Practice Habits: Your key to Long Term Improvement

Every coach says, do the hard work and pay attention to the details.

I constantly harp on doing each of the power lifts with perfect technique.

Going beyond these generalizations in real workouts and doing so for many months at a time can be much more difficult than we often suspect.

 

Impact of sub-optimal technique

Last weekend I refereed a powerlifting meet and got to observe a wide range of performances.

Each of the participants had spent hundreds of hours (if not thousands) training in a gym. Each of them worked very hard to get to the point where they were prepared to do their lifts in a competitive event.

Most people who train in a gym never get near this point where they are willing to risk trying to compete in this deceptively difficult sport that has strict rules on what constitutes a good lift and what does not.

Having been a referee (and competitor) for over 30 years I have been able to observe thousands of powerlifters putting out their best effort in front of three referees and an audience. There is no place to hide and no way to pretend.

That said, one of the things that I noticed was how some (not all) of the less experienced competitors sub-optimized what they were able to lift. Few had poor technique, but many did not maximize their chances by using excellent technique.

How big a difference did this make?

My personal (unscientific) calculation was that sub-optimal technique probably took 3-5% off a good lifters total and 5-10% off an intermediate lifters total.

What this means is that with the same effort, each of the lifters would have been able to add substantially to their total.

 

Biggest Opportunities for Gain

Squatting is the most complex of the power lifts and thus a significant opportunity to make errors in execution.

My observation was that many lifters had not practiced taking the bar from the rack and setting up to squat. Some took 4-8 steps getting into position to squat.

For decades I have suggested practicing the competition set up every time you do a squat in training.

This means getting the bar positioned properly on your back before lifting it off the rack, taking a deep breath when ready to lift off, then getting into position for the referees command to squat using no more than two or three steps.

Wandering around the platform carrying the full weight of a loaded squat bar will drain anyones energy.

It is also nearly impossible to keep a good whole body tension if you are searching for proper foot position.

Moral of the story: Practice the details of proper execution during your workouts. If necessary, devote a segment where you practice with an empty bar to get the positions and movements correct.

 

Deadlifting Fun

The deadlift is supposedly the easiest lift from a technical standpoint, but this can be deceiving.

I noted that few of the competitors had learned how to load the bar before beginning the upward pull.

This means pulling upward with 80-100 pounds of tension for a second or so before beginning the actual upward pull.

Learning how to get the most out of loading can dramatically impact how much you can lift. The theory is that by putting 100 lbs upward force on the bar before you commence the pull, you are overcoming that much less gravitational force all at once.

You are clearly lifting the entire weight, but loading can help get a heavy bar moving when you are above 85% of your max.

A huge advantage of loading is that it can lock in your proper body angles for pulling a deadlift. With loading tension you can keep your hips low and create tension in your abs to begin the pull.

Throughout the pull you want to feel the main tension in your abs, not your lower back. Loading can help you keep this alignment throughout the lift.

The problem with practicing loading is that to be useful it must be a part of every pull you perform during a workout.

I have had many lifters tell me over the years that they dont like to do it and that it is hard to get right or screws up their deadlift practice.

Unfortunately, to maximize our performance we often must practice things that are not fun and may seem annoying.

 

Coda

Mr. Gravity never seems to take a holiday.at least not when Im lifting. Thus, being an experienced lifter I must use every trick at my disposal to defeat him.

Lift Big!

Richard