What is a good morning?

The good morning is a compound movement working the back and hamstrings. It is used as an assistance exercise for strengthening the posterior chain.

With the bar on your back, bend forward at the hips until your torso is parallel to the floor, then return to a standing position. In other words, take a bow with a weight on your back!

Why is it such a great exercise?

The good morning is an effective way to strengthen the back. It also requires confidence and control to perform well, which are useful skills to master.

Although it might look a bit dangerous at first glance, it is perfectly safe if performed with proper technique and an appropriate weight.

Good mornings have been a standard assistance exercise in olympic weightlifting for many decades. Heavy good mornings and concentric good mornings have been popularised for powerlifters by Westside Barbell.

How to perform the good morning

Practise this movement with just a barbell until you are confident with the technique and body position.

Step 1: start position

Take up a position as if for a back squat: legs slightly wider than hip width apart, barbell across your back resting on the traps (top of shoulders) not the neck.

You can experiment with different stances; a wider stance will work the hamstrings more while a narrow stance will work the lower back more.

Grip

Your hands should be as close to your shoulders as is comfortable (this will vary with your flexibility).

Position of barbell on back

Breathing

As in the deadlift, take a deep breath and hold it throughout the lift or at least until you are on the way back up. This breathing technique creates intra-abdominal pressure which helps to stabilise the spine.

Step 2: bend forward from the hips

Start the movement by bending forward from the hips, keeping the knees soft. Think about pushing your butt out behind you.

Legs

Keep your legs almost straight, with a slight bend in the knee so that they are not locked out completely.

Back

Be careful not to round your lower back; maintain the curve in your lumbar spine. (Note: there is such a thing as a rounded back good morning but this is not in the scope of this article as it has specialist applicability.)

As you bend forward, the bar is held in place on your shoulders by pushing your shoulder blades back and your elbows up.

Push shoulders and elbows up

Head

Keep your head in a neutral position. This means that as you bend over, your gaze will be directed towards the floor, not ahead of you.

Don’t be tempted to look up in an attempt to keep the bar on your back; the bar will stay in place if you keep your shoulders back, elbows up and a slight curve in your lower back.

Step 3: descend to parallel

Bend forward as close to parallel with the floor as you can go without rounding your lower back. For many people, this will not be quite parallel as they will be limited by hamstring flexibility but try to go for maximum range of motion rather than maximum weight on the bar!

Remember to keep the head neutral all the way down, keeping the bar in place with shoulders and elbow position.

You should feel a stretch in both the hamstrings and lower back in the bottom position of the good morning.

Step 4: return to standing position

Reverse the movement back to a standing position, maintaining the position of the head and back. Make sure you bring the hips back in fully before starting the next rep – in other words, stand up straight.

Concentric good morning

A concentric good morning is a variation of the standard good morning exercise, where you perform the second half of the movement first. You start in the bottom position, almost parallel to the floor, and lift the bar to a standing position.

The idea is to mimic the position of the back in the deadlift, but to focus more on the spinal erectors than a normal deadlift would do by taking a lot of the leg power out of the equation.

Concentric good mornings are usually used by powerlifters as a back assistance exercise or as a training alternative to the deadlift (as some advanced powerlifters do not deadlift very often).

How to perform a concentric good morning

Set the bar to the correct position in the rack. You will need to be able to lift the bar with a flat back, so don’t set the rack too low if you don’t have the flexibility to get into that bottom position.

Concentric good morning - start position

Take up position under the bar as you would with a normal good morning. Lift the bar, driving up against it leading with the shoulders until hips are fully extended and you are standing up straight.

Concentric good morning - top position

Then return the bar to the rack in the bottom position, being careful that you rack the bar properly before letting go.

How to use the good morning in your training

The good morning functions as an assistance exercise for the posterior chain, especially the lower back. It is a good option on days when you don’t deadlift but need a back exercise.

If being used as a back assistance exercise, good mornings can be done with light-to-medium weights for 6-10 reps.

If being used by a powerlifter as an alternative to the deadlift on a ‘heavy’ day, heavy weights for 1-5 reps can be used.

Good mornings can be used in warm ups (with light weights of course, maybe just a barbell) to warm up the back muscles. They can also be used as part of a barbell complex, for example: front squat – push press – good morning.

Powerlifters and olympic lifters in particular will benefit from heavy good mornings such as 3×3, but anyone who wants to build lower back strength will find these useful. Just remember not to compromise range of motion for more weight.

Watch a video demo of the good morning and the concentric good morning

More from gubernatrix

How to deadlift
How to front squat
Assistance exercises
Why you should full squat

Squat workshop by gubernatrix (Photo: Kate Pankhurst)

Strength. It’s 99% about how strong you are.

I don’t know whether it’s the circles I move in, but I tend to meet people who are more concerned with how good their technique is than how much they are lifting.

These well-intentioned students of strength are the opposite end of the scale from the idiots in the gym who load the bar up with more weight than they can handle and then proceed to invite maiming with appalling technique and absolutely no understanding of basic safety. But as far as I know, none of those people reads this blog (though they should!).

I’m known for being generous where technique is concerned, not a stickler for the perfect position so long as people are reasonably safe. I am willing to entertain other opinions but I tend to think not ‘is my technique perfect?’ but ‘is my technique good enough’?

When I teach workshops, such as the squat workshop pictured above, I focus on technique and strength. When you’ve got the basic movement, it’s time to stick some more weight on the bar and challenge yourself.

I didn’t get into strength training to do pretty moves, although that’s part of the fun. But I got into it to lift ever heavier things – that’s my own personal buzz. Will I sacrifice technique to lift something heavier? Yes, sometimes. Not all the time, not every day. I’ll train sensibly and then go for it on the platform, for example.

And before you raise the hydra of injury – yep, been there. In fact I picked up an injury just a couple of weeks ago while deadlifting in a strongwoman competition. Am I annoyed I got injured? Yep. Do I regret going for that weight? Nope.

