These were cues one of our new interns were giving an athlete the other day while trying to coach him through his very first deadlift session.
It wasn’t going well, and I could tell said intern was getting a little perplexed as to why things weren’t going to plan or falling into place. No matter which cues he used the athlete resembled more of a melting candle than someone who was “getting” the exercise.
At one point I was half-expecting him to blurt out, “okay, I got it! Stand-up, hop on one leg, pat your head, and say the alphabet backwards!”
Obviously that didn’t happen (and if it did I probably would have laughed), but it’s something I think a lot of trainers and coaches (new and old) struggle with on a daily basis. And that’s CUEING!!!
Or, to be more specific: using internal cues when external cues would be more beneficial and worthwhile.
This is something we’ve been more cognizant of at Cressey Performance and paying more attention to, and it’s been working like a charm with many of our athletes and general population clients.
And we’re not the only ones. A few weeks ago I was forwarded an article by Armi Legge of Impruvism.com that he wrote titled How a Simple Mind Trick Can Make You Stronger in Seconds, which breaks down the science behind the efficacy of using external foci over internal.
I won’t spoil the entire article (you can click the link above), but in his own words Amri breaks it down like this :
An internal focus of attention means you’re thinking about your body movements. Your legs when squatting, your arms when doing chin-ups, your chest when benching, etc.
An external focus means you’re focusing on something in your environment that’s relevant to your task. If you’re squatting, this would mean focusing on the bar or on pushing the bar towards the ceiling.
This is an incredibly subtle difference, but it can have a huge impact on your performance. In some cases, researchers will give one group instructions that only differ by one or two words.
In a study using a vertical jump test, here were the instructions:
Internal focus: “Focus on your fingers.”
External focus: “Focus on the rungs.”
The latter option is better. Research has consistently shown that an external focus improves motor learning, strength, coordination, and performance across a wide range of activities and ability levels.
And as such this is EXACTLY the road we’re travelling down more and more at the facility using more external cues when coaching something through their session.
Some quick examples:
Deadlift
Internal Cue: Arch your back, get your chest up.
External Cue: Show me the logo on your shirt.
Internal Cue: Push your hips back
External Cue: Try to hit the wall behind you with your hips.
Squat
Internal Cue: Push your knees out.
External Cue: Spread the floor with your feet.
Internal Cue: Grip the bar tight.
External Cue: Try to melt the bar with your hands.
Bench Press
Internal Cue: Push the bar up.
External Cue: Try to hit the ceiling.
Med Ball Throws
** Particularly when trying to get them to throw the ball with some anger!
Internal Cue: Use your hips to throw the ball.
External Cue: Pretend someone just took a massive shit on your car and now you’re pissed.
Note: If I’m working with a young athlete I might say something along the lines of “pretend Voldemort actually defeated Harry Potter,” or something to that affect.
And it’s really that simple. While we’re often under the impression that we need to a bunch of smoke and mirrors in order to see marked improvements in the gym, sometimes it’s just a matter of using a simple Jedi mind trick.
The first major purchase I bought when I graduated college was a new car. Okay there was that, a Playstation 2, and what was probably the 7th “limited edition” release of Star Wars on DVD – but who’s counting?
The year was 2002. Like I said I had just graduated from college, The Bachelor was all the rage on tv, and was lucky enough to land my first real job as a “health and fitness specialist” at a corporate gym located just outside the Syracuse, NY area.
Purchasing a new car was uncharted territory for me as all I had driven up to that point was my parents minivan (not exactly a chick magnet if you know what I mean), a 1984 Ford Tempo which was a deathtrap waiting to happen (but it was MY very first deathtrap car, and I loved it) and a 199somethingorother Oldsmobile Achieva that was a hand-me-down from my grandmother.
A brand spankin new car was kind of a big deal in my book. And after having done a little research on a few options within my price range and budget, I elected to go with a Hyundai Elantra based on its unparalleled warranty and climbing reputation as a reliable car.
