This is a guest post by strength & conditioning coach Phil Nourse. Phil is a certified weightlifting coach by both BWLA and USAW. This post follows on neatly from my last post on basic barbell programmes as it introduces a different approach (from Steve Justa) and discusses the use of intensity in the training cycle. Over to Phil…

Renowned American powerlifter Arthur ‘Superman’ Jones once said, “There is a difference between lifting more and actually getting stronger.”

The point Jones was making was that lifting heavy weights in training does not actually mean that our pure strength will increase. Of course in weightlifting and powerlifting our strength is benchmarked by our performance in competition. Russian strength guru Pavel Tstatsouline says of this approach, “train light, compete heavy.”

In my experience of competitive weightlifting in the UK and USA this approach is often overlooked or rejected in favour of an irrational obsession with intensity. Why is this the case?

Perhaps it is a fascination with certain aspects of eastern bloc philosophy including the so-called Bulgarian approach.

It may also be the culture of ‘hard work’ which permeates this sport as well as many other aspects of strength training and sports in general. Right from the teenage wannabe bodybuilder through to competitive track and field athletes one very frequently comes across the attitude that if hard and frequent is good, harder and more frequent will be better. Commendable but, I would argue, possibly naïve.

Lastly, and this will be controversial, I feel that the sport of weightlifting often places itself upon a pedestal and is incredibly introspective, whereas if it were to take a more extrospective view it may learn something from other strength sports, particular the experiences of elite powerlifters. One only has to read works on powerlifting to realise that their sport is very outward looking and open minded to learning from other strength sports; most often, weightlifting.

Examples in powerlifting of success achieved through the “train light, compete heavy” approach are numerous. Andy Bolton (pictured, above) pulled a world record 455kg deadlift having taken no more than 340kg for a triple in the preceeding 8-week training cycle. (Both lifts were suited but suits add little to a deadlift unlike the squat and bench press.)

Another example is the bench press programme of Vladimir Volkov, the European bench press champion and masters world champion in the 220lb class. In the 10-week cycle leading up to the Russian bench press championship of 2005 he trained the bench press an average of 3 1/3 times per week (that is, relatively frequently), never took loads above 88 per cent of his competition maximum and only attempted loads between 81 and 88 per cent in 15 per cent of his workouts and usually only for a single or, infrequently, a double. All other workouts used loads between 59 and 79 per cent. He would take that championship with a bench press of 270kg.

It is this relatively frequent practice with light to moderate loads which Tsatsouline terms “greasing the groove.” He attributes the success of the approach to the improvements in intramuscular coordination which he contends it delivers. Russian powerlifter, Sergey Pavlov adds, “when you are just thinking WHETHER you will lift the bar, you are not thinking about HOW to lift it.” As we said earlier, lifting heavy weights and getting stronger are not the same thing.

Tsatsouline believes that the optimal load for gaining strength is in the 70-80 per cent (of 1 rep max) range which is, he suggests “heavy enough to notice, yet light enough to pay attention to the technique and not need to psyche up.”

It is interesting that the Russian guru proposes this range as it is also recommended by an American natural strongman, Steve Justa. Justa is precisely the type of athlete the weightlifting world would generally, I believe, pay little attention to, yet his works are intelligent and thought provoking.

In his book, Rock, Iron, Steel he details a program which he suggests is “very efficient and will build tremendous strength.” Justa even goes as far as to contend it to be excellent for developing “one lift you would like to practice and excel in and maybe set a world record in.”

In brief the routine involves practicing the chosen lift every day, utilising only singles and always using loads between 70 and 80 per cent of maximum. It is this percentage range which he calls “the target zone” and proposes that “this is the zone you must stay in when training to get stronger the fastest.”

On the first Monday you would perform three singles with 70 per cent, Tuesday would be five singles, Wednesday seven and so on up to fifteen on the Sunday. The following week the load increases to around 73.3 per cent, the next to 76.6 per cent and in the fourth the loads are at 80 per cent. One rep max is then tested and the process repeated.

When I ran this by friends and acquaintances in the weightlifting world their response was practically unanimous: “I don’t think there’s enough intensity”, or words to that effect. The quote from American coach, John Coffee was “I’d be scared to experiment with it out of fear that it wouldn’t work.”

Throughout my two-month experiment on the programme my knees and quads felt fantastic, no aches or pains, I actually looked forward to my squat sessions rather than dreading them, my olympic lifting sessions were better and, much to my delight, my incredibly stubborn squat max improved for the first time in a long time. A scientific experiment? Not at all. Did I care? Definitely not; it worked for me.

In his book Steve Justa relays a hypothetical to explain his thought process. This rings very true with me and also will with many of you:

“Let’s say your max is 500lbs in the deadlift, and you’ve worked up to the point where you’re pulling 450 for reps, say three reps, and you want to do four sets of three reps for your workout. Well this is fine for one workout. Even if you’re tough mentally, as you start lifting and gut your way through the workout, because you’re lifting so close to your max, every rep is hard and every set is hard. If you make it through this workout, when you finally make it, you say to yourself ‘I’m on the verge of lifting too heavy, but I made it and I feel happy, but it will feel lighter next workout – it has to because I don’t know how many more workouts like that last one I can endure.’

It’s at this point your mind’s already giving out on you because you’re questioning yourself if you could work that hard again if you had to. Then, until your next workout, this feeling of dread sticks with you, and if you’re going to use the same weight this time as last, you know you’re in for trouble. You know you’re out of your target zone but you want to push ahead rather than have to take weight off and start all over again.

For some reason, to the ambitious strength athlete, the thought of having to take weight off a lift you’ve already done is a fate worse than death itself. And this is a mentality you must not carry. Never be ashamed or embarrassed or feel let down because you have to take a little weight off a lift to keep training. If it feels too heavy, it probably IS too heavy for you to be training with.

But getting back to the story, you approach your next workout with dread because you know it’s going to be a killer mentally and physically, but you’re expecting it to be a little lighter than last time since you’ve already had one workout with this weight. So you hit the workout and for some reason it feels even heavier to you this time than it did last time. Well, now you’ve really got trouble mentally when this happens, and you really feel frustrated. But no, you think, I’m tough, I can handle it. So you gut your way through another backbreaking workout, carrying a sense of dread and destruction with you the whole time.”

Of course weightlifting and powerlifting are different sports and the style of lifting is also very different. My gut feeling is that the way we get stronger in the explosive lifts may be very physiologically and neurologically different that in the slow, strength lifts.

That said I also believe there is much that the sport of weightlifting can learn from these coaches and athletes who are succeeding in related sports. At the very least we may wish to experiment with such methodologies in our squats, presses and so forth.

More than this, though, any experienced coach can surely see how this discussion relates to that lifter with a preoccupation with intensity, i.e. he/she who continually misses far, far more lifts in training than they catch due to regular use of loads which are too heavy and the associated breakdown in form.

Why would anyone want to practice failure? Why would anyone want to think constantly about whether they will lift the bar and not how to lift it? Both will lead to deterioration and confusion of skill specific intramuscular coordination, mislearning, which in competition – under pressure and with heavy loads – will result in technical breakdown at the very moment it needs to be perfect.

More from gubernatrix

Five secrets of more effective training
Testing your one rep max
Define your training
On not making progress

Yes, even Paula Radcliffe squats – quite heavy as well! A barbell programme is the best way to get strong legs, a strong back, strong upper body and a strong core. The stronger you are, the easier it is to do athletic things.

