CategoriesMiscellaneous Miscellany Uncategorized

Miscellaneous Miscellany Monday: Yes, I Watched the Golden Globes. Don’t Judge Me!

I just realized it’s been a good 5-6 weeks since I’ve done one of these, which is just completely unacceptable.   Part of me feels like I’m doing a disservice to everyone by “wasting” a day to post about random shit.

I mean does everyone really care that I watched every minute of the Golden Globes last night?

Hell yeah you do!

1. If you missed them – all sorts of shenanigans went down.  Tina Fey and Amy Poehler did a bang-up job hosting.  While I didn’t get my panties all up in a bunch like a lot of people did when Ricky Gervais hosted last year, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a breath of fresh air to see that they didn’t go out of their way to “roast” all the attendees.

While on one hand I think if you’re making upwards of $10 million+ to pretend you’re someone else on screen, you should be able to suck it up if someone wants to bust your chops a little bit.

On the other, I don’t necessarily feel someone deserves to be humiliated in front of millions of viewers.

Nevertheless, I was happy to see my boy (as if I know him?) Quentin Tarantino win Best Screenplay for Django Unchained, and was equally as happy to see Ben Affleck (Ben freakin Affleck!) win Best Director (and Best Picture) for Argo.

I’ve had my qualms with Ben in the past. Namely for marrying my long-time crush (from her Alias days) Jennifer Garner, and you know, for making all of us suffer through Gigli.

But I have to say, he’s completely redeemed himself.  I was really impressed when he made his directorial debut with Gone, Baby Gone back in 2007. I was dumbfounded when The Town came out.

Many – myself included – felt Gone, Baby Gone might have been some kind a fluke; beginner’s luck if you will.

But when The Town came out two years ago, anyone who loves movies could tell that he had a knack for this directing thing.

With Argo, he’s easily established himself as one of the A-list directors in H-town.  And, giving credit where credit is due:  the guy’s grown on me as an actor as well.

If you haven’t see it already, I suggest you do it ASAP.

I read the other day that he’s in cohoots with Jason Bourne Matt Damon to make a movie based off the life of Whitey Bulger. Which basically means that if they decide to film in Boston (which I don’t see why they wouldn’t), the entire city is going to go into apeshit mode.

OMGOMGOMGOMG  – it’s going to be awesome.

The other highlights from last night: Wolverine can sing! He won for Best Actor in Les Miserables.  I haven’t seen it yet (mainly because I pee standing up), but stranger things have happened and I’ll most likely check it out soon.

The Oscars are next.  See you in a few weeks.

 2. One of the more common questions I receive on a somewhat regular basis is Tony are those your pecs or cinderblocks you have underneath that shirt? Tony, what’s your beef against Olympic lifting?

Presumably many are under the assumption that because I don’t discuss OLY lifting that much – or that I never program it – I’m adamantly against it.

Au contraire mon soeur.

This couldn’t be further from the truth!

For starters, as a strength coach, I’d be the worst one in history if I was somehow opposed to the OLY lifts. I think it goes without saying that they’re an unparalleled tool to help build explosiveness, power, and overall athleticism.

Thing is:  I don’t have a lot (if any) experience with them. As such, I don’t really go out of my way to coach them, or include them in any of my programs, because I’d be a walking ball of fail if I tried. If anything, I’m taking a huge bite of humble pie by admitting that I don’t feel comfortable as a coach including OLY lifting in my programs.

This isn’t to say that we don’t have other coaches at CP who have more hands-on experience with them and are more comfortable around them. But for me, I think I’d be doing my athletes and clients and disservice by pretending that I know what I’m talking about.

Besides, we make do with various med ball drills, sprinting drills, and the like, which get the job done.

Considering we don’t necessarily know how long we have each athlete for, it makes much more sense from a time-efficiency standpoint to utilize less “coaching intensive” protocols.

Sadly, there are quite a few coaches and trainers out there who don’t have the same mentality as myself. Instead of admitting their weaknesses, they pretend to know what they’re talking about at best coaching people with god-awful technique, and at worst……hurting someone.

That said, recognizing my weaknesses as a coach, I’ve started to delve a little deeper and started to read and watch various texts and DVDs on Olympic lifting.  It’s a whirlwind for sure, but something I feel will help make me a better coach in the grand scheme of things.

As luck would have it, I was sent an advance copy of Will Fleming’s Complete Olympic Lifting DVD a few weeks ago, and it’s been awesome.

The problem isn’t deciding whether or not to incorporate these lifts into our programs. It’s getting your athletes to properly execute them.

