Not to rub it in or anything, but as this post is going live I’m in route heading to Cancun, Mexico for a week of:
A. Vitamin D intoxication
B. Poolside reading
C. Crushing fresh guacamole and chips. And tacos. And nachos.*
D. Tequila**
E. Reacting scenes from the movie Desperado. FYI: any guy who was a teenager when this movie came out, knows EXACTLY why this movie rules. Hint: Salma Hayek
Suffice it to say, it’s going to be hoooooooooooot, and Lisa, a Florida girl, is going to be soaking up every last second while I’ll probably be underneath an umbrella the entire time, wearing 10,000 SPF sunblock.
I’ll still be updating the blog this week. Don’t worry, you can’t get rid of me that easily.
Busting on Gwyneth is almost too easy at times. Everything from her and her husband’s (Coldplay lead vocalist, Chris Martin) uppity way of “uncoupling” to her assertion that water has “feelings,” provides ample ammunition.
Far worse is the notion that people deem her an “expert” and are willing to take nutritional advice from her.
It’s akin to me writing a book on knitting or paper mache or how to fly an F-15 fighter jet.
But back to Gwyneth. All of this “street cred” despite the fact she’s been diagnosed with osteopenia (a precursor to osteoporosis), in no small part due to her dietary decisions.
Anyways, I thought this was a hilarious commentary which ended up taking a turn I didn’t expect. Kudos to the author for an honest and heartfelt review in the end.
On a quick aside, since we’re on the topic of Gwyneth, we might as well toss her BFF, Tracy Anderson into the fire as well. This. Was. Precious.
By focusing the bulk of your diet or nutrition plan on things like lean meats, vegetables, fruits, “healthy” fat, whole, minimally processed foods, going “off the grid” 10% of the time, and eating foods you enjoy – hello mint cookies-n-cream ice cream! – won’t really make that big of a difference in the grand scheme of things.
Life will go on, you’ll stay more consistent with your plan (and you’ll keep your sanity).
The Rule of 90% can also be applied to co-habitation (put the toilet seat down 90% of the time, and your girlfriend won’t strangle you) strength and conditioning, albeit in a different context.
I wrote an article on T-Nation.com what seems like eons ago (2006!) titled, coincidentally enough, The Rule of 90%. Catchy, right?
In it I discuss how, if your goal is to improve maximal strength, it’s important to incorporate lifts at or above 90% of your 1-rep max.
Cliff Notes Version: lifting maximal weight (90%+) has a number of effects:
1. Maximal number of motor units are recruited.
2. Fastest MU’s are activated (high-threshold motor units).
3. The discharge frequency (rate coding) is increased.
4. Activity is synchronous.
5. Potential for future hypertrophy gains (especially when you revert back to a “hypertrophy” specific training phase).
6. While some argue whether or not the research is efficacious – it goes both ways – lifting heavy things helps to increase serum Testosterone levels.
7. Girls will want to hang out with you (<=== it’s science).
How It’s Applied (Watered Down, Like A Lot)
Lets say someone’s bench press max is 275 lbs, and the goal for a particular training session is to hit 4 singles at or above 90%. It may look something like this:
Bar x whatever
95 x 8
135 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 3
250 x 1
265 x 1 (feel good! Eff it, lets go for a PR).
280 x 1 (it was a grinder, but you got it).
From here, it’s important to note that ANY lift at 90% or above (275 lbs), counts. Doing the math, that means any lift which was heavier than 247.5 lbs.
So now we have ONE more single left. I’d opt for a clean rep with good bar speed.
260 x 1 (Nailed it! Lets go pound a protein shake).
The Rule of 90%: 2.0
Hitting lifts that are 90% or above one’s 1RM isn’t something I’d recommend for beginner or even most intermediate lifters. It takes a lot of experience and “time under the bar” to get to the point where handling that much weight is safe.
To that end, this approach IS NOT something I advocate for those with little training experience (lets say less than a year of consistent, no BS training).
However, that doesn’t mean we can’t still apply the principles to great affect.
Something we implement a lot at Cressey Performance (because we don’t go out of our way to test 1RM right off the bat) is the idea of ramping up to a 3 RM (rep max) – for that day – and then using the same approach as above, hitting a certain number of sets at or around 90%.
There’s a fair bit of autoregulation and “feel” involved, and results will vary depending on one’s status for that day, but it gets the job done.
I’ll simply have someone work up to a challenging triple (set of 3) for that day, and then once they hit it, aim for “x” number of sets at or slightly above 90% of THAT number.
Lets stick with the bench press. Goal is to hit 4 sets at or above 90% of 3RM.
Bar x whatever
95 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 3 (bar speed is still good)
245 x 3 (starting to slow up, but still passable)
265 x 3 (last rep was a bit of a grinder. We’ll use this as our marker or “top set” for the day).
Doing the math, 90% of 265 is 238.5. So, any lift above that counts (245 and 265, respectively).
As always, I’d opt for clean, fast reps from here and would encourage someone to stick in the 245-255 range for their last two sets.
And That’s, That
Hopefully that makes some sense, and, of course, this is a strategy that could be applied to all the “big lifts” (squat, deadlift, bench press, chin-up, rows). Tricep kickbacks are off the list.
Too, I’d be conservative with how often it’s applied. 1-2 sessions per week would suffice (maybe use it for one lower body movement, and one upper body movement), but once a week would be a nice option for most.
Week 1: ramp up to a 3RM deadlift, hit 3-5 sets at 90%+ Week 2: ramp up to a 3RM bench press, hit 3-5 sets at 90%+ Week 3: ramp up to a 3RM squat, hit 3-5 sets at 90%+
Week 4: ramp up to a 3RM deadlift (try to beat your previous number), hit 3-5 sets at 90%+
So on and so forth.
All in all, I find this is a much more “user friendly” way to implement the Rule of 90% and something that most trainees could easily implement into their training.
I’ve been doing a lot more traveling this past year. Some for pleasure, mostly for work, but sometimes I’m fortunate and get to combine the two which is always cool.
