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Gary I am with you. I don't wear the powerlifitng wrpas per se but have found since I started playing basketball in the tight neoprene knee sleeves and lifting weights with a set of McDavid knee supports my knees feel much better after games and training. If you have knee related issues I am all for a bit of extra support.

It is terrible. It is basically just plyos.

Hi Steven

I definitely wasn't referring to you as a rigid thinker. You definitely strike me as open minded.

So to your questions

1) I was talking in terms of shoulder flexibility/mobility. I have seen a lot of athletes over the years that don't have the necessary ROM to correctly perform overhead lifts with a bar.

Generally speaking I do not believe stronger and more stable shoulders are necessary regardless of sport. You definitely have to take the sport into consideration. In this sport though, stronger shoulders are clearly going to be advantageous.

2) After playing around with the exercise myself,talking to him, and watching the videos I am now of the very clear in my belief that in the context of his entire program that this exercise will provide as good a stimulus as some of the alternative exercises mentioned. If I didn't think it would then I would obviously not be doing my job as a coach because I would be advocating inferior methods.

I would like to add here that when i saw the video, my first impression was similar to yours, that there were better, more effective and safer alternatives. After discussing it with him and also doing it myself (and also looking at his total program again yesterday, which already includes rows) I have no issue with this exercise.

3) How do I know it is safe. 20 years of training, 15 years of coaching, experience mostly. I have tried enough different exercises over the years to get a good feel pretty quickly about the value and safety of an exercise, I know that might seem like a cop out but I am sure anybody here who has trained for an extended period and tried many different things will have enough body awareness to know if something feels ok or feels wrong. This took no time to learn and actually feels quite good to do.

"You know, other then fun in training, getting serious results can be a pretty strong motivator for many people as well..." Steve Miller

Steve, I agree 100% with what your quote. If I thought in anyway it was going to be detrimental to his performance on the bike then I would have had no hesitation to have him stop doing it.

Slightly off topic, I must have watch Karol's videos 100's of times and I only just realized their bikes have no seats. 

Some good discussion here and to those who would prescribe different exercises for triple extension, upper body power - well so would I. However, it is an exercise he clearly likes doing,  and so instead of flat out saying no, I actually did something that I am sure most of the critics in this thread would never do and that is I went out and tried it this weekend. Here is what I found

1) It is infinitely easier on the shoulder joints than regular snatches which given he doesn't need to go overhead is a useful thing to have.
2) It does provide good simultaneous stimulus for the triple extension and the upper back/deltoid area, which in his sport is something he uses (which isn't downhill mountain biking, it is bike technic, which involves a lot of jumping from rocks to logs and other random objects on your bike in an obstacle course type situation against the clock. I should clear that up. The bikes are actually more like a BMX bike).
3) It is a safe movement (aside from the jumping right in front of the step business which I have recommended he not do going forward as it does strike me as trip hazard).

I am truly surprised that some of you do not seem to understand that in training enjoying the exercises is a very good, motivational thing, especially given that it suits his goals, and is safe to perform. Part of being a good coach is working WITH the athlete, not just telling them what to do all the time regardless of their input. If it is a little unconventional, well, frankly, I don't care. I will keep on having an open mind to new things and leave the rigid thinkers to themselves.

Anyway here is a video of him and another guy in action.

http://vimeo.com/23908281

They are pretty impressive at what they do (although there is a few crashes in this one. Interestingly if you watch at the 0.35 mark and again at the 1.30 mark there are a couple of good examples of them using a similar motion on their bikes

He told me it was for upper body (shoulders mostly). I suspect he likes the dynamic nature of it and also the fact that it is pretty full body. As to why he doesn't just do regular snatches? I have no idea. He only showed me this video today. I saw it and was like WTF? I have asked him a few questions about it myself and am interested to hear his thoughts.

JW

I like the single leg version of the leg press best. Also I wouldn't worry too much about just trying to develop the VMO either. Why would you want to isolate that muscle so much anyway?