And THAT’S what’s helped me the most.

It takes you through the process of assessing, teaching and fixing the Olympic Lifts (and their variations) in a simple, straight forward way you can begin implementing immediately.

No technical jargon. No fluff. No scientific text. No cowbell.

If you’re like me, and the thought of OLY lifting makes you cower in the corner sucking your thumb, I’d highly suggest checking this fantastic resource out.

It’s on sale this week for 40% off the regular price, which is a steal if you ask me.

Check it out HERE, and thank me later.

3.  For more of universal flavor, and because bootcamps are now all the rage in the fitness industry, Mike Robertson, along with Jim Laird and Molly Galbraith have just released a 30-minute webinar as a precursor to their Bootcamp in a Box product coming out later this week (Tuesday, Jan. 15th in fact).

This is a product geared towards bootcamp owners that want to run a smarter and safer bootcamp.

I know all you hear right now is blah, blah, blah, just another bootcamp product to throw onto the “not interested” list.

But what differentiates this from all the other similar products there is:

  • I personally know Mike (as well as Jim and Molly) and know they’re all passionate about the type of information they put out there, and won’t allow themselves to put out a poo-poo product.
  • This is a DVD and manual which gives you – on a platter – an entire training system that you can use with your bootcamp clients.

It entails 6-months of done-for-you programming, progressions and regressions for all the major movement categories, and they’ve literally taken any guesswork out of the program.

For what it’s worth, many of the principles covered are things we’ve incorporated into our own Excellence Bootcamps at Cressey Performance

Like I said, the 30-minute webinar is FREE, and will give you a better idea of what the system entails.

Check it out HERE.

4.  And lastly, I want to touch on the whole training women while they’re pregnant topic. I’ve personally trained a handful of women through their pregnancies, and I’m currently training two as I type this.

Well, I mean not literally as I type this, but you know what I mean.

I definitely have some strong viewpoints on this topic – and I do want to share them in more detail – but I’d be curious to hear what other’s have to say (or think).

For me there’s a massive dichotomy between what I do and what most (not all) of the research says we should be doing.

While it definitely comes down to the individual, their comfort level, listening to their body, as well as their past training history, I find it asinine that there are physicians out there (and even more articles) that suggest that “training” should revolve around light walking and what mounts to arm circles.

For me, when I’m working with someone who’s pregnant, it’s about preparing them for something a helluva lot more significant than lifting pink dumbbells or anything I’ll ever have to do.

In my eyes, if they’re able to grow and push a human being out of their body, they’re capable of lifting a barbell off the ground.

Sometimes even over their head.  Repeatedly.  GASP!!!!!!!!

But again, this definitely doesn’t apply to everyone. I understand that there are subtle training modifications that should be addressed trimester to trimester, and there are times where extenuating circumstances come in to play as far as complications are concerned.

In my experience, however, these are few and far between and I often feel like we’re being overly cautious.

Now, I’m not insinuating that someone carrying child should go out and try to hit deadlift PRs on a weekly basis or snatch a mack truck over their head.  But I’m certainly in the camp that feels we can offer a lot more than “go walk in the treadmill.”

Like I said, I’d like to jump into this topic with more detail, but I wanted to throw out a “feeler” to see if anyone would bite and offer their insight on the matter.

Soooo, what say you?

CategoriesMotivational

Mondays: A Fitness Professional’s Worst Enemy (Behind Tracy Anderson)

LOL – see what I just did there?  I burned Tracy Anderson right from the get-go!  Oh man this day is off to a good start already.

The only thing that could make it better is if by some miracle it started raining bacon.  And, you know, I drove a tank to work.

But I’m getting a little carried away here.

Tracy Anderson jokes and bacon aside, Mondays generally suck no matter which way you look at it.  Personally I don’t mind them that much because I actually love my job.  But there was a time, when I first started in this industry (in corporate fitness), where my Mondays consisted of getting up at 3:45 AM to drive 50 minutes to work so that I could open up the gym by 5 AM.

That…..sucked…….donkey……balls.

Even more so when it was the dead of winter, ten degrees outside, and the roads weren’t even plowed yet. For those unfamiliar with central New York winters – it’s essentially the lake-effect snow capital of the universe (yes, the universe), and it’s abysmal weather from December to April.

But at least it’s not Edmonton (sorry Dean Somerset).

Suffice it to say, I’d spend most of my day on Sunday dreading the start of Monday.

But that isn’t really what this post is all about.  Things are cool now. It’s true what they say:  if you enjoy your job, it’s never really “work.” Mondays now are just like any other day in my eyes.

