The Why, When, and How Of Programming A Deload Week – CLICK HERE

Understanding Retraction and Why Your Elbows Are “Soft” – CLICK HERE

 

Shoulder retraction is a fairly well known topic, but I think misguided in its application within powerlifting and the bench press. In my latest Youtube video, I dive fully into this topic and how we should have active retraction and protraction throughout our bench press range of motion. Pinching your shoulder blades back as hard as you can from the get go and holding them there throughout the press has for some reason become this supposed magic trick for shoulder health and decreasing range of motion, but both are fallacies. While there are a lot of factors of why we need a moving shoulder blade, one of the biggest that most do not know is from the relation of the long head of the tricep to the scapula. I break down how this relation affects our bench press movement, I look at how to keep ourselves accountable during our initial setup to make sure we do not over-retract, I describe the two main cues I use to promote active retraction through the eccentric phase, and then the main cue I use to promote protraction through the concentric phase. And lastly, per my title above, I give you the answer for why you can’t lock your elbows. Especially the often seen 1 elbow that just stays “soft” no matter what you do, and how you can fix that to not only get the start command, but also hopefully prevent or fix some nagging pec minor issues. Click the link above to view!

Understanding Distance Traveled When Equating Volume

I posted this crazy 700lb. deadlift for almost 5 reps by Lorenzo (CLICK HERE), but I figured I’d give a little more insight into this, as recently we have tried a different approach for Lorenzo’s deadlift and it’s obviously working with great success. And really the game changer lately has been higher rep deadlifts. This was almost semi on accident, as recently due to the pandemic we had to switch gears a bit, because Lorenzo simply did not have enough weight in his garage to be doing anything competition specific below the 7 rep range on sumo deadlift. But I believe what we are seeing here, and I’d say with many sumo deadlifters, is the same thing I see on bench press with high arch benchers.

When we discuss volume, we typically see that accounted for in the equation of sets x reps x weight. But if we are going to be more precise with that equation, distance traveled needs to be accounted for as well. I’ve posted before about how I generally program with an understanding that based on someone’s height or range of motion, we then tend to see individual differences in how someone performs within reps at a given percentage. A great study I remember seeing in MASS a year or so ago in regards to bodyweight/femur length being directly correlated to how many reps someone can perform at 70% of their 1RM on squat, and that ranged anywhere from 8 reps to 26 (CLICK HERE FOR STUDY). So coming back around to Lorenzo, sumo deadlifters, and high arch benchers, we see in comparison dramatic decrease in distance traveled per rep compared to the norm. Take someone who is conventional deadlifting and has short arms, and they may be traveling twice the distance per rep as Lorenzo travels in 1. So while I am not advocating that we all need to track distance traveled to have a more precise volume equation, as this would be incredibly hard and tedious to do. But what I am saying is that it is a variable that needs to be accounted for in regards to understanding total workload for a given athlete and their training response to that.

Now for Lorenzo, I could in sense do 7×3 or 3×7 to equate volume, but I already know from experience that 7×3 is going to beat Lorenzo down. So to manage enough total distance traveled within a workout, these higher reps are proving to be extremely efficient for increasing total sets x reps x weight x distance for Lorenzo. He is a high arch bencher as well, as we’ve seen this to be true on his bench as well.

At the same time, I have lifters who do not respond well to high reps. Patrick is another 93kg lifter (CLICK HERE) who is very similar in strength to Lorenzo, yet anything over 5 reps on deadlifts and squat seems to destroy him. So that is why we need to think critically as to why this works for Lorenzo. Rather than seeing higher reps work for him and applying it universally, from my theorizing, what I can take away from this is that due to his range of motion we are seeing a good uptick in strength due to finding ways to increase true volume in factoring total distance traveled within a workout into the equation. Is this the only reason high reps may work for someone? No, as there are plenty of other variables as well. But for someone like Lorenzo who is at an advanced training age and very muscular, the benefits of high reps for hypertrophy are going to be less advantageous than for a beginner. So for him I believe what we are seeing is a different variable of high reps allowing for greater degrees of distance traveled to be attained, equaling higher “true volume” added.

Adjusting Training To Suit Lifestyle Changes

Payton with a 455lb. squat at the fastest that weight has moved, and Adam with a PR deadlift of 661lbs. (CLICK HERE). I highlight these 2 athletes because both of these lifters are progressing within their training at a great rate right now, but with two totally different approaches. Payton recently started college, got a job, has a girlfriend, and has found that training isn’t quite as easy to get in as it used to be. Adam has recently made some great improvements in his life, has reduced stress, become better with time management, improved nutrition, and found increased motivation within training. And due to this, both of their programs have changed pretty drastically within the last 2-3 months.

We have cut Payton down from 5 training days a week to 3, with less total sets and less focus on “fluff” accessories. While I know he misses those extra training days at times, he’s also making the best progress he has in months because the program is now more suitable for his current situation. He is able to be consistent within training, he is able to recover between training sessions, and training is no longer a burden that then complicates the rest of his life. In summary, we are seeing increased progress while training less days and with less total workload.

Adam used to have a very low threshold for workload. Many variables played into this, but we pretty much knew at certain weekly set counts or intensities he would have injury flare ups. Recently we’ve seen the ability to greatly increase total volume and intensity to levels he was never able to sustain before. The thing is he still made progress before, but now it’s at a faster, more consistent, and definitely more predictable rate. If I had kept him on his prior levels of workload and intensity, we probably would not see the same results, as his major lifestyle factors adjustments changed his response to training.

If you ask these lifters, I think Adam would describe this change as a “reward”, and Payton might somewhat look at the changes as “punishment”. But Adam is not getting rewarded and Payton isn’t getting punished. We are simply adapting based on lifestyle factors that translate to their individual training responses. Their “reward” is the progress, the changes in training are just what is needed to get that reward.

Per usual I write an essay, but I could simply sum this up in that we need to understand more is not always better. More can be better, just like less can be better, it all “just depends”. Consistency, predictability, and results trump any thoughts of what we think we want. And for both of these lifters these changes have improved their consistency, improved the predictability of their training, and yielded the results they are striving for. When significant lifestyle factors occur, adjust based on current demands, not what you used to do or what you think you need to do.