‘Basic’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘beginner’ or ‘newbie’ either. It means simple and effective. A basic barbell programme could be ideal for, say, a powerlifter who wants to get back to basics for a while, as well as an athlete needing to build strength for their sport in the off season.

Prerequisites

Before I get into the detail of the programmes, it’s important that you have the prerequisites of a basic barbell programme in place, and these are:

Power cage

• Access to a barbell (preferably an Olympic bar)
• Access to weight plates (preferably down to 1.25kg)
• Access to a squat rack or power cage

These are basic requirements but sadly many so-called gyms can’t fulfil them. If you have access to a decent strength and conditioning facility at a sports club or university you will probably be fine, but if you just go to your local high street chain gym, you may struggle.

If your gym doesn’t have barbells and racks, my advice is: leave and never look back. If you are serious about your training, find a gym that takes your training seriously and can provide you with the basic equipment that folks have used for hundreds of years to get strong. Or invest in your own kit for home. It’s that simple.

Introduction to the programmes

The programmes discussed below are:

Starting Strength – beginner
Stronglifts – beginner
Wendler’s 5/3/1 – intermediate or advanced
Madcow intermediate 5×5 – intermediate (there is also an advanced version)
Texas Method – intermediate

As a rule of thumb, beginner means someone who is in their first year of barbell strength training; intermediate is someone with a year or two of barbell training under their belt; advanced is someone who has been training for years.

The main difference between beginner programmes and intermediate or advanced programmes is that beginner programmes assume progression (increase in weight or reps) from session to session. At some stage progression every session will no longer be possible (as you get closer to your strength potential) and you then need a programme that includes progression from week to week, or from cycle to cycle.

If you only train with barbells once a week, or you’ve never done a strength-focussed programme before (as opposed to a bodybuilding programme), then you might be a beginner in strength terms even if you have been training for a couple of years or more.

You’ll notice that all of these programmes feature sets of between 1 and 5 reps. This is the ideal rep range for strength building. 5 rep sets are long enough to get good technique nailed and for strength adaptations to occur. You can also build mass with 5 rep sets. If you’ve not done 1-5 rep sets before, you’ve probably not done a strength programme before.

I’ll come back to this beginner-intermediate distinction at the end, but in the meantime, let’s take a look at the programmes.

Starting Strength – great for beginners and intermediates

Book: Starting Strength 2nd edition by Mark Rippetoe & Lon Kilgore available from startingstrength.com or Amazon
Online resources: Starting Strength Wiki

Starting Strength is an excellent beginner programme – although Stronglifts (discussed below) might suit you better. Starting Strength can also be good for intermediates who are still making progress on a linear programme.

It is good partly because of the structure of the programme and partly because of the wealth of guidance and technical knowledge contained in the book. It allows you to teach yourself good technique and safe, effective training practice.

Likewise, anyone who has been away from training for a while, or has only ever had informal tuition in the barbell lifts learning from people around them, will probably benefit hugely from the technical guidance in Starting Strength. I’ve been training for years and I still refer to it.

What is the programme?
It is a 3 day a week programme featuring the squat, deadlift, bench, military press and power clean. You squat every session and alternate the other lifts.

Sets are 5 reps, but this is not a 5×5 (5 sets of 5 reps) programme; the number of sets changes depending on the lift you are doing. For example, Rippetoe believes that the squat benefits more from ‘sets across’ (several sets at the same weight) than the deadlift, which is better done as one heavy set.

Basic programme:
(note: this and all other programmes quoted below are just the bare bones of the programme to give you an idea of what it looks like; invariably there is much more detail in the books themselves)

Alternating these sessions three days a week means that one week you do Workout A twice and the next week you do Workout B twice.

Why is Starting Strength good?
It does what it says on the tin. It is simple to follow and comes with excellent technique advice in the book. It will potentially last you a long time; you can continue to build strength and/or mass for months or years with this kind of programme.

Any downsides?
You might get bored if you are used to doing lots of different exercises and ‘mixing up’ your programme every six weeks as many PTs like you to do. But if that is the case, you need to change your mindset because getting stronger is all about plugging away at a few key movements. Use the numbers as your motivation and enjoy mastering these big movements.

The power clean is harder to master than the other movements, being a more technical lift. It’s a great lift to learn but if you are not keen to take it on, Stronglifts (below) is a good alternative. Some people also substitute the barbell row for the power clean on Starting Strength.

Getting started
You’ll need the book (a good investment if you are serious about your training), and perhaps the Wiki. The book contains all the technical guidance and the concepts behind the programme but it doesn’t contain an actual template programme. There’s enough information in the book for you to create your own programme if you want, but if you would rather not, you can refer to the Wiki for programmes that Rippetoe and others have written using the Starting Strength concepts.

Stronglifts – accessible beginner programme

Book: Free ebook from Stronglifts.com
Online resources: blog and forum at Stronglifts.com

Stronglifts is very similar to Starting Strength in structure, but packaged differently and aimed at a more looks-conscious crowd. The tagline is ‘build muscle and lose fat’, rather than ‘get strong’, although Stronglifts will get you strong as well, if you’ve not really trained strength before. You might be more motivated by ‘look good naked’ rhetoric than ‘get awesomely strong’ rhetoric. There is also more information on the Stronglifts website about nutrition and losing fat than there is in Starting Strength.

Most of the ebook is written in an FAQ style which is easy to read and gets the information over effectively. The ebook itself doesn’t contain any ‘how to’ information on technique but all of this is available on the website. It’s not as technically comprehensive as Starting Strength – but then, few books are.

What is the programme?
Like Starting Strength it is a 3 day a week programme featuring the squat, deadlift, bench, and various assistance exercises. You squat every session and alternate the other lifts.

Unlike Starting Strength, Stronglifts does not include the power clean as a key lift. The power clean is rather more technical than squat or deadlift and will take longer to master. Stronglifts includes the technically easier movements of inverted row and pull up/chin up.

The set and rep scheme is slightly different from Starting Strength. More of the exercises are 5×5 rather than 3×5, so overall the volume is higher.

Basic programme:

Like Starting Strength, you alternate these workouts over a three day week.

Why is Stronglifts good?
It is written in an accessible way and is easy to follow. There’s an active online community around the programme so you can access support, motivation and feedback.

There are more exercises included in the basic programme than Starting Strength, so if Starting Strength looks a bit boring you might fare better on Stronglifts.

Any downsides?
Many people have said that adding weight every workout gets quite difficult within a few weeks or months. Some people also get a bit tired and/or demotivated on the programme because the volume is quite high. Doing 5×5 squats is much more demanding than doing 3×10 bicep curls!

Getting started
It is quick to get started as everything is online. Download the free ebook from Stronglifts.com, read the blog posts for technique info and sign up to the forum, where you can keep a training log, ask questions and get support.

Wendler’s 5/3/1 – great intermediate or advanced programme

Book: purchase ebook online from EliteFTS.com
Online resources: 5/3/1 FAQ and the original T-Nation article

Jim Wendler is a powerlifter from the infamous Westside Barbell powerlifting gym who underwent a renaissance when he realised that although he had become enormously strong in the competitive power lifts, he was also extremely fat, out of shape and burnt out from lifting.

The eventual result of this change in philosophy was a programme which combines strength with some conditioning, can be done around a normal lifestyle and provides simple progression and regular personal bests.

