Where You're Sore Tells a Story

Coach Pendlay of Team MDUSA has been posting almost daily blogs lately. If you can't spend your time working with a full-time dedicated weightlifting coach then at least spend some time reading and watching videos from those coaches. Monday's post was titled "Where Does It Hurt?" and spoke about the idea that you could self monitor your lifts by where you were sore. This is something I've used when coaching and after sharing it a few times and getting some more questions I decided to write up a little more detailed explanation.

The idea is if I did any of these exercises the day before I can tell if my form was correct by decoding where I'm sore.

Front Squat

• Should feel your quads and butt
• Should not feel it in your back
• Most likely cause of back pain is your chest dropping during the lift.

Back Squat

• Should feel your butt and posterior chain (backs of legs)
• Should not feel your quads and back
• Most likely cause of quad soreness is rolling weight forward, dropping your chest and/or not sinking your butt all resulting in using your quads to stand up the weight.

Overhead Squat

• Should feel your butt and legs and a little shoulders
• Should not feel your back
• Most likely cause of back soreness is butt sticking out and dropping the chest.

Deadlift

• Should feel posterior chain
• Should not feel your quads or back
• Most likely cause is early opening of the hips (stripper deadlift)

Kettle Bell Swings

• Should feel in your butt, hips, posterior chain
• Should not feel in back or arms
• This one gives you warning signs quickly mid-workout. If your back begins hurting you are not keeping your hips stacked between your feet and chest. You have your butt sticking out and are using your lower back to move the kettle bell.

Power Cleans

• Should feel in posterior chain and traps
• Should not feel in back or biceps (from of your arms)
• If your biceps are sore after power cleaning then most likely you are doing something more like a reverse curl then a power clean. Keep your arms straight for as long as possible and get the bar moving with a powerful explosion of your hips not your arms.

Clean

• Should feel in posterior chain, traps, quads and butt
• Should not feel in back or biceps
• See Power Cleans

Snatch

• Should feel in posterior chain, traps and quads
• Should not feel in back or biceps
• See Power Cleans :)

Overhead Pressing

• Should feel in shoulders
• Should not feel in back
• If your back hurts the most likely cause is not keeping your hips stacked over your legs and shoulders stacked over hips. If you stick your butt out to complete a lift you aren't using the shoulders and pecs as this lifts are designed to strengthen.

There is a reoccurring theme here. If your back is on fire something isn't right. It could be a form issue or a strength issue. Maybe both. A few suggestions to strengthen your back- good mornings, glute ham raises, romanian deadlifts, stiff leg deadlifts, back extensions, shrugs and snatch grip deadlifts. Scroll through this article to find links to most of these exercises.

Lastly to truly get to the bottom of what you are doing video tape your lifts. Feel free to share video with me on Facebook or instagram and I'll do my best to help.

Ripped Hands are Not Cool/November Favorites

The title says it all. If you're a weightlifter, crossfitter, powerlifter or strongman, ripped hands take time away from training, make normal life hard (washing your hair with open blisters will cause screaming) and simply is painful. A few steps after training and after showering can prevent rips and tears.

It starts with washing your hands thoroughly after working out. Remove all chalk and dirt. Then apply a hand lotion or salve that moisturizes and protects. I came across American Oak Hand Salve on facebook and love the product. It softens and smooths my hands. It has a non-greasy formula so I can apply it and then hold onto a barbell. Ingredients include coconut oil, shea butter, carnuba wax, almond oil and lemon balm and it can be used as a lip balm.

Then a few steps to keep calluses under control. After every shower I grab the same two tools; a callus shaver and a ped egg. One I use the callus shaver to remove excess layers of skin on my palms, thumb and other knuckles. Two Gently rub the ped egg all over your hands smoothing away any rough patches. Three Apply a lotion that protects and moisturizes.

Top is hands immediately after working out. Bottom is after washing, shaving and applying American Oak Salve. I train five days a week for hours at a time. There is zero reason for your hands to be a mess. Daily hand maintenance is the key.

