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Postural Weightlifting Training: interview with Paolo Campra

riccardo — Mon, 29 May 2023 06:16:29 +0000

Postural Weightlifting Training: interview with Paolo Campra, creator of the postural education programme that subverts certain clichés.

ISEF graduate, Doctor of Motor Sciences, Kinesiologist, FIPE Olympic Weightlifting Coach and Senior Personal Trainer, FIT Physical Trainer Level I Tennis and Padel.

Since 2006 he has been working on postural and functional re-education at his kinesiology studio, and since 2018 he has widened his activities by turning into the world of fitness meant as ‘gymnastics for health’, especially in the preventive and re-educational treatments. For this purpose, he founded Movilab, the movement laboratory, in 2022.

Postural Weightlifting, it might seem an oxymoron, with the same meaning we find a sport that is mostly associated with the risk of injury, or in any case not suitable for the improvement of one’s state of health, even more so for the young and very young people, side by side with another activity, also recommended and encouraged by the medical professionals for proper physical development or for the solution of certain problems. Can you tell more about the coexistence of these two activities? Can you define in a few words what the method you have developed consists of?

Yes, that’s right, even from the naming of this activity I wanted to highlight what the international scientific community has certified, effectively enshrining what can be considered an epochal change of paradigm: from overload that is detrimental to development and health, to overload that is necessary for a smooth development and the health. In every age group.

How did the idea of Postural Weightlifting method?

As a movement professional devoted to health, I was looking for a method that focused on this aspect, which is absolutely crucial to my vision, to be matched, however, with a fun and engaging activity.
In my idea, the young and very young people should have wanted to come to the gym, instead of going to by a family imposition or a medical prescription.
The idea of the ‘Postural Weightlifting®’ method was born as a response to different needs, or priorities:
– those of parents, looking for healthy, professionally supervised activity, an alternative motor education to sedentary and hypokinesis for their children.
– those of the boys, looking for something fun and stimulating, which could lay the foundations for a body that was not only healthy, but also best met to an aesthetic ideal, which at this age works as a strong motivational component, provided it is channelled by us and brought to life without exaggeration and exasperation.

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Why the technical gestures of Olympic Weightlifting?

Because ever since I first approached this historical and wonderful sport, I realised the incredible value that the technical gestures of snatch and sprint, as well as several complementary and auxiliary ones, had from a postural point of view, in terms of mobility, rapidity and precision of movements, perfect static-dynamic control of the general postural set-up, of the column, the scapular girdle, the coxofemoral joint and the tibiotarsal joint.

In the light of what you have said, wouldn’t it be enough to train the Olympic Weightlifting?

In fact, Postural Weightlifting could pretty be, and my hope is that it becomes, the stepping stone to Olympic Weightlifting.
The idea is precisely that of increasing the number of young and very young people who approach this sport without any particular competitive aims, and that families can free themselves from the taboo of barbells at a young age.
In contrast to those who approach competitive sport directly, in our case, the demand is mainly for a very targeted and specific objective, which concerns above all health and the harmonious development of different parts.
The technical aspect, although carefully tended, will eventually be addressed in a second phase.
Our young athletes ask us to participate in their first competitions, and as Movilab we are organising ourselves to fulfil this wish.

Can you broadly describe how the Postural Weightlifting sessions develop?

In setting up the project, we first distinguished between the different needs of pre-adolescents versus adolescents.
The content of the sessions in both cases always includes an initial activation through mobility exercises, typical exercises of postural gymnastics and motor control, and a part of work on the technical gesture of snatch or sprint.
Part of the work can be spent, depending on the day and the schedule, on strength, functional strength, dexterity circuits, agility, quickness (which are never lacking in the case of pre-teens).
What changes between the two proposals is the different ‘dosage of ingredients’.
A session of postural weight training for pre-adolescents will focus more on motor literacy in general on circuits of dexterity agility rapidity elasticity and in any case on a strong playful component, the time devoted to the technical gesture will be shorter than that reserved for adolescents within the session.
The same applies to exercises focused on the pure strength development.

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What equipment is needed to carry out the activity?

