The Testify Morning News - November 11, 2024

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

THIS WEEK'S SUBMISSION

From our video How to Load & Unload the Barbell for the Deadlift (in less than 3 minutes!) (click the title to watch):

B Sykes Beats
Wow the fish hook is a great design, so much more convenient than the clunky deadlift jack

Phil
I certainly can't take credit for the design, but it is indeed a pretty great design!

TESTIFY ONLINE COACHING

Want to get stronger working remotely with one of our Starting Strength Coaches? Click here to contact us and learn more.

Get Stronger. Live Better. Start today.

ARTICLES & VIDEOS

4 Ways You're Using Your Wrist Wraps Wrong
How should you use your wrist wraps? There are a number of mistakes lifters make without knowing it. We address 4 common errors as well as how to fix them. Click here to watch.

 

Get a Bigger Squat Now with 3 Simple Tips
Phil covers 3 easy and quick ways to improve your squat and start setting new PRs right now. Click here to read.

 

Blast from the Past: Starting Strength Squat/Low Bar Squat | Fix Your STANCE!
Is your crazy stance ruining your squat? Too narrow? Too wide? In this video - our 5th in a series of Saturday Shorts on fixing the squat - Phil and Mike quickly discuss and demonstrate how to solve this problem. Click here to watch.

 

Blast from the Past: How to Easily Build a Lifting Platform (and the EASIEST way to cut stall mats)
We show you how to easily build a lifting platform as well as how to quickly and easily cut horse stall mats for your platform without using a utility knife! Click here to read.

“GET STRONGER - LIVE BETTER” SHIRTS ARE AVAILABLE!

Why do you train? Because getting stronger makes everything else easier. Get stronger. Live better. “Testify” to this message and represent your favorite gym with this shirt in several color options.

Click here to head to the Testify Store.

WHAT'S COMING UP

Below are a few of our upcoming events, and you can always find out what else is on the calendar by heading to our events page at www.testifysc.com/events.

Benching Bonanza! The Annual Testify Bench Press Jubilee

  • November 22, 2024

  • Benching Bonanza is a strength meet wherein the only contested lift is - you guessed it - the bench press. There will be one bar, and the meet will be conducted in a "rising bar" format, so the weight on the bar only goes up! It'll be a ton of fun, so come on out!

  • Click here to register or for more information.

Barbell Blizzard! A Winter Wonderland of Weights

  • December 14, 2024

  • Barbell Blizzard is a team strength meet wherein the contested lifts will be the squat, press, bench press, and deadlift. Competitors will form teams of 2-4 lifters/team and perform all 4 lifts; each lifter will receive 3 attempts for each lift.

  • Click here to register or for more information.

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 2024.09.09.

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 2024.08.19.

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

Compare to 2024.07.22.

Option 4
For time:
500m row
5 x 80m sled push (200 ft if indoors)
500m row

Rest 1 minute after the first row and after each sled push.

Compare to 2024.07.22.

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

Get a Bigger Squat Now with 3 Simple Tips

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

Let’s cover three ways to immediately improve your squat.

Tip #1: Focal Point
First, have a focal point - don’t allow your eyes to wander during the rep or even between reps. Second, for the location of your focal point, pick a point on the floor roughly 4-6 feet in front of you and stare at it throughout the entire set.

This is useful for balance, and it also encourages you to lean over as you start your descent and stay leaned over as you initiate your hip drive coming up out of the hole.

Tip #2: Knees Out
As you start your descent, shove your knees out. Specifically, shove them in the direction of your toes, and since you’re going to take a shoulder-width stance with your toes pointed out at roughly 30 degrees, this means your knees should travel both forward and out (i.e., forward and apart). With that said, focus on the “out” or the “apart” aspect of this movement. 

Rob shoves his knees apart so his femurs track in line with his toes, and addy approves.

Shoving your knees apart makes it easier to hit depth in the squat and also makes for a stronger, more efficient squat as it helps involve your adductors more in the movement.

As a side note, it is possible - though less common - to shove your knees too far out. In this case, your femurs are tracking outside of your toes, and we don’t want this either, so simply point your knees in the direction your shoes are pointing, and you’ll quite literally be headed in the right direction.

Tip #3: Your Lean
This is the most counterintuitive of the tips presented in this article, but it contributes mightily to the effectiveness and efficiency of your squat.

Lean over as you start your descent, and stay leaned over as you come up out of the hole on the ascent.

In other words, as you begin the squat, reach back with your hips and point your chest at the floor. As you initiate your hip drive coming out of the bottom of the squat, stay leaned over longer than you think you should. This will put you in a better, stronger position for squatting.

