Dr Mel Siff Blog

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Here is some discussion that I have been having on the IWF list with the
well-known Denis Reno, long-time producer of Denis Reno’s Weightlifting
Newsletter regarding my weightlifting pull letter.

Denis Reno writes:

<< Dr. Mel — Here is my 10 second answer. I have been coaching over 30
years, writing about it for almost as long, and am a usaw International
coach. Top lifters work very hard to get the bar to their crotch while
keeping their shoulders above or in front of the bar. Then they work hard
and fast to get their hips under the bar on the pull/screw under. They don’t
worry during that max lift about the details. However, solid foot Read more…

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All too often the deadlift and clean pull are regarded as much the same
exercise, with the consequence that those who teach one or the other often
offer inappropriate advice. Thus clean pull is regarded as some sort of
deadlift with a shrug, while the deadlift is regarded as a clean pull without
a shrug and done with an alternate hand grip. This constitutes a serious
oversimplification of the mechanics of the two lifts.

Our recent discussion of the mechanics of the weightlifting pull is directly
relevant in this regard, because the flatfooted pulling style would appear to
be much more similar to the deadlift pull. In deadlifting it is always Read more…

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You may recall my referring before to Dr Tom McLaughlin’s book on the
biomechanics of bench pressing (“Bench Press More Now”) — well, here is an
interesting paper that he and a colleague wrote on the biomechanical
differences between novice and expert bench pressers.

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Madsen N, McLaughlin T

Kinematic factors influencing performance and injury risk in the bench press
exercise

Med & Science in Sports & Exercise. 16(4):376-81, Aug 1984. Read more…

Further to my earlier mail on treating knee stability problems, here is some
more discussion that I have been sharing with the person who is the
unfortunate victim of those problem. He added this information:

<< Causes of my knee problems:

1. I have a hyperlordosis problem that might be related to having tight psoas
2. I seem to have a tendency to round my back at the bottom of the squat
3. There was something to do with my vastus lateralis coming into play
before my vastus medialis while I squat which contributed to my knee
instability ( note that I did not hurt my knee squatting)
4. I think there were some slight rotation problems with my shoulders
5. I think I had a slight tilt that brought my right shoulder up and my left
hip >>

***None of those tests would be considered to be scientifically definitive.
For example, while psoas ‘tightness’ may have something to do with excessive
‘hollowing’ of the lumbar spine, that is one of several possible explanations
for significant lordosis.

Anyway, tightness of psoas would tend to counteract your tendency to round
the back during the squat. Rounding of the lower spine generally has more to
do with limited flexibility in the ankle and knee joints than the psoas. In
addition, it can simply be due to ‘bad’ neuromotor habits accumulated over
prolonged periods of uncorrected training. Very often, the use of a few
hands-on kinaesthetic ‘tricks’ that I mentioned in my last letter, improve
the situation markedly in a few minutes.

If your back tends to round too much near the deepest part of your squat,
then simply squat as far as you can go with good form and gradually increase
the depth of squatting over a period of a few weeks and the rounding problem
quite happily will resolve itself.

How did they ascertain if one of the vastus muscles was ‘firing’ before the
other without using an EMG? How did they conclude that the way in which your
muscles came into play are not appropriate for your individual structure and
characteristics? It is well known that all muscles contribute to different
degrees with different timing, so what a muscle test reveals under static or
short range conditions may be totally irrelevant to what happens under full
range movement in a given sporting action. There is no set universal pattern
which applies to all of us.

Probably what had more effect on your squatting than anything else is the
fact that knee injuries are notorious for producing reflex inhibition of the
quadriceps. The body innately knows that the ability to produce very
forceful contraction, so it somehow activates inhibitory nervous processes
which counteract your ability to contract muscles that operate the injured
joint. Very often, if you have an injured knee, you will tend to become more
of a “back squatter” with a marked forward lean and you will often tilt your
injured knee in such a way as to minimise the stress on it. This will lead
to tilting of the hip, rotation of the trunk and other such problems. No
need to look for mystical causes in vasti , psoas or pyriformis muscles, or
in “muscle imbalance” – the problem may simply lie in reflexive protective
processes.

