Back angle during 1st pull

Phil Eaton · 10-15-2012, 02:16 PM

Hi guys,

Thought I would ask a quick opinion on mechanics during the first pull, namely back angle. I am currently coaching an athlete who is quite long in both the torso and femur, causing his first pull to take place with his shoulders very nearly on a level with his hips. It has not yet caused me concern, as the angle remains the same to the knee, the bar stays close and tracks up and back, he is producing ample amounts of power, rarely misses a full lift, and there is no pain or discomfort when pulling relatively heavy loads for multiple efforts. The reason I am asking for some additional insight on here is that outside of my coaching hours he trains elsewhere, where several people have tried to coach this compensation out of him. This is obviously a far less than ideal situation to be in as an athlete, with two contrasting inputs from arguably equally reputable sources.

Any thoughts? If you do think it should be corrected, how would you suggest doing so? I would appreciate your feedback, and no doubt he would even more so!

Cheers

Greg Everett · 10-15-2012, 03:00 PM

I would try to get his hips lower also. Wider stance, push the knees all the way out inside the arms and arch the back as much as possible. If he's really really tall and long legged, he's pretty much screwed for life in weightlifting, but he shouldn't have to go too extreme with modifications to a "good" position. I have a guy who's I believe 6'4" and mostly legs who can still start fairly upright.

Phil Eaton · 10-15-2012, 03:24 PM

Thanks Greg, in which case he will need a lot of strengthening work to maintain the more upright posture as when it was first flagged up, as soon as the weight got over about 85% of his 1RM, the hips came up before anything else, returning him to the pulling pattern which I originally described. Plenty of pulling to the knee and halting pulls should do the trick shouldn't it? Thankfully he is not training to compete, but to enhance his team sport performance!

Greg Everett · 10-15-2012, 03:26 PM

He doesn't need to keep the angle exactly the same throughout the pull, but yes, if he is unable to prevent himself from leading w the hips to that extreme, then he needs to do some strengthening. Yes, halting and segment DLs/pulls are the best way to do it. And upright squatting, especially pause back squats.

Phil Eaton · 10-15-2012, 03:32 PM

Great, thanks again!