Dr Mel Siff Blog

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Here is some more feedback from various experts on weightlifting pulling
style (some names have temporarily been withheld until such time that the
persons concerned join our list):

1. This letter was sent to me by one of the most famous Eastern European
lifters, a legendary world champion and one of the few in the world who ever
managed to snatch twice bodyweight in the heavier divisions:

The topic of the week [on the weightlifting pull] was very interesting to me.
I do have only one problem with the flatfooted pull. As they say, “the
flatfooted pull will give you flatfooted results”. We certainly don’t want to
get that. We do know for a fact that the lifters are trying their best to get
to fully extended position before get under the bar. I do not see it
happening, by staying on your heels. Another small detail – if you go to an Read more…

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It was most interesting to note in the latest issue of the NSCA’s Journal of
Strength & Conditioning Research that several well-known Finnish scientists
have developed another weightlifting comparison formula after analysing those
developed by others such as Sinclair and myself. In certain places I have
considered it appropriate to comment on this paper, either to make
corrections or to simplify what was written.

I have included only the most relevant excerpts for my commentary – those who
wish to read the entire article can do so in the Journal.

—————————

Kauhanen H, Komi PV & Haekkinen K. Standardization and validation of the body
weight adjustment regression equations in Olympic weightlifting.

J of Strength & Conditioning Research: Vol 16, No 1, pp 58-74

ABSTRACT

The problems in comparing the performances of Olympic weightlifters arise
from the fact that the relationship between body weight and weightlifting
results is not linear. In the present study, this relationship was examined
by using a nonparametric curve fitting technique of robust locally weighted
regression (LOWESS) on relatively large data sets of the weightlifting
results made in top international competitions. Power function formulas were Read more…

Someone asked me to post information about Alexeyev’s training approach.
Well, here is an article by Ivanov, which was sent to me by someone whom I
cannot remember, otherwise I would gladly reference it corrrectly.
If anyone knows the original source of this information, please let me have
it, so that I can give credit where it is due.

——————————————-

ALEXEYEV’S LIFTING TRAINING

When I asked Vasili the reasons for his constant victories, he thought a bit
and answered: “If I want something. I will definitely achieve it. No matter
what I have to sacrifice … The more complex the situation, the more Read more…

In one of my earlier posts, I commented on the fallacy that the Olympic
Weightlifting Press is a significant cause of back pain and dysfunction. An
extract from that mail read as follows:

> I added that it is even doubtful if frequent back bending is a major cause
> of the problem, because spondylolysis was not at all common among Olympic
> weightlifters who performed the Olympic Press with a marked backbend under
> heavy loads (weights exceeding 300lbs or 140kg were commonplace).

Someone from another group commented thus:

<<….Kotani, 1970 found an incidence of 30.7 percent in weightlifters who
complained of back pain. They were doing the press back then. Rossi
1990 looked at “athletes suffering from low back problems” from 1962-
1988 (most of those years included the press) and found weightlifters
3rd on a list of 30 sports with an incidence of spondylolysis of 22.68
percent… >>

Mel Siff:

*** It is interesting how much these figures differ from a study whose
results were reported by the International Weightlifting Federation in its
publication, “World Weightlifting” during the late 60s or early 1970s. The
researchers involved stated that back injuries accounted for something like 8
percent of all injuries experienced by Weightlifters, but did not give the
breakdown for the different types of back disorder. Another study like this
of American weightlifters appeared in Bob Hise’s “International Olympic
Lifter” around the same period and the incidence back injuries were similar.
Knee and shoulder injuries were far more common.

The researchers remarked that the back trauma appeared to be experienced most
often during the catch and early rising phases of the clean, where rounding
of the lumbar spine is quite common. It did not appear to be at all common
during any stage of the snatch because the fixation posture with the bar
overhead and further to the back tended to counteract any tendency of the
pelvis to tilt posteriorly.

None of those studies, including the ones cited by Chad showed that the
Press, as opposed to the Snatch and Clean & Jerk, showed that it was the
Press which was the primary offender in causing skeletal back injuries.

However, as a lifter who competed in the Press for many years and met some of
the world’s most competent pressers such as Russ Knipp, Serge Reding, Alexei
Medvedev & Arkady Vorobyev, I became very aware of pressing techniques that
certainly could put the lumbar spine at risk.

