It’s the day after Thanksgiving – I hope everyone had their fair share of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, apple pie, pumpkin pie, coconut cream pie, banana cream pie, blueberry pie, pecan pie, peanut butter pie, or even a pizza pie (said in a heavy Italian accent) if that’s how you roll.
It’s officially Black Friday (for those non-Americans reading it’s essentially the busiest, batshitcraziest shopping day of the year where people wait outside in line at stores like Best Buy at 5 AM just so that they scissor kick random strangers in the face once the doors open so they can get a 60-inch plasma tv for $199)……….so Happy Holidays!
I for one prefer the more low-key approach and do most of my shopping online in the days following. At least with that option I can shop without all the hassle of dealing with big crowds. And, more importantly, pants are optional. BADDA-BING!
This was actually the first year, like ever, that I didn’t make the trek back home to central New York for Thanksgiving. I was a bit sad because I’ve never missed a Thanksgiving (and my mom’s home cooking is the best), but Lisa and I had to catch an early flight to Virginia for a friend’s wedding this weekend, so we opted to stay in Boston and celebrate solo.
As such my post today is going to be short and sweet. For those not celebrating the Holiday weekend, this will be your run-of-the-mill Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work (sorry).
For those recovering from insulin coma, instead, it will be Stuff to Read While You’re Trying to Tolerate Family Members You Can’t Stand (sorry).
Squat Power Panel – The Avengers (<– Me, Dean Somerset, Lee Boyce, and Todd Bumgardner)
In this short piece, four pretty smart (and dare I say, good looking) coaches offer some advice on common squatting mistakes.
I love to geek out with articles like this. I have a couple teeny-tiny differences of opinion with some components of the article (namely her rationale for omitting reverse crunches..I actually like them a lot), but all in all Elsbeth hits this one out of the park!
I’ll be honest: I was thiiiiiiiiiiis close to taking a slight “blogcation” the rest of the week. I figured since I’ll be bit preoccupied with stuffing my face with anything I can get my hands on for the next 48 hours, that most people would be in the same mindset and not really give a second thought to signing onto my site.
– Eating copious amounts of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and apple pie? Check.
– Watching football till I can’t feel the right side of my face? Check.
– Check out Tony’s blog? Come on…..isn’t there more apple pie to eat?
Don’t worry, my feelings aren’t hurt. I know where I stand in the grand scheme of things. You know, there was a time when you used to compliment me, tell me I looked nice, and used to be excited to see me. Made me feel special. But now, it’s like….it’s like I don’t even exist anymore. It’s like I’m a ghost.
*tear rolls down cheek*
LOL – I’m just messing with you. Thanksgiving is about family, friends, and turkey legs……the last think I expect you to do is check out my blog. Have fun! Be safe! Enjoy!
But seriously, you used to compliment me.
I wasn’t going to write anything today (or tomorrow), but then I realized that Thanksgiving isn’t a universally celebrated holiday and that I’d be a huge jerk-face if I deprived the rest of the world my sage words….(Poop!).
Luckily enough I just had a new article go up on BodyBuilding.com that’s already gaining some steam (and I haven’t even publicized it yet!).
It’s on a topic that write about quite a bit – women and training. This article has more of a “soap box” feel to it and is more of a rant than anything else, but I feel it sends a great message nevertheless. Give it a look and let me know what you think.
PS: And on a (real) serious note: I just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone for their support over the past year. TonyGentilcore.com wouldn’t be what it is without the continued support of its readers and fan base and I wish you all a safe and happy Thanksgiving.
Q: I’ve frequently read that unstable surface training in a non rehabilitate setting isn’t of that much use, particularly due to the fact that the increased muscle recruitment doesn’t necessarily become functional in other athletic activities.
I certainly get great anterior core recruitment but am curious if this will carry over to athletics and other lifts?
What makes the stability ball usage in stir the pot different from that of doing 100 squats on a bosu ball?
A: That’s actually a really great question, but something I feel doesn’t require a whole lot of explanation. For starters, for those not in the know, generally speaking, when most people hear the word “unstable surface training” many will quickly defer to your garden variety items such as stability balls, BOSU balls, wobble boards, and other (borderline) nefarious gadgets that are (often, not always) marketed as the panacea of everything awesome.
If you believe the hype, unstable surface training will do everything from helping to improve your balance to increased muscle activation (particularly in your core) to shaving off a few dress sizes to improving whateverthef***.
Just what she needs: more knee valgus! (<— note heavy sarcasm)
About the only thing unstable surface training can’t do is wash the dishes and solve our national debt.
If I had to describe my general thoughts pertaining to unstable surface training I’d more than likely do it in an interpretive fashion like this:
Which isn’t to say that I’ll dismiss it altogether. There is some efficacy towards its use – and as you noted it’s namely in the rehabilitative setting when we’re working with athletes or clients coming off an injury and we’re trying to reestablish proper motor patterns, work on muscle activation, or otherwise reintroduce (and progress) them to external loading.
Unfortunately, at some point within the last decade (give or take), a bunch of personal trainers and coaches decided it would be a good idea to take data extrapolated from the physical therapy realm – and in particular data used with INJURED patients – and apply it with their healthy clients. You know, to be functional and stuff.
The end result was (and has been) anything but ho-hum. Instead of people actually doing something of relevance – like actually being able to do a push-up correctly, or being able to perform a hip hinge or lunge pattern without making my eyes bleed – we have a bunch of people doing things like 1-legged curls on BOSU balls, and trainers – in an effort to look unique and different – wasting people’s time (not to mention money) by doing shit like this:
I’ll concede that it looks impressive, and I’d if I were going to speak candidly I’d probably have a better shot of tossing a touchdown pass to He-Man in the next Super Bowl than being able to do it myself.
