Back to the Grind

There’s a lot going on in life. I have a two year old daughter, a new house in a new state, many new neighbors and friends, and worried about going into a cold winter without a wood-burning fireplace.

So I’ve got a few things on my mind this night of Christmas, 2021. But training remains constant, as it always has, as it always will.

Let’s talk about training.

Since I last wrote, I brought my 5×5 barbell regimen to a temporary halt in order to move to my new home, by truck, halfway across the country. That was a great experience. I packed up my squat stand, bar, and kettlebells, along with the rest of my apartment, and took a two-day drive from California to Texas. Because I had to pack the barbell equipment up, I spent the last couple of training days with my kettlebells.

I continued on with S&S after the move, keeping up the clean and press and snatch practice in between. I did swings and getups on the S&S with the 32kg and 40kg, slowly incorporating the heavier weight into nearly all of the sets. Wanting to develop more skill, I did as many clean and presses and snatches as I could in addition to S&S. At some point I moved on to an alternating schedule of S&S and ROP. I was also experimenting with barbell training. Obviously, this got tiring. I eventually dropped everything to pursue a 13-week cycle of the Rite of Passage only, as written in Enter the Kettlebell (Tsatsouline 2006).

This time on the ROP, I started with the 24kg. I didn’t think it necessary to go back to training with the 16kg, and I did not want to deal with skinned wrists again from that smaller bell. After a few weeks, I was doing five ladders up to five reps of the clean and press: 5(1,2,3,4,5). Not having revisited the text for a while, I continued on with the 24kg for about three weeks at the same number of ladders.

I found that doing this, I wouldn’t be able to further increase my strength or size. So I went back to the text, and lo and behold, there was a small paragraph saying that I should be progressing to the next weight when able to do the top sets. There was also mention, in a different paragraph on a different page, of waiting until able to press the higher weight for five reps. However, this section of the book was written a bit confusingly, so I went with the first fork in the road.

With the 32kg, I started over with three sets of singles. I was barely able to do a set of three clean and presses on the Hard day. It was heavy! After a couple of weeks, I did acclimate. However, one of my shoulders was pretty aggravated from the weeks of pressing. I had a gym incident a long time ago that still bothers me. Pressing seems to have annoyed it, although swings and getups did wonders for my shoulders.

Regardless, I finished week 12 at 5(1,2,3) with 32kg. I tested myself on week 13 on the clean and press and snatch. I put up three presses on each side – not impressive, but the most I’d done to date at least. Snatches were pretty dismal at 80 count by the 10 minute mark, with the 24kg girya. I thought I’d see how long it took me to put up 200 snatches, since that was what I was ready to do that day. It took me just over 29 minutes to do 204 snatches. The following week was pretty dreadful at work.

During the last two weeks of ROP, I began planning my next 13-week training regimen. The general idea I have is to go from explosive strength with kettlebells back to absolute strength with powerlifting. At first I had set my sights on Mass Made Simple by Dan John. Then I realized I didn’t want to do such high rep sets, and wanted to push heavier weights. This was fed in part by reading Marty Gallagher on powerlifting. I got excited thinking about minimal movements, and settled on a program centered around the four core powerlifting exercises.

I’m on a quest still to continue my strength building from years back. I realize that the one factor I neglected when first venturing into powerlifting, body mass increase, was a big one. This time around, I’m purposefully eating more protein and food in general. Earlier, when I first discovered the world of eating good fats, veggies, and clean foods, I realized that I did not need as much food to sustain strength and energy.

However, when I reached my peak that time, I think the key to progressing would have been to increase my body size through eating more. I didn’t do that because at the time I wasn’t interested. I wanted to travel and didn’t have a gym nor time nor resources to train the same way. So I found kettlebells, and that carried me through these past several years quite well. It’s time, however, for the next season of life. It’s time for abundance again.

At the end of the second week of this program, I’m enjoying the feeling of mass again. It’s nice to push bigger weights, to get that barbell on my back again, and to see the effects on my legs, torso, and arms. It’s going to be a few cycles before I get back to my previous meet lifts. That’s okay, I’m going to enjoy every bit of it.

Here’s to a great new year.

