CategoriesAssessment

Squat Assessment: Is It a Mobility or Stability Issue?

Assessing someone’s squat pattern offers a gulf of information – everything from any muscular imbalances or dysfunctions that may exist, to soft tissue restrictions, movement quality, and one’s overall general level of awesomeness.

There are a few factors (and to a larger extent, progressions) that I use when I assess someone’s squat pattern, and it’s not uncommon for me to poke and prod and otherwise tinker around to find out what the root cause may be when someone’s performance is less than exemplary.

Far too often I find that people “assume” a client’s or athlete’s poor squat performance is due to mobility restrictions. Or maybe they just woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  Who knows?

As result, many coaches are left barking up the wrong tree when attempting to address the issue(s), with little to no improvement to show for their efforts. Sometimes weeks or even months after the fact.

In the short video clip below, I discuss one aspect that I find gets glossed over by many trainers and coaches and also provide a way to differentiate between something being a MOBILITY issue or a STABILITY issue.

Hope it helps!

CategoriesStrength Training

The Secret to Training Gains: Less is More

It’s a tough sell for sure, and it’s borderline cliche to say, but the fact of the matter is:  when it comes to getting results in the gym, for 90% of people, 90% of the time – whether the goal is fat loss, hitting “x” number on the bench press, or I don’t know, trying not to projectile vomit when squatting – less is more.

Don’t get me wrong:  I respect and appreciate that there are many people out there who like going to the gym and prefer to spend their time on a deadlift platform or taking a group exercise class over staying at home watching Dancing With the Stars or playing Grand Theft Auto.

Even still, there are numerous people out there under the impression that they have to spend two, three, upwards of four hours per day in the gym in order to get results.

Unless your name is The Rock or you’re planning on competing in the next Olympics, chances are if you’re spending that much time in the gym you’re 1) wasting mucho time doing a lot of nothing and/or 2) don’t have a job.

This is something I have to go to battle on with a lot of the younger athletes I work with – and to a high degree, the older demographics too – because many want to do MORE when all they’re really doing is spinning their wheels.

In my latest article on Stack.com I discuss why doing LESS is oftentimes the better route to take.

Click Me (<—– That Tickles)

CategoriesMotivational Strength Training

2 Minute Squat, and the Truth About Challenges

Today’s guest post is brought to you by Toronto based strength coach, Lee Boyce. I’ve always been a fan of Lee’s work and have often linked to his stuff on his own website as well as T-Nation.

I had the opportunity of hanging out with Lee last year when I visited Toronto and he’s every bit as personable, humble, and friendly as he comes across in his articles.  Plus, for what it’s worth, he does a killer post-lift robot.

Lee’s actually going to be making a cameo appearance during mine and Dean Somerset’s Edmonton Workshop in a few weeks, so the likelihood that they’ll be some kind of robot-off is 100%.

In any case, enjoy!

I’ve always had a competitive edge when I was in school. Especially as a middle and high-school student, I wanted to be number one at anything that was remotely related to athletics and strength. Being the fastest runner, highest jumper, and lifting the heaviest weights were among the top things on my priority list.

Unfortunately, since much of the duration of my school-age career was spent as the equivalent of a 98 pound weakling, I was less than successful.

Regardless, the mentality remained present, and pieces of it still pepper themselves into my life as a lifter and trainer. It’s hard to resist a good lifting challenge, and the latest poison was too hard to resist. After a summer chalk full of Olympic lifting, I got notably stronger, but performing any exercise for more than three reps turned into the most arduous conditioning task I’d ever experienced.

Enter the 2 minute Squat

Not long ago Dan Trink used a 2 minute leg press as a challenge for reps performed in an article for TNATION. Definitely a burner of a finishing move to destroy the quads and give you a pump that lasts days.

I took that to the next level and tried my luck with a 2-minute-long squat challenge. The kicker is this – the loaded barbell must match (or surpass) your current bodyweight in pounds.

Note from TG:  shhhhhhhheeeeeeeeiiitttttttt. That’s going to suck.

Also, you can’t rack the weight during the 2 minutes – the bar must remain on your back for the entire duration.

Prepare for your heart rate to go berserk.