But that’s beside the point. For healthy individuals who are looking to get bigger, faster, stronger, leaner, prevent injuries, increase power, move better, wrestle a grizzly, be able to say the alphabet backwards, or be able to wear white past Labor Day, unstable surface training is not the answer.
My business partner, Eric Cressey, actually wrote an entire book on the topic titled The Truth About Unstable Surface Training, whichdelves into how its use, application, and efficacy has been overtly saturating the fitness world for the wrong reasons.
The fact of the matter is, the floor works just fine….and unstable surface training probably does more for DECREASING athleticism, strength, balance and movement quality than it helps.
Stealing a section from Keifer’s article:
Think about when you step onto an icy or oily surface. You instantly tense up, you almost literally can’t perform certain movements because the nervous system senses the instability of the environment and fires in resistant ways to keep you balanced. In this process, it also shuts down the ability to produce maximum force (your strength, power, hypertrophy and speed all go down the shitter. Think about it, if you start to slip in one direction and your reflexes caused your muscles to fire with maximum force against that motion—a motion that may be inevitable at that point, like falling—then you risk tearing muscle or connective tissue. The body is trying to protect you by making you weaker.
Which brings us to Stir-the-Pot.
This exercise in of itself constitutes as “unstable surface training,” and like I said above….I don’t dismiss it altogether. We actually do employ a decent amount of this type of training into our programs at Cressey Performance – albeit not in the context that will make you want to punch a hole in the wall.
Since we work with a crap-load of baseball players, one drill we like to use to help increase rotator cuff activation is a bottoms-up 1-arm kettlebell carry:
Since we’re currently on that side of the fence, we incorporate bottoms-up variations with things like DB presses, 1-arm bulgarian split squats, and Turkish get-ups.
Something to consider, however, is this is in conjunction with movements like squats, deadlifts, rows, chin-ups, hip thrusts, and the like which are done on STABLE surfaces and which help to get people strong.
With regards to the stir-the-pot, I simply see this as:
1. A great way to train the anterior core.
2. A great way to “progress” the plank. I find it comical that people brag about how long they can hold a plank for – the longest I’ve heard is 17 minutes – when I KNOW that all they’re doing is hanging on their lower back and hip flexors in order to get the job done, which isn’t doing them any favors.
I find a lot of validity with planks and their numerous variations – especially when working with someone with chronic low back issues (as the name of the game is spinal stability/endurance, and teaching neutral spine) – but there comes a point where there’s a rate of diminishing returns, especially when people make them into a dick measuring contest.
I don’t know what the female equivalent would be here: high-heel measuring contest?????
Either way I’d much rather make planks more challenging than longer, for the sake of making them longer. Can you think of anything more boring? I mean, outside of NASCAR is there anything?
And besides, this isn’t the type of exercise that opens itself to “repetition” anyways. The objective isn’t to do them for “100 reps” as compared to the “100 squats on a BOSU ball” comment from the original question. Instead, the objective is to learn to recruit and engage the anterior core and RESIST extension. This is all about QUALITY of movement – and not compensating – than it is about QUANTITY.
To that end, I do feel this is an exercise that will help to improve performance – albeit not under the guise that I feel it’s because you’ve somehow improved your balance or recruitment of anything.
Wrapping Up
Again, this isn’t to insinuate that unstable surface training should be avoided at all costs – there’s ABSOLUTELY a time and place for it’s inclusion in a program. However, I do feel that it’s WOEFULLY overrated, overused, and quite frankly a waste of time for most healthy individuals who walk into a weight room to get better.
Today’s guest post is brought to you by University of Washington strength coach, Dave Rak. Many of you may recall a handful of past posts that Dave has written for this site, and it’s always a pleasure on my end to welcome him back because, well, he’s freaking good!
On top of being a former Cressey Performance intern Dave was also my training partner for the past year whenever I snaked a lift at Boston University where he served as a Grad Assistant.
A typical text exchange would go like this:
Tony: Dude, deadlifts tomorrow, you in?
Dave: You had me at deadlifts.
Tony: I’ll bring the Spike, you set the Pandora station at Wu-Tang radio.
Dave: Done
Tony: OMG, I am soooo excited!
Dave: Same-sies!
In any case, in this brief post Dave breaks down one of my favorite back exercises – the Deadstart DB Row.
Enjoy!
Whether you’re building a superior athlete, training for the zombie apocalypse, or trying to get more yoked than The Rock, building a big back should be one of your priorities. A monster back will help athletic performance, improve your big three lifts (Squat, Bench, & Deadlift), and it will make you look like a straight boss. The dummbell row is a great exercises to get this job done.
There are a variety of other pulling exercise that are great for building both size and strength, but some of these lifts are not for everyone.
Deadlifts, vertical pulling, and farmer carries are great for adding both size and strength to your back. But, before you start blasting out a million pull-ups keep this in mind: Tony touched upon the issue of scapular depression and extended postures, and how chin-up/pull-up’s, farmer carries, and deadlifts may not be the best fit for some people.
If you are an overhead athlete this can cause some serious problems. A lot of my athletes fall into this contraindicated group, which is why I feel horizontal rowing is a much better option for these individuals.
My athletes seem to love dumbbell rows almost as much as I do and eventually they start to venture down to the heavier side of the dumbbell rack to see how far they can push themselves.
All of a sudden they go from having great technique to looking like someone trying to start a broken lawnmower.
Once you start to go heavy on an exercise of course you may start to sacrifice technique, but I hold my athletes to a higher standard, especially when I am trying to get them out of forwarded head postures, anterior glenohumeral glide, and substituting trunk rotation for actually pulling the dumbbell up.
