Tuesday, January 29, 2008

I might not be ready

for this much high intensity bilateral work.The main reason I can't squat or deadlift or train two hand swings is that with the strength imbalances I have from my injuries , bilateal lifts really let me push too hard with my strong side(s) and the uneven tension creates torsion.Dont like torsion.It's what caused all my back and lots of my knee problems.
Felt a bit of this today from the two club swipes yesterday.I will have to modulate the volume carefully as that is my 'intensity' gauge.I still may not be able to do them and have to use a single clubbbell centerline move like the two hand swipe, or a single arm swipe that I alternate sides. Or move the swipes back to second position after a kb move.
I am very strong in this close stance swipe position and I have to be very careful about strong posititons. I am capable of exerting WAY more force than my body is capable of handling. I don't like that but it's the truth so I deal with it.
I have also remembered just how much great lower back traction/abdominal stretching I get from my overhead floor hangs.Really tight lower abs/obliques can quickly pull my curve out of my lower back and I have to avoid that.
I have always thought I got something very positive for my back stabilization from one arm swings and snatches, right from the start. Two arm swings hurt as they overloaded my abs and glutes too much.As a flat back guy I ALWAYS have to focus on keeping extension volume and intensity ahead of flexion.Too much ab tension and I'm toast. Obliques are even worse.
Crossing the mid line like the one arms do is a pretty unique motor pattern as well.
Or maybe I'm just too tight as I did one helluva lot of heavy swipes yesterday.Gotta go Z and Rifga. Get on the floor and get loose.
More intensity = more recovery needs.
Plain and simple.

10 comments:

Adam said...

I have the same problem with the two club swipe. Glad i am not the only person to identify this.

this has been a major reason i have shyed away from barbell lifts this last year.

Strongman work makes one side stronger then the other-part of the game. My rigth hand crushes hard, my left hand pinches hard. One side is anchor, one side my driver. This plays out well day to day and with single hand lifts. Two hands it starts to get dangerous. If you watch the last DL video i posted, you can see my body twist as i lift. That was with 500. When i pulled 535 three weeks ago, it looked bad. I am backing away from barbell lifts, and moving more in to leverage lifts and cable pulling along with the steel.

Great stuff as always Rif. Calling it as you see it, i like that.

Mark Reifkind said...

adam
this is way more common than most people think. from the relatively small strength imbalances of the mostly sedentary to major ones with very strong people.It can get really nasty and I am ever on the lookout for it.
I would love to really smoke two handed swing work but I might as well squat or deadlift with a barbell if I were to do that.
years of doing barbell work with one knee that only bends 90 deg is a bad thing and my right side( leg,glute hip flexor, abdominal and oblique) can really create a nasty twist.
even worse since I spent ten years in gymnastics twisting ONLY right to left.
its not bad if the intensity stays low but if I crank it up.....
I just dont seem to have that problem with single kb work. In fact it seems to balance me out.even with two snatch days.
I do love the double swipe though, I just have to figure out the volume balance.
plus it's different if I do one or two high rep sets after kb work. It might be another to do an entire workouts based on it.
it might just be that the clubs function best for me as kb assistance work.
thanks for the comment.

Authentic Strength Training said...

Rif,
I revised and retitled this blog. Wanted you to have the link. Best with the SJ RKC in a few weeks.

Will

Brett Jones said...

Rif and Adam...
This is precisely the reason for the FMS and screening for restrictions and asymmetries and the subtle beauty of the one arm KB lifts - you can either correct your asymmetries or train around them without injury.

4 Ranges, RKC said...

VERY interesting observations Rif; stuff I'll have to think about (particularly about ab/oblique tightness).

With regards to the ab tightness, I take it that's from the years of bracing for heavy lifts during your powerlifting days? Or was it a combination of that AND injuries?

Mark Reifkind said...

thanks Will!

Mark Reifkind said...

Brett,
agreed and good point. The problem for me now seems more intensity/volume related than it has been in the past; when I couldnt get away with ANY bilateral movements at all without causing problems.For instance I was fine with even hi rep swipes when I did them after kb work.Just might not be ready for them as a main exericse.

Mark Reifkind said...

rolando,
yes, a combo of YEARS of intense ab work via gymnastics( with virtually NO erector work in extension) too much heavy ab work in powerlifting and bodybuilding. obliques and lower abs cause posterior pelvic tilt with bilateral contractions. this is what gets me. My abs and obliques are( were)really strong and many many years of intense efforts cause them to 'get to work' even if I dont want them too.
It all about getting into, and staying in balance.

Bill Fox said...

Seems to me, intuitivly and experiencially, there would be more "torsion" with say, one arm swings then two hand swings. Am I missing something?

Mark Reifkind said...

Bill I think you are right, but it seems to be the "right' kind of torsion( for me and many of 'back'people I've trained) in that it similtaneously requires a counterbalancing,stabilizing effect.
the spiral line of musculature it seems to activate doesnt allow for my dominant muscles to work as they can in squared off, bilateral efforts.

155 x 3 x 5, 160 x 3 x 5, 20 kg swings 5 x 8/8, floor pushups 40, 35

 Thought about going back to 5x5 for a hot second then my left shoulder  reminded me why I stopped doing them before. It doesn't seem to...