Armed with my step-dad, who’s negotiation skills are only matched by that of a thrifty ninja, I walked into the dealership and ended up paying what I felt was a reasonable price.
And without getting all sappy and sentimental, that car served me well for over a decade – through two Presidents, three relationships, and two god-awful Star Wars prequels. Although, giving credit where credit’s due: Revenge of the Sith was okay.
Heck it even made a cameo appearance on this very blog YEARS ago when I filmed a video of some of our younger athletes pushing it to the gas-station in our back parking lot as part of a fun finisher.
It’s something that I’ve been sitting on and contemplating for probably two years now, but alas, two radiators, countless brake pads, wheel bearings, and a few parking tickets later (not to mention 199,939 miles)…….it was time to turn the page and get a new car.
The decision didn’t come without any trepidation, though.
You see, I HATE confrontation. Lisa makes fun of me, but I’ll avoid confrontation at any cost. Even if it’s something completely benign.
There have been times where we’ve been out to eat and I’ve ordered a steak with two sides, and maybe only one side comes out. Rather than say something, I’d rather avoid the awkwardness and just roll with it and eat what’s put in front of me.
Sometimes I’ll even refrain from asking for help at the grocery store if I see that whatever it is I’m looking for – frozen blueberries, a certain flavor of Ezekiel bread, etc – isn’t on the shelf.
Not that I feel that those situations would be in any way “confrontational” (in the literal sense, anyways), but I don’t know, I’d just prefer to avoid them as much as possible, as ridiculously weird as that may sound.
So you can only imagine what was going through my mind when the notion of sitting in a room negotiating a price for a car with your prototypical, shady car salesperson was running through my head.
All without the help of my step-dad no less!
To be honest I’d rather jump into a live volcano.
In my defense, though, I did a solid year of research reviewing all the cars I was considering (price points, test drives, etc), and even took the advice of several people on this blog who recommended that I seek out the help of www.FightingChance.com, which proved invaluable in the long run.
If someone held a gun to me head, though, and asked me to be honest with myself: What I really did was spend a year dragging my heels and opting NOT to have a car payment. But I digress.
I stayed loyal and opted to go with another Hyundai Elantra – albeit a new(er), flashier, included 3-freaking-months-of-XM-radio version. Holla!
NOTE: for any Hyundai executives reading this blog: if you’re looking for a spokesperson to sing your praises, I can be reached at…..
Tony Gentilcore
101 Reduced Car Payment Blvd.
I Heart Hyundai, Massachusetts, USA.
call me…..(wink wink, nudge nudge).
But still: there was the whole negotiation thing that I had to deal with, and something I wasn’t looking forward to.
Long story short: I had to get comfortable with being UNCOMFORTABLE.
Despite being what I felt was well-prepared and informed, I wasn’t comfortable. Like I said, I hate confrontation and I was worried that I was going to collapse under the pressure, give in, and end up paying way more than I felt was necessary.
But I made a promise to myself that I was going to stick to my guns and be willing to walk if I didn’t get a price which I felt was fair and justified.
And for good measure I made sure I wore a smedium t-shirt to elicit a bit of an intimidation factor myself. Anything to set the odds in my favor, right?
And it all paid off. After a solid hour and a half of talking things through, and what easily resembled a Western stand-off, I I walked out of the dealership a proud owner of a new, “holy shit this thing comes with an iPod attachment!” car.
So what does all of this have to do with fitness and exercise? Well, it’s simple: you need to be comfortable with being UNCOMFORTABLE.
As humans we’re creatures of habit. We like what we like, and more to the point, we like to do what we’re good at or what comes easy.
As a quick example, for many, hopping on the treadmill and watching Ellen is a helluva lot more easier than spending that same amount of time in the squat rack performing squats.
Squats – when performed correctly, and with appreciable weight (and NOT in a Smith machine) – is a lot more daunting and hard compared to a treadmill or an elliptical trainer or a Yogalates class.
