarily follow the head, but it is true that your chest typically does.

Loren looks down . . . to go up.

Therein lies the major problem with lifting the head while squatting - lifting the head typically causes the lifter to lift the chest. When the chest comes up (i.e., the torso becomes more vertical), the knees shift forward. When the knees shift forward, so do the hips (since the hips and knees are connected by the femurs), and in this “knees forward/hips forward” position, we have now asked the knees to do more and the hips to do less, which is rather silly of us since the hips are the larger of the two joints and are surrounded by more muscle mass than the knees. Without diving too deeply into the physics and anatomy of the situation, we use both the hips and the knees when squatting, and since we want to use them in the most efficient manner possible, that means asking the larger joint (i.e., the hips) to do its fair share of the work.

With this in mind, you look down when you squat since it’s an effective way to keep your hips (and knees) right where they are supposed to be, and this allows you drive upward efficiently with your hips.

Lifters' Corner: Enter the TUBOW

(reposted from our June 2018 newsletter)

What on earth is a TUBOW?
So glad you asked! A TUBOW is a Terribly Useful Block Of Wood. Many of you have seen us use 2-foot lengths of 4 x 4 lumber when people squat from time to time - these are TUBOWs.

Why would one use a TUBOW?
We use TUBOWs in the squat, and there are a couple reasons we might use a TUBOW. The most common use is to fix the knee's forward position on the way down.

becky’s knees are so far forward that parker refuses to watch.

Two common errors that we see when people squat is either (a) the lifter's knees travel forward all the way down, or (b) the knees travel forward at the bottom of the squat.

We would like to see the knee establish its final forward position about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way into the descent of the squat, and touching the TUBOW with the knee at this point provides excellent tactile feedback as to whether or not the lifter is doing that correctly. If the lifter accidentally knocks the TUBOW over, it provides excellent negative feedback that the knee has traveled too far forward.

becky touches her knees lightly to the tubow during the descent.

Another use of the TUBOW is to fix the knee's lateral position in the squat, i.e., is the lifter shoving the knees out (to the side) far enough, or perhaps even too far? The TUBOW gives the lifter something concrete (well, lumber, actually) to aim for, and very often, this will help solve the issue.

One of the great side effects of fixing the knee position is that it will often fix the back angle in the squat as well. If the lifter's knees can only travel "so far" forward on the descent, then the hips will have to travel backward (since your hips and knees are connected by your femurs . . . you know . . . the leg bone). If the hips have to travel backward, the lifter will have to lean over during the descent to avoid falling over backward and stay balanced on the midfoot, and that leaned over position is precisely what we want in the low bar squat. Pretty awesome.

Are you one of those people who is deeply, intensely, spiritually, emotionally, and morally opposed to using the TUBOWs? If so, you're probably the type of person whose squat would benefit most from using them. And if your squat benefits, then you benefit, because you'll get stronger - faster.

Where do I get a TUBOW?
You can go to your nearest lumber supply store and get a 4 x 4 (and they'll often cut it to size for you), but if you'd rather just order a 2 foot section of 4 x 4 online and have it show up at your front door, then just click here.

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

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Lifters' Corner: Training on the Road

(reposted from our May 2018 newsletter)

As the season of summer vacations is upon us, some of you may be traveling a bit more frequently. With travel comes the opportunity . . . or the curse . . . of training in other gyms around the country (or perhaps the world!). Here are a couple of tips that might help your training experience - wherever you might end up lifting:

• Check in advance if the gym you'll be using has chalk. If so, great - you've found a rare gem. If not, bring some of you own in a little plastic bag (talk to us if you need some!).
• Try to avoid squatting or pressing front of a mirror. Squatting isn't usually too bad as you'll be looking down anyway, but pressing in front of a mirror can be extremely distracting. Besides, mirrors are for curls and sculpting your guns.
• It is highly likely that someone will come over to you and offer you advice. Say "thank you" and then proceed to ignore them . . . especially if they tell you to look up when squatting. Neanderthals.
• Try to avoid laughing too obviously at the nonsense you see. Seriously. You will be astounded.
• Your lifting belt will pack up quite nicely if you outline the inside of your suitcase/bag with it.
• Your gym might not have bumper plates, which can pose a problem if you deadlift less than 135 lbs. No worries - you can use smaller plates on the bar to get the correct weight and simply create stacks on each side of the bar to raise the bar to approximately the right height (you can use other plates or even mats for this).
• In general, prepare yourself for the likelihood of training in sub-optimal conditions with sub-optimal gear. It's ok. You can adapt to the situation, reduce the weight if necessary, and you can still have a productive training session. Most importantly, you are still training.

