T-nation, 2014

2014-12-02 Christian Thibaudeau
5 способов стать сильнее
https://www.t-nation.com/training/5-ways-to-stop-being-a-weakling

  Программы новичков и опытных атлетов должны различаться. Начинающим лучше делать по 4-6 повторов, опытные извлекают больше пользы из 1-3.
  Чтобы по-настоящему освоить упражнение, отрабатывайте его 2-3 раза в неделю.
  Если вы слишком часто тренируетесь с предельной нагрузкой, рост силы может прекратиться.
  Для наилучших результатов от тренировки максимального усилия используйте 3-недельный цикл выхода на пик.
  Приучайте тело к большим весам (выше обычных рабочих), включая в программу частичные повторы с 105-110% от ПМ или удержания с 110-115%.

3
2014-12-03 Ben Bruno 
Одноногие упражнения не для слабаков
https://www.t-nation.com/training/only-wimps-avoid-single-leg-work

  Тяжелые унилатеральные тренировки не имеют ничего общего с "функциональной" акробатикой на фитболе.
  Классические приседания и становые тяги просто не подходят некоторым людям. Но и они станут сильнее и больше, выполняя эти упражнения на одной ноге.
  Применяйте унилатеральные версии для дополнения обычных, чтобы чаще прорабатывать мышцы ног, не перегружая поясницу.
  Если вы можете 8 раз присесть в "ножницы" со штангой своего веса, то вы точно не слабак.

4
2014-12-04 Dr John Rusin
Покорите подтягивание
https://www.t-nation.com/training/stop-sucking-at-pull-ups

  В современном сидячем обществе мы почти не поднимаемся со стула, так зачем еще и в зале усаживаться на тренажер для тяг?
  Тяга верхнего блока - прекрасный способ проработать все мышцы, кроме широчайших (при неверной технике).
  Если вы не собираетесь выступать в "CrossFit", забудьте о раскачиваниях.
  Не используйте кистевые лямки, когда делаете менее 15 подтягиваний.
  Прибавляйте вес, а не повторы. Подтягиваться в подходе по 30 раз - это как делать по 30 жимов лежа с полтинником.

5
2014-12-05 Eric Bach
8 самых эффективных сплитов
https://www.t-nation.com/training/8-most-effective-training-splits

  Подберите себе правильную программу, исходя из целей, тренировочного опыта, графика и восстановительных способностей.
  Разделение по частям тела отнимает много времени и не подходит людям с плавающим графиком. Хотя и эффективно для гипертрофии.
  Тренировки на все тело лучше для начинающих, а также для спортсменов, у которых есть и иные нагрузки.
  Сплит жимы-тяги более гибок и позволяет отрабатывать упражнения чаще, чем сплит по отдельным частям тела.
  Интенсивный/экстенсивный сплит варьирует нагрузку на ЦНС. После тяжелой/скоростной тренировки идет метаболическая/объемная.
  Суперсеты для агонистов/антагонистов хороши для сбалансированного развития, так как объединяют разнонаправленные движения, например, жим лежа и тягу в наклоне.
  Специализированные программы нужны, когда какая-то группа мышц отстает. Можно посвятить ей более 3 тренировок в неделю и оставить только один день для поддержания всего остального.

6
2014-12-08 TC
Десять дебильных диетмифов
https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/10-dumbest-diet-myths

  Соевый протеин практически не влияет на синтез мышечного белка.
  "Очищение" кофейной клизмой - просто бред.
  Не бойтесь гормона роста в молоке.
  Вы не можете заморить голодом рак, отказавшись от сахара.
  Нет необходимости набирать все нормы микронутриентов ежедневно - вы можете распределить их на два-три дня или даже на неделю.
  В этикетке, гласящей, что в этой курице "нет гормонов", нет смысла.
  Люди, которые пьют обезжиренное молоко, набирают больше жира, чем люди, которые пьют цельное.
  Хватит сходить с ума из-за фруктозы.
  Индейка - не снотворное.

7
2014-12-09 Clay Hyght, DC
Как построить неподатливые мышцы
https://www.t-nation.com/training/7-ways-to-build-stubborn-muscles


  Если мышечная группа не хочет расти, одной тренировкой в неделю ее не заставить. Прорабатывайте ее 3, 4, 5 и даже 6 раз в неделю, контролируя объем.
  Не замыкайтесь на одной схеме подходов/повторов, а чередуйте несколько, например, 5 подходов по 4-6 повторов, 3 по 8-12, 3 по 15-25.
  Еще один важный для роста тренировочный параметр - темп. Тоже варьируйте его, попробуйте ускорение в концентрической фазе и замедленный негатив.
  Потребляйте больше углеводов перед и после тренировки отстающей части тела. Если вы тренируетесь тяжело, инсулин - ваш друг.
  Включите в программу суперсеты для предварительного утомления и добивания отстающей группы.

