Movement Variations

It’s Monday morning and as I write this I’m just coming off a weeks holiday. Forgive me if i’m a little flat.

But there’s been lots of PB’s this month from Team Savage, so lets get at it!

Starting with Jen, Jen just keeps hitting PB’s, and has hit new 5RMs in the Push Press at 44kg, Squat at 76kg as well as new 1RMs of 96kg in the Squat and 34kg in the Snatch. Those new 5RMs aren’t Jens only PB’s there, she’s been hitting them weekly. Who knew that simple linear progression of adding a kilo a week worked.

Paul will be hitting new PBs this week, but at the minute hasn’t hit any new ones in June, I just thought i’d mention it as you can expect to see them in the Squat and Push Press in July.

Joe has been smashing his training recently and hit his first big goal of going belt-less and sleeveless and beating his all time wrapped Squat. He it 205kg x5, beating his best wrapped squat by 2kg and 2 reps. Joe also hit a nice log press PB of 105kg x1 clean & 5 press.

Young Jo flying and nailed his targets in the Squat this month, finishing his Squat cycle with a 220kg Squat adding 20kg to his max back squat while hitting rep PBs on the way there. This allows us now to turn our attention towards the deadlift and front squat going forwards. The Deadlift because it’s a staple of strongman and the Front Squat because it feeds so many things in strongman. Jo also hit PB’s in the Farmers of 122.5kg p/h x20m in sub 11 secs & 130kg p/h x15m in sub 12 secs while taking a Push Press PB of 92.5kg x6 & Axle FTOH PB of 97.5 x1+5.

Olivia had a little 4 week break in her rugby season so it was the perfect time to push some strength work and she hit 90kg x5 in the Squat. She also hit a Snatch PB of 38kg (+1kg) & a C&J PB of (60kg (+10kg) and a new Push Press 5RM of 46kg.

While Wil hit a Strict OHP PB of 57kg (+2kg). Wil often struggles with core stiffness and drives the bar away when it gets heavy overhead. We’ve been treating this with seated, backless strict press and it’s paying off. This movement works great because if you lean back to counteract driving the bar forward, you’ll just fall over, so it’s a great movement for teaching optimal body position.

In the Weightlifting Club Megan hit a PB back Squat of 80kg adding a total of 5kg to her max back squat this training cycle.

Marie also hit some great Squat PB’s of 61 x5 which was 1kg heavier than her 1RM at the time and then went on to hit 82kg x1 (+20kg). This is great because, while a big back squat doesn’t just increase the snatch and C&J on its own, it does increase their potential and gives us some building blocks to progress with.

In the SM Club Dan L hit a Front Squat PB of 140kg (+20kg)…

As did George C who added 5kg to his front squat taking it up to 105kg.

George F has been blistering this block hitting numerous Deadlift PBs on his way to 255kg x5, 270kg x4 & 275kg x3. That 300kg is getting within touching distance now! He also took PB’s in the Sandbag at 140kgx 35m, Farmers hold at 142.5kg x 20 seconds, Front Squat at 155kg x1 and Good Mornings at 180kg x6. I believe the Good Mornings have played a huge part in Georges Deadlift development and in creating a strong hinge and strong erectors which have give him a solid platform to propel off.

And in the Online Clubs Sean W hit a new PB Deadlift of 265kg.

Awesome work by all my guys this month!

You’ll notice a couple of times, mainly with George and Wil, that I mentioned a movement that I used to drive a different ‘core’ movement. This is an important concept to keep in mind when deciding how training is going to look as some times, just doing the full movement isn’t enough too push through problems.

Now, there’s are many ways to approach using a variation and this will depend on phase and your overall training structure, but whether you completely swap out the main movement for the variation, program it on a second day, or have it in as assistance after the main movement…

As long as it works in the situation, there’s no right or wrong answer to how you approach using variations to attack problem areas.

I could go into this deeper but thats not the point of this blog… But if you are struggling with something, you could always comment.

Until next time

Adam