Not surprisingly, those who opt for the former generally have a hard time making any significant progress in the gym. These are the same people who look the same as they did three years ago and usually complain that, no matter what they do or how often they go, they just can’t seem to lose those last 15 lbs.
Typically said while crushing their Starbucks latte that’s bigger than a Cadillac.
I had a guy come in for an assessment a few weeks ago who, to no fault of his own (he mentioned how he worked with a “reputable” trainer in his hometown) was miffed that he wasn’t making much, if any, progress with his training as of late.
All he really wanted was to get rid of his beer gut, address some aches and pains, and maybe get a little stronger in the process.
As noted, he worked with a trainer in the past who had him do a bunch of machine based circuits for high-reps. It worked for a while, but he noticed that after repeatedly doing the same thing, for months on end, he kinda stalled.
I won’t go into the finer details of what he and I covered, but I will say that the guy didn’t move very well. He literally could not perform a lunge without falling over, his squat pattern was less than to be desired, and he could barely eek out five push-ups without puttering out (and making his shoulder flip him the middle bird).
How, then, if he worked with a “reputable trainer” for a number of months, was he not able to do ANY of those things? Like, at all.
While most of the finger pointing goes directly towards the abysmal trainer he worked with prior, some of the culpability should be directed towards him as well.
Why?
Well, despite working with the CP team for two hours, feeling infinitely better, and actually being able to perform a decent looking squat by the end (although it was damn hard for him), he elected not to come back.
He wrote the following day to say that he was very appreciative of the time spent, but that he couldn’t commit to a new training philosophy.
Maybe he hated it. Maybe my breath smelled like a fart passing through an onion that day. Maybe any number of other things. I’m not going to sit here and say that my approach and my way of doing things is the bees knees.
But my intuition tells me that he wasn’t comfortable with being uncomfortable.
And that, sadly, is what’s going to hold him back. And possibly YOU as well.
Hey peeps – I gotta keep this one short today because I’m heading down to Providence, RI for the Perform Better Summit. I’m excited because I wasn’t able to attend last year, and on top of easily being one of the best weekends of learning on the planet, the Summit also serves as an awesome networking opportunity to meet up with colleagues, listen to some really smart people make me feel dumb, and to interact with a lot of people who read my stuff and go out of their way to introduce themselves.
Fingers crossed this is the year that Matt Damon shows up!…..;o)
That said, I’m going to be heading out the door shortly but I wanted to make sure I gave you all something to read to help pass the time today.
I’ve long been a fan of the saying, “you need to learn to make lemonade out of lemons.” When you lift heavy things – for fun no less – you’re bound to get some aches and pains along the way.
This was an excellent article written by Ben showcasing some simple and effective strategies on 1) how to train smart and limit injuries, and 2) understanding that even if you have a setback (large or small) you can still find a way to train.
This has nothing to do with stuff to read, but the picture above was taken yesterday afternoon at the facility. It’s a brand new game…Instead of Where’s Waldo, we’re playing Where’s Tony Tebow-ing?
Bret hits the nail on head here. The #1 pet peeve of mine when it comes to watching trainers, and the #1 thing which results in a trainer to lose all credibility in my book is how well he 0r she coaches their clients.
If their client is performing a rounded back deadlift and it looks like said client is going to shit their spine, and the trainer does nothing to fix it.
FAIL.
By contrast, those trainers who actually give a hoot, take pride in their work, know what good form looks like, and will take the necessary steps and precautions to hold themselves and their clients accountable, are generally the ones who do very well for themselves.
Damn those Turks! It’s no secret that I have a love-hate (mostly hate) relationship with the Turkish get-up. I love them because there’s no doubting their validity in terms of providing a lot of bang-for-our-training buck. We’ve been utilizing them more and more at CP with our athletes and clients to address everything from scapular stability to t-spine mobility to hip mobility to glute activation to, well, lets just say there’s a lot of good stuff happening.
I hate them because, speaking from a personal perspective, TGUs do an excellent job at shining a bright, Bat Signal’esque spotlight on some glaring weaknesses and imbalances I have. And while I think I’m better than the average cat at performing them, I know deep down that I probably suck at them.