In the past two months alone I’ve been to Cortland, NY (which doesn’t really count since that’s basically my home town), Fargo, North Dakota, and Kansas City, Missouri….all of which were for speaking engagements
Next week I’m heading to Cancun, Mexico to spend 4th of July with Lisa and some of her family. In addition I’ll also take part in a 1-day “coaching the coaches” workshop at Warrior Fitness where I’ll have the opportunity to talk shop with a dozen or so local trainers and coaches, and possibly discuss my secret fascination with Lucha libre; or Mexico’s version of “free wrestling.”
In short, I have every intention of going all Nacho Libre on their asses!
But seriously, the game plan is to break down how to coach the squat, deadlift, bench press, Turkish get-up, and, oh who am I kidding…….the piledriver, too!
Later this summer I may be doing some staff in-services for SportsClub LA, which takes us into the fall where my schedule kicks into overdrive.
Dean Somerset and I will be in London (Sept) and Washington, DC (Oct) for our Excellent Workshop High Five, and we’re also looking at adding a date in Los Angeles in November.
And, serving as a bit of a teaser, all signs point to me (and Lisa) heading to Australia in March 2015 for two separate, 2-day workshops in both Sydney and Ballina respectively. Nothing is set in stone yet, but the prospect of being able to put some of my Crocodile Dundee quotes to good use is making me pee my pants.
After all that, what’s left is trying to set-up dates in Hoth, Minas Tirith, and Cybertron. Fingers crossed.
My point to all of this is something that came up a week or so ago. Now that I’m “in demand” and traveling more for work, it’s always interesting some of the feedback I receive from my presentations.
As an example, my use of colorful language has come up. Whereas on the east coast, and Boston in particular, talking like a sailor and peppering a few f-bombs here in there is the norm, in the mid-West it may come across as bit more juvenile and un-professional. And that makes a lot of sense.
This is something I’ve had to learn and adapt to the more and more I’ve travelled to different places. But, in general, a good rule of thumb is to not be too gratuitous with language and make references to explosive diarrhea with a bunch of doctors in the audience.
Oops. My bad.
However, on a more relevant level I’ve noticed another “theme” that’s been present the more I’ve spoken. It’s nothing glaring and it’s more the minority mindset, but it’s been brought up a handful of times.
And it’s the notion that I don’t offer anything “new or exciting.”
To be more specific, I had someone comment that I offered “nothing new or exciting” with regards to shoulder assessment as part of a presenter evaluation for a recent speaking engagement.
I’m all for constructive criticism and I appreciated the feedback, but since when did assessment or screens need to be exciting or revolutionary?
Sometimes it comes down to doing the “boring stuff” correctly, no?
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m NOT a researcher, and the likelihood I’ll ever offer anything “revolutionary” is on par with Justin Bieber not coming across somewhat douchy.
This is also the same mentality I take with program design. Boring is generally what works best for most people in most situations. Focusing on the principles – whether it be assessment or program design or “insert whatever you want here” – is what many people overlook, and why most tend to miss the forest for the trees.
How am I supposed to make shoulder assessment more glamorous? Do I need to add some pyrotechnics? Have them juggle a pair of chainsaws? Please, tell me!
Walk into an assessment or screen at Cressey Performance and you’re bound to see things like:
1. Looking at standing/static posture. Posteriorly, what’s the medial border of the scapulae tell you? Is the inferior border closer to the spine than then superior border, as shown in the pic below (which is of me by the way, taken from Eric Cressey and Mike Reinold’s Functional Stability Training of the Upper Body).
If so, the scapulae are downwardly rotated and could be the root cause of someone’s shoulder pain.
How about anteriorly? What about clavicular angle? Drawing a line from the medial border of the sternum along the clavicle, does one present with a more horizontal angle?
NOTE: Abs alert!!
If so, that’s not ideal. We’d like to see a 10-15 degree upslope of the clavicle. Again, this translates to a “depressed” shoulder girdle and downward rotation emphasis.
2. If someone presents with a wonky static posture (<=== how’s that for a scientific term?), you can almost guarantee they’re going to present with aberrant movement patterns with regards to standing shoulder flexion or when testing scapulohumeral rhythm.
Then again, they could “fix” things once you start adding dynamic movement, but you’re never going to know unless you screen/assess for it.
Admittedly, these tests aren’t sexy or revolutionary….but they sure as hell get the job done. And, when done right, consistently, offer more than enough feedback and information to come up with an appropriate corrective strategy and training program.
Before we get to Part 2 of James’ guest post from yesterday, a few things:
1. You should read Part 1 if you haven’t already. This isn’t like The Matrix Reloaded or Revolutions or anything where, if you didn’t watch the original Matrix, you’d be throwing your hands up in the air wondering what WTF is going on.
Where did 100 Agent Smith’s come from?
If Neo can fly, why go through all the trouble of kung-fu’ing everyone?
And, who the hell is this Architect character and why is he obsessed with the word “ergo”?
Nevertheless, you can absolutely read Part 2 (below) and not Part 1 and get the gist of everything. But, it’s still nice to have the whole story.
2. The guys over at Examine.com (THE best source for INDEPENDENT and UNBIASED supplement information in the history of the internet) just released their new product, Stack Guides, today.
If you’ve ever asked yourself the question, “what supplements should I take for ______?” then this may be right up your alley.
The Stack Guides are easy to use and provide a step-by-step breakdown of the most prominent queries people have towards supplementation:
Fat Loss
Muscle Gain & Exercise Performance
Bone Health
Sleep Quality
Libido
Mood/Depression
Vegetarianism/Veganism
Insulin Sensitivity, etc……..
You name it, Examine.com probably has it covered. For more information, you can go HERE.
And with that, lets get to Part 2 of James’ article….
6. Maintain an Aerobic Base
Low intensity, long duration cardio gets a bad rap sometimes. If you listen to some people, it sounds as if even thinking about going aerobic will automatically make you lose all your gains. Unless all you do is low intensity, long duration cardio, that’s not the case. Your muscle will not melt off your body. I promise.
Here are a few reasons to maintain a stellar aerobic base:
– It’s always contributing to energy production
– It plays an enormous role in regenerating the necessary substrates to fuel alactic metabolism (aka it helps you recover)
– Is the most trainable of the three energy systems because its only byproducts are CO2 and water.