Strongman is an interesting sport since many of the events are performed using what most people would think of as bad technique – rounding the back in the atlas stones, hyperextending the lower back for the log press and so on. But strongmen train specifically to perform the events like this. It’s in the nature of odd object lifting. It’s part of what it means to be a strongman – being able to lift in some very awkward positions.

And for you functional fitness fans, this is vital. In an emergency situation, are you likely to be presented with a finely crafted eleiko-bar-shaped object to lift? Or is it more likely to be some awkwardly-shaped heavy bastard of a thing?

Try telling Laurence Shahlaei he should lift with his legs not his back

In a very technical sport such as olympic weightlifting, technique is vital in as much as it allows you to lift more. If you can’t snatch properly you’ll never snatch very much because there is a limit to the amount of weight you can get from the floor to overhead by just muscling it up there. If you don’t have the technique in olympic weightlifting then you just miss…and miss… and miss…

But can great technique be an aim in itself? Maybe, if that’s what turns you on. Maybe you want to have the most beautiful moves in the gym and you don’t care how heavy the weight is.

But you also have to think about how you are applying the technique. Are you applying it with confidence? Are you diving under that bar with complete commitment? Or did you start lifting and think ‘christ, that feels heavy!’

In other words, having perfect technique with a light weight may not mean jack shit once the weight gets challenging.

How much mental energy should you spend worrying about technique? What would happen if you stopped worrying about technique and put some more weight on the bar?

Many people seem to think that they are not ‘ready’ to add weight until they can perform a lift perfectly. It’s a combination of fear of injury, fear of the weight and the desire to practice with something easy. I know these feelings all too well!

But adding more weight teaches too. Adding more weight can in some circumstances actively improve technique (a big heavy weight can force you into the correct position) and in other circumstances simply make you work harder to get it right.

With sub-maximal weights, you can sometimes make adjustments during the lift to compensate for deficiencies in the technique – for example, not having quite the right starting position, or not catching the weight in exactly the right place. With a maximum or very close to maximum weight, if you don’t get it right, you’ll probably fail the lift. So you’ll know damn well when you do get it right.

There are some lifters who are known as good technicians. These are the jammy bastards whose technique is exactly the same, lift after lift, never really deteriorating (eventually the weight just gets too heavy). Realistically, most of us won’t have this talent.

So as with most things in life, there is a balance to be struck. You probably don’t want to end up on the wrong side of either opinion.

If you agonise about your technique, take some time out and just think about lifting more weight. Don’t forget that all that time you are spending on perfecting your technique is time that you are not spending getting stronger.

Conversely, if you chase the numbers every day and you are just desperate to put an extra few kilos on your lifts, consider that taking time to work on your technique might actually improve your numbers in the long run.

For the vast majority of us, our technique could always be better but in strength sports, you don’t get points for style. If we allow this thought to paralyse us, we may not make progress or get stronger.

So where do you stand on the technique debate?

More from gubernatrix

gubernatrix on squat technique
Paralysis by analysis
Mystery of the squat

Bodytribe. Where no-one can hear you scream.

Full squat means ‘ass to grass’, getting down as far as you can go. I’ve written before about squat depth and concluded that squatting as deep as you can safely is best for bringing the benefits of the squat to the greatest number of people.

But is this enough? Is this all we should be striving for? How far does a partial squat get us on my Maslovian squat hierarchy (scroll down, it’s there somewhere)?

On the other hand, why bother training specifically to go as low as you can, since ego, competition rules and your own physical limitations say no? Isn’t it a bit like learning to do the splits – yeah, great party trick if you can do them but surely there are better ways to spend one’s training time…

But a recent discussion with Chip Conrad over at strength forum Straight to the Bar (you just know it’s run by an Aussie with a title like that!) made me think about this again. We were initially discussing how often people full squat, but a bit of poking and prodding elicited a more interesting debate about why full squat at all.

So over to Chip.

The squat issue is a program design puzzle. Match your squat to your goals.

Weightlifting meet? You’d be squatting deep several times a week.

Bodyweight trainer? There might be a lot of deep training in your program, but sans any external load.

Powerlifting meet? There’s no competitive need to squat deep, and many top competitors simply can’t, because they train a limited range of motion squat and/or use squat suits, which don’t let ya squat very deep anyway.

General fitness? There are much better reasons to work deep than not. We can squat deep but we’re de-evolving from that ability. The danger isn’t in the squat itself but actually the lack of it. Since we don’t do it enough, there are risks involved in deep squatting if it isn’t treated like a skill that takes practice and time.

But a squat, deep and proud, is something that our bodies should be able to do. Only due to specialization or simple laziness are we not able to squat deep. This might be a bit of a generalization, but I like to think big.

My jaded view is through the biased filter of more is better: load, technique and, in this case, depth.

So perhaps the answer is similar to the one George Mallory gave when asked why he wanted to climb Everest. “Because it is there” simply refers to all that empty space between my butt and the ground. It seems like a conquerable wasteland which, when defeated, could also be an indicator that I’m not holding onto tension patterns created from too much limited range of motion lifting.

In other words, lack of ability for full range of motion squatting means that there is tension somewhere. And tension somewhere means that something is working harder than it has to, maybe even at rest.

A competitive powerlifter might covet that tension, using it to their advantage in a partial range of motion squat. But in day to day life, that tension can lead to ouches and damn-its really quickly.

I simply enjoy doing too many things to reduce my possibilities through the tension patterns of limited range of motion movements.

So we can turn the question around and say, why not do full range of motion squats?

The answers have some merit, but not enough to convince me of a permanent limited range of motion application.

“I can’t” isn’t acceptable to me.

“Because I can lift heavier” makes some sense, if that added load is beneficial. But why can’t we strive for a greater load at a greater depth? That’s my cup of tea, but I will agree that huge loads through small ranges of motion have benefit for certain training purposes.

“Because it is safer” has been proven wrong too many times to count.

