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Meghan
in the press... |
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Hobman
has strong feelings about lifting
When
Meghan Hobman wants something, she can be pretty persuasive. So, when
she told her parents she wanted to be a powerlifter, her dad knew he
was in trouble. "She's very stubborn and things have to be her
idea so when she came up with this she really pushed to get it done,
" recalled Keith Hobman. Meghan
just smiles when she hears that. "All I knew was that I wanted to
do it. I really had to coax to get them to agree," said the
12-year-old, who will be entering her first powerlifting competition
for Western Canadians in A
powerlifter himself, Hobman initially tried to discourage Meghan from
the sport, thinking that it would damage the growing young girl's
spine and skeletal system. But after researching the sport and talking
to a number of doctors and YWCA fitness director Roger Stalwick,
Hobman and his wife Caroline decided to let Meghan give the sport a
try. |
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"The
studies that have been done have shown there is no danger to children
doing strength training as long as it's supervised," says
Stalwick. "And if you think about it logically, if kids can
handle soccer, gymnastics, and figure skating where their bodies take
a lot of pounding, strength training is a way to prevent
injuries." Stalwick admits powerlifting is at the extreme end of
the scale but says from what he's seen, the Hobmans are approaching
the sport in a very responsible manner. |
"...there
is no danger to children doing strength training as long as it's
supervised." |
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Hobman
is a longtime coach and has direct supervision over his daughter's
workouts. In addition, Meghan says she did not lift a weight for the
first six months but rather worked to develop a base and the overall
strength and fitness necessary to try powerlifting. Once that was
developed, Keith and Meghan spent the last six months working on
technique--once again adapting the training to suit Meghan. "We
take exercises that would put unnecessary stress on her skeletal
system and include exercises that help the supporting muscles around
the skeletal system," explains Hobman. For example, while Hobman
would include an arch-back good morning lift (where you load a heavy
weight on your shoulders and bend over as though bowing), he would
never have Meghan even try such a move. Instead, he says, she does
hyperextensions to strengthen the lower back and lumbar muscles.
"It's actually quite interesting working with Meghan because it
forces you to re-evaluate all the exercises and how they work,"
says Hobman. That
much was obvious during one of their training sessions as the father
and daughter discussed each exercises and technique in detail before
executing it. It's a strategy that appears to be working, too, as
Meghan has more than doubled the amount of weight she's lifting in the
past six months. For Westerns, for which the 12-year-old has to get
special permission from the Canadian Powerlifting Union to allow her
to compete in the 23-and-under junior division, Meghan has some
specific goals. She wants to top 100 lbs in the bench press, 150 in
the squat, and 200 in the deadlift. "I'm almost there," she
says proudly. "Actually I did 105 in the bench press on Monday in
training." |
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"The
lifts are fun and it's kind of nice impressing people" |
In
other ways, Meghan is a typical 12-year-old. She's in an accelerated
learning program at |
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An
added bonus for Keith Hobman is that he and his daughter have become
closer because of the sport. "We're both compelled to pick up
heavy things, I guess, and it's been great for us. We talk a lot and
our relationship has really kind of taken off because we have this in
common," he said. Still,
Hobman admits that there are times when the roles of Dad and coach
conflict. "As a parent, when you see your daughter under 150
pounds, especially in a squat, I'm thinking oh, no. As a coach I want
her to lift it but as a dad, I just want her to get that weight off
her back," he says. Meghan
thinks he worries too much. "Dad's a really good coach," she
says simply. "And I don't think it matters how young you are, as
long as you're committed and take precautions so you don't get
hurt." |
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Meghan's
Training |
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Meghan's
dad, powerlifter Keith Hobman,
writes: Meghan
started lifting about one year before her first competition. Meghan
didn't do the powerlifts for the first six months and wasn't allowed
to test maximal strength. My concern was to build up a physical base
with her so she could stand the stress of doing maximal weights with a
minimal chance of injury. During this period she lifted three times
per week and did very little exercises which placed loads on her
skeletal system. We emphasized training the shoulders, glutes, quads
and hamstrings. A typical routine during this period would be: |
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Reverse
Hyper-extension (3x10) Hyper-extension
(3x10) Leg
Press (3x10) DB
Front Raise (3x10) DB
Lateral Raise (3x10) DB
Bench Press (3x8) Triceps
Pushdown (3x10) Pulldown
(3x10) Crunches
(3x25) |
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This
routine changed weekly to keep her interested, but as can be seen the
emphasis is on building supporting muscle and minimizing skeletal
system load. Exercise performance on both of the exercise which do
load the skeletal system (Leg Press and DB Bench Press) is light, but
explosive. Acceleration is a critical concern. After
six months we switched to what I call a "powerlifting
routine". Meghan followed the exact same program that my brother
and I use, but she used different assistance exercises. Once again
emphasis is on avoiding as much as possible skeletal and joint loads.