This is where the deadstart dumbbell row comes into play.
Who Did I steal It From: I can’t remember but I owe that dude a can of Spike (it actually may have been Tony now that I think of it)
Note from TG: Maybe. I actually had a minor brainfart and just remembered that I discussed this exercise awhile back HERE, albeit I called it a deadSTOP row.
Consider Dave’s post a nice refresher….;o)
What Does It Do: Once I started programing it in for my athletes their form instantly cleaned up. Since the dumbbell is rested on the floor after each rep it actually simplifies the exercise.
Deadstart dumbbell rows inadvertently turn a set of 5 or 8 reps into 5 or 8 singles. This allows the athlete to slow them-self down and reset after each rep, locking their body into a good position each time they pull the weight up.
It is also a great way to teach the athlete how to get their core set and get their back tight which will carry over to other major lifts. This exercise becomes pretty clutch when training a large group of athletes since it cleans up technique almost on its own, much similar to the way a goblet squat cleans up a squat pattern.
This will teach your athletes how to handle heavier weight without sacrificing technique, making the transition back to standard dumbbell rows easier. This rowing variation is also a great way to add variety to a program especially if your athletes are not ready for any kind of vertical pulling.
Key Coaching Cues: Keep in mind that I use this as a progression from a traditional 3 point dumbbell row.
I will start by telling my athletes to pretend like they a playing pick up basketball and are on defense (this gets them into an athletic stance) and then tell them to fall into the bench setting their support hand in place. Then keep a flat back, and make an ugly double chin.
From there I will slap them in their belly and their lats (not too hard of course) to get them tight, and begin the exercise. As you pull make sure you’re not letting your chin or back move, stay locked in.
Avoid pulling your elbow too far behind your body to prevent anterior glide at the shoulder. When you lower the weight be sure not to drop it, but make sure the dumbbell come to a complete stop on the floor before your next rep. Get your body tight before you pull again.
You will be able to go heavier with these rows since you get to set the weight down between every rep. I shoot for 5-8 reps per side and anywhere from 3-5 sets.
About the Author
David Rak is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist through the NSCA (CSCS) and a Strength and Conditioning Certified Coach through the CSCCa (SCCC). He is currently an Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach at the University of Washington where he works with Baseball, Men’s & Women’s Golf, Throwers, Middle Distance Runners, & Cross Country. Dave received his Bachelor’s in Exercise Science at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and his Master’s in Coaching from Boston University. He has and completed a graduate assistant position at BU and has interned at Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning, Cressey Performance, and with the University of South Carolina (Football).
Despite the cheekiness nature of the title, you can relax: I’m not suggesting that your shoulders are “depressed” in the literal sense of the word.
I mean, it’s not as if they just got word they contracted ebola or that their heart just got ripped out by some uppity bitch who left them for some toolbag named Cliff who goes to Harvard and rows Crew. Or worse, they’re a Celtics fan (<—- they’re really bad this year).
Nope, we can hold off on the Zoloft, Haagen Dazs and Bridget Jone’s Diary marathon for now. That’s NOT the depression I’m referring to.
When it comes to shoulders and the numerous dysfunctions and pathologies that can manifest in that region, generally speaking we tend to give much more credence to anterior/posterior imbalances like a gummed up pec (major or minor) or weak scapular retractors.
Rarely, if ever, do we point the spotlight on superior/inferior imbalances.
Translated into English, yes the rotator cuff is important, but we also have to be cognizant of the interplay between upward and downward rotation. More and more (especially with our baseball guys, but even in the general population as well) we’re seeing guys walk in with overly depressed shoulders.
For the more visual learners in the crowd here’s a picture that will help:
It should be readily apparent that 1) that’s a sick t-shirt and 2) there’s a downward slope of the shoulders, yes?
Hint: yes.
This can spell trouble for those whose livelihood revolve around the ability to get their arms over their head (baseball players) as the downward rotators of the scapulae (levator, rhomboids, and especially the lats) are kicking into overdrive and really messing with the congruency and synergy between the scapulae, humeral head, glenoid fossa, and acromion process.
And this doesn’t just pertain to overhead athletes either.
We’re seeing this quite a bit in the general population as well, particularly with meatheads (those who like to lift heavy stuff), as we’ve (i.e: fitness professionals) done a great job of shoving down people’s throats ”shoulder blades down and together” for years now, emphasizing what I like to call reverse posturing.
Likewise, much of what many meatheads do (deadlifts, shrugs, farmer carries, pull-ups, rows, fist pumps, etc) promote more of what renowned physical therapist, Shirley Sahrmann, has deemed downward rotation syndrome.
Putting our geek hats on for a brief minute, statically, it’s easy to spot this with someone’s posture. For starters, you’ll see more of a downward slope of the shoulder girdle (see pic above). Additionally, you can look at the medial (and inferior) border of the scapulae and observe its relationship with the spine and ascertain whether someone is more adducted (retracted) or abducted (protracted).
Many trainees, unless engaged in regular exercise or sporting activity, have a slightly protracted scapulae (kyphotic posture) due to the unfortunate nature of modern society where many are forced to stare at a computer screen for hours on end.
If someone’s rhomboids and lats are overactive, however – which is fairly common with meatheads – they’re going to superimpose a stronger retraction and downward pull of the shoulder blade, which in turn will result in a more adducted position. In short: the shoulder blade(s) will “crowd” the spine.
All of this to say: things are effed up, and are going to wreck havoc on shoulder kinematics and affect one’s ability to upwardly rotate the scapulae.
So, hopefully you can see how this would be problematic for those who A) need to throw a baseball for a living or B) would like to do anything with their arms above their head.