– Can push out your anaerobic threshold, which in turn allows you to avoid the fatiguing effects of anaerobic metabolism.
For more on this topic I’d recommend checking out this article.
Action Item: Do cardiac output work once a week for 30-60 min and mix in tempo work once a week at the end of a workout.
7. Eat Well 90% of the Time
You are what you eat. It’s pretty self-explanatory. Eat like crap, and you’ll probably perform and feel like crap.
If you do your due diligence and eat well 90% of the time, and by well I mean focus on lean meats, vegetables, fruits, and healthy fats, then you’ll do great.
I hate when people get all paranoid and never allow themselves some breathing room. If you’re craving a milkshake go crush a damn milkshake. If you make yourself miserable trying not to have it, you’re more likely to binge eat later. Just indulge yourself within reason and stay on point the other 90% of the time.
If you have questions about nutrition and want an easy to follow plan based on your body type and goals, then click here.
Action Item: Get protein (lean meat), carbs (veggies and fruit), and fat (nuts, seeds and oils) into every meal you eat.
8. Play
One of my favorite quotes is by George Shaw, and it goes like this: “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
Think back to when you were a kid, and how much you enjoyed the art of playing. Just reckless, mindless, good old fashioned playing. For some reason we lose that as adults, and it’s sad because the health benefits from playing are great.
Although the list is long, I think most of it comes back to stress management. Playing allows us to take a much needed break from the constant stressors of todays 24/7 lifestyle, and may very well help keep our stress response in tune (ala not “on” all the time).
If you’re interested in reading more about stress and its impact on the body, I couldn’t recommend the book Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers by Robert Sapolsky enough.
Action Item: Play for at least 1 hour each week.
9. Have an off switch
Getting jacked up and ripping 500lbs off the floor is great and all, but you have to be able to shut down afterwards.
More specifically, you have to be able to turn off your sympathetic (flight or fight) nervous system and get into your parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system. This is important for a host of reasons, but here’s a quick example.
Let’s say you find yourself roaming the Serengeti and come across this cuddly little guy:
Without having to think about it, your sympathetic nervous system will kick into gear, diverting blood flow to your muscles and dumping things like glucocorticoids into the bloodstream, while most other bodily functions that don’t help you survive at this immediate moment get put on the back burner (digesting food, secretion of sex hormones etc.).
Side note: this is what happens when you train.
Once you’ve escaped the lion you’d like to be able to shut off the sympathetic system and find your parasympathetic system so you can rest, digest and recover. Unfortunately, some people lose the ability to do this. They stay sympathetic all the time causing their bodies to constantly act as if they’re running from a lion. Needless to say, that’s not healthy in the long run.
Action Item: Try doing 3 minutes of crocodile breathing after workouts and before bed every night.
Note from TG: Crocodile or Belly breathing is easy to do. The idea is to “coach” people to become less of a chest breather – which is an aberrant pattern that tends to jack up our secondary respiratory muscles like the upper traps and scalenes (and, not coincidentally, often leads to neck and shoulder pain) – and learn to breath more into their belly.
Here, you’ll lie prone on your stomach with your forehead resting on your forearms. From there try to inhale and breath more into your stomach. You know you’re doing it correctly if you notice your lower back moving up and down, like in the video below.
10. Surround Yourself With the Right People
You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. If you hang out with people who have zero interest in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, you will also not care about having a healthy lifestyle.
Not only that, having a supporting cast and a few good training partners can make all the difference in the world. So choose wisely who you associate with.
Action Item: Make a new friend this month that shares your health and fitness related goals.
Note from TG: or, you could also just hang out with Jason Bourne. That would be pretty bad ass.
11. Bonus: Have Something to Train For
As much as I’d love for everyone to train just because they love training, I’m a realist.
I know that’s not the case for the majority of people. Go out of your way to find something train for. It can be anything. Do a Tough Mudder. Sign up for a powerlifting meet. Really…anything goes. Just pick something you can put on the calendar that’ll act as a source of accountability.
Action Item: Find an event you can compete in sometime over the next 6 months.
Closing Thoughts
Some of the material presented in this article is probably new, and some is probably old news. Either way, the overarching theme is this: if you don’t use it, you lose it.
Funny as that may be, it’s true. The body will adapt to whatever stimulus you place on it, and that includes whatever stimulus you don’t place on it.
The easiest way to stay athletic is to stay on top of your game—it’s always easier to maintain something than it is to get it back.
About the Author
James Cerbie, CSCS, Pn1, USAW, Crossfit Level 1
James Cerbie is certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association, Precision Nutrition, USA Weightlifting and Crossfit. He has worked with athletes from the middle school to professional level, powerlifters, olympic lifters, and Crossfit athletes alike. He’s the owner of Rebel Performance and currently works as a strength and conditioning intern at Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training.
P.S. He would love it if you hung out with him on Facebook and Twitter.
Today’s guest post comes courtesy of former Cressey Performance intern, James Cerbie. As the title suggests it’s all about how to maintain athleticism, which is something that will hit home for many former athletes, weekend warriors, and Al Bundy-like people who like to bask in the glory of their high-school and college days.
Enjoy!
What does it mean to be an athlete?
Sure, there’s getting all the girls of course.
Kidding…kidding…we all know there’s more to it than that.
So what is it?
The thrill of winning, the rush of competing, the butterflies before a game, the anticipation of a daunting challenge, the brotherhood (could be sisterhood but I’m speaking from my own experience), the pain of defeat, the constant drive towards perfection…it’s hard to say.
Being an athlete, to me at least, encompasses all of those things and more. It’s truly a way of life, and hard to rid yourself of once you’re so called playing days are over.
Unfortunately, the real world doesn’t seem to recognize this. Once you leave college or professional sports, you’re thrust into a world that almost looks down on being an athlete. They’ll just tell you: “Oh, you had your chance. Your playing days are over. It’s time to hang up the cleats and begin your slow decline into decrepitude.”
Whew, doesn’t that sound fun?
It truly pains me to see this happen, and I see it happen a lot—people who were once exceptional athletes who have fallen off the tracks, and are now mere shadows of what they used to be (it honestly reminds me of animals locked up in captivity, but the animal is you and captivity is being locked behind a desk all day).
