Weightlifting Shoes vs Nanos?

Hi Antony, I have something I would be interested in you addressing… After working extensively on my lower body mobility I have decided to make the shift from weightlifting shoes to nanos.

Is there any actually physiological reason why it would be better to go either may? Also would lifting in nanos transfer better to other movement patterns such as sprinting and jumping?

or is this totaly irrelevent and Im over thinking it? haha

Thanks. I really enjoy following you, all the way from the Great White North.

Hi Lucas [Calm down, it’s not Lucas Parker!]. Thanks for the kind words and the questions 🙂

Firstly, do you CrossFit or just weightlifting? Because if you just do weightlifting, it is a specialised sport and the shoes go with that. They give you an advantage in that you don’t need as much ankle dorsiflexion to reach essentially the same positions. They also provide a very stable platform on which you can catch weights more easily.

If you muck around in weightlifting and train for other things as well or if you do CrossFit, the I personally think 80-90% of your training should be in Nanos of something similar.

Reasons why:

1. Nanos mean you have to have more ankle flexibility. I have never thought “you have too much ankle flexibility”, just “you need stronger ankles.” Most of the time I think “you need more ankle flexibility” which is what oly shoes address.

2. If you CrossFit, you don’t want heavy shoes when trying to finish 100 pull-ups or toes to bar. That’s not a problem if you only throw a barbell around

3. Would you normally walk around in Nanos or WL shoes when not training? Exactly

4. It is harder to clean and snatch with Nanos on…kinda like putting a weight-vest on for pull-ups. So when you do actually use your special shoes, you will feel like superman. Make sure that you train for at least a week in WL shoes before an important meet for WL.

5. As you mention, Nanos will transfer into other sports much easier… although I am not sure what shoes you use to get around the snow and ice in Canadia land 😉

Keep an eye out for Brent Fikowski. He is a chance for Canada West and would love to see him get to the Games 😉

Cheers

if you have any questions that you want answered, just ask them by posting on my Facebook page “The Physio Detective” or any other social media.

Please leave your opinions and questions below

Practice Perfects Reps…LOTS of them!!!

If it takes thousands of repetitions to be good at something and 10,000hrs to be an expert at something, then you better start now! But there have been plenty of people who have put in thousands of hours and they aren’t elite…why not? Maybe they simply lack the talent but they should STILL be good…but some aren’t.

That is because I believe that you need to practice perfect repetitions if you want to get better.

If you consistently practice your cleans or snatch, practice the same routine you would use as if you were going for the Olympic Gold Medal. Anything less would be not as efficient 🙂

Practice with deliberation…and enjoy the results 🙂

Butt Winking? One Solution Is To Open Up The Back Of The Hip

The Butt-Wink (aka Posterior Pelvic Tilt)

The butt-wink. It is a common phenomenon. In fact, I would say that it happens far more often than not. Some people think it is ok. Others say it is dangerous (I think it can be dangerous but not all butt-winks are butt-winks!). But at the end of the day. the butt-wink is inefficient – it is a joint that is moving when it doesn’t have to therefore it is a source of a loss of torque.

Losing cleans and front squats forwards? It could be your abs…

Decent effort but ideally, I would prefer a straighter back.

A very common problem, and one that I actually have, is that flexion during the front squat and clean will result in the weight being tipped forwards and you can drop the weight.

In my case, it is simply weakness – I need to train more at keeping good form- I did start working on it but, as always, things are a work in progress – read about how I increased my front squat by 12% in less than 2 months…

For high level athletes, weakness is not often the problem. Often it is simply a coordination issue or their abs are too tight/overactive causing the spine to flex. Learning where and when it occurs is important. You can then teach the athlete to train a different pattern and they smash through that plateau.

Here is a video of Vaughn Langtry, Australian Regionals Competitor from CrossFit BodiComplete and his front squat analysis I did in Jan 2014. He was able to break through his plateau in the clean after a few days of training his low thoracic stability and releasing his upper abdominals.

Give it a go and let me know how it went!