I’m more of a dog guy, but did you ever watch a cat hunt?
They are about the most patient creatures on Earth right up until the moment they move in for the kill, then the violence is unleashed!
They move so fast and decisively it is almost unbelievable.
It’s like a symphony of death.
I want you to be like a cat.
Have patience then unleash violence.
I use this phrase all the time when coaching:
Patience then violence.
A suitable application of violence can solve a lot of problems, and yes I see that this may seem contradictory to my recent writings about being a better person.
With that said, a good punch in the mouth can solve many issues, but that is not the type of violence I am referring to today.
I am talking about lifting.
Let me explain; many years ago one of the best lessons about lifting was taught to me by Vincent DiZenzo.
He was coaching me in the shirt, and I was rushing through my reps.
Vincent told me to have patience.
What he meant was that you need to pay attention to what you are doing and make sure your technique is right. This applies to raw lifting, but in equipment it is critical.
A light went off in my head and things clicked.
I’ve been telling people to be patient ever since.
To expand on patience, it does not meant to move extra slow, or to take longer than is needed to perform a rep, or a set, it means that you must move at a pace that you are able to control your technique whether it is raw or equipped.
Some of us move fast on the descent of a lift, and some move slow.
Either way, both need to move under control with a focus on proper technique at all times.
To illustrate, I had a habit of dumping the bar on my chest in the shirt instead of taking an extra second, or half a second and maintaining proper positions and technique as the bar got close to touching.
I’d do something dumb, like over tucking my elbows or flattening out my upper back instead of taking a second and paying attention. This always resulted in a missed rep.
Following Vincent’s excellent advice helped me to improve.
I’ve since added the violence part to it on my own.
You may or may not know that Dr. Fred Hatfield was a close friend and mentor of mine, and Fred pioneered CAT training.
CAT stands for Compensatory Acceleration Training, and it means that as your leverages improve, you increase your force production rate.
To simplify it, it means go faster as you approach lockout.
As an example, in the squat, where is your leverage better?
In the hole, in the middle or close to lockout?
Well, it is better at different points.
It’s better in the middle than in the hole, and it is better a little closer to lockout than in the middle-right?
So we want to move out of the hole smooth and strong, but as hard as possible while being patient.
As leverage improves, you apply more force (Speed) and continue doing this all the way to lockout.
I like to tell my athletes that I want to hear the plates “snap”at the top of each rep.
That gives us good feedback on how much VIOLENCE we are applying to the bar.
Patience then violence is an analogy for CAT.
Now to play Devils’ advocate, some coaches want the lifter to move at a consistent speed throughout the lift, and this is a completely valid technique.
It is used typically to make sure the lifter is in good positions at all points in the lift.
Personally, I don’t think it is optimal.
It has a place in training, I use tempo work a lot, but not for meet prep. I do use it in the off season and for hypertrophy, and even sometimes to reinforce positions.
To improve Limit Strength, I have found that using CAT is superior, and CAT training is even better when using Accommodating Resistance.
Accommodating Resistance allows you to have lots of patience and lots of violence.
Let me expand on that.
When I say Patience then Violence, I want you to move the bar as fast as you can on the eccentric part of the lift, but as slow as you need to in order to keep your form as perfect as you are capable of.
Move with purpose.
On the concentric phase I want you to unleash as much violence on the bar as possible.
Violence in this case is force or speed.
Unleash as much force as you can while controlling your positions, and increase it as your leverage improves with the most at lockout.
This is a proven formula for getting strong(ER) and hitting a bigger total.
One of my old coaches at TPS, Kevin Delaney, used to always say at sub maximal weights people trust their form and “run to it”.
But, many “run away” from what got them there as the weight goes up. Form.
They run away from the form. They lose patience and get sloppy.
I love this way of explaining it.
People get it. I hope you do too.
Getting back to why Accommodating Resistance lends itself to this concept very well, if you add bands or chains to the bar in the squat, bench or deadlift (or anything else for that matter), the bands and chains deload at the bottom.
This means that the weight you “feel” is less in a position where you have less leverage.
As you move through the range and approach lockout, the bands and chains load tension/weight to the bar in positions where you have more leverage.
If you apply violence appropriately you will outrun the band and chain tension in the sticking points and finish strong.
Get it?
Next time you go in the gym, try what I explained. Have patience, unleash violence.
And don’t do it on your max set, start in your warmups!
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Vincere vel mori
C.J. Murphy
July 11, 2019