What is the programme?
You train 3-4 days a week (there are other options too) on a 4-week cycle. One day is devoted to squat, one to deadlift, one to military press and one to bench press. The rep schemes for these lifts are as follows:

The weight you use on the main exercise each week is worked out as a percentage of your max. The programme starts light so that continuous progress can be made.

As well as the main exercises, you add in whatever assistance exercises you want (dips, chins, rows, shrugs, good mornings etc). You also add in conditioning such as hill sprints or prowler pushes.

Why is it good?
It is a classic powerlifting rep scheme, from 5 reps to 3 to 1, but the difference is that you don’t reach your absolute max – instead you try to get more reps at a slightly sub-maximal weight. This means that you get more volume than a traditional powerlifting programme but you still have to work hard at heavy weights, and so you get stronger.

There is also the interesting mental challenge of not knowing how many reps you might get on that last set of 1+. Your personal bests become not your one rep max but a rep PB on a particular weight. This also takes the pressure off going to max too often. In fact you might only go to max on the platform.

Any downsides?
I’ve seen people do this programme and get very high reps on their 1+ day. This is because they haven’t reached anywhere near their strength potential. I’m not convinced that 5/3/1 is the best programme in this situation; although it won’t exactly do you harm either. But Starting Strength or some other linear 3×5 or 5×5 programme is better to build strength first. I would include Crossfitters in this group as many do not do enough strength training in their day to day Crossfitting to be ready for 5/3/1, unless they are coming from a lifting background.

For powerlifters this programme might contain more volume than they are used to; but for beginners the volume on 5/3/1 is less than on the other beginner programmes discussed here.

5/3/1 seems ideal for people who have been plugging away with powerlifting or heavy bodybuilding workouts for years and have just stalled. It could also suit someone who is transitioning from ‘normal’ barbell training into powerlifting training, perhaps working up to their first meet.

Getting started
The book does not contain detailed instruction in the lifts but includes good performance tips if you can already perform a squat, deadlift, bench and military press and are familiar with the assistance exercises.

If you are happy performing the movements, the book is all you need: it even provides Excel templates and worksheets for you to put your programme together. There are formulas for obtaining your one rep max but you might also want to test your one rep max first.

If you’ve done little barbell work before and you are not confident in the main exercises, begin with Starting Strength and save 5/3/1 for when you are at a more advanced level.

Madcow intermediate 5×5 – intermediate

Online resources: Madcow intermediate 5×5

There are many variations of the basic 5×5 programme out there, so I’m not going to go through all of them. This particular programme is useful because it is clearly set out by Madcow, based on an original programme by legendary American strength coach Bill Starr.

The original programme was designed for off season football players, i.e. athletes who need strength and explosive power, and so power cleans and high pulls were included. Madcow presents a version with deadlift instead of high pull and barbell row instead of power clean – more geared to lifters simply focussing on strength and/or mass.

(Note: there is an advanced version which you can also access on Madcow. The main difference is that it is periodised over a four-week cycle)

What is the programme?
5×5 intermediate is a 3 day a week programme based on squat, bench, press, row, deadlift and assistance exercises. You squat every day.

You perform ramping (i.e. increasing) sets of 5×5 on a Monday, 4×5 on a Wednesday and by Friday you are doing a heavy triple, followed by a back off set of 8. That triple becomes your heaviest set of 5 on a Monday.

Basic programme:

Why is it good?
Like the other programmes, it is simple and easy to follow. It contains the big exercises that will cause the greatest strength adaptation and it has you squatting every session.

There is a lot of volume but most of it isn’t heavy because sets are ramping. This gives the body lots of time to get fit and strong, and for those with less experience at the lifts, more opportunity to practise technique. If you keep rest periods down, the cardio effect of doing 5×5 is significant.

Any downsides?
Many people will find it hard to keep adding weight every week, but if that is the case, simply repeat the session until you make all your reps at the new weight.

If you have no experience with the barbell lifts, this is not the ideal programme. But if you have basic technique in the lifts, this is a good beginner-to-intermediate programme for lifters and athletes.

Getting started
The details of the programme are found online at Madcow intermediate 5×5. For technique on the lifts, pick up a copy of Starting Strength.

Texas Method – intermediate

Book: Practical Programming for Strength Training by Rippetoe & Kilgore from startingstrength.com or Amazon
Online resources: startingstrength.com

The Texas Method is described by Mark Rippetoe in the book Practical Programming for Strength Training and is one of the intermediate programmes following the basic Starting Strength.

What is the programme?
There isn’t a programme so much as a programming method. Monday is the ‘stress’ day of the week, where adaptation takes place. Wednesday is a lighter day as the lifter is still recovering from Monday. Friday is a high intensity-low volume day where personal bests can be attempted.

Using squat as an example:

The exact exercises, sets and reps you choose depend on your goals. For the Friday, for example, you may want to do 1 x 5 one week, 1 x 3 the next week and 1 rep max the week after.

You don’t have to do every exercise every day. In fact, according to Glenn Pendlay, Wednesday is not for ‘light’ weights in the main lifts so much as exercises that are easier to recover from or exercises that the lifter is naturally less good at. For example, a powerlifter could do front squat on the Wednesday, since her front squat is likely to be significantly lighter than her back squat. Likewise overhead press can be used instead of bench press or power clean instead of deadlift.

Some intermediate lifters may fare better doing only one set of 5 on the deadlift on a Monday, rather than 5×5, especially when squatting the same day. The deadlift being such a taxing lift, it tends not to require as much volume as the other lifts.

Why is it good?
It is one of the progressions from Starting Strength, utilising principles similar to other 5×5 variations. The format of heavy/medium/light is a type of periodisation, easier to perform and recover from than a programme that demands progress every session. The method is flexible and easy to customise for your particular needs.

Any downsides?
It’s quite hard to work out exactly what a full Texas Method programme would look like, as Practical Programming only gives examples for one lift at a time. You are expected to interpret the method for yourself, which some people may not be comfortable with.

Practical Programming is an excellent book if you are interested in the general topic of programming, but if all you want is a new programme to start, then getting a book like this is probably not necessary. You might be better off buying Wendler’s 5/3/1 or giving Madcow intermediate a go.

This programme is probably best for people who have done Starting Strength and like the Rippetoe approach, but have stopped making progress and need to alter their programming.

Getting started
You will need the book Practical Programming for Strength Training by Rippetoe & Kilgore. You may also want to check out what other people have done on the Starting Strength forum.

Conclusion

Unless you are a complete beginner, you probably need to decide whether you need a beginner programme or an intermediate programme. This shouldn’t be a decision based on ego. In fact, you want to stay at ‘beginner’ level for as long as possible, since once your progress stalls you have to try all sorts of programming voo-doo to get it going again. The longer you are on a beginner programme making progress, the more likely you are to end up being a beast!

Making a choice between the programmes available will largely come down to packaging and appeal. For example, you might like the Stronglifts approach better than the Starting Strength approach, but both programmes will do what you want them to do.

The purpose of this review was to give you an idea of what the programmes are like and a few of the pros and cons, not to rate them or attempt to say which is best.

The good news is that you won’t go far wrong choosing any of these programmes. Those who learn good technique, train consistently and work hard invariably go on to achieve great things. The most important thing is to find a programme you like the look of and can stick to.

Have you done any of these programmes? Do you have any experiences to share?

