Posted April 1, 2013

Angry Birds and PRs: How Lifting Heavy Stuff is Similar to Hitting the Bricks Just Right

Angry Birds is somewhat of a cultural juggernaut in the past few years. Since 2009, the video game about wingless flightless birds launched from a slingshot and hurtled towards the enemy pigs with a variety of different abilities has been downloaded over 2.2 billion times (that’s billion with a “b”) and has spawned spin-offs, merchandise, even a killer StarWars version, all for between $0.99 and $4.99 per download.

Angry Birds

 

If you haven’t played any version of Angry Birds yet, you probably still have some free time and projects and chores that are finished, whereas those of us who are obsessed with trying to figure out how to get all three stars in each level have foregone sleep, hygiene, and even workouts on occasion in favour of launching those little buggers at bricks and blocks in hopes of demolishing the grunting snorting pigs.

Many of the different scenarios in the games involve using only specific birds with specific abilities. This means that if you want to get the three stars you have to go about it in a very specific way.

The interesting thing is that on occasion you can get away with taking a different route to get to the three stars, which means it’s not just one way to get the job done. You can sometimes get a lucky bounce, tricky little roll, or an unexpected jiggle to work in your favour.

This is very similar to trying for a PR in a max weight. As much as we in the fitness industry may harp on there being a biomechanically superior way to get the weight moving from the floor to a position of stupefying awesomosity, there’s always a lot of wiggle room and different ways to get the job done.

For instance, check out the setup I used when hitting a deadlift PR of 455 back in January. My spinal position is as straight as an elven arrow.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-MJHtgVa5g’]

For me, I can’t get much strength from a flexed spine as I tend to get shooting pains and crippling going on whenever I get out of neutral from a previous back injury, but I can still get the job done when I stabilize and brace the hell out of my core.

Now take someone like Bret Contreras. Bret’s a good friend and definitely one of the stronger fitness professionals out there, and has also undergone a low back injury, just a different type than mine. For him, he prefers a slightly flexed spinal position to pull, and the proof is in the pudding, so to speak.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgkCJc9besk’]

Along the same vein as the flexed spine, the approach to the bar can be very different. Watching Bret approach the bar, find his grip and get his hips and feet set is sort of like watching Britney Spears performing: a lot of movement but nothings actually going on.

Compare this to another rounded back deadlifter, Eric Cressey, who tries to set the land speed record for how quickly he goes from standing to finding his grip to unleashing the hammer of Thor all over the bar.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwKpWx2HZxg’]

Eric’s going to love walking back down memory lane and seeing how much hair he had.

Compare that to the pre-lift set up from someone like Ronnie Coleman, one of the most decorated bodybuilders of all time.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y64Frkioz8o’]

Man I just wanna go eat steak, deadlift and yell at puppies after seeing something like that.

Now watch the set-up from Benedikt Magnusson as he absolutely demolishes 1015 pounds and causes Isaac Newton to question everything he thought about gravity.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M13EBl_jF0′]

Each lifter has distinctly different methods of getting the weight off the floor, and we could argue about specifics all we want to, but at the end of the day there will only be one measure of success: Getting the weight to lockout. We can train as much as we want in order to maintain neutral spine and drive through the hips and brace, yadda yadda yadda, but at the end of the day success does not determine the biomechanics. In some cases, it flies against convention.

Much like Angry Birds, you can get three stars in a bunch of different ways, just so long as all the pigs fall.

The key to any high skill movement like a max weight deadlift is in trying to find your ideal groove, or line of action. Some people find they can get stronger with a mild flexed spine, whereas others feel they need to be slightly rounded to hit the goal. When learning how to pull, the safest position is in a neutral spinal posture and trying to focus on maintaining the neutral spine, packed neck, and tight shoulders while driving the hips forward underneath the hips. Thinking about simply pulling the weight off the floor tends to make the low back get beat up.

This is also why a lot of lifters will drill into their motor pattern a neutral spine while using less than max weight, but when the weight hits max, they work on simply using whatever they can to get the job done. Technique doesn’t go completely out the window, only partially.

While there’s an ideal and an optimal for the majority of the population to get a job done, there’s always going to be someone out there who can find a new and novel way to get the same benefits, just through a different path. Whatever it takes for you to find your three stars, go for it. Some ways have a greater risk to reward ratio, so approach each version with caution and an understanding of what may happen if things don’t go the way you expect. You can’t hit the reset button on a missed deadlift as easily as you can on a failed attempt in Angry Birds, but you can always go back for more tomorrow.

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