Starting Strength Book Club (SSBC) - Chapters 1 & 2

canadianlbs

i'm afraid to trust a couple of the more fragile-feeling stabilizer muscles in my back with real weight right now, but i've been messing around with a broomstick and the whole straight-wrist-and-elbows-up thing, and i mmmmaaaayyy have worked something out.

for me, it may be that 'elbows up' is a misleading cue. what i maybe should be trying to think of instead is 'bar forward'. when i tell myself to lift my elbows, my shoulders just crunch together and pull back in a way that doesn't feel helpful or stable to me. and it tends to have asymmetrical kinds of results. if i tell myself to let my straight wrists push the bar forward instead, kind of 'through' my shoulders, i may be getting a better result.

i'm not sure what the kinesthetic difference is since i don't have a good place where i can strip down to nothing and actually watch which muscles are trying to do what, but w/e. just thought that i'd mention this.

ScientificExplorerGirl

Sorry if I am repeating posts but I've just finished reading the first few chapters of SS and have some "Ahas" that I would like to share.

Squat:
I liked MRs discussion about balance, centre of mass, and efficiency. Essentially, when doing the squat one should think of a vertical line ascending from the mid-foot up through the bar. The most efficient lift, the one in which you will be able to ultimately lift the most weight, is one in which you envision that this vertical line is a slot. During your lift it is your goal to keep the bar within this slot so that balance is maintained. No moment arm, no leverage, all of the *work* is performed efficiently to raise and lower the bar only. No horizontal movement.

Overhead Press:
Helpful imagery and humor:
After it [the bar] leaves the shoulders, the slightest deviation from a vertical bar path as close to the shoulders as possible will cost you the rep. You absolutely must think about keeping it close every time you press. A beard is handy for this - touch your beard every rep and you will have controlled the bar path. The hairless and female are at a disadvantage here. MR, SS 3rd Ed. p 94. LOL, but effective!!! I think I need to get a beard with an elastic to wear when I do the press

Deadlift
Figure 4-8 p 103. The standard plate diameter provides a standard height for the bar above the floor. ... 81/8 inches or 20.5 cm between the bottom of the bar and the floor.

Somewhere I missed this important point along the way. I think it is the reason why I have not been going up in my DLs. My lifts have been from only ~4-5 inches between floor and bottom of the bar. I raised the bar on blocks yesterday and it's definitely easier. The weight feels far lighter. Hopefully I can progress in this again.

One more thing about the DL. I think the way I have been doing them I have done one true deadlift followed by 4 Romanian DLs. You should reset yourself after every single DL.

Valsalva Maneuver
I have seen some lifters seemingly take a large "gulp" of air prior to lifting and wondered what that is all about. Essentially, this is the valsalva maneuver. By filling your lungs with air this enables your musculature and spine to be much more rigid, to have better form, and to lift heavier weights. This maneuver should be used with every lift.

That's all for now folks...

canadianlbs

ScientificExplorerGirl wrote: »

Valsalva Maneuver
I have seen some lifters seemingly take a large "gulp" of air prior to lifting and wondered what that is all about. Essentially, this is the valsalva maneuver. By filling your lungs with air this enables your musculature and spine to be much more rigid, to have better form, and to lift heavier weights. This maneuver should be used with every lift.

i was keepign this one in mind too on saturday. i'd gotten into the habit of exhaling during teh hard part of a lift just because that's what some trainer said i should do when i started out. but when i saw that stuff about it being a stability thing, i started to wonder 'then why blow it away right at the place where you need it the most?' especially when i think about squats. as if my spine needs a sudden variation in the amount of support that it's got, right at the time when it's probably got the most different forces on it. so i tried making an effort to unlearn that habit and just keep that breath all the way.

i can't speak all that much for squats atm. but it did seem like it had a good effect on my bench press to me. i was only pressing 45, and tbh a little all over the place. but there were certain reps where everything felt almost stupidly smooth.

ScientificExplorerGirl

canadianlbs wrote: »

i can't speak all that much for squats atm. but it did seem like it had a good effect on my bench press to me. i was only pressing 45, and tbh a little all over the place. but there were certain reps where everything felt almost stupidly smooth.

So great when that stupidly smooth move happens! I am going to go lift in a bit and hopefully my lifts will be smoother than a fresh jar of Skippy

TravelsWithHuckleberry

^ Julio! Get the stretch!

canadianlbs

on the topic of overhead press: i'm wondering if i ought to try doing them as singles for a while, the way that i do with deadlifts. because someone mentioned a little while ago that she found she was doing one conventional deadlift per set, and the next 4 were roumanian style. i have the same thing with ohp.

last night all my rep 1's were storming, so there's that about how much starting out right seems to help. but i definitely noticed that after rep one, i struggle to recover ALL the little micro-elements of the good start position before i kick off with rep two. so over the course of the set my form does degrade, maybe not so much because of pure fatigue as i'd thought. i can rotate my ribcage up, and i can 'round' my shoulders towards the bar, but i can't seem to do both while the bar's still in my hands.

so yeah, i might go and put in some time on singles for a while, if i ever get that much access to a rack. i will say, i had a faint feeling of possible breakthrough a few times last night, and that was nice.

TravelsWithHuckleberry

Um, not to be all nit-picky, but there is a SS / OHP Chapter thread.

That said, I think doing them as singles is a good idea, but I'd probably try to limit the rest time between. Do your press, do a quick reset, do your second press, etc.