But it’s like I always say: you’re only as strong as your weakest link, and it’s generally those exercises you hate most that are most beneficial for you.
Don’t believe me – read THIS awesome post by Roman on why you should embrace the suck.
Anyhoo, back to Turkish get-ups.
At last count there are like 593 separate steps to perform a proper get-up. Funnily enough, it’s step numero uno that generally gets people the most flummoxed (<—- I love that words).
Many people have a hard time with the roll-to-elbow because they try to do it like an ab crunch. I know I’ve tried to use cues like “roll and punch the ceiling” which works for some people, but admittedly even this only works half of the time. If that.
One of my former distance coaching clients, Laura McNally, who also happens to be a Strong First (SFG) certified kettlebell instructor, recently invented an ingenious drill that really cleans up the roll-to-elbow conundrum.
Here’s Laura’s description:
This assisted drill helps teach the proper motor pattern, which is a roll with a pulling motion on the down arm. You’ll automatically feel what’s supposed to be happening, and people can move to unassisted after only a couple reps.
Lay a heavyish kettlebell on its side so that the student’s hand on the down arm is holding onto the handle of the bell. During the roll-to-elbow move, the student pulls against the handle, using the kettlebell as an anchor. (A variation is for the instructor to hold the student’s hand as the anchor, with the student pulling against the teacher’s hand.)
Bloop – the student pops right up.
NOTE: It’s important to highlight that you need drive the elbow into the floor when doing the roll, as opposed to just trying to drag the KB toward the torso without pushing the elbow down as a pivot point.
It’s definitely one of those drills that you have to try to understand why it works. The drill helps to teach lat engagement and elbow drive. After a few reps, once the motor pattern feels grooved, try unassisted.
Since I first posted this idea on Facebook, I’ve heard from a number of kettlebell instructors that this drill helped switch on the lightbulb for the start of the TGU.
A few weeks ago a handful of guys from my alma mater – SUNY Cortland – made the five hour trip from central NY to Boston to come visit Cressey Performance for an afternoon and check out the facility in the flesh.
After giving them the quick tour, explaining the general flow of things (everything from client intake to how a typical training sessions runs), and exchanging some pleasantries, inside jokes, and advice on where they should go eat later on in the city, I was asked a simple yet profound question:
Why are you so intelligent, witty, and good looking? What’s some advice you’d give to upcoming trainers when it comes to writing effective programs?
Much of my thought process revolves around something Mike Boyle touched on a few years ago when he said program design as akin to cooking.
Ask anyone what their philosophy or “foundation” entails and many will inevitably say they use a little of Cressey’s stuff, some of Robertson’s, a little of Gray Cook, maybe a dash of Contreras, and a sprinkle or two of Nia Shanks to taste.
They’re all over the place.
But that’s okay, to an extent. I’ll always advocate for someone to broaden their horizons and to learn from as many people and resources as possible. We just need to understand that some people can really cook, while others need to follow a recipe.
In other words: some people write cookbooks, while others are better at following cookbooks.
Everything in a recipe has a purpose, much like program design. For most (if not all) beginner/novice level trainers and coaches you should view yourself as a run-of-the-mill cook. Your job is to follow the recipe and stick to it no matter what. The last thing you should be doing is combining recipes and failing to understand that “whats” and “whys” and general rationale of any one system or approach.
The intermediate level coaches and trainers (2+ years) can be considered the sous chef. They’ve developed the ability to alter the recipe without spoiling it or sending someone to the emergency room. In a way the ingredients can be altered without disturbing the general plan.
They’ve earned the right (not to mention obtained the confidence) to tweak things towards their personal preference.
And then there’s the Bobby Flays, Wolfgang Pucks, and master chefs (5+ years) of the world who have been doing what they do for so long that they pretty much have free reign to add as much garlic as they want to any recipe……and it will be delicious all the same.