Except for the day AFTER attending a seminar.

I know I’ve seemingly harpooned the CP Elite Baseball Development seminar this week and have taken it hostage, using it as the impetus for every post.

But what can I say?  I learned a lot – and it provided me with some blogging ammo for a week.

Yesterday I dissected a quote from Eric Schoenberg on how “arm care” programs shouldn’t just be limited to the shoulder.  As Eric noted, we don’t throw a baseball with JUST our shoulders.

Sure, the shoulders play an important role – and it’s no coincidence that they’re a problematic area in many baseball players – but throwing a baseball involves the entire body, and taking the mindset that we should solely focus on the shoulder (and elbow) is a bit, well, dumb.

Having said that, not everyone reading this blog follows baseball, plays baseball, or really cares one way or the other how we train them.

So I’ll do everyone a favor and shut my yapper on that front.

But there is one more gem that I took away from the seminar that I feel applies to any fitness professional reading whether they train professional athletes, high-school athletes, soccer moms, type-A doctors, lawyers, and CEOs, or bomb sniffing dolphins.

And that’s this:

Turn on the brakes!!!

The hardest part about attending seminars – and something Mike Robertson alluded to in THIS fantastic post –  is the following Monday, where you want to try all the new exercises you learned, and demonstrate to the world that performing a one-legged squat on a BOSU ball while juggling oranges is EXACTLY what everyone needs to be doing.

I think there are many fitness professionals out there that bombard their athletes and clients with a host of exercises thinking that more is better.  Worse, is that they’ll attend a weekend seminar (which should be commended by the way), arm themselves with an endless supply of new and “cool” exercises, and then, without any discretion what-so-ever, include them in every client’s program on Monday.

Throwing a nice corollary into the mix, Dennis Treubig, PT, DPT, CSCS, wrote a nice guest post on Mike Reinold’s site earlier this week where he talked about the same topic, but included something I’ve read about is several behavioral economic books I’ve read referred to as the jam experiment.

Mmmm, I like Jam

If you are unfamiliar with this experiment, here is a brief synopsis (officially titled, “When Choice is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing?”).  Shoppers at a grocery store were presented with two different displays of jam – one had 6 flavors and the other had 24 flavors.  The results showed that 30% of people who visited the display with 6 jams actually purchased jam, while only 3% made a purchase after visiting the display that offered 24 jams.

So what’s the take home message?  Less is more.

Or better yet:  refraining from being an a-hole and recognizing that not everything applies to every client….is more.

Don’t go thinking that the more exercises you include (or add) in your programs somehow shows off your superiority as a trainer or coach. All it really demonstrates, with bright, gleaming colors, is that you’re unable (or unwilling) to think for yourself and to properly apply what you’ve learned.

This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t apply new techniques, exercises, or principles into your programming.  On the contrary, you should STRIVE for that. I can’t even begin to tell you how much it saddens me when a trainer or coach never grows, cultures, or adapts their training methodology.

All I’m suggesting is that, come Monday, don’t jump the gun and immediately overhaul your programs with an avalanche of new exercises.  Take the time to actually dissect and assimilate the information and to see what (if anything) applies to you and your clients/athletes.

Having more of a “filter” and learning how to disregard new information is just as important as learning it in the first place.

CategoriesUncategorized

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: Getting Abs, Strength Tips, and Training Women

The past few days have been full of information on my end.  Cressey Performance has been playing host to the Cressey Performance Elite Baseball Mentorship for the past three days, and it’s been unbelievable the amount of knowledge bombs Eric Cressey, Eric Schoenberg, and Matt Blake have been sharing with the over 30 people who have travelled from all over the country – New England, New York, Texas, Seattle, to name a few – to attend.

Sunday was entirely lecture based where the crew discussed much of the lame status quo in the baseball community regarding its often archaic through process with regards to “arm care” and how to train baseball players in general.

In short:  the system is broken what with teams “accepting” that injury is just part of the process.  One stat that really jumped out at me was the fact that injuries in 2011 cost clubs $487 million – or about $16 million PER TEAM – in lost revenue.

Sadly, teams are more prone to spend exorbitant amounts of benjamins on facilities, equipment, and the like, yet skimp out when it comes to spending any amount of money on proper, up-to-date, and relavent rehab.  Or even more proactive, preventative measures for that matter.

Too, the crew spent a lot of time discussing common injuries (and their mechanisms) on Sunday.  One line that I absolutely LOVED was when Eric Schoenberg noted:

If you throw with JUST your arm, than do an “arm care” program!

