Questions 6
- Why Do I Keep Tearing My Hands?
- How Can I Improve My Front Squat Right This Instant?
- Should I Take A Testosterone Booster?
Why Do I Keep Tearing My Hands?
Take a good look at your hands and they will tell you some s***! And you don’t even need to be some lavender-scented gypsy palm reader to interpret these visual signs…
A callus on your hand is simply a slightly tougher area of skin that receives better blood flow compared to the rest of the hand. This is a good thing. It only becomes a bad thing when it is situated right next to an underused, incredibly soft area… Repetitive [or limited] patterns will make one spot on your hand stronger than the surrounding areas. The surrounding areas will eventually be too weak to hold on to the strong stuff, and that’s when your hand tears…
My suggestion? Skin actively thickens over time as a response to types of loading. If the only loading you get is barbell and pull up based, you’re going to develop repetitive patterns and hand tears… Vary your grip and vary the stimulus. I find that bouldering / strict pull ups on the climbing holds tick these boxes nicely.
How Can I Improve My Front Squat Right This Instant?
You [the individual who asked the question] aren’t engaging your lats properly… Luckily it is very quick fix.
For the front squat, using your lats effectively is the key to:
- Providing a strong shelf to support the barbell
- Allowing you to lift the most amount of weight
- Allowing you to do so safely
Let’s get into it…
Simply trying to hold the bar in roughly the right place is not an effective front rack position… Actively push your elbows forwards then up. This fires the lats, for want of a better term, and creates a shelf in front of the body to support the bar. Now your elbows will be pointing more or less straight forwards with your upper arm parallel to the floor.
So far so good.
Now, point your elbows slightly inwards. Pointing them in gives you a little more range of motion in your front rack position and further ‘tightens’ the lats, creating a stronger shelf.
If you don’t get it - so if you don’t feel any difference - that’s cool… Try this:
- With an empty bar, set up in your front rack position…
- Move your elbows out, see what happens, see how it feels [not so good]
- Move the elbows in, see what happens, see how it feels [much better]
I was going to give you some detailed anatomy to explain how it all works… You know the type: “The lat originates off the spinal vertebrae and the thoracolumbar fascia and inserts at the humerus…”. The problem is, only people with anatomy knowledge would get any benefit from it… So I’ll leave you with this right simple version:
- The lats are the largest muscles in your upper body
- They cover a s*** ton of back
- When you use them correctly, they keep your back safe
- And the increased tension will help you lift more weight
Thank you Burgess Hill, and good night!
Should I Take A Testosterone Booster?
Nope…
If you want to increase your testosterone, decrease your cortisol… Pregnenolone is the raw material that creates both T & C, so under conditions of stress, either physical or mental, your body is going to lean more towards making more C and less T…
Take a day off.
Leave your phone at home, go to the beach, eat a load of steak, go to bed early, and you’ll be a Goddamn sexual tyrannosaurus in no time…
“Sit the f*** down and have a beer…”
~ Coach Collins
Copyright 2018
- Why Do I Keep Tearing My Hands?
- How Can I Improve My Front Squat Right This Instant?
- Should I Take A Testosterone Booster?
Why Do I Keep Tearing My Hands?
Take a good look at your hands and they will tell you some s***! And you don’t even need to be some lavender-scented gypsy palm reader to interpret these visual signs…
A callus on your hand is simply a slightly tougher area of skin that receives better blood flow compared to the rest of the hand. This is a good thing. It only becomes a bad thing when it is situated right next to an underused, incredibly soft area… Repetitive [or limited] patterns will make one spot on your hand stronger than the surrounding areas. The surrounding areas will eventually be too weak to hold on to the strong stuff, and that’s when your hand tears…
My suggestion? Skin actively thickens over time as a response to types of loading. If the only loading you get is barbell and pull up based, you’re going to develop repetitive patterns and hand tears… Vary your grip and vary the stimulus. I find that bouldering / strict pull ups on the climbing holds tick these boxes nicely.
How Can I Improve My Front Squat Right This Instant?
You [the individual who asked the question] aren’t engaging your lats properly… Luckily it is very quick fix.
For the front squat, using your lats effectively is the key to:
- Providing a strong shelf to support the barbell
- Allowing you to lift the most amount of weight
- Allowing you to do so safely
Let’s get into it…
Simply trying to hold the bar in roughly the right place is not an effective front rack position… Actively push your elbows forwards then up. This fires the lats, for want of a better term, and creates a shelf in front of the body to support the bar. Now your elbows will be pointing more or less straight forwards with your upper arm parallel to the floor.
So far so good.
Now, point your elbows slightly inwards. Pointing them in gives you a little more range of motion in your front rack position and further ‘tightens’ the lats, creating a stronger shelf.
If you don’t get it - so if you don’t feel any difference - that’s cool… Try this:
- With an empty bar, set up in your front rack position…
- Move your elbows out, see what happens, see how it feels [not so good]
- Move the elbows in, see what happens, see how it feels [much better]
I was going to give you some detailed anatomy to explain how it all works… You know the type: “The lat originates off the spinal vertebrae and the thoracolumbar fascia and inserts at the humerus…”. The problem is, only people with anatomy knowledge would get any benefit from it… So I’ll leave you with this right simple version:
- The lats are the largest muscles in your upper body
- They cover a s*** ton of back
- When you use them correctly, they keep your back safe
- And the increased tension will help you lift more weight
Thank you Burgess Hill, and good night!
Should I Take A Testosterone Booster?
Nope…
If you want to increase your testosterone, decrease your cortisol… Pregnenolone is the raw material that creates both T & C, so under conditions of stress, either physical or mental, your body is going to lean more towards making more C and less T…
Take a day off.
Leave your phone at home, go to the beach, eat a load of steak, go to bed early, and you’ll be a Goddamn sexual tyrannosaurus in no time…
“Sit the f*** down and have a beer…”
~ Coach Collins
Copyright 2018
