CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 3/30/15

Just a brief word expressing my gratitude and thanks to everyone who attended the 2nd Annual Strength and Conditioning Symposium at SUNY Cortland this past weekend in Cortland, NY.

It was a stellar line-up of presenters including myself, Nick Tumminello, Mark Fisher, John Gaglione, and Joy Victoria.

In freakin Cortland, NY.

Don’t know where that is? Here’s a map to help out.

Hook a left at middle-of-nowhere, make a u-turn at the 7347th corn field you pass (if you miss it, just use the lights emanating from the North Star Wal-Mart to guide you), and you should see it on your right.  Nope, crap, you missed it. Turn back. There. See the cow? Dammit, you missed it again.

Yeah, yeah….the NY Jets have had their pre-season camp there for the past five years or so, which is a big deal and brings a lot of excitement to the community. But this is the second year in a row that Justin Kompf has wrangled together some impressive coaches and speakers to come speak, which is a big deal in of itself.

The re-acquisition of Darrelle Revis by the Jets will undoubtedly bring some buzz to Cortland this summer; but with Mark discussing how to build a gym culture, Nick sharing his thoughts and insights on single leg training, John breaking down the deadlift, Joy discussing female specific program design, and my biceps with me offering my own thoughts on program design, the buzz that was felt this past weekend was pretty epic too.

Keep you eyes peeled and mark your calendars for next year!

Here’s some stuff to read…..

Cressey Sports Performance Roundtable: Carving Your Path As a Strength Coach – Tony Bonvechio

It happens all the time. An athlete comes to train at CSP and gets the “bug” to become a strength coach, personal trainer, or something along those lines.

In fact, we’ve had several former athletes of ours pursue this path once completing their collegiate or professional careers, oftentimes returning as an intern. And I can’t begin to tell you how many high-school athletes of ours have gone on to higher education to pursue becoming a strength coach, physical therapist, or athletic trainer.

It’s awesome, and we take a lot of pride knowing we’ve had a say in helping to mold young adult’s passion and career path.

Some (not all), however, to no fault of their own, feel all they need to do is study for an exam, pass a test, and BAM, they’re well on their way to training professional athletes. It’s not quite that simple, and we as a coaching staff took it upon ourselves to offer our own insight and experiences on the topic.

Settling the Great Grain Debate – Brian St. Pierre

 

There are two types of people in this world: those who eat grains, and those who feel you’re the Spawn of Satan if you do and are condemned to a life of on-going health issues, never getting below 10% body fat, and explosive diarrhea.

Facetiousness aside, the “grain debate” is a real one and one that’s making people choose sides. Often with major biases, faulty logic, and misinformation.

This was an excellent piece by Brian I feel was a fair and level headed answer to the debate.

How to Be a Popular & Successful Fitness Authority – Bret Contreras

This was a very fitting post by Bret, because it was a topic that was discussed extensively this past weekend in Cortland (see above).

I agree with Bret that the words “popular and successful” are a bit ambiguous and don’t speak to the anything concrete or relevant to the topic.

Some will define popular and success by how many Twitter followers they have. Some will define it by their back account. It’s up to the individual to figure that out on his or her own.

That said, Bret nails it on the head with this post. I’d also add TALENT to the mix. At the end of the day, you still need to convey some semblance of talent – in multiple facets: coaching, continuing education, program design, getting results, and not being an uppity, entitled, doucher of a douchebag).

Well said Bret. Thank you for writing this.

CategoriesExercise Technique

Cleaning Up the Turkish Get-Up: Stuff People Gloss Over Because They’re Too Cool

“What does this THING even do anyways?!”

That’s pretty much the standard reaction/question I receive every time I have a client or athlete perform a Turkish get-up.

What’s the big deal anyways, right? You take a cannonball looking thingamajig, hold it in your hand, and stand up with it.

La-dee-freakin-da.

 

There was a time, not long ago (<– I’m trying really hard to refrain from a Star Wars reference here), where I mirrored some of the same sentiments.