Heck, if I can do it, anyone can. Sure it takes time if you’re not natural at it, but the athleticism and ability I gain from the years (yes, years… I’m still learning) of practice are, like all training, highly empowering.

Well they don’t give points for style at powerlifting competitions. But I too like the idea of conquering that space. If nothing else, it’s a valuable lesson in humility. And the reward could be a greater sense of achievement.

If you dig all of that, you’ll love Chip Conrad’s DVD Strength Rituals, which I reviewed here.

At the time of writing I have not written a ‘how to’ on the squat, although I’ve written one for most of the other major exercises. This is because to me, it is a huge topic and I am not sure how I would approach it and attempt to do it justice. So instead, I thought I would write about how it difficult it is to write about it!

(Actually I have written on the front squat and the overhead squat but not on the back squat or squatting in general.)

One issue with writing a ‘how to’ on the squat for a general website like this (that is, not devoted to any one aspect of strength training) is that the squat comes in many shapes and is used for a variety of purposes. The squat is relevant for beginners, elites, bodybuilders, powerlifters, those who want to get big, or strong, or more powerful or lose weight – but who you are writing for will depend on how you describe the exercise and what you recommend.

There is no one book that I’ve ever come across which covers all the various uses and methods for the squat. That would be an amazing tome if anyone could get their head around it.

I’ve been squatting for years, but I learn something new almost every time I squat. How many people are truly acquainted with the squat in all its forms? Some people must be, but most of us trainees just haven’t had that kind of time!

Back squats, front squats, overhead squats, powerlifting squats, Olympic squats, bodyweight squats, full squats, parallel squats, partial squats, one-legged squats, box squats, band squats, chain squats, hack squats, pylometric squats…I’ve had a go at these, yes, but I couldn’t in all honesty say I was fully acquainted with them. I specialise in powerlifting and I still haven’t got half my head around the powerlifting squat – and there’s no reason to suppose that any of the other variations are less complex.

The good news is that there is no reason ever to get bored of this exercise. There’ll never come a point in your training career when you can say, ‘yep, done that, got the t-shirt’.

Revelations

If squatting is a ‘mystery’ in the religious sense, then my ‘revelation’ was watching a grainy, wobbly hour-long video of Dan John teaching a strength seminar. Many of you have probably come across this video at some point.

Ironically I think the main thrust of the workshop was to do with teaching the deadlift (I don’t really know because the video frustratingly cuts out the beginning and the end) but most of the content is actually about how to squat.

This video changed my squat forever. It opened a door for me. When you do what Dan John suggests, suddenly it becomes a whole lot easier. You understand what your body is supposed to be doing.

I don’t want to go into too much detail because learning the squat is quite a personal thing, in terms of what you respond to. In fact, it is a good idea to read or watch as many people as you can on the squat because you never know which one will switch that light bulb on in your mind.

Squat depth

Squat depth is another hoary old chestnut that keeps many a message board stoked with controversy. I’ve written about it here. Again, it is a complicated matter because it is very much dependent on the individual’s flexibility, mobility and technique. It’s not an absolute, like a bicep curl or even like the deadlift, where the range of motion is obvious.

Rounding of the lower back trumps any loftier purpose for wanting a particular depth. Many people will have real trouble getting lower than ‘tops of thighs parallel with the ground’ safely.

Nevertheless, the ambition to squat as low as possible is a useful one in increasing squat flexibility. It’s like speed training for powerlifting: the intention to move the bar quickly makes the lift more explosive and powerful even if the bar itself moves slowly. Likewise the intention to squat as low as possible will only increase flexibility even if you never attain maximum depth.

My flexibility has increased measurably since I’ve been squatting, although it has taken years. My advice is to take it slowly, have patience and try as many drills as you can to find the one that works best for you. For most people the quest for flexibility will never end, particularly as one gets older, but think of it as part of the process.

Improving your squat

Everyone’s squat stalls at some point. And everyone (or at least, everyone who gives a real shit about their strength) goes through the same agonies: what’s gone wrong? How can I make it better? Why is she squatting more than me?

Accept that linear progress will not be yours forever and think rationally about it.

I tend to start by looking at how I was training the last time I made a big squat improvement. But equally you could try something completely different, something you’ve never done before (like 20-rep squats, say) in order to stimulate progress. As long as you approach your chosen tactic with honest energy and commitment, the likelihood is that you will see some results and if you don’t you can always try something else.

Quite often we read about the latest method or rep scheme that is ‘the only method you will ever need’ to improve your squat or whatever. Right now, it’s 5/3/1 that everyone’s talking about. Last year it was 5×5.

Some of the guys in my gym employ an even simpler strategy: if they got one more rep at a particular weight than last time, they got stronger. Simples.

So what’s important is what you consider to be ‘stronger’. If you are a competitive powerlifter, your community judges strength by what you can get for a single at a prescribed depth. But this isn’t the case for everybody.

Technique

The squat police are everywhere. The squat is one of the exercises people are most fond of criticising. I prefer to think about technique as a Maslovian hierarchy:

1. Physiological & safety: squat safely! Don’t squat in a way that will result either in long term damage or short term immobilisation. This satisfies the most basic need in terms of squatting.

2. Love and esteem: squat well! Do something that is recognisably a proper squat – go to a decent depth, have the bar in the right place, not too much forward lean etc. This is what everyone should be aiming for.

3. Self-actualisation: squat exceptionally! This is your own personal elite level. This takes belief and effort and bravery but is incredibly rewarding. For you it might mean big numbers, breaking records, squatting beautifully or just facing your fears and doing something hard.

Of course that’s all a bit tongue in cheek but hopefully you know what I mean!

As a powerlifter (and egomaniac) I care about the numbers. I want a heavier squat, not a prettier squat. But I’ve found that although I’ve had times when the numbers have been going up nicely, at some point they stop going up and then you have to re-evaluate the way you are squatting to see if technique is limiting you.