It’s okay if they break the rules because they understand the rules.
To that end, digging a little deeper, here’s the advice that I gave them:
1. Don’t make it more complicated than it has to be.
If you look at the bulk of programs that we write at CP, none of them are all that elaborate. Watch our athletes and clients train and you’re bound to see everyone doing some form of squat variation, deadlift variation, single leg pattern, push-up, row, core work, and/or some dedicated “arm care” work.
Walk into any gym and you’re going to see the same things. The thing that differentiates us, however, is that we place a high-standard on the execution of those said movements.
Meaning: we coach the hell out of everything.
You don’t need to write elaborate, complicated programs that require a PhD from MIT to translate. But you do need to actually COACH your clients and make sure they master the basics.
Even something s simple as ensuring they can hip hinge correctly will make things infinitely easier down the road when you do start incorporating more “fun” stuff like box squats or goodmornings or overhead dwarf throwing,
2. You should be able to explain or have a rationale for everything you write.
Why 5×5 and not 3×10? Why are you using a trap bar deadlift as opposed to a sumo? Why use a reverse lunge rather than a walking lunge? Why have one person doing standard planks while another one is performing Pallof Presses? Why are you not wearing any pants?
Unfortunately many trainers and coaches take a very haphazard approach to program design and it’s more like they blindfolded themselves and started throwing darts at a dart board.
You should be able to explain every piece of a program and why you’re including that for that particular person.
3. Have a contingency plan as far as regressions and progressions are concerned.
By that same token, unless your name is Gandalf or Professor Dumbledore you can’t expect to be 100% correct, 100% of the time.
Stuff happens. People get called into work to work overtime They pull a hamstring during their slow-pitch softball game. Kids get sick. They pulled an all nighter studying for an exam. Maybe they hurt their lower back getting up out of their chair. Maybe they ate too much at Chipotle and have a massive case of, well, lets not go there.
Whatever the case may be, sometimes you need a contingency plan and you have to opt for plan B.
Using myself as an example, sometimes I miss the mark and overreach on one’s abilities. I’ll program front squats into their program and it’s just awful. Even with a little tinkering, if I still feel it’s not up to snuff I’m perfectly content with regressing an exercise – to say, a goblet squat – and going from there.
Either way I’m still working the pattern and attaining a training effect.
Conversely, it can go in the opposite direction too. Sometimes I’ll underestimate someone’s ability and will need to progress an exercise and make it more challenging.
Whatever the case may be, sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. But it’s important that you’re prepared enough for when that actually happens.
Nothing spells “unprepared or I’m completely clueless” than standing there scratching your head.
And that’s about it. Nothing profound or revolutionary, but that’s essentially what I relayed back to this particular group. Have any of your own thoughts? I’d love to hear them below.
1. So you know how I mentioned on Friday that we’re hosting a young female from Colombia for the next three weeks?
FYI: Lisa and I are hosting a teenager for three weeks.
She made it here safely on Friday night and Lisa and I spent the entire weekend showing her the sights and sounds of Boston.
While I was at work Saturday morning and early afternoon, the two of them got some serious shopping down on Newbury and Boylston St, which worked out perfectly because I’d rather jump into a shark’s mouth than go shopping.
Saturday night the three of is hit up the North End for some Italian cuisine.
Yesterday, after completing our normal morning errands (laundry, grocery shopping, and food prep), we decided to get all cultural and visit the Museum of Fine Arts.
Now as I guy the idea of spending an afternoon gazing at works by Monet, van Gogh, Renoir, Singer Sargeant, and the like sounds about as exciting as watching paint dry. But as luck would have it, the stars aligned in my favor and the MFA had what could arguably be the most manly exhibition on display outside of tanks or maybe even beards.
Freaking Samurai!!!!!
To put it mildly – it was pretty sick. I could have easily spent hours in there reading every display, and pretending I was Tom Cruise from The Last Samurai, but alas, there were plenty of other things to see, and the ladies wanted to take a peek at all the European art.
