Trained John this afternoon. He was stoked and fired up for the meet.
Sadly, during his second work set in the squat, he got the bar badly on his back and said he had a pinched nerve below his neck. He froze halfway up during his 2nd rep and I helped him rack the bar. To me, his bar placement looked fine, but we agreed that it the set was over and he had the willies for the 3rd set. So, on to the bench press which he did fine. He stopped on the 3rd rep of his second set of deadlifts with an unchallenging weight, but came back to finish his last two reps. He pointed at his right outer quad and said it hurt. So we declared that over too.
His parents are in Chicago today, and he was under the care of some family friends. I told them about his issues and they will be passed along. I will follow up just to make sure everything got reported as I saw it. It was his right leg that caved during the deadlift at the Summer Games, so maybe a look by the doc is in order.
Lena was there tonight and asked for some deadlift coaching. So after watching her lift, I advised her to keep her hips higher, her feet closer together, and the bar closer to her shins. I had also told her not to turn out her feet so much, but she insisted they would turn out when she lifted. Which they did. So I told her to use the foot position most comfortable for her. She had an ongoing problem with letting the bar drift out from her legs, and she admitted it hurt her back when it came out. She'll come around. I am confident.