I am not, however, a great believer in massively deloading to work on technique. One reason is that certain problems go away once you deload and you can get lulled into thinking that there isn’t a problem. But when the weight goes up again, the problem is still there. Working at or around the problem weight is useful for me, or doing more volume at a lower weight, working on a particular element of technique.

My squat experience

For me, lowering into a heavy squat is like slowing down time. Then at the bottom, all time stops for a split second and you feel like you have to move the universe in order to get it started again.

But even here, I am being powerlifting-specific. Some people will never need to or want to perform a max single squat. So they’ll never get to experience quite that same feeling, although that’s not to say that repping squats is easy either.

The squat is a never-ending adventure. The more I squat, the more I think my squat isn’t very good. That doesn’t mean I take criticism well (I rarely take criticism well!) but it means that in my heart of hearts I do want to work at it and change things until they start working better.

I also don’t squat as often as I should or could. There are so many ways to squat – you don’t have to do heavy back squats every day to increase your squatting karma.

Squat heroics

I’ll end this series of observations with a little story of inspiration this week. I was in the gym on Monday night, which is usually squat night at our place. A friend came in at the same time and we decided to work in together.

He was gunning for a PR that session and I could see that, in a quiet way, he was really focussed on this. He did several warm up sets, the last was a 6-rep set. Then after a slightly longer rest, he went for his new max, put everything he had into it and got it. He then warmed down with a 20-rep set at 55% of max. And that was more or less the end of his session.

What’s inspirational about that, you say? Well, how many times do you see that happen in the gym? Guy comes in, quiet and focussed, does his thing, gets his PR (which was over 2 x bodyweight) and finishes with a 20-rep set. If that happens every day in your gym, you must belong to an amazing gym.

Share your thoughts and experiences of the squat below.

More from gubernatrix

• How low should I squat?
• How to front squat
• How to overhead squat

Great squat resources

Squat RX playlist – comprehensive set of videos on the squat
Olympic vs. Powerlifting Squats by Geoff Neupert and Mike Robertson
Squat Training – Westside Style by Dave Tate

I’ve never seen anything that has made me want to run out and train so much! It’s got all my favourite toys in it – barbells, kettlebells, sleds, tyres, bodyweight, leverage clubs….actually I’ve only ever handled a club once but after seeing this film it could easily become my new favourite thing!

What is this film?

Strength Rituals is a 2-disc DVD from Bodytribe, the brainchild of trainer and gym owner Chip Conrad. Between the two discs there is well over two hours of content and you can’t help thinking that there was loads more that could have been included but, like all canny filmmakers, Chip is probably saving that for the sequel.

Structurally the film consists of a series of episodes featuring particular movements, combinations and workouts performed by Conrad and other members of Bodytribe. These are exciting, always tough and often original. The one rep max effort Turkish get-up sequence made me want to jump off the sofa and join in!

Over the film is a narration by Conrad which is lively and full of personality. Part commentary, part lecture, I found it appealing. To someone rather less in love with language it might occasionally sound excessively wordy and convoluted. Still, I think using a voiceover makes for a more polished presentation than pieces straight to camera, which are notoriously difficult to get right.

This documentary format allows Conrad’s narration to range easily from the particular workouts we are seeing on screen to his approach, methods and general philosophy of training. He talks a lot – but there’s real passion behind the prose.

What’s good about this film?

Cool kettlebell combos!

Sheer inventiveness
I’ve been in this game for a few years and I like to think I am close to the cutting edge when it comes to fitness methods and techniques. If it’s weird, wacky or ‘out there’ I’ve had a go. But there’s still plenty of stuff in this film that I haven’t seen before.

It’s not that it’s new exactly. In fact, some of it is very old indeed. Chip Conrad acknowledges that very little of what you see is per se original – but he puts it all together in creative and inventive ways and all the way through the film is exhorting the audience to do the same.

“There is no magic in a single tool, a single program or a single principle. The Bodytribe template is license for creativity, allowing you to escape dogmas by embracing and manipulating the many malleable factors that we can use to forge our strength.”

The kettlebell combos on the second disc are particularly inspiring and they are going to be keeping me busy for some time to come.

Production
Content is important but production will make or break a movie. If you’ve ever seen movie B-roll you’ll know what I mean. Films are made in the edit suite.

This film is really well put together. Everything is a ‘character’ in this film, from the locations to the music to the animals (wild and domestic) that wander in and out of shot. It’s very well edited and the occasional cheesy/ironic use of a special effect makes it more interesting for the viewer.

The production values are budget and some of the camera work is a little shakey but that is all part of the charm.

If the content was superb but the production was crap, 99% of people wouldn’t sit through more than ten minutes of this film, or any film. It’s testament to Chip Conrad’s artistic instincts that he understands this and has put a lot of effort into making this film watchable.

Audience

This is not a film for beginners. Thank god! We don’t need more instructional DVDs, we need films to inspire and this is certainly one of those.

To get the most out of this film you need to have a good grasp of the key movements like squat and deadlift. It also helps to be reasonably adept with the major tools such as barbells, dumbbells and kettlebells.

There is some instruction in the film, particularly on the more unusual tools and exercises such as leveragae clubs or the Steinborn Lift. There are also tips on form for the more conventional exercises but you wouldn’t, say, learn the squat from scratch with this DVD.

Conclusion

Essentially the film helps you to build on what you know and get creative with your training. There’s a logical framework, a method of programming which is simple to grasp but powerful and extendable.

Conrad stands on the shoulders of giants (Dan John, Westside Barbell, Mel Siff) but he also has his own original take on training and, like Dan John, his view is an all-encompassing one. He talks about training in terms of who you are, what you stand for, how you live your life.

Conrad’s writing and ideas are not as easily accessible as the likes of Dan John. I’ve been a reader of his effusive prose, on his blog and elsewhere, for a while without really ‘getting it’. So putting it all together in this rich, visual format is a good move – nay, a triumph.

I might even read his book now.

