August Archives

1. I feel pretty motivated, so I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I’ll make it my mission to write a blog every day this week. Of course, this has never happened before- mainly because I’d rather eat my omelet and watch SportsCenter in the morning than stare into a blank computer screen and figure out how I won’t get the editors at the Herald to hate me. I love you guys!11!!11 In any case, I’m going to need to hold myself accountable here. If I don’t write five blogs this week, I’ll film myself eating a can of Alpo (thanks for the idea Dan John). If I do write five blogs, I’ll let Rosario Dawson make out with me.

Side Note: The CP interns went out last weekend and actually saw/stalked Rosario in Harvard Square (which is two miles from my apartment), and failed to call me. Needless to say, I’m going to “fail” in writing any letters of recommendation. That will learn em.

2. Anyone who lives in Boston (or in New England for that matter) knows about Phantom Gourmet. In a nutshell, the Phantom Gourmet is hosted by the Andelman brothers as they discuss anything and everything dealing with food. Specifically, they discuss many of the great restaurants and “food events” in and around the greater Boston area. Not surprisingly, they hold a lot of weight in the food community, and it’s not uncommon for their show to make or break a restaurant’s success.

You’re probably wondering where the heck I’m going with this. Well, as I was training at a local BSC yesterday (I totally got out of taking a yoga class…..high five!!!), I started thinking how I could essentially do the same thing. You know, accept instead of discussing which places have the most succulent filet mignon, I could “rate” various gyms that I train at by whether or not I have a sudden urge to throw a barbell, javelin style, at someone’s melon. As the case was yesterday when I overheard a trainer tell his client that the reason their shoulder hurt was because they weren’t using their “chest muscles” enough while they benched. I kid you not. It took every grain of self-restraint not to walk over and 1) actually teach the client how to bench the right way and 2) one nut punch the douchehole of a trainer……..repeatedly. Suffice it to say, I think I’m on to something. *cue evil strength coach laugh now*

3. Watch the video below and try not to euthanize yourself in the process:

Reason # 717 why I love my female clients. They send me videos like this and respond with:

I’d rather eat my own spleen than take that class

– Nancy LeBlanc, converted badass and resident CP pumpkin bar maker.

You would think that whenever myself and my esteemed colleagues exchange emails with one another, we do nothing but discuss important stuff like, I don’t know, lower extremity dysfunction and how it affects the lumbar spine, scapular downward rotation syndrome and the overhead athlete, or new and innovative programming strategies for fat loss (Hint: don’t get fat in the first place). While this is definitely the case 95% of the time, the other 5% is dedicated to making fun of guys who shave their chest hair, wondering when Tracy Anderson will realize she’s Tracy Anderson and go away, and/or sending videos of people getting dominated by an exercise ball.

Nothing says LOLROTFLIJSSAOMK (LOL Rolling On The Floor I Just Spit Spike All Over My Keyboard)) more than throwing a ball at your kid and making him cry.

*Thanks to James Garland for sending me the video. James came all way from Austrailia this past winter to hang out with us at CP for two weeks, and just opened up his own facility not too long ago. I highly encourage you to check out his website- he’s a definate up and comer in the industry. On an aside, you should email him about Crocodile Dundee. He loves that shit!

1. Remember last week when I briefly wrote about The Dr. Manhattan Project?? Weeeeeeeell, I’m putting that project on hiatus for the time being. Get this- I weighed myself last Monday morning (when I was going to start it) and came in at a paltry 191 lbs. Unacceptable!!!!!!

A lot of factors come into play here. It’s summer, and I’m automatically more active compared to the the colder months (why do I live in the Northeast again????). Compound this with the fact that I’m on my feet 8-9 hours per day coaching athletes, not to mention loading/un-loading plates, and you can understand why it’s a bit of a challenge to keep weight on. Moreover, I’m an idiot and forget to drink enough water during the day- which obviously affects my weight. I’ll start coaching and four hours goes by, and it’s only when I head to the bathroom and start pissing what can only be described as battery acid, that I’m reminded that I need to, you know, drink some freakin water.

Needless to say, as of 8:12 EST, my weight is back up to 195 lbs. I suck a little less at life at the moment.