8
2014-12-10 Rob King
Пирамиды для силы и массы
https://www.t-nation.com/training/pyramid-method-for-strength-muscle

  Пирамида - последовательность подходов с уменьшением числа повторов.
  Пирамиды можно выполнять по различным протоколам для силы, гипертрофии или выносливости.

9
2014-12-11 Eric Bach
Как накачаться дистрофикам
https://www.t-nation.com/training/5-ways-skinny-bastards-can-add-muscle

  Если вы не растете, тренируйтесь чаще и делайте только большие, многосуставные упражнения.
  При повышенной частоте надо следить за объемом, тренировки должны быть интенсивными и короткими.
  Оставьте в покое бицепс и займитесь становыми и подтягиваниями.
  Добавьте в программу прыжки, броски и спринты, чтобы активировать быстросокращающеся волокна, от которых в большей степени зависит сила и масса.
  Хардгейнерам нужно увеличивать стимул для роста любым способом, так что повышайте рабочий вес, плотность тренировки или общий объем.

10
2014-12-12 Charles Staley
Ментальные тренировки для повышения результатов
https://www.t-nation.com/training/mental-strategies-for-getting-results

  Подумайте о своей цели, ради которой и ходите в зал. А теперь скажите, на тренировках вы делаете то, что вас к ней приближает, или то, что нравится?
  Применяйте метод отложенного вознаграждения: если выполнили все по плану, то сделайте себе что-нибудь приятное. Пропустили тренировку или нарушили режим питания - никакого приза.
  Не навешивайте ярлыки "хорошее" или "плохое", просто определите, какие действия и привычки мешают в достижении цели, и замените на приближающие к ней.

11
2014-12-15 Dr John Rusin
3 худшие формы ОФП
https://www.t-nation.com/training/3-worst-types-of-conditioning

  Бег на четырех конечностях (медвежья ходьба) может привести к травмам плеча и поясницы. Выполнение на скорость/время превращает это упражнение в настоящий ортопедический кошмар. Замените медленной ходьбой на четырех конечностях, она измотает не меньше, но без травм.
  Бег по лестнице делает из ваших хрящей фарш. Обычные зашагивания на ящик их укрепляют.
  Многоповторные прыжки на ящик, безусловно, заставляют задыхаться, но обычные приседания в скоростном режиме меньше бьют по суставам и лучше для ОФП.

12
2014-12-16 Christian Thibaudeau
Метод двойной стимуляции
https://www.t-nation.com/workouts/double-stimulation-training

  Многие "знания" о сроке восстановления мышц и требуемом отдыхе - не более чем миф.
  Тренировать мышечную группу два дня подряд не только можно, но даже нужно для максимальной массы.
  При двойной стимуляции синтез мышечного белка длится дольше, что приводит к большему росту, также мышцы лучше отзываются на тренировочный стимул.
  Этот метод можно использовать как для бодибилдинга, так и в силовых тренировках, когда отстающая группа мышц не дает много поднимать.
  При использовании этих методик важно всегда снабжать мышцы питательными веществами.

13
2014-12-17 Charles Staley
Как победить становую
https://www.t-nation.com/training/how-to-murder-the-deadlift


  Прогрессировать в становой сложнее, чем в других больших упражнениях.
  Становые особо тяжелы для ЦНС, влияют на психику и даже на настроение.
  Чтобы стать рекордсменом в тяге, необходима не только силовая подготовка, но и определенный эмоциональный настрой.
  Чередование 3-5 вариаций становой в программе помогает восстанавливаться быстрее.
  Раздобудьте трапециевидный гриф, если хотите увеличить результаты в тяге обычной штанги.
  Подъем трэп-грифа является чем-то средним между приседом и становой. Можно делать его более тазодоминантным, наклонясь, или держать корпус ближе к вертикальному положению и выполнять почти как фронтальные приседания.

14
2014-12-18 Todd Bumgardner
Выберите свой присед
https://www.t-nation.com/training/squat-right-for-your-type

  Приседание дает полезную нагрузку мышцам ног и чрезмерный стресс всему остальному.
  Вы можете приседать тяжело и без штанги на спине.
  Эффективных вариаций немало: приседание с безопасным грифом, фронтальные и кубковые приседы, приседания Зерхера и Андерсона.
  Ответьте на три вопроса: вам сложно соблюдать технику приседания? Вы приседаете редко, потому что долго восстанавливаетесь? После приседаний что-то болит? Если ответы положительные, то вы делаете не тот вариант.
  Люди различаются длиной рычагов, особенностями развития мускулатуры, двигательными ограничениями, накопленными травмами. Все эти факторы влияют на выполнение приседа и заставляют подбирать подходящий вариант индивидуально.