And (this goes without saying), you have to be sure to use a full range of motion for every rep. I don’t care about high bar vs. low bar, or stance width, as long as it’s not sumo-wide. Just get to full depth, ATG.  Watch me get absolutely crushed by this challenge in the video below:

Breathing Squats vs. the 2 Minute Squat

We’ve all heard of breathing squats. Take your 10 rep max, and without putting the bar down, perform 20 reps. Take as many breaths between reps as needed.  The concept sounds good, and on several exercises it can turn into a real burner – especially, once again, in the case of the leg press.

When it comes to squatting however, from personal experience I’ve found that it’s just too difficult.  I’m not pulling out the pansy card, just hear me out.

To have a loaded barbell with your 10 rep max on your back (for me, that’s around 335lbs), it’s just flat out too heavy for me to lift it 20 times, regardless of how long I take between reps. Most trained individuals have a 10RM that’s heavier than their own bodyweight when it comes to squatting, which is why the 2 minute exercise is a better bet for conditioning and even hypertrophy purposes.

Plus there’s not a “target” number of reps to attain within the time, so you can focus on quality of each rep, and not have your form and technique break down as you progress through the set. That’s huge.

Here’s The Truth about Challenges

We can let our performance at fixed tests dictate the way we view our strength, progress in the gym, or manhood.

Note from TG:  cinnamon test, anyone?  Anyone?

These kinds of challenges are interesting, and the truth is, some of us will never be good at them, and I’m pretty sure I’m a guy who fits that category. As competitive in nature as I was and still am, it goes back to my article on The Truth for Tall Lifters. Someone’s body type will create huge caveats as to how well they will fare in any given challenge, including the one above.

Check out the video again. In each of the 19 reps I performed with the barbell, the tempo of the squat didn’t really change much. It took me FOREVER to get from start to finish position in any given rep, thanks to my height and the length of my limbs.

Having said that, if I’m given 2 minutes to squat a bar for full range as many times as possible, a 5’9” guy of similar body weight with equal amounts of strength and conditioning will beat me every single time, no matter what.

The interesting part is that it’s not quite reflective of his levels of strength as compared to mine. The task itself is just friendlier to him than it is to a 6’4” guy. For every rep, the 6’4” guy would have done more work (force x distance) than the 5’9” guy – given the amount of reps performed was in the same ballpark.

Plus the tall guy would spend more time under tension in any regular set of his own basic training. Wouldn’t the “Fran” workout for CrossFit enthusiasts be more unforgiving to a 6’9” guy who has to cover a further distance during thrusters, or during pull ups, which cumulatively eats precious seconds off the clock?

The Fallacy Behind Weight – Strength Ratio

I’ll start this section by saying that I don’t have formal research that I’ve conducted, so I’m not about to recite a litany of references to back up my statements, but with that in mind, I definitely don’t believe that there is anything near a linear relationship between having a heavier body mass and the amount that “should” be lifted.

That’s why there are very few people who weigh 265 who can match the strength-to-weight ratio of most 135 pound Olympic gymnasts. Again, it comes down to a game of levers, anthropometrics, and general ergonomics of the movement in question.

On this topic, I was talking to a magazine editor who stands 6’3”, who was recently challenged to a 10,000 dollar pull-up contest against an athlete of the opposing coach’s choice. Simple logic would have that coach choose his lightest and most conditioned athlete, probably with a pair of short arms to boot, and the editor would have gone to the crypt, and lost 10 grand in the process.

If A 6’5”, 265 pound squatter went up against a 6’0”, 215 pound squatter of equal conditioning in the challenge above, I’m sure the 215 pound squatter would still win, based on the fact that he has a lower center of gravity, and simply because the implement is lighter, period.

According to ESPN.com, In the past 5 years in the NFL combine, the average difference in bodyweight between running backs and wide receivers has been only 10 pounds, however, in the 225 pound bench press test, the running backs performed 5 more reps on average than the receivers.

One could argue that part of this may be due to training modifications to condition for contact situations, but a closer look at the anthropometric differences gives the true answer.

On average, those running backs were 3 inches shorter, with one inch less wingspan. All of a sudden, the longer armed, lankier wideouts had more of a disadvantage than meets the eye in the bench press test – even if they can produce just as much force on the field as their counterparts.