With special attention to the latter, if someone is aggressively downwardly rotated, the congruency of the joint is such that the humeral head is going to superiorly migrate, which will then compromise the subacromial space (making it even narrower) leading to any number of shoulder ouchies.
Throwing more fuel into the fire, because the lats are stiff/short, shoulder flexion is going to be limited and compensation patterns will then manifest itself in other areas as well – particularly forward head posture and lumbar hyperextension.
Which, of course, makes doing the Dougie a little tricker.
Okay, with all of that out of the way what can be done to help alleviate the situation. Luckily the answer isn’t as complicated as it may seem, and I don’t need to resort to bells, whistles, and smoke machines or take a page out of Professor Dumbledore’s Magic Book of Bedazzling Hexes and Awesome Shoulder Remedies (on sale now through Amazon!) to point you in the right direction.
But make no mistake about it: you WILL have to pay some attention to detail.
Lets get the contraindicated stuff out of the way first.
Basically it would bode in your favor to OMIT anything which is going to promote MORE scapular depression – at least for the time being (not forever).
Things To Avoid
To that end, things to avoid would be the following:
– Deadlifts
– Pull-Up/Chin-Up Variations (even those these may “feel” good, they’re just going to result in feeding into the dysfunction)
– Suitcase Farmer Carries (again, these are just going to pull you down more).
– Anything where you’re holding DBs to your side (think: walking lunges, reverse lunges, etc).
– And we may even need to toss in aggressive horizontal row variations if someone presents with an overtly adducted posture.
– Overhead pressing. Listen, if you can’t get your arms above your head without compensating, you have no business doing push presses, or snatches, or whatever it is you’re thinking about doing. Stop being stupid.
– Sticking your finger in an electrical socket. That’s just common sense.
Things To Do Instead
– In lieu of the deadlifts, if you have access to them, utilizing speciality bars like a GCB bar or Safety Squat bar would be awesome. Learn to make lemonade out of lemons: why not emphasize your squat for the time being?
And because I know I just ruined someone’s world out there by telling them not to deadlift, because you’re going to deadlift anyways, at the very least, limit yourself to ONE day per week.
– You can still hit up a lot of carry variations, just not the suitcase variety. At Cressey Performance we HAMMER a lot of bottoms-up kettlebell carries because they offer a lot of benefits – especially for those in downward rotation.
Moreover, we can also toss in some GOBLET carries like so:
http:////www.youtube.com/v/90mxsAsOKwQ
– You can still implement a wide variety of single leg work using DBs, but I’d defer again to utilizing GOBLET variations only.
In this way you’re not feeding into the dysfunction by holding the DBs to your side (and pulling you into downward rotation.
With regards to overhead pressing, I’m not a fan for most people. I’ve said it before, and it bears repeating here: you need to earn the right to overhead press.
That said I do love LANDMINE presses which tend to offer a more “user friendly” way of “introducing” overhead pressing into the mix. Check my THISarticle on T-Nation I wrote a few months ago, which offers more of a rationale as well as landmine variations to implement.
And the Boring Stuff (<— The Stuff You’re Going to Skip, But I’ll Talk About Anyways)
From a corrective exercise standpoint it’s important that we stress the upper traps to help nudge or encourage us into more upward rotation.
And by “upper traps,” I AM NOT referring to the most meatheaded of meathead exercises – the barbell shrug.
These wouldn’t be useful because there’s no “real” scapular upward rotation involved, and you’re doing nothing but encouraging more depression anyways.
Instead incorporating activation drills like forearm wall slides and back to wall shoulder flexion – both of which encourage upper trap activation, WITH upward rotation – would be ideal:
Forearm Wall Slides w/ OH Shrug
Back to Wall Shoulder Flexion w/ OH Shrug
NOTE: something to consider would be how you actually go about cuing the shrug portion. We like to tell people to begin the shrug pattern once your elbows reach shoulder height. Meaning, it’s not as if you’re going elevate your arms up and THEN shrug. Rather you want to combine the two.
Another important corrective modality to consider would be something to address the lats. In this regard my go to exercise would be the bench t-spine mobilization
Bench T-Spine Mobilization
And while I could sit here and pepper you with a deluge of other “correctives,” I think by now you get the point and those three should be more than enough to get the ball rolling in the right direction.
Those combined with the programming modifications suggested above should definitely help to that shoulder frown upside down. <— HA – see what I just did there?
You know how when you open up a magazine and read a interview of some random celebrity one of the questions that’s inevitably asked is “what’s your ideal day like?”
I’m not gonna lie: yesterday was that day for me.
Granted it didn’t involve waking up in the French Riviera, lounging poolside eating a plate full of exotic cheeses while high-fiving Matt Damon as we discuss our roles as Master Jedis in the upcoming Star Wars movie being released in 2015.
Nope it wasn’t anything close to that. But it was reaaaaaaaaaally close.
As hinted at yesterday it was Lisa’s birthday, and as such we both played “hooky” from work and well, enjoyed a day of decadence together.
We slept in, headed to the gym and trained together (which we rarely ever get to do), and then followed that with a little cameo appearance at the spa (she got a, well, I don’t know what she got, and I got an “extreme” sports massage).
Going to the spa is always an adventure for me because I always end up feeling like a bull in a china shop. Everything is so pretty and smells nice (a far cry from the facility), and I can’t help but feel self-conscious about what the hell am I doing there?
What do I do? What do I say? Where do I put my hands? Is the cucumber water, like, free? Shit, I need to burp. Am I allowed to burp?
Needless to say the spa was wonderful and served as a gentle reminder that I (we) need to do that more often.
After that the birthday girl wanted chicken wings, so who was I to get in her way!
