Articles | lifts


Capt James Rodgers | October 11, 2023

One thing that is guaranteed to draw a lot of attention or admiration from concerned onlookers is to overhead press a heavy weight with a lot of layback. Layback is the tendency for the back angle to become more horizontal during a heavy overhead press and for the back to go into extension to accommodate a more efficient bar path and to recruit more muscle mass into the lift.  

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Mark Rippetoe | October 04, 2023

“Because that's the way we do it” is never an acceptable answer to a question. Neither is “It's always worked for me,” or “That's the way I was taught, and I've always done it this way.” If someone asks a question about what you're doing, an answer like this demonstrates that you haven't thought about why you're doing it.

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Mark Rippetoe | September 20, 2023

The mechanics of pulling a barbell off the floor have been discussed rather thoroughly in the Blue Book...[including] the difference between snatches, cleans, and heavy deadlifts. There are profound mechanical differences between the lifts that involve balance, back angle, and acceleration, and as a result the three lifts produce different training effects. It behooves the coach to understand these things so that training the pull can be accomplished efficiently.

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Mark Rippetoe | August 30, 2023

I have noticed an increasingly common problem in barbell gyms, that I attribute primarily to laziness. Yes, the rack pull exercise is easier to do than the full pull off the floor. Yes, it's easier to get into a good lumbar extension...

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Jim Steel | July 26, 2023

I decided that it was time to really push the squat poundage and see where I could end up. I had always run a lot, both for football and for fun. I wanted to find out how strong I could get by just lifting and eating and not tapping into my recovery with all the running.

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