In Conclusion

Luckily, we’re not in the NFL, so there are no hard and fast privileges pending on our ability to “score well” in such tests.

Use the challenge above to do just what it did to me – kick some serious tail in conditioning, and present a cool gauge to test against yourself in future attempts.

I find it really cool to repeat similar conditioning tests at the end of each of your training phases to see where you stand as compared to the last phase. I’m sure you’ll get a very different result after a strength program with 3 rep maxes, compared to a dynamic conditioning program with multiple rep schemes.

Fitness training is very body-specific, and as such, it’s extremely unregulated. Don’t be a sucker for what’s on the bar, and the reps you’ve performed, and focus on the training effect. You’re going after your own results, so “challenges” are only valid if they’re made against yourself, and not someone else.

About the Author

Lee Boyce is an internationally known fitness writer and strength coach and owner of Boyce Training Systems, based in Toronto Ontario. His work is published regularly in many major fitness magazines including Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, TNATION, Muscle and Fitness, Bodybuilding.com and Inside Fitness.  In 2013, he was named to the Team Jamaica training and treatment staff for the Penn Relays international track meet. Currently Boyce works with clients and athletes for strength, conditioning, and sport performance. Visit his website  www.leeboycetraining.com for more content, and follow him on twitter @coachleeboyce and facebook www.facebook.com/lee.boyce.52.

 

CategoriesUncategorized

Miscellaneous Miscellany Monday: Vega Sport, Cortland Symposium, and Gravity

1. When my girlfriend, Lisa, and I first started the dating, four years ago, I have to say my courting process was pretty on point. Sure, I paid for dinners, opened doors, was uncannily witty, and refrained from burping in front of her until at least a week in.

But I like to think that I went above and beyond.

Our first “date” date happened to be on the same day that Mike Boyle filmed his Functional Strength Coach 3.0 DVD (you know:  the one where 9 out of 10 strength coaches shit a kettlebell when Boyle alluded to nixing squats from all of his programming) on the Boston University campus.  I drove in for the day to participate, and afterwards took the “T” up to Lisa’s apartment to shower before we headed over to the North End for dinner and a comedy show to follow.

In my head I was going to be all Rico Suave and come out from my shower with only a towel on while holding a bottle of red vino; but then I realized I wasn’t Channing Tatum, there was no way in hell I’d be able to pull something like that off, and decided that that wasn’t going to be a good idea.

I knew she was a keeper from the get go, and the fact that she was letting me come to her place to shower before a date, without really knowing me all too well outside of our initial “hey, nice to meet you” date, was kinda cool. So I kept it very, very PG-rated.

Maybe 4-5 dates in, knowing that she was every bit as into fitness as I was, instead of bringing her a bouquet of flowers, I arrived at her door with a canister of strawberry (whey) protein powder.

Which was awesome, and definitely won me some brownie points, except for the teeny tiny detail of forgetting that whole conversation we had where Lisa told me that she couldn’t have dairy products.

DAMNIT!!!!!!!!!!

Needless to say in the years since, Lisa has tried her fair share of non-dairy based protein powder products, and well, most taste like sandpaper dipped in fart.

About a year ago she heard about this company called Vega Sport, which makes dairy free, gluten free, soy free products for athletes and fitness enthusiasts alike that…..taste…….awesome!

Thing is:  it’s not cheap, which is perfectly understandable.  Anytime you make a specialized product that caters to a specialized group of people, it’s expected that it won’t be cheap.

So you can imagine  how much Lisa was jumping up and down and doing cartwheels when a representative from Vega Sport reached out to me a few weeks ago asking if I’d be down with them sending me some free swag.

I came home with the box they sent – which was pretty substantial (they even sent us socks!) – and it was like Christmas morning for Lisa.

Funnily enough, Lisa now has an internet crush on my contact person – Jaclyn – and has stated (repeatedly) that she looooooves Jaclyn and that she wants to meet Jaclyn and that she would kiss Jaclyn – on the mouth – if that ever happened.

OMG……this…..needs……to……happen!!!!

