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Thursday, May 10, 2012

Tigger

I have competed, lifted, coached seminars on my own, helped with many Pendlay seminars all over the world, and I have never once seen anyone perform the "low bar squat".  Actually, I didn't even find out what it was until a few months back when someone asked me if they should do high bar or low bar for the squats I just prescribed them.  I am still in shock that athletes actually perform such a "nails on a chalk board" lift, especially for a weightlifter that should make the bottom position their home.  The number one problem I see with beginner weightlifters is their depth, or lack there of.  Watching a weightlifter low bar squat makes me want to take the elevator to the highest floor, and then jump.  Low bar squatting is just as bad as a beginner doing power snatch and power clean more than the full lifts.  Both of these weightlifting killers create incorrect movement patterns, horrible rhythm, awful consistency, and do not increase the novice weightlifter's flexibility.  The low bar squat is not just ugly and painful to watch, but teaches you to move slower than a turtle that just drank two bottles of nyquil.

Brand new client, brand new dreams of becoming an Olympic weightlifter, in a brand new sport where the sky is the limit. We work on catching the bar in the hole over and over for hours. After catching a lift in the hole, I would have him sit down there and get comfy.  I would throw him a bag of popcorn and tell him to watch a movie down there.  I would tell him to bounce like tigger over and over to create stability, balance, and for the great practice of at times having to catch that second or third bounce to stand up with a heavy weight.  I introduced him to his new home.  He then started to make progress in the lifts, especially after I told him never to do a power snatch or power clean again, until he became a champion at the "full" lifts.  A fist pump followed by a smile is the action and emotion that he got when he was able to lift more weight by receiving the bar as low as he could.  I dropped out of physics, but I have the innate ability to understand that weightlifting is nothing more than a race against gravity.  I get excited for him; I get excited for his new PR. We slap hands and drink more coffee, going over how the training went and what we both want in the near and far future.  I think he thought the training session was over because he started to take his Pendlay shoes off.  I then laughed and told him that the fire in Hell was still burning bright and high, and now we had to squat.  Tired but still motivated, he took another sip of miss brown eyes, and began to slap the big bearded man's shoes back on.  Back squats, 5 sets of 2, lets go.  I had to take a number one from all the coffee that has been poured down my throat since I woke about 7 hours ago.  In a full on sprint to the bathroom I yelled without looking behind me, "Get warmed up!".  As I slowly started walking back from one of the best things God himself ever invented, I heard a bunch of little kids crying and screaming for their mothers.  People everywhere where running past me to the door like the building was on fire.  Coach Pendlay stood up and yelled for someone to call 911, and then he walked fast....not ran, because everyone knows that Coach never runs....well unless he is imitating my teammate Kevin Cornell.  As I was spinning in circles trying to comprehend what was happening in the quiet town of San Ramon, Donny bumped into me spilling my coffee all over my deep v Attitude Nation shirt.  He told me that a red fire breathing demon with sharp fangs and dinosaur scales dripping down its greasy back was killing people by its grotesque image alone.  I pushed through the panicking crowd and to my horror, I saw my client doing low bar back squats.

The world ended hours later.

High bar 2016
 

18 comments:

  1. Haha, guess I should stop squatting low bar...

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  2. seeing this video I am just confused. I am not trying to say you are wrong but I am just confused.
    Can you help me out?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC5-g1Ugmgc

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    1. What are you confused about? Rippetard being a weightlifting coach?

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    2. You are using the term rippetard wrong. It refers not to the man himself, but to his followers. Correct usage would be "Rippetoe told his followers that he coached Donny Shankle, and the rippetards believed him."

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  3. what is confusing about a delusional old fool who doesn't know anything about weightlifting?

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  4. What do you mean doesn't know anything about weightlifting? Have you ever heard of Donny Shankle? Probably the best American weightlifter right now, and that delusional fool in the video is his coach! Personally I would rather listen to the coach of Donny Shankle than a lifter like Jon North.

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    1. John Cena stopped by Rip's gym for a workout recently I hear. I guess that means that Rippetard is his coach too? Rip wasn't there at the time, but still, the guy did a workout at his gym. So he must be his coach, right?

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. How do you figure Mark coached Shankle? Just cause Shankle worked out at his gym a few times? Well then since I trained at the same gym as Caleb Williams, do I get credit for coaching him? Hell, I have also watched Travis Cooper train, am I his coach too?

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  6. I am glad Rippetoe started trying to claim he has coached guys like Donny. I used to actually believe his bullshit about being a weightlifting coach with all this experience. But if a guy like him has to resort to lies about a guy like Shankle, he must not have coached anyone at all. Cause if he had he could just give us their names instead of bullshitting us by name dropping famous lifters who everyone knows he did not coach. Thank you Rippetoe for showing us what an asshole you really are!

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    1. Guys I think this is bull. No way Rip would claim to coach Shankle. You might not like Rip but he is not a liar. Even if you disagree with him he is trying to help people. If you don't believe in his teachings just go your own way.

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    2. I agree. There is no chance Rip is saying this. I have read his stuff for a while, he is not the type to claim to coach people he doesn't. Probably someone just made an assumption because Donny trained in Wichita Falls for a while.

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    3. You guys are giving Rippetoe too much credit. He is claiming that he coached not only Donny but all the other lifters on Pendlay's team over on his forum.

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  7. You guys still pay attention to what Rippetoad says? Dude that is so 2006!

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  8. Who the hell is Rippetoe?

    Never heard of him.

    Oh wait... isn't that the gnomish type guy who makes tricksy, evil deals... and has a weakness related to his own name?

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  9. I want to know what greg pendlay said...

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