15
2014-12-19 Lee Boyce
Забытые секреты набора мышц
https://www.t-nation.com/training/overlooked-key-to-muscle-growth

  Если вы уже достаточно сильны и хотите набрать мышц, на время забудьте о весовых рекордах.
  Максимальный вес вовсе не строит максимальную массу, что бы вам ни говорили.
  Перед тем, как навесить новые блины на штангу, дойдите до полной амплитуды движения, поварьируйте темп выполнения и продлите подход с помощью различных методов (частичные повторы, отдых/пауза и т.д.). Так вы сможете набрать больше мышц с прежним рабочим весом.
  Дроп-сеты и более объемные тренировочные протоколы дадут вам больше массы, чем увеличение интенсивности.
  Опытные бодибилдеры знают, когда следует отклониться от программы и расслабиться. Надо слышать свое тело и давать ему передохнуть, если требуется.
  Для гипертрофии нужно делать упражнения так, чтобы снаряд казался тяжелее, чем есть на самом деле.

16
2014-12-22 Amit Sapir
Тренировка без тренажеров
https://www.t-nation.com/workouts/simple-no-machines-workout

  Уйма тренировочного оборудования - палка о двух концах. Иногда вы просто распыляете усилия на бесполезные упражнения.
  Свободные веса во многом превосходят тренажеры: строят больше мышц, развивают больше силы, улучшают координацию и т.д.
  Бодибилдеры прошлого были сильнее нынешних, потому что тренировались со штангой и отрабатывали движения чаще.
  Ленивые качки говорят, что со свободными отягощениями нельзя "почувствовать мышцу", добиться такого же пампинга и жжения, как на тренажерах, но это чушь.

17
2014-12-23 Joel Seedman, PhD
Эксцентрический пауэрлифтинг
https://www.t-nation.com/training/negative-powerlifts-for-size-and-strength

  Грамотно применяемые негативы в лифтерской тройке могут дать вам много силы и массы.
  Эксцентрические приседы и жимы лежа в силовой раме не требуют помощи тренировочных партнеров.
  В становой просто делайте акцент на негативной фазе, взяв вес меньше 1ПМ. Лучше всего использовать трэп-гриф или тянуть в сумо.

18
2014-12-24 Ben Bruno
100 трэп-тяг
https://www.t-nation.com/workouts/100-rep-trap-bar-workout

  Тяга с трэп-грифом - прекрасный гибрид приседания и становой, имеющий главные плюсы обоих движений и несколько малозначительных минусов.
  Этот десятинедельный тренировочный план начинается с 6 подходов по 8 повторов, затем вы постепенно увеличиваете объем, доходя до 10х10.
  Хотя больше работает нижняя половина, вы наберете мышц по всему телу, особенно отзовутся трапеции и предплечья.

19
2014-12-26 Tony Gentilcore
Укрепите колени - станьте сильнее и больше
https://www.t-nation.com/training/fix-your-knees-get-bigger-stronger

  Порой растягивание мышц не помогает, а наоборот - делает хуже.
  Если от обычного приседания болят колени, попробуйте присед на ящик.
  Американская становая [ОМГ, еще один] заставляет таз наклоняться назад, что исправляет чрезмерный наклон вперед и укрепляет мышцы тазового пояса.
  Вместо традиционных разминочных движений для подвижности, стабилизации и активации перейдите "волнообразную" разминку.

20
2014-12-29 Christian Thibaudeau
Русская тренировка силы-навыка
https://www.t-nation.com/workouts/russian-strength-skill-the-workouts

  Физический труд развивает сильное, но стройное тело. В чем секрет? Нагрузка относительна велика, но далека от максимальной.
  Чтобы сымитировать "ударника труда" и стать больше-сильнее-стройнее, используйте субмаксимальные веса и большой объем.
  Сила - это не просто физическое качество, но еще и навык: ваше тело должно уметь развивать усилие в определенном упражнении. Чтобы научить его рекрутировать максимум мышечных волокон, отрабатывайте упражнение в малом числе повторов (1-3) с нагрузкой 80-90% и достаточно часто. Для изучения двигательного паттерна важнее частота, а не объем или интенсивность.
  Добавьте частичные повторы и статические удержания, чтобы приучить тело к большим весам.

21
2014-12-30 Dani Shugart
5 исследований для диетчиков
https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/5-studies-to-fire-up-your-diet

  Если вы считаете свое ожирение некой формой болезни, то вам будет сложно от него избавиться.
  Джанк-фуд затягивает в порочный круг: он влияет на мозг, а мозг влияет на аппетит, вызывая нездоровые предпочтения.
  Повышенная тяга к сладкому вовсе не надуманная проблема. Это реальный позыв тела, с которым надо разбираться, чтобы не есть лишнего.
  Спокойный, медленный прием пищи лучше для похудения, чем стремительный перекус - при том же количестве калорий.
  Не заставляйте себя голодать, глядя на весы или слушая ворчание супруга. Найдите внутреннюю мотивацию к более здоровому питанию, потому что оно делает вас лучше.

