Hey Heather!

I am going to post an article on “My Training” because everyone is asking me this LOL! Best to put the answer in one place so everyone can see 🙂

Don’t worry about bailing on a round, you had obviously put your max effort in – so you would still get a lot from this 🙂

Cheers
Marianne

I have to say that I bailed after 3 Rounds! I was getting that “White buffalo in the sky” feeling and decided that on my journey back I didn’t need to kill myself today. I took a few minutes and did a short snatch workout after though. So I am very impressed at the speed that you do your swings with the 20Kg!!! For the Renegade rows I can lift way more than 9kg but its the balancing and core strength that limit me there!

When you do your two heavy days do you split upper and lower or do a full body workout on both days? What do you do for upper body? Sorry I have so many questions but I am really intrigued by the lifting heavy idea and want to try it out!

Great workout. Hopefully next time I can do the 4th round!

Alternating High Deficit Reverse Lunges (no weight ;() (14,14,14)
Elevated Super Plank Climbers (last round on floor) (12, 14, 14)
Two-Handed Kettlebell Swing (16kg) (24, 24, 24)
Renegade Rows (9kg) (12, 13, 12)
KB Vertical “Swing”/Pull Burpee (14kg) (8, 8, 8)

Snatches – Round 1 12kg, Round 2 14kg
5/5 snatches x 2, 1 min/:30 (20 reps)
10/10 x 1, 1 min/:30 (20 reps)
1-5 sn ladder 1.5 min/:30 (30 reps)
5-1 sn ld, 1.5 min/:30 (30 reps)

Thanks Tempest 😀 I appreciate that!

Hey Tempest, Zuzana is actually doing the “Squat” variation of the TGU. I have tried this too once or twice and it is a bigger challenge for flexibility. I think for the most part her form looks ok; the only thing I would say about it is that she should keep her arm and shoulder locked into place. You’ll notice her elbow bending and her arm drifting forward as she is standing up and squatting down, but this is probably because she never does any vertical presses and virtually no exercises when she can practice shoulder packing. Her leg position is fairly correct; there are different ways of doing this style of TGU too. Zuzana does possess good flexibility for the overhead squat though … more than me 😛

i had to post this, because her pictures to me do not look right when she is trying to do the tgu…… her legs do not look correct at all… i just don’t care for her at all, but i had to post this because someone posted it on fb

Hi Michele,

Sorry for the delayed reply. I wanted to refer your question to Bret, because I didn’t want to give out the wrong advice. Here’s what he said:

“IF IT HURTS DON’T DO IT! The sooner you learn this in your lifting career, the better off you’ll be in the long run. There are reasons why you are aching, and those issues need to be fixed before loading up your movement patterns. Find ones that you can do pain free and focus on those – perhaps you can bridge, thrust, lunge, back ext, and RDL. This is fine, you don’t need to squat. Work on your hip mobility and glute activation so your pelvis doesn’t tuck at the bottom of a squat, your knees don’t cave inward, and your weight doesn’t shift forward. In time you’ll probably be able to squat, but not now. Stick to what you can do pain-free and work on improving your squat pattern with just bodyweight. You may find that you’re just not built to squat, and in this case you don’t need to worry, as they’re not necessary for great glutes.”

Direct and concise as always is our Bret 😉

I had problems with my back squat for a while; it gave me SIJ pain etc. So I started doing Box Squats, good mornings, glute bridges and back extensions. I no longer have any issues with my SIJ from the back squat and my strength is starting to improve in this exercise now as well. I am not built well for back squats because it seems I have long leg bones LOL. But Bret’s tips made a big difference. I also started holding the bar lower on my back to reduce the forward tilt of my torso.

Hopefully these tips will help you. Box squats are great btw! Maybe mix those with RDLs and some glute work and see if that helps.

Let me know what you think 🙂

Cheers
Marianne

Thanks to you, the “Girls”, and Bret Contreras,I have started pushing myself with heavier wts – it has been great overall, but my knees are aching a little as I have been doing lower/below parallel squats, and my SI joint is acting up! Do you think it is okay if I don’t go so low on my squats??? I know it is better to activate for activating the posterior chain, and I know overall they are NOT bad for your knees, but maybe my knees are an exception! Please let me know what you think – I have tried to do stretches beforehand and proper form – maybe it is just since I upped the wt and my body has not adjusted yet!

Still don’t have a KB, but using the bench press circular free weight things (LOL – not sure what they are called!!!) 25# as they are small enough in circumference to fit between my knees, and the 25# dumbells are too thick to hold onto with my fingertips – I know all the people in the free wt section of the gym are just hoping I don’t let go and let the wt fly into the mirror!!!! LOL – still hoping at some point, when money is available, to get a hold of a KB!!!
Thanks for all you are teaching me about challenging my body and encouraging strength, and the knowledge to do it SAFELY and with good form! Please let me know what you think about the deep squats with resistance!
Have a GREAT day!!!!

HI SABLE!! Great to hear from you 😀 And what great news you have to tell us too – you are doing really well! I hope that future updates from Girls Gone Strong will help inspire and motivate people further! Obviously I will continue doing what I do best right here, but it will be great to have a resource that ties all elements of strength together!

Hope to hear from you soon – keep up the great work 🙂