Don’t get me wrong. The chances of you being able to maintain your fitness level from college, pro’s etc. is highly unlikely. This is merely due to the fact that it’s no longer your major commitment. You have a job, perhaps a significant other, and a life to live. You just don’t have 20 plus hours a week to commit to training, practice and the sorts.
BUT, that doesn’t mean you can’t stay athletic…so here are 10 must do’s if you hope to avoid turning into a desk slob.
1. Take Care of Movement
Focusing on how well you move may be boring, but it’s essential. Without good movement patterns, you are setting yourself up for failure in two big ways.
First, increased risk of injury. It should come as no surprise that if you move poorly you are more likely to get injured. Instead of things rolling, sliding, gliding and staying where they’re supposed to, they start banging, pinching, and putting pressure on places they shouldn’t—this is called compensation.
Here’s a simple example: Say you have poor scapulohumeral mechanics. In other words, you’re not very good at maintaining the position of the humeral head in the socket in coordination with scapular movement.
As opposed to keeping the humeral head centered in the already small glenohumeral socket (it’s like a golf ball sitting on a tee), it may glide forward and start cranking on the long head of your biceps (ever had pain on the front of your shoulder?). Although that example is WAY oversimplified, I hope it gives you an idea of what I’m talking about.
Second, and the seller for most people, is decreased performance—big time muscles are taking a break while the smaller, less capable muscles carry the brunt of the load.
The human body is like a machine, and to guarantee health and maximal performance you have to make sure all the pieces are balanced, strong and in the right position to function optimally.
Action Item: Get assessed and have someone fix your movement woes.
2. Lift Heavy Stuff
Please don’t stop lifting heavy things (unless you have an injury or don’t move well). The benefits it brings about are second to none, and are so essential to long term health and functionality.
I wrote a whole blog post just on this topic a while back, so instead of repeating myself, I’ll refer youhere if you want to learn more
Action Item: Lift something heavy at least once a week.
3. Sprint
If you’re like most athletes, you can’t wait to drop sprints from your workout regiment. You’ve been doing them your whole life, they suck, and you can’t wait to throw them behind you forever.
Sorry to break it to you, but sprints are necessary. Similar to lifting heavy weights, sprints are one of the best ways to optimize your hormonal response. In other words, there appears to be a minimum required threshold of intensity for your body to start dumping things like testosterone and HGH into the bloodstream.
This makes sense from an evolutionary perspective and is backed up in the research. I’d recommend checking out this article if you want to read more about the many health benefits brought about by sprinting.
Action Item: Get outside and run at least once a week. Think hill sprints, 40 yard sprints, 60 yard sprints, 100 yard sprints etc. etc.
4. Jump
A large amount of athleticism comes down to your rate of force development—how quickly you can generate force. The only way to maintain and improve this quality, is to do things that require you to generate force as quickly as possible. Jumping is one of the best ways to accomplish this.
Here’s an easy example: your absolute strength level is like a pool of water. The bigger the pool the more strength you have. The size of the pool, however, doesn’t necessarily mean you can draw out a lot of water at once or do it quickly. It just means you have the potential to do so. Jumping, and a host of other exercises, teaches you to draw out a lot of water and to do so quickly.
If you want to stay explosive and powerful, jumping is must.
Action Item: At the beginning of one workout a week, jump onto something 10-20 times. I’m not talking about just hopping around through, like really jump.
Note from TG: check out THIS article on common mistakes when it comes to box jumps.
5. Be Agile
What do you think happens to your joints during athletics? In particular, during the planting and cutting portion? Sure you may have some wear and tear (a lot of that goes back to the movement piece though), but your joints adapt to the stressor being placed on them.
They gain the ability to absorb force and help you change direction without your knee going one way and your body going the other. Similar to jumping and sprinting, this is one of the first items to fall by the wayside at the conclusion of playing competitive sports.
Unless you’re constantly being chased by dogs, cops or maybe even zombies, it’s highly unlikely you’re getting this stimulus in your day to day life. Can you imagine someone sprinting down the sidewalk of a major city trying to cut, juke, dodge and avoid all the pedestrians? It doesn’t happen. Thus, you have to go out of your way to make sure it does.
If not, then say bye-bye to any “agileness” you once had.
Action Item: Do t-drills, 20 yard shuttles and other actions that involve planting and cutting in a rapid fashion once a week.
And that’s it for today. Check back tomorrow where I’ll discuss the other five keys to stay athletic.
About the Author
James Cerbie, CSCS, Pn1, USAW, Crossfit Level 1
James Cerbie is certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association, Precision Nutrition, USA Weightlifting and Crossfit. He has worked with athletes from the middle school to professional level, powerlifters, olympic lifters, and Crossfit athletes alike. He’s the owner of Rebel Performance and currently works as a strength and conditioning intern at Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training.
P.S. He would love it if you hung out with him on Facebook and Twitter.
Before I get into the nitty gritty and link to some fantastic reads from this past week, I wanted to put out a quick “feeler” (not that kind of feeler. Get your mind out of the gutter) on something I’ve been thinking about doing in the very near future.
People have been asking me for eons now whether or not I’ll ever produce my own product. Much of my reticence in doing so has been the result of:
1) Not rushing into things. I figured twelve years in, and thousands of client/athlete contact hours (again, get your mind out of the gutter), I’ve amassed enough experience to toss my hat into the fitness product ring.
2) Only doing so when I felt I WAS READY. I always laugh when someone who’s just graduated college or has only been working as a personal trainer for a year states that they’re “world renowned” or an “expert.” Then, if that wasn’t enough of a red flag, are quick to promote their opus of an ebook that, according to them, will change the fitness industry and make us all wet our pants. Twice.
Okay, now everyone’s mind is in the gutter.
Speaking personally, the only thing I was an expert in out of college or that early on in my career was sucking. And Super Mario Kart.
3) Above all, actually coming up with something worth putting out there.
And it’s with that I want to reach out to my peeps, my “Tribe” if you will, to see if anyone would be interested in participating in a Beta group for a program I’d like to test drive.
I’m still in brainstorming mode and nothing is concrete (yet), but I wanted to toss the idea out there to see if there would actually be any interest?
