Thoughts about life, crap, training, and stuff - Testosterone technical Monday

So I have been so busy or sick as of late, that I haven't been able to write like I usually do here on the blog.

So this morning I'll try to actually get a decent entry in.  Mainly, I have some things I'd like to touch on.


So I've seen these advertisements for "HT" (higher testosterone) and their spokesperson is......(drum roll)......

Jose Canseco!

YES!!!

YES!!!!!!!

This makes me happier than kids in a car filled up with Skittles!

Here is the ad, if you haven't seen it......



Apparently, Jose figured out after baseball that he suffered from low test.  That's why his stomach fat and lack of sex drive had become so prominent.  Now that he found HT, it's changed his life.

Oh wait, fuck, Jose admitted he was taking sauce while he was playing.  Which is fine.  I personally do not adhere to the "you're a cheater" mantra that is throw around by internet retards in regards to people using PED's in PRO sports where millions of dollars are involved.

Do I have a different take on it, in regards to say powerlifting?  Yes.

Obviously the difference is money.  Spare me the "principle" of the matter, bullshit.

In powerlifting it's a rec sport where we all pay money to go compete.  It's on our dime.  I am not making enough money to support my family or pay my mortgage because of it.  So therefore if I am competing in a tested fed, I expect everyone to be clean.

However when you start talking about millions of dollars, retirement, and your entire future, all of that shit comes off the table.  If you're asking me if I think it's ok for a guy to take whatever he needs to take to ensure his future and his kids future, then yes, I do.  Rules be damned.  Anyone who has an issue with that needs to have a tall, cold glass of shut the fuck up juice, because you're never going to have to worry about these things.  You will never have to worry about losing your job to a guy, and losing millions of dollars.  So you take what you need to take in order to ensure you'll have the best possible shot at securing your financial future.  That's life.  People who want to get on a soapbox and talk about cheating have never been, and won't ever be in that situation.


Some technical shit on squats and pulls -

Yes, I'm actually going to get back into some thoughts on training too.  I know, it's like fucking bizarro world today up in here.

Hip drive -

I see a lot of internet 3 plate squatting douchebag gurus clown on Rippetoe because of the way he teaches squats.  Mainly, using hip drive.  Here's a note for you idiots.  That's how you squat.  Especially if you are low bar, and even more importantly if you pause squat.

Let's examine shall we.........

Misha...



First off, Misha is a beast and already a legend.  If you notice here, he's beltless.  He does pause squats, and guess what, his hips are the first thing to rise coming out of the hole.  Once his hips are high enough, the quads come into play to finish an even extension of the hips and knees.  This is beautiful to watch.

Dan Green -

No belt, pause squats starting at the 1 minute mark.  Again, hips rise first then the knee extension and hip extension come together.  However without the hips driving first, you're essentially dead in the hole.



Mike Tuchscherer -



Hip drive.  On Mike's pause squats his hip drive is even more apparent.

Basically, there's no getting around the fact that you are going to initiate out of the hole with hip drive.  If you think not, take your belt off, go low bar, work up to a heavy triple with and without trying to initiate from the hips.  High bar squatters that stay more upright do initiate less from the hips, and more from the quads.  However if you are a low bar guy, especially without a belt, you need to drive hard from the hips out of the hole.

If there's one thing I hate about the internet at times, it's that if someone "hates" a certain strength coach or "guru" or whatever, then they completely dismiss everything they write and say.  Rather than keeping an open mind about what they offer.

Rip has this one right.

Jay Nera's pull -

So last night after the podcast, Jay asked me and Jamie to look at his deadlift videos.  He's changed his technique up a bit and wanted us to eyeball it a little.

Jay now rounds his upperback more, and tries to keep his low back neutral.  Which is fine, lots of guys pull this way and pull effectively.

But the first thing that jumped out at me was that Jay gets his butt too low on his first rep.  Of course the bar isn't going to start moving until the hips are high enough to get the shoulders over the bar so that proper leverage positioning has happened.

So as you watch here, you will see that Jay starts in a very low hipped position, then once he starts the pull, the bar doesn't start moving off the floor until his hips rise quite a bit.  Notice however, that on the second and third reps, he does not lower the hips as much, and his shoulders stay more over the bar.



So, someone would ask me "what would you change?"

The recommendation here would be for Jay to keep his hips high, then drop them momentarily to get the stretch reflex involved, rather than "sit" in the bottom.  However Jay is a phenomenal lifter, and if he feels like this works for him, it does.  If you feel like you're having trouble getting leverage over the bar however, video tape it, and watch to see if you are trying to initiate the pull before your hips are high enough.

My other nugget to guys struggling to pull, is to think about getting your hips "through" the entire ROM.  Not just at the end.  Often times guys don't think about "hips" getting through until the end.  Then they have spent the whole ROM negating a strong hip extension response.  Often times by then it's too late.  You ever see a guy that fails to get that last 2 inches of a pull at lockout?  Often times, it's because he pulled "too far" with his back and didn't think about getting hip extension moving soon enough.

Here is a video of Andy Bolton.  Notice how his hips start moving forward almost immediately after the pull. It's slow, but it's there.  The glutes do not stay in a static position, like in a RDL or stiff legged deadlift....




So that's a few key points that might help a few guys out in regards to some technical parts of squats and pulls.  Especially for low bar guys doing some beltless cycles, and conventional pullers.

Also, please do not send me form check videos.  Video YOURSELF and try to make note of these things.  Where are your hips and shoulders when you start the pull?  Is your low back neutral?  With squats are you getting enough hip drive from the bottom?  Are you getting your hips through the deadlift fast enough?  These are all things you can look at on your own.

Hope everyone has a great Monday!