Okay, cheesy male fantasies aside Lisa has been enjoying her Vega stash.  We did a quick home workout together yesterday and afterwards she wanted me to take a picture of her crushing her Vega protein in her Vega shaker bottle.

Did I mention that Lisa loves Vega Sport?

I’m not saying all of this because I’m endorsed by Vega or because I’m getting any kickbacks from them.  I’m not.  But, rather, it’s just to say that they’re an awesome company, who make awesome products, who also make girlfriend’s happy.

Nuff said.

2.  As some may recall, last April I was invited back to my alma mater – SUNY Cortland – to speak to a bunch of undergraduate and graduate students on the fitness industry and to feel like a big deal for a day.

As it happens they’re looking to make this into an annual event and this coming April (2014) I’m proud to say that they’re hosting they’re first Cortland Strength & Conditioning/Sports Medicine Symposium.

The line-up is straight-up baller, including myself, John Gaglione, Dr. Mike Roussell, Kurtis Frank, and Cassandra Forsythe.

I’ve also been told there’s going to be a Strongman demonstration, and if we play our cards right, possibly a Laser Tag tournament.

Fingers crossed on that last one……;o)

In all seriousness, it’s going to be an awesome event and you can’t beat the price.  Pre-registration starts at $40 for students and $50 for non-students.

For more details and to register go HERE.

3.  Since yesterday was an ovcrall gloomy day on the weather side of things, Lisa and I decided to go see a movie that I’ve been foaming at the mouth to watch, Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, and directed by one of my favs, Alfonso Cuaron.

It’s no secret that I am obsessed with movies, and if I weren’t a strength coach/writer I’d probably try to finagle some way to get paid to watch them for a living.

Anyways, cutting to the chase, Gravity was stunning.

STUNNING, I Tell You!!!!

I remember being awed by Cuaron’s brilliance during his last movie, Children of Men, where he had not one, but two EPIC tracking shots (one of which lasted a full ten minutes).  He was also the impetus behind the Harry Potter series becoming “darker,” more grown up, and less Disneyish.

(He directed The Prisoner of Azkaban).

In any case, watching Gravity was equal parts beautiful and breathtaking. Cuaron had to wait a few years to even be able to film this movie so that the technology could catch up with his vision. But the end result is well worth the wait.

You literally feel as if you’re in space with the characters, and the camera work is seamless.

Bullock gives a profound performance, although I don’t feel we need to hand her the Best Actress trophy yet. She’s great, and most certainly will be nominated, but I don’t feel as if it’s a slam dunk like many critics are alluding to.

The real star here is Cuaron.  The man is a genius, and if this doesn’t propel him to Scorcese or Spielberg territory I don’t know what will.

CategoriesUncategorized

Simple Squat Fix: “Owning” Your Rib Position

While squatting is considered a standard human movement pattern, and something that everyone does everyday of their lives, there are a million and one things that can go awry when you place a barbell on someone’s back.

In addition there’s no shortage of coaching cues which are tossed around, that it’s no wonder people are often overwhelmed when it comes to honing in on technique.

Get your air!

Spread the floor with your feet!

Keep your chin tucked!

Squeeze your shoulder blades together, find your shelf!

Push your knees out!

Don’t shit out your pancreas!

Sit back!

Pull down on the bar!

Get your hips through at the top!

Did you leave your stove on when you left the house?

One would think they’re solving some advanced algorithm for space travel than simply squatting up and down with a bar.

And so it goes.  The fact of the matter is:  when it comes to squatting big weight, you have to be LOCKED in with technique or else some bad things can happen.

However, even if squatting a house isn’t your goal, it still doesn’t mean you should have a nonchalant attitude when it comes to technique, because you “may” be causing irreparable harm in the long run.

One cue that we’ve been hammering at the facility as of late is the idea of “owning” rib position.

This is something that manifested itself after watching a video Bill Hartman released a little over a year ago on using a belt and how many powerlifting go about  “getting their air.”

To expound a bit more on Bill’s brilliance, after watching that video I started taking more notes on how people squatted and noticed one common pattern amongst the more serious weightlifters.  Not so much powerlifters (although they’re not off the hook), but more so those people who were past the “newbie” stage and had a bit of experience underneath their belts.