2. Anyone who knows me well enough, knows that I’m pretty fanatical when it comes to movies. It’s not uncommon for me to send my friends links to upcoming trailers MONTHS in advance. Similarly, I’ll spend a lot of time perusing websites like rottentomatoes.com or imdb.com to fulfill my nerd quota for the week, as well as read reviews of upcoming projects. Furthermore, one of the highlights of my week is when I get my Entertainment Weekly in the mail and read it cover to cover. Surprisingly, I still have my man card.

Anyways, one of the movies I’ve been anticipating for quite some time is James Cameron’s new movie, Avatar. For those who have no idea who James Cameron is- he’s the guy who wrote and directed a little film you might have heard of- Titanic. Additionally, he’s also the mastermind behind one of the most bad ass franchises of all time- Terminator and Terminator 2, as well as Aliens. Needless to say, the guy is kind of a big deal, and I defy you to watch this teaser trailer and not molest your computer screen.

3. Speaking of movies- this past weekend I went and saw Quentin Tarantino’s new movie Inglorious Basterds. I actually took the girl I’m currently dating, cause you know, nothing says “I really like you” than a movie based around beating Nazis over the head with a baseball bat and scalping them. Anyways, we made an agreement. She’d go see the movie, but only if I agreed to take a yoga class with her next week. Awwwww, the things we’ll do to try to get to second base. My spine is literally crying just thinking about it. Stay tuned, this should be interesting……..

4. I’m fairly certain I have an un-healthy addiction to Chobani yogurt- as evident by the fact that I bought eleven containers of it yesterday at the grocery store.

Take a container of Chobani yogurt and add some frozen blueberries and just a smidge of vanilla protein powder and you have quite possibly, the perfect post-training meal.

5. The best idea…..ever.

 

6. Between myself and Eric, we have just about every exercise possible on our laptops- so if an online client needs further explanation about a particular exercise we program for them, we can just shoot them a quick video, and it saves everyone a lot of time. I had a client email me the other day asking me for a video on SUMO deadlifts, and as fate would have it, I didn’t have one. Weird. I did a quick search on Youtube, and came across this video

Not exactly the technique I was looking for, but academy award winning camera work nonetheless. My god, I don’t think Steven Spielberg could have done a better job. Bravo, bravo, bravo!!!!!

Q: How do you know if you’re too fatigued to lift? I always tell myself that not going means I’m just weak minded, but lately I wonder if there isn’t some merit in learning when you’re truly too fatigued to lift or if you just don’t want to go.

A: Lets put it this way. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve missed a scheduled training session- and of those few times, you can bet it was for a good reason. Either I literally felt like ass, or there was a slight possibility (we’re talking at least 2% here) that I was gonna get a piece of ass (HI HO!). Count it!

Sure, there are days where I feel like someone blasted me over the head with a 2×4, and after spending eight hours training athletes/clients, the last place I want to be is facing the squat rack. However, truth be told, some of my best training sessions have been on those days where I feel like complete garbage going in, only to feel like a completely different person once I’ve warmed-up and started to move some iron around.

More to the point, sometimes you just need to suck it up and get your reps in regardless- even if it means dropping the weight significantly.

This may come as a surprise to some people (note sarcasm), but you’re not going to set PR’s every……single……week. Too often many trainees fall into this trap where they take on this defeatist attitude if they have to take some weight off the bar. Trust me, it’s not the end of the world. While I can appreciate the fact that you want to put more weight on the bar, you also need to be cognizant of the fact that your body is telling you something. There’s a lot to be said about just going in to get some quality reps and calling it a day.

Conversely, sometimes you can do more harm than good. I don’t want to come across as one of those “go hard, or go home” guys, because I think that’s just silly. I’m a realist and recognize that life gets in the way. Maybe you’re up all night with a sick kid, or your boss is hounding you about those TPS reports, or I don’t know, your girlfriend forced you to go see The Time Traveler’s Wife for the second time FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!!!! It stands to reason that all of these can suck the testosterone out of you and the last thing on your mind is training. But honestly, for most people, it just comes down to pure laziness and/or they have a sore vagina. They’d rather go watch America’s Got Talent than go front squat for 45 minutes. Coincidentally isn’t it weird how most people tend to skip leg days and not arm days?

