My favorite thing about this video was the fact that the coach was willing to admit where he's been wrong before and that he has learned. Something not many coaches are willing to do. Mitch, I love your mission to give back to the local strength communities, much love!
I’m glad that I learned I’ve been doing OHP incorrectly for years. So amazing to see him giving these great tips to up and coming athletes so they can learn to be stronger in a safer way.
The only thing he didn't go over is that I would try to keep the bar path as close to the nose as possible to limit arching. Past the nose then pull your head forward just slightly to get it under. I often actually brush my nose with it on the descent. His habits are about log pressing, which probably made it so he wouldn't think to mention bar path. He's used to horsing this massive implement over his meaty head. Of course what feels comfortable is probably best, in the end.
As a teacher myself, this warmed my heart. Thank you so much Mitch for spending time to educate the younger generation and helping them to get better 🙌
Really extraordinary to see the success of brains + brawn. What makes it extra exciting is you look at Mitchell Hooper and you see a stout, large fellow but not at the gargantuan level of Shaw, Hafthor, etc. To see him equal / dominate these leviathans (soon v. Hafthor?) gives us mere mortals faith that good things come in "small" packages.
For the squat, it's really a great tip for taller guys to put their knees more on the outside. I'm not that tall (5"10), and I just tried that way and it gives me better range of motion ! Thanks Mitch ! By the way, the titles for the timestamps are so wrong lol
Agreed. People always say "tall" but it's really more about proportions. I've seen tall guys, AND shorter guys some times, with short torsos and long legs for their height. And you also get taller guys who are built like most short guys, with a longer torso and short legs.
It's largely due to anatomy, it's not select to only tall people, it affects all height ranges. When you squat with your feet pointing forwards, your hips are limited in ROM in comparison to your toes pointing slightly outwards, this is because the head of the femur hitting the acetabulum of the hip.
People like him and Brian are the reason this sport of Strongman will be so good in the next 10 years or so. Thanks to you both and all the others who dedicate themselves to others!
I've been back at the gym for just over two years now, and I've been treating squat, deadlift and bench as my main three lifts. Just yesterday, I decided to start prioritising OHP over bench, although part of me was still feeling weird not prioritising bench. So this video has come at the absolute perfect time for me!
...Thank you, Mitch, for being a great ambassador for Strongman. You're literally doing everything right, and its a joy to have a champ that's leading by example. Kudos.
I love Mitch. Such a smart, solid and stand up guy. Sharing his literal world class knowledge with kids, in a fantastically accessible way. Awesome stuff.
this was one of the best videos on youtube, wish we would have had someone like this visit when I was on the highschool football team - would have made a HUGE difference
This is great Mitch. Can you discuss best power movements for athletes? Also, a good cycle of strength and power phases of a preseason workout schedule.
It’s always blown my mind how undereducated football players are when it comes to the weight room. So many strength coaches should be ashamed of themselves. This is the place where so many injuries start
Absolutely loved this. Man its great and refreshing just seeing this done as teaching and genuinely want to help them learn instead of just showing how much you know. This is great man.
Great video Mitch. I think your philosophy and approach to people as individuals, with all of their differences really shows in your way with people too! Very refreshing and frankly wonderful to see!
Thank you, Mitch I've been lifting for awhile and I just learned something new about every one of the those lifts. The way you explained the mechanics of the movements was great. If you're ever wondering what kind of content to put out, I recommend this kind of stuff. Thank you, again.
That is SO cool, teaching some kids how to do things! Wish I had someone tell me how to do those movements properly when I was young; would have saved me years of frustration and from a lot of wear & tear and injuries.
Wish you’d been around when I was in high school (unfortunately, you weren’t even born yet). Our wrestling coach was super strict about the toes straight ahead bs. When I got out of high school and took up powerlifting, my coach immediately corrected that. I’m 6’1” with long legs and a short torso, plus wide hips that seem to be naturally rotated out. Soon as I changed squat form, my weights went waaaaaay up, and all knee pain went away.