Many, to no fault of their own (it’s what they’ve read and have been coached to do) were OVER-arching and hinging more through their lower backs rather than their hips.

Arching the back isn’t bad or poor form.  But when done excessively, can lead to some nasty things like end-plate fractures, Spondylolisthesis, and a bad hair day.

Just kidding on that last one.

A perfect example of what I’m referring to is a video I received from a new distance coaching client, Sarah.

To the casual eye her squat is pretty legit.  She’s sitting back, keeping a more vertical shin angle, hitting decent depth, and using close to 1x bodyweight (for reps!). What, what!

But to the more keen observer, and to steal a line from one of my heros, Optimus Prime,  there’s a bit more than meets the eye.

And before someone has a conniption and starts spouting off about how much vertical videos suck, relax.  Deal with it.

If you pause the video at the nine second mark you’ll notice that her initial movement is to hinge through the lumbar spine rather than the hips.

Too, you’ll notice how her rib cage flares out simultaneously.

In going back and forth with her via email, Sarah has mentioned to me that her squat numbers have hit a stalemate as of late, and I have a hunch that part of the reason (if not the entire reason) is because she’s losing stability by not bracing and “owning” her rib position.

In essence, and what I pointed out to her, is that we need to work on keeping her rib cage DOWN and learning to brace more.

Taking it a step further, and something I discussed in a previous video on lunging (see below) is the idea of pretending there’s an imaginary line between her nipple line and her belly button. When she goes to un-rack the barbell she needs to ensure an abdominal brace and to make sure the line between her nipple line and belly button doesn’t get longer.

From there it’s just a matter of making some minor adjustments, getting her to groove the hip hinge through the HIPS and not her the lower back, and then it’s smooth sailing.

I find this is an issue that’s more common than people think, and it parlays into a lot of different exercises from deadlifts to lunges to overhead dwarf throwing.

And I have to imagine a few light-bulbs just turned on for a few people reading this post.

You’re welcome, and that will be $19.99.

This won’t apply to everyone, of course, but hopefully it gives some food for thought.  Enjoy the weekend!

CategoriesUncategorized

The Myth of Female Specific Training

A few weeks ago at the Cressey Performance Fall Seminar I presented on the topic of female specific training with a presentation titled Training Jane From Joe:  Do Women Need to Train Differently Than Men?

Stealing an awesome quote from my friend John Romaniello (and something I whole heartedly agree with):

“We all have the same parts (muscles, not genitals), and while women certainly don’t need to train differently than men, there are numerous reasons that women can – and, often, should – train differently than men.”

True: most women aren’t concerned with bro-science goals like blasting their biceps, pulverizing their pecs, or building a derriere that has it’s own zip code (although, thanks to guys like Bret Contreras, more and more women are jumping on the glute train like never before), and in that regard it’s easy to see the slight differences in training approaches that may arise.

But having said that, I still feel that 90% of the time – general goals aside – there’s no reason to differentiate between how a woman trains and how a man trains.

And while I did dissect a handful of scenarios in which I approach female specific training with a bit more vigor and attention to detail – namely ACL prevention considerations** training someone through a pregnancy – the overriding theme of my talk was how many (not all) women are programmed at an early age to think they’re these delicate flowers who can’t (and sadly, shouldn’t) lift weights.

Sadder still is how many young women are inundated with images from the mainstream media which tells them how they should look to fall into quote-on-quote “societal norms.”

Here’s a glowing example:

One week they’re told that this picture of Kim Kardashian (pregnant) is what fat is:

As a result many will resort to extreme amounts of cardiovascular exercise (you know, because that’s what women are supposed to do) and then follow a diet where a snack mounts to nothing more than a celery stick, water with a splash of lemon, and something that’s gluten-free and tastes like sawdust.

Then, maybe the following week or a few weeks later the same magazine will run a cover which looks like this:

Well, WTF!?!?!?  Which is it?

Is it any wonder why so many women – of all ages – are so confused and have body image issues?

And then there’s this doozy of a story which made me want to offer my face up as a punching bag.

A current client of mine, a woman who happens to be a personal trainer herself, was interested in possibly working with young, female athletes this past summer and reached out to the local high school in her area to see if she’d be able to hang out at the school’s gym during the times when the athletes were there.