I attended a Perform Better conference where one of the presenters took the attendees through some basic kettlebell exercises – namely the swing and get-up – and I thought to myself, “This is so lame. It’s a fad. Can we please go do something cool like deadlift or play Laser Tag or something?”

Then I started seeing the same exercises pop up on various fitness websites – Men’s Health, Women’s Health, even T-Nation. No! Not T-Nation. Dammit!

Additionally I started listening to guys like Gray Cook, Pavel (no surprise there, since he’s essentially the guy recognized as popularizing kettlebell training in the States), Dan John, and many other reputable coaches start to speak to the benefits of kettlebell training, in particular the get-up.

To be honest, Eric (Cressey) and myself held off for as long as we could before we accepted that kettlebells were here to stay. Guess it wasn’t a fad after-all. And it wasn’t until a few years ago when we started making a concerted effort to implement them into our programming for our clients and athletes.

Lets bring this back to the original question: “what does this thing (meaning get-ups) even do anyways?”

Here’s the answer:

What DOESN’T It Do?

 

I’ve heard Gray Cook refer to the get-up as loaded yoga. He didn’t stand there or drop the mic or anything, but he should have. That’s an excellent explanation.

Think about it: what other exercise combines the interplay between mobility/stability while simultaneously having people incorporate the lying down, rolling, half-kneeling, and standing positions…..and then reversing those actions?

And this doesn’t speak to its versatility. I’ve used get-ups as part of an extended warm-up, as a corrective exercise, as a strength exercise, as part of a circuit or finisher (shown in the video above), and if I had a kid, I’d use the get-up as punishment for not eating all their vegetables.

In addition, it’s not uncommon to see a correlation between improved get-up performance and improved performance on the sexier lifts like squats and deadlifts.

And it’s here where I wanted to take a few moments to hammer a few bullet points on the get-up. Not so much a “how to” post – there are plenty of those on the internet, and I’d encourage you to seek out all the people mentioned above along with Brett Jones, Steve Cotter, Dr. Mark Cheng, Neghar Fonooni, and Artemis Scantalides – but rather just something to speak to the finer points of the movement that many people tend to gloss over.

1. Grease the Groove

I like Dr. Mark Cheng’s approach to the get-up.

He’s a boss.

There’s a time and place to push the envelop with the get-up, but realistically, it should rarely be a max effort endeavor. I.e., it shouldn’t look as if you’re passing a kidney stone during every transition on every rep.

Dr. Cheng is a guy who could easily use the Beast on his get-ups, but he rarely does. He likes to stick with a weight between 20-24 kg and focus on the QUALITY of the movement rather than making it hard for the sake of making it hard.

I get that sometimes we want to impress our friends or Twitter followers with feat of strength, and I’ve seen many gleaming examples of impressive get-ups. However, I’d encourage most people to err on the side of conservative and use a light(er) KB than they think 95% of the time. It’s only then you’ll learn and (soon) master the movement.

Which serves as a nice segue into my next point.

2. Slow Down, Buttercup

Pigging back off of Dr. Cheng’s sentiments above, the get-up is like a pot roast. Much like we allow the meat, broth, and vegetables to marinate over time; we also need to marinate the get-up.

The objective is NOT to rush1. It’s imperative to OWN every transition and stage of the movement. A common mistake many trainees make is they try to speed up the get-up. Sometimes it’s due to boredom (more on this in a bit) and they just want to get the set over with for….the….love….GOD!!!

Almost always it’s because many lack the stability to do the get-up right. This can be a bodily issue or weakness or, most commonly, they’re flat out going too heavy.

A proper get-up should take a good 45-60s/PER SIDE to complete. This is where those who have exercise ADD may get bored. Sorry, it’s just the way it is.

This is why I tend to program 1-2 reps per side on any given set. Anything more than that and people start to lose focus and/or start getting sloppy with technique.

Slow down. Own every position.

3. Wrist Position

The Turkish get-up is all about stacked joints and locked out joints.

I see it all the time: someone performs their get-up and their supporting shoulder is “shrugging” their bodyweight, the knee on their extended leg isn’t fully locked out, or they’re not getting full hip extension on their high-bridge (more on this below).