November Favorites

Training Tips  Starting with an older article that I love the thought behind. It's discussing if Christmas is a good time to start a new health challenge and it's by the creators of the Whole 30 diet.
"Some foods hold a significance that far exceeds the sum of its vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. That kind of food should be honored, savored and shared in the company of those you love. And in this special instance, in the company of those you love, it doesn’t matter that your Mom uses an entire cup of Crisco in the cake batter. Because that cake is full of memories, history and tradition, and makes you feel as warm and safe and loved as you did when you were a kid."
This does not mean a free pass to eat whatever this holiday season. Enjoy a frosted cutout cookie with your kids. Just don't eat 5 of them. Enjoy it, relish it and don't beat yourself up over it.

Good Stuff to Eat I don't take supplements or shakes. I prefer to eat real food and I enjoy cooking. But sometimes I need something quick to eat and I came across these Zone Perfect bars. They are high in protein, lowish carbs, yummy and inexpensive. My favorite are the mint chocolate.

Apparel and Accessories I hope all of you reading this have taken advantage of the black friday and cyber monday deals on Amazon, Reebok and Rogue and grabbed yourselves a new pair of lifting shoes. With prices on Addisas Adipowers under $100 and Crossfit style lifters available for less then $80 you really don't have an excuse to not have a pair.

A Crossfitters Guide to the International Weightlifting Championships

The International Weightlifting Championships begin tomorrow. This is the first time the US has hosted the combined men's and women's event. The best of the world have convened in Houston vying for the podium and spots in next year's Olympics.

A few basics. 

• The sport is not called Olympic weightlifting. It's just weightlifting.

• All the weights are in kilograms. Multiple the kilos by 2.2 to have the equivalent in pounds. If you're more of a visual person the plates are color coded. Green is roughly 25 pounds, yellow 35, blue 45 and red 55. The women's barbell weighs 15 kilos (33 pounds) and the men's 20 (44 pounds).

• There are two lifts. The snatch and the clean and jerk. The snatch uses a wide grip on the barbell and in one motion the bar is taken from the ground to overhead. The clean and jerk is two pieces. First the bar is brought from the ground to the shoulders where it must become stationary. From there the athlete drives the bar to a locked out position overhead. You cannot press out either lift. The lift is not completed till you can show control with arms, hips and legs not moving.

• Each person gets three attempts at the snatch, then three attempts at the clean and jerk. Their best snatch and clean and jerk attempts are combined to make their meet total.

• Two hours prior to lifting the athletes are weighed to verify they are the correct weight. The athletes in each weight class are divided into sessions based on the weights they submitted as a possible total for them. The A session are the top lifters. Then it goes down to B and C, etc.

• ESPN3 will have only the A sessions live. Various other media outlets will let you follow along. 

What to watch

If you want to see tiny women who can squat more then you Tune in for the A session of the 48 kilo females this Saturday at 5:25pm (all times are Central Time) or the 53k class Friday at 2:55pm

The US's best chance at a medal Our female lifters are more competitive on an international level then our men. Jenny Arthur will lift Friday the 27th at 2:55pm and Sarah Robles Saturday the 28th at 5:25pm.

A 15 year-old from South Carolina You may need to be creative to see his session, but his lifts will be found on Instagram immediately after (#2105wwc). His session begins at 7:25pm on Sunday the 22nd.

Crossfitters who weightlift Three names you should recognize here. Annie Thorisdottir and Katrin Davidsdottir will be lifting Tuesday the 24th at 8:25pm. Sara Sigmundsdottir competes Friday the 27th at 8:00am.

An exciting session of men battling it out Current American Record holder Jared Fleming and Kendrick Farris lift together Thursday the 26th at 10:00am

Her name is really Martha? Mattie Rogers will be taking to the platform Wednesday the 25th at 7:25pm. 

Men who will lift all the weight Caine Wilkes, our number one male lifter, competes Saturday the 28th at 10:00 in the B session. The A session of the 105+ lifters begins at 2:55pm. 

Lydia Valentin She's beautiful and freakin strong. She lifts Friday the 27th at 2:55pm.

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