Strength is Control, Control is Strength

When anyone is starting with strength training, the main thing I’m looking for to see if a movement is mastered is control. What I mean by that is, when they squat are they just bouncing up & down aimlessly, just hoping to hit depth or are the clearly in control of the weight going down and hitting depth, then coming back up smoothly with intent. Then these folks wonder why I give them a tempo to follow...oops.
Tempo= Prescribed timing for how long it take to reach the end of the movement, pause there if any and how long it should take to return to the start position of the movement
 
To simply put why I don’t want this, if you are not controlling the weight, then the weight is controlling you or will control you at some point. When you’re out of control doing the lifts, you can’t focus on keeping things tight or fixing the little technique flaws that pop up in your lifts. Eventually the weight gets too heavy for one of these technique flaws to remain hidden and bang you’re hurt.

Of course I picked a video game controller to indicate control, do you not know who I am?

Once I see trainees have sound technique and are in clear control of the weight, we can talk about doing things for speed or being sure that the weight moves quickly to the top of a lift. Less time worrying about injury and more productivity towards desired goals, makes sense right?
 
So next time you want to deliberately bounce the weight off the floor during deadlifts or bounce in and out of a squat for no rhyme or reason, consider whether you have control of the weight or the weight is controlling you.
 
Thanks for hanging out and reading folks. See back here next week.