All are wrong, and all promote energy leaks which is only going to make the exercise harder to perform,

Another common snafu for a lot people is wrist position. Many will allow their wrist to extend back too far, like this:

1. Ouch

2. That’s a massive energy leak that’s going to make it much harder to control the bell throughout the rest of the repetition.

Instead I like to tell people to point their knuckles to the ceiling at all times. Like this:

1. Way sexier.

2. Less energy leaks.

3. Correct.

4. Don’t argue with me.

Not that I need to say it, but just to cover my bases: this rule applies THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE MOVEMENT.

4. High Bridge vs. Sweep the Leg

You might have noticed I mentioned the high-bridge above. This is something I believe Dr. Mark Cheng introduced a few years ago, and something that himself and Gray Cook looked to as a way to “clear” someone of hip extension/hip flexor mobility.

 

We don’t have to be Nazis about it. It’s not right or wrong to include the high-bridge or not as a transition point. It comes down to personal preference. Really, it’s okay.

Although, anytime I can reference The Karate Kid – “sweep the leg!” – I’m all for it.

I will, however, caution fitness professionals to be leery of including this step with anyone who doesn’t have the prerequisite hip mobility to perform it.

5. Transitioning From Half-Kneeling to Standing

Last but not least, in the past I had always coached the “windshield wiper” as the best way to transition from the half-kneeling position to standing.

It works.

A few weeks ago, though, Artemis Scantalides and Eric Gahan of Iron Body Studios (located in Needham, MA), came to Cressey Sports Performance and showed us some cool hacks for the get-up. One of which I really liked and thought was brilliant.

 

And there you have it. Just a few things to consider to help clean up your get-up technique.

Categoriespersonal training Program Design Strength Training

The Key to Program Design. Diamonds?

I’m heading to my alma mater this weekend to take part in the 2nd Annual Strength & Conditioning/Personal Training Symposium at SUNY Cortland.

I – along with my colleagues Nick Tumminello, Mark Fisher, John Gaglione, and Joy Victoria – will be speaking to undergrad and graduate students (in addition to the event being open to the general public) on a variety of topics ranging from the meaning of life and other existential things like how to survive cafeteria food and nightmare roommates to more pertinent things like deadlifts and assessment.

A wide spectrum to say the least!

Okay, we’re not going to discuss cafeteria food or anything related to the meaning of life. Unless, of course, Mark (Fisher) goes into detail on leotards, ninjas, and unicorns. If that’s the case I’m all ears. The man knows a thing or two about living an epic life.

Our objective is to arm the attendees with some “real life” anecdotes on what it takes to be successful in this industry. For instance Mark will discuss what it takes to build a popular (and very successful) gym – built around culture – in one of the most saturated markets on Earth; the concrete jungle, New York City.

Nick (Tumminello) will discuss some of his secrets to single leg training. John (Gaglione) is going to coach the s*** out of everyone. Joy (Victoria) is going to discuss female fitness and how, to a large degree, it’s marinated in negative commentary and connotations.

And what am I going to discuss?

Plot details of Star Wars VII

How to Prepare For the Zombie Apocalypse

My Man Crush on Mark Fisher

Program Design

Or to be more specific: offering up the basic tools, insight, and inner dialogue young trainers (and old) will need to arm themselves with in order to write effective training programs.

I’m not going to discuss how to break down and/or choose the optimal set/rep schemes for any particular exercise. I’m not going to discuss ideal exercise order. Nor am I going to broach the idea of tempo, rest intervals, super-sets, tri-sets, how many days per week someone should train, or body-part splits vs. full-body vs. upper-lower splits vs. Godzilla.

Why?

Because none of it matters.

At least not for most young trainers anyways. Far too often young, impressionable trainers get too caught up in the minutia of program design. Often to the point where they’re stymied or paralyzed and are unable to think “big picture.”

“It is better to have someone squat past parallel with a 5-1-2 tempo with feet 17 degrees externally rotated; or should I have them deadlift instead using the rest/pause method with 6, no, 7 seconds rest between each set?