Some of the equipment will be fundamental to build the foundations of strength and technique in weightlifting movements. Technical 3.5 and 7 kg barbells (for learning technique in all age groups), as well as hollow discs, fractional plates, Olympic barbells and traditional discs, and dumbbells of various sizes will be essential. One or more racks and supports for barbells, one or more flat/tilt benches.

Another part of the equipment for the more functional, educational and general physical training part can consist of training and functional training equipment: PVC or wooden tubes or sticks, kettlebells, suspension training straps, different types of elastic bands, Plio Box, Medball, Slamball, Flow bag.

And more obstacles, cones, kineses, rings, and anything else that can be useful to build tracks for speed, dexterity, agility, elasticity.

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PHYSICAL TRAINING OF THE RALLY DRIVER: Rachele Somaschini

riccardo — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 20:45:22 +0000

Rachele Somaschini: you are all the limits you overcome (every day)

Rachele Somaschini, rally driver, spends at least two hours a day on her physical training, both in the gym and at home.

Dry physical training (from ‘dryland’, a US term coined to define the training adopted by professional swimmers out of the water) has also taken on an important role in motor sports, where the driver’s athletic preparation is an essential component of competitiveness.

Indeed it is intuitive that, for practical and economic reasons, a driver, as well as other sportsmen, (e.g. those competing in the fast disciplines of Alpine skiing) has very limited opportunities to train with the equipment (and the vehicle, in the case of the driver) and in their reference context.

What does dry training for a pilot consist of? The work focuses on endurance strength, isometric contractions and joint mobility, with particular attention to the muscle chains that are subjected to the greatest stress in driving. Training of aerobic capacities and the cardiovascular system is then essential: the forces to which the athlete is subjected in competition require endurance over long distances and the ability to cope with difficult environmental conditions such as extreme heat, which in a rally car on summer days can easily exceed 50°. Mental training and reflex training aimed at improving psychophysical performance complete the picture.

There are therefore no doubts as to the validity of these trainings targeted at the sport of reference, but substantially detached from it and the stimuli, even playful ones, that it involves. And it is precisely this psychological aspect that I would like to highlight.

The physical sacrifice during driving can be alleviated by the adrenalin component of competition (which is common to all sports), while in dry work the mental component and the desire to succeed, to exceed one’s own limit every day, is the real motivational drive. The athlete becomes a fighter who aims to strengthen and manage his resources in order to be able to make the most of them when he needs them.

The idea of training designed for drivers, and in particular for those who race in rallies, is therefore intended to provide the support to withstand, without performance failure, the many days of competition, the few hours of sleep and all the unforeseen events that this type of competition entails: From dominating a powerful car for kilometres on a bumpy boulder or on a winding mountain road, to puncturing a tyre and having to change it in the middle of a special stage (this is how the timed section of the race is defined), to the accidental touch, to the mechanical failure that manifests itself at high speeds and to which one must react instantly to avoid damage or retirement.

Another aspect that is just as sensitive for Rachele Somaschini as she is not only an athlete, but a person suffering from cystic fibrosis from birth, concerns training as ‘therapy’, both physical and mental. Rachele has to cope with a degenerative genetic disease every day, which affects various internal organs, primarily the lungs, and obtains great benefit from targeted physical training. Cardio training is equivalent to a respiratory physiotherapy session because by strengthening the lung capacity and training the airways, it helps to remove excess mucus and increase the amount of air introduced with the act of breathing. On a mental level, measuring improvements in performance, endurance and physical well-being helps in coping with the disease and the difficulties it imposes every day.

This experience further demonstrates that dry training should be given an important technical and motivational value, which goes far beyond the more obvious aspects of physical adaptation.

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LOW HEX BAR. WHEN FORM BROADENS THE HORIZON OF FUNCTION.

riccardo — Sat, 12 Nov 2022 12:00:47 +0000

LOW HEX BAR. WHEN FORM BROADENS THE HORIZON OF FUNCTION.

Intuitive. Innovative. Unexplored. These are the first three definitions that leap to mind when one first time one observes the ‘9012/3 Low Hex Bar‘ , Sidea’s new design in the field of Overload Tools.