Essentially, Eric noted that if you’re only working on a “shoulder/arm care” program, you’re missing the whole picture.  It’s a garbage term.

Take for example that anterior core drills can actually be considered an “arm care” program.  I  mean, if one lacks appropriate core stiffness to elevate their arms over their head (which is kind of important for a baseball player to do), and their lats are stiffer than a 2×4, what’s the likelihood their shoulder is going to flip them the middle finger at some point?

Some food for thought, no?

In addition, program design and strength training considerations were discussed.  Like how one would go about managing a strength training program for a pitcher who’s “lax” as opposed to one who’s “stiff.”

And, Matt Blake spent a fair amount of time breaking down pitching mechanics and what he often looks for when tweaking guys’ deliveries.

In short, after attending on Sunday (and Monday where assessment and corrective exercise was heavily discussed) I’m pretty sure if I was at a carnival and walked past one of those “fast pitch” thingamajigs, I’d sit 90MPH, easy.

Needless to say there was a crap ton (ie: a lot) of information shared, and I definitely have a few posts lined up in my head that I write up which I think many of you will enjoy and find beneficial (even if your goal isn’t to throw a 12-6 curveball and make a batter destroy the back of his pants).

Okay, with that out of the way, lets get to this week’s list of Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work:

The Men’s Health Big Book: Getting Abs – Adam Bornstein

Since it’s now officially 2013, and many people are hightailing it to their respective local gyms in droves, I figured it was fitting to point people in the direction of a brand spankin new book that I, along with many of my fitness industry friends – Adam Bornstein, Mike Robertson, John Romaniello, James Smith, Chris Mohr, Nick Tumminello, and many others contributed to.

If you want abs, this is your ticket.

And even if you don’t want abs (or you already have them), this book is chock full of ideas and insights to help you get in the best shape possible.

Be the Man You Would Want Your Sister to Train With – Chad Landers

I thought this was a fantastic article dealing with some of the minor (albeit profound) subtleties that come with training women.

Chad hits the nail on the head with this one, and I highly recommend this to ANY trainers out there who may be reading.

Seriously, don’t skip this one.

4 Strength Training Tips You Won’t Find in Books – Jim Smith

This was an absolute gem written by Smitty (as if that’s any surprise).  I particularly like tip #3:  Not Everyone Can Be a Powerlifter. Or, for that matter, should train like one.

And that’s this week’s list.

On that note, please feel free to share or send me any articles or links to articles you like!  I’m always looking for new material to read, and could always use some new “ammo” for this series.  Either share them below to shoot me an email.

Thanks!

 

CategoriesProduct Review

Now There’s a Legitimate Reason to Have Your Phone on the Gym Floor

Funny story.  Well, funny to me at least (so it’s basically pretty funny).

When I first started out as a trainer one of my first “rules” with clients was 1) show up on time, and 2) whatever you do, unless you’re a brain surgeon and you’re on call, don’t bring your phone out on the gym floor.

Simple right?  And for the most part, people complied.

Show up on time, leave your phone in your locker, work hard, and leave the rest up to me.  Easy peasy.

With the latter rule, it was mostly a joke and served only to prove a point:  you’re not that important.  You’re here to work. So help me god if I see you texting I will make you push the Prowler for an entire hour!

And wouldn’t you know it:  there was an instance where I actually trained a brain surgeon.  Go figure!  So whenever I trained her, I had to relent and allow her to carry her phone whenever we trained because there was always a chance that there’d be a ten-car pile up on the highway and she’d be called in to save the day.

Thankfully that never happened.

Outside of that one special case, however, one of my biggest pet peeves as a coach is people bringing their phones out on the gym floor with them – as if getting to the next level of Angry Birds or texting with their S.O. about that funny thing that happened at work today is sooooo important that it can’t wait 45 minutes.

Even more of a pet peeve are when douchey TRAINERS bring their phone out onto the gym floor with them.

Anyways, today all of that changes because WeightTraining.com has just released a pretty amazing App that you can download HERE (@ WT.com) or HERE (directly on the iTunes site) which allows you to log, schedule, and follow your workout plans at all times.

And the best part:  It’s absolutely FREE to download.

We’re what…..not even a week into 2013?  Pretty soon all those people who made resolutions to finally get into shape are going to jump off the wagon and start making excuses.

I don’t have time, I don’t know what to do, I have a hang nail, or any number of lame excuses.

With this new App, you’ll have no reason not to stay on top of your workouts.