<<I thought I had been balanced by another therapist, so I’m thinking that
the tilt might have been related to the pain in my knee. >>

***Your diagnosis is probably as accurate as any therapist is going to make -
your intuitive diagnosis agrees with my above analysis based upon a knowledge
of motor control. Far too often, impressive sounding jargon is used to
justify a model of the injury and healing process, when the truth is that the
diagnosticians don’t really know. However, a diagnosis couched in
pseudoscientific language sounds a lot more convincing to the client and the
therapist – remember that both people involved in the healing situation need
to satisfy psychological needs.

The only way in which one can avoid this situation is to list several
possible causes and, by harmless trial and error (guided by movement patterns
and perception of pain), narrow them down to a short list of the most likely
causes. Of course, genuine medical examination such as radiological scans of
the area should be used to rule out the possibility of really serious
pathology, if this may be of any concern.

Dr Mel C Siff

Recently I described the old Olympic Standing Press on several discussion
groups (because of its special effectiveness as a ballistic training method for
the abdominal musculature in particular) and remarked that:

“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 relies on carefully timed pretensing of the abdomen, the
characteristic double dipping action and pretensing of the shoulder girdle”

Someone asked for this description to be explained more simply. My added
comments may alos be of interest here.

*** The Olympic Press:

1. Hold the bar firmly on the front of the shoulders, using an action that
seems like bending the bar over the shoulders while tensing the glutes and
pretensing the musculature of the front of the body, especially the abs.
Keep the quads tightly contracted and lock the knees.

2. Slowly commence the layback by allowing the whole body to produce a
marked arch between the shoulders and the ankles, so that the entire body
becomes like a bow ready to project the bar upwards. (Wait for the chief
referee’s clap!)

3. Terminate this layback with a short, sharp ballistic action and thrust as
powerfully as possible upwards by using the prestretch and allowing a strong
body sway to propel the bar off the chest. Don’t lay back by flexing the
lower spine, bending the knees or dropping the shoulders.

4. As the upward movement of the bar provided by the initial ballistic
thrust and the pressing action slows down, once again lay back by pushing
against the bar and arching the body into a pronounced arc between shoulders
and ankles. Do not relax the glutes or round the lower spine while doing this.

5. Continue pressing upwards with all your might until the bar is locked
firmly overhead. (Wait for the chief ref’s signal to lower the bar!).

In the non-ballistic press and the military press, you do not dip backwards
ballistically or use two distinct laybacks during the execution of the
movement – one simply tries to press the bar straight upwards, using just
enough back bend to prevent the bar from colliding with the chin or nose on
the way up, much as you do in seated presses with the bar in front of the
head. A well-executed Olympic Press is almost as fast as the Olympic Jerk.

Refer to the following website:

http://www.olympus.net/personal/cablebar/PRESS.htm

The first single photograph, showing the Russian Kanygin pressing, exemplifies
what would often be considered as excessive backbend by officials. The second
series of photographs of Russ Knipp give an outstanding example of what a
well-executed Olympic Press should look like. Note that Russ started very
strictly in the first layback position. In practice, many lifters started
more upright and then very gradually sank into the prescribed pretensed
layback position, thereby producing a more dynamic (quasi-isometric)
pretensing start (as described in steps 1 and 2 above).

With that added ’sneaky’ action, I could add something like an extra 5kg to
my usual Press of about 120-125kg (264-275 lbs) in the 90kg division – it was
really very disappointing when the IOC discontinued the Press in 1971,
because quite a few of us were aiming at that imaginary 300lb barrier in the
sub-superheavy classes and 400lb in the superheavy class. Ah, well – we can
now but dream of those bygone times and continue to use privately the beloved
Press in our current training!

Paradoxically, many of us experienced more backache or minor lumbar injuries
while jerking, but rarely while pressing, because we were very well aware
that sloppy pressing habits could be dangerous. During jerking, however, one
would sometimes force the body into some unwise postures to correct for a
poorly executed thrusts overhead, some of which involved spinal rotation,
ballistic loading of the lumbar spine or lateral tilting of the pelvis.

Dr Mel C Siff