Week 2021.03.29

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This Week’s Conditioning

Option 1
Sled
Outdoors:
10 rounds of:
Push sled 100 ft
Pull sled 100 ft (hand over hand)

Indoors:
20 rounds of:
Push sled 50 ft
Pull sled 50 ft (hand over hand)

Compare to 2021.01.25.

Option 2
Bike/row:
8 x 30 sec on/2:00 off

Score = least distance covered in any 30 second interval

Compare to 2021.01.04.

Option 3
Outdoors:
5-10 rounds:
10 sledgehammer strikes (5R, 5L)
50 yd farmer carry (25 yd down-back)
Rest 1 minute

Indoors:
5-10 rounds:
10 sledgehammer strikes (5R, 5L)
100 ft farmer carry (50 ft down-back)
Rest 1 minute

Compare to 2020.12.07.

Option 4
Sandbag-over-bars
Set yoke at #33 for women or #35 for men.
1. 1 minute AMRAP
2. 5 rounds of 2 reps every 2 minutes (speed!)
3. 1 minute AMRAP

Weights
Female under 40 years
140 lbs and under: 75 lbs
140.1 lbs – 185 lbs: 100 lbs
185.1 lbs and over: 150 lbs

Female 40 years and over
140 lbs and under: 50 lbs
185 lbs and under: 75 lbs
185.1 lbs and over: 100 lbs

Male under 40 years
185 lbs and under: 150 lbs
185.1 lbs – 235 lbs: 200 lbs
235.1 lbs and over: 250 lbs

Male 40 years and over
185 lbs and under: 100 lbs
185.1 lbs – 235 lbs: 150 lbs
235.1 lbs and over: 200 lbs

Compare to 2020.11.30.

Mistakes New Lifters Make - Part II

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In Part I of this series - Common Mistakes New Lifters Make (and how to avoid them!) - we discussed the common errors of misloading your bar, forgetting to wear your belt, and forgetting to use chalk or a hook/switch grip for your deadlift.

Parker and Milo make all kinds of mistakes - mistakes only redeemable because the two furballs are moderately cute.

Parker and Milo make all kinds of mistakes - mistakes only redeemable because the two furballs are moderately cute.

In Part II, we’re going to examine a few other mistakes that new lifters are likely to make, and hopefully, we can help you avoid them or at least quickly correct them. Most of this list is inspired by conversations we have at the gym with new (and sometimes experienced!) lifters, and the mistakes are not listed in any particular order.

Setting the j-hooks too high for the squat (or press/bench press)
For some reason, new lifters often set their j-hooks too high for their squat. You should never be at risk of catching the edge of a hook with the barbell when either unracking the bar at the beginning of your set or racking the bar at the end of your set, so err on the conservative side and set the hooks a bit lower than you think you should. Mid-sternum is a good height to start with, and remember, too low is better than too high - nobody should have to do a calf raise to rack the bar - and you can always raise the hooks later if you’ve set them too low.

Looking for the j-hooks when racking the squat (or press/bench press)
It can be tempting to look at the j-hooks as you’re racking the bar after your last rep. Don’t. Unless you have an exceptionally sneaky and cruel training partner, the hooks didn’t go anywhere while you were squatting, so stop treating them like they have legs. When you’re finished with your last rep, look straight ahead and walk forward until the bar makes (and keeps) solid contact with both uprights. At this point, you’ll know the bar is over the hooks (assuming you set the hooks at a reasonable height - see the previous paragraph), and you can then safely lower the bar down to the hooks. Looking at one hook makes it very likely that you will miss the other, and this tends to be a rather disastrous event - it might not happen today, but it will happen. Don’t look at the hooks.

Breathing in or out while the bar is moving
New lifters often breathe out when the bar is moving upward - we have years of fitness magazines to thank for this inane idea. Again, don’t. Remember: if the bar is moving, you’re not breathing. Instead, inhale before the rep starts and exhale after the rep ends. In other words, all breathing takes place between reps - not during - and for crying in the beer cheese soup, don’t blow your air out at the top of your deadlift. Wait the quarter of a second it takes to lower it to the ground and release your breath when the bar is back on the floor.

Watch one of the included videos above or below for more on how to correctly breathe and perform the Valsalva maneuver.

We hope these tips help you in your training, and we anticipate a “Part III” in the near future.

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.)

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?

Talk to a Coach

Week 2021.03.22

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This Week’s Conditioning

Option 1
Sled Pyramid – 4, 5, or 6 tiers
Go up and down a 4, 5, or 6 tier “sled pyramid” – rest as needed. The distance for each round is 80 m indoors (a down-back on the 40m course) or 200 ft outdoors (2 down-backs on the 50 ft course). Rest as needed.

For example, Bob does the following (4 tiers):
Round 1: Empty sled
Round 2: 25#
Round 3: 50#
Round 4: 75#
Round 5: 50#
Round 6: 25#
Round 7: Empty sled

Compare to 2021.01.18

Option 2
Bike/row:
4 x 800m

Rest 3 minutes between each round. Score = slowest time.

Compare to 2020.12.28.

Option 3
Outdoors:
10 rounds:
25 yd yoke carry
Rest 1 minute

Indoors:
10 rounds:
30 yd yoke carry (15 yd down-back)
Rest 1 minute

Compare to 2020.11.30.

Option 4
1. 5 yoke carries @ 30 yd (15 yd downback) – work up to heaviest carry
2. 5 rounds of 5 reps on the axle “clean and press away” – work up to heavy set of 5

Compare to 2020.11.23.

