So Yessica and I were at it again this past weekend. We traveled to Granite City, IL, which is just outside St. Louis. This city that has a red baseball team isn't really my favorite, but we had a few gems from the seminar.... and some REALLY great food at Grace Meat + Three!!
We had about 25 women at the seminar, varying ages from high school to 74!! Quite a few were already into heavy training, and a bunch of powerlifters as well. Some were newer to training and participate in some group strength classes. But overall, the common theme was.... WE LOVE GETTING STRONGER!!
We did an entire Q&A on various topics like recovery, sleep, aging, making progress, post-partum training and nutrition. We also covered the big 3. What I'll talk about today is the common themes we saw on coaching those lifts.
SQUAT
1. Biggest one here was lack of proper bracing. Many knew to take a deep breath, and maybe even push out a little into their belt, but few (if any) knew how to pull the ribcage down and brace the lower abdominals. This is one of the hardest things (in my opinion) for people to fully get. We explained that this position allows the spine to stay neutral.
2. Along with that, almost everyone there was going into too much lumbar extension. Whether it happened from the start or while they were descending, it happened to everyone. We explained the difference between "sitting back" (especially on a box squat) and arching the low back. Two VERY different things.
BENCH
1. Biggest one on this lift was keeping the lats tight THROUGHOUT the lift. Many knew how to tighten their lats on hand out, but quickly lost it as they brought the bar down. We explained that having a training partner palpate that area helps, but also controlling the decent was key for most.
2. Keeping the shoulders down and back as they pressed. A few of them would allow the shoulders roll forward during the press, which ultimately compromises the lat tightness.
DEADLIFT
1. By far the biggest one here was starting with the hips too low. Now there are some coaches out there that say that starting with the hips low allows for more leg drive, which I don't disagree with. But there's an optimal point of getting the legs involved and wasted movement. Many of the women at the seminar were just in an extremely inefficient position. (I think a video explaining this should be in the near future). 😉
2. Lat tightness throughout the lift. This also put a lot of these lifters in a poor position and mostly caused the bar to get away from them.
As you can see, many of these issues feed into the other. While we touched on quite a bit more (shameless plug to GET TO ONE OF OUR SEMINARS!!), these were the ones we felt were most important to focus on as they go off on their own.
Stay tuned for another seminar coming spring of 2020! If you have a gym you'd like us to come to, let us know!!
