*Originally written in 2022

Why program pauses?

Stemming from Olympic Weightlifting, I never really programmed pauses at the knee into my workouts. I have to tell you that it is FUCKING HARD. This is magnified when you add resistance bands into the mix or if you aren’t great at rack pulls.

I’ve always relied on my speed off the ground. What is particularly interesting is as I battle through some injuries, my speed off the floor has decreased. This just means that I have doubled down on lower back and things I’m better at at the top of the movement. So now I need to start to generate more speed at the bottom again.
If you haven’t picked up on this, I’m way weaker in a conventional stance than sumo stance for deadlifting.

Pausing is HARD

For me and many others, pausing at the knee and holding the right position IS HARD. It becomes even more difficult when bands are added into the equation. Straight weight is still hard but bands make this lift way harder.

When I say ‘Pause at the Knee’ I’m talking about pulling the bar off the ground, STOPPING at your knee, then restarting the bar to lock it out at the top.

It’s one of those things that if you master a variation of the lift like this, you will absolutely crush it when you go back to the normal lift. At the end of the day, we do all of these unique different exercises to build strength and confidence.

Give them a try

That is why we are programming lifts such as pauses as the knee. If I make you pause at the knee in training, what do you think is going to happen when you are bloated up, adrenaline pumping and competing at a meet where you don’t have to stop at your knee?

Join me every Monday for my I Love Mondays Newsletter.

1 email delivered to your inbox every Monday morning.

1 Workout
1 Thought
1 Quote.

That’s it.

Start each week right!

SIGN UP HERE