March 2015 - MiguelAragoncillo.com

March 31, 2015March 31, 2015

USPA Powerlifting Meet Recap – 3/28/15

My last powerlifting meet was in the USAPL in 2013, and this time around I knew things would be different.

The federation would be slightly different (USPA), my strength levels have improved tremendously, and my training blocks prior to the powerlifting meet were drastically different.

USPA Powerlifting Meet 3/28/15

My training recently comprised of a lot of eccentric, isometric, and jump training to improve my ability to produce force in multiple planes. While this is usually not the norms for a pure 100% powerlifting program, my movement, strength, and capacity for physiological power greatly improved due to this type of training.

How do I know? Well, after gaining an additional 10-12lbs, I went and tested my vertical jump on a Vertec Jump System. My previous personal record was 37.5 inches for a vertical jump, and after putting on some mass, I kept a 34 inch vertical jump in my bag of tricks. So only a ~10% decrease in power, while training for a maximal strength sport.

With the interesting power maintenance notes under your belt, let’s continue to the powerlifting meet.

USPA ran a great lifting meet, and it was a lot of fun to continue to clang and bang with some “brothers in iron.” The meet didn’t have that many people – around ~30 or so individuals, but still plenty of strong individuals to admire.

The night before, one of CSP’s current interns Eric and I went to the weigh in early. This is a game changer, because if you’ve attended any PL meet before with a 2 hour weigh in before competition, it gets dicey with eating dinner, sleeping, and not eating breakfast to make sure you’re not over the weight capacity for your weight class.

All I had to do was make sure I was 2 to 3lbs under weight (just to make sure our scales at home matched the ones at the location). I weighed in at 161lbs, and then we feasted at IHOP afterwards.

IHOP — Crushed all that food in less than 19 minutes. We timed it.

Anyway, onto the videos of my lifts!

My previous powerlifting meet PRs (from 2013) were:

Back Squat: 346lbs
Bench Press: 231.5lbs
Deadlift: 402.5lbs

…for a total of 980lbs.

I was also competing in the 148lb weight class.

My new PRs (2015) are:

Back Squat: 407.5lbs (61lb meet PR)
Bench Press: 233.5lbs (2lb meet PR)
Deadlift: 507.5lbs (105lb meet PR)

This was in the 165lb weight class, and an overall 168lb jump in numbers.

This also allowed me to win the 165lb Open Division.

Reflecting on the Past Years’ Training

What a strange jump in strength levels. Keep in mind that my previous 1RM on my deadlift prior to moving to Massachusetts was 425lbs. Fast forward to the end of March, and I’m touching 515lbs on the deadlift.

I have a feeling my lack of ability to improve on my bench press may have something to do with my (lack of) shoulder stability – I might need to re-evaluate how I approach my training on that end. My movement quality has improved greatly, and I hit a 260lb bench press (sans the butt moving half an inch), and I’ve hit 275lbs with a pause twice for a personal best in the gym.

My deadlift has improved dramatically. I hope to write more to reflect the changes I’ve undertaken in this journey of lifting, as I feel deadlifting is the most natural of all of the “big 3”.

The squat is an interesting beast of a lift. I hope to improve greatly on this, as I’ve made the most “light bulb” moments prior to the powerlifting meet. The biggest light bulb moment I’ve had is what it means to feel a “bounce” out of the bottom/ole, or to feel the stretch shortening cycle change from the glutes to the quads out of the bottom to about midway up.

One thing that I wish someone could do is articulate on my specific body where I need to feel specific portions of the exercise. I feel the [sumo] deadlift is the easiest to feel a total body awareness, whereas all of the other movements are a bit lost on me because there is no ultimate place to feel tension.

What I mean by this is that the tension changes from position of the top to the bottom. In such a dynamic movement such as the squat, tension changes as you switch directions from descending to the hole to ascending out of it.