Live powerfully,

Steve

Train with me next week

Training sessions are the core of my days. They give me a physical, mental, and emotional recharge.

I’m going to start live training sessions next week using Instagram live. This is for anyone looking for inspiration on setting a regular strength training regimen. If you’re training regularly already, good. We can compare notes. If you are not practicing a regimen of strength, it’s time to start. Come see what I do.

The first real Q&A will be on Thursday, October 29 at 7 a.m. PST. The second one will be on Saturday, October 31 at 7 a.m. PST. I’ll start training as soon as I get out to my patio, and will hit “live” on Instagram at 7. I’ll finish up my session and see what questions and comments I get. I’m open to some hard criticism too, so lay it on me.

On Thursday, you’ll see squats and deadlifts. On Saturday, swings and getups following Simple & Sinister schooling.

Hope to have all of you there on Instagram. The handle is @thebrilliantbeastblog. I may start testing out the IG live feature earlier in the week to get in the groove, so look out for me on Monday morning.

Live powerfully,

Steve

Back to Squats

It’s the weekend again. Time is flying by. The world is wasting itself trying to wait out the virus. No one knows what that means or looks like. So everyone dumbly waits.

This week has been a solid one for training. I decided to add squats to my PTTP routine of deadlifts and presses. Rather than do two sets of five on squats, I am doing the good 5×5. My reason is that I haven’t squatted for a very long time, and I am in no shape to start with heavy weight. The 2×5 was designed by Pavel Tsatsouline to train beginners with light weight. It’s a four times a week regimen, so there are enough repetitions of movement to get a new strength student accustomed to the lifts without fatiguing him.

However, I’m not new to strength training. Since I’ve squatted 370 lbs. at 168 body weight, I have experience. But I’m currently not at this level of absolute strength. So I found myself in an interesting situation which isn’t much addressed by training programs geared toward the new and the experienced – I’m experienced and rusty.

I’ve been training with kettlebells for the past three years, aside from a few months of barbell training to learn the StrongFirst Lifter instructor ways. This training built a different kind of strength. I’m faster and better wired, in a neurological sense. My shoulders and back are healthier than ever, since sports injuries during high school. But in terms of absolute strength, I needed to start from scratch.

Interestingly, because I’ve built up my swings to the 32kg kettlebell on the Simple & Sinister regimen, I retained some absolute strength on the deadlift. I also boosted strength on the deadlift by training in the Easy Strength method of 10 reps total per session, multiple times a week. So for deadlifts and presses, I went with the 2×5 scheme on PTTP for the past couple of months.

My squat, on the other hand, had very little practice. Aside from get ups, through which I did single leg lunges, I never squatted with very much weight. I needed to start from the beginning, just the greasy bar with naked sleeves.

It took a few sessions to warm up and get my joints accustomed to the load. I’ve been going easy, stopping the set when I felt a little twinge of pain, or that locking sensation in the thighs and calves. Funny how the body tells you when it’s a bad idea to continue.

So here I am, squatting the same loads I started with way back in 2014 on StrongLifts 5×5. I even dusted off Medhi Hadim’s website to refresh my mental catalogue of queues and technique. It feels good to build from the ground up, in a literal and figurative sense.

I’m alternating deads and presses, doing either movement with squats, four days a week. On the rest days I continue with the S&S regimen, although I decided not to use the 40kg on any getups anymore. I found that with so few days of kettlebell training, my neck and shoulders are not keeping the strength I had built up to a couple of months ago. So I’m simply maintaining a level of strength with the 32kg until I can return my focus to the kettlebell.

Live powerfully,

Steve

Russian Style General Strength Training

Edited November 29, 2020

If you are looking for serious long term strength training that you can do every day, with minimal equipment, in less than thirty minutes, take a look at Kettlebell Simple & Sinister.

Simple & Sinister is a strength endurance program of 100 kettlebell swings and 10 getups every day. It is meant to condition a person to always be ready for life, and to “store energy in the body rather than exhaust it” (Kettlebell Simple & Sinister). By training day after day, you adapt to a higher level of strength and endurance. You start with a small weight, develop solid form, and progress to the next weight. Rest days are fewer because the weight is relatively small.