More from gubernatrix

Five secrets of more effective training
How to deadlift
How to bench press
Why you should full squat
Assistance exercises

You can convert pounds to kilos in your head

Your warm up is everyone else’s max

You love the sound of barbells and weight plates crashing to the floor

You are always covered in chalk dust

People move out of the squat rack when you walk into the gym

You don’t go out on a Friday night because you have to train Saturday morning

You grunt loudly on your last rep

You have massive glutes

Your friends call you ‘beast’

You are unbelievably bored on rest days

You never do more than five reps of anything

Unless it’s twenty-rep squats

You automatically stop what you are doing and shout encouragement when anyone in the gym is going for a big lift

You enjoy showing off your callouses

When you walk past a mirror you drop into a squat, just to check

You get nervous on heavy days

You have constant scrapes on your shins

Other people tell you their max lifts and watch for your reaction

You think football players are skinny, rugby forwards are normal size and strongmen are ‘big’

Other people think you are ‘big’

You care more about your max squat than your max bench

Your starter is everyone else’s main course

You have torn at least one item of clothing while training

Jackets that are allegedly in your size don’t fit you

You see a tyre and want to flip it

‘Sumo’ is a type of deadlift not a Japanese wrestling sport

You are more impressed by a big back than by a big chest

You always want to put more weight on the bar!

Photo credit: Matthew Nourse

I live in America. I like it, but in my opinion, we do not pressure our women into being strong and confident.

When I scan the magazine racks at the grocery store or the dentist’s office, the pictures suggest that we value two things in our women: breasts and razor sharp clavicles. Well, three things: STDs seem to get a lot of press as well…good grief.

You might call it a wretched case of extremely backwards priorities. The heartbreaker for me is so many of the girls I know, including my own sisters, buy into the stereotypes. In fact, they aspire to them in some cases.

Tuesday night kettlebell class

Every Tuesday night I teach a kettlebell training for beginners class. (I also throw in a bunch of other stuff, but it’s called a kettlebell class.) It’s  basically a “get really strong” class. 90 per cent of my students are female. When they first meet me, we shake hands, exchange names, and then they immediately tell me how weak and out of shape they are. I show them the kettlebells and demonstrate movements with a light weight.

“Oh, I can’t do that.”

When I tell them that we’re doing to do deadlifts they often say “Oh, I’m not in shape enough to do that” or “My back can’t handle that.” My response to these questions is always gentle, but pointed: “Says who?” Most of the time these lovely people can’t figure out where they got these silly notions. It’s because women are taught to underestimate themselves. It sinks in and they start to believe it.

Slowly my class has become – I don’t advertise it this way – my lab for the sole purpose of making women stronger without them realizing it.

Required pressing, required reading

Three months ago I began with a class of eight women. Every single one of them told me that they did not want to press overhead because it would give them big shoulders. In the second week I taught them the kettlebell press and the bottoms up press (turning the kettlebell upside down).

I now begin every class with everyone working on their favorite movement for ten minutes. Every single one of those women chooses the press nine times out of ten now. Some of them are pressing more than the men I see in the gym. Nothing makes me happier. There is nothing more fun for me than when the light flashes in their eyes and they realize I can do this. It’s the same process as the I’m-weak indoctrination, but in reverse: it sinks in and they start to believe it. And when they start to believe it, do not get in their way.

At the end of my classes, I write this URL on the board: http://gubernatrix.co.uk/. It is all that I do for required reading. I even make the men read it, which they are usually happy to do, especially when they realize that Gubernatrix is way stronger than they are. Good information is good information. And that’s all I am trying to give these women.

The change doesn’t occur because I am a genius or because I know something about strength training for females that nobody else does: it’s simply because I say the opposite of what society usually says.

I say:

1. Gain 10 lbs of muscle and you will be sexier than you can imagine

2. Lift as heavy as you (safely) can and you will be more confident

3. You are stronger than you think

4. Ignore your clavicles (most men aren’t looking at them)

5. Being strong does not mean sacrificing femininity

6. I know a five-foot-nothing homecoming queen who deadlifts 315

7. When someone tells you what you “should” be doing, ask yourself why

8. If you are not getting the results you want, something needs to change

9. You are stronger than most men I know

10. Perceptions will only change if enough of us work together to change them

It won’t happen fast, but it can happen. Every time I step into my class there are more women in it. It is because word gets around that it is fun to be strong. That there are people out there who say that women aren’t supposed to be weak, submissive, and that clavicles are seriously overrated.

Go get ‘em.

More from gubernatrix

• Ladies who lift
• Strong is beautiful
• A girl’s guide to choosing a kettlebell
• The toning problem: why women are missing out when it comes to weight training

What is a good morning?

The good morning is a compound movement working the back and hamstrings. It is used as an assistance exercise for strengthening the posterior chain.

With the bar on your back, bend forward at the hips until your torso is parallel to the floor, then return to a standing position. In other words, take a bow with a weight on your back!

Why is it such a great exercise?

The good morning is an effective way to strengthen the back. It also requires confidence and control to perform well, which are useful skills to master.

Although it might look a bit dangerous at first glance, it is perfectly safe if performed with proper technique and an appropriate weight.

Good mornings have been a standard assistance exercise in olympic weightlifting for many decades. Heavy good mornings and concentric good mornings have been popularised for powerlifters by Westside Barbell.

How to perform the good morning

Practise this movement with just a barbell until you are confident with the technique and body position.

Step 1: start position

Take up a position as if for a back squat: legs slightly wider than hip width apart, barbell across your back resting on the traps (top of shoulders) not the neck.

You can experiment with different stances; a wider stance will work the hamstrings more while a narrow stance will work the lower back more.

Grip

Your hands should be as close to your shoulders as is comfortable (this will vary with your flexibility).

Position of barbell on back

Breathing

As in the deadlift, take a deep breath and hold it throughout the lift or at least until you are on the way back up. This breathing technique creates intra-abdominal pressure which helps to stabilise the spine.

Step 2: bend forward from the hips

Start the movement by bending forward from the hips, keeping the knees soft. Think about pushing your butt out behind you.

Legs

Keep your legs almost straight, with a slight bend in the knee so that they are not locked out completely.

Back

Be careful not to round your lower back; maintain the curve in your lumbar spine. (Note: there is such a thing as a rounded back good morning but this is not in the scope of this article as it has specialist applicability.)

As you bend forward, the bar is held in place on your shoulders by pushing your shoulder blades back and your elbows up.

Push shoulders and elbows up

Head

Keep your head in a neutral position. This means that as you bend over, your gaze will be directed towards the floor, not ahead of you.

Don’t be tempted to look up in an attempt to keep the bar on your back; the bar will stay in place if you keep your shoulders back, elbows up and a slight curve in your lower back.

Step 3: descend to parallel

Bend forward as close to parallel with the floor as you can go without rounding your lower back. For many people, this will not be quite parallel as they will be limited by hamstring flexibility but try to go for maximum range of motion rather than maximum weight on the bar!

Remember to keep the head neutral all the way down, keeping the bar in place with shoulders and elbow position.

You should feel a stretch in both the hamstrings and lower back in the bottom position of the good morning.

Step 4: return to standing position

Reverse the movement back to a standing position, maintaining the position of the head and back. Make sure you bring the hips back in fully before starting the next rep – in other words, stand up straight.

Concentric good morning

A concentric good morning is a variation of the standard good morning exercise, where you perform the second half of the movement first. You start in the bottom position, almost parallel to the floor, and lift the bar to a standing position.

The idea is to mimic the position of the back in the deadlift, but to focus more on the spinal erectors than a normal deadlift would do by taking a lot of the leg power out of the equation.