Update: good news for UK and European readers! I am getting in a bunch of the Strength Rituals DVD to ship from the UK, saving you £££s on postage. They’ll be available in the shop from next week!

Photo by listenmissy

What happened to summer?! Here in the UK we’re into August and still hardly any sunshine. I usually train outdoors but even the hardiest of fitness fanatics would have been discouraged by the downpoars we have been experiencing recently.

So I got in a quick workout indoors in my tiny flat and I thought I would share it with you. It’s useful for several reasons:

• it can be done in a very small space
• it can be done either as a finisher to blast the arms or as a workout on its own
• it is very quick if you don’t have much time
• it involves no equipment
• it is fun and challenging

You can make this workout as easy or as hard as you like. If the push up variations are too easy for you, choose a different variation or simply put your feet higher. I have poor overhead pressing strength (I’m working on it!!) so shoulder push ups are hard for me and I chose the easiest variation. You don’t have to sink to my level.

Whatever variation you choose, concentrate on getting the form as good as possible – use this as an opportunity to practise technique. And get 100 push ups done.

Quick and dirty push ups

10 burpees (with a push up and jump)

5 tricep push ups (arms stay close into sides, hands underneath shoulders)

5 shoulder push ups (the higher the feet, the harder they are)

5 rounds for time
Watch the video demo

More from gubernatrix

• No more girly push ups!
• How to: Handstand push up
• Fun with press ups!

Olympic lifts, kettlebells, gymnastic rings….these are a few of our favourite things….

Ever wished that there was a single instruction manual containing all of this cool stuff? Well, now there is!

Andrew Stemler, creator of the popular i-Course – a full day of learning all the key Crossfit skills – has produced a manual to go along with it. You can support Gubernatrix.co.uk by getting your copy here.

This means, oh joy, that all you people who would love to go to the i-Course but can’t get to one can now do your own version at home. And you people who are lucky enough to have attended the i-Course now have a handy reference guide for all those skills that you only just managed to take in on the day.

What’s in the manual?

The 85-page Elite Fitness Manual is packed full of goodies including:

• Olympic lifts and all their progressions
• Kettlebell exercises
• Gymnastic ring training
• Bodyweight exercises
• Abdominal training
• Muscle-up

It covers practically every key exercise and lift in the functional fitness arsenal. All except the bench press. But you know how to bench, right?

Who is the manual for?

The manual is designed to be suitable both for beginners and intermediate trainees. There is plenty of progression in all the key exercises so if you are a beginner you start with the first progression and if you are an intermediate, jump in where you feel comfortable.

You don’t need any experience in the exercises themselves but a general familiarity with free weights and bodyweight exercises is helpful. If you’ve only ever worked out on machines, you’ll be in for a shock!

Many of the skills described in the manual are so complex and tricky to master that you will be kept busy for weeks, months, years. Stemler comments that “you never master the squat: its always work in progress: there is always something you can improve”, and I can personally attest to this as my squat has been a work in progress for about five years!

That’s why a manual like this is so useful and such good value for money. It will last many years, possibly a lifetime. As it is an ebook it is a good deal cheaper than the traditionally published equivalent would be.

Presentation

One aspect that has always impressed me about Stemler’s publications is the look and feel. Compared to many self-published ebooks in this genre, the presentation is slick, entertaining and easy to read. The photo sequences are very helpful. I always find it frustrating when a book presents only one photograph of a particular move; what you really want to know is what it looks like to get from A to B.

The Elite Fitness Manual breaks key moves down photographically, which is really helpful. Nevertheless Stemler acknowledges that this lends a certain falsity to what are fluid and dynamic movements.

The overall thrust of the manual is not: here’s an ideal way to do this difficult move that only super-flexible 12-year-olds can pull off, but more: here are some safe progressions that you can practise on your own.  Eventually you will be able to put them all together.

So the Elite Fitness Manual is your passport to a broad range of athletic, functional skills and can be yours for only £12.99. Worth every penny, I’d say.

Go shop!

More from gubernatrix

• Review: the Crossfit London i-Course
• The A-Z of training books
• Review: the complete guide to training with free weights
• Kettlebell training guide
• Muscle-up and ring training guide

I have been to many circuit classes in my time and in every class the women are allowed to do ‘girly push ups’ – push ups on your knees.

This is fine for beginners and it is a fact of life that the vast majority of women, myself included, start off with a real disadvantage in upper body strength compared to men.

However I’ve also noticed that after months or even years of circuit training most women are still doing girly push ups. The progression isn’t happening.

Is this the fault of the women? Not entirely. It’s also the fault of the instructors.

In ten years of attending circuit classes at various establishments across the country I have only ever come across one instructor who has made an effort to get his female participants to progress to the full push up as soon as possible.

Was he a boot camp instructor? Was he a tough military type? Nope, he was an aerobics teacher.

Luckily for me, this was the first instructor I ever encountered. Within a few weeks of attending Stewart’s class I was managing full push ups – and I’ve never looked back. I can now knock out 50-plus good push ups in one go. Stewart is probably responsible for my entire strength career as the full push up was the first exercise requiring real strength that I ever mastered.

For me, the lesson is obvious. If instructors don’t encourage their female clients to aspire to full push ups from the word go, few will ever make the progression. They will get used to doing push ups on their knees and won’t build the strength to move on.

The way Stewart taught us was to focus on push ups right at the end of the class. We had already done our aerobic workout and were doing work on the mats, so there was no need to get a conditioning effect from the push ups – and hence no need to make them easier.

Stewart would insist that every single person in the class (and we were all women) attempted full push ups. He said that one full push up is better than four girly push ups – and he’s right! He gave us the following technique tips:

Keep your body ramrod straight. Imagine trying to open a jam jar using the point of a knife under the lid. Your body is like the knife, acting as a lever. The straighter you are, the better the leverage.

Try to pull your belly button up to the ceiling. This will keep your core straight and strong.