She contacted all the coaches of the female sports teams to let them know they she was going to be around and that she was hoping to round up the troops and have the opportunity to work with their athletes.

One of the coaches, who’s the PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHER to boot, wrote back with the following note”

“Not many of the girls are interested in lifting weights because there’s no “women friendly equipment” available.”

The “women friendly equipment” she was referring to was, you guessed it:  treadmills and elliptical trainers.

She might as well have added dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, and an apron for good measure.  Hell, why not take away their right to vote while you’re at it!

My client was aghast with equal parts disappointment and rage.  The weight-room was well-equipped with ten power racks and plenty of barbells and dumbbells.  Plenty of space for an entire team to come in and learn how to lift weights, and as far as high-schools are concerned, a strength coaches wet dream.

Yet, this coach, assuredly someone whom the female athletes look up to was sending them the message that “you’re girls, you belong on the treadmill.”

This is what’s so frustrating (and infuriating) at times.  Girls are being programmed to think that they’re not like the boys and that they shouldn’t lift weights. Which I find absurd.

And that, in many ways, was the main theme I was trying to convey in my talk a few weeks ago. That the OPPOSITE is what should be highlighted and encouraged and instilled into the psyche of our young females.

While I’m only one coach, and feel I do a good job at stressing things like performance based goals over scale weight and I go out of my way not to fall prey to archaic societal norms, I think the tide is starting to turn.

Groups like the Girls Gone Strong crew are leading the charge and helping to spread the word that it’s okay for girls to get a little dirty and to train along side the boys. People like Bret Contreras and Kellie Davis are writing mainstream books telling women to go LIFT SOME WEIGHTS. Organizations like CrossFit – despite some of my reservations –  are getting women excited to train, and train hard.

It’s still a long battle to forge, and we have a lot of work to do still, but I think we’re heading in the right direction.  And that’s cool in my book.

** = In a lot of ways, much like Mike Boyle, I think the whole ACL prevention talk is BS.  Yeah, yeah, we can talk about how research demonstrates that female athletes are 6-8x more likely to tear their ACL compared to their male counterparts, Q-angles, and even estrogen receptors during the menstrual cycle……but at the end of the day I don’t feel there’s such a thing as an “ACL prevention program.”  I think any well-designed program that focuses on getting athletes stronger (particularly the posterior chain), teaching them how to decelerate and land properly, as well as works on change of direction and movement quality is an ACL prevention program in its own right.

And lets just call a spade a spade:  I don’t think it’s so much an ACL issue with women as it is “they’re just weak” issue.

Now, this doesn’t apply to all women of course.  But generally speaking many women are “hand held” when it comes to programming (see above) and it just comes down to getting them stronger.  Plain and simple.

CategoriesUncategorized

5 Life Stressors That Are Affecting Your Training

I’m still in NYC taking in the sights and sounds.  As much as it’s the city that never sleeps and is arguably the most exciting city in the world, I think the most impressive thing that I’ve come across during this visit is a little restaurant chain called BareBurger.

In a span of 24 hours I’ve hit up this place three freaking times, and each time I swear I want to run around the place and give the entire staff a high-five.

I’m seriously thinking about writing an email to the owners and petitioning for them to open up this place in Boston.

It’s unbelievable!

But as thrilling as hearing about my palette and eating habits are, as it happens I left Crunch Fitness located on East 34th Street not too long ago, where I took their staff through a four hour in-service on assessment. As I was walking around I decided to set up shop here at one of the 893 Starbucks located in Manhattan to catch up on some emails and to post this quick guest post by Chris and Eric Martinez (AKA: The Dynamic Duo).

In case anyone is curious – and why wouldn’t you be? – the staff over on East 34h St, is fantastic.  The fitness director, Mike Spiegel, is a stand-up guy and it’s impressive to see how passionate he is about the fitness industry, how he strives to make his staff better in every way possible, and the exuberant energy he conveys.

As far as commercial gym settings go – and believe me, they’re not all nightmares – these guys do it right, and I was thoroughly flabbergasted.  How’s that for word play!?!