To my more observant readers out there, yes, that’s a Lulu Lemon bag to Lisa’s left (no woman’s b-day is complete without a little Lulu, right?).
We then topped the day off with a little fro-yo, went home and chillaxed. Perfect.
I’m still kinda in “vacation mode” after yesterday so instead of writing some new content (I do have some doozies lined up), here’s this week’s list of stuff to read……
This was a knockout of a post written by Artemis (with a brief shout-out to who else? My girlfriend, Lisa. Woot woot!).
Artemis pretty much covers all the bases here: everything from why women shouldn’t be reticent to lift weights, why “cleanse diets” are a crock of shit, and eating REAL food is the real key to results.
I loved this comment in the article itself:
MYTH: 700 minutes of cardio per week will help you to achieve the body you want.
FACT: Moving around 7,000 pounds during your daily training session will give you the body you want.
This was an article that was sent my way on Facebook by a lovely women named Kristine who reads my blog (who also qualified for next year’s Boston Marathon!).
I honestly had no idea the original article existed – namely because I don’t read the WSJ (mostly in part because the stock market is Klingon to me).
While I can somewhat commiserate with the original article – and sometimes catch myself throwing the ol’ stink eye to runners myself (much like the kettlebell crowd, they can be an elite group of uppity snobs sometimes – I felt as a whole the “intent” of the article was woefully ignorant.
The retort, however – which is what I link to above – was/is the balls. I don’t think I laughed this hard while reading something in a while.
Today is my girlfriend’s birthday. And anyone who knows Lisa knows she looooooooves her birthday – to the point where it shouldn’t even be considered a birthDAY, but a birthWEEK.
In any case we have a jam packed day today – a late breakfast, a tandem workout “date,” and then we’re heading to a fancy schmancy spa for the afternoon. Holla! Followed by a decadent dinner of chicken wings and pizza.
Yeah, it’s going to be an awesome day.
Thankfully my good friend, Michael Anderson, who’s written several guest posts on this site before, came through in a pinch and sent along this gem.
Enjoy!
The topic of weightlifting (when used as one word it references the sport of Olympic Style weightlifting) has become a hot topic lately and is polarizing in many ways. Some coaches live and die by it and still other coaches won’t touch it with a 7-foot barbell. As usual, the answer lies somewhere comfortably in the middle.
Note from TG: I wrote a post not too long ago on Why I Don’t Use the Olympic Lifts (<—-maybe you should check it out. It’s not as polarizing as the title makes it seem. Promise).
With the popularity of CrossFit rising at a rapid rate, the sport of weightlifting has finally become something that the masses are aware of. For many years it has been the “other” iron sport; hidden behind the behemoths of powerlifting, the veiny striations and posing briefs of bodybuilding and the ESPN coverage of strongman. I myself have been training as a weightlifter with Coach Ivan Rojas of Risto Sports since last April and had been “training” (i.e. dicking around) for another six months prior to that.
The polarizing topic for many coaches is not whether or not weightlifting is beneficial for athletes, but whether or not it is beneficial enough to employ in their programming.
Some coaches, like Wil Fleming have great success with it, while others find it cumbersome to teach and can do a host of other things in the time it would take to make someone proficient in the competition lifts (snatch, clean and jerk).
Note from TG: speaking of Wil Fleming, for anyone interested in learning more about Olympic lifting I can’t recommend his resource Complete Olympic Lifting enough. While I don’t go out of my way to coach the OLY lifts, I still do own this DVD and think it’s fantastic.
I agree with both sides.
For some populations it’s just not worth teaching them all of the steps to have a decent looking snatch, or the stress that the clean and jerk can put on your wrists. Too, some athletes just shouldn’t have a loaded barbell overhead, and to do so would be irresponsible of the coach.
But that doesn’t mean they can’t benefit from some variations of the classic lifts that are both easy to teach and will produce some of the great benefits that you can get from the full variations. One of the marks of a great athlete is the ability to contract, relax and contract explosively all at the exact right moments; this skill is exactly what weightlifting is all about.
NOTE: these are NOT necessarily weightlifting-specific exercises, but variations that are applicable and beneficial to a certain population.
Also, know your population. If you are working with athletes with particular contraindications then don’t force them into an exercise they shouldn’t be doing. There are no contraindicated exercises, just contraindicated lifters (thanks Tony and Eric!).
Note II: I am not a professional weightlifter, I’m quite aware that my form is not perfect. If you have some constructive criticism please let me know, but don’t just remind me that I am painfully slow.
Power Clean
In terms of weightlifting variations that can help create better athletes, the power clean is at the top of the list. There’s not much that I could say about the power clean that hasn’t been said already (and said better than I’m able to), but it fits this list of variations very well.
You produce power, move big weights, get stronger and then dominate the world.
The biggest limiting factor would be the athlete’s mobility to pull off the floor or their ability to get their elbows around to catch the bar in the correct rack position. If your athlete can’t get down to the bar in a good position, then start them from a hang position or from blocks. If they can’t rack the bar due to mobility restrictions, then take some time and work on it; it’s not a particularly complex position and your athlete would benefit from the mobility required to do it.
(For the most in-depth look possible at this exercise, please refer to THISpost by Wil Fleming.
Snatch Pulls
Let me start by saying that I despise snatch pulls.
With Coach Rojas we finish almost every training session with a few sets of snatch pulls; it’s the dingleberry on the ass of a long, hard workout when all you want to do is shower and eat.
However, they are an exceptionally simple and beneficial exercise and are a staple in the program of nearly every weightlifter on the planet.
The snatch pull is the first half (give or take) of the full snatch and ends at complete triple-extension of the hips, knees and ankles. Complete a big shrug and use your hips to absorb the weight when it comes back down. If your athletes don’t have the mobility to get down to the floor with a snatch-grip, you can pull from blocks or from the hang position.
