MON: January Programming Prep

In January, we will be adhering to the following training schedule.

You can view the new Personal Progress Benchmarks (PPBs), here.

Coach J’s January Cues

Back Squat

• Both feet set up under the bar to unrack and walk out. Don’t  “lunge” the bar out, it creates unnecessary stress on the lumber/hips/everything.

• Grip width adjusts individually for as close to neutral wrists as possible, and a tight upper back.

• Drive the knees out on the eccentric screwing the feet into the floor/maintain 3 points of contact.

  • Pinky Toes

  • Big Toe

  • Heel

• Create torque on the ascent, pulling down with the lats on the bar and pushing the back and chest up through the bar simultaneously.

• Use the quads to pull the hips under the bar through lockout.

Snatch

• Wide grip, try and get very used to connecting your thumbs with the inside or outside lines on the bar.
• Toes turned out on every set up (floor/hang/hip) knees flare out.
• Pull hips back and bring the chest FORWARD OVER THE BAR. 
  • Think shoulders slightly in front of the bar/lats locking it in to the body
• PUSH
  • As the bar hits the bottom of the descent and it’s time to pull, push the hips forward finding triple extension.
• ELBOWS UP
  • More than cleans, people will swing the bar out away with straight arms. Do not allow more resistance at the expense of the pull. Enforce pulling the elbows as high as possible on yourself.
• Quick feet= Quick elbows and vice versa
  • The turn from the top of the pull to the catch should happen in an instant. The feet will push outward into their receiving position at the same time. Eventually elbows lock and feet land at the same time.
• REACH
  • An easy fix for rebounding elbows. Think about REACHING through the bar on the catch.
  • This will enforce strong overhead positioning with lockout/and more stable join.

Benchmark Days

These Personal Progress Benchmarks (PPBs) are brand new in 2018 and we couldn’t be more excited to see how much they positively impact your training here. We have done a historically lackluster job at providing folks an avenue to track varied progress. We always suggest not measuring your progress by what’s on the barbell, but we haven’t really put our money where our mouths have been. 

So, this year we will be rolling out a list of benchmarks intended for all levels, scaled as needed, for you to measure your improvements. They can be viewed, here.

Performance is incredibly important. It’s what drives body composition changes, enhances athleticism, and takes the lid off our of perceived capabilities. Each month, we will include two to three that will be dosed into the programming during the first and last week so we can hopefully see a clear cut level of development that occurs.

No leaderboard. No jockeying for position. Just personal progress.

-Dave