Basically, I’d write 4-6 months of programming (with a degree of customization involved, based of standard assessments and goals) for a minimum cost, and all I’d ask in return is honest feedback on a month-to-month basis from the participants (along with maybe a bag of beef jerky. I really like beef jerky).
Anyways, just wanted to toss that out to the universe and to place it on everyone’s radar. If you’d like to leave a comment below expressing any interest you may have, that would be awesome. Thanks!
There were a TON of great articles I read this week:
Red meat is blamed for everything. Cancer is the main “go to,” but other things like heart disease, obesity, and global warming are on the conversation.
Next time someone berates you for eating a burger and tries to give you a guilt trip about how you’re causing irreparable harm to your body, send them this article. And then, for shits and giggles, and just because, make fun of them for thinking their non-GMO diet isn’t somehow genetically modified.
Pretty much everything we eat nowadays has been genetically modified to some degree.
Listen, I “get” why many people gravitate towards the Paleo lifestyle. Anything that encourages people to eat real, minimally processed, whole foods is cool in my book.
Some people, though, take the Paleo thing too far. Fantastic writing (and Nickleback burn) by James.
I received an interesting question from a reader the other day on deadlifts, particularly 1RM (1 rep max) deadlifts. And since I get all giddy like a school girl at a One Direction concert whenever someone brings up the topic, I figured I’d share my answer here on my website since I’m sure it’s a question that others have wondered as well.
Q:My lifting consists mostly of deadlifts and chin-up/pull-ups with lots of auxiliary work. I also cycle a lot (100 miles per week in-season). But I am in the field for several months a year and it interrupts my lifting.
Last year I pulled 305 on my 60th birthday (at 182 pounds body weight). I got a late start this year and was not as systematic with the spin up. I did a 1RM test and only pulled 270 (at 190 pounds) on my 61st.
I plan to start with the Matt Kroc program that I read in your site as soon as I get back from a month in Alaska (field work on the glacier near Juneau; it’s a tough job, but…).
My question is: I would have liked to maintain a 300 pound 1RM but was not systematic enough through the year. What do I do between programs to maintain a higher 1RM? (And continue to cycle and miss the occasional month in the deep field for work?).
A: Who are you? John Wayne? I love this!
First off, as a quick side tangent, any guy who uses his age as an excuse to not train hard is lame. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t tweak some things here and thereif need be, but all told, like the late 90s R&B star, Aaliyah, used to say, “Age ain’t nuthin but a number.”
While I should get a pat on the back for referencing both John Wayne and Aaliyah within a single blog post – quite possibly the first time in human history that that’s ever happened – you, sir, should get a pat on the back for kicking ass and taking names.
You hang out on glaciers AND deadlift. By comparison I drive a Hyundai Elantra and own a cat.
Okay, lets get to the heart of the matter.
To start, lets put things into perspective. You pulled 305 lbs on your 6oth birthday, and a year later, after admittedly not being as diligent with your training leading up to your 61st, you were still able to pull 270 lbs, which is within striking distance of 90% of your 1RM.
You know what? That’s not too shabby considering. Compared to other lifts like the squat or bench press, that’s not a huge drop off at all.
Why is that?
As Tim Henriques notes in his book, All About Powerlifting, “the deadlift is the simplest of the big three exercises (squat, bench press, DL), meaning it requires the least amount of skill. The deadlift is the most natural of the three lifts. Essentially all people, regardless of age, will perform a deadlift during their day, every day.
Every time you bend down to pick something up off the ground, from your shoes to your laundry basket to a child to your dog to your couch, if you pick something up you are deadlifting it.
In addition your ability to deadlift remains for a relatively long time after you stop deadlifting. If you stop squatting, even after you have been squatting for a long time, your ability to squat very heavy or perform a max set decreases relatively quickly. You will notice a difference after just one or two weeks.
Your ability to bench press remains at a moderate level; if you stop benching it begins to go away but assuming you stay strong in other exercises you will still be able to bench a decent amount of weight for a while.
The deadlift ability remains the longest. If you stop deadlifting you can still come in a year later and deadlift a decent amount of weight. This is because the neuromuscular coordination required for the deadlift is the least specific of the three exercises and the basic motor control pattern remains the same even when you stop deadlifting.”
Of course, this isn’t to say that the deadlift is easy to learn or that there isn’t any skill involved – nothing could be further from the truth. I mean, entire books have been written on this one lift alone. One of may favs includes Off the Floor, by David Dellanave.
However, compared to the squat and bench press, which, from a motor pattern standpoint aren’t movements we perform on a daily basis, the deadlift tends to “stick” longer.
Along those same lines, compared to other “qualities” such as anaerobic endurance, strength endurance, or maximal speed, maximal strength tends to have a much longer staying power.
Meaning, regardless of secondary emphasis, you can leave alone and maintain certain qualities of “x” number of days without seeing much of a drop off in performance. This is something my good friend, Joe Dowdell, highlighted during his Peak Diet and Training seminar.
Here are some numbers to consider:
Aerobic Endurance = 30 +/- 5 days (meaning you can maintain training effect for 25-35 days with minimal exposure to that same stimulus). Maximum Strength = 30 +/- 5 days, Anaerobic Endurance = 18 +/- 4 days, Strength Endurance = 15 +/- 5 days, Maximum Speed = 5 +/- 3 days.
To maintain maximum strength all you’d have to do is try to elicit a maximum strength response once every 30 or so days.
I see this phenomenon all the time at Cressey Performance. Eric’s known to not touch a heavy deadlift for months on end, yet he can almost always approach a 600 lb pull when coaxed or challenged enough by us other coaches or athletes. While he’s not pulling 600 lbs on a regular basis, he is hovering in the 85-95% (of 1RM) range every so often which has a lot of staying power.
Likewise, with me, I tweaked my back last summer and wasn’t able to deadlift (heavy) consistently for a few months. Once I was back to normal – or close to it – I was still able to hit a clean 500×3 without much trouble.
Bringing the conversation to YOU (and everyone else reading), if you know you’re going to have a long hiatus from consistent training, with the deadlift, at least you have the odds in your favor.