22
2014-12-31 Dr John Rusin
Железо для марафонцев
https://www.t-nation.com/workouts/weight-training-for-endurance-addicts

  При экстремальных марафонских нагрузках с суставами можно попрощаться.
  Около 90% триатлетов имеют те или иные травмы. Но правильные силовые тренировки помогут.
  Чтобы сохранить спортивные результаты и здоровье, триатлетам нужны приседания со штангой над головой, становые тяги, приседания со штангой на груди и на спине.
  Подходы по 2-6 повторов с весом более 80% от 1ПМ укрепят и сделают сильнее, не добавляя нежелательной массы.

23
2014-12-31 Brad Longazel
Хват в жиме лежа
https://www.t-nation.com/training/bench-press-grip-the-magic-number

  Многие повреждают плечи безэкипировочным жимом лежа, пытаясь жать в технике для жимовых рубашек.
  Жим лежа в экипировке и без - это два разных движения.
  Очень широкий хват, которым жмут в рубашке, может вас травмировать, если вы жмете без.
  Подберите правильную ширину хвата для чистого жима лежа, чтобы увеличить результаты и не переехать со скамьи на операционный стол.
  Измерьте расстояние между акромиальными отростками [косточка, выступающая над плечевым суставом, т.е. ширина плеч] и умножьте его на 1,5 - это ширина вашего хвата.
  Когда кисти расставлены в полтора раза шире плеч, плечевые части рук разведены на 45 градусов, это наиболее удобная и сильная позиция.

Focusing On Arm Exercises

 

It’s been a while since I last blogged. I’ve been out and about lately, traveling to all sorts of places in the country while working (because I’m a freelance writer) and trying to get the most out of my life at 25.

Anyway, I would like to introduce to you the concept of arm training. I know, I know, we want to get the most out of our training everyday which is why we always should promote whole #body workouts and I still do promote that type of training specially with #kettlebell workouts. I’ve always blogged about kettlebells (in fact the next blog will be about kettlebells) because I fell in love with the way we train with them. But let’s deviate a little bit.

I’ve been sent an interesting infographic from our friends at Decibel Nutrition which caters to mastering the arm muscles. They’re the ones who sent me the infographic about an athlete’s diet and it was well received by my friends on Facebook, seeing how it was viewed quite a lot in just a few days. Going back, the exercises mentioned, as I inspected, were deemed for arms but it’s not exactly just the arms you’ll be using. Some of the exercises in the infographic below can be considered whole body workouts only the bulk of the work will be done by the arms. It’s a pretty interesting routine to note if I may so myself, how you can work with whole body exercises but still focus on a certain body part. Just like how the kettlebell snatch isn’t just a shoulder exercise (though you’ll definitely feel the DOMS set in that particular part the most) but it also involves the legs, glutes, and the stability muscles on your torso.

For more details, just click the image and it should lead you to their main article. I’ve browsed some of their work and I’m quite impressed with the amount of detail they put with each one.

19 Exercises You Need To Know For Stronger Legs!

 

I want stronger legs. In fact, I think humanity as a whole needs stronger legs. Why do I say so? Well vast majority of people are so dependent on automated mobility that they end up preferring to drive miles than walk a couple of blocks. This has stemmed from a fear of getting tired and sweating and it has made humans probably the laziest animal on Earth. Even a sloth has stronger legs than most people. Being lazy is actually one of the reasons why people aren’t as fit as they actually want to be and automated travel may even make it worse in the future.

If you’ve been reading me for a while, you would know I advocate whole #body training. I get stronger arms, stronger legs, and a stronger body overall by using a couple of #kettlebell and bodyweight exercises. Ever since I discovered the benefits of whole body training, I never went back to isolation exercises again.

I often feel perplexed at how most gym rats forget about leg day. Kettlebell training doesn’t neglect training day. Even the most basic of kettlebell exercises makes use of the whole body. I’m sure some barbell training like squats can provide stronger legs yet why do people prefer upper body training so much? Don’t people know having stronger legs is a part of getting a stronger body?

To aid with my small presentation, Decibel Nutrition has sent me a new infographic aimed towards getting stronger legs. They’ve been part of my infographic series for quite some time now and I always welcome good contributions. They send me these cool infographics and I post them here for my readers to see.

Today, they sent me this compilation of 19 of the best leg exercises to get your ordinary pair of walkers into superhuman limbs. Check out this link to get to the main article.