Concentric good mornings are usually used by powerlifters as a back assistance exercise or as a training alternative to the deadlift (as some advanced powerlifters do not deadlift very often).

How to perform a concentric good morning

Set the bar to the correct position in the rack. You will need to be able to lift the bar with a flat back, so don’t set the rack too low if you don’t have the flexibility to get into that bottom position.

Concentric good morning - start position

Take up position under the bar as you would with a normal good morning. Lift the bar, driving up against it leading with the shoulders until hips are fully extended and you are standing up straight.

Concentric good morning - top position

Then return the bar to the rack in the bottom position, being careful that you rack the bar properly before letting go.

How to use the good morning in your training

The good morning functions as an assistance exercise for the posterior chain, especially the lower back. It is a good option on days when you don’t deadlift but need a back exercise.

If being used as a back assistance exercise, good mornings can be done with light-to-medium weights for 6-10 reps.

If being used by a powerlifter as an alternative to the deadlift on a ‘heavy’ day, heavy weights for 1-5 reps can be used.

Good mornings can be used in warm ups (with light weights of course, maybe just a barbell) to warm up the back muscles. They can also be used as part of a barbell complex, for example: front squat – push press – good morning.

Powerlifters and olympic lifters in particular will benefit from heavy good mornings such as 3×3, but anyone who wants to build lower back strength will find these useful. Just remember not to compromise range of motion for more weight.

Watch a video demo of the good morning and the concentric good morning

More from gubernatrix

How to deadlift
How to front squat
Assistance exercises
Why you should full squat

Let’s break the false link between building muscle and becoming less feminine.

Women have muscles, it’s a physiological fact, and if we want to do anything useful or impressive with them and look sexy to boot, we’d better start training them!

Here is an incident that happened to me recently. I was talking to a bloke in the gym about the fact that I was training for strongwoman and I happened to mention that I would like to put on a couple of pounds of muscle.

He said, with a grimace, “Really? But you don’t want to lose your femininity, do you?”

So putting on a couple of pounds of muscle is going to make me lose my femininity, is it? This is typical of the casual ignorance displayed by many people about muscle building. I’m an athletic-looking size 10, I weigh 136 pounds. What difference is a couple of pounds of muscle distributed around my body going to make to my appearance? I doubt most people would even notice.

Me (right) and Caroline Pearce, aka ‘Ice’ from Gladiators. Note the tragic loss of femininity experienced by these two strength training females. Don’t let this be you!

I’m not trying to dictate what men or women find attractive. Long hair, cute bob, big tits, curvy, athletic, muscular, long legs, nice bum, spiky hair and tattoos, tanned and outdoorsy, pale and interesting… there are so many ways to look sexy and feminine.

A powerful woman needs powerful arms! I bet POTUS isn’t complaining…

Muscle, whether you realise it or not, plays a huge part in looking feminine. Pertness of bum? Gluteus maximus, baby! Shapeliness of calf? A toned gastrocnemius, of course. ‘Michelle Obama’ arms? Bi’s and tri’s my dears, not to mention the delts.

And you can’t build muscle using 3lb pink dumbbells. Your handbag weighs more than that! The weight’s gotta be heavy.

(Not convinced? Read Why lift weights? for a simple answer to that question.)

The truth is that for some people, any mention of muscle building is an automatic no-no. This merely reveals ignorance about the human body and the importance of muscle.

Although we can use muscle to scuplt particular parts of our bodies into nicer shapes, this isn’t the primary role of muscle.

In fact, everybody needs to be concerned about building muscle, since we spend most of our lives slowly losing it and becoming more and more frail.

Even this poor girl has muscles, but wouldn't you agree she could do with some more?

We all have muscle in the first place and we all need it in order to lead active, healthy lives. From the way some women talk, you’d think they didn’t even possess muscles!

But they do, and they are neglecting them because of this pernicious link.

For most people, building additional muscle doesn’t happen automatically, it has to be done deliberately (especially after your early twenties). What we do build automatically is fat. It’s very easy to get fatter, more difficult to build muscle.

But building muscle helps us to lose fat. Muscle burns more calories than fat, so the more of it we have, the more we can burn excess calories. Muscle also takes energy to be built in the first place, energy that would otherwise be stored as fat. This is true for both men and women.

These days most people want to look lean and athletic, with less fat. The way to do this is to build muscle but still in the eyes of many people this is only deemed acceptable for men. No wonder so many women spend years dieting unsuccessfully or acquire dangerous eating disorders that keep them weak, malnourished and either too skinny or too fat.

Why do guys like this picture?

So back to the guy who so baldly expressed his opinion on my femininity. Of course, we know what’s really going on here. We know that the image he has in his head is of a female pro-bodybuilder on stage under the lights with all the fake tan, dehydration, flexing and so on. He has equated this snapshot image (which doesn’t even reflect the everyday reality of a pro-bodybuilder, let alone anyone else) with general weight lifting of any kind undertaken by a woman – and moreover has decided that this is not what he finds attractive.

(Incidentally, there is an issue about people associating weight training with bodybuilding but not other sports. You might be talking about strongwoman or weightlifting, but it is the bodybuilder image that immediately appears in people’s minds and not, say, the slim and athletic Marilou Dozois-Prevost who graces the top of this post.)

What’s odd is that Random Gym Guy is quite admiring of my figure as it stands at the moment – a figure which has been developed over several years by muscle building and heavy weight training.

So there’s a serious disconnect between the evidence of his own eyes and his preconceptions and prejudices about ‘muscle building’ and ‘femininity’.

Apparently I have reached some mysterious boundary where I look good at the moment but if I build a smidgen more muscle I will suddenly turn into a she-hulk!

Two female bodybuilders: the difference is DRUGS, not lifting weights

With pictures like the one on the right, I guess it is not surprising that people get hugely distorted views about women and muscle. The media love to dwell on the ‘freak’ aspects of any activity but it is drugs not weights that are the cause. Just say no, kids.

(The original female bodybuilders still looked feminine. Read more here about what went wrong. Clue: it wasn’t lifting weights!)

Ironically many men will find particular bodies attractive that have been built by careful dieting and weight training – but they don’t realise it. This is about education, about breaking that seemingly automatic link between the desire to build muscle  – for health, looks, performance or whatever – and loss of femininity.

Allyson Goble, trainer at Bodytribe Fitness, tackled this thorny subject in our recent Women’s Strength Symposium. She comments that if masculinity is defined by strength and muscle building, does that mean that femininity must be the opposite: weakness and fat? Femininity = weakness? Surely we are past that in the 21st century.

The truth is that you can look very feminine (whatever that means to you) and also build muscle, lift heavy weights and generally enjoy yourself.

Here is some of the positive testimony from Allyson’s discussion.

Katydid: “As a person who has gone through challenges with eating disorders and body image for a very long time I’ve found weightlifting and being a powerlifter, and the resultant strength to be the best medicine in the world.”

Louisa: “Until I started weight training, with fantastic results (not only because my body shape improved but because I felt more confident and got a buzz out of it), I really didn’t believe how good it would be for me. I have never really worried about getting bulky. I know I look better and feel fitter than I have for over 20 years. However, people around me do ask if I’m not worried about bulking up. And I have struggled to get my husband to understand that I’m not going to end up looking like a female body builder on steroids.”

Allyson: “Girls deserve to have strong muscles and bones and ligaments and tendons, etc. AND look good in their undies too!”

