02-15-2025

Attendeeds: Jack, George, Liam, Brady, Karson

Warm-up was in the weight room due to wrestling provincials. We had a few guys nursing injuries, so we did minimal work on high pulls this day.

We covered:

• Lock Big Three - shoulder prep
• Suitcase carry
• Overhead Kettlebell carry
• Stu McGill Big Three - ie: bird dog, side plank, curl-up
• Preacher stretch

Bird Dogs:

Side Planks:

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Overhead pressing lessons:

1. TO PROTECT YOUR SPINE when overhead pressing,  ALWAYS squeeze your glutes, and keep your ribs "down" by also squeezing your abs throughout the motion.
2. Stretch your lats with preacher stretch.
3. External rotation stretch with broomstick or dowel. This helps a lot with our "front rack" position in front squats, military press or push-press. 
4. We need a flexible thoracic spine (aka T-Spine, aka the middle of your spine) for holding weights over our head, like the overhead squat I demo'd.   Use a foam roller to improve the mobility before these lifts. ‍

Deadlift lessons:

1. Bracing sequence:  Big deep breath in, brace the front of your core (abs) against this breath, and grip the bar.
2. Some of us were starting with feet pointing slightly outwards.  This caused our foot arches to collapse, knees to cave in slightly and this is called a "valgus collapse" and gives higher risk of injury.  Instead, we want feet relatively straight, knees "out" and screw our feet into the floor in the setup.  
3. Lower back must absolutely be flat when we are lifting weight off the floor as beginners.  
4. Pull the bar all the way in towards your shins, which can be accomplished using your powerful lat muscles.
5. Karson was working on reversing the motion from the top down, by reaching butt back and keeping chest up. Don't round on the way down.

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Kettlebell grip for overhead work - lessons: 

• We practiced making a V with the thumb and index finger, and placing the edge of that V in the corner of the kettlebell.

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