A very innovative form, which nevertheless determines an intuitive approach to its use, opening up an unexplored range of possibilities of use, of movements, of training stimuli.

We have already got to consider in the world of Functional Training the three essential cornerstones of Movement: Strength, Mobility, Stability. The new Low Hex Bar 9012/3 correlates these three aspects in a new, very close way, thanks to an approach to Movement that is free in multiplanarity despite a solid bond and ties of solidarity with the athlete, who is at the centre of a true ‘cage of strength’.

So, we experimented a short routine with the Low Hex Bar, getting inspired by Strength, Movement and Stability.

The initial approach is of a handle that inspires strength and power, in neutral grip, an obsolete element in the use of traditional barbells. A wide handle, from which begins the first, intuitive movement: the Deadlift.

The sensation of stability that one you feel when handling the overload with a grip such as the one just described is incredible.

The hands, clamped on the handles in their physiological position physiological position, together with the arms perfectly perpendicular with respect to the front of the body and held in slight abduction by the 9012/3 itself, transfer to the Low Hex Bar all the force that the legs offer in their thrust, without compromise or dispersive force vectors.

Hence, the exploration of a specific movement of this tool: the execution of a Back Lunge with the body twist in the direction ipsilateral to the supporting leg, performed on both sides.

This twist, in addition to the Mobility involved by the movement itself, further stresses the athlete’s Stability and tests his ability to overcome the inertial rotational forces that the Low Hex Bar generates during its movement.

The phase of the athlete’s return to upright position and subsequently to the ground of the Low Hex Bar, provides a stable and favourable support for immediate plank stretching.

A push-up performed with weight-bearing support that is advantageous from a weight point of view – given the slight inclined plane created – but at the same time challenging for the position in which the hands express the force generated by the kinetic chain of front push, creates a sudden coupling effect between “lower and upper body movements.”

The above routine is just one of the countless possibilities that with skill and creativity the trainer can and must explore.

Because, let us remember once again, the Low Hex Bar is definitely the missing tool in the functional overload domain. A unique and simply Intuitive tool: Innovative and Undiscovered.

PIERLUIGI MAURO

He has about thirty years of experience in the field of Athletic Training and Physical Activity. Former Officer of the Italian Military Air Force, in parallel with his studies in Electronic Engineering, he dedicated himself to Functional Training starting as early as 1998 to use Kettlebells for athletic training in the Canoe and Kayak field. Interested in the use of Macebell for several years, he has studied and codified different training methods based exclusively on this tool, becoming a profound connoisseur of the Physical and Biomechanical dynamics related to it and the main Italian exponent of Macebell Training.

3rd Level Trainer “Master – Sport Specialist” of the Italian Weightlifting Federation with the qualification “Kettlebell Specialist”, is the National Technical Manager F.I.PE. and Federal Lecturer for “Functional Strength” and is a member of the National Union of Sports Kinesiologists. Author of the book “Functional Strength – High Intensity Functional Training Method” published by Calzetti & Mariucci for the Strength Academy F.I.PE. He is the creator and founder of the “Crossout Functional Training” community, a reality present throughout the country with over 150 professional trainers in the first three years of diffusion.

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The stresses an Olympic barbell undergoes during the main exercises

riccardo — Wed, 24 Aug 2022 15:15:08 +0000

Department of Mechanics, Milan’s Polytechnic

We asked the Department of Mechanics at Milan’s Polytechnic, in the person of Prof. Francesco Braghin, to measure the stresses an Olympic barbell undergoes during the main exercises: bench press, deadlift, squat, snatch and sprint. The objective is extremely practical; to define simple and usable multiplication coefficients, even approximate, useful to the athlete in considering the stress of the discs loaded on the barbell according to the performed exercises.

The activity concerned the ‘sensorization’ of three different models of Olympic barbells; 9015/4, 9015/5, 9015/9, by technicians from the Department of Mechanics of Milan’s Polytechnic, who are qualified to bond strain gauge sensors.

