STS 4-29-08 & Lifting the dead

"From beginning to end, the deadlift hits everything, at one point or another."—Ronnie Coleman

Don't fear the Deadlift; embrace it. People avoid it because it's hard and requires perfect form. Of course doing it wrong can have a high-injury potential (what doesn't though really?) but doing it right will have you stronger than you've ever been in your life. Just think of it as a squat, except your also pulling the weight instead of already having it on your back. Keep that clean line of movement as close to the body as possible, and move from the glutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjBI9qxibTc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-O_MT72rck

An interesting article on the feet & proprioception ability. Kinda makes that whole Reebok pump phase seem even sillier, if that's even possible.

http://nymag.com/health/features/46213/index2.html

The sole of your foot has over 200,000 nerve endings in it, one of the
highest concentrations anywhere in the body. Our feet are designed to act as
earthward antennae, helping us balance and transmitting information to us
about the ground we’re walking on.

Another factor, she points out, is that when your foot can feel the ground, it sends
messages to the rest of your body. “Your body tells itself, My foot just hit the ground, I’m about to start walking, so let’s activate all these mechanisms to keep my joints safe. Your body’s natural neuromechanical-feedback mechanisms can work to protect the rest of your extremities. You have much more sensory input than when you’re insulated by a thick outsole.”

The same holds true with athletic shoes. In a 1997 study, researchers
Steven Robbins and Edward Waked at McGill University in Montreal found that the more padding a running shoe has, the more force the runner hits the ground with:
In effect, we instinctively plant our feet harder to cancel out the shock absorption of
the padding. (The study found the same thing holds true when gymnasts land on soft mats—they actually land harder.) We do this, apparently, because we need to feel the ground in order to feel balanced. And barefoot, we can feel the ground—and we can naturally absorb the impact of each step with our bodies. “Whereas humans wearing shoes underestimate plantar loads,” the study concluded, “when barefoot they sense it precisely.”

She explains that, when we don’t use our feet
properly, our muscles have to strain to compensate—not just in our feet but in our whole body

Epidemiologically speaking, it’s been estimated that, by
age 40, about 80 percent of the population has some muscular-skeletal foot
or ankle problem. By age 50 to 55, that number can go up to 90 or 95 percent.” Ninety-five percent of us will develop foot or ankle problems? Yeesh. Those are discouraging numbers—but wait. Are we talking about 95 percent of the world population, or of North America? “Those are American figures,” he says. Which makes me think, North Americans have the most advanced shoes in the world, yet 90 percent of us still develop problems? We’ve long assumed this means we need better shoes. Maybe it means we don’t need shoes at all.

Workout:

Movement Prep: usual suspects, see previous posts for a breakdown

Medicine Ball: 3-throw sequence with mini-band shuffles & skips in between. 3 sets.

Plyometric Training:

1A Sitting Box Jumps
1B Plyo Pushups

Twice through, resting after pushups

2A: Split-squat Jumps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qad7oHkdzE8
2B: Jumping tuck pullups

Same rest sequence as above

Functional Lifts:

Hang Cleans: 6,6,4, with increasing weight

Deadlifts: 8,8, 6, 6, 5, 4, 4 with increasing weight, heavy as I could go.

Push-Press: 6,6,4,4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQmtYO9-f1w

Circuit o' Death:

Finished with a Xfit inspired circuit that I set for 8 minutes straight, or until I couldn't go anymore. I made it the 8 minutes. Just. Barely.

-1 leg'd GHD's-TF (to failure)
-decline situps w/weight-TF
-standing twists w/weight- TF
-Dips w/weight (hold with feet) -TF
-Chinups w/weight(hold with feet)-TF
-1-leg'd squats-6 each leg

Rest only when necessary.

Last post for a week or so. Going out of town on business, then back to Vegas for Brian's Boglepalooza Bachelor Party. Just in time too, my liver was just starting to get healthy.

23 dudes from SF to CO + the panorama suite at PH= the best kind of crazy.

Like Kanye said "You know what this is...it's a celebration bitches"

#40