Training Tip of the Week: Squeeze!

Squeeze Your Way to Success!
By: Adam Sayih

When you grab a barbell, a kettle-bell, a pull-up bar, of course you hold on, but are you consciously squeezing?  

Pressing movements:
Squeezing the barbell or kettle-bell as hard as possible during the lift will activate the triceps and help peel through those struggling reps.  Give it a try, hold your right arm in front of you.  Take your other hand and place your fingers on your lateral tricep head.  Squeeze your right hand into a fist as hard as possible.  Did you feel the tricep flex?  Next time you're struggling to get that last push press, remember squeeze the bar as hard as possible and watch the barbell climb its way up.

Pulling/Olympic movements:

During a clean, snatch, or deadlift, squeezing the bar as hard as possible will activate your forearms and brachialis muscles.  This will also make the initial pull off the ground significantly easier than just "holding" the bar.  With a confident grip of the bar will come a confident lift.  A solid hold of the barbell will allow you to concentrate on proper form instead of "Man, I hope I don't drop this."  Lastly, if you use a hook grip, squeezing is the ONLY way it will work. 

Pull-Ups:

Squeezing the pull up bar as hard as possible will also activate your forearms and brachialis muscles.  This will make hanging easier, and doing so will develop your grip strength.  Also, it will help you transfer power through your pull all the way till your chest meets the bar.  

Squats:

For squats you should ALWAYS squeeze the barbell as hard as possible the whole lift.  This will keep your whole upper body tight and make squatting more stable and help prevent injury.  

Remember, there is a significant difference between just grabbing and consciously trying to squeeze a piece of metal as if your life depended on it.

"It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worth cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

-"The Man in the Arena"