Yes, your back angle becomes vertical eventually (after all, you finish the squat in an upright position), but it should not become vertical right away, and to try to make your torso vertical right away makes for a weaker, disadvantaged squat. With all of this in mind, get leaned over, and then stay leaned over.

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

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

If you found this helpful, you’ll love our weekly email. It’s got useful videos, articles, and training tips just like the one in this article. Sign up below, and of course, if you don’t love it, you can unsubscribe at any time.

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?

Starting Strength Squat/Low Bar Squat | Fix Your STANCE!

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

Is your crazy stance ruining your squat? Too narrow? Too wide? In this video - our 5th in a series of Saturday Shorts on fixing the squat - Phil and Mike quickly discuss and demonstrate how to solve this problem.

(A Blast from the Past video originally published on 08/27/22)

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?

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

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 11/04/22)

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

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

If you found this helpful, you’ll love our weekly email. It’s got useful videos, articles, and training tips just like the one in this article. Sign up below, and of course, if you don’t love it, you can unsubscribe at any time.

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?

4 Ways You're Using Your Wrist Wraps Wrong

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

How should you use your wrist wraps? There are a number of mistakes lifters make without knowing it. Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers covers 4 common errors as well as how to fix them.

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?

Testify Tribune - November 4, 2024

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

THIS WEEK'S SUBMISSION

From our video Lifting Straps | What You're Doing WRONG (and other common mistakes) (click the title to watch):

Craig Martin
Thanks for this video! I was doing everything wrong (apparently I'm an idiot ). I was ao frustrated with my grip, which effected my ability to make progress on the DL, that i stopped deadlifting for extended period

Phil
You're welcome, and I'm glad this was helpful for you - happy deadlifting!

TESTIFY ONLINE COACHING

Want to get stronger working remotely with one of our Starting Strength Coaches? Click here to contact us and learn more.

Get Stronger. Live Better. Start today.

ARTICLES & VIDEOS

1 HUGE Mistake Self-Taught Deadlifters Make
If you're committing this deadlift error, then you're making your deadlifts horribly inefficient, and you're significantly limiting the amount of weight on the bar. Let’s fix it. Click here to watch.

 

What You Should NEVER Do When Deadlifting!
Are you making this mistake when deadlifting? Well . . . don't. Click here to read.

 

Blast from the Past: How Long Should I REST? | Starting Strength Linear Progression
How long should I rest when working through the Starting Strength Linear Progression? How long should I rest between warm-up sets? Between work sets? Phil explains. Click here to watch.

 

Blast from the Past: The Squat: Don't Be a Moron
”A lot of good advice in life can be summed up with the phrase, ‘Don’t be a moron,’ and this particular squat error is certainly no exception…” Click here to read.

“GET STRONGER - LIVE BETTER” SHIRTS ARE AVAILABLE!

Why do you train? Because getting stronger makes everything else easier. Get stronger. Live better. “Testify” to this message and represent your favorite gym with this shirt in several color options.

Click here to head to the Testify Store.

WHAT'S COMING UP

Below are a few of our upcoming events, and you can always find out what else is on the calendar by heading to our events page at www.testifysc.com/events.

Benching Bonanza! The Annual Testify Bench Press Jubilee

  • November 22, 2024

  • Benching Bonanza is a strength meet wherein the only contested lift is - you guessed it - the bench press. There will be one bar, and the meet will be conducted in a "rising bar" format, so the weight on the bar only goes up! It'll be a ton of fun, so come on out!

  • Click here to register or for more information.

Barbell Blizzard! A Winter Wonderland of Weights

  • December 14, 2024

  • Barbell Blizzard is a team strength meet wherein the contested lifts will be the squat, press, bench press, and deadlift. Competitors will form teams of 2-4 lifters/team and perform all 4 lifts; each lifter will receive 3 attempts for each lift.

  • Click here to register or for more information.

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.” 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 2024.09.02.

Option 2
Bike/row:
4 x 3 minutes

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

Compare to 2024.08.12.

Option 3
Outdoors:
5-10 rounds:
50 yd sled push (25 yd down-back)
50 yd farmer carry (25 yd down-back)
Rest 1 min

Indoors:
5-10 rounds:
100 yd sled push (50 ft down-back)
100 yd farmer carry (50 ft down-back)
Rest 1 min

Compare to 2024.07.15.

Option 4
Row 10 x 100m
Rest 1 min between sprints. Your score is your slowest time.

Compare to 2024.07.15.

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