NL161 kettlebell seq 1 the brilliant beast blog

NL161 kettlebell seq 2 the brilliant beast blog

NL161 kettlebell seq 3 the brilliant beast blog

Unlike powerlifting, kettlebell training does not aim for the highest possible weight lifted. Rather, it focuses on total body acceleration, and stable coordination of all parts of your body. It won’t directly add tons of weight to your barbell max. There is, however, ample evidence that there is unexpected improvement in bigger lifts.

The grass is always greener on the other side. If you don’t believe it, go to a park and find the greenest patch of grass and sit. Then look around and see if there’s greener. I assure you there is.

Powerlifting taught me that training every day was not healthy. When I was squatting twice my bodyweight for sets of five, I needed at least a day of rest, if not three, for any benefit. So naturally I doubted the S&S protocol of daily training.

However, swings and getups were filling gaps in my powerlifting training. For one, I built all-around shoulder stability in connection with the rest of my body. I also balanced the strength between the two sides of my body. These can easily be overlooked in basic powerlifting exercises if you have significant strength imbalances. Back to the issue of daily training.

At first I was constantly sore, and it was certainly difficult to train every day. I would wake up to find my whole body tight and achy. Rather than decide not to train at that moment, I would put off the judgment call. Instead, I went through my morning routine. I drank butter coffee and journaled, basically enjoying life as I woke up. When training time came, I felt better and went for it.

As of this writing, it’s been about two and half months since starting kettlebell training with the 16kg. My recovery time is shortening. I’ve managed to take just one day off in the last eight weeks. I’m doing all sets now with the 24kg, and my swings and getups are getting stronger. My callouses are smooth and my mind feels sharp. I look forward to training most days. Just like Tsatsouline says in Kettlebell Simple & Sinister, the exercise has become a “recharge” instead of a “workout”.

After the initial struggle, I started to look forward to the training. S&S is remarkably effortless compared to other strength programs.

Edit: It’s now three and a half years from the time I started kettlebell training. After becoming comfortable with the 32kg for all sets, and introducing the 40kg to getups, I am now alternating kettlebell days with barbell days. Rest days are still few and far between, as it feels better to train than not to. 11-29-20

First, the only equipment needed is the kettlebell. No gym, no shoes, no machines, no bars nor weight plates. S&S prescribes a starting 8kg for average strength women and 16kg for average strength men. Even with a 300+ lb squat, I found that the 16kg was more than enough load to teach me the movements.

Second, the exercise leaves me with plenty of energy for the rest of my day. I gradually adapted to the training, and became more efficient in the movements. It will be different for everyone, but the soreness stopped after several weeks. Even when I did feel sore, it was slight and bearable and frankly, felt good.

Finally, it’s convenient and accessible. The kettlebell sits at your doorstep where you left it the previous morning. You have no excuse for not training. This saves time and eliminates the ill effects of sitting in your car on the way to the gym.

NL161 two kettlebells the brilliant beast blog

As I transitioned from 16kg to the 24kg kettlebell, I felt much more tired at night and needed more food. So I ate a little more, and kept training every day. The jumps in weight by proportion are much greater than with progression barbell training. I imagine the next transition to 32kg will be even harder. I look forward to that too.

Edit: The transition to 32kg was magnificent. Most exciting was the increase in muscle size, of course. But I had two swing progressions as I did with every weight. First it was incorporating two-handed swings with 32kg, then to one-handed swings once all sets at 32kg were solid. Getup progression was natural and felt great to have that heavy load straight up above me. A little more food, a little more soreness at first on the one-handed progression. 11-29-20

Do some digging in the StrongFirst website to see if this is for you. If you decide to take on the kettlebell, I strongly recommend that you read the book first. I’ve read both the audio and kindle versions hundreds of times. Mind before matter.

Live powerfully.

Steve

Amazon Affiliate Links

I link to tools I have found to be useful and meaningful.

Note: I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Subscribe to thebrilliantbeastblog email list

Pillar of Strength

I was back in the gym this month for the first time in four months.

Something was funky about my squats. I kept wondering why it felt so tricky to keep my back firmly aligned. Things felt a little wobbly once I had loaded weight on the bar.