4 Exercises to Build Unbreakable Ankles

https://www.onnit.com/academy/4-exercises-to-build-unbreakable-ankles/?a_aid=gmb&utm_source=GMB+Posse&utm_campaign=a4d68c0dc6-Unbreakable_and_Van&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8172152055-a4d68c0dc6-96602905

AUTHOR:
RYAN HURST

http://gmb.io/

Ryan Hurst is the Program Director for GMB Fitness, with over 20 years of experience in strength and movement coaching....

Ankle strength and mobility are often neglected. And that’s terrible because these small joints carry the entire weight of your body every day.

Most people don’t spend dedicated time training and strengthening the ankles, and as a result, they may run into issues of stiffness, weakness, and chronic sprains.

Here are some of my favorite exercises that will challenge your ankles in new and unconventional ways to make them strong, flexible, and unbreakable. Watch the video below to see how to do all the following exercises.

4 Exercises to Give You Unbreakable Ankles

These 4 exercises are probably a bit different from what you’ve spent a lot of time on in the past, but it’s well worth the effort to keep your ankles healthy and functional. Work on them one at a time to get some reps and practice in, then chain them together for an efficient and effective ankle workout.

1. Sissy Squat

Here you’ll use the squat to really target your ankles by coming up on the balls of your feet as you squat all the way down and stand back up. Use a handhold support if needed and go slow and steady in the beginning. Add speed and intensity as you improve and get stronger.

2. Duck Walk

This may be something you’ve done in elementary school P.E. But aside from that and in martial arts classes, I haven’t seen this widely used, which is a shame because it’s a great exercise that provides good resistance through your ankles’ full range of motion in the forward/back plane.

Since this requires good knee flexibility as well, start this just one stride at a time at first and use support as needed. A rolling chair or stool is great for that!

The key to doing this exercise properly is to keep your head at the same height the entire time.

3. Squat on the Sides of Your Feet

This squat variation takes the ankle through a different angle and range of motion than you generally engage in. Lifting the inner part of your feet, you’ll come on to the outsides of your feet, then squat down and stand back up.

The most common ankle sprain is rolling over the outside of your foot. Condition yourself to be stronger and more flexible in this position and you can save yourself some grief.

4. Walking on the Balls of Your Feet

This is a good challenge for the arch of your foot as well as the shortened range of the calf muscles. Come up on to the balls of your feet, lifting your heels off the ground, then simply walk forward and backward, keeping the rest of your body tall.

Walking like this is a great combination of active ankle balance and strength and pays good dividends the more you do it!

Learn to Flow and Bulletproof Your Ankles

Once you get the hang of each of these exercises by themselves, you can combine them into a flow, moving smoothly from one exercise to the next. This continuous change of angles and stresses along the joint will help make your ankles more resilient and better conditioned for negative stresses down the line.

The flow sequence I show in the video is just one example. Play around with different sequencing, changing the speed and position as you see fit and as you feel your body can handle.

Squat Mechanics: A Deep Analysis

 

by Mark Rippetoe  

 https://www.t-nation.com/training/squat-mechanics-a-deep-analysis

Here's what you need to know...

1. When you squat, use your hips. This will require a more horizontal back angle than you think.
2. You may have heard that you must stay upright when you squat, with as vertical a back angle as possible. You've heard wrong. Think "rigid," not "vertical."
3. The angle of hip flexion must equal the back angle if the spinal relationships are to remain neutral.
4. The cue to "Point your nipples at the floor" works very well for the squat.
5. Looking up when squatting does nothing but fight against the correct back angle. Look down.
6. If your hamstrings get sore when you squat, you're doing something wrong.

The #1 Squat Mistake

Every seminar we hold is attended by people who have read the book, who have been training with the material for various lengths of time, and who are interested enough in what we have to say that they have paid money to hear it from us directly.

Yet every Saturday morning's squat session on the platform involves deprogramming the too-vertical back angle of essentially everybody who attends. Almost everybody. Why?

I don't know. I thought I had been clear. If the bar is to descend, it is necessary for the hips and the knees to bend. This can be accomplished in several ways, but as you'll see, the movement of the hips should be the primary emphasis.

In order for the hips to be the focus of the squat, the back angle has to facilitate a hips-dominant movement. The load is placed on the hips by lengthening the moment arm on the hips and back and shortening the moment arm on the knee.

This reflects the anatomical relationships of the knees, hips, and back, their respective muscle masses and leverages, and allows the most muscle mass to be affected by the movement over the greatest effective range of motion. It turns the squat into a hips-dominant back exercise that carries the legs along for the ride.

Everybody who comes to a seminar has read the arguments and knows our analysis. But somehow, this critical detail is getting misinterpreted, misunderstood, or just ignored.