And as if that wasn’t baller enough, check this out.

I’ve also collaborated with the peeps at WeightTraining.com and designed an exclusive workout plan to help celebrate the App launch.

All you need to do is join my fan page on WT.com, download the App on launch day (TODAY, January 7th), and then you’ll have access to not only my exclusive workout, but you’ll also receive a free MONTH of WeightTraining.com PRO which gives you access to hundreds of other workout plans (but I’m admittedly biased towards mine, so you should definitely check that one out).

From there you’ll need to log a workout – ANY workout – on launch day (again, TODAY, January 7th) to be entered into a drawing for some free WT.com swag (shirts, etc), as well some extra special stuff hand-picked by me:  namely, steaks and a TRX suspension trainer.

Go HERE to get a step by step breakdown.

So to recap, here are the action items:

1.  Join the Tony Gentilcore fan page.

2,  Download the FREE WeightTraining.com App (which automatically qualifies you for a free month membership to WeightTraining.com PRO)

3.  Log a workout – ANY workout – TODAY!

4.  Possibly win some dead animal flesh.

5.  Possibly increase your chances of dating a Victoria Secret model.  Okay, that probably won’t happen, but you never know.

 ====> HERE <====

 

CategoriesUncategorized

The Real Rules of Assessment

The topic of assessment can be a daunting subject to tackle given there have been hundreds – if not thousands – of books, ebooks, manuals, DVDs, tapes (ha – remember those!?), brochures (and whatever other form of media you can think of) that have dissected and scrutinized every nook and cranny.

What else is there to say?  Certainly writing a blog post on the subject isn’t going to enlighten anyone –  especially considering there really isn’t anything new to say.  Likewise, it’s unlikely I’m going to say anything profound or revolutionary that will bring me accolades, a ticker tape parade, or in the event I really blow people’s minds, a Nobel Prize for Being Awesome.

Giving full disclosure, when it comes to assessment, there really is no set protocol I follow.  In the fitness world there are undoubtedly a bevy of phenomenal procedures or “systems” to utilize (FMS, NASM, Assess and Correct, to name a few) – but if I’m going to be honest, there is no ONE  that I prefer over the other.

I think Eric Cressey (my good friend, and business partner) said it best:  at Cressey Performance, with regards to assessment, we take a bit more of a “broad” approach and then dig a little deeper if need be.

Well I should clarify that statement to a degree.  With a large part of our population – specifically all of our baseball guys – we definitely start with a more targeted approach.  With them we’ll immediately delve into nitpicky things like total range of motion (IR + ER) between throwing and non-throwing sides, check their scapular upward/downward rotation, shoulder flexion, and the like.

After placing them under the microscope, we’ll then start to incorporate more generalized screens like the Thomas Test, adductor length, lunge and squat pattern, so on and so forth.

With such a specialized group of people, it only makes sense to start in that capacity.

On the flip side – with a more generalized population (those looking to lose some fat, increase their general level of badassery, or to look better neked), we’ll usually start with a more “broad” approach and then dig a little deeper if need be.

In the latter scenario, a perfect example would be someone who walks in with a history of chronic lower back pain.  In that case I’m definitely going to want to take a closer look at things and try to see if any red flags pop up that will give me more pertinent information.

The more info I have, the clearer picture I get, and the more likely I am to better ascertain what their needs are and come up with a plan of attack from a programming standpoint.

It’s in this type of scenario where having a “cherry picking” attitude towards assessment comes in handy.  I’ll take bits a pieces from the FMS, from some of Dr. McGill’s stuff, Gray Cook, Mike Boyle, Mike Robertson, Charlie Weingroff, Papa Smurf.  It’s all fair game.

Like I said:  I’m not married to one train of thought over the other.

Regardless, I do feel there are some overlying rules or “code of conduct” when it comes to assessment that I’d like to share.  And with that I’d like to share what serves as an umbrella of sorts to my general philosophy when it comes to assessment.

Rule #1: Actually, You Know, Do an Assessment

It still boggles my mind that there are still some fitness professionals out there who don’t even perform an assessment with their clients.  While I know it’s a cliched saying:  if you’re not assessing, you’re guessing.

As I alluded above, I don’t care what type of assessment you follow – everyone has their own preferences            train of thought, and I’m not here to state who’s right and who’s wrong, which systems are worthwhile and which ones are bogus.

BUT:  you’re an a-hole if you’re idea of an assessment is to just show a client the Cybex circuit. If you’re not taking your clients through an assessment, you might as well use a dartboard to write their programs.  Good luck with that.