I was using torque from my feet, spreading the floor. I was pulling out on my knees. I was keeping my butt engaged. And my shoulders were back and down, tight. But I felt like the torque from my legs was bleeding out somewhere, not making it all the way up to the bar.

What was going on?

Then I got a gut feeling. Literally. My gut. I had forgotten all about belly pressure.

Abdomen Pressure

Your belly is a powerful element for exertion. It provides structure for the most strenuous power outputs in life. Lifting a heavy load on your shoulders, hauling something off the ground, and pushing a dead car down the road all require you to keep your belly tight for maximal effort.

It’s because your belly is critical in transferring power from the feet to the point of push or pull. How, when it’s the softest part of the body?

The softness is actually the key. Because your abdomen is flexible, it can act like a balloon. Suck in a deep breath, down to the diaphragm, and you find that you can tighten your belly down around that air. Now feel it. Rock hard.

Ever had your head bonked against your dad’s belly and wondered why it felt like a bowling ball? Well, he was utilizing abdominal pressure.

This balloon of pressure is the pillar through which power can transfer most efficiently from your hips up to your shoulders. When you have it firm, your belly is the connecting structure that keeps your torso sturdy.

With a deflated belly, you put most of the power transfer back on your spine. Not as rigid, not as effective.

The Weight Belt

Now you might see the value in using a belt during your heaviest powerlifting reps. Wrap a normal belt around your midsection, just above the navel. Breathe in, down against your diaphragm, and push with your belly against the belt. Feel some power there?

I don’t think it’s advantageous to use the belt for lighter lifts. There is value in squatting and deadlifting without a belt. It helps you engage your core by itself, and you learn proper technique. Having a belt through all training, from the lightest weights, can make you depend on it and have a false sense of security.

On your heaviest lifts, though, it can be a powerful tool to scale your well-developed technique. It also helps you build your belly muscles by enabling a greater output from them.

Training Belly Pressure Without a Belt

Start without a belt, using the principle of abdominal pressure in training. Try it first without any weight on your shoulders. Do body weight squats, taking in a deep breath and pressing your belly against it, and hold it in until you squat and stand back up. Then release the breath.

Hold and release your breath for each rep. You may need to take a little breather in between. Don’t pass out. You need oxygen to stay conscious and to stay healthy.

By the way this is great training for low back issues as well. The stability from your belly pressure will help you maintain spinal alignment. Use the principle for daily activities, like lifting things off the floor, picking up grocery backs, and taking out the trash.

Ask me something. I’ll answer.

Live powerfully,

Steve

Long Term Knee Protection

I’m excited about tapping into my strength training again. I’m getting back into the gym this week. My priority is the squat.

It’s been over four months since I’ve trained at full capacity with the weighted squat. So I’m curious as to how I’m going to feel at this next session.

First thing I’m going to establish is whether or not I still have the mobility in my hips, knees, and ankles for proper squat position. This is my first step when returning to training after a long pause.

Feet forward, knees pulling out, and hips open enough for all of this is critical to healthy squatting. It protects the knee tendons and ligaments from opening into an exposed position and tearing.

I’m going to sit in a full squat and check out the angle of my feet. If they’re pointed too far out to the sides, I’m going to try a couple of different things to see where the tightness is. I should be able to sit in a squat with feet forward.

It could be the ankles, which can be fixed by ankle mobility. Or the hips, which can be remedied with hip mobility. After each mobility exercise, I’ll retest my squat and figure out how I’m going to get down in the squat with proper alignment.

With proper mechanics I’m going to be able to make a smoother transition into building strength. Recovery is going to be better without unnecessary twists and pulls from bad form. And the movement patterns that are established with good technique are going to carry through to higher levels of training in the near future.

Watch me go through squat testing and mobility on snapchat: brilliant_beast

Live powerfully,

Steve

Squat Test

The Brilliant Beast Blog Daily

Chest Tightness on Squats

I had my first strength training session in almost three weeks. A wonderful trip through Arizona kept me out of the gym for one of the weeks. Planning for more travel has preoccupied me the rest of the time. So this past Friday was a long-awaited return to the barbell. I was rusty, to say the least.

