Kiama Strength & Conditioning Program Archives

Spartan Training Club Kiama focused on form

Box Squats

The Box Squat is a great tool for teaching people how to squat properly. Alot of people can’t squat with very good form their first few times but just about everyone can box squat, as long as you set the box to an appropriate height.

That means the point at which they can maintain a neutral spine or where they start crashing into the box due to weak hamstrings. This is usually at, or just below, parallel thigh height.The Box Squat teaches people to sit back a bit more and helps alleviate some of the knees forward, quad dominant squatting that is usually quite prevalent in beginners. It’s also a good exercise for those with problematic knees.

The box squat allows you to reach back more than would be otherwise allowable at a given stance, and it can be easy to achieve vertical shins. This piles more work onto the hamstrings and posterior chain, which is something all squatters need more of.

The box also provides a nice boost of confidence and security – “there’s something beneath me in case I miss.” This helps mentally blocked or timid lifters push higher weights.

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Strength and Mobility

The enemy of the squatter is both looseness and tightness. If the upper body or core gets at all loose, the weight will fold you over in a hurry, risking major injury. Yet if the shoulders, hip flexors and hamstrings are too tight, the correct body position and technique won’t be attainable and it’ll be hard to perform the movement well. Depth and spinal position will suffer.

The best squatters have great joint mobility but can also produce tremendous tension where they need it. EVERYTHING must remain tight – your upper back, lower back, abs, hips, legs, grip, everything. You should be sitting on the box like a motionless statue. The only thing you do is pause briefly and then you stand back up the exact same way you sat down.

Back to basics

The first few weeks of the training year can be tough stuff. After the Xmas break which has usually involved less than ideal food choices and a fair amount of alcohoI, your body can be behind the eight ball right from the outset. Then, it’s as though your body forgets what even the most basic exercises and movements feel like. That’s why we have eased back into training so far despite the high motivation that comes with this time of year.

There was a thorough Assessment process and now these past few sessions Spartan Training Club Kiama has returned to a more normal routine with a Back to Basics Program covering the Squat, Trap Bar Deadlift, Neutral Grip Chin Up and Incline Bench Press. It’s been a while since we have performed these exercises after rounding out 2014 with a Bodyweight Blitz Program and also some high energy CrossFit workouts.

Between these four compound Back to Basics exercises, we have started back with a moderate to heavy workload. This has enabled us to focus on technique and safety first, which will ultimately lead to greater improvements later in the year.

Stronger than ever before

Val Perkovic started Spartan Training back in October last year and, along with his weekly Conditioning sessions, has been one of our most consistent attendees since. Over the past 12 monthsVal has been overhauled his life giving up smoking, alcohol and getting into a regular routine of exercise and organic food.

Just the other day Val mentioned that the last time he did any sort of strength training was when he was given a home gym as a gift for his 21st birthday. Now 46, Val has developed some great lower body strength especially with a 115kg Squat to start the year.

Val is very motivated for 2015 especially after setting some challenging Goals and identifying the underlying motivation as to why those Goals are important to him. His upper body strength is one of his main priorities and aims to improve btoh his Chin Ups and Incline Bench Press numbers. In only 12 weeks though, Val has already improved so much that he is the strongest he’s ever been and the sky’s the limit for this bloke.

Spartan Training Club Kiama train for Power

Deadlifts

A staple exercise in most Spartan programs has been the Trap Bar Deadlift. The Trap Bar configuration allows you to step “inside” the barbell rather than behind it, changing the lever length when lifting and significantly reducing the amount of sheer force on the spine.

For the majority of the population, getting into a good deadlift position with a straight bar is can be a challenge often requiring a lot of patience and mobility work. This is especially true among the desk-jockey type guys who spend eight hours a day practicing lumbar flexion and posterior pelvic tilt.

However, in trying to achieve maximum back extensor and hamstring recruitment, then the straight bar is a better option. The hamstring’s primary role is to bend the knee and extend the hip when you’re bent forward. While this does occur during a trap bar deadlift, it’s to a lesser degree than during the straight bar version, which keeps most of the load on the hip joint, rather than the knee and ankles.

Known as the posterior chain, it’s is the most influential muscle group in the body. The glutes, hamstrings, and lower back tremendously affect your athletic prowess – they’re the prime movers of forward propulsion. So in the interests of power and athleticism, it’s on to the straight bar deadlifts in this program.

Tighten the lats before takeoff. Retract the shoulder blades down and back not just back. When some people pull the shoulder blades back they inadvertently use their upper traps to pull creating tension in the shoulders/neck. We do want to create tension but we want it behind the armpits in the lats.

Marathon magnificence

Two of our 6am Spartans, Richard Wadwell and Jamie Williams took on the 42km Gold Coast Marathon this past weekend with Rich finishing in 4hours 10 mins and and Jamie with an impressive time of 3 hours 11 mins.

I’m so stoked for Richard who has battled injury and time off training for around 18 months in the lead up to starting Spartan this year. He was often injured/in pain and despite seeing chiros/physios etc his lifelong dream of completing a marathon seemed doomed. However he has now completed two this year and we can’t keep him still. Awesome Rich!