You can also try adding in a pause at the knees to help reinforce this position. This is a great way to develop a strong hinge pattern that transfers into powerful hip extension. It also does a great job of building the entire posterior chain.
Note: I don’t personally find snatch high pulls to be a great lift to teach athletes. If you don’t fully understand how it carries over to the classic snatch then it’s too easy to form deteriorate while they just try and muscle the weight up as high as they can.
Jerk Behind The Neck
The jerk is the most violent and explosive movement in weightlifting and, arguably, in all of sports.
In competition jerks are done from a front rack position, but for training purposes jerks from behind the neck work because they don’t put nearly as much strain on your wrists and elbows.
The pre-requisite for this exercise is being able to support a loaded barbell overhead without putting yourself at any risk for injury. Assuming that, this exercise is a fantastic way to develop leg drive, uni-/bi-lateral lower body stability and a ton of core stability. You can use either a power-jerk (bi-lateral) or a split-jerk (uni-lateral) to complete the lift, and you can either eccentrically lower the barbell to your shoulders or you can use jerk boxes and just drop it to avoid any eccentric stress at all.
That’s It, Yo
At least one of these three variations should fit into nearly any training program for any athlete. The amount of time it takes to coach them is pretty minimal and the benefits that your athletes will be able to see are significant.
Add them into your program as your first exercise after your warm-up and, generally speaking, do 4-6 sets of 2-3 reps.
Do not use weights that require any sort of grind. The name of the game is power production (aka how fast can you be strong); so make sure the barbells are always moving at top speed.
Add these into your programs for a little while and see what kinds of benefits you can get. Have a great day and go lift some heavy shit!
About the Author
Mike is a Boston area personal trainer and also completed a successful stint interning with Boston University Strength and Conditioning.
Mike is also finishing his degree in Exercise and Health Science at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He loves bacon, beer and his 7 year old pit bull Lexi. You can reach him with any questions, comments or notes of affection at [email protected]. You can also visit his website HERE.
I can hear the cacophony of groans now. Agaaaaaaaaaain? What the what Tony……anotherPallof Press variation?
Yeah, sorry. But this one is really cool.
And in case anyone reading right now is new to the site (welcome!) and has no idea what a Pallof Press even is – THIS should help get you squared away.
Oh, and on a completely random and un-related note I wanted to offhandedly share an article that I “stole” from Neghar Fonooni’s Facebook page titled UGGs and Their UGGly. You can check it out HERE (it’s a short read), and if you’re like me you’re going to be really shocked and appalled by it. Sorry to play the Debbie Downer card on a Monday morning, but I felt it was something should deserved to be shared.
Okay, lets get down to business.
Supine Pallof (Belly) Press
And yes, that’s me rocking a lumberjack beard like a boss.
Who Did I Steal it From: I got this badboy from Providence based strength-coach Sean St. Onge who was at Cressey Performance this past weekend for what turned out to be a half coaching session/half shooting the shit type of scenario.
He stopped by to get some coaching and what ended up happening was the two of us exchanging a bunch of ideas, insights, and Predator handshakes.
What Does It Do: Supine is Latin for “doing cool shit on your back” and Pallof is the name of the Boston-based physical therapist – John Pallof – from which the exercise has been attributed to.
Since I’ve done it numerous times before I’m not going to sit here and beat a dead horse and regurgitate all the benefits of a Pallof Press. Besides you can click on the link above! Suffice it to say, though, the Pallof Press (and all it’s variations) is a fantastic way to train the entire core in an anti-rotation/rotary fashion.
In this sense because you’re utilizing a cable pulley system (or band) and setting yourself up away from the anchor, this is the epitome of core stabilization and you’re forcing the internal/external obliques, as well as the rectus abdominus to fire on all cylinders. Too, I find this is one of my “go to” core exercises that’s fairly user friendly and doesn’t require any special equipment.
What’s great about this particular variation, and something that Sean nailed home, is that because you’re on your back this drill will cement the “ribs down” cue that’s been all the rage as of late – and rightfully so! As Sean noted, “keeping your ribs down when performing this exercise – as well as others like plank variations, floor chest presses, and pullovers – simply increases the likelihood of keeping your lumbar spine loaded (glued) into the floor and less likely to hyperextend.
In addition, with this variation the glutes come into play to a high(er) degree in that they too have to fire like no one’s business in order to help keep the spine glued to the floor, as well as encourage a bit more posterior pelvic tilt.
Key Coaching Cues: To a degree this one is self-explanatory, but some attention has to be paid to the details. You’re going to grab the handle of the pulley (or band) and lie on your back – heels to butt – and then try ti ensure that you brace your abs, squeeze your glutes, and attempt to cue yourself to keep the rib cage down.
I’ve used this visual in the past to better explain things, and it seems to work: envision an imaginary line from your nipple line to your belly button. Don’t let that line get longer. There you go. You’re a rock star.
From there you’ll went to tuck your chin and take a deep breath in through your nose trying to elicit more of a 360 degree expansion into your belly as well as the the rib cage (both should rise, and that imaginary line is still in tact) – albeit still keeping your lumbar spine pinned to the floor.
Then you’ll simply “press” the handle or band straight up away from your body, while exhaling your air…..all the while RESISTING the pull of the weight or tension, as well as maintaining spinal position against the floor and keeping the glutes engaged.
If this is easy, an obvious way to make it more challenging would be to move further away from the anchor.
I like to keep the reps in the 6-10 rep/side range, shooting for 3-4 total sets.
Give them a try today and let me know what you think!
I’m in a crap-tastic mood today so I apologize in advance if this post comes across as me being a cantankerous old-man or something.
