Barbell Training Adaptability: How To Avoid The Biggest Pitfalls Of A Rigid Approach To Training
Many barbell athletes experience aches and pains during their training even when they feel like they’re doing everything right. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts or adherence to a specific template program or movement model, they can be left feeling less than ideal and struggling to push through discomfort or pain.
Whether you are a barbell or powerlifting coach working with athletes, a physical therapist or chiropractor rehabbing injured powerlifters through the athlete recovery process, or the person experiencing this, it can be very frustrating for everyone involved.
Don’t get us wrong, training should be challenging and require you to push the limits from time to time.
At PRS, we have helped countless athletes dealing with injuries, and there always seems to be very distinct trends:
They are following a generic template program incorrectly, that does not accommodate for fatigue, is chronically at too high of an intensity, or is not tailored enough to match their individual capabilities.
They try to subscribe to and replicate a movement model they read in a book, watched on youtube, or are trying to emulate their favorite athlete’s technique without considering their own attributes.
It’s crucial to understand that each of us are different. From our anthropometry, chronological and training age, injury history, time constraints, life stressors, ability to recover, and so much more.
All of these details provide the distinction between coaching a movement and coaching the person and must be considered when implementing a program and performing the barbell lifts.
So rather than forcing a rigid movement model or programming template on an individual, it’s best to evolve each of these based on their individuality.
It’s easy to fall victim to the “BEST” way to lift, coach, or program, especially with all the advice and programs on the internet. However, in this episode, PRS Clinical Coaches, Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC and Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS provide insight into how they have evolved a systematic movement model and program that adapts to every individual and discuss specific cases.
Episode Resources:
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:01:19] We're going to talk about the biggest problem or the reason for your biggest problem with coaching the barbell movements as a rehab clinician or as a barbell strength coach. So, Alyssa, what is the problem? Why do people struggle with coaching the barbell movements, and what problem do we see people face? Especially when we have coaches or aspiring coaches come into our courses or work with someone who comes to us for rehab coaching as an injured athlete. They usually have some type of ache or pain related to barbell training. And it's because of this big common theme that we see amongst coaches, clinicians, and lifters when it comes to the main barbell movement. So what is that?
Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS: [00:02:21] Yeah. So there are usually two components to what's going on that play a role in their symptoms. And the first one is that they may be implementing a template program incorrectly, not managing their fatigue or the intensity of the program. And they're just trying to fit themselves into a generic program with generic progressions, and it's not tailored to them. So one component of this is programming, fatigue, recovery, and what's going on there. And I know most people sort of assume that it's technique causing their pain or how am I moving incorrectly? And that's not always the case. Sometimes it is, but the program also is really important. But the other component of this is movement, and it's kind of like the same thing as happening with their movement or technique, and they're trying to fit this mold of this generic movement that they want their life to look like. And they're following what they've seen in a video or read in a book. And either they are following a model that is not optimal, or they don't have principles to apply to themselves from a good model, or they're not applying them correctly.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:03:50] To add to that, to kind of like continue what you were just saying right there is that they have the model but not the optimal model. So maybe they're following a really good movement model, but they don't have the tools necessary to help them problem solve, or maybe they do have the tools, but they just don't put together what they need to make these adaptations for their body.
Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS: [00:04:21] Yeah, I guess I should better explain both scenarios that I mentioned. You know the first one, and we talk about this a lot. An example would be hand placement on the squat. You know, at Progressive Rehab & Strength, we want to reduce the risk of injury and stress on the joints that aren't involved in moving the bar and performing the lift. So when we.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:04:44] WHILE maximizing strength development and optimizing goal outcomes. So, I just want to say that because sometimes people think of PRS, they think of injury risk reduction, but we're not doing injury risk reduction at the expense of not getting stronger. Our goals are simultaneous to get stronger but also reduce injury risk. Because if we're getting injured, even though we're getting stronger, then we can't still get stronger if we're injured. So anyway, keep going.
Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS: [00:05:13] So, you know, if we have somebody who has learned somewhere that they need to have their hands as close as they possibly can on squat and their hands are touching their shoulders, their wrists are bent, the bar is rolling back in their hands. They have wrist or elbow pain but don't feel like they can move away from that because that's how somebody told them.
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Web: https://www.progressiverehabandstrength.com
Email: podcast@progressiverehabandstrength.com
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Alyssa IG: @alyssahope_prs