1. You’re almost always going to be “deadlifting” to some capacity, even if it’s not a barbell, on a daily basis. To that end, the motor pattern won’t go away anytime soon. Even if you have to resort to kettlebell work only, you’d be surprised at how much “strength” you’ll be able to retain.
2. Along those same lines, one of the best strategies of used with myself and other clients is to place a premium on TECHNIQUE work. I like this term more than “speed” work.
Using a load that’s roughly 60-70% of one’s 1RM, I’ll have him or her perform anywhere from 8-20 SINGLES in a given workout. This won’t be at all taxing on the nervous system, but it will help “glue” solid technique and also help with bar speed (which is an important component of strength). It may look something like this:
Week 1: 14×1 @ 60% with 60s rest between each rep. Week 2: 12×1 @ 65% with 60s rest between each rep. Week 3: 10×1 @ 65% with 45s rest between each rep. Week 4: 8×1 @ 70% with 45s rest between each rep.
3. If you’re able, and can muster a way to hit a heavy pull every 4-5 weeks, that will go a LONG WAY in terms of any damage control and help to maintain strength levels.
Barring injury, an extinction level event (think: asteroid, volcanic eruption, Nicolas Cage movie), or jail time, it’s not as difficult as people think to maintain their strength in the deadlift.
Behind deadlifting and eating carrot cake my next most favorite thing to do in the world (that’s PG-13 enough to discuss on this blog, wink wink, nudge nudge) is watching movies.
I’d say “going to the theater” or “watching film,” but I don’t want to come across as some uppity, Pruis driving, bourgeoisie snob.
I go the movies dammit. Just like I order large drinks at Starbucks and not “Grande,” and prefer to not correct people when they refer to soccer as futbol and not, well, soccer.
For those that do do that….get over yourself will ya!
I often joke that if I weren’t a strength coach or baseball player (or professional tank driver), I’d opt to watch, review, and write about movies. I freakin loooooooove watching movies.
As many of you know, and maybe sometimes hate, I often digress about the movies I go see or make random pop cultural references to movie quotes all the time on this blog. One minute I’m discussing rotary stability and how it applies to rotational sports, and the next I’m quoting Tarantino or making my 118,306th reference to Star Wars.
HAN SHOT FIRST. HAN SHOT FIRST!!!!!
It’s my blog, so unfortunately you have to suck it up and deal with it. But I do try really hard to stay on task and keep it strictly fitness and lifting heavy things 98.97% of the time.
This is not one of those times. At least, not entirely. Bear with me.
Going back to my movie obsession, as it happens I’m a member of the local independent theater house here in Brookline, The Coolidge Corner Theater, or The Coolidge for short.
It’s an amazing place, showcasing smaller, lesser known, independent movies, some of which have subtitles and stuff (okay, fair enough, I’m getting a little snobby, sorry), and as a member I’m privy to many of the special events they’ll host throughout the year.
Last night Lisa and I were able to attend a special advance screening of director Rob Reiner’s upcoming movie And So It Goes, starring Michael Douglass and Diane Keaton, and afterwards, Rob Reiner himself appeared in person for a brief Q & A.
Freakin Rob Reiner. In person!!! The man is a legend! You’d be hard pressed to discuss the history of Hollywood and not mention his name at some point. On top of being an established actor (TV show All in the Family, as well as numerous bit roles in movies like Sleepless in Seattle, Edtv and The Wolf of Wall Street), where he’s (arguably) more recognized and established is as a director.
See if you recognize any of these famous quotes from movies he’s directed.
1. “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father, prepare to die!”
2. “I’ll have what she’s having.”
3. “YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!”
4.“Leeches!!!!!”
Stumped? Need a little help? Here you go……
1. The Princess Bride
2. When Harry Met Sally
Note: Quick movie trivia. The woman who actually says “I’ll have what she’s having” at the end of the scene is Rob Reiner’s mother, Estelle.
3. A Few Good Men
4. Stand by Me
Like I said, the man is a legend, and none of the above take into account his other films like This is Spinal Tap, Misery, The American President, and The Bucket List.
If you’re a movie buff (or even if you’re not), chances are you’ve seen one of his films.
So needless to say, I was in full on fan-boy, geek fest mode when Mr. Reiner showed up last night to discuss his latest project as well as answer questions from the audience. Here’s a pic I took from my seat:
I was too much of a wimp to ask anything, fearing I’d pull a Chris Farley from his uproarious skit back in the day on Saturday Night Live, The Chris Farley Show.
Me: So, uh, Mr. Reiner, you remember that scene in A Few Good Men where Tom Cruise’s character yells at Jack Nicholson’s character, “I want the truth!!!” and Jack Nicholson’s character yells back to Tom Cruise’s character, “you can’t handle the truth!!”??
Rob Reiner: Yes, yes I do.
Me: That…..that was awesome.
However, there was one question asked from another audience member that struck a chord with me which had a lot of relevance to the fitness world. And Mr. Reiner’s answer was the tits.
The question related to the movie and how it ended. Don’t worry I won’t spoil anything, but the audience member asked whether or not he (Mr. Reiner) would take issue with the critics (possibly) bashing it and whether or not it would bother him?
SLIGHT Spoiler Alert: the movie ends in a predicable, borderline overly sentimental fashion, and Mr. Reiner himself was quick to note that he KNOWS that that will be what many of the critics will take issue with.
More or less he had this to say: f*** em.
He went on to say, “I’ve had a fair share of bad reviews, as well as been fortunate enough to receive many good ones. In the end, though, I don’t really pay much attention to what critics say because, when all is said and done, I’m doing what I love to do.
I’m doing.”
To bring his point home, he went on to share two anecdotes.
One was about a baseball player – I don’t remember who – whom he idolized as a kid growing up. He remarked how this particular athlete, during his rookie year, would demonstrate an extreme spectrum of emotions. Whenever he hit a home-run he’d be super excited and jump all over the place. Conversely, whenever he struck out, he’d toss his bat, yell, and go into tantrums.
This is not dissimilar to what Mr. Reiner had gone through with critics or what I (or anyone else who makes a part of their living writing) goes through. You have those people who go out of their way to praise your work (and you react one way), and you have those people who are life-sucking vampire doucheholes who go out of their way to shit on your work (and as a result, you react another way, and not coincidentally they deserve a raging case of genital herpes).