I don’t know if it’s due to seasonal affective disorder, lack of caffeine, or the fact I just re-watched one of the most depressing movies in the history of depressing movies – Dancer in the Dark – but I’m really trying to fight off the urge to kidney punch a dolphin right now. Dolphins have kidneys right?
Sometimes I think people need a dose of tough love every now and then. Life isn’t always about butterfly kisses and rainbows and teddy bear hugs. Case in point: the movie I mentioned above. I’m not kidding when I say that it’s arguably one of the most depressing movies ever made. It makes Schindler’s List come across as a romantic comedy.
My girlfriend is often perplexed why it is I tend to gravitate towards “darker” movies and television shows. I was watching an episode of The Walking Dead not too long ago and I think Lisa’s exact words to me when she caught me cheering a zombie decapitation was, “I think I love you less for watching this crap.”
Don’t worry, though: I made it up to her by watching an episode of Downton Abbey. One cancels out the other.
I can’t pinpoint the reason myself, but I think part of the appeal of shows like Breaking Bad or movies like Prisoners is that I tend to find those bit more realistic and believable than the typical feel good, lets-all-hold-hands-and-sing-kumbaya fanfare. I’m sorry but Ross doesn’t always end up with Rachel. Lassie doesn’t always find her way home. And dammit, Roy Hobbs doesn’t always hit a walk-off home run.
But giving credit where it’s due: That scene still gives me chills. I can’t tell you how many times I watched that scene when I was growing up, reenacting it in my living room.
Sometimes, unfortunately, it’s cloudy with a chance of rain. And Ross gets hit by a bus crossing the street.
HA – now THAT would have been an ending.
Don’t get me wrong: I like happy endings (get your mind out of the gutter) and I won’t lie and deny that I don’t enjoy the simpler things in life. For example, I’m pumped every time I find a quarter on the street. In fact, I usually end up doing one of these:
I high-five myself every time I wake up a minute before my alarm goes off. My heart melts every time Lisa smiles at me (or cooks me a steak). Who doesn’t fist pump when they make it through a yellow light? I know I do. And, my cat is sitting here next to me sleeping by my arm as I type this post. OMG she is just the cutest thing……EVER!
See I’m not just some cold-hearted Scrooge.
But seriously, though, in real life Ross would NEVER have landed a fox like Rachel. Come on!!!!!!!!!
I also wouldn’t do what I do for a living if I didn’t enjoy helping people and if I didn’t get some sense of fulfillment from it.
I LOVE WHAT I DO!
I mean, for starters I get to wear sweatpants to work every day if I want. What’s not to love? But more to the point, on an almost daily basis, I get to coach people and be there as they shatter personal records, achieve things they never thought possible, and otherwise help them increase their general level of awesomeness.
98.5694% (give or take a few percentage points) of the stuff I write is positive. I wouldn’t write this blog if I didn’t want to help people and do my part in making them better.
But sometimes, on a day like today, I have a hard time playing cheerleader and I just need to tell it like it is.
A friend of mine, Chad Landers, a guy with over 20 years of training experience and someone whom I respect a ton, wrote an awesome article earlier this year that went viral titled Top 5 Reasons You’re Not Seeing Results in the Gym.
I thought the article was boss. I agreed 100% with everything he said and even went out of my way to highlight it here on this blog (as part of an installment of Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work) as well as on my social media outlets.
I felt it was a message that everyone needed to hear and I loved the positive reinforcement he provided.
As I mentioned above I tend to re-watch movies all the time (that’s a pic of my kick-ass movie collection below: Star Wars? Check. Lord of the Rings? Check. GoodFellas? Check. Love Actually? I plead the 5th.), and in the same vein I also tend to re-read articles that I like.
I happened to come across Chad’s article again yesterday, again nodding my head in complete agreement, but then a thought to myself, “what else do people need to hear?”
And this is what I came up with. Again, sorry: I’m really not this much of a prick in real life.
I think Chad hit the nail on the head with regards to all the obvious explanations as to why most people aren’t seeing results in the gym. You know, things like not using progressive overload, program hopping, a raging case of explosive diarrhea (<—-I added that one).
But one major calling card that I feel wasn’t hit on – and something that tend to be the elephant in the room is this:
1. You’re Just Not Working as Hard as You Think You Are
No, really. You’re not! I hate to be Johnny Raincloud and rain on your parade, but this is a tough pill to swallow for most people.
Just because you “show up,” and the clock says you were at the gym for an hour 0r two doesn’t really mean anything. Likewise, it doesn’t make your “workout” any more effective just because you posted it up as a status update on your Facebook page.
As a coach it’s in my nature to observe and watch people. This is absurdly true whenever I happen to train at a commercial gym. I can’t help but watch people train. Sure, there are a few people who get after it and are doing some work, but the vast majority of people are just floating around more concerned with watching updates on SportsCenter or checking their text messages than actually breaking a sweat.
It’s funny, because this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone because research as repeatedly shown – especially in nutrition circles – that people tend to UNDER repot how much they really eat, and OVER report how much they exercise.
It’s human nature to “fudge” the facts a bit – yes, I do it too – and it’s uncanny how much we tend to “forget” those five Oreos we had right before bed the other night or that your actual bench press max is 200 lbs and not the 405 (for reps) that the internet says it is.
Just own up to it! You’re not working as hard as you think you are. It’s as simple as that.
2. No Plan, or Purpose
Pigging back on one of the points above: how many of you reading can honestly raise your hand and say, “I’m training for X,Y, or Z? That I have a plan or goal or PURPOSE in my training?”
Better yet, a more germane question to ask would be: “am I actually tracking anything?”