The beautiful and be-six-packed Allyson Felix

Men care what you look like – they are visual creatures after all. But men also care what you think you look like.

Lack of confidence in your own looks is not sexy. Obsessing about whether your bum looks big is a real turn-off.  If you have a nice bum from squatting, be proud of it! If you have a great six pack from training and dieting, show it off. I am a big fan of the female six pack myself, I think it is super sexy!

So back to where I started. You might be wondering, ‘why do you care what Random Gym Guy thinks anyway?’

Well, I don’t, as he’s just some random guy down the gym. But what about the men who do matter in our lives? I know from discussions on the Women’s Strength Training Network that many women do have these issues with their other halves. We can’t just say ‘well I don’t care about your feelings’. But a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.

Louisa, who was quoted above, says “I have struggled to get my husband to understand that I’m not going to end up looking like a female body builder on steroids.” Time will prove Louisa right, and perhaps her husband will get used to her having a bit more muscle than before.

I know that my perception of muscle on both men and women has changed, the more I have been around it, seen it, and most of all, experienced the amazing things you can do with it!

This is why I am committed to changing perceptions, and why I believe that eventually a cultural shift will occur and women will no longer be considered less feminine because they have muscles and can use them.

More from gubernatrix

Girls and Strength Training: Are We Able To Shift Our Perceptions? How Else Are We ‘ABLE’? By Allyson Goble

Women’s Strength Training Network

Strong is beautiful

The toning problem: why women are missing out when it comes to weight training

Opportunities for play are never more present than in these long, hot days of summer – of which we in the UK have been enjoying many recently and I hope you are too, wherever you are.

This weekend I went to a garden party featuring a ‘summer olympics’ of mad games including such classics as welly wanging and tug of war, as well as more unusual challenges involving the carrying of objects in weird ways (have you ever tried to run holding a potato between your legs?), lots of wet sponges, cartwheel races and general larking about.

What I noticed (aside from the fact that I am useless at welly wanging and I ached in unusual places the next day) was the way everyone behaved, both adults and children. The kids threw themselves into everything and were full of beans all day. Their energy is astonishing, as anyone who has kids will tell you. It’s inspiring as well.

The adults were torn between being competitive and just having a laugh. As the day went on, the cheating got more outrageous. It became clear, however, that the best time is when people are being competitive in the context of the game without actually minding who wins. In other words, getting involved in the process without worrying about the outcome. That is essential for true play.

The day was a great reminder of two important things: first, to put a bit of play back into training, even if its just getting a few people together and seeing who can throw a kettlebell the furthest (as we did recently at Crossfit Reading‘s open day). The great thing about ‘silly’ games is that you can persuade people to participate who otherwise would be afraid to do something more ‘serious’. But if you are prepared to wang a welly, why not a tire or a kettlebell?

The second is to focus on the process rather than the outcome. At Wimbledon, the most successful tennis players are those who focus not on the outcome (‘I must win’) but on the process, playing each point as it comes. One point at a time, one throw at a time, one lift at a time. Try to make each lift the best lift of the day.

By the way, Bodytribe has a new DVD coming out this summer based on the notion of putting play back into training. Watch a preview here.

Don’t you wish there was just a simple list of foods you should eat, without any of the complicated stuff about macronutrient splits and what cavemen ate? Well, this is that list.

It’s a quick trot around the different types of food and some examples of each. The information applies whether you are male or female, trying to gain weight or lose it. Simply adjust quantities to suit.

Fish

Any fish is good for you. Fish is high in protein and oily fish is high in good fats as well, so you really can’t go wrong with fish. Avoid fish in batter; breadcrumbs are okay unless you are trying to lose weight. Try to buy fish that is caught sustainably or not over-fished.

Meat

Meat tends to have a higher saturated fat content than fish but you can limit the amount of fat you take in if you choose lean cuts of meat. White meat is less fatty than red meat. Meat is high in protein so is generally a good thing from a diet point of view unless you are vegetarian or environmentally conscious.

Be fussy about meat, know where it has come from – eat free range, grass-fed etc. Avoid meat that has been processed or reconstituted, e.g. chicken nuggets. There could be all kinds of crap in there!

Beans/legumes

All beans are good for you. They are a good source of protein (especially for non meat and dairy eaters) and complex carbs.

Vegetables

Any vegetables, in large quantities, with every meal (yes, even breakfast if you can). Dark green vegetables in particular are good for you (spinach, broccoli). Potatoes don’t count!! (see Starchy carbs below)

Rule of thumb: whenever you make a meal, e.g. evening meal, lunchtime salad, include three different vegetables

Starchy carbs

Otherwise known as white foods and alarmingly high in the modern diet. They are not evil but try not to over-indulge. We tend to consume more carbohydrate than we really need, so limiting it where possible is a good thing.

Rule of thumb: have as an accompaniment rather than the main bulk of the meal. For example, don’t have a dish that is mostly pasta with a few shreds of vegetables thrown in; have the pasta on the side and make sure the meal is mostly vegetables and fish/meat.

Dairy

Dairy products are high in protein. They also contain saturated fat but if you go easy on portion sizes you will be getting good nutrition without too much saturated fat. If you want to really cut down on the fat content, stick to egg whites and skimmed milk. Try to avoid ‘fat free’ yoghurt though as it is high in sugar and additives.

Rule of thumb: great in moderation – unless you are vegetarian, then you might need more to bump up your protein intake.

Nuts, seeds

Great source of protein, good fats and complex carbs. Eat in moderation as fat content can be high – unless you are trying to gain weight.

Fruit

Everyone knows fruit is good for you. But don’t make the mistake of eating fruit instead of vegetables and think you are getting your nutrition. You should eat more vegetables than fruit.

Beware of fruit juice and smoothies if dieting – they are nutritious but also fairly high in calories for a drink. It might be better to drink water and eat an orange than to drink orange juice.

Sweet things

Honey (great to add to yoghurt, porridge etc as a sweetener)
Dark chocolate (good for you in moderation!)

Supplements

Protein supplements are a very useful source of extra protein and are surprisingly filling. However they are usually very sweet and sugary as well. Protein shakes are better than protein bars, since the sugar content of bars tends to be high. Useful for non meat-eaters of course.

Many people supplement with fish oil. This is high in the good fat, omega-3, and very useful if you don’t eat much oily fish.

Don’t consume/severely limit:

• Alcohol (useless calories)
• Foods marketed as diet foods or low fat foods (low fat = high sugar!)
• Sweets, cakes etc
• Crisps
• Chocolate (apart from high quality dark chocolate)
• Takeaway pizza, kebab, curry
• Ready meals
• Any junk food really. C’mon, you know that.

Common misunderstandings

Soup is a good diet meal. Most soups are predominantly carbohydrate with very little protein so they won’t fill you up and don’t contribute much to your diet, nutritionally or calorie-wise. Soup is often eaten with bread and butter – again very little protein, extra carbs which you don’t need. You would be much better off with a nice big tuna salad!

Diet foods are good if you are on a diet. Although they are trumpeted as low fat or fat free, the fat is simply replaced with sugar in order to make them palatable. They are also not very filling as they tend to be full of sugary carbs and not much else.

Fruit and nut bars/flapjacks. Although these are marketed as healthy and nutritious because they contain fruit, nuts and seeds, they generally have a very high sugary content (syrup, sugar, honey etc) and lots of carbs (oats, maybe chocolate etc) so they should basically be treated as sweets/cakes. If you want the goodness of fruit and nuts, just eat actual fruit or a handful of nuts.