We use a Louie Simmons designed program. Meghan worked out four times
per week, each workout taking under an hour, including 10 minutes of
warm-up. Here is how it went in the last 8 weeks leading to the
competition. |
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Day
1 (Wednesday) Squat Dynamic Day Low
Box Squat (chains) 14x2 @ 65% - 45 seconds between sets Assistance
- hyper-extension / manual hamstring curl / reverse hyper-extension /
hanging leg raise / wrist curl |
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Notes:
Meghan uses 65% of her one rep maximum for 14 sets of 2 reps. Meghan
can squat 95 lbs. plus about 45 lbs. of chain in this exercise, so she
uses 65 lbs. plus the chains for her working sets. What we do is hang
the chains on the bar so that when Meghan is standing up almost all
the chain is off the floor. As she squats the bar gets lighter and
lighter as the chain links go to the floor. Once on the Hyper-extensions
are done with either elastic bands or me pushing against her back for
resistance. Manual hamstring curls are done facing outwards on a
pulldown machines with the ankles locked under the seat. The bar is
held behind the neck and the person lies face down on a bench and then
'curls' their own bodyweight upwards, keeping the hips locked and
moving only the knee joint. Since very few people can do their own
bodyweight the bar and cable of the pulldown machine is used to reduce
resistance. Reverse hyper-extensions are done by facing in on the
hyperextension and pulling and elastic upwards until the body is
straight. Hanging leg raises are done on the chin bar - the legs are
lifted slowly and held for a two count once up. Meghan bends her knees
on these. Wrist curls are done standing in the squat rack with the bar
held behind the back and the hands facing out. The bar is lowered onto
the tips of the fingers and then curled by moving only the hands as
high as possible. All assistance work is done for 3 to 4 sets of 8-15
reps. |
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Day
2 (Thursday) Bench Dynamic Day Multi-grip
Bench Press (chains) 10x3 @ 60% - 30 seconds between sets Assistance
- DB Paul Dyck Press (7 sets of 8 reps with 15 seconds rest between
sets) / DB cleans on a bench / Lateral Raise / Stomach Curl on a
Balance Ball |
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Notes:
On the bench press Meghan uses 60% of her best bench in competition
style plus the weight of the chains. In this exercise about 1/2 the
links are always on the floor so the chains don't provide as much
resistance. Meghan starts with a grip that is 8 inches narrower with
each hand than her regular grip. Every second set she moves the grip
out two inches until the last two sets are done with a normal grip. As
with the box squat this is done very explosively - literally trying to
throw the bar through the ceiling. Paul
Dick presses are done with dumbbells either on a bench or on the
floor. Meghan uses a weight she knows she can get 7 sets of 8 out of
and works out with a very fast cadence. Basically the dbs are lowered
like a press and then near the bottom the weights are brought onto the
shoulders by bringing the elbows up in an arch. The weights are then
pressed straight up leading with the fists. DB
cleans are done sitting on a bench with a light weight. The clean
starts with the arms hanging and the shoulders rotated back. The dbs
are then cleaned so the upper arms are parallel to the floor and the
elbows are bent at 90 degrees. Lateral raises are done strict with the
arms going straight out. For stomach curls we use an elastic band for
resistance and then curl on a ball with the feet on the floor. We
sometimes use a weight stack for resistance on this exercise as well. |
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Day
3 (Saturday) Squat / Deadlift Conjugate Day Zercher
Squats (to a max single) Assistance
- Weighted reverse hyper-extensions Multi
Hip Machine Chest
supported rows Hyper
stomach |
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Notes:
Zercher squats are done by holding the bar in the crook of the arms in
front of you and then squatting. We go so low the bar hits the thighs
and lift as much as we can in this exercise for two weeks straight.
