Bruce Lee quote to start off this entry : "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times"
I'm not going to footnote or end-note this post. I COULD cite sources, studies, scientific journals, etc; however that would defeat the purpose of this entry. Athletes routinely send me videos (both current and former athletes) asking for input. Much of these videos have huge amounts of flaws. I am realizing, however, the athletes don't want input, they want a pat on the back for doing things wrong and improperly/unsafely.
Like I said, I am not going to cite sources in this entry but rather use a common sense approach. I have had a number of athletes humbly brag to me that they are squatting 700lbs. When I open the video file what I see is not a back squat, but more akin to someone trying to get the underwear out of their bum while a loaded bar is on their shoulders. My athletes know that sometimes (depending on the phase of training) I will program squats less than full once in a while (not often, but sometimes) however I will never program extremely shallow squats with a huge amount of weight. To put it bluntly, no Virginia, you cannot squat that much. As a common sense approach, take Xiaojun as an example. One of the best current olympic weightlifters. Take a look at this clip of him squatting 280kilos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmM-jR77SkY
By saying that you can squat more than him, you are telling me that you are on par with him in terms of strength and (most likely) athleticism. Which no, you aren't. Like I said, just being brutally honest here. Anyone whom I have coached knows how slowly I progress my athletes early on. So it breaks my heart when I see all of my hundreds of hours of work fly out the window, just so they can put more weight on the bar. Now I know how that guy from that movie felt, yeah THAT guy...
So all of this background just leads me to the title of my post...use your flippin' head! Just use common sense for a lot of these issues. I spoke before about how athletes need to stop viewing squats as a lift and start viewing it as a body movement. The technique for one style of squat should be the same as any other (front squat posture and stability should be the same as back squat, should be the same as body-weight). Back squats are a tool, they are not the competition. And the way to best utilize that tool is to perform it correctly regardless of the weight attached. Take another tool, for example, a hammer. What is the best way to use it? Well, the flat metal end hits the nail. Could you smack the nail with the claw end? Or the handle? Sure. Would it knock the nail in? Yeah kinda, but it wouldn't be pretty. Think of squats along the same lines. COULD you barely move with any range of motion with a gabillion pounds? Well yeah. Would part of your legs get a workout? Meh, somewhat, but it most definitely ain't pretty, and it most definitely ain't productive, efficient, or the best way to utilize that movement.
My high school track coach said a bunch of times "A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing" and boy was he right. Nowadays, anyone who lifts a weight considers them an expert and feels they have carte blanche to instruct others about their methods. I understand what happens during a quadruple bypass surgery more or less. Does that qualify me to not only perform one, but also instruct others how to perform one? Boy I hope not, I can barely sew up a hole in my pants. Why do we allow unqualified people to tell young athletes what to do in terms of weightlifting, strength training, and other areas of sport? I really have no idea, but that is where it falls upon the athletes' to use their heads, use some common sense and realize that what they are doing is wrong, dangerous, and needs to stop. If the workouts that are being given to you were found on some message board on the internet, you probably need to say something.
In closing, weightlifting is a great tool for adding strength, flexibility and training the nervous system; however it can also cause a lot of injury and inflexibility if performed improperly. Use some common sense, be careful who you listen to regarding training and try to educate yourselves. Anyone who knows me knows I am always available for input and I have no issues telling someone what they're doing is batcrap crazy. Focus on proper technique, admit your flaws (very important) and then correct those flaws. And above all, lift safely!