Lifters' Corner: The Hook Grip

(reposted from our April 2018 newsletter)

If you are relatively new to lifting, you might wonder why we employ the use of the hook grip when we deadlift . . . let's chat.

Eventually, as you continue to train and get stronger, there will come a point when grip strength becomes the limiting factor on your deadlift. In other words, you could probably pull the bar off the floor if you could just manage to hang on to the stupid thing. At this point, an adjustment must be made to the grip so that we can continue to train and strengthen the legs, hips, and back.

Traditionally, people have often utilized a grip wherein one arm is pronated (i.e., palm down) and the other arm is supinated (i.e., palm up) - this is commonly referred to as a mixed grip, alternate grip, or switch grip. This grip is very strong, but it is also asymmetrical, and this asymmetry can cause a few problems, including twisting during the lift as well as aggravation of the tendons in the supinated arm. Bicep ruptures - although rare - have been known to occur with this type of grip (to be fair it should also be pointed out that this typically results from a lifter trying to jerk the bar off the floor with a slightly flexed arm - a bad idea under any circumstance).

To avoid this asymmetry, we utilize the hook grip. It is typically uncomfortable, but it is strong, it is safe, and you will be a better person for having used it. It's science. With this in mind, those who can hook . . . should hook, and that probably means you.

Hope this helps!

Lifters' Corner: Notation

(reposted from our March 2018 newsletter)

You train - you don't exercise. And because you train, you keep a training journal. You record your warm-ups and your work sets, but one thing that keeps tripping you up is the notation. You can never remember which comes first . . . sets? Reps? Weights?

Let's talk a bit about this. Generally, there are two methods of notating your training: "sets x reps" and "weight x reps x sets." Thus, if your program calls for you to squat 3 sets of 5 reps, you'll probably see "3 x 5" in your program, and when you record your work sets in your journal, you'll write "165 x 5 x 3" (if you squatted 165 lbs, for example).

You'll notice that the order of "reps" vs "sets" gets reversed in the two methods, and this is what throws people off. With that in mind, allow me to suggest a rule that might help you keep things straight: Reps are always second.

For example, if you see "4 x 6," you'll know that it means 4 sets of 6 reps since 6 is the second number, and reps are always second. Likewise, if you write "145 x 6 x 4" for your squat workout, you're indicating that you squatted 145 for 4 sets of 6 reps since - again - 6 is the second number, and . . . reps are always second. In this case, you call on your grade school skills and use context clues to determine that 145 lbs must be the weight and 4 must be the number of sets . . . since squatting 4 lbs for 145 sets is just plain ridiculous.

Hope this helps!

Lifters' Corner: Barbell Sports

(reposted from our February 2018 newsletter)

“What’s the deal with all of these lifting sports?  I can’t keep them straight!”

No worries - let’s take a quick look at the three major sports of the barbell world.

• Powerlifting: This is the sport of the back squat, bench press, and the deadlift. Each lifter gets 3 attempts on the squat, 3 attempts on the bench press, and 3 attempts on the deadlift.  Take your best attempt from each lift, add them together, and you have what is known as your total.

• Strengthlifting: This is the sport of the back squat, the press, and the deadlift.  It is similar to powerlifting, but there are several notable differences:

  • The press (i.e., overhead press) is contested, not the bench press.

  • The deadlift is conventional, which means your hands go outside of your legs.  This is how we teach the deadlift anyway, so it’s not unusual to you, but at powerlifting meets, a beast known as the sumo deadlift often makes an appearance (wherein the stance is very wide and the grip is fairly narrow - inside the stance).

  • The judges simply tell you whether or not the lift counted, whereas in powerlifting, the judges are a bit more involved.

• Weightlifting: This is the sport of the snatch and the clean-and-jerk. Like the other two sports, each lifter gets 3 attempts on each of the lifts, and once again, we add the best successful lifts together to get a total.

  • Weightlifting is also known as “olympic weightlifting” or simply “olympic lifting.”

  • If you’ve ever watched lifting during the Summer Olympics, this is the sport you witnessed.