First and foremost, I should have tuned in to my warmup sets. Something was not quite right as I did my empty barbell squats. I was distracted and didn’t make the effort to nail it down.

When I watched my sets at home, I realized that my upper torso was tight from the start. I could see it in my warm up sets. My chest was tight and pulled the bar forward. That caused my torso to arch in an effort to keep the weight balanced.

The problem pervaded through the rest of my squats. The whole time during the session, I just didn’t feel like I was fully functional. Nothing hurt, nothing really stood out, but my motions didn’t seem fluid. The tricky thing was that my hips felt great.

I had started with hip mobility stretches, really getting loose and warm. Body weight squats felt smooth. But once I had the bar on my back, things got funky. I should have been aware of this and investigated. I would have realized that I left out upper body mobility. This matters as much as the lower body in squats.

My abdomen, thoracic spine, pecs, and shoulders were tight from constant sitting in the car and at home. Even my biceps were shortened. The pulling inward and downward of all these muscles made it awkward for me to hold up the bar.

Shoulder dislocations are magical for this area. This is an exercise, not a mutilation, don’t worry. I would suggest doing it slower than Mehdi Hadim does in this video, though. Start wide with the hands.

Squats involve mobility of the lower body and upper body. I failed to diagnose my limited mobility this time around, and paid for it in overall functionality. Next time I’ll be wiser.

Live powerfully,

Steve

Peter Lee Squat Form Check 3/6/16

Brilliant Friends,

I’m sharing a squat form check with you. Peter started lifting last year with a progression powerlifting program. He taped himself and graciously sent me a clip for a form check. This is a set of comments on technique and form based on video of his squat set. I suggest watching the video first on YouTube and then coming back to see my comments.

Peter’s Squat Set

Initial thoughts:

Depth is good!
Grip and loading bar good!
Need front or back camera angle to check knees, spine, and hips.
Breathing. Big breath into abdomen, hold until end of squat. Keeps spine aligned!
Butt wink. Bottom of squat, pelvis rolls in under body. Makes spine vulnerable under weight. Prevent this by keeping knees pulling out, spreading floor with feet. May be going too low for the amount of hip mobility you have here.

Squat One

Starting Stance

Knee looks bent at start. Is this fully extended? See ankle-knee-hip line. Should be as straight as possible. If this is extended, then that’s fine.
Feet pointed out at the angle below reduces torque. Keep them pointed forward as straight as possible. You may have trouble keeping spine neutral in the hole with feet forward, but it just takes some warming up of the hips. This adjustment will give you a lot more torque for strength and control.

Descent

Control the start. You drop in free fall, sort of crunching at the bottom. Go slow the very first part.
Spread the floor with feet.
Pull knees out for torque. Maintain these points of tension for control.
After the initial descent, rather than “dropping” down into the hole, start “pulling” yourself down into it.

Hole (Bottom)

Maintain torque, spreading floor with feet and pulling knees out.
Keep head in line with spine. You’re looking straight ahead which pulls your neck up and distracts you.

Ascent

You have really good speed going up. Saw the bar bounce!
Looks like you’re keeping knees out, which is great.

Squat Two

Bar comes forward on the bounce out of the hole. This pulls your center forward and decreases strength. Mentally keep yourself under the bar.
Getting more torque from feet, ankle, knee adjusments will help to keep the bar going straight up and down.
See squat three, where the opposite happens.

Squat Three

Here the bar stayed straight, but your hips moved forward in the hole. This happens when you lose torque to stabilize.
Keep torque through knees, ankles, and feet. Keep spreading the floor. Keep the torque system tight, and you’ll be able to resist the forward slide at the bottom of the squat. You can then use the force of the weight to your advantage going up.

Squat Four

Awesome grind on this one! You maintained form through the struggle.

Squat Five

Try pushing back a bit more with your butt/hamstrings as you descend from the start. Looks like you need more of an angle in your hips.

Great grind on this rep as well. The twisting on the way up happens when you lose focus. Keep your breath in tight against your abdomen through the whole rep, concentrate on thrusting the hips forward, and keeping the knees pulling out. You’ll maintain a neutral spine this way through the grind (the upward struggle).