I am by no means saying that what we do at CP should be considered the gold standard, but just to give everyone an inkling of what an assessment entails:

– Thomas Test, Seated Hip IR/ER, Supine Hip IR/ER, Adductor Length, Hamstring Length, Prone Quad Test, Prone Hip IR/ER, Shoulder IR/ER (total ROM), GIRD?, Shoulder Flexion, Say the Alphabet Backwards (for time)

This takes all of 5-10 minutes (tops) and provides a gulf of information.  For example, if I’m working with a right-handed pitcher coming in with some elbow pain, the first inclination is to look at the elbow (which we obviously do).

But if that’s all I did, and I didn’t test his lead hip IR (which we find is woefully deficient, which means he’s probably opening up on his delivery too soon, which mean’s he’s placing waaaay more valgus stress on his elbow), we’d be barking up the wrong tree.

From there, we like to get people moving.  Testing them on the table is cool and all, but when we train, we move, and I like to see how people move.

– Squat Patern

– Lunge Pattern

– Teach Em’ How to Dougie

Using a general fitness enthusiast as an example, there are several squat “screens” I’ll take people through which I highlighted in THIS article.

But if all I did was a simple overhead squat screen – which most people fail miserably at – and I didn’t dig any deeper, I may just assume that the reason why he or she can’t get to depth is because their hips are tighter than a crow bar.  This is what they’ve been told from several other trainers, so it must be true!

I’ll take people through 3-4 squat screens to see what shakes free.  With the last one I’ll have them hold a counterbalance out in front of their body, and it’s almost profound how much of an improvement you’ll see.

By holding the weight out in front of you as a counterbalance, you’re forced to engage your anterior core musculature, which in turn gives the entire body the stability it needs to allow for more squat depth.

Without performing this last screen, many would automatically assume that the reason they can’t squat to depth is because of a mobility issue, when in fact, as Alwyn Cosgrove has noted on numerous occasions, it’s a stability issue.

Without this differentiation, we can see how many people would be barking up the wrong tree, and doing themselves a massive disservice on the training side of things.

Think what would happen if we omitted or neglected to perform the last squat screen – we’d assume that we have a mobility deficit somewhere and just focus on that one component, rather than address the real issue at hand, namely lack of stability.

Rule #2: You’re Objective Isn’t To Make Them Feel Like a Walking Ball of Fail.

The objective of an assessment is to give you information, not to point out every dysfunction that the person has and make them feel like a loser.

I remember one of the biggest mistakes I made as an upcoming trainer was to try to prove to people who much smarter I was than them.  When I’d start with a new client, I’d take them through an assessment, use big words like synergistic dominance, reciprocal inhibition, and adductor aponeurosis, and try to wow them with my infinite wisdom, intelligence, and witty banter.

Really all I did was come across as a walking douche.

I’d go out of my way to point out every single dysfunction – OMG, your left pinky toe doesn’t dorsiflex 17 degrees! – and honestly, it would turn many of them off.

Don’t get me wrong:  I think it’s important (wand warranted) to point out any concerns or red flags that may appear, but it also doesn’t hurt to have some sort of social filter and tone it down on the first day.   Try not jump at every chance to tell them how much of a train wreck they are.

Rule #3: It’s Still Important to Achieve a Training Effect

Pigging backing on the point above, many trainers get a little too overzealous with assessment and fail to realize that it’s still important to give people a training effect (even if they are banged up).

Think about it this way:  would YOU want to spend an entire hour on a table getting poked and prodded like a piece of meat?  Indeed, there are cases where that’s warranted – particularly when someone presents with a unique injury history. But you might as well just toss in an episode of Army Wives and bore them to tears if all you’re going to do is test hamstring length for an hour.

GET THEM MOVING!!!!!!!!!

At CP we’ve designed our initial assessment to be half table work/showing them how to foam roll/taking them through a general dynamic warm-up and half lets-get-them-on-the training-floor-and-see-what-shakes-free  hodgepodge.

Actually SEEING whether or not your client can perform a proper hip hinge or whether he or she can perform a push-up without compensating willl provide a heckuva lot more information, in my opinion, than testing breathing patterns for 45 minutes.

Rule #4: Make Them Prove You Wrong

And lastly, this is the crux; the creme de le creme if you will.

The REAL point of an assessment is for them to prove to me that they CAN do “stuff.” Listen, I think as fitness professionals (or just general fitness enthusiast) we all know that exercises like squats, deadlifts, rows, pull-up variations, single leg work, etc are going to make the “bulk” of most training programs.