That said, if this is something that’s been a on-going issue, a few things come to mind:

1. Vitamin D Levels- research shows that chronic fatigue as well as things like Seasonal Affective Disorder can be attributed to low levels of vitamin D. It may be a good idea to consult with your doctor to get some blood work done.

2. Overtraining- while I think this word gets thrown out a little too much amongst the general public (you really do have to go out of your way to overtrain), taking an objective look at your programming may be in order. If you’re one of those people who squats once per week, deadlifts once per week, sprints twice, takes four spinning class, and it’s only Wednesday- you need to 1). stop taking so much caffeine and 2). step away from the squat rack.

3. Are You Incorporating Deload Weeks?- similar to what I mentioned above in regards to overtraining, if you’re not incorporating deload or back-off weeks, you’re doing yourself a huge disservice. Elite athletes will take deload weeks on a regular basis. What makes you think you’re any different?

4. Change it Up- it amazes me how people will do the same program over and over and over and over and over again. As an example, I had a gentlman come in for an evaluation not too long ago who had been doing the same program for TWO years straight. The same exercises done at the same set/rep scheme, done on the exact same days, week after week, month after month, for two……freakin……years. It makes me cringe just thinking about it. Despite what we’ve been lead to believe, there’s no golden rule that you have to bench on Mondays. It’s true. As well, did you know that you don’t have to perform three sets of ten on every exercise? Weird, I know. Also, see that bar that’s attached to the top of the squat rack? That’s a pull-up bar. Why don’t you try a few reps of that instead of using the lat pulldown machine.

5. Have Markers- I was listening to Bill Hartman speak not too long ago, and he mentioned that he’ll have his athletes test their vertical when they show up to train on any given day. If they crush their personal best, he knows that he’ll be able to load them that day. If they suck, he knows he may have to back off a bit. I thought what was a cool idea and something I think could have some merit for everyone.

What Is It: Plate Loaded Front Squats (in this video I squat to a 13″ box, but these can also be done without a box as well).

Who Did I Steal It From: the plate loaded front squat inventor guy

What Does It Do: I LOVE to use this exercise with new clients for a variety of reasons. 1). It’s fairly idiot proof to teach. 2). It’s much less cumbersome to clients, and allows me to easily teach them the proper squat pattern without necesarily loading them up too much. Too, this is a great squat variation for those with lower back pain since there’s little to no spinal loading. 3). Furthemore, as any coach or personal knows (or at least they should), poor range of motion can usually be the end result of a stability issue rather than a mobility issue.

Many trainees are unable to get to proper depth on a traditional front or back squat due to the fact that they’re unable to engage their core musculature. As Alwyn Cosgrove noted in a recent article, “Essentially, the body is shutting down the range of motion. Not because of tightness or a restriction, but because it perceives a threat due to the lack of stability.” As such, with the plate loaded front squat, the trainee is forced to “engage” their core (hence providing more stability), and the movement cleans up rather nicely.

Key Coaching Cues: Shoulder blades should be retracted and depressed throughout the duration of the movement. Trainee should sit back with their hips (maintaining a vertical tibia), until (s)he reaches the box. It shouldn’t be a “plop” to the box- instead, I like to tell clients to pretend like they’re sitting on broken glass. Drive through the heels and stand back up, finishing the movement with the glutes. You’re awesome! I think the girl on the ellipical likes you.

No, I’m not talking about the RedSox vs. Yankees

Instead, I’m referring to the never ending tug-of-war for the top spot on the Cressey Performance staff leaderboard. Specifically, the on going battle between Eric Cressey and Pete Dupuis for the best vertical jump this side of Rt. 128. As of 11:47 AM EST, Pete Dupuis jumped 36.9 inches- putting 1.1inches between himself and “Personal Trainer/Coach Eric Cressey,” who coincidentally, took the day off today- and will learn of this drastic change of events the same time as everyone else who happens to be reading this blog.

Undoubtedly, Eric will spend at least 30-45 minutes on the Just Jump mat tomorrow. And based on recent history, you can expect him to be on top of the leaderboard by Monday. Either that, or there will be a knife fight of EPIC proportions in the near future. Who needs Duke vs. North Carolina???