Final notes

Peter is looking good here and has been clearly getting stronger from progression training. Recording himself for form and technique is a huge step in making effective adjustments.

I’m grateful to him for being brave and allowing me to post his squats, and my critique, for everyone to see. We hope this motivates you in your journey of strength!

If you want a form check, send me a video link via thebrilliantbeastblog@gmail.com.

Live powerfully,

Steve

Squat with Fear

Meditation And Powerlifting

Brilliant Friends,

No matter how many times I’ve done the squat, I feel fear and hesitation as I step up to the loaded bar.

I used to try to pump myself up and shake it out of my head. Beast mode blinded me to the fear most of the time. But when I just didn’t feel psyched, I would get stuck in my fear of heavy weights.

I’ve found the most beneficial way to deal with fear is to acknowledge it.

“It is so. It cannot be otherwise.”

Dale Carnegie recalls this 15th century Flemish inscription on a cathedral wall in Amsterdam. In How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, he emphasizes the importance of acknowledging that which cannot be changed. This is especially difficult for those of us who refuse to accept anything short of success.

On a miserable night in December of 2012, I moped around my apartment entryway, gym bag in hand, not wanting to go outside. For an entire week I had been dreading the upcoming squat session. I had eventually dragged myself off the couch, pulled on my shorts, and laced my Chucks.

NL 22 Stepping Into the Cold Night The Brilliant Beast Blog V2.JPG — Stepping Out Into the Cold, drawing by Steve Ko

I was due for a 3×5 squat set at 340 lbs., the heaviest ever for me at that point. Just as I had celebrated my previous week’s session at 338 lbs., I lamented that I would have to lift even more the next time. I had never lifted more than 315 lbs. prior to this new progression powerlifting program, let alone doing three sets of five reps at 340 lbs.

After days of avoiding the gym, though, I had to go.

I couldn’t think straight as I drove through traffic. My throat tightened and my jaw clenched at the thought of being stapled under the weight. What would I do if I got stuck? What if my knees blew out? I was terrified. The thoughts kept crashing down on my mind in merciless waves.

I had a heavy heart as I parked in the lot and grabbed my duffel bag from the trunk. I checked in at the front counter and started to warm up.

The work weight sat on the ends of the bar, and I stood in the power rack in front of it.

“A good supply of resignation is of the first importance in providing for the journey of life.” – Arthur Schopenhauer

NL 22 Arthur Schopenhauer The Brilliant Beast Blog — Arthur Schopenhauer, 19th century philosopher

Three hundred forty pounds.

I closed my eyes. I could not change the weight in front of me. I had to try to lift it. I couldn’t go back to a previous training level to ease the situation. This is where I was in my journey of strength.

I resigned myself to the challenge. I steadied myself, accepted that I was scared.

I started to breathe in and out. On the in breath, I visualized the failure of my squat, the pain of being crushed under the bar, the embarrassment in front of everyone at the gym.

Felt the fear, let it fill me, and allowed the heavy feelings soak into my mind, soul, body.

Then I let go of my breath, released the fear. Let the darkness flow out of me. Breathed it in again, then breathed it out. The tension in my gut released a little.

Three hundred forty pounds. I accepted it. I invited the fear without being overcome by it. The opposite of beast mode.

Pema Chodron describes Tonglen in The Wisdom of No Escape. It’s the Zen practice I was using in front of the bar. I was “seeing pain, seeing pleasure, seeing everything with gentleness and accuracy, without judging it, without pushing it away, becoming more open to it.”

NL 22 Pema Chodron The Brilliant Beast Blog.JPG — Pema Chodron, Tibetan Buddhist monk

By balancing the fear with the lighter side of things, I got comfortable with it.

“…the mind when distracted absorbs nothing deeply…” – Seneca the Younger

My mind was not my own when lost in abstract fears. But I took it back as I breathed. Cut through the fog, saw the fear, saw clearly what was scary.

“… fear has to do with wanting to protect your heart.” – Pema Chodron

I realized that I didn’t have to do what I couldn’t do. The point was not to complete the set. The point was to become stronger and better for myself. I had been focused on the false requirement that every set and rep of the session had to be completed. That completing this session would prove to the world I was strong.