It says a lot about a staff when 10-15 of them take time out of their busy schedules to come listen to me ramble on about scapulohumeral rhythm, the Joint-by-Joint approach, and squat assessment; especially when they could have just as easily skipped out and used that same time to train clients and make money.

Instead they decided to come chill with me, and that’s cool as balls.

I was honored to be invited in to speak, and cheesy movie quotes and references aside, everyone seemed to enjoy it. 

Nevertheless, I hope you take the time to read today’s guest post as I feel the topic – STRESS – is something that far too many people gloss over.

“I’m tired. I feel overtrained. I have no energy. I ate like crap the other day. I had a long day at work. I feel fat. My genetics suck.”

We remember our last year of college taking 15 units per semester, doing an internship, working 32 hours a week, homework, projects, and training. MY LAWD we were extremely busy and evidently this lead to mental stress. We started to continuously say things like the above statements and the mental stress started to affect our training and that was a huge, huge DEAL-E-O.

We’re writing this because we feel too many people overlook the component of life stressors when it comes to getting optimal results.These days, everyone wants to know the magical programming design to build muscle, hidden gems to fat loss, the gold standard macronutrients ratio for their nutrition program, perfect supplementation stack, and then some.

What we tend to forget are life stressors that we all deal with on a day-to-day basis. These life stressors lead to mental stress, which have been proven in studies to lead to performance decrements in training.

You can have the quote-on-quote perfect training and nutrition program but what if your sleep is always lacking? Your cortisol levels are chronically elevated through the roof? Your blood pressure is constantly sky rocketing? Or your energy levels are sinking like a ship? The quote-on-quote perfect program will suffer because of these life stressors and so will your results.

Note from TG:  I’ve written on the topic of sleep and how lack of it can affect one’s training (not to mention hormone levels) HERE.  Additionally, THIS post dives into some simple tips one can implement almost immediately to help people not only get to sleep but also improve sleep quality.

You should read them.

Now, before we get started with our 5 life stressors that may be affecting your training and how to fix them. We don’t want you to look at this in a superficial way or a black and white answer type of thing. We’re asking you to think critically here and come up with your own opinions.

We want you to look at these life stressors more as they could become a big problem if they become chronic in your life and you don’t find a way to cope with them. Truth is we all have life stressors and some we can’t get rid of, but we sure can control them so our training doesn’t suffer. Allow us to elaborate…

Stressor #1- Occupational Stress

Corporate world, 9-5’s, commuting, being micro managed, meeting project deadlines, driving in revenue, working your ass off to get promoted, wanting to round house your boss because they’re always nagging at you…

Does all this sound stressful? While stress can have detrimental effects, evidence suggests that stress plays an essential role in developing a healthy body that is able to cope with the various demands thrown our way on a daily basis. It is very likely that you’re getting off work, going straight to the gym, and have experienced some kind of occupational stress which could affect your performance when you’re training.

The Fix- While going through your warm up phase, put on your “GET FIRED UP” playlist, think positive about your upcoming workout, and imagine how you’re going to man handle that squat.

If you shift your mindset away from work mode, you will be more immersed into your workout and thus you will have a more effective training session.

Stressor #2- Social Stress

Social stress can be as tough as occupational stress, if not tougher. The reason being, you can have the best job in the world, fanciest car, and an MTV like crib on the block, but if you don’t have a social life or aren’t socially accepted then everything else means Jack.

Everyone wants to be socially accepted whether they admit it or not. Social stress can also be family issues or changes, relationship issues, and sexuality issues. Social stress can lead to mental stress, anxiety, depression, decrease cognitive function, among other decrements. So it’s imperative that you exercise at a high performance level so these stressors won’t affect your training.

The Fix- If you’re dealing with a lot of social stress try joining a team or taking a group class such as: Boot camp, TRX, Pilates, yoga, CrossFit, etc.

The environments in these group classes are very supportive and encouraging. There’s a lot of camaraderie built and this could be a sure way to help you cope with and improve your social stress.

Stressor #3- The Mind Body Connection

A quote that really sticks with us is by Dr. Layne Norton, he said “your mentality becomes your reality.”