Try to push evenly through your whole body. When people are attempting push ups for the first time, they often push with their arms first and sort of snake up to their feet. But you should try to move your whole body upwards as one (think of the knife), pushing with arms and feet and pulling with belly button.

Put your hands on the floor not on the mat. You waste energy pushing into the mat which is a soft giving surface.

Another useful detail was that we started by lying on the floor and pushing up, not starting in the top position and lowering (which is what most people naturally do). This is a great way to train the push up since if you can master the push off the floor, you can do the whole thing.

Having a practice session at the end of class is a useful way to get people to progress. Naturally if the object of the circuit class is to get a conditioning workout you will need to let people do girly push ups initially in order to get the aerobic benefit. But you also need to include an opportunity to build the strength and technique to do full push ups, otherwise it doesn’t happen.

Another tip for instructors: I’ve seen time and again women complaining about push ups because they can’t do them, and each time instructors just give in and let them get away with box push ups or whatever. But aren’t you being paid to improve people? Of course women will complain about having to do push ups if they can’t do them, it’s only natural. What they don’t realise – and what you should realise – is that they are capable of doing them. They just need training and practise. You need to open up that door for them, just like Stewart did with me all those years ago.

The final word, of course, must go to the ladies. You can do full push ups. They are hard but once you learn them it is relatively easy to maintain the skill. Come on, put the guys to shame!

More on this

• Fun with press-ups!
• 100 pushup complex (video clip)
• Crossfit push up development video clip
• How-to: Handstand push up
• Bodyweight or bust!

What is the sumo deadlift?

The sumo deadlift is the same exercise as a normal deadlift in that it involves picking a dead weight off the floor and standing up straight, but the stance – the position of the feet and legs – is different.

Think of a Japanese sumo wrestler preparing to fight. He takes up a stance with feet quite wide apart – this is where the sumo deadlift gets its name. Instead of starting with legs shoulder-width apart and arms hanging by your sides, as in the conventional deadlift, you start with legs wide apart and arms hanging down between your legs.

Why is it such a great exercise?

The key difference with sumo stance is that it involves the legs much more than the back. In a conventional deadlift, the legs and the back are supposed to be involved 50-50 and in practise many lifters use a lot more back, particularly if they are a bit lacking in leg strength. Bodybuilders even consider the deadlift a ‘back exercise’. Sumo stance by comparison uses an incredible amount of leg and hip power.

Sumo stance is often favoured by female lifters because women tend to have more powerful legs in relation to their back. A proportion of male lifters also prefer the sumo stance, either because they want to use more leg strength or because the mechanics of the lift just suit them better.

Another advantage of the sumo stance is that the bar does not travel as far as it does in a conventional deadlift. Since the lifter’s legs are wider apart, their hands are closer to the ground at lock out, shaving perhaps an inch or two off the bar’s path from floor to lock out.

How to perform the sumo deadlift

It is recommended that you read the how-to on the conventional deadlift as well, for general deadlifting technique.

Step 1: Position your feet

The position of the feet is the crucial factor in the sumo stance. Different people favour slightly different positions – there is no single ‘right’ way so you will need to experiment yourself.

The two variables you need to consider are: how far apart your feet are, and how far your foot is turned out.

How far apart your feet are

Some people deadlift sumo with feet only a little further apart than the conventional deadlift. Others have their feet as far apart as possible, almost up against the weight plates.

Theoretically, wider is better. However it can also be uncomfortable on the hips and does take some getting used to. Some people never feel entirely comfortable in such a wide position and lift better with their feet a few inches inside of the weight plates instead of right up against them.

With a very wide stance you also have to be careful that you don’t drop the weight plates on your feet! This is especially important in the lowering phase or if you are doing speed work. One way to solve this problem is to wear steel toe capped boots, which takes the worry factor away.

How far your foot is turned out

For most of the big lifts like squat and conventional deadlift, the recommended foot position is slightly splayed. However in the sumo deadlift it may actually be better to turn the foot out as close to 90 degrees as possible (see the picture on the right).

The further your foot is turned out, the easier the stance is on your knees and hips as the foot is more in line with the leg. However this does make it harder to balance, especially during the latter part of the lift. As you drive into lock out it is possible to overbalance and sway backwards.

There is also the issue of comfort and how well you are able to turn your foot out in the first place. We’re not all ballerinas! Again, the answer is to experiment and find the most effective position for you.

Step 2: Starting position

Having positioned your feet in the way you want them, squat down and take hold of the bar (see below for a note on grip). Your arms should be hanging straight down between your legs and should grip the bar where they naturally hang. Be careful not to bend at the elbows.

Shoulders should be back and down. Note that due to the mechanics of the sumo stance your shoulder blades are not over the bar as they would be in a conventional deadlift but a little further back.

Your butt should be right down as close to parallel with the floor as you can get it (see right). This is different from the conventional deadlift where the butt is above parallel. In the sumo deadlift, the lower you can get your butt, the more power you can derive from the hip thrust when you lift.

You may find this position uncomfortable on the hips and knees when you first try it. This is normal, especially if you have been used to doing conventional style deadlifts. Try to keep your knees in line with your toes as much as possible throughout the lift.

Step 3: Breathe and prepare to lift

As with any of the power lifts, breathing is very important. Once you are in position, take a big breath in and ‘lock’ everything tight in preparation for the lift.

Ensure that your back is flat or arched before you lift. Try not to lift with a rounded back. You may need to film yourself from the side or get a friend to check your position to ensure that your back isn’t rounding.

Step 4: Lift the bar and drive hips forward

As you start to lift the bar, push hard through your feet and then drive your hips forward. The majority of the power for this lift is coming from your legs and from the action of your hips coming forward.

As with any power lift but especially when you are lifting heavy, you should be trying to accelerate the bar. Since it is heavy it doesn’t actually move that fast, but your intention should be to move it fast. This makes the lift more powerful.