Fat is bad. It isn’t all bad – there are ‘good’ fats and ‘bad’ fats and we need the good fats, so don’t automatically avoid all fat. See above for foods which contain ‘good’ fats (oily fish, seeds, nuts, olives). Even a moderate amount of saturated fat (egg yolks, butter) won’t do you as much harm as having cake on a regular basis. Avoiding dietary fat often leads people into eating excessive sugar, which will make you fat.

Pasta is a healthy meal. No it isn’t. Pasta itself has very little nutritional value, it’s just starchy carbohydrate. You can have good stuff in a pasta dish (e.g. vegetables, chicken) but the amount is crucial. Pasta you get in a restaurant has – in my experience – very little else but pasta (great profit margins)! If you make it at home, pile in the veggies and protein and keep the pasta portion modest (70g per person), then it can be okay.

Toast is healthy. Again, toast is mainly carbs and a bit of fibre (but if you are eating plenty of vegetables you don’t need any fibre from bread). Not much nutrition, loads of carbs. The odd slice of toast with a protein topping (peanut butter, sardines, baked beans, cheese) can be a nutritious meal/snack. But too often toast is eaten with jam or marmalade – not good.

What’s the issue with carbs?

Most people eat too much of them and they get stored as fat. It’s the nature of the modern diet. It’s really hard to avoid carbs, they are everywhere. So actively limiting them results not in low carb but in moderate carb.

Don’t forget that vegetables and fruit are excellent sources of carbohydrate. So you don’t need other sources like bread, rice etc.

If you focus on eating more protein, you naturally end up eating fewer carbs, because the protein makes you feel fuller and therefore less likely to fill the gap with carbs.

Women are unlucky because many more high carb foods are marketed specifically to women. Pasta, ‘diet’ snack bars, cakes, chocolate and so on are all targeted at women. So we need to be extra vigilant!

Classic example of what not to eat: Pizza Express has recently introduced a pizza with the middle cut out which they are marketing to women as a ‘healthy’ pizza. It is no such thing. It is just a pizza that is a bit smaller and has a side salad. It’s still full of saturated fat, salt and white carbs. Do have one if you want to, but please don’t kid yourself that there’s anything healthy about it. It’s like having half a cake instead of a whole cake – it’s still a cake.

And by the way, the same applies to that ‘skinny muffin’ – in fact anything labelled ‘skinny’ that is clearly a cake.

So…what should I eat again?

Food that you make yourself (so you know exactly what’s gone in it). Food that your great grandmother would recognise as food (so that doesn’t include pop tarts). Food that looks fresh, smells nice, looks like someone grew it or farmed it or plucked it out of the ocean.

If you want a cake on the odd occasion, have a cake. It’s only a problem if you have cake every day. Kidding yourself that it is ok to have one every day for breakfast because some clever marketing person labelled it ‘skinny’ is just asking for trouble.

Need a bit of inspiration? England rugby player Riki Fluety on his 30th birthday apparently had a chicken breast with a candle in it instead of a cake. There’s dedication for you!

More from Gubernatrix

Dieting rules of thumb
Staying focussed over Christmas
What’s your food personality?

Squat workshop by gubernatrix (Photo: Kate Pankhurst)

Strength. It’s 99% about how strong you are.

I don’t know whether it’s the circles I move in, but I tend to meet people who are more concerned with how good their technique is than how much they are lifting.

These well-intentioned students of strength are the opposite end of the scale from the idiots in the gym who load the bar up with more weight than they can handle and then proceed to invite maiming with appalling technique and absolutely no understanding of basic safety. But as far as I know, none of those people reads this blog (though they should!).

I’m known for being generous where technique is concerned, not a stickler for the perfect position so long as people are reasonably safe. I am willing to entertain other opinions but I tend to think not ‘is my technique perfect?’ but ‘is my technique good enough’?

When I teach workshops, such as the squat workshop pictured above, I focus on technique and strength. When you’ve got the basic movement, it’s time to stick some more weight on the bar and challenge yourself.

I didn’t get into strength training to do pretty moves, although that’s part of the fun. But I got into it to lift ever heavier things – that’s my own personal buzz. Will I sacrifice technique to lift something heavier? Yes, sometimes. Not all the time, not every day. I’ll train sensibly and then go for it on the platform, for example.

And before you raise the hydra of injury – yep, been there. In fact I picked up an injury just a couple of weeks ago while deadlifting in a strongwoman competition. Am I annoyed I got injured? Yep. Do I regret going for that weight? Nope.

Strongman is an interesting sport since many of the events are performed using what most people would think of as bad technique – rounding the back in the atlas stones, hyperextending the lower back for the log press and so on. But strongmen train specifically to perform the events like this. It’s in the nature of odd object lifting. It’s part of what it means to be a strongman – being able to lift in some very awkward positions.

And for you functional fitness fans, this is vital. In an emergency situation, are you likely to be presented with a finely crafted eleiko-bar-shaped object to lift? Or is it more likely to be some awkwardly-shaped heavy bastard of a thing?

Try telling Laurence Shahlaei he should lift with his legs not his back

In a very technical sport such as olympic weightlifting, technique is vital in as much as it allows you to lift more. If you can’t snatch properly you’ll never snatch very much because there is a limit to the amount of weight you can get from the floor to overhead by just muscling it up there. If you don’t have the technique in olympic weightlifting then you just miss…and miss… and miss…

But can great technique be an aim in itself? Maybe, if that’s what turns you on. Maybe you want to have the most beautiful moves in the gym and you don’t care how heavy the weight is.

But you also have to think about how you are applying the technique. Are you applying it with confidence? Are you diving under that bar with complete commitment? Or did you start lifting and think ‘christ, that feels heavy!’

In other words, having perfect technique with a light weight may not mean jack shit once the weight gets challenging.

How much mental energy should you spend worrying about technique? What would happen if you stopped worrying about technique and put some more weight on the bar?

Many people seem to think that they are not ‘ready’ to add weight until they can perform a lift perfectly. It’s a combination of fear of injury, fear of the weight and the desire to practice with something easy. I know these feelings all too well!

But adding more weight teaches too. Adding more weight can in some circumstances actively improve technique (a big heavy weight can force you into the correct position) and in other circumstances simply make you work harder to get it right.

With sub-maximal weights, you can sometimes make adjustments during the lift to compensate for deficiencies in the technique – for example, not having quite the right starting position, or not catching the weight in exactly the right place. With a maximum or very close to maximum weight, if you don’t get it right, you’ll probably fail the lift. So you’ll know damn well when you do get it right.

There are some lifters who are known as good technicians. These are the jammy bastards whose technique is exactly the same, lift after lift, never really deteriorating (eventually the weight just gets too heavy). Realistically, most of us won’t have this talent.

So as with most things in life, there is a balance to be struck. You probably don’t want to end up on the wrong side of either opinion.

If you agonise about your technique, take some time out and just think about lifting more weight. Don’t forget that all that time you are spending on perfecting your technique is time that you are not spending getting stronger.

Conversely, if you chase the numbers every day and you are just desperate to put an extra few kilos on your lifts, consider that taking time to work on your technique might actually improve your numbers in the long run.

For the vast majority of us, our technique could always be better but in strength sports, you don’t get points for style. If we allow this thought to paralyse us, we may not make progress or get stronger.

So where do you stand on the technique debate?