Are you just showing up 0r are you showing up with a plan of attack? Do you show up to the gym and just “wing it,” or do you show up with a purpose?
Another buddy of mine, Bryan Krahn (who’s actually my editor over at T-Nation) had a great quote not too long ago that he posted on Twitter:
Crossfit “works” because it’s competitive. You can do the same with your own training by competing against your training log.
There’s no need to get fancy or get into the mindset that we have to be following some advanced training protocol. I’d much rather see people do the boring stuff (squat, deadlift, chin-ups, bench press, not eat like an asshole) – and do them WITH PASSION and CONSISTENCY – than just throw caution to the wind and haphazardly “do stuff,”
Whether your goal is to get bigger, leaner, stronger, look good for your 20-year class reunion, stop trying to short-change the system. Have a plan, do the boring stuff – eat well, train hard, repeat – that actually works.
3. You’re Not Comfortable With Getting Uncomfortable
When I was in college I would spend my holiday breaks and summers training at my local gym in my hometown. There was one guy who trained there who, I swear to god, did the exact same workout, in the exact same order, with the exact same weights, for four straight freakin years.
He never changed a damn thing, and it’s no surprise that he looked EXACLY the same on day one as he did on day 1,460 (that’s how many days are in four years BTW).
Now I’m not insinuating that people need to be changing up their programs every week or two. Just because you read an article by Jim Wendler or Dave Tate where they discuss the merits of switching up movements every so often doesn’t mean you have to.
Here’s a quick quiz (guys):
1. Can you deadlift at least 2x bodyweight?
2. Can you perform a set of TEN strict, sternum to bar, bodyweight chin-ups?
3. Do you own a pair of chains, yet can’t squat your own bodyweight for ten reps?
If you answered no to any of the questions above, trust me, you have no business worrying about whether or not you should switch from deficit deadlifts with chains in week one to deadstart Anderson front squats to week two.
As I stated earlier: there’s nothing wrong with doing the boring stuff and getting REALLY good at doing them.
Conversely, it stands to reason that if you haven’t changed up your workout routine since Pepsi Clear was considered relevant (was that ever considered relevant???) than it’s probably a fair assumption that you need to change things up a bit.
I get it: it’s human nature to do what’s comfortable and what we’re good at. But the body does a pretty damn good job at adapting to whatever stress we place upon it, and it’s bodes in your favor to challenge yourself in different ways from time to time.
Get comfortable with getting UNcomfortable.
4. Frankly, Your Gym is Sucking the Life Out of You
How anyone can train with the likes of John Mayer or Katy Perry reverberating through the speakers is beyond me.
Moreover, if your gym routinely posts notices like this – and then rewards you by providing you with a “pizza day” every week – than your lack of results is on you.
Just sayin……
UPDATE: I’m feeling better now. After having written that and gotten a little off my chest in concert with watching a few LOLCat videos, I’m good.
Before we get to this week’s list of stuff to read I have a few “house cleaning” items to address.
1. Cool news! I had a video chat** with the guys over at WeightTraining.com the other day about the possibility of partnering with them to a greater extent in the near future on providing some programming content on their site.
Some of you may recall that I’ve done some work with WT.com in the past mostly of which consisted of me logging my own training sessions on their site (which is what they’re about in the first place). But I also provided some of my own programming as well as helped to organize a little deadlift battle around this time last year which, not to brag or anything, made the Battle of Helms Deep in The Two Towers pale in comparison.
Looking into my crystal ball, and assuming things stay on course, it seems I’ll be back on board providing some killer content – specifically monthly programming – for their site soon. So stay tuned for more details on thay front.
[Still waiting to be named to People Magazine’s Sexiest Strength Coaches]
It’s always an honor to be named to lists like this especially given the company I’ve been bundled with. Nevertheless, I just wanted to thank Greatist for their continued support and I encourage all of you reading to check out the list yourself as there’s bound to be some (new to you) people dropping some knowledge bombs.
I thought this was a powerful piece of writing by Nate, and it’s topic that I feel is always on the back of most people’s minds.
People define success in different ways. Not surprisingly, wealth is usually at the top of the list. Some people gauge success by their sense of happiness and self worth; while others gauge it by how many times they went poop this morning. Hey, I’m not here to judge.
I know there are times where I still feel like a fraud. Despite being in this industry for a little over a decade, helping to run a successful business (Cressey Performance), continuing to build my own business/brand (Tony Gentilcore), and appearing in just about every major fitness publication, there are still times where I feel like I don’t know what the hell I’m doing or talking about.
Nate helps to shed some light on this topic, and I highly suggest giving it a look.
It seems you can’t walk more than ten feet nowadays in a grocery store without walking past some display, sign, or advertisement extolling that “x” product is GLUTEN FREE!
Speaking candidly: while I understand that celiac disease is a real thing that real people suffer from – and it’s NO joke (it sucks donkey balls) – and too, while I understand that there are varying degrees of gluten intolerance, I still feel that this whole gluten craze has gotten a bit out of hand. Nothing exemplifies my thoughts on this matter more than this cartoon that my friend, Leigh Peele, made:
Suffice to say: there’s a lot of misinformation (not to mention a bit of overblown propaganda) when it comes to gluten. You would think, after watching the nightly news or perusing Facebook that gluten was the worst thing since Hitler.
Thankfully Steve came through in the clutch and helps to set the record straight.
I’m a visual learner, and this article – on top of providing some awesome commentary – has SIX graphs which essentially dispel many (if not all) of the LIES we were told back in the day on saturated fat being the root cause of everything from heart disease to having a bad hair day.
For realz.
** = Just as an FYI: Despite it being a video conference I did end up wearing pants. You know, to keep it professional.