Although the move is powerful, it is more of a squeeze off the floor than a jerk. Keep the bar as close to your body as you can, as this is the optimal path for the bar to take – straight up!

Think also about pushing your knees outwards as you lift in order to keep them in line with your feet, as you would do in a wide stance squat.

Step 5: Lock out

Continue pushing through the legs until you reach the lock out position, when your legs are completely straight. Your arms will also have stayed completely straight throughout the lift.

Some people breathe out when they reach the lock out position, others hold their breath until they have lowered the bar again.

Step 6: Lower the bar

Like the conventional deadlift it is important to lower the bar as carefully as you lifted it, as many injuries occur due to dumping the bar with poor form. Lower the bar safely by reversing the lift. Keep your back flat and the bar close to the body.

If your stance is very wide, be careful not to place the bar down on your feet!

Note on grip

There are two main grip styles used in the deadlift:

• double overhand grip, with both palms facing in towards the body
• alternate or reverse grip, with one palm facing in and one palm facing out

The double overhand grip is safer than the alternate grip but not as strong. The alternate grip puts an asymmetrical stress on the body and particularly on the supinated arm (the one facing away from the body).

It is therefore recommended that you use the double overhand grip for as long as possible before switching to the alternate grip for the heaviest sets, and also to do a lighter set using the alternate grip the other way round so that the body is not constantly stressed on the same side.

Alternatively, continue to use the double overhand grip but use straps for the heaviest sets when your grip gives out. This is safer, but may compromise development of grip strength.

It is also a good idea to use chalk to aid your grip and lessen callus formation. If you belong to a gym that doesn’t allow chalk, you should probably change your gym.

How to use the sumo deadlift in your training

If you are more comfortable deadlifting in the sumo stance than the conventional stance, you can use the sumo stance as your main method of deadlifting. There is no problem with using the sumo stance in competition, for instance.

However, be aware that the sumo stance involves a lot less back work than the conventional deadlift and over time your back strength might deteriorate if you don’t include extra back work such as good mornings, rows and conventional deadlifts.

Many people train both types of deadlift even though they may favour sumo in competition, to ensure that back strength is maintained.

The sumo deadlift uses many of the same muscle groups, and in the same way as a wide stance squat, so regular wide stance squatting will help your sumo deadlift both in terms of technique and in developing the required flexibility to be comfortable in the stance.

Note on footwear

Go to any powerlifting competition and you will see a wide variety of foot attire on display during the deadlift, more so than in the squat and the bench press.

In principle, the thinner the sole of your shoe, the less distance the bar has to travel. A chunky sole could add an inch to the bar’s path. Therefore many people will opt for deadlift slippers, very thin plimsole-like footwear, in order to minimise the distance the bar has to travel as much as possible. You can even deadlift barefoot or in stocking feet.

With the sumo stance however the issue of feet slipping comes into play because of the wide stance and the fact that you are pushing down and outwards through your feet as you lift. You may have to experiment with different shoes and surfaces to ensure you don’t slip as some rubber mats can be a bit slick. It is possible to use chalk or resin on the soles of your shoes to give you better grip.

The other issue with sumo stance, as discussed above, is the proximity of your feet to the weight plates. Steel toe cap boots will deal with this issue but they are generally quite thick-soled so you need to weigh up the disadvantage of adding an extra bit of height to your lift against saving your toes from decapitation.

Further reading

• How to improve the sumo deadlift by Mike Robertson
• Go Sumo from EliteFTS
• 10 tips for sumo deadlifting from EliteFTS
• Converting to sumo deadlift: how I made it work for me from Dragon Door
• Video clip of Ed Coan deadlifting sumo
• Video clip of Aneta Florczyk deadlifting sumo

More from gubernatrix

• How to deadlift
• How low should I squat?
• How to bench press
• Breathing in the bench press
• How to front squat

The competition was held by the British Drug-Free Powerlifting Association. There are a number of powerlifting federations in the UK. I got involved with this one because the guy who runs my local gym is a divisional rep for the BDFPA and organises many of the competitions for this region. Last weekend’s meet was such an event, a regional qualifier for the south west of England.

On the day there was a powerlifting competition, which consists of the three events of squat, bench press and deadlift, and also a single lift competition for the squat. All events were ‘unequipped’, meaning that no supportive gear can be worn other than belts (of the regulation thickness) and wrist wraps. Knees wraps are not allowed.

My aims

I was not expecting to have any competition in my weight class as there are so few female powerlifters around. So my aim was not so much to win my class – although if there had been another competitor I would certainly have wanted to beat them – but to lift enough to qualify for the BDFPA nationals and get as many PBs (personal bests) in my lifts as I could. I also wanted to have fun and enjoy my first event!

Before the meet

Recovery, rules and regulations, opening lifts, making weight

I stopped lifting just over a week before the competition in order to be fresh for the day. You will not lose any strength in a week but your body will have a chance to rest and recover from the hard training that you have done in the lead up to the event.

In the week before the meet, I re-read the rules for the federation regarding performance of the lifts, clothing and equipment, and decided on my opening lifts. You need to inform the organisers of your opening lifts at the time that you weigh in. I was advised to choose a weight that I could do for at least two reps in the gym. In fact I was a little more conservative than even that. Since it was my first competition and I didn’t know how I would be affected by nerves, competition rules or my wellbeing on the day, I wanted to make sure that I could at least get some lifts on the board. Your second lift cannot be lower than your opening lift, so you need to be sure that you can make it otherwise you will not score for that event (in fact this happened to one competitor on the day).

I was concerned that I wouldn’t make weight for the class I wished to compete in. The last 2-3 days before the event I was very careful what I ate and on the morning of the event I didn’t eat or drink anything until after the weigh in (which fortunately was quite early in the day). I made my weight with 0.2 kg to spare!

Because it was such a close run thing, I was mentally prepared to lift in the next weight class up if necessary and I had also checked the qualifying totals for that class.