Are You Front-Squatting Your Squat?

We go through about 5 hours of lecture prior to the practical session that deals with the hip's function and the physics of moment forces, yet enough people still try to front-squat their squats that correcting it takes a significant amount of time on the platform.

Our job is to correct things like this, and we do, I assure you. We've had a lot of practice. And once we get it corrected, you always tell us that it works much better this way. So maybe it's time to clarify so that my obviously obscure point becomes less obscure.

Use Your Hips. Really.

When you squat, use your hips. This means that you'll have to use a more horizontal back angle than the one in the picture in your head.

You know that picture of the squat you carry around with you, from watching Olympic lifters front squat or doing their "Olympic" squats that are supposed to be more "athletic."

Maybe it came from reading Muscle & Fitness or any of the other newsstand exercise publications at the cash register, while you were waiting to pay for your skinless chicken breasts and rice. Or maybe it was taught to you by an expert CrossFit Level I coach, who thinks that a squat finally "matures" when you can lead with your chest with 185.

Related:  CrossFit & "Functional Strength"

You may even have read that elite powerlifters squat with a vertical back – some of them do, especially the ones who lift with a sumo stance in a monolift, in the triple-ply suit-and-wraps recreational federations that don't judge depth.

The correct application of the hip-drive model entails assuming the correct back angle and knee position for the bottom of the squat by the time you're about half-way down, and holding it as constant as possible until you get back to that position on the way back up.

For most people this will mean that establishing this position requires the knees to travel forward and out to a point approximately vertical to the toes (this position in a below-parallel squat will obviously depend on anthropometry), while simultaneously driving the hips back.

Our stance places the toes out at 30-35 degrees so that all of the lateral and medial hip musculature that maintains the femurs in external rotation is involved in the movement, so knees must usually be shoved out to keep the thighs parallel to the feet.

Knees outside the toes is a common misinterpretation made by exceptionally flexible people. Straight thigh/foot alignment keeps the knees and ankles from any twisting that a misalignment can cause.

At precisely the same time the knees are traveling forward and out, the hips are moving back into their position of loading. They move back because the bar must stay over the mid-foot for balance, and if knees move forward a little, hips must move back more to compensate.

"Hip flexion" is the proper term for this movement, and making up new words, like "hinging," is just not necessary.

Your Back Will Be Okay. Really.

I think the problem we see on the platform arises from a misunderstanding about the nature of spinal loading during hip flexion. The Forces of Darkness have done their job well, and they have implanted the notion that you have to stay upright when you squat, with as vertical a back angle as possible.

And I'm telling you to wipe this silly bullshit from your mind. Think "rigid," not "vertical" when you squat.

A strong isometric contraction of the muscles surrounding your spine keeps your back in Normal Anatomical Position – flat, as we say in the business, because a muscular lower back will appear flat across the top of the muscles as they hold a normal lordotic curve in the spine – and a flat back is both an efficient transmitter of force and a safe position in which to be loaded.

You have been told that a more horizontal back angle exposes the spine to something called "shear," an apparently fatal situation that arises when the back bears weight at an angle.

From previous discussions, you know that moment – or leverage, the force transmitted along a wrench that causes a bolt to rotate and the force that the barbell applies to your back during a squat – is a "shear" force, since it's comprised of forces acting in two co-planar directions within the stressed object.

In the squat, the moment force on the back is comprised of the force of the weight of the bar pushing vertically (gravity, right?) down on the back, which is held at an angle, and the force that's applied through the back in the opposite direction to resist the weight and move it through the range of motion.

So it's correct to say that the back is "under shear stress," because moment is a shear force. It's incorrect to say that if you walk outside when it's cold, you'll get sick because you were warm, then cold, then warm again: the Temperature Change Theory of Disease.

It's also just as incorrect to say that the back "will shear" – the use of "shear" as a verb that means one segment sliding past another along their shared plane – during a squat, since that cannot and will not happen.

Amazingly enough, mechanisms exist to prevent this from happening, due to the fact that it would have been inconvenient during human evolutionary development towards a bipedal posture if the spine had come apart every time it was loaded at an angle. You can see how that might have happened occasionally over several million years.

Absent the spinal condition known as "Spondylolisthesis," the vertebral bodies cannot slide past each other because these posterior structures of each vertebral segment overlap the one underneath.

Try as I might, I can't find a single reference anywhere to a thoracic or lumbar spinal cord/cauda equina injury sustained during properly supervised and performed squats and deadlifts (note the emphasis). We did find one case of a bad cervical injury that was associated with "weight training" – perhaps looking up isn't the greatest idea.

But during the entire time I've been teaching people how to lift barbells, since 1978 and not always correctly, I've never heard of such a thing, certainly not from anyone I've coached or taught to coach. People are remarkably diligent when it comes to telling you about spinal cord injuries they sustain as a result of your advice, and I've had no reports.

