How to Easily Build a Lifting Platform (and the EASIEST way to cut stall mats)

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

A lifting platform is a very important part of your gym - it protects your equipment as well as your floor, it dampens the noise and vibrations of deadlifts, cleans, snatches, etc., and it clearly delineates the lifting space. This last factor - the abundantly clear “stay out of my lifting space” effect of the platform - is very useful when you have a training partner or little kids with you in the gym.

Fortunately, building a lifting platform is quite easy. In fact, “building” is a rather generous term for the process - we’re pretty much just assembling a platform. We’ll lay out the steps below, but I’d strongly recommend watching one of the videos linked throughout this article for a better understanding of the process.

First, lay two 4’ x 8’ sheets of OSB next to one another. I’d recommend what is commonly referred to as 3/4"-thick OSB, but the actual dimension will be listed as 23/32”.

Laying down the base layer of OSB sheets

These two sheets will run lengthwise, i.e., they’re run front-to-back. The sheets will probably have a slight bow to them (i.e., a curvature), and you’ll want to make sure that the crown of the board is up (so the board should make a mountain, not a valley).

Next, lay two more sheets of the same OSB on top of the base layer. These sheets will be perpendicular to the base layer sheets, so they’ll run side-to-side. Again, the crown should be up. Then you’ll use 1-1/4” screws to attach the second layer to the base layer. We use three screws on the short end of each board and four screws along the long end.

Laying down the 2nd layer of OSB sheets

Then, for the top layer, you’ll use a sheet of 3/4”-thick MDF to run down the middle. You could use something nicer like oak, but we like MDF as it’s nice and heavy and causes everything to lie nice and flat. You’ll need to do some cutting on the MDF as they are sized at 49” x 97”. You’ll cut the length to 96” (8 feet), and we recommend cutting the width to 42” (3.5 feet) as this gives you ample room between the plates and the MDF when you set down your deadlifts, cleans, etc (you can go with 4 feet wide, but 3.5 feet makes it much less likely that you’ll chip the MDF over time). You can do this yourself, or your lumber store may be willing to rip it for you.

Finally, you’ll use 3/4”-thick horse stall mats for the rest of the top layer. Stall mats are typically 4’ x 6’, so you’ll have some cutting to do here. The bigger piece on each side will be 72” x 27” (i.e., 6’ x 2’3”), and the smaller piece on each side will be 24” x 27” (i.e., 2’ x 2’3”). 

To attach the top layer to the second layer, use 1-5/8” screws. We put six screws into the MDF - three in front and three in back. For the stall mats, we simply put screws around the outside, front, and back of the platform - we don’t put any screws down the rubber edge near the MDF so that we can’t accidentally set our metal plates or bumper plates down on a screw that might be a bit proud.

Last note - when cutting stall mats, use a jig saw. It is - by far - the best way to do it. Check out the video above to see this process.

We hope this helps you quickly and easily build a lifting platform, and as always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.

Finished platform - complete with Addy, Milo, & Parker

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Week 2022.10.31

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Congratulations to everyone who competed at this past weekend’s Testify Fall Classic and thank you so much to everyone who helped out! Judges, loaders, table officials, those who helped set up and tear down - you all were wonderful, and we absolutely could not have done it without you!

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 2022.08.29.

Option 2
Bike/row:
4 x 800m

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

Compare to 2022.08.08.

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 2022.07.11.

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 2022.07.11.

The Squat: Don't Be a Moron

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

A lot of good advice in life can be summed up with the phrase, “Don’t be a moron,” and racking the squat is certainly no exception.

Listen, in the time it took you to squat your work set, the hooks (you know - the things the bar rests upon in the rack) didn’t go anywhere, so when you rack the bar, quit looking for them. Some lifters are either under the impression that their hooks have the ability to wander off while they squat, or they think they have incredibly cruel training partners who will steal their hooks while they squat.

You, however, are not one of these lifters. When finished with your set of squats, you just keep looking at your focal point (the same one you stared at while squatting) or you look straight ahead, and you then simply walk the barbell forward until it hits the uprights, whereupon you set it down - magically - on the hooks. You know that if you stay nice and tall as you walk back to the rack, hitting the uprights guarantees the bar will be over the hooks.

You also know that if you develop the silly-looking habit of craning your neck to look for the hooks, you’ll tend to walk the bar back to the rack in a rather cattywampus fashion, and one day, you’ll eventually miss one of the hooks (i.e., the one you’re not looking at). This makes for a wonderful YouTube video but a rather disastrous training experience. Fortunately, you don’t do this.

