Kyle's battle with the iron

[KyleSchuant]

In general, the "hips back" cue is not good with the long-legged client, if anyone. That shoving back the hips first makes the hip flexors do some hard stabilising work, and it's possible other things are going on in the hips - longer-legged lifters tend to have trouble with narrower stances. The hip sockets not in the same position before everyone, you know, and this affects other structures. That's a bit above my pay grade, more a physio thing, all we need to know is the longer-legged person can't squat like a 4'10" Chinese weightlifter.

So I'd look at high bar or front squat, and just cue knees, as soon as you mention the hips you get that picture, and of course a good-morning squat for good measure. And I'd have hip flexor stretches between each set if squats; they're part of rehab for tendonitis so may have a preventative effect and certainly will do no harm.

Front or high bar.
Wider stance.
Cue knees not hips.
Hip flexor stretches.

[cwd]

Thanks, that's interesting.

I have short legs, but got the hip tendon problems. I definitely overdid the hips back thing and tolerate high bar better.

[KyleSchuant]

None of this stuff is really either/or. There's just tendencies.

But the hip back cue is, I say after years of using it, and then some years of not, well it's not the best cue. What we really want to see is a tight lower back. "Hip drive" accomplishes this, but at the cost of things like a risk of hip flexor tendonitis and the good morning squat.

I think if you're a high-coaching situation - a good coach watching every rep - then low-bar is fine for longer-legged lifters, between the two of you you'll figure things out. But in a low-coaching situation - the good coach isn't watching every rep, or they're watching but they're inexperienced, or there are 30 kids in the high school S&C class - I wouldn't like it.

Most people are in a low-coaching situation, mostly working on their own, or with a newish trainer and/or in a group, or just an online trainer who'll only see one set, and only be able to fix one thing a session at most, and not get that moment-by-moment feedback of the look of discomfort on your face, etc. So I look at things through that lens.

Over on SS there was a thread where a guy said his 71yo dad wanted to squat, but couldn't high-bar, and were there some coaching vids for this. They said no, we don't teach it that way and anyway it's really simple and doesn't really need any coaching. So what do their 71yo lifters do in the gym, and is it really the case that moving the bar one inch removes the need for any coaching? Seriously? This shit is just silly. It's all squatting, it's all good. "But is it optimal?" Not if you get injured, no.

[KyleSchuant]

Now they're doing artwork in my gym.

[KyleSchuant]

It's probably a surprise to people on this forum, but I actually get a lot of messages and questions from would-be and new trainers, and most dedicated gym-goers have at some point wondered about becoming a PT, so I made a little vid discussing becoming a personal trainer.

Those of you with an interest in it, or friends or clients who ask about it may find it useful to point them to this.

[KyleSchuant]

The interesting thing is that most of the things which actually kill us, we can modify the risks somewhat by our lifestyle choices. Whereas the things we read about in the media are mostly things we can do nothing about.

[KyleSchuant]

Recently we've been experimenting with hook grip in the press. It seems to get most people having the bar where it should be, and with straighter wrists.

[KyleSchuant]

During the lockdown it was too depressing going into my closed gym, plus my wife took the space over to do her office work from home, so I went outside for some runs.

I did RUN STRONG, and these were the results
Feb 27 to Jun 11
Bodyweight 83.0 to 78.2kg, BMI 26.2 to 24.7
Resting heart rate 75 to 62
Test runs: hard 5km (154bpm average) in 24'39", easy 5km (131bpm, MAF) in 30'.
I now tuck my t-shirt into my pants without embarrassment.

WORK DONE
43 workouts (vs 39 in plan) - 2 missed due to illness, 1 due to being busy, some extra done to make up for it
258km run in all and 1,865 minutes of running
Averaged 170 minutes of other activity weekly - this was usually a couple of 30-60' walks during the week and a longer walk on Saturday

DISCUSSION
Losing weight wasn't my main goal, which was improving fitness. I didn't follow any special diet, but I did weigh and measure my food 6 days in 7. I allowed myself 3 standard drinks a week, but in practice it was 1 on average. I'd found that 1,900-2,000kCal maintained my weight, I figured if I kept that the same then as my activity went up it'd create a deficit and my weight would drop.

I did weights for the first month, then dropped them off once my gym closed, and just did light bodyweight stuff.

The drop in resting heart rate is the most important to me, and after that the MAF run - what I can with little effort. I've just turned 49 and don't know my family health history, and any competitive days are long behind me, so I've got to take my health seriously.

It's a good programme, which I can recommend for people beginning or returning to running.

***************
In other news, I've painted my gym and cleaned it up a bit, it reopens tomorrow.

[KarlM]

Nice job with the running, improved health parameters and weight loss. Important stuff when we approach the big 50

[KyleSchuant]

Cheers mate, it makes a difference. It's funny - over the years I've been as low as 74kg (after my honeymoon wandering around at altitude in Peru) and as high as 92.5kg ("an adult male is over 200lbs"), with strength and endurance matching as you'd think. I feel best in between.

I started as a trainer in 2010, in Australia after ten years you can get long service leave. I've tried to look at the lockdown as my unplanned long service leave, I just couldn't go anywhere or do anything. It must have been good for me - resting heart rate 59 this morning!