I'm not saying that spinal cord injury during strength training using the correctly-performed squat (note again the emphasis) hasn't happened. I'm just saying that had it happened, we'd probably already have heard about it.

So I'm not quite sure why all these Physical Therapists, personal trainers, and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialists are so concerned about something that probably hasn't ever occurred, and why they don't seem to understand that your back adapts to the stress of training just like everything else does. Truly puzzling.

Round Is the Real Problem. Really.

In the real world, when the back fails to do its job of efficiently transmitting force in a squat or pull, it fails in flexion – it rounds over, out of extension, due to the failure of the posterior erector muscles to maintain sufficient isometric force production during the movement.

At the level of the flexing spinal column itself, like a loaded beam, the posterior (top side of the back when you're bent over in a squat) components are placed in tension as they tend to elongate around the convex side of the curve, while the anterior (lower) components are loaded in compression as they mash together on the concave side of the curve.

A flexing spine could smash the anterior side closed and stretch the posterior side open, producing the possibility of a disc injury. But actually, spinal flexion under load is not so much dangerous as it is inefficient.

After all, you've been picking things up off the floor with a round back for a long time, and you probably haven't been killed. Of course, those things were very light relative to a heavy deadlift.

We save permission for rounding the back under the bar for the 3rd attempt at the meet. Sometimes a limit attempt will be done with less-than-perfect technique, and competition is the place to assume the risk of doing it "wrong." (Don't tolerate it in training, or your back will never get strong.)

More importantly, if the back stays rigid, all the force gets from the extending hips and knees to the bar on the back, efficiently. A flexing spine leaks some of the force into the changing geometry, meaning that the knee/hip extension doesn't all get to the bar.

When we lift weights, we fight moment forces with the tools at our disposal. Our tools are the tension-producing contractile mechanism of the muscles and the structural form, rigidity, and hardness of the bones that act as levers in the system.

In fact, within the correctly extended spine during a squat or pull, each vertebral segment is held in neutral compression along the spinal axis by the isometric contraction of the muscle mass that keeps the spine rigid.

The erectors, abs, and all the surrounding musculature squish the column down into a compression load, which increases as the changing angle of the segment increases the moment force.

The resulting rigidity of the trunk segment enables the entire structure to function as a solid bar to transmit moment force between the hips and the load. If you keep your back in rigid extension, the back is loaded as a solid segment, not as individual vertebral components.

A tight, flat, rigid back therefore holds all the vertebral components in their normal relationship with each other, and this prevents both injury and loss of force transmission. If the intervertebral discs receive the same force across their inferior and superior articular faces in an anterior/posterior direction, they don't get hurt.

Back and Hips Together

So, when you squat, you're going to use your back. Get used to the idea that the back must be locked – and I mean locked tight and flat – into a rigid bar when you squat.

If it is, the back angle is not your concern, since the back is okay at an angle if it's rigid. But the angle of hip flexion must equal the back angle if the spinal relationships are to remain neutral.

Read that again: here's the conceptual problem you've got to fix. If you're going to flex your hips to use them in the squat, you must also bend over enough to keep your back in its normal anatomical relationship with the pelvis if you're going to use the back as a safe and efficient transmitter of moment force between your hips and the bar.

In other words, your isometric contraction around the spine that locks the back rigid and aligns it with the pelvis protects the spine, not a more vertical back angle.

A vertical back is not a "functional" position for either the hips or the back. You cannot lift anything – a loaded barbell or a bale of hay – in this position and keep it in balance over the mid-foot. Eliminate this flawed thinking, and make up your mind that when you squat you're going to use your back.

Related:  Mark Rippetoe on deadlift mechanics

You're going to keep it flat, make it strong enough to stay flat, and make it do its job as an efficient transmitter of force between hips and barbell.

This means that you're probably going to have to bend over more than you want to. We've found that the cue to "Point your nipples at the floor" works remarkably well. Everybody has them, everybody knows where they are, and everybody knows which direction they're pointing at any given time.

And it's also very interesting that our recommended eye-gaze direction reinforces this position. Looking at the floor directly in front of your feet makes this back angle much easier to obtain and hold throughout the movement. It keeps your cervical spine neutral, and orients the rest of your spine correctly.

Looking up at the wall or the ceiling does nothing but fight against the correct back angle. So don't do it. Look down, you hard-headed assholes.

There Will Be No Good Mornings

Many people seem to be afraid of good morning-ing their squats. Perhaps they have read criticisms of our low-bar method of squatting from young geniuses on the internet who think that only since SS:BBT was published have people been using a more horizontal back angle to squat.