As you begin to flex at the hips and knees, your torso angle should primarily stay upright, otherwise you will begin to flex at the lumbar and thoracic vertebrae, which is not ideal.

Where I get lost is at the bottom of the hole, because you need to quite literally reverse the movement, and have the intent on pushing backwards while maintaining an upright torso. I feel like I lose tension quite easily from the glutes, and I immediately feel like I need to shift forward all the time (perhaps to utilize the quadriceps).

Despite this strange relationship I have with the squat, I have lifted 407.5 in a meet, and 425 in the gym multiple times.

I’m not quite sure I made the most sense with these last few statements, but I hope to look back at this post in a few months/years and speak with newfound confidence on the issue that is squats and bench press.

In any case, I’m of the belief that I couldn’t have done all of this without my gym training partners, Greg Robins (www.TheStrengthHouse.com) and Tony Bonvechio (www.BonvecStrength.com). We got weird sometimes with our #LateNightLifts last year, and I can’t wait to start the next training cycle.

If the bar ain’t bendin… 455lbs for a 30lb #PersonalRecord on my #Deadlift #MasterYourMovement @enhance2dance

A video posted by MiggsyBogues (@miggsybogues) on Oct 6, 2014 at 5:55pm PDT

As always,

Keep it funky.

March 30, 2015April 6, 2015

My Favorite Exercise Combinations: Installment 5 – Baseball Edition

One of the perks of my current position is to work with a handful of professional baseball players during their off-season.

It’s an awesome mix of laid back chat about what kind of music is best played over the speakers during the first few ping pong matches in the morning, and chirping at each other about their respective seasons. You literally can’t find anything like it anywhere else.

Thanks, Oliver. We miss you too. #cspfamily #cspMA

A photo posted by Cressey Sports Performance (@cresseysportsperformance) on Mar 11, 2015 at 8:08am PDT

Much like that combination, there are a few ways to combine a few seemingly random exercises into an amazing concoction of, how do I say it? “Boom.”

One combination that I’ve been using to mucho success in the past few months can be found in the warm-up and cool down aspect of the lifting session. It involves a positional breathing drill aimed at resetting the nervous system, and followed up by a static hold of the glenohumeral (or shoulder) joint to ensure range of motion is kept in line.

1. Deep Squat Belly Breathing – 2×5 Exhales (2 sets x 5 Exhales)
2. Supine ER & IR Hold – 3x5sec hold/side

Note: The order here is important.

Why?

Performing a Deep Squat Belly Breathing will reduce extensor tone, which means the latissimus dorsi will hopefully be attenuated as a stabilizing muscle group. The posterior pelvic tilt that is also encouraged will also be included to really emphasize the abdominal musculature and to hit home the idea of ribcage position and diaphragmatic contribution to improving all around movement quality of the individual.

Please Raise Your Right Hand…

Meow* for the individual aspect, brought to you by the supine external rotation and internal rotation hold. I’m of the belief that you should give the individual what they need, making sure to not be subjective with your exercise selection. If this person happens to be a right handed baseball pitcher, doesn’t have any injuries that will limit them from moving appropriately, or just happens to be an individual that needs shoulder internal rotation – this exercise may be the correct one for you.

Meow, this isn’t like the sleeper stretch. The way this combination works is this: the ribcage will be better facilitated to help reinforce anterior core stability, and now the adjacent joint of the scapula AND glenohumeral joint have a more adequate range of motion to move about.

Let’s take advantage of our reduced extensor tone, and improve the range of motion that the glenohumeral joint can meow implement – in both internal rotation and external rotation.

Meow, the real sports specific item to discuss is the lack of glenohumeral internal rotation that is often seen in the throwing hand. If you are a pitcher, constantly looking to stretch “to feel loose” – perform these two exercises INSTEAD in order to improve control, stability, and range of motion.

More importantly, if you’re in season and looking for specific help, perform this drill AFTER you’re done pitching.