This is great news to me i was born with outward facing hips so when i squat heavy with toes pointed forward i feel a very large pressure in my knees, I was always worried to widen the stance to something that feels much more natural!
I’ve had dumb coaches telling me my squat looked bad forever. I can’t get down to range going toes forward it feels like my shit will snap off this is great stuff
Question for Mitch. Programming for hockey I include deadlift (posterior chain in puck protection) and squat (everything haha). I've had the debate overhead press/bench and traditionally choose more "bench" exercises. Your reasons for overhead press in football I get but hockey players tend to be more upright when "pushing" in battles to be in a better position to protect themselves from oncoming body checks and quicker use of evasion skills when the battle is won/lost. Moreover, to be strong on the stick and even when shooting I feel there is a high degree of pec activation but I have no science to back that up just what I feel when performing the skills. Your thoughts...
Did I understand this correctly: In season to not squat as deep / parallel depending on stance, foot position and how ones hip is built? And use off season for deeper squats bc otherwise its wasted energy? BC I always feel and observe getting WAY stronger by squatting just above parallel and my muscles in the legs just EXPLODE size-wise by doing so bc I can put on 40%(!!) more weight by just sqatting a few inches less deep. I have maximum retroverted hips btw.
i hit a 315lb log press today but idk if it counts because it looks like my knees double dipped a little. how do you stop your feet from moving after pressing and double dipping.
Such dogmatic views, absolutist statements, and so little science, nor common sense. Bracing better than technique, don't bench but ohp, don't lean too much but also not too little, long femurs can't squat deep, knees out/wide stance for long femurs, don't butt wink, ... Straight up "bro science". To not just be a toxic hater, I'll (try to) provide some nuance as to why I said what I said: While bracing is widely accepted to be conducive to your lifts, and many of us do so reflexively, it's challenged by some and so not unanimously accepted. You should keep in mind that you get good at what you train, you should still experiment for yourself. And there is absolutely 0 evidence it's the single greatest thing to prevent back pain. It's just an opinion. Which will only sometimes hold true. I could tell you technique is, or core strength, or stress/load management, or half a dozen other things that I can't even think of. And they would also be true, but only selectively. (Though honestly I think load management covers most if not all of it 😜). Anyways onwards... Absolutely do ohp. But don't ditch bench. That's about as dumb as bench but don't ohp. You're in the weight room to get a stronger, more resilient body. So expose yourself to heavy loads and different positions, so you can adapt and grow strong in different ranges. Don't pidgeon hole yourself in just a few movement patterns. Leave sport specificity largely to playing your sport and doing drills. Most if not all of what you in the weight room is too far removed from your sport and serves mostly to create tissue adaptation. I can't believe a strongman says don't lean too much. Hello? Log press? In tht same line of thinking, not leaning enough doesn't really exist either. All you have to do is look at Olympic lifters too see they do the exact opposite and they do it pretty darn well. Squeeze your glutes is a good tip but the rest... You could even make the argument that you, within reason, want to lean as much as possible to get more pec involvement going (that is, if your goal is to get the most weight up. Not necessarily if you want to get stronger tissue or stronger in some movement pattern.) Long femurs can contribute to, but are fr from the only or the primary factor in how deep you can squat. And whether a wider stance and/or pushing your knees out is going to help will depend far more on your hip structure than on the length of your femur. And lastly a butt wink can be but (like so many things) isn't necessarily a bad thing. i'd say the approach is fairly simple: avoid it if it cause pain, don't if it doesn't. I'm not saying you should mind you. Just that there's no reason to avoid it if there is no indicator for it. And for all those saying ir will catch up to you? Guess what that's just more dogma, regurgitated endlessly, yet another claim unsupported by science. Which by the way doesn't mean it can't happen. It just means that's by and large not the default outcome.
It takes a special kind of idiot to listen to the literal strongest man in the world talk about strength training and somehow think you know better... You are a World class imbecile