The most common mischaracterization of the technique is to equate it with the good morning, a barbell exercise in which a changing back angle through the range of motion is the loading mechanism:

I shall reiterate: The correct application of the hip-drive model entails assuming the correct back angle and knee position for the bottom of the squat by the time you're about half-way down, and holding it as constant as possible until you get back to that position on the way back up.

Nearly constant: the initiation of the movement out of the bottom with the hips will look like a very small change in back angle as the hips lead out of the hole. This is actually produced with a very slight knee extension.

Hip-bone's connected to the knee-bone, as it were, and if the hip comes up a little, the knee will have moved back, a little. This slight knee extension is essentially a quadriceps contraction, an obviously important part of the squat, but you think about it proximally even as it is a distal action.

Thinking about leading straight up with hips instead of thinking about extending the knees is the important thing going on in the lifter's mind that keeps the motion from turning into a good morning, which happens sometimes when the lifter moves hips back instead of up, and the knees have extended excessively.

If the back angle changes to the extent that the bar drifts forward of the mid-foot balance point, or if too much back angle is lost horizontally, it changes the mechanics of the lift. And if it's excessive, it will change what's essentially an isometric hamstring function – that of maintaining the back angle – into an eccentric lengthening, which is what a good morning actually is.

If your hamstrings get sore when you squat, this is probably what you're doing.

Dem Bones

But thinking about lifting the chest first pulls the knees forward – chest-bone's connected to the back-bone, back-bone's connected to the hip-bone, hip-bone's connected to the knee-bone – and this closes the knee angle.

Knee flexion (loose knees) slacks the hamstrings in two different ways. First, knees-forward coming into the bottom with a vertical back angle, like a front squat, slacks the hamstrings quite a bit from both proximal and distal ends. A closed knee and an open hip place the hamstring in the shortest position it can occupy while you're standing on the ground.

If the bar is to stay over the mid-foot with the back held more vertical, the knees must slide forward more than they have to in a squat done with a more horizontal back angle. In either squat, this knee placement should take place by the time you're about halfway down, just like the establishment of your back angle.

Many lifters make the mistake of allowing the knees to slide forward at the bottom of a back squat, and the mental picture of a chest-up position is usually responsible.

Knees forward is required for an Olympic lifter, who's trying to rack a clean on his shoulders with a vertical back as fast as he can get under the bar – it's a submaximal squat anyway, and you don't have to front squat a submaximal weight with much hip.

Speed is far more important here than anything else, and loose stuff can be moved around faster than tight stuff.

The moment arm the hamstrings support in a front squat is very short, because the back is vertical and the bar is therefore close to the hips. But trying to back squat a heavy weight with slacked hamstrings is terribly inefficient. It can be done, but it's not optimal.

Second, lifting the chest in the middle of the movement, on the way back up, slacks the hamstrings a little, primarily from the distal end, killing the hamstring tension necessary for maintaining the longer moment arm on the back and hips. Keeping the knees "tight" – staying in the hips – keeps the back and hip musculature engaged in the squat.

The large muscle mass actively used in this way is why we can squat more weight than we can front squat. The contractile mass of the quads is less than the contractile mass of the posterior chain musculature, and using both quads and posterior chain to their maximum capacity is more efficient than leaving out some of the posterior chain.

These squats probably represent a comparable effort, given the differences in gear. Compare the lifters' knee position during the ascent, and note the depth and bar speed in both squats.

Moving Knees Leak Power

Both mistakes involve too much knee movement. Moving knees leak hip power. The correct movement is "all" hips.

Specifically thinking about holding the knees still at the bottom while "bouncing" off the hips behind you can be a good cue to fix this. Placing the knees where you want them as you set the back angle half-way down, holding them tight, and driving up with the hips can correct both problems.

The knees will move a little, but the idea is for them to move just enough, at the right time, by focusing on force production at the hip, facilitated by "frozen knees," or "tight shins," or whatever cue works best for you.

In practice, the coach looks for a very slight hip lead, the lifter thinks about driving the hips straight up, and the system stays nicely in balance as the lifter stays "in the hips" all the way up while maintaining a constant back angle until it's time to stand up straight, when you get back to about half-way up.

Related:  The Texas Method

There's no good morning-aspect to this squat if it's done correctly, as fun as it might be to say there is.

The correct squat places the back angle in line with the hip angle for the best use of hip drive during the squat, and places the bar directly over the mid-foot for the most efficient mechanical execution of the movement.

A more horizontal back angle uses both quads and posterior chain to their maximum capacity, while a more vertical back angle restricts the potential of the posterior chain muscle mass to contribute to the movement of the weight.

Get used to the idea that your chest is pointed down when your back is horizontal enough, and that your downward eye-gaze direction anchors the movement. It will speed the process on Saturday morning.