Thus I opened up my heart to growth. I breathed in the fear, burden, failure, the chance that the weight crush me or that I drop it. I let it all come.

And I breathed it out! I relaxed. I felt the ease and self control in my out breath. Created space for myself.

Fear can suffocate, stifle us into paralysis. And this is how we develop fearlessness and move again. Tonglen. Take in the fear, then let it go. Walk the line on the edge of danger. Look death in the eye.

The fear lost its power as I finally became sober in mind. I opened my eyes and grabbed the bar. Ducking under, I set my shoulders against the bar and prepared to lift it off the rack. I still felt the fear, but I knew what it was and moved ahead with calm and focus.

I didn’t finish all the reps that night, but I did most. On the next session a couple of days later, I completed the sets! And yes, it was on to the next weight. Growth!

Months earlier, I had breezed through the weight progressions. But then the fear became heavier than the weight, and it became essential that I familiarize myself with it.

This was growth. It was real training.

Marcus Aurelius writes in Meditations “… for he who has preferred to everything else his own intelligence and daimon and the worship of its excellence… will live without either pursuing or flying from death”.

I’m learning to focus not on the standards of the world, but on the development of my own excellence. The more I pay attention to my own self, the less I worry about comparing myself to everyone else. Consequently, I keep control of my own trajectory.

As Seneca puts it, “None of [the mind] lay fallow and neglected, none of it under another’s control…”

To powerful living!

Steve

Read TheBrilliantBeastBlog via email

NL 22 Seneca The Brilliant Beast Blog.JPG — Seneca the Younger, 1st century philosopher

Continue reading “Squat with Fear”

Get Rid of Slack on the Deadlift

Brilliant Friends,

Here are a couple of thoughts on a more effective deadlift.

A common point of energy waste in the deadlift is the initial lift of the weight from the ground. That exact moment the weight comes off the ground should be the first upward movement of your body as well.

You would think this is intuitive. But if you watch deadlift videos on Instagram and Youtube, you’ll notice that a lot of people start their lift with their butts. Before the weight lifts off the ground, their hips have already moved up a few inches. You might notice this about yourself, too.

This is inefficient channeling of energy through the legs, and takes away from upward movement of the weight.

You can develop a better deadlift by minimizing this power leakage from the start. The aim is absolute tension and rigidity before the “pull” (what we call the lifting portion of the deadlift). By doing this, you will be able to maintain good form throughout the lift, keeping your back neutral, knees out, and head aligned. This will minimize and even prevent your upper back from curving forward into a slouch.

Start Position

To create the most effective output, focus on the setup. Once you grab the bar:

Straighten your arms
Push your feet into the ground
Pull up against the bar just short of lifting it to anchor yourself into the ground.
Pull back on your shoulder blades, like the wings of a jet folding in after take-off.
Flex your butt, think of squeezing your sphincter
Spread the floor with your feet (see my squat newsletter for description)

If someone came by from any direction and pushed you, you would not be budged. No looseness in any part of your body, upward, downward, or sideways. Everything should be rock solid and ready for take off.

Back

Your back should have a straight arrow pointing through it from top of the head through the end of your butt.

Eyes

As you take hold of the bar, focus on one spot on the ground in front of you and do not look away. This helps with keeping the head in a neutral alignment with the rest of your spine.

The Pull

And here goes. I like Mehdi Hadim‘s two-part cue the best:

Push the ground away from you
When bar passes knees, slam your hips forward into the bar

Descent

You now stand upright with bar held at arms length.

Pull in a belly breath and lock it into your lungs for abdominal pressure.
Let down the weight in the exact reverse way. Start with hips moving back, keeping tension in butt, hamstrings, knees and feet.
When the bar reaches your knees, allow them to start parting and bending, maintaining full tension.
Do not drop the weight. It’s sloppy and rude, and it will mess up your back and everyone’s eardrums. Think Batman. Be quiet, be swift, and be gone.

I’ll send one on grip next. Try these with minimal weight first. As in, just the bar. Or a broomstick.

To powerful living,

Steve

The Brilliant Beast Blog by email