Meghan is convinced that 'Zercher" must have been a torture
specialist in some concentration camp or something, because she know
anything with Zercher in front of it means pain - as in forearm pain
from holding the bar there. We wrap a towel around the bar, but that
is all. Ouch! I use up to 405 lbs. for this and it does hurt, believe
me. We
use the universal multi hip machine for Meghan, but the adults do a
very heavy kneeling squat on this day. Our rule of thumb is Meghan
only does one exercise that loads the skeletal system. Reverse
hypers you already know, but today we hang a weight from our heels
while doing 4 sets of 8 or 10. The adults do Coan rows - very heavy -
but Meghan does a chest supported seated row. Hypers stomachs are done
by sitting facing upward on the hyper machine and sitting up with an
elastic band for resistance. There is resistance throughout the entire
movement with this exercise, but it switches from the upper to lower
abdominals. Our theory is that anything that hurts this bad must be
good for you! |
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Day
4 (Monday) Bench Press Conjugate Day Floor
Press to a max for one rep Assistance
- triceps extension / front plate raise / leg raise / hammer curl |
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Notes:
Floor presses are done in the squat rack. The bar is lowered until the
upper arms touch the floor and then pressed. The back is flat on the
floor and no weight is carried on the feet. It is a very strict
partial press which eliminates unnecessary stress on the shoulder
joint. All the other exercises are standard. The adults do a 1/4 dip
instead of triceps extension, but once again the rule with Meghan is
that only one exercise stresses the joints or skeletal system. And
normally that exercise is chosen so as to minimize stress on joints or
the spine and maximize stress on supporting muscles. Injury prevention
and protecting Meghan's developing skeletal system are primary
concerns of mine. The
basis of a Simmons routine is now in place. Two days a week are done
with light weights very explosively. These days allow us to focus on
contest technique and safe technique while using compensatory
acceleration for muscle development. The exercises don't change much,
although we switch box heights for the squats regularly. The other two
days we lift very heavy in exercises which work the same muscle groups
as the powerlifts. These exercise are constantly rotated and changed
to avoid staleness. As well assistant exercise are constantly changed
depending on what we see as weak links in our contest technique. During
weeks 2 and 3 the low box squat with chains stays the same, only we
increase weight and reduce sets. We go to 10 sets of 2 reps @ 76% and
then 6 sets of 2 reps @ 82%. On the last day we test our one rep max
in the box squat after doing the six sets to provide a basis for the
next cycle. We then go onto a high box (about 15" high) and
repeat the three week cycle, except we can do much more weight with
this box. We keep alternating back and forth between the two box,
taking a max single every three weeks after the six sets of two reps. The
multi-grip bench doesn't change. Once a month on our conjugate day we
test our bench press in order to determine our 1 rep max for this
exercise. Lifters that use bench shirts do 55% of their 1RM. Meghan
doesn't use a bench shirt so she does 60% of her 1RM. Chains are added
to the weight determined above, not factored into the weight. This
core exercise never changes throughout the year. However, our
assistance exercises are constantly changing. Emphasis is placed on
triceps, followed by front deltoid and chest exercises. The
main exercise on the conjugate day changes every 2-3 weeks and we are
constantly trying to get new maxes on this day. The only exception is
when we do deadlift singles where we base our attempts on between 65%
and 80% of our contest deadlift and do singles at a very quick pace.
This is our technique work on the deadlift. On average we do this
about three weeks out of 12. The other nine weeks we switch between
Zercher squats, arched back good mornings, arched back good morning
squats, extra wide stance sumo squats on blocks and hi-bar balance
ball squats. We use a wide range of assistance exercise including:
cable pull through, pulldowns, shrugs, Zercher bench lifts, round back
good morning, Zercher hyper- extensions, wide stance safety squats, hi
rep deadlifts and numerous other exercises. Our conjugate day always
has an exercise we test maximal strength in, reverse hyper-extensions
and one other assistance exercise, stomach exercise and lat exercise.
The bench conjugate day is similar. We test strength in floor presses,
rack presses (doing three lifts lowering the rack from 3 inches to 6
inches to 9 inches every week for 3 weeks and doing as much weight as
we can), board presses (lowering the bar to a board on our chest -
either 2 2x6's or 3 2x6's screwed together) and a Miller floor press
(lowering the bar until your elbows are on the floor then moving the
bar a few inches towards your throat before pressing back up). Once
again a wide variety of assistance exercise are done, normally one
each for the triceps and front deltoid. Twice as many reps are done
for the triceps as we do for the front deltoid. As
you can see there is nothing normal about Meghan's program. I like
this routine for her because it minimizes skeletal and joint stress,
emphasizes acceleration which carries over into her other sports and
allows us to focus on technique and first reps. Meghan has doubled her
strength in all the power lifts in six months following this routine
and is showing no signs of slowing down yet. |
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Meghan
and dad Keith |
Another
unique feature of this routine is the extremely fast cadence,
especially on the dynamic or speed day. This really has benefited
Meghan, not only has she got much stronger but her fitness and shape
have also improved. Roughly every second month we have meet simulation
day where we go for maxes in the powerlifts. This is an important part
of our training as it allows us to focus on technique doing the actual
lifts. Surprisingly though, as Meghan has worked on the box squat and
learnt to do it properly I see a carry -over in improved contest
technique. This is also true of the bench press. We don't do much
deadlift training so this week does allow us to focus on technique
here. In addition the 3 weeks of singles in the deadlift give us some
technique work. |
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