If you’re inherently negative and constantly think negative outcomes, then you’re most likely going to face negative results. Same thing goes for being inherently positive. (1) There are hundreds of studies showing again and again that decrements to health due to the mind body connection are real problems. (2) Mental stress is related to an increase in various potentially harmful chemicals substances such as: cortisol which degrades proteins, including white blood cells, antibodies, resulting in a decrease in immune function, and consequently, elevated rates of sickness.

This also leads to cerebration (thoughts), which is one reason why people that are stressed often have sleeping disorders and it’s because they’re up worrying all night.

The Fix- The minute you step foot into the gym, make sure to get your mind right. Do this by playing some good-up beat music (so good that you want to show off your dance moves), get a good warm up in, and get pumped up for your workout.

Who knows, you could have had a hell of a day at work, with the spouse, the kids, the babies mama or daddy. Play it safe and set the positive mood for a more productive workout. Don’t bring that energy draining negative vibe into the gym and definitely don’t be that person in the gym walking around giving everyone dirty looks…

Because YOU AREN’T THAT TOUGH. 

Stressor #4- Stress Disorders

Stress is not always a bad thing. In fact, stress is absolutely needed for growth. However, the real problems occur with abnormal and chronic stress responses.

For instance, some people might typically operate in a persistently hectic environment. (3) These environments contribute to alarming numbers of mental ailments including 16 and 32 million cases of depression and anxiety. These same people will often make excuses to avoid physical activity. This is when stress can cause serious ailments and diseases.

If you don’t utilize the nutrients and energy being supplied by your bodies during the high stress responses, several diseases can occur such as: Diabetes, obesity, immune suppression, cancer, asthma, allergies, indigestion, and cardiovascular disease.

Now of course these are extreme cased diseases, but we still want to inform you on them. Also, fat loss, performance, and hypertrophy could be hampered by high and chronic stress responses.

The Fix- If you typically operate in a persistently hectic-daily environment and are always under high stress. Consider hiring a trainer or a coach. A qualified trainer or coach can take a lot of the guess work out of your training and nutrition program and make your fitness life a lot easier.

Stressor #5- Nutritional Factors

Nutritional factors can be closely related to stress disorders and can become serious problems if you don’t monitor them correctly. If you feel lost with your nutrition program, then you could find yourself overwhelmed with information online or those non-qualified local gurus telling you to eat nothing but tilapia and broccoli because it’ll thin out your skin.

This could lead to frustration and depression and could cause the following to occur: Malnutrition, poor eating habits, eating disorders, bulimia anorexia, or just flat out quitting overall.

Again, these are extreme cases, but these are all serious matters which will lead to high mental stress and eventually performance decrements when you train.

The Fix- Hire a sports nutritionist, a reputable coach, or a trainer that has a nutrition background. These professionals will take care of the nutrition side for you and hopefully educate you as well.

You could even take a basic nutrition class or self-educate yourself with the right resources.

Wrapping All This Up

As you can see even if you have the most optimal training and nutrition programs, your bodies will say “Not so fast!” This is because stressors in life can affect how you feel with training.

Lots of studies show mental stress can cause decrements in performance and even hinder adaptation than physiological stress. Sometimes you can’t remove these mental stressors in life. But you can cope with them, psychologically to where they don’t become stressors.

Take life stressors serious as you would with your training and nutrition programs. If you totally ignore it, do you want to risk your performance and end results?

For more information on how to deal with life stressors, check this video out here.

About the Authors

 

Chris and Eric Martinez, CISSN, CPT, BA, also known as the “Dynamic Duo” operate a world class personal training and online training business “Dynamic Duo Training,” They’re also fitness and nutrition writers, fitness models, and coaches that love helping people reach their goals. Their philosophy is “No excuses, only solutions.”

Visit them at:

Dynamic Duo Training

Blogsite

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YouTube Channel  

References:

  1. Simmons, J (2006). Exercise and stress lecture. California State East Bay.
  2. Haddy, Richard I. Clover, Richard D. (2001). Biological processes in psychological stress. Families, systems & health.
  3. McCullagh, Penny. (2005) Sports and exercise psychology lecture. Cal State East Bay. Wilson, Gabriel. Wilson, Jacob. Exercise and Stress-An in-depth Analysis.  http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/exercisestressindex.html