The people

I turned up on my own, not really knowing what to expect. But right from the beginning the atmosphere was friendly and welcoming. Plenty of people chatted to me and helped me out, answered questions, gave support and encouragement and were generally quite lovely. Throughout a long day in a cold school gym, both lifters and their supporters applauded every single lift and cheered every single lifter.

I think that any aspiring lifter would have felt comfortable in that atmosphere. The fact that you turn up and lift is enough for people to get behind you. It really doesn’t matter how much is on the bar; if you are out there making an effort everyone supports you.

It is interesting how the reality of a meet can dismiss the preconceptions that people may have about powerlifters: big, mean, unapproachable, elitist types who grunt and yell and won’t speak to you unless you can bench 400 lbs.

Well, although there is occasionally some grunting and yelling, they are certainly not mean and unapproachable – quite the opposite. And they are not all that big either. Most of the male lifters at this meet were between 75kg and 90kg. There were quite a few ‘in shape’ guys who weren’t carrying much extra body fat and would not have looked out of place in a bodybuilding contest. I myself, while having no pretensions to bodybuilding or physique contests, am quite happy being a size 10 (that’s UK size 10, ladies!) with no particular desire to bulk up. You really don’t have to be big to enjoy powerlifting.

There were only two of us female lifters in the competition and the other lady was in a different weight class from me so we weren’t really competing against each other. It’s a pity there wasn’t more competition but at national level there are some really strong girls in my weight class so I am looking forward to pitting myself against them.

The process

It’s a long day and even though the organisers moved things on at a decent pace, it still takes a while to get through everybody’s lifts. One of the hardest things to manage is the length of the session and the time between events. I did my first lift around 11am and my final lift around 5pm. Plenty of food, hot coffee and staying warm helps. The nervous energy and excitement surrounding a competition also keeps you going.

It is advisable to make sure you are absolutely certain of the rules for each lift and if not, to ask a referee. I was relieved not to make any technical errors in my lifts but I saw plenty of other people get the rules wrong and therefore get a ‘no lift’. Common errors were: lifting or moving the feet during the bench press, ‘hitching’ the bar during the deadlift and not going low enough in the squat.

The lifts

I was privately very curious as to how I would perform in a competition setting. Different people have different experiences; some say that they always do their best lifts in competition, others find that they under-perform and don’t quite get as much as they do in the gym. I have heard people say that a competition can sometimes be worth an extra 10-20kg on the bar due to the adrenalin and the support of the crowd.

I was largely pleased with my performance and it is true that audience support really makes a difference. I got PBs in the squat (by 7.5kg) and the deadlift (by 5kg). The increases were not enormous but several people commented that they thought I had more in me and perhaps they were right. I find it hard to judge just how far I can push it. For example, my third deadlift attempt was a PB and immediately afterwards I felt completely drained. I put myself down for a fourth lift without really thinking that I would get it (legs were like jelly) but I managed to get a PB again. The crowd really helped with this one!

One consequence of having a modest opening lift is that it is harder to really push the poundage on your second and third attempts. Too big a jump in weight between attempts can backfire. I had this dilemma with my deadlift. I decided to reduce my opening lift from 110kg to 95kg just before the deadlift event started because I only needed 90kg to get my qualifying total. I was carrying an injury and feeling a bit fatigued so it seemed like a sensible option. However with a much lower opener, I needed to take big jumps in weight to get into the PB zone. I ended up with a fourth lift of 125kg, which was a PB by 5kg. But if I had started at 110kg, my third attempt would probably have been at 130kg. Who knows, I might have got it…

Being able to judge these issues of course comes with experience. Generally speaking I am happy to be slightly conservative but come away with a respectable result. If my overriding aim had been to get the highest deadlift possible I would have pushed it, but as my aim was to qualify for the next competition, I chose to make sure of that first.

My bench press was somewhat disappointing but since I was carrying an injury (from rock climbing, as it happens, not powerlifting) this was not entirely unexpected. I managed to get my opening lift so at least I had a score for that event. Ironically the impact of my injury was less physical than psychological: knowing that I was carrying an injury, I did not feel confident about the lift and was not as aggressive as I could have been in its execution. There is a great psychological element to powerlifting. You’ve only got one chance to get it right and that weight can seem very intimidating.

I was chuffed, though, that several people commented on how good my technique was, especially in the squat. I am sure that some of the compliments were generous as it was my first competition, but enough people mentioned it to convince me that there’s an element of truth in it! Although I have been lifting for around three years, I have only been lifting in a powerlifting style for a few months. Some techniques, such as my bench press technique I have only adopted in the last few weeks. So it is encouraging to get good feedback.

Statistics

I am sure you are all curious to know what I lifted. You want to see if you are stronger than me, don’t you! Well, the following table shows all the lifts I attempted on the platform.

63kg female open unequipped

My powerlifting total was: 267.5 kg (4th attempts don’t count, if anyone’s doing the maths).

Adding together all my attempts in each event, I lifted a total of 980kg on the platform that day (not including warm up lifts). That is 2,156 lbs or 154 stone.

My warm ups totalled a further 1,530kg. So altogether I lifted 2,510kg which is 5,522 lbs or 395 stone.

Although he didn’t have the figures to hand, the presiding official reckons I broke the south west divisional records in squat and deadlift for my weight class.

Not bad for a Sunday afternoon.

Conclusion

The meet lived up to my expectations and I met all my aims so it was a successful day. It has fired me up to continue lifting and competing. It was also great to see so many powerlifters in one place.

I have written before about the difficulties of finding other people who train in the same way and of having the support of a peer group when lifting. I often feel like the weird one in the gym so it was great to be one of the gang for a change.

I found this one of the most sociable sporting events I have taken part in. There is a lot of hanging around, which perhaps makes people more disposed to fall into conversation in order to pass the time. You also get to know the other lifters in your flight as you all warm up together. Your fellow lifters will support you so there’s no need to bring your own cheerleaders. All in all, it’s a great way to put all that training to good use!