My goal is to get all of my clients squatting, deadlifting, bench pressing, and kicking ass.

What TYPE of squat or deadlift or whatever is where the assessment comes in.  If someone comes in with FAI, I’m sure as shit not going to squat them (at least not past parallel).  But I can more than likely have them perform trap bar deadlifts and single leg work without much fanfare.

Additionally, if I’m working with someone dealing with a shoulder impingement problem, I’m probably not going to have them bench press, but I can probably have them perform dumbbell floor presses (and a crap ton of horizontal rowing) and progress them from there.

The point is:  they must demonstrate to me – through the assessment process – that he or she can perform the things I want them to do in a safe manner, with flawless technique, and without pain.

More importantly (and this can’t be glazed over):  will said exercises point them in the right direction with regards to helping them attain their goals?

In many ways, this is the REAL rationale behind an assessment.  To prove to you – the fitness professional – that they can perform “x” exercise(s) without causing injury or harm.

And That’s That

The above certainly isn’t an exhaustive overview on my thoughts with assessment, but more along the lines of a quick brain dump that (hopefully) sheds some light on things I’ve learned, experienced, and adapted throughout the years.

I think at the end of the day, no one is really right or wrong when it comes to assessment.  There are certainly many, many ways to approach it.

I’d love to hear everyone else’s thoughts.  Agree? Disagree?

CategoriesExercises You Should Be Doing Strength Training

Exercises You Should Be Doing: Half Kneeling Vertical Pallof Press

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Pallof presses – and all their variations. While I’ve definitely curbed my views with regards to core training and the whole anti-everything mantra most of the fitness industry adopted in recent years (lets be honest:  it’s perfectly okay for the spine to go into flexion every now and then. Loaded flexion is one thing, but lets try not to shit an EMG every time someone has the audacity to bend their spine.  Life……will…..go…….on), I’d still be remiss not to note that the bulk of my core training, and that of my clients, revolves around stability and preventing “unwanted” motion.

Maybe a year or two ago my good buddy, Nick Tumminello, described a cool Pallof variation called the Vertical Pallof Press, which I thought was a simple – albeit brilliant – twist into the genre.

Fast forward to two weeks ago, another buddy of mine, Philadelphia based strength coach, Andrew Zomberg, asked my thoughts on half-kneeling or even tall-kneeling Vertical Pallof Press variations.

In a nutshell he was curious as to whether or not I’ve tried them or if I saw any efficacy in including them into my programming.

Of course!

Half Kneeling Vertical Pallof Press

What I like most about this variation are a few things:

1.  It trains anti-extension.

2.  With the half kneeling version, you can “encourage” a bit more posterior pelvic tilt by squeezing the crap out of the kneeling side glute.  And when I say “squeezing the crap out of the kneeling side glute,” what I really mean is “squeeze that badboy as if you’re trying to crack walnut.”

3.  Additionally, we get an awesome active “stretch” in the kneeling side hip flexor.  I put the word stretch in quotations there because for those people who feel as if they have chronically tight hip flexors (despite going out of their way to stretch them to death with little or no improvement), it’s more likely the fact that the hip flexors are pulling “double duty” for an unstable spine.  Hence, they feel tight because they’re firing 24/7 to prevent the spine from wrecking itself before it checks itself (Ice Cube fans will enjoy that reference).

In a sense, we could make a solid argument that the reason why many people feel as if they have “tight” hip flexors is NOT because they’re short/stiff, but rather their core is weak and unstable.

If I just blew your mind or if that piques your interest at all, I’d HIGHLY encourage you to check out Dean Somerset’s post on Reasons Why You Should Stop Stretching Your Hip Flexors.

If you’re too lazy to read it:  just know that working on core stability could help resolve those “tight” hip flexors of yours.

Outside of those key points, I’d note that the other things to consider would be on the technique side of things:

– Keep your chin tucked (make a double chin).

– As you extend your arms above your head, try to prevent your rib cage from flaring out.

– For those who need to work on improving scapular upward rotation (especially overhead athletes), once your elbows hit shoulder height, you could  lightly shrug at the top of the movement.

– Try not to make this a tricep exercise.  Those who tend to feel it more in that area are pressing the cable too far outward and focusing on elbow extension.  Instead, you need to literally press straight up, preventing the cable from pulling you backward.

For an additional challenge, you can try a one-arm variation

Half Kneeling 1-Arm Vertical Pallof Press

All the same benefits apply here:  it trains anti-extension, but because you’re using one arm at a time there’s also a significant anti-rotation component as well.