Pffffft, whatever…..;o)
2. We announced it about six days ago and the workshop that both Dean Somerset and I are hosting at Cressey Performance the weekend of JULY 27th is already 1/3 of the way filled up! Woo-hoo.
We’re both really excited about this opportunity and while we have a set theme which serves as the “umbrella” of the weekend, we’re still in the process of organizing the flow of each day.
What I can tell you is that we’re going to place a heavy emphasis on ASSESSMENT as well as programming, coaching cues, and increasing people’s general level of badassery.
The early bird rate is still on until the end of June, and as I noted space is filling up quickly, so get on it while you can.
3. Back in April I had the honor of being invited back to my alma mater – State University of New York at Cortland – to speak to the around 60-70 undergrad and graduate exercise physiology, kinesiology, fitness training majors on my experiences in the industry. If anything it was an opportunity to give some sage advice and to give them a bit of a dose of tough love and let them know that they’re not going to walk into a six-figure job coaching professional athletes on day one.
It was an amazing weekend to say the least, and I was just forwarded THIS story which was published on the school’s website.
4. I was asked a really simple question over the weekend as it relates to youth athletics and athletes:
What would be 1-2 tips you’d give youth athletes? This can be anything from training, fitness, playing, nutrition, parenting, directed toward youth organizations, etc. Anything you feel would be important for a youth athlete and their parent to hear.
1. I’m sorry but your kid is most likely not going to be the next Roger Clemens, Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Tiger Woods, and the list can go on and on and on.
At eight, nine, ten, eleven, even twelve years old they don’t need a strength coach. They need to be a kid. In this scenario I can’t help but think back to a quote I heard Mike Boyle say once:
Your kid doesn’t need a strength coach, he needs a bike.
I’m often amazed at how “aggressive” some (not all) parents can be when it comes to their child’s athletic development. I’m generally reticent to have any kid under the age of thirteen start a dedicated strength and conditioning program. Not because I think it would be detrimental or stunt growth or any other number of fallacies like that. But rather I think it’s important for them to be a kid!
To ride their bike, play tag, duck-duck-goose, kickball, wiffleball, hide-n-seek, tennis, basketball, climb trees, swing on the monkey bars, call girls “icky,” you name it.
2. Along those same lines: when working with young athletes, and especially right out of the gate, it’s ALWAYS about teaching the basics.
I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve had a parent come in and tell me that we need to make their kid “faster,” and they have visions of all these cute agility ladder drills, speed cones, parachutes, 40 times, etc.
That IS NOT what their kid need 99.99% of the time. Speed, agility, power, and any other “quality” you can come up with has its base in strength. You can’t have any of those things without first have a foundation of strength.
To that end, teaching things like a proper squat pattern, hip hinge pattern, push-up, row, lunge pattern, and core stability (to name a few) – and MASTERING those patterns – are paramount.
That’s my two cents.
5. At some point or another, everyone needs a coach. I’ve reached out to other coaches in the past to help me get out of training ruts, and as it happens CP coach, Chris Howard, recently joined the masses in the Scrawny to Brawny program.
Even coaches need coaches sometimes.
Likewise, Precision Nutrition’s Lean Eating program is equally as popular and they’ve just released a FREE 5-day fat loss video course for MEN and WOMEN that is bound to be the bomb.
We’re all busy, and we’re all always looking for more efficient ways to reach our goals. Why not let someone else do the thinking for you and help you weed through the madness?
6. And finally a little house cleaning on my end. I’m looking for an assistant! Basically, I need someone who’s a little more savvy in the organization department and who can help me on the back-end side of things like helping me set-up a newsletter, blogging research, distance coaching scheduling, and maybe making me a meatloaf from to time.
Kidding.
But not really.
Anyways, it’s nothing major and nothing that would be too time consuming, but I suck at organizing. I’m pretty good at writing programs, and I’d be willing to trade barter with anyone who’s interested.
If that seems to peak your interest, please send me an email at [email protected] and we can discuss some more of the details.