To put Jamie’s time in perspective, go out and run just 1km and do it under 4 and a 1/2 minutes. It won’t be the fastest that’s ever been run but you will have to work for it, depending on your ability. Now do that at the same pace for 41 more kilometres and it will make you realise just what a great effort his time of 3 hours 11 minutes is. You’d think the big guy would be taking a well earnt rest but I got the above text from him this morning saying he can’t wait to get back into Spartan training!

Geoff McIntyre

Strength transformation of this week goes to Geoff McIntyre. Geoff has always been a cardio guy, he can run like the wind and he enjoys it. For a long time though he also wanted to work on his strength, particularly upper body. Over the past few months he has made some great upper body progress with Chin Ups by moving his way through the Purple band and Incline Presses have jumped 10kg in a matter of 2 programs. The legs have developed along the way also with a Deadlift of 140kg on the Trap Bar. Not a bad effort especially considering tall guys aren’t exactly bui8lt for deadlifts!

Kiama Spartan Training Club transition from strength to power

Barbell Rows

For building back thickness, you don’t need to look any further than the Barbell Row. However, forget the idea that a barbell row is just a “back” or “upper body” exercise. You need to unrack the bar, set your stance, and bend at the waist. But before you even perform your first pull, the glutes, hamstrings, and hips are working to stabilize you. Oh, and don’t forget the abdominals, which keep your low back from crumbling.

A big benefit of the barbell row is that you can use more weight than with other rowing variations. The more weight you use, the more these “other” muscles are called into play to help – and on heavy sets, they need to fire to allow the back muscles and shoulder girdle to experience maximum recruitment.

If they don’t fire efficiently, it could be the difference between a smoothly pulled row and one involving a lot of jerky momentum. When that happens it usually involves subtle movement at the hip and glutes. This takes them out of their stabilizing role, leading to a greater likelihood of a rounded lower back.

So while it’s a kick-ass full body exercise, the barbell row is also prone to a whole lot of butchering. Let’s look at some key technique points that will have you barbell rowing correctly.

You should grip the bar for a barbell row like you would a bench press. A tight grip will transmit force to the shoulder and make it stronger. The position for the hands when rowing is just outside shoulder-width

So we have a solid grip on the bar and we’re bent right over the barbell. You should be closer to 90 degrees than 45. If you can get closer to 90, and maintain a strong position, you should. If you can’t, you need to work on some flexibility and mobility exercises to improve your hip hinging ability.

Lift the chest up slightly, arch the low back a bit, and get your head in line with your spine. Brace the abdominals to get as stable as possible.

Lastly, tighten up the glutes and “grip the floor” with your feet. Tightening the glutes and “gripping the floor” may be new to you, but for best results the barbell row should be treated from a total-body viewpoint. You tighten your glutes and grip the floor when getting ready to bench – there shouldn’t be any difference for your rowing setup.

Pull through your elbows to somewhere around the lower abs/navel. Pulling to your upper abdomen encourages shrugging the weight up rather than pulling it back, which can shift the entire focus of the exercise.

Focus on pulling your shoulder blades together hard at the top, getting everything you can out of the actual contraction. After squeezing hard at the top it’s natural to want to send the weight crashing down to the floor, but stay strong and lower the bar under control.

Squeeze the Shoulder Blades

At the top contracted position, squeeze your shoulder blades together, activate those back muscles and hold for a brief pause of 2 seconds. If you can’t hold your reps for that long you need to lower the weight slightly.

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Spartans hitting their targets

There are a number of Spartans hitting their Strength Goals this week, which 4 weeks ago seemed like a looooong way off. Every time a new program begins, we look at what weights have been lifted in the past, start off slightly less than that number to gain confidence and ensure optimum technique.

This program was only a short block (4 weeks instead of the usual 6) and was divided into a 2 day Split meaning what we train on Tuesday was different to Thursday. However with the longer recoveries between sessions, we’ve been able to make bigger gains in terms of weight lifted and it’s been done with optimum technique to boot. Here’s a few highlights from the past 4 weeks:

95.5kg ass to grass Squats for 25 reps. Dave Lambert, Sean Casey
83kg Incline Press for 25 reps. Guy Farland
7.5kg Weighted Chin Ups for 25 reps. Dan Turnbull
145kg Trap Bar Deadlift for 25 reps. Guy Farland, Dave Lambert

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Jamie Williams strong & injury free for the marathon

One of our 6am Spartans Jamie Williams heads for Queensland today as he prepares to tackle the 42km mission that is the Gold Coast Marathon. A natural endurance athlete, Jamie has realised the importance of strength training and flexibility to cope with the demands of his sport and has been a consistent trainee at Spartan Training Club and Friday Stretch sessions with Oxygen for well over a year. As well as consistently completing his endurance training sessions on his own, he’s stayed really committed to our strength training programs in Kiama.

Despite being a veteran of 16 Ironman events, Jamie will amazingly tackle his first ever marathon on the Gold Coast. The Ironman involves a 3.8km swim, 180km cycle and then a 42km run. Should be a breeze without having to do all that beforehand hey Jamie? Good luck champ!

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