Considering that the bending stresses on the rocker arm stem

from the weight forces at both ends, corresponding to the weight of the sleeves and weights;
from the forces exerted by the athlete’s hands to lift the barbell

it was deemed necessary to instrument the bar in 4 different sections

two sections at the end of the barbell, i.e. the point as close as possible to the sleeve, compatible with the dimensions of the strain gauge and its electrical connections; these sections are therefore between the sleeve and the athlete’s grip
two sections over the barbell centre and symmetrical with respect to it, i.e. within the athlete’s grip points; for all the instrumented barbells, the distance between these sections turned out to be 360 mm.

Being concerned only with the bending of the barbell, it was possible to construct a system for measuring deformations using two complete strain gauge bridges for each section:

No. 1 complete bridge along the horizontal plane (XZ);
No. 1 complete bridge along the vertical plane (XY).

The use of complete strain gauge bridges, realised with two strain gauges orthogonal to each other placed on the two generators of the barbell belonging to a diametrical plane, has allowed to make the measurement insensitive to axial action and temperature variations. The figure shows the diagram for the positioning of the strain gauges on the measuring section. Each blue patch in the figure contains the pair of orthogonal strain gauges described above.

In total, therefore, eight 10-metre-long cables (in order to give the athlete sufficient comfort) corresponding to the eight measuring channels (bending along two directions for four measuring sections) branch off from each barbell.

We performed a simple test for strain gauge bridge resetting: the barbell was placed in a vertical position (i.e. the position corresponding to a zero bending moment on all four measuring sections), the output of the bridges (offset) was measured and this value was then subtracted from the measurements to be taken from there on.

Each test was carried out at a sampling frequency of 5 kHz, in order to measure not only the stresses due to the athlete’s gestures, but also those of an impulsive nature due, for example, to the barbell falling to the ground.

Conclusions:

From the tests performed on the three barbells, it should be botice what was to be expected: the most dynamic exercises, with higher accelerations, resulted in the highest stress values. Obviously maximum stress and extended to all the sensors, in the event of the barbell falling, although in this case the maximum strain values were very different as a result of the way the barbell struck the ground.

As for the definition of the multiplication coefficients, the test showed:

snatch and momentum x 3.0
squat x 1.8
bench press x 1.7
deadlift x 1.5

Therefore, taking the snatch and momentum exercise as an example, 100 kg of discs loaded on the Olympic barbell will carry out a force weight corresponding to 300 kg.

Beware of falling from above! The multiplication coefficient turned out to be x 3.25, but as we have said, it undergoes several variables.

Also pay attention to the performance of the exercises. During the test, we stuck to ‘standard’ executions, or as standard as possible. Squats and deadlifts, but also bench presses, can be performed with high acceleration, explosively, and this inevitably raises the multiplication coefficients.

Isla Fit Canarias

Postural Weightlifting Training: interview with Paolo Campra

How did the idea of Postural Weightlifting method?

Speed and Agility training

Fitness balls

Why the technical gestures of Olympic Weightlifting?

In the light of what you have said, wouldn’t it be enough to train the Olympic Weightlifting?

Can you broadly describe how the Postural Weightlifting sessions develop?

Barbell Weightlifting/Powerlifting

Plates & Bumper

What equipment is needed to carry out the activity?

Kettlebell Strong Competition & vinyl

Elastics and bands fitness

PHYSICAL TRAINING OF THE RALLY DRIVER: Rachele Somaschini

Rachele Somaschini: you are all the limits you overcome (every day)

LOW HEX BAR. WHEN FORM BROADENS THE HORIZON OF FUNCTION.

LOW HEX BAR. WHEN FORM BROADENS THE HORIZON OF FUNCTION.

The stresses an Olympic barbell undergoes during the main exercises

Department of Mechanics, Milan’s Polytechnic

BARBELL WEIGHTLIFTING/POWERLIFTING

Functional Power in Kettlebell Training

HAMSTRING & SISSY SQUAT BENCH

INJURY PREVENTION

INCREASED PERFORMANCE

NEUROMUSCULAR ACTIVATION

EXERCISE SETUP

ROMANIAN CHAIR SQUAT

PROGRESSIVE APPROACH

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