The moral of the story was that it wasn’t until later in his career when the baseball player realized that BOTH events – hitting home runs and striking out – were part of the game and that both came with territory.
The other parallel Mr. Reiner shared involved legendary Hall of Fame basketball coach, John Wooden.
Coach Wooden is widely regarded as the human equivalent of Yoda (make that 118,307 references!), and there are endless stories of him sharing sage advice. In this case, the story revolved around him telling his players that it’s okay to act one way when you win a game, as it’s okay to act the polar opposite when you lose.
The key is to make sure that once you leave the arena and you’re around friends, family, and loved ones that they won’t be able to tell the difference.
You leave happens there, there. And you don’t take it with you.
Which is as appropriate of a segue as any to my point.
I’m often asked by interns that pass through Cressey Performance or by others I know if it ever bothers me when someone goes out of their way to be nasty or derogatory towards me with an article I write or anything else I put out there?
I’d like to think that I consistently put out good content and that it doesn’t happen often, but sure, yeah, sometimes it bothers me. I’m human after all.
When I first started getting stuff published some remarks I’d receive would bother me a lot. It dumbfounded me how some people, without even knowing me, would say some really mean things.
I’d grab a pint of Ben&Jerry’s, put on Notting Hill and cry myself to sleep.
Of course, if I said something wrong and someone called me out or corrected me, I’d own up to it (and still do)…..but I’ve learned to tune out the ad hominem garbage that some people spew no matter what.
Likewise, I don’t expect every person to agree 100% with everything I write about, and I’ve learned to accept (and respect) other’s opinions. Unless they’re just flat out wrong. Then I’ll push back a bit.
That said, at the end of the day, much like Mr. Reiner, I don’t care what critics or internet meanie heads have to say. And if you’re someone just starting out in the industry and exploring putting your stuff out there for the masses to see, you should feel the same way (in time).
Don’t get me wrong: it’s one thing to have open dialogue and discourse with people with varying opinions, especially within the context of the learning process. But if it comes down to someone simply “not liking” an article or blog post, who cares?
I take pride in what I do as a coach. I help people on a daily basis get better and achieve things they never thought possible. Too, I take pride in the creative process of writing. This shit is hard, and I challenge anyone to try to CONSISTENTLY put out quality content. Many times for free.
I have the opportunity to reach and inspire thousands of people. How cool is that? I can’t expect to please every single one, however.
What matters most to me is that I’m a good coach to my athletes and clients, I’m a good boyfriend to my wonderful girlfriend, I’m a son, a brother, a friend, and I’m just being me.
What some random person who probably has never trained anyone in his or her life and thinks they know everything there is to know about strength and conditioning because they read SuperTraining once five years ago has to say about one of my articles doesn’t matter.
If it’s high praise, cool….thank you! I can’t tell how much I appreciate that.
If it’s negative, derogatory, or otherwise devoid of any constructive criticism what-so-ever, that’s cool too. I guess. I just hope that person has a massive case of explosive diarrhea. Just kidding. But not really.
Either way, and especially in the case of the latter, I’ll move on with my life. I encourage others who are creative junkies to do the same.
I have an excellent guest post for you today, but before I hand it over to you for your reading pleasure I wanted to quickly remind people of my Premium Workout Groupon WeightTraining.com.
After a 4-month block of a strength emphasis (and people breaking personal records left and right), we’re currently in the midst of a fat-lossblock that’s, well, kicking everyone’s ass. And people are still breaking PRs.
I say “fat loss” with a grain of salt because honestly, I hate that term. I think most people see the phrase “fat loss” and automatically cringe and assume endless repetitions of burpees, supersets, Prowler pushes, puke buckets and carrot sticks.
Wait! Maybe carrot sticks aren’t Paleo enough? Celery sticks then? Crap, now I’m just confused. Maybe James Fell can help shed some light on that topic?
Anyhoo, while making things more metabolically challenging does enter the equation and helps to expedite the process, a major mistake many people make with their fat loss programming is going bat-shit crazy with training volume.
The role of a WELL-STRUCTURED fat-loss program should be to MAINTAIN or PRESERVE as much muscle mass as possible.
Most fat-loss programs do nothing but make people a smaller, weaker version of their original selves. In other words, skinny-fat.
To that end, with my approach to fat-loss, people still lift heavy things, and the overall training volume isn’t egregious. Ie….assuming you’re not eating like an a-hole, and calories out trumps calories in, training doesn’t have to be too dissimilar compared to regular ol’ strength training.
For more information just click HERE and you’ll see what I mean.
And with that, I now introduce to you Justin Sorbo. Justin’s a local personal trainer and competitive powerlifter here in the Boston area who’s currently finishing up massage therapy school.
He’s been gracious enough to offer some free clinical hours to both myself and Lisa and I have to say, he’s good. Like, REALLY good. He offered to write a post on the massage industry and how it’s often misunderstood and misrepresented.
I hope you enjoy it!
Massage: Misunderstood and Misused
“ Sweet, bro. You’re gonna be a masseuse? Can I sign up for a rub-n-tug?”
“Oh, that sounds like a nice idea for some work on the side. Which spa are you working at?”
“…What do you plan on doing with that?”
As a massage therapy student with a background in Kinesiology, I cringe every time I hear a friend or family member interject with one of the above statements.
Among other specialties like lymphatic drainage, clinically trained LMTs can prescribe and perform movement assessment, soft tissue work, stretching, active movement, joint mobilizations, and corrective breathing drills. Combined with an exercise background (exercise science, CSCS, etc), we can be capable clinicians with a wide scope of practice.
In the United States, popular culture continues to regard the profession as strictly a form of pampering for the rich and famous, or; a thinly guised romp with a prostitute.
Note from TG: BOM CHICKA BOM BOM (sorry Justin, I couldn’t resist).
In reality, massage can be a powerful facilitator in the healing process and the management of pain. The cloud of ambiguity surrounding the true nature of bodywork rests largely on the massage community itself. In no particular order, here are a few of the forces driving massage culture in America today:
-Low Barrier of Entry with Minimum Prerequisites: In most states, one can acquire a license to practice with a GED and a couple thousand dollars. Massachusetts requires 650 hours of education, while some states require less.