Both my coach at the time, Roelf van der Berg, who held the S African record
of 142.5 kg press in the 82.5kg division at a time when the world record was
held by the great Tommy Kono (153kg in the same division) and the Belgian,
Serge Reding (my coach for a few weeks in S Africa), who held the world
superheavy Press record of 228kg when I met him, stressed that you should
never relax the glutes or allow the lumbar spine to straighten or flex at any
stage of the lift, because of the risk of injury. The ballistic part of the
upward drive was to rely on carefully timed pretensing of the abdomen, that
characteristic double dipping action and pretensing of the shoulder girdle.
While the American Russ Knipp (world record Press of 158.5 in the 75kg div)
was visiting S Africa, he spent time with me at my former university and also
gave me much the same advice on Pressing.

Unfortunately, attempts to push the Press to even greater weights by invoking
increasingly ballistic actions of many parts of the kinetic chain (knees,
back and shoulders) sometimes resulted in lifters doing precisely what my
various coaches warned against. Instead of arching the body like a pulled
bow and pretensing the abdominal and shoulder musculature, lifters executed a
type of bastardised jerk or ‘cheat Press’ which flexed the lumbar spine
during the first dipping movement and sometimes even during the second dip.
Others indulged in excessive back bending during the second dip or layback
and executed what almost looked like a standing bench press, a type of
lifting which may well traumatise the lumbar spine.

Now, it is well known that heavy loading, especially vibratory or ballistic
loading (see Chaffin & Andersson “Occupational Biomechanics”) is especially
harmful to the lumbar spine, a situation which is exacerbated by any spinal
twisting, something that also happened during attempts to press as rapidly as
possible with a flexed spine.

This is precisely why I stressed in my original letter to this group that
technical execution of the Press was of great importance, as it is with all
heavy Olympic and Power lifts. So, if the groups of lifters studied did
experience spondylolysis to the extent reported in those studies – and if the
Press played a contributory role – then I would not be at all surprised if
the less strict form of ‘cheat’ pressing constituted a significant part of
the aetiology.

As we have noted so often before, it is often inappropriate to universally
condemn any exercise as being dangerous – it is not the exercise which
necessarily causes the major problems, but the manner in which it is executed.

Dr Mel C Siff

Some years ago I seem to recall an article which concluded that loaded
hyperextension of the spine was potentially less harmful to the lumbar spine
than unloaded hyperextension such as that encountered in throwing and jumping
sports. Possibly someone else can locate that reference. This might explain
why the incidence of hyperextension injuries in Olympic weightlifting appear
to be far less common than in sports such as cricket and gymnastics.

Many have militated against all spinal hyperextension, but they seem to
forget that McKenzie techniques (as variants of the ancient yoga Cobra asana)
actually comprise controlled forced hyperextension of the spine in a posture
which does not allow the lower body to sway and dissipate stress as in the
standing Olympic Press. Sure, we have pointers such as the
peripheralisation or centralisation of pain symptoms to guide us to the
suitability of McKenzie, but why are many folk adamant about avoiding all
forms of hyperextension, irrespective of such guidelines?

Then, we also must distinguish between the strictly controlled hyperextension
of the spine in the sagittal plane during the Olympic Press, compared with
the complex lumbar hyperextension, trunk rotation, lateral pelvic tilting and
asymmetric foot impact actions involved in cricket bowling, tennis serving,
gymnastics and so forth. Are we justified in comparing simple hyperextension
in one plane with complex trunk actions in several planes?

All too often, it seems to be forgotten that even small torque about the
vertebrae can produce more strain in the peripheral annulus of the disk than
far more extensive flexion or extension. This tends to reflect itself in
training and rehabilitation programs drawn up for athletes and workers – the
(often machines-controlled) movements and stretches very rarely involve
significant use of rotatory actions, especially under progressively
increasing conditions of resistance and range. Yet, all physical therapists
have been exposed to the well-known patterns, pacing, procedures and
principles of PNF with all of its emphasis on the regular use of spiral and
diagonal patterns.

This may well explain why the incidence of injuries associated with forceful,
sudden, ballistic or large range rotation of joints may be so rife in sport -
witness for instance, the mainstays of sports therapy with its epidemic of
rotator cuff, ACL and similar injuries. Machine training and even free
weight training seems to concentrate largely on linear or uniplanar actions,
and if rotation is involved in training, it takes place only in the sport
itself or in the gym via the use of gentle yoga-like stretches and warmups.

It is not only exposure to a stressful action that can cause injury, but also
religious avoidance of so-called dangerous actions (which might occur during
actual sporting conditions). One cannot expect the body to cope with the
immense structural and functional demands placed on the body in sport unless
one methodically conditions the body to cope with progressively greater
structural and functional stresses.

Dr Mel C Siff