Metro Testify - October 9, 2023
/THIS WEEK'S SUBMISSION
From our video Weightlifting vs Powerlifting vs Strengthlifting - What's the Difference?! (click the title to watch):
Timinator117
I've never heard of strengthlifting before. How common is it?
By the way, solid, concise and simple explanation. Short and sweet, just as it should be in today's age of impatient learning and instant gratification.
Phil
Pretty belated response here, but thanks for the kind words. Powerlifting is certainly more common than strengthlifting. Strengthlifting is, on one hand, rather new, and on the other hand, not so new in the sense that the press has been around for a lot longer than the bench press. It’s pretty popular in Starting Strength circles, and it’s probably also worth noting that Mark Rippetoe (author and founder of Starting Strength) was also the creator of the CrossFit Total back in the day, which consists of the same three lifts – squat, press, and deadlift – that make up strengthlifting. We’ve been hosting strengthlifting meets as well as weightlifting meets for a while now, and we get quite a lot of traction in the general strength training community.
ARTICLES & VIDEOS
When Your Training Motivation is Low...
Running on empty when it comes to training motivation? We give you 3 tips (plus a bonus tip) to help you stay consistent with your training. Click here to watch.
The HIDDEN ERROR in His Press | Two Minute Tactics!
He's ruining the start position of his press, and it's not why (or where) you think. Find out more and improve your own press. Click here to watch.
Do ONE Thing to Get Stronger and Improve All Your Lifts!
Can one cue help all of your lifts? Your squat, deadlift, press, bench press, snatch, and clean-and-jerk? Yep, and Phil explains what and how. Click here to read.
Blast from the Past: How to Safely Bench Press Alone!
If you need to bench press alone, you need to do it safely, and it's very simple. Phil breaks it down in under 3 minutes. Click here to watch.
Blast from the Past: To Stand Up . . . Stay Leaned Over!
Stop raising your chest early in the squat - it's making for a weaker squat. Phil explains and gives two useful cues to help. Click here to read.
NEW TESTIFY HOODIES ARE AVAILABLE!
Looking to train in style and comfort this fall? Get yourself a Testify hoodie - in practically any color! Get yours today and represent your favorite gym.
Click here to head to the Testify Store.
WHAT'S COMING UP
Reminder: We will be closed for training on Saturday, 10/21/23, as we are hosting the annual Testify Fall Classic strengthlifting meet.
Below are a few of our upcoming events, and you can find out what else is on the calendar by heading to our events page at www.testifysc.com/events.
Testify Fall Classic
October 21, 2023
The Testify Fall Classic is back for 2023, and we invite you to be a part of it! This is a strengthlifting meet, which means the contested lifts will be the squat, press, and deadlift.
Click here to register or for more information.
Free Intro to Squat Session
October 28, 2023
Are you interested in getting stronger? Book your free "Intro to Squat" session and learn to squat, meet some of our coaches, and see the gym! All ages and abilities are welcome.
Click here to book your free session.
Free Intro to Deadlift Session
November 4, 2023
Are you interested in getting stronger? Book your free "Intro to Deadlift" session and learn to deadlift, meet some of our coaches, and see the gym! All ages and abilities are welcome.
Click here to book your free session.
THIS WEEK’S CONDITIONING
Option 1
“Prowler Base”
1. Load up a manageable weight.
2. Sprint 40m at 85% intensity.
3. Rest until breathing and heart rate slow down. (45 sec – 2 min)
4. Repeat 5-15 times.
Courtesy of “Death by Prowler” (on Starting Strength).
Compare to 2023.08.07.
Option 2
Bike/row:
8 x 30 sec on/2:00 off
Score = least distance covered in any 30 second interval
Compare to 2023.07.17.
Option 3
8 rounds:
Outdoors:
4 tire flips
50 yd sled push (25 yd down-back)
Rest 1 minute
Indoors:
4 tire flips
100 ft sled push (50 ft down-back)
Rest 1 minute
Compare to 2023.06.19.
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 2023.06.19.
The HIDDEN ERROR in His Press | Two Minute Tactics!
/He's ruining the start position of his press, and it's not why (or where) you think. Find out more and improve your own press.
At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Click the button below to get quality coaching from a Starting Strength Coach and start getting stronger TODAY.
Do ONE Thing to Get Stronger and Improve All Your Lifts!