This is a double edged sword: higher rates of entry mean lower quality students, but the relatively small financial and time commitment allows for a potentially better investment than a typical non-profit university.
-A History of Sex Work: Many of us have witnessed or heard of a local business being raided for prostitution. The massage setting can be an easy target for shady people and moral-less money makers. Privacy, intimacy, and trust are easily abused.
-Lack of a Definition of Massage: In reality, massage encompasses many modalities of manual therapy, yet usually seems to be imaged as a picture of a woman lying face down on a table.
-Pseudoscience: To me, this is the most damning of the bunch. The world of massage therapy abounds with poor logic, uninformed or apathetic educators, and a lack of good research.
Historically, massage theory and technique has been derived largely from anecdote. Mechanisms for its effects have been proposed throughout the years, but very few have stood the tests of research and time. The embrace of half-truths and lies surrounding soft tissue science further distance the profession from its rightful place as a part of mainstream medicine.
While certainly not a “cure-all”, manual therapy can be a formidable weapon for the treatment of a variety of conditions; some of which are better supported with research than others.
Specifically, massage shows promise as an effective treatment for low back pain in both acute and chronic sufferers. Massage is an excellent treatment for the relief of anxiety and depression, conditions which are highly correlated with painful physical manifestations.
Mobilizations are effective at improving rehab outcomes, and breathing work can facilitate range of motion changes.
In order to be recognized as a form of healthcare, we need to focus on movement rather than just static palpation on a table. We need to be testing and retesting our techniques, and documenting the outcomes. We need to be able to communicate through anatomical language, and recognize our lack of understanding of biological mechanisms.
Most of all, we have to be morally and intellectually honest.
Addition from TG: Much like any profession, the process of learning and continuing to improve one’s skills doesn’t end once you stop paying for a course. In addition, those therapist who succeed are generally the one’s who understand that not every person fits into one mold where one form of massage or manual therapy works 100% of the time.
While it’s great to have a niche or speciality to help separate yourself from the masses, in my experience those therapists who thrive are the ones who DO NOT pigeon hole themselves into being SOLELY a deep tissue guy (or girl) or a fascial manipulation guy or a Swedish guy or a Graston guy or a Active Release guy or however many other forms of manual therapies are out there.
Opening up your skill set and adopting other modalities as you learn and gain experience is paramount. What’s more, just to toss it out there, developing a network and referral system is hhhyyyyyyooooogggge. This is something a lot of fitness professionals neglect to do, and I can tell you right now that in the future I’ll be referring clients to Justin because 1) he was proactive and reached out and 2) I KNOW he’s good.
It also doesn’t hurt that I know he’s open minded and he actually lifts weights.
For those looking on more insight on how to develop solid referral systems, Dean Somerset wrote a nice post on that topic HERE.
About the Author
Justin Sorbo is a Boston based personal trainer working out of One-to-One BodyScapes located in Newton, MA. He’s also a competitive powerlifter.
You can find out more information via his Facebook page HERE.
Really quick before I get into the meat and potatoes of this week’s list.
1. I love you.
2. I didn’t even realize it was Friday the 13th until someone pointed it out to me today. Also, apparently, I think someone told me there’s a full moon tonight. If so, have fun with that. Good luck!
3. If you missed it, strength coach, writer, and stronger than 99% of the population, Tim Henriques, wrote a fantastic guest post earlier this week titled 5 Life Lessons From Powerlifting.
I’m reminding people because his new book, All About Powerlifting, is quickly becoming one of my “go to” books to recommend to people regardless of training experience or whether or not they’re interested in powerlifting. Don’t let the title fool. Yes, it’s about powerlifting….but Tim goes into great detail on each of the “big 3” and I feel it serves as an excellent primer for those looking to learn the lifts and improve their technique.
4. Only 553 days left until Star Wars Episode VII comes out. In case anyone’s keeping track. 5 hours, 47 minutes, and 33 seconds.
There was an article written last week on a very popular fitness site basically telling people that cardio kills people. I didn’t much care for it and felt it did more to bring the industry back rather than improve it.
There was a lot of research studies sited in the article itself, which, for better or worse, automatically gives people the impression that it mustbe accurate.
Just remember: there was once a time where physicians advocated we smoke to improve our health!
Anyways, I really appreciated Bryan’s retort and I think you will too.
I had the pleasure of meeting Trish in person earlier this week and felt she was a lovely human being, and someone whom I shared many common beliefs with.
Like the idea of meal prep and how that plays a key role in weight management.
Every Sunday Lisa and I will get our groceries for the week and we’ll get home and have most of the food prep done (chicken breasts grilled, starches cooked, and beef sauteed) before noon. And be “we’ll have it done,” what I really mean is Lisa will have it done.
Love you babe!
Yes, meal prep sucks. Yes, no one likes doing it. But you need to learn to suck it up and do it anyways. That, and TAKE OUT THE RECYCLING!!!!!!!!!! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO ASK!?!??!
I had my first appointment with a doctor in well over a decade last summer. As I recall it was a fairly painless experience, and I only hyperventilated into a brown paper bag twice at the sight of a needle.
As part of the deal, I had some blood work done to test things like my vitamin D levels, testosterone levels, as well as cholesterol and adamantium (<—– please tell you get the reference).
A week or so after the fact I received the results and noticed that my TOTAL cholesterol levels were somewhat low (take that egg haters!!!!), and I was more or less patting myself on the back.
As it happened, a fellow Facebook friend of mine, a doctor himself, noted that, while there was nothing to be too (too) concerned about, low cholesterol levels can be just as much a sign of something wrong as high cholesterol readings.
He noted:
“If your total cholesterol is really in the 120s, you (may) have a couple of things going on….the first could be fat malabsorption due to decreased bile production or flow, the second is significant adrenal stress that leads to all of your cholesterol getting shunted to pregnenolone to control inflammation. Infections(sub-clinical) will lead to chronic inflammation that depletes cholesterol as well.”
To which I responded:
Am I going to die?
Anyways, this was the article he sent my way which I felt was interesting and something that some of you may find interesting as well.
James Cerbie, CSCS, Pn1, USAW, Crossfit Level 1
