Weekly Favourite Five #1

As a recap for the week, I'll be putting up the five favourite posts from you guys and girls who support me on my social media. I'll also be providing the behind-the-scene to what came about with each post to give you a better understanding of the purpose of each one.

1. Lunges: Love Them or Hate Them.

This was to introduce some of the accessory work I prescribe my lifters at SES. More importantly, I wanted to provide a picture of how lunges can be modified in terms of where the overload can be distributed to elicit the adaptations you want in regards to strengthening the body.

Lunges: Love Them or Hate Them. . The lunge is a very powerful tool in a strength coach's arsenal of exercises to strengthen the body for sport. . For weightlifting, almost all of our movements are performed on the sagitaal plane (as I have mentioned before). Apart from lateral movements which we need to add in, we need to challenge the body transversely. . The lunge is good for this as it helps with ensuring that minimal rotation occurs in the hips and pelvis when the legs are challenged to move in opposite to one another. For example in the split jerk, it's common to see these days that the hips are rotated out of whack due to the familiarity of splitting in one direction. . Apart from learning to split on both sides, strengthening exercises such as the lunges need to be introduced as accessory work to prevent this rotation from manifesting into an overuse injury. . As you can see @rachel_elise90 and @allnutadventures performing dumbbell lunges as part of a conditioning EMoM at the end of their session. The placement of a load in the lunge is also critical as it emphasises the overload principle. We use dumbbells by the side so that the additional overload is focused on the hips which we are training with an anti-rotation purpose. . If you find yourself over-rotating in the split jerk, better be lunging often to keep your hip and pelvic stability strong. . #TheTrainingGeek #weightlifting #olympic #lifting #crossfit #crossfitgames #fit #fitness #workout #wod #train #training #lunge #dumbbell #hips #pelvis #stability #strength #strong #unilateral #active #lifestyle #gym #gymlife #getfit #instafitness #exercise #paleo

See this Instagram video by @lesterhokw * 180 likes

2. When one learns to use their legs, one feels the weight move easy.

This was a highlight of one of my athletes whom I have worked with awhile back and recently gotten back to working with her again. It is empirical for an athlete to constantly improve and one of the things that will help sustain progress in the lifts is the use of the legs. Because you be squatting most of the time so learning to translate that squat strength to your lifts will only help you progress your lifts further if taught to use the legs well.

When one learns to use their legs, one feels the weight move easy. . Then one hits a PB. . Good way for @cbearc to begin her strength cycle with @crossfitvictoria while we keep refining her lifting and barbell cycling technique. . #Repost @cbearc with @repostapp ・・・ Hang snatch PB feeling very comfortable at 60kg. Thanks @lesterhokw 😊😊😊 #engagethelegs #bigquadsaregoodforsomething #thisishowimeditate #workinprogress #thetraininggeek #TheLesterEffect #girlswhocrossfit #crossfitgirls #girlswholift

See this Instagram video by @lesterhokw * 141 likes

3. Keep Your Hips Healthy. Don't Be Lazy.

This was actually posted while I was sitting down waiting for my chiro to be done with his sessions at our collaborative weekend at Warrnambool. I have always found that keeping good posture is easily forgotten and many, including myself, try to get away with it and only see negative repercussions in your training or lifts. Treating it like incidental exercise, making mobility an incidental thing is also relevant in ensuring that you are taking care of your body if you want to put it through vigorous training.

Sitting is a big culprit of causing the hips to tighten up. . To resolve this problem, it is important to ensure that sitting posture is maintained appropriately. . Here are a few tips I would suggest to give you a better pelvic position which in turn benefits the hips. . 1. Keep a band around the top of the sacrum and around the knees. This helps glide the femur back into the hips. . 2. Ensure that the feet are sufficiently elevated to ease off the posterior chain to maintain lower limb posture when sitting. . 3. Find pressure on the hamstrings instead of the hip capsule which tends to encourage posterior pelvic tilt and the locking of the hips over time. . Just a few simple ways to make sure your regular lifestyle doesn't affect your lifting lifestyle. . #TheTrainingGeek #weightlifting #olympiclifting #oly #crossfit #fitness #strong #muscle #cardio #abs #health #gym #motivation #instafitness #instadaily #posture #mobility #supple #hips #active #lifestyle #getfit #training #train #gymlife #bodybuilding #squats #squat #paleo

See this Instagram photo by @lesterhokw * 128 likes

4. Shoulders Over = Staying Over.

The basis for this post was more along the lines of something I read online. There is a constant battle in the way the power position is taught. I just wanted to provide my logic and explanation behind the positioning of the shoulders but more in lines of making sure that the legs are positioned well under the torso in order for the correct direction in force production. It is afterall the crux of the lift as getting to the power position and how you move off from it can make or break the lift.

Learn to Stay Over, Keep Your Shoulders Over. . There is a battle between teaching the power position in relation to where the shoulders should be in relation to the bar. . When getting ready to produce force, it is definitely important to achieve a position where as many levers possible are used. . If the shoulders stay behind, the hips will need to open up first before the knees can to finish the extension (torso + femur). If the shoulders stay over, the knees will extend alongside with the hips (torso + femur + lower leg). . Also, if the shoulders remain behind, more of the upper back is involved to keep the bar close as it separates from the hips. While if the shoulders are over, the torso is already closer as it makes its descent under the bar after the second pull. . So more levers involved and better position of the torso as you reposition the trunk under during the turnover, I would say keeping the shoulders over would be a more efficient position for power.

See this Instagram photo by @lesterhokw * 129 likes

5. Keeping The Back Knee Bent in The Split.

This being one of my more recent posts, this came about as I was teaching several of my lifters who were working on their jerks in this past week. From personal experience having gone through injury with the hip flexor from not bending the knee too much (also because I have terrible core strength), I have found it easier to support the weight of the bar with a bent back leg. Ever since, teaching the bent knee has also helped with preventing the lifter from leaning forward too much or shifting the hips forward when achieving the split.

Keeping the Knee Bent in the Split. . I commonly get the question of whether to keep the back leg straight or drop the knee down. . Before I give them a direct answer, I typically ask them two questions. 1. How tight are their hip flexors? 2. How tight are their shoulders? . First of all, a hip flexor that is tight will cause a "break" in holding the neutral spine when the leg is kept straight. Dropping the knee will ease off on the hip flexor and allow the neutral spine to be kept. . If the shoulders are tight, it means that the arms can't go further back and the scaps can't retract to have a better overhead position. So what this means is that if the back leg is kept straight, this either causes the torso to tip forward and eventually have the bar in front of the lifter. Or the back has to hyperextend to maintain balance which will not be a nice position to hold when it gets heavy. . Dropping the knee in the split will help ensure that the shoulder, hip and knee will remain stacked under the bar and allow you to receive the weight in your split more vertically than losing the neutral spine. . #TheTrainingGeek #weightlifting #olympic #lifting #oly #crossfit #crossfitgames #split #jerk #technique #overhead #spine #stability #train #training #fit #fitness #workout #wod #strong #strength #active #lifestyle #exercise #health #paleo #bodybuilding #muscle #abs

See this Instagram photo by @lesterhokw * 119 likes

So that's it for this week's Favourite Five. As always, thank you for your support as I continue to share with you more of my thoughts and ideas in the sport of weightlifting.