From what I understand he says it's a better idea to load the front of the foot (balls of the feet) and engage the calves (by doing so) but obviously steel keeping the heel on the floor.
I guess he's for elevated heel squats, be it on a plate or with o-lift shoes.
In Biomechanics and Kinesiology, in order to push through the heels a person must first shift the weight backwards. To do so, requires a contraction of the muscles on the front of the lower leg. In EMG research testing in my lab, the entire anterior compartment of the lower leg (shin) contracts once the weight shifts behind the mid point of the foot.
The gastroc/soleus complex also contracts but only acts more as a stabilizer than a primary mover. This means the calves neither receive nor deliver any force to the middle of the foot or the big toe when pushing through the heels. In other words if the weight is in the heels and the lifter pushes through the heels, the entire front of the leg contracts to help with the squat. NOT THE BACK OF THE LEG!
As a result of the single exercise cue “Push through the heels” sports and fitness professionals have inadvertently contributed to an increase in Achilles tendon injuries, knee injuries, low back pain and injuries, tight hips, and numerous other injuries. It’s time for a change in the industry and it starts with exercise professionals. I have come to that conclusion based not on opinion but after evaluation of the Biomechanics data of over 50,000 athletes and exercisers over the past 18 years.
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As a former hurdler, I NEVER ran on my heels. However distance runners (more in the US than other countries) were instructed to run with a heel strike. Here’s a common sense question, if pushing through your heels help increase glute muscle contraction, wouldn’t distance runners have large glutes and strong hamstrings? In addition, would sprinters (who incidentally run on the balls of their feet) have small glutes and stronger quads when compared hamstrings? Instead, its just the opposite. Distance runners have large quads and non-existent glute muscle development when compared to sprinters.
Whenever I do cleans and snatches I get A TON of trap soreness... usually due to lowering the bar back to the top of the legs under control (since I can't just drop the bar in a commercial gym).
that's actually a pretty common way to clean a thick axle. you see it alot in strongman. it's hard to grip the big bars to pull them off the ground with a normal double overhand and they are too fat to use the hook grip. also they are too fat to just roll your wrists over at the top of the clean. it works alot better for big strongmen types that have a large belly to rest the axle on. also you are supposed to lean back at the knees more and almost incline press the axle up, like the old olympic lifters did on their press. or the other way is to double underhand it from the belly to the shoulders by basically rolling it up to the shoulders, sometimes even using the foreamrs or elbows to get it to the shoulders. it's hard for a skinny woman to do it right as they have no belly to rest it on and they have no bodyweight to use for momentum. if you ever use a really heavy sandbag it's the same. you have to get it to your belly and then sort of roll it up to shoulders before you press it. stones work similar to get then to your shoulders. you have to break the clean into two motions. people also do the same basic thing often times when flipping tires, bringing it up to waist or belly and then turning hands over and pushing the rest of the way up.