More from gubernatrix

gubernatrix on squat technique
Paralysis by analysis
Mystery of the squat

All photos by Matthew Nourse

On 29-30 May I went to the World’s Strongest Man Experience at the Excel Centre in London. The event comprised a two-hour competition featuring some of the biggest stars in WSM – including current World’s Strongest Man Zydrunas Savickas – preceded by an opportunity to meet the strongmen on the exhibition stand, have your photo taken, get your programme signed and generally marvel at these man mountains.

I thought it was a great idea for strongman fans, allowing you to experience in person what you’ve only seen on the telly at Christmas! The coolest part for me was getting to rub shoulders with the strongmen on the stand (not literally of course, as I’m only 5 ft 5) and interviewing Zydrunas Savickas (see the clip here).

Of the Brits, Terry Hollands, Mark Felix, Jimmy Marku and Darren Sadler represented in style. Laurence Shahlaei was also on the bill but pulled out in order to compete in a qualifier for the WSM 2010 finals (he successfully qualified!).

It’s worth saying that some of these guys are competing every couple of weeks. Terry Hollands, for example, did a Strongman Champions League event in Finland two weeks before, and another SCL event in Ireland two weeks after. Although these weights seem superhuman, it’s all in a day’s work for the professional strongman.

World Record from Felix

On the Saturday before the main show we were treated to a world record attempt by Mark Felix in the left handed deadlift.

Mark is well known as an absolute deadlift and grip monster, current Rolling Thunder world champion (Rolling Thunder is a notoriously difficult revolving deadlift handle). So I don’t think anyone was in any doubt that he would take the record easily. It stood at 221kg; Mark went for 225kg and got it.

He could probably have smashed the record and lifted more, but he did have a whole two days of strongman competition ahead of him, so perhaps he held back a little.

The events

After Felix’ new world record, the competition itself got underway. The line up included: Zydrunas Savickas (Lithuania), Terry Hollands (UK), Darren Sadler (UK), Stefan Solvi Petursson (Iceland), Thomas Nowotniak (Poland), Jimmy Marku (UK), Kevin Nee (USA) and of course Mark Felix (UK).

That’s a lot of power to fit into a small arena!

The competition was adjudicated by strongman legends Geoff Capes and Svend Karlson, and hosted by Caroline Pearce (aka Ice from Gladiators). She was a good choice of host, I thought. It’s nice to have a woman amidst all the testosterone; moreover one who isn’t a) just the female foil to a male host, and b) not just a pretty face. Pearce, who is an ex-athlete herself, has presented a few strongman events now and is getting to grips with the specifics of the sport. Could she be the Gabby Logan of strongman? I don’t see why not!

Events

The events were:
•    Farmers walk 160kg each hand – 15m
•    Dumbbell clean and press 93kg – reps in 60 seconds
•    ‘Axle’ deadlift 330kg (16 inch deadlift with olympic bar) – reps in 60 seconds
•    Log press 130kg – reps in 60 seconds
•    Atlas stones

A menu of classic strongman events here. Due to space constraints, the events chosen tended towards the static. However, as many events were a particular lift for reps, it was a good opportunity for strength fans to witness the strongmen’s technique, particularly in the overhead events – which for many of us recreational strongmen/women is our nemesis!

I was particularly interested in the dumbbell press, as I have seen many people struggle with this event. The event favours the short-armed guys, so Jimmy Marku and Darren Sadler did well. Savickas, who has excellent overhead strength, won this event.

Clip: Savickas dumbbell clean & press 93kg – 7 reps

Clip: Darren Sadler dumbbell clean & press – 6 reps

As you might expect, Mark Felix destroyed the deadlift event – this after getting a world record in the left-handed deadlift. Straps are allowed in strongman deadlifting, as it is not intended to be a test of grip.

Clip: Mark Felix deadlift 330kg – 14 reps

The 130kg log press was done in a head-to-head style. In the clip below, Jimmy Marku goes up against Mark Felix.

Clip: Jimmy Marku log press 130kg

We finished with the atlas stones, always a crowd pleaser. Professional strongmen these days are very adept at this event, which involves an unusual technique not normally seen in lifting. You pick the stone up off the floor with a rounded back (‘sacrilege!’, a fitness instructor would cry!) and wrap your body around the stone in order to roll it up your chest before pressing it onto the platform.

The stones is usually the last event in a competition and can therefore decide the overall winner if places are close. So it behoves the professional strongman to get very good at this event!

Although height is a factor, as the platforms for the stones can be quite high, a number of the shorter strongmen have proved that you can still be competitive at this event if you work hard. Darren Sadler, the shortest guy in the competition, put in an incredible performance in the stones.
(Watch Darren do a 10-stone lifting demo in 2007 and you’ll see what I mean)

On the Saturday ‘Big Z’ Savickas came out on top, with Terry Hollands second and Darren Sadler, the shortest and lightest guy in the competition an impressive third. I’m told that Savickas and Hollands also came first and second respectively on the Sunday too.

It was a pity Laurence ‘Big Loz’ Shahlaei couldn’t be there as I’d have liked to see how he stacked up against Hollands – both British men are really in form at the moment. They will both be competing in Europe’s Strongest Man in London on 19th June though, so perhaps we’ll see a fine competition there!

I also spoke to Jimmy Marku about his training but he wasn’t giving anything away! As reigning UK’s Strongest Man, he’s clearly got game. And with Mark Felix getting yet another record under his capacious belt, things are looking good for British strength at the moment.

I also liked newcomer (to me, anyway) Stefan Solvi Petursson, an Icelandic strongman with a big personality who clearly has fun and communicates well with the crowd. He was one of the tallest strongmen and won the stones event with a lightening fast time.

All in all, this was a great event for strongman fans, getting up close and personal with the athletes, watching them compete at close quarters and seeing what quality we have in the British camp.

The sport of Strongman

One of the most interesting and exciting things about strongman for me, both in terms of competing and spectating, is the range of techniques and facets of strength and fitness that are employed. To be a winning strongman, there’s a lot you need to be good at. If you’ve got a monster deadlift but are weak overhead, you will suffer in the events. So it a real spur to work on your weaknesses.

When I spoke to Geoff Capes he commented that, “strength is only measured with the disciplines you give them to do and the guys are actually competing in the event. Change the event, change the disciplines, you’ll get a different result.”

Naturally, strongman is a punishing game. You’ve got to train the lifts in the gym and focus on getting stronger, but you’ve also got to practice your event technique. Although the equipment is more sophisticated these days (we don’t just hike into the forest and chop down a tree for the log press any more), it is still easy to bruise, bash, scrape and generally injure yourself as you train.

American strongman Kevin Nee, who had to pull out of the WSM Experience competition after a couple of events through injury, and has endured two bicep tears and a pec tear in his career so far, talked about the dangers of doing too much too soon:

“Some advice for those who are starting out in the sport, just don’t rush it too much, take your time, stick with it, stay dedicated and you will get stronger”.

There seems to be good camaraderie between the strongmen, who see each other regularly on the circuit. I saw a lot of big physiques and big lifts but didn’t see any big egos. Even Savickas, whom I assumed would be rather intimidating, was great fun to talk to and modest about his achievements.

Perhaps it is too easy to be humbled in this game. Of course you must have self belief and you must be dedicated to the goal. But it is a sensible strongman who refuses to entertain the hubris of an enormous ego.

More on this topic

WSM athlete profiles
Another review of the event by The 5th Stone blog

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Strength revelations: what I’ve learned from strongman
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