Some of you reading may be laughing, but scenarios like what’s described above happens all….the…..time.

Trainers and coaches get too caught up in the methods rather than the means.

One of the BIG ROCK themes I’m going to hammer this weekend is the notion of exercise variability. How much variety to trainees actually need?

We’ve all heard the concept of “muscle confusion” before. To dumb it down to it’s lowest possible dumbness (because, you know, it’s dumb): it can be watered down to the idea that we need to constantly “confuse” the body in order to make progress in the gym.

We need to go out of our way to change up our exercises every so often so that we don’t stagnate and/or lose all our gainz and turn into some catabolic ghost.

Now, before someone gets all huffy and thinks I’m telling everyone that exercise variety is  a waste of time, hear me out.

I’m not saying you can’t switch things up every now and then – whether due to a change of goals or sheer boredom. I understand that sometimes we just need to do something different in the gym.

What I can’t stand is when we have trainers telling people that they have to switch up their exercises because the body will get used to them and then they’ll be unable to make any progress.

The human body is not stupid. And, correct me if I’m wrong……people back in the day did just fine with just a barbell. Plenty of people got massive and and in shape with very little variety. I suppose it’s just the nature of the beast when we live in a society where entire conversations take place in 140 characters or less.

Is someone really going to try to make the argument that if we perform back squats for eight straight weeks – and we’re staying cognizant of progressive overload – that the body will somehow stop making progress because there’s not enough variety?

Puh-lease.

Having said that, I do agree with Chad Wesley Smith in that the more advanced someone gets in their training career (I.e, strong) – and especially if they compete – their programming will reflect less variety, because the objective, then, is to hone in on their competitive lifts.

Powerlifters will focus on their competitive lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. Their accessory work will address a weakness or technique flaw in those specific lifts.

Weightlifters will focus on their competitive lifts: snatch, clean & jerk; with a healthy dose of front squats, deadlifts, and clean and presses.

CrossFitters, well, they’ll still need to focus on their competitive lifts too. I just don’t know what the hell that is. They’re a bit of an outlier.

In his article, The Pyramid of Strength, Chad notes that the tip of the pyramid is where advanced lifters will live. They won’t need much variety. This SHOULD NOT be interpreted as there is NO variety (there is!). It’s just not as diverse as many are led to believe for advanced lifters.

Yes, they rotate exercise or implement the conjugate method – but if you take a deep look at what their programs look like, for many advanced lifters – especially world class, elite level – they don’t stray too too far from their competitive lifts. Particularly the closer they get to an actual meet day or competition.

Conversely, at the bottom, where the base of the pyramid is wider, this is where most beginners will live.

Here variety is more or less open to interpretation. Using an easy analogy, I find one of the biggest mistakes young athletes make is to concentrate or specialize in ONE sport too soon. I encourage every young kid to play as many sports as possible throughout the year to ensure a more saturated motor learning environment. An environment where there’s no pattern overload and where they can explore new movements and stimuli.

I can see this mentality falling into the strength training side of things as well, but we have to be careful.

Here motor learning is still important and I want to ensure that the BASICS are stressed. Squat pattern, hip hinge, lunge, push-up, core stability, carry, crawl, etc. There’s variety, but it’s still manageable and not crazy. Beginners, for the most part, don’t necessarily need to be too concerned with high bar vs. low bar position on their squat, adding in chains and bands on their deadlifts, or performing board presses to help with their bench lockout.

The pyramid is a great starting point, but I do feel there’s an even better model to emulate, and what I feel is the key to better program design.

The Diamond

This is a concept I believe James “The Thinker” Smith first came up with, and something I heard Greg Robins discuss in the past.

Instead of a pyramid, think of program design as a diamond.

At the bottom are your beginners, and at the top are your advanced and high-level competitive clients/athletes. Neither need a ton of variety in their training.

Beginners need to learn and master the basics.

Advanced trainees/athletes need to be concerned their competitive lifts and/or because they’re so strong, don’t require a ton of variety (or stimulus) to maintain that strength.

In the middle, however, are the intermediates. Not coincidentally this is where most of us (even myself) reside.