/Let’s cover a cue that will help you with every single one of your lifts. To be precise, this is actually a type of cue, and more specifically, we’re discussing the concept of the overcue.
The overcue (i.e., an over-correction cue) communicates an exaggeration of what we want to happen in a specific lift, and it can be an extremely effective tool to achieve improved technique in any lift. Let’s take a look at a few examples:
Example 1: Squat
From watching video of yourself lifting, you notice you’re consistently squatting about an inch high. The first approach to solving this problem is to simply tell yourself to “squat one inch deeper” - in other words, tell yourself the truth. However, if that doesn’t do the trick, you may have to lie to yourself a bit, and that’s the idea behind the overcue: it’s a productive lie.
With this in mind, you cue yourself to “squat three inches deeper.” You don’t actually want or need to squat three inches deeper, but telling yourself to squat one inch deeper wasn’t doing the trick, so you exaggerate the concept of what you need to do in order to accomplish your goal.
Example 2: Deadlift
You’re raising your chest prematurely on the deadlift, and as a result, you’re pulling around your knees and making things much more difficult than they should be. You know the deadlift begins with knee extension, so you try a few cues such as “push the floor’ or “straighten the knees” to help with the movement.
However, if this doesn’t work, you move on to an overcue such as “hips go up first” or “hips first.” Of course, this is an exaggeration - you don’t want your hips to lead the way in the deadlift, but this exaggeration of the correct technique might just do the trick for you.
Example 3: Jerk
Got soft elbows when receiving the barbell overhead in the jerk? If you are pressing out your jerks and telling yourself to “lock it out” isn’t working, try cueing yourself to “lock it before you land it.” In other words, tell yourself to completely straighten your elbows before your feet hit the deck. This isn’t what actually happens in a correctly executed jerk, but that doesn’t matter - you are simply exaggerating an aspect of the correct movement to help improve your technique.
Example 4: Squat
You’re breaking at the hips before breaking at the knees; in other words, as you start your squat, you are bending at the hips first instead of correctly bending at the hips and knees simultaneously. First, you tell yourself the truth by using the cue “hips and knees together,” but if that doesn’t do the trick, it’s time to try something else.
In this case, an overcue such as “knees first” can be very useful. You don’t actually want your knees to bend before your hips do, but telling yourself the truth wasn’t working, so you introduce the overcue, and this tends to solve the problem quite nicely.
Use overcues judiciously. Remember that you are lying to yourself just a bit when you use one, so be conservative in your approach. First, cue yourself to do precisely what it is that you want to do - tell yourself the truth - but if that doesn’t work, it may be time to move on to an overcue.
We hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
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At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Would you like to get quality coaching from a Starting Strength Coach?
How to Safely Bench Press Alone!
/If you need to bench press alone, you need to do it safely, and it's very simple. Phil breaks it down in under 3 minutes.
(This is a Blast from the Past video originally published on 01/29/22.)
At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Click the button below to get quality coaching from a Starting Strength Coach and start getting stronger TODAY.
To Stand Up . . . Stay Leaned Over!
/(This is a Blast from the Past article originally posted on 09/10/21.)
I had a conversation this week with one of our members after his last set of squats that went something like this:
Me: “That last rep was spot on.”
Member: “Yeah, that rep was so much easier since I stayed leaned over longer on the way up. It’s so strange how that works, and I sometimes just forget it.”
Me: “Yep, it can be counterintuitive, but you have to stay leaned over to make standing up easier.”
This conversation illustrates a common problem with newer and even experienced lifters, which is that of trying to raise the chest prematurely when coming up out of the hole on the squat. In other words, they try to make their back angle more vertical right away on the ascent. We sometimes refer to this problem as “not staying in your hips,” and today, we’re going to solve this issue.
Remember, during the ascent of the squat, your back angle will eventually become more vertical - after all, we finish the squat in an upright (i.e., vertical) position. However, if you try to make it vertical too soon, it makes for a slower, more difficult squat. To avoid this problem, we cue people to “drive the hips” or “stay in your hips” as they come up out of the hole (very often, this cue is reduced to simply “Hips!”).
With that being said, if these cues don’t work for you and you still find yourself raising your chest too soon on your ascent, try one of the following cues as you drive up out of the bottom of the squat:
“Stay in your lean.”
“Stay leaned over.”