Tips and Tricks for the New Lifter

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When you’re new to some task, like lifting, there are always a few tips and tricks that will seem rather obvious to you years later, so in an effort to speed things up a bit, here are several that might prove useful to both new and experienced lifters:

An additional use for your wrist wraps

figure 1: An additional use for your wrist wraps

Deadlifting on a Non-level Floor
If you must deadlift on a slightly non-level floor (hopefully very slightly!), and you find that the barbell always wants to roll a bit, you can simply place your wrist wraps on the floor in front of the plates (Figure 1).

You can, of course, use any other soft, thin items like socks, lifting straps, even sponges, but don’t use a hard item like a 2.5-lb plate. If you set the bar down, and it glances off that item, it will come back at your shins, and shins and horizontally moving barbells don’t get along well (hint: the barbell always wins). In addition, the contact between the plate(s) on the bar and the 2.5-lb plate on the floor may cause one or both of them to chip. Wrist wraps are thick enough to immobilize the bar but soft and compressible enough that setting the bar down on top of the wrist wraps won’t cause any problems.

Quit Using 2.5-lb Plates . . . Sometimes
Stop using 2.5-lb plates in your warm-ups. As you get stronger, you’ll find that you can round most - if not all - of your warm-up weights to numbers that end in “5.” This will allow you to stop using 2.5-lb plates in your warm-ups.

If you’d like to use 2.5-lb plates in your final warm-up in an effort to be a bit more precise, that’s fine, but most of your warm-up weight selections won’t require this level of precision. (If your work sets on a given lift are less than 100 lbs, you might decide to use 2.5-lb plates more often in your warm-ups, but you can apply a similar exclusionary logic to the 1.25-lb plates instead.)

Stop Resting . . . Sort-of
Stop resting between your warm-ups sets. We mention this on a regular basis, but it still blows people’s minds that they don’t need to rest 5 minutes between every single set.

Do your empty bar sets (alright, you can rest 15 seconds between your two empty bar sets of five reps), then add weight and go. Then add weight and go again. Repeat until it’s time for your first work set, before which you should probably rest a few minutes. Remember - the act of changing the weight on the bar gives you enough rest to do the next warm-up set. This will save you a lot of time in the gym.

Write Out Your Next Workout
Write out your next workout before leaving the gym. As you gain experience, you may ditch this habit, and that’s perfectly fine, but when you’re new, it’s a very productive use of your rest periods to start writing out your next workout in your training journal - especially the warm-ups. You’re already in “training mode,” and the warm-ups you performed today will inform and influence the warm-ups you do next time, so now is as good a time as any to write out your next training session (and you won’t have to think too hard when you come in the gym next time).

As always, we hope these tips and tricks 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.)

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?

book a free intro

Week 2021.03.15

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The annual Testify Leprechaun Lift-off was a great success this weekend, and we are hugely thankful to everyone who helped out! Loaders, referees, table officials, those who helped setup and tear down - we could not have hosted this meet without you all!

This Week’s Conditioning

Option 1
”Prowler Base+1”
1. Load up a manageable weight.
2. Sprint 40m at 85% intensity.
3. Rest 30 sec.
4. Repeat 5-15 times.

Courtesy of “Death by Prowler” (on Starting Strength).

Compare to 2021.01.11.

Option 2
Bike/row:
4 x 3 minutes

Rest 3 minutes between each round. Score = lowest distance.

Compare to 2020.12.21.

Option 3
Outdoors:
5-10 rounds:
10 sledgehammer strikes (5R, 5L)
50 yd farmer carry (25 yd down-back)
Rest 1 minute

Indoors:
5-10 rounds:
10 sledgehammer strikes (5R, 5L)
100 ft farmer carry (50 ft down-back)
Rest 1 minute

Compare to 2020.11.23.

Option 4
10 x 50 ft farmer carry
Each carry is 25 ft down and 25 ft back and is for time. Rest 1 minute between carries.

Women: 97# per handle (80# of plates)
Men: 137# per handle (120# of plates)
(Note: Each handle weighs 17#.)

Compare to 2020.11.16.

Common Mistakes New Lifters Make (and How to Avoid Them!)

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If you’re a new lifter, there are a couple of mistakes that you’re probably going to make within your first few weeks or months of training. To help you avoid them, let’s take a look at a few:

Misloading the bar
Bar math can be tough, and you’re eventually going to load your barbell heavier or lighter than you intended. For example, you intend to add 10 lb to the bar, and instead, you absentmindedly add 10 lb to each side of the bar and thus end up adding 20 lb to the bar by mistake.

If you do a work set, and it’s significantly harder than you expected, double-check what’s on the bar. Be sure to check your math if the set is significantly easier than expected as well, and check it again if the weight felt lopsided. In all of these scenarios, there’s a reasonable chance you misloaded the bar. Don’t worry - we’ve all done it, and it won’t be the last time you do it.

Forgetting to wear your belt
You finish your set - it was a bit harder than expected - and you then see your lifting belt sitting on the ground. There’s a very easy solution here - every time you finish a set, hang your belt over the middle of your barbell. Now, you won’t be able to miss it. This also works well for wrist wraps.

Forgetting to use chalk or a hook/switch grip for your deadlift
Grip plays a pivotal role in the deadlift, and you can’t pull as heavy without chalk and a hook or switch grip (or straps) as you can with these things. Eventually, chalking before pulling will be second nature - as will taking the proper grip - but in the meantime, write yourself a large, neat reminder in your training journal. “CHALK + HOOK GRIP” or something of the sort will do nicely.

We’ll examine a few other newbie mistakes in a future article, but in the meantime, give these solutions a try.

Milo understands . . . he’s made a few mistakes, too.

Milo understands . . . he’s made a few mistakes, too.

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.)

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?

book a free intro