Leg training routines

[Hal Jordan]

Stop when you start to look like this guy...

[Daniel]

Hot enough to train wearing tiny shorts but cold enough to need a hat

Maybe the vast amount of pharmaceutical assistance is affecting his circulation.

[Hal Jordan]

Certainly you aren't suggesting that any body builder in this day and age would risk taking steroids are you? :p

Just ask Arnie - he used to be on the president's council where he got paid to tell you how bad they are. I'll bet he even told everyone how sterioids ruined his life.

Back to the serious side of this thread. I agree with Gallah on the deadlift video. They are snatching the bar up too quickly. He does make the point (several times) about pulling the slack out before starting the actual lift but when his protege does the lift he still jerks it off the floor. It should not get jerked off the floor even when using light weights.

One comment on elbow position during squatting - for the front squat the elbows should be roughly level with the shoulders. This is what I would call excellent form wirth respect to elbow position:



On the back squat the elbows are going to be roughly under the bar or even a bit behind the bar.



The arms don't do much in the squat except to help keep the bar positioned in the sweet spot. If they are forward of the bar in the back squat then they can't do that.

Here is an example of what to avoid:



Two things to watch for here - you can he has the bar a little too far forward and is straining to hold it in place with his arms. The second is how close his elbow is to his knee. I saw a friend break his wrist when his elbow hit his knee while doing front squats.

[Gallah]

When an Olympic lifter is going for a max-lift, and he's also cleaning the weight (instead of taking it off a rack), form is a secondary concern to just lifting the bloody thing up.

I love Olympic lifting myself. It's my second favourite sport behind rugby. Unfortunately, I can't do much of it. Gyms that allow you to throw big weights around, and drop them from shoulder-height, are very very few and far between. Plus the technicalities of executing a snatch or clean are very demanding, even with a light weight.

One tip I have for anyone who wants to front-squat with the bar racked in the clean-position (across the front delts), is to warm up your arms, wrists and upper back thoroughly. This really helps with the flexibility required to get your arms in that position (i.e. elbows up, bum-out, not leaning back). I tape two tennis balls together and lie on them, rolling up and down my spine. It kills but it really loosens up the back, and helps hugely in getting the bar into the proper position.

Anyway - that stuff is totally unnecessary if you're just lifting for strength. Oly lifts might look damn cool, and be really good fun, but I believe you can break down the Oly lift into it's components, and just do them instead, and you'll be getting the same benefits as far as a workout goes (for example, deadlifts, upright pulls, jump shrugs, high-pulls, front-squats, back-squats). Much less technically demanding, much safer, and the same end result.

Finally, this is a video of women's weightlifting. It's weird but I find it very motivational. It's also a good video to show any girl who doesn't want to lift heavy because they're afraid of "getting too bulky". As if they're going to wake up one morning and realise, "oops, I accidentally got too muscly" ... as if it's that bloody easy that you do it by accident! LOL.

Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRkfaG38t7Y

For some reason I prefer watching the women's weightlifting. Perhaps it's because they lift weights that are closer to what I lift! (just a little bit heavier!).

[Hal Jordan]

When an Olympic lifter is going for a max-lift, and he's also cleaning the weight (instead of taking it off a rack), form is a secondary concern to just lifting the bloody thing up.

Agreed. Showing someone in the middle of doing a clean was a bit unfair but my intent was to show things to avoid when doing front squats and it's hard to find pictures of someone doing a bad front squat from off the rack. Most people don't think about it, and I doubt most trainers or coaches would even mention it until it has already happened, but avoid getting the elbow trapped against the knee. As I said earlier, I watched a friend break his wrist that way.

Speaking of olympic lifting, do you remember when they still did the clean and press in competition

[Malcolm]

Track athletes often use the olympic lifts in their regular training routines. There is somewhere on the web a link to the training than Jonathan Edwards (world record holder triple jump) did and the snatch was one of his core exercises. Jonathan had the ideal physique as far as I am concerned - very fit and strong combined with low bulk. Despite his low bulk he was doing snatch sets of 3-5 reps at around 1.5 times his body weight (100-110 kilo) which would do for me!

For me the fight was always to keep bulk low and strength high as I have always used weights as a tool for other sports - rugby, discus and 200-400 metres track then rowing as a veteran. As I got older I switched back to rowing as it has such a good veteran structure for competition which means that at 55 I can still compete against others of my own age. Of all the sports I have enjoyed it is by far the most intense both in training and competition - there is absolutely nothing that can drain you to that level except perhaps cross country skiing. It is whole body although the legs are key but it is the high application over a full race that is the killer - and the sprint at the end. It's also a great routine as it is one of the few sports that trains all the body systems endurance without power is no use - or vice versa. One sport I have often thought woukld be the perfect foil for fly casting is rock climbing with it's emphasis on immensely strong hands.

[Gallah]

When an Olympic lifter is going for a max-lift, and he's also cleaning the weight (instead of taking it off a rack), form is a secondary concern to just lifting the bloody thing up.

Agreed. Showing someone in the middle of doing a clean was a bit unfair but my intent was to show things to avoid when doing front squats and it's hard to find pictures of someone doing a bad front squat from off the rack. Most people don't think about it, and I doubt most trainers or coaches would even mention it until it has already happened, but avoid getting the elbow trapped against the knee. As I said earlier, I watched a friend break his wrist that way.

Speaking of olympic lifting, do you remember when they still did the clean and press in competition

No, I don't think I was alive back then. But I have seen that exact video many times.

[Gallah]

Track athletes often use the olympic lifts in their regular training routines. There is somewhere on the web a link to the training than Jonathan Edwards (world record holder triple jump) did and the snatch was one of his core exercises. Jonathan had the ideal physique as far as I am concerned - very fit and strong combined with low bulk. Despite his low bulk he was doing snatch sets of 3-5 reps at around 1.5 times his body weight (100-110 kilo) which would do for me!

Sure! Oly lifting is great, period.

The problem is, they're such technical lifts, and it's also very difficult to find a gym that will allow you to do them (in other words, a gym that's not going to worry if you have to bail and ditch the weight from 2m in the air). It's dangerous not only for you, but for everyone around you.

So in light of that, I strongly believe that just breaking it down into the component-lifts (which is how Oly lifters train) will give you virtually all the benefits of a full olympic lift, and a much safer if you don't have the room/gym/tuition necessary to be doing full Olympic lifting.

[Hal Jordan]

So in light of that, I strongly believe that just breaking it down into the component-lifts (which is how Oly lifters train) will give you virtually all the benefits of a full olympic lift, and a much safer if you don't have the room/gym/tuition necessary to be doing full Olympic lifting.

It has the advantage that you can concentrate your efforts on the weakest part of your lifts. It has the disadvantage that you can't practice style very well. One of the coaches I had way, way back when I was competing advocated using light weights to practice style. A beginner would start with the empty bar and add 10 lbs each week, if and only if, they could perform 3 reps with perfect form. Another coach wouldn't let you practice with more than 80% of what you could do in competition.

It's pretty hard to keep people from trying to set a pb in the gym when the adrenaline starts flowing though.