Relevancy of Hip Thrust Exercises for Sprinting
Watching arguments between people who know things yet disagree must be one of the top benefits of the internet.
Here we have Bret Contreras, EMG, and the barbell hip thrust being given some resistance.
It’s almost impossible to get meaningful comparative data between muscles (and very difficult for comparing actions) using any form of EMG, much less surface EMG. It can yield data but it won’t mean anything…or at least not very much. There are certainly good uses for EMG but it’s value is far more over-stated than not.
PT
Before I go, I prepare apologies. I know it’s not a major injury. I understand that my elbow mostly works. I wouldn’t have come, wouldn’t have thought it a matter worth anyone’s time, even my time. It’s just that it’s keeping me from chin-ups and so on. Really it’s nothing.
I talk it down. It doesn’t hurt terribly. It’s barely noticeable. I’m sure it’ll just go away on its own, except it hasn’t. It’s simply that it needs to work like it did before.
The particulars:
- She takes background and does some prodding. I feel bad that my elbow doesn’t scream in pain. Rather, it mumbles and looks at its shoes.
- Ultrasound, then massage. We want blood flow. Fuck the scar tissue.
- Wrist flexion and extension stretches, 2 sets of 30 seconds each
- Elbow flexion/extension exercise, 2 sets of 20
- Wrist pronation and supination exercises, 20 sets of 20. Righty can’t fully supinate.
- Wrist curls and extensions, omitting the ends of the range of motion, 5 pounds, 2 sets of 20. I feel shame from using this dumbbell.
- Electronic stimulation with a cold pack, 10 minutes
The suspect in all this is medial epicondylitis caused by general mousery and armbarness, elevated to clinical levels by acute judoination. Strain of the ligament and muscle insertion of the wrist flexors.
I’d like to note that this bullshit, in some form or another, has been going on since September. Well I’ll be a frog in a slow-boiling pot no longer. This problem has got to be made dead.
From boston.com’s The Big Picture: Olympic athletes in training. I am not surprised to see several instances of Olympic lifting. I am amazed by the boxers’ physiques.
Strength Training for Judo - Matt D'Aquino
- Aerobically fit; to be able to complete a 2.5 hour randori session
- Anaerobically fit; be able to fight for a 5 minute fight
- Explosive; have the ability to explode at any second for a throw
Many modern judo players don’t really know how to weight train properly. I believe this is due to two reasons:
- There are many schools out there that give strength and conditioning qualifications and the instructors holding them don’t even know how to teach a power clean let alone write a program for a judo player tapering for a competition.
- The older generations of judo players competed in a world without the physically strong countries that dominate the world today.
He recommends an interesting set/rep scheme that allows for maximal strength as well as higher-volume training. I suspect this is intended to fit better into a judo player’s split training schedule.
I would prescribe 5 sets of 5 one week and 3 sets of 5 on the 2nd week. With a maximal lift once every 2 weeks.
There are only a few weighted exercises he prescribes that I’m not already doing, such as squat jumps, push press, thrusters, and complexes. I am much more interested in his rotational and miscellaneous exercises, which I have been neglecting. My favorites from his lists?
Windshield wipers, L-sits, wrestler twists, shot putts (or DB throws), sledgehammering, clap pushups, agility runs, burpees, cartwheels, ne waza sit-throughs…
I admit that my previous partial write-off of his work was premature.
T NATION | Mentoring Wendler
Wendler describes the incredibly complex training of physical attributes:
They all used jumps; bounding on top of boxes and over hurdles to be explosive. They’d throw weighted objects to develop explosive strength in the upper body. They lifted heavy weights in the weight room to get strong and jumped to be fast. They ran their bodies into shape and stretched to be flexible.
Throwing heavy things. Sounds like good country fun.
Dan John: Basic Human Movements (YouTube)
Could Dan John have stumbled across a defining characteristic of the fundamentals?
I told ‘farmer walk’ to a ballet dancer and a basketball team, and they both worked. Why? Well, how come? Because they weren’t doing them!
What you do is you find the thing they’re not doing and you make them do it.
He mentions a sixth and I’ll be damned if I can’t figure it out. I’m on the hunt.
The Superhero Complex: Stretch & Activate Easily For Squats by Greg Everett - Catalyst Athletics Blog
Something to try in my next black-iron workout:
The superhero complex: a static spiderman lunge followed by a superman hold (or spiderperson lunge and superperson hold for those of you who find the gender bias of the English language offensive). Generally the spiderman lunge is held for 20-30 seconds per leg, immediately followed by a superman hold for 5-10 seconds. This complex can be done between squat sets both to make your training more efficient, and to continue improving your position in the squat as you go. Do at least 1-2 sets of it before your first set, then do 1 set between each set of squats.
I think front squatting has been helping me with better torso alignment in the bottom of the third-world squat (and thereby across all squats). Hopefully this will join the fight on the side of justice.
How Heavy is Too Heavy? Choosing Training Weights by Greg Everett - Training: General - Catalyst Athletics Articles
Ah HA!
Something I’ve found helpful with the squat in particular is having individuals do them daily with about 50% of their best for 3 sets of 5 reps before and after each training session. This is enough weight to make the lift realistic enough for effective practice, but nowhere near enough to have a real fatiguing effect. These reps must be done perfectly - every single one.
3x5 front squats at 50%, plus unilateral squat work, might be the new prescription. Hell, maybe I’ll make it back squats.
360 pounds on the bar. I’m 180. Less, really. So, double bodyweight deadlift. I might be average, but I am certainly not weak.
The chalking-up photo gives the best view of my socks.
I need to externally rotate my shoulders at the top there.
Unilateral work. Stabilization exercises. I don’t think I need to shell out forty bucks.
He’s more bullish on pushing exercises than I am, and the preview at least is less oriented towards lower-body strength than I predicted. He spends a lot of time on core work, much of which has significant overlap with grip development, which is awesome.
I was unaware that kettlebell halos were also referred to as a wrestling exercise when done with a barbell plate.
weekend status: complete
Went to Maine. Brought the kettlebell to alleviate my no-deadlifting crying jags.
Our cabin was conveniently located near a hill. I was proud to have my friends join me for an invigorating* set of sprints up it.
Climbed Mount Kearsarge. 2400 foot change in elevation. Sick view of the lakes up there. Toe shoes are great for going up hills. Yup. Up the hill is great.
Kettlebell work ended up being two morning workouts consisting of 3x20 goblet squats, 3x5 presses each side, 5 overhead squats each side, some pistols, and 3x20 two-handed swings. It’s not a barbell, but for the trunk space, it was a steal.
A little lake swimming, plenty of vitamin D, and a mega-dose of camaraderie rounded out quite the healthful weekend. I’m exhausted.
*nauseating
Lat Pulldowns are Not Pure Evil
Body rows, chins, bent rows, and…lat pulldowns.
Fundamental 5, part 2
They nailed the pull-ups and squats this time, with emphasis on variants like the lunge and overhead squat. I noticed a lot more forms of locomotion in this set—walk, run, swim, crawl. Swimming goes in my “fun” bucket, and crawls made it into my warm-ups recently.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Krista Scott-Dixon’s shout-out:
Rotation/resisted rotation: This can be throwing a projectile, throwing a punch, or throwing a judo opponent.
