Skill Mastery Before Output: An important order of events
Have you been told before that your not ready for a type of lift or have been held off the barbell in your programming? This isn’t because I don’t believe you can move the weight, but rather because you may lack the prerequisites do it safely.
Ensuring you have the necessary prerequisites & movement capacities for a lift allows us to manage risks and mitigate injury.
One means we can use to determine appropriate exercise selection is through acquisition of skills. Once you have consolidated the prerequisite skill (meaning it can be performed accurately and consistently over time) will open the gate for training output of a predetermined movement (heavy lifting). Pass go, collect $200 and put some more weight on the bar.
Skill Development requires practice and repetition.
Output is energy system demand i.e. high loads low repetitions.
Here is an example of skills and their progressions if you were going to load a Squat.
Stationary Lunge => Counter Balance Squat
Walking Lunge => Goblet Squat
Walking Lunge + Sprinter Pose => Front Squat
Walking Lunge + SL RDL => High Bar Back Squat
Walking Lunge + Hip Airplanes => Low Bar Back Squat
Nailed it…. i think?
It is important determine whether these skills have been consolidated for example during the lunge does the back leg turn out turning into external rotation?
Ideally we want a back leg that is able to control an internal rotation to allow for the hips to remain square and the front leg loaded.
Application
The integration of these movements into your warm-up sets whilst building to your working loads will ensure readiness for the lift is acquired. This was highlighted to me by the team @Pre-Script during their Pre-Script level 1 Coaching accreditation. * for context on location it was either film this inside with laundry drying in a crowded living room or outside. Figured you might appreciate the scenery more.