Why afterwards and not before?

If you’re pitching, you NEED more layback (which requires more external rotation on the throwing arm/dominant hand).

Doing these drills afterwards will help to reduce the amount of glenohumeral external rotation that you are exhibiting – the opposite of what you need if you’re going to be pitching.

However, you want to have the ability to move into and out of specific positions in order to relax your body after a physically taxing task. Reduce the amount of neurological tone that your body is exhibiting, and reap the benefits of multiple and varied movement qualities in order to excel at your sport!

As always,

Keep it funky.

*Meow

March 11, 2015

My Favorite Exercise Combinations: Installment 4

I like benching, but making sure someone has the requisite mobility before bench pressing is muy importante!

If you or someone you know doesn’t have adequate range of motion, or lacks stability within the shoulder joint, there are a few things that you can do to make sure you hit all the correct movements.

What Happens During a Bench Press

When you bench press properly, you will inevitably have to pin your scaps together and back – it just makes for a more efficient movement, and not to mention a bigger base of support during the movement with which your arms (ie: whole body) can move and produce force.

There are a few things that must occur in your body to appropriately bench press, whether it is a barbell or dumbbells:

Scapulae must be pinned together (if you have a more stable and bigger base of support, the more weight you can hypothetically put up in the bench)
Slight rib flare (anyone who says they bench press 2x bodyweight without a rib flare of any sort is lying… or has an extremely small wingspan).

ShoulderMvmnt — Photo Credit: acefitness.org

If you’re constantly bench pressing, or if you find yourself having discomfort during the bench press, you may need more mobility in some areas, and stability in others.

However, this shouldn’t stop you from benching! Keep these points in mind:

Perform a bench press variation that allows your humerus to stop after a certain range of motion.
For example, a DB Floor Press still allows you to improve and increase strength, despite a smaller range of motion.
It also increases proprioception to where your arms are in space, and the movement stops when your triceps hit the ground.

Even if the muscles surrounding your shoulder girdle and scapulae are limiting range of motion, the overarching concept here is…

…can you dissociate humerus vs scapular (and even thoracic flexion) movement from one another?

If you attempt to bench press massive amounts of weight, and all you do is protract and abduct your scapula off the back of your ribs as you bench, you may not be doing it properly.

So hopefully that should prove a point that you will need to keep your scaps back and down in order to effectively bench press.

Now, in order to create a juxtaposition in terms of how your scapulae move, there have been many suggestions in the past for improving mobility in between sets of upper body movements.

1. You can perform a rowing motion of some sort.

2. You can perform a thoracic rotation movement of some sort.

3. You can perform a scapular dissociation movement of some sort (like a serratus wall slide for example).

At the end of the day, I’m looking for a big bang exercise to improve all of these items at once, and to reinforce variable movement qualities. Essentially, I’m looking for appropriate scapular movement, abdominal recruitment, and even reinforce all of the above with hip mobility and stability.

Crawling and creeping are two awesome ways to improve scapular motion, rib motion, oblique recruitment, and overall make yourself seem like a ninja.

What Occurs When You Creep

Creeping is an exercise that alternates the scapulae as you creep from arm to arm. Not only do you creep, you also move ribs, recruit obliques, and utilize hip external rotators and aim to incorporate holistic movement, as opposed to a singular movement.

So what better way to get strong and get mobile than to combine the two!

Now, per our other combinations, let’s improve what mobility we currently have, and then reinforce and reload that with a weighted exercise, such as the bench press.

You can do it in any manner you want, but this is what I find to be the most effective manner with which to progress for movement variability, a quality that is necessary for up and coming athletes.

A1. Forward Creeping – 3×10 Yards

A2. 1-Arm DB Floor Press – 3×5/side

Perform a creeping motion in order to restore and/or improve range of motion, and then perform the bench press in order to get strong and jacked.

Something to keep in mind for your next workout!

As always,

Keep it funky.