Jan 9, 2012

Today I learned something new, a new way of using the pvc pipe to improve your technique. I usually use the pvc pipe to warmup with some basic mobility drills, and I have seen people start their warmup set with the pvc pipe if the barbell constitutes a moderate load. But I had not heard of using a pvc pipe to help teach a proper back position until I read this article from EliteFTS. This article does a great job of describing how to cue a tight, properly positioned, back by placing the pipe (or broomstick) against the back of someone who needs help finding the right position.

It’s a pretty simple technique that works by helping the trainee to feel what a good back position is. The ability to know where you body is and what it is doing during sport is a crucial skill for all athletes. Knowledge of body position is also a skill that many non athletes lack. The more athletic experience someone has, the more likely they are to understand what their body is doing. Sports like gymnastics done at an early age tend to produce athletes that are the most aware of body position. These types of athletes will learn new movements faster than others. This pvc pipe teaching method is great for those trainees who don’t have a large athletic background and therefore need a little help to find the right back position.

Can you tell me your squat pr? Of course you can. You could probably tell me your 1RM on
almost any lift you do regularly. But what was it 6 months ago? What weight have you been working during your volume sets? what have you been doing for assistance work? Has it changed? Is your program working?

These are the questions that can be answered if you keep a quality workout log. Records of past work will allow you to assess the impact of whatever you keep note of. Important things to keep track of in addition to lifts are general nutrition notes, weight, extremes of water intake, particularly stressful life events, extremes of sleep, sickness. Noting these factors occasionally in your log will help you to get a picture of how you are recovering.

Let’s say you are a weightlifter and you are thinking of switching to a Bulgarian style program. You can use you logs to look for periods of time when you training was similar. If you notice that your sleep is always worse during these times and that you are always getting minor colds you can use this information to plan out when you will do the intense cycle of training. It is probably best not to pair an intense training cycle with a time of the year where you are likely to be exposed to other sources of stress.

Information about sickness or severe allergies related to a particular season can be used to plan training cycles so that the cumulative stress does not cause over-reaching or over-training. The only way to have a record of these effects is to keep a workout log with information on how you are training and how you are responding to that training.