But . . . perhaps your friend does this. In this case, be sure to tell him, “Hey - don’t be a moron.”

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

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Week 2022.10.24

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Reminder: The gym will be closed for training on Saturday, 10/29/22, as we are hosting the annual Testify Fall Classic strengthlifting meet.

This Week’s Conditioning

Option 1
Sled
Outdoors:
10-20 x 25 yds EMOM at a weight of your choice

Every minute, push the sled 25 yards, i.e., if pushing the sled takes 20 seconds, then you have 40 seconds to rest. Perform 10-20 rounds.

Indoors:
10-20 x 100 ft EMOM at a weight of your choice

Every minute, push the sled 100 feet, i.e., if pushing the sled takes 20 seconds, then you have 40 seconds to rest. Perform 10-20 rounds.

Compare to 2022.08.22.

Option 2
Bike/row:
4 x 3 minutes

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

Compare to 2022.08.01.

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 2022.07.04.

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 2022.07.04.

Knee Position in the Split Jerk

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

A common problem with new lifters and the split jerk - and it can be a problem with experience lifters, too - is that of knee position. The back knee often requires a bit more attention than the front knee, but we'll cover the front knee position briefly before moving on to the back knee.

Figure 1

For a demonstration of these problems and their solutions, check out the short video included near the end of this article.

Problem #1: Front Shin Angled Forward
When you lock the barbell out overhead in the split jerk, you want the front shin to be roughly vertical as Becky demonstrates in Figure 1, so if you find that your shin tends to be angled forward when you land as Becky demonstrates in Figure 2, you probably need to reach further with your front foot.

Figure 2: front shin angled forward

How to Fix This Problem
To help with this, try cueing yourself to reach further - specifically, reach forward with your front heel. Thus, the cue is “front heel forward” or “reach with your heel.”

If necessary, you can picture yourself landing with your front shin actually angled backward. In other words, envision your landing position with your front heel ahead of your front knee. While this mental picture is an exaggerated one and not the actual position we want (and thus represents an overcue), it can occasionally be useful in achieving the correct position.

Problem #2: Back Knee Completely Straight
As for the back leg, we want the knee to be bent or unlocked with the back heel off the ground as you see Becky demonstrate in Figure 1.

Figure 3: don’t do this.

While the knee bend is not going to be 90 degrees - so don't do what Becky’s doing in Figure 3 - we certainly don't want the back knee to be completely straight either, and that's a common problem that needs to be addressed.

A straight back leg tends to jam the lifter forward onto the front foot. Note the difference between the correct position in Figure 4a versus the straight leg position in Figure 4b.

If you find that you're landing forward with an excessive amount of weight on your front foot, it's very possible that you need to bend your back knee.

Another problem with a straight back leg is that the depth or amount of drop you can achieve in the split should come from the hip joint and the knee joints of both legs. You can clearly see this with the front leg - the hip is flexed (i.e., bent), and the knee is bent, and those two factors together allow the lifter to drop down into position.

Figure 4a (left) vs Figure 4b (right)

The hip and knee of the back leg should also contribute to the drop, but if the back knee is completely straight, it can't contribute to the dropping motion. This will typically mean that the only way to drop lower is to bend the front knee even more, which then pushes the front knee forward into a weaker position.

On a lesser note, allowing the back knee to bend means the hip of the back leg doesn't have to occupy as severe an angle as it otherwise would. Again, note the difference between the two positions shown in Figure 4a and 4b - if you try this yourself, you'll note the difference in sensation at the hip as well as in the low back. The bent knee position will feel stronger and more stable.

How to Fix This Problem
To help fix a straight back leg, try one of the following cues immediately before performing the jerk:

  • The most straightforward approach is simply “bend the back knee” or “bend the knee.”

  • If the above cue doesn’t work, try “drop the back knee” or simply “back knee down.”

  • Finally, you can also cue yourself to land with more weight on your back leg or foot.

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

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Week 2022.10.17

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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 2022.08.15.

Option 2
Bike/row:
5 min on
4 min off
4 min on
3 min off
3 min on
2 min off
2 min on
1 min off
1 min on

Record distance for each interval and add for total distance.

Compare to 2022.07.25.

Option 3
5-10 rounds of:
30 sec ME tire flips
30 sec rest

Compare to 2022.06.27.

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 2022.06.27.