What an awesome learning experience.
He said its possible that I may have a hip impingment because of how poor my internal rotation is. He had me do the hardest/strictest side plank of my entire life....and that completely (temporarily) relieved the pain from internally rotating. He said the most probable cause of my hip pain is from a lack of core stability that's causing my glutes to fire away.
He had me do the standard mashing and foam rolling to warm up. Hip flexor stretch. He video taped me shirtless, raising my arms up. Said that most powerlifters are very depressed in the trap area and it doesn't allow the scapula to rotate as much as it needs to, which will cause some aches in the shoulders. He had me do some shoulder drills against the wall to engage my traps.
Bench- He just covered what I said with the scapula.
Deadlift- He watched me pull conventional and sumo with 315. His biggest concern was chest up, owning my rib cage, and RAISE my hips. He said since I have a strong posterior chain, to utilize it, and only bring my hips up a few inches from where they were normally. Again, owning/tucking my ribcage and using my core at lockout to prevent over extension.
With sumo, my hip mobility was great. He said I was way too low/close to the bar. I said "Dave Tate says put your nutsack in the bar" He said "Well if it hurts when you're low and you're still strong pulling with your hips just a little shy higher, then do it" He said when you're getting close to Elite numbers, you can afford to pull slightly higher and that will work around a hip impingment. In no way was it a SLDL, but I wasnt trying with all my might to bring my hips into the bar. 100x easier.
Squats- Everything was fine except, again, the ribcage flare. He just made sure I sucked air, owned my ribs, unracked, do it again, and squat. He said its causing a slight butt dip. I squated onto a 13" box, competition stance in Oly shoes and he said it was perfect. He wants me to start using the box more, with my normal squat stance, non Westside style.
He's going to email me in a few days in depth everything we covered today, give me some warmup exercises, and some video links.
Saw Eric Cressey, said hi, he was working with some baseball players though.
I'll definetly follow the advice from Tony Gentilcore. He was a cool dude.
breezy11 JudoJosh