Too, it’s great for glute activation, encouraging more posterior pelvic tilt, and serves as an active hip flexor “stretch” (seriously, read Dean’s post).

About the only thing it doesn’t do is multiplication tables and buy you dinner.

And there you have it.  Try it out today, and let me know what you think!

 

CategoriesMotivational

Everyone’s Goal for 2013: Train With a Purpose

Happy New Year everyone!!!  Hope you all had a fun, safe, and eventful New Years.  Lisa and I kept with our own tradition and spent our New Years in Boston’s historic North End eating bread with olive oil, pasta, and there might have been a few (dozen) pastries thrown into the mix.  Basically it was one ginormous gluten fest, and it was worth every calorie.

We were kind of rushed through dinner – we made reservations at 10 PM, hoping to be there when midnight hit – not knowing that the kitchen closed at 11.

So by 11:15, we have to make the executive decision to hop back on the “T,” pastries in tow, and head back to our apartment so that we could watch the fireworks on tv.  Low and behold the higher ups of the MBTA decided to take the train we were riding out of commission, and we were forced to get off and wait for the next one to arrive.

As the minutes passed with no train in sight, both Lisa and I were bummed that the likelihood that we’d be spending the first moments of 2013 on the train – and not in the comfort of our own living room – were more and more evident.

Alas, the train finally arrived and we were back in business.

We only live like five stops from the heart of the city, but when you ride the Green Line five stops can seem like an eternity.  At like 11:57, we were one stop away but decided to get off and spint – literally sprint – up the street to our apartment building.

Suffice it to say, we made it just in a nick of time, and right as I turned on the television Fergie was yelling HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

We kissed, and more importantly wolfed down our goodies from the North End.  And, I think we were both dead asleep within the hour.  Yeah, you can say we’re pretty romantic….;o)

New Year’s day itself was pretty low-key, but that’s exactly what I wanted.  We closed the facility for the entire day which meant I was able to sleep in. Score!

After some basic food prep, we headed to a local Boston Sports Club for our first training session of 2013.  Fittingly, Lisa and I both benched pressed our asses off.  Why not, right?

She did some cluster sets with me, and afterwards, for the hell of it, I had her attempt a one-rep max.

She smoked 150 lbs! If we hadn’t done all that work beforehand, I’m willing to bet should could have hit 160-165 lbs, easy.

The kicker is that while we were testing her 1RM, there was an older gentleman training at the bench press station next to us puttering around with 95 lbs.

Now, maybe that was challenging weight for him, who knows?  But I have a sneaky suspicion that it wasn’t.

As I looked around, I couldn’t help but notice the same kind of blase “hey-I’m-at-the-gym-so-it-has-to-count-for-something” attitude amongst many of the gym patrons.

Most looked like zombies just going through the motions. Some torso twists here, some arm circles there, and texting. Lots and lots of texting.  Why people can’t leave their iPhone’s in their locker is beyond me.

There was one guy, however, taking himself through some massive free-for-all circuit of god-knows what (and making guttural noises that can best be described as a grizzly bear getting raped by a rhinoceros), so I’ll give credit where it’s due.  My man was getting after it!

As a whole, though, pretty much everyone was just, you know……there.  As if that’s all that matters.

Sure, there’s a lot to be said about taking some initiative and making an effort to head to the gym – especially on New Year’s day. That should be commended, and as GI Joe would say “is half the battle.”

We all know the saying: the hardest part is showing up!

But there’s a lot more to “it” than just showing up.

Whatever “it” may be – for some it’s shedding off the Holiday weight gain.  For others it’s more specific like nailing a 2x bodyweight bench press – you can’t just expect things to magically happen because you walked through the doors.

There has to be some semblance of urgency or better yet, PURPOSE when you train.

Now, I’m not saying you have to go all CrossFit and train to the point where you cough up your appendix every training session. That serves no purpose.

But what I AM saying is that you should train with a purpose. Train with some balls!  Or, in the case of the ladies reading, with some fallopian tubes (because, you know, you don’t have balls).

Try to have a clear-cut, attainable, measurable goal to train for.  I don’t care what it is – I’m not here to state what that should be.  But if you’re lifting a weight for ten reps (and you could have easily gotten 20), or more to the point, you just meander around the gym floor with no rhyme or reason and just kind of “fake it till you make it,” you’re doing yourself a huge disservice.

So everyone’s goal for 2013 is to train with a purpose.

Try it – you might be surprised as to how much of a difference it can make.  And for the love of god, put away the phone!