It’s here where we can be a little more Willy Wonka(ish) and immerse ourselves in the crazy, zany world of variety.

In this stage we’re past being labelled a beginner – I can hip hinge like a boss, thank you very much – but we’re not where near the advanced level.

Here is where adding in some semblance of variety will come in handy and have more of a place. Here’s where maybe switching up from a low bar position to a high bar position on the squat – to help with staying more upright- can be beneficial. Or maybe adding in chains to work on bar speed?

Here’s where rotating through various deadlift iterations has a place. Maybe your hips come up too fast due to weak quads. If that’s the case, maybe performing some deficit deadlifts will help with that?

Maybe you’re weak off the chest on your bench press. If that’s the case, some dedicated speed/technique work using sub-maximal weight (55-70%) may be in order.

I don’t know: Maybe it’s Thursday and you just want to blast your biceps?

Whatever the case my be, it’s in the middle of the diamond – where intermediate lifters reside – where the concept of “exercise variety” has more applicability and more wiggle room.

Just something to think about.

CategoriesExercise Technique Program Design Strength Training

Pause Your Lifts For Better Performance

I was teaching a workshop not long ago, and the topic of corrective exercise came up.

It’s a term some fitness professionals live by, and often make their living bastardizing. It’s also a term that makes some fitness professionals – including myself – want to jump into a live volcano.

All you have to do is “Google” the term corrective exercise and you’re flooded with images of people squatting on BOSU balls and performing any number of circus-like feats on stability balls in the name of balance, proprioception, and [cue Jaws theme music]…core engagement.

There is a time and place for such things.

Corrective exercise almost always mirrors the rehab setting when injury and re-grooving motor control are reverberating themes; rarely is it used in the strength and conditioning setting.

When it does, however, corrective exercise simply means doing stuff right.

In other words: Correct movement is corrective.

It’s a running commentary whenever I speak to a group of trainers and coaches:

Q: “what’s the best way to get someone to squat correctly?”

A: “Squat!”

Tah-dah.

There you go. It’s science.

Rather than write the 7,893,904th  article on the internet on the finer points of the “Big 3” (squat, bench press, deadlift) and breaking down technique, I’d like to instead spend some time on the importance of accessory work and how we can manipulate it to correct our performance in those lifts.

What Is Accessory Work?

If you ask ten different coaches this question you’ll get ten different answers. But inevitably most (not all) will tip toe around one common theme: accessory work is used to make something harder.

Many will choose an accessory lift – and subsequently the set/rep scheme – based on how hard or challenging the exercise is. I call it the “will this make me shit a kidney” conundrum.

Making a particular exercise harder for the sake of making it harder isn’t a wrong approach, nor do I feel should it be avoided.

Lifting weights isn’t supposed to tickle, right?

However I’d argue it’s not something that’s going to help improve your numbers in the main lifts in the long term.

For me the main purpose or goal of accessory work should be to address a technique flaw or weakness in something. Put another way: there’s a purpose for the lift and a reason why it’s in a program.

It’s not there just to make you feel tired. That’s easy. Go push a Prowler for 30 minutes or attend a CrossFit class and perform 500 burpees…..on one leg. There you go, hard.

As noted above, correct movement is corrective. You’re not going to get better at squatting by riding a bike. You need to squat, and then squat some more. Squatting is the best accessory movement for squatting.

I know, weird.

The same can be said for deadlifting and bench pressing. As much as trainees hate to hear it, you don’t need as much variety as you think.

As a good friend of mine once said, “the hack for performance is mind-numbing monotony.”

Unfortunately boring isn’t sexy, and for many people they’re more concerned with being entertained with their exercise than to actually make progress.

“Look ma……chains on a barbell!”  Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Put a bar on the ground and lift it. Add weight next week, and lift it again. Repeat.

Repetition with less variety is the key to better performance (and strength) for most trainees.

Is Pausing the Key?

I’m a huge advocate of making people pause their lifts. This isn’t a new concept as competitive powerlifters and numerous strength and conditioning coaches (myself included) have been touting the benefits of paused training long before I wrote this.

The concept is simple: take the range of motion (ROM) where most people are weak or generally “miss” their lifts, and force them to spend more time in that ROM.

It’s not fun, it’s humbling for most trainees (many will have to check their ego at the door and reduce the weight significantly, and it works.

Lets take a look at some basic iterations.

Paused Bench Press

When it comes to complimenting the bench press, I mirror many of the same sentiments as fellow Cressey Sports Performance strength coach, Tony Bonevechio (AKA: the other Tony), in that board presses are an overrated accessory bench press movement for raw lifters.

Don’t get me wrong, I think board presses are an amazing exercise to build monster triceps (which may or may not be a limiting factor for some lifters) and to help supplement the bench press. But for raw lifters – I.e., those who do not use a bench shirt – they take a back seat to good ol’ fashioned paused bench presses.

For shirted lifters board presses make a lot of sense, as there’s a fair amount of technique involved in learning how to use the shirt. You have to actually “pull” the bar to the chest.

For raw lifters, though, using board presses to build the bench press can be a catch-22. They’re great in that they allow guys to “feel” heavy weight in their hands and to help conquer that “holy shit this is heavy” moment that we all go through.

But most tend to “relax” when they sink the bar into the boards. As Tony B notes, “I want guys to learn to maintain tension [in the lats] throughout the lift.”

This is hard(er) to do with board presses.

With board presses, the bar sinks into the boards and guys tend to lose tension because the boards aid with taking the brunt of the weight.

Take the boards out of the equation, and have guys bench to their chest (still using the lats to “pull” the bar down), and then force them to add a pause, and it’s much easier for guys to feel what it means to actually (attempt) to maintain tension.

For me, with the majority of athletes and clients I train (particularly the 99.7% that aren’t competitive powerlifters) this has much more of a carry over to bench press performance.

Here’s a nice video I came across of both Chad Wesley Smith and Brandon Lilly discussing some finer points on benching technique.

Paused Squats

In much the same way, paused squats – where you descend into the hole and pause for an allotted amount of time (anywhere from 1-5 seconds) – is an excellent way to get trainees to learn how to maintain tension throughout the entire lift.

You shouldn’t “relax” in the hole and “hang-out” on your tendons and ligaments. Rather, there should be a conscientious effort to stay tight, upright, and active in an effort to explode out of the hole.

For more on this topic, I’d encourage you to read Passive vs. Active Foot For Squatting Performance.

As an accessory lift, paused squats are an excellent way to improve your squatting. Most guys hate paused squats because they have to use less weight. But so what!?

Here, rather than adding more weight or sets/reps we can manipulate time under tension to address a technique flaw (almost always: falling over due to a shitty set-up and lack of tension) and help get trainees more comfortable where they’re weak or when they enter compromising positions; which for most is at the bottom of the lift.

Paused squats help to hone technique (because it forces people to use sub-maximal weight) in addition to helping train power and explosiveness out of the hole.

After a few sets of heavy squats, I love following that with a few sets of paused squats (2-4 sets of 2-5 reps) using anywhere from 60-80% of 1RM. It’s important, however, to be honest with yourself and come to a complete PAUSE. And the pause can be anywhere, really.

In the hole, at parallel, during the descent, on the ascent (out of the hole, pause at parallel)…..back squat, front squat, pin squats, there are a litany of options.

Here’s a video of Greg Nuckols performing a pause front squat for 5s, because he’s a big jerk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzwAnDE0KoM

Paused Deadlifts

Admittedly less popular, but paused deaslifts are fantastic for those who tend to be slow(er) off the floor and tend to “grind” their pulls half-way up. Again, the key here is to maintain tension.

Pausing a few inches off the ground will:

  1. Increase time under tension in a ROM where you’re weak.
  2. Help you learn to explode through your sticking point (in this case, a few inches off the floor).
  3. Help you learn to engage your lats to a higher degree (not allowing the bar to get away from you), which is a huge component to pulling big weight and helps to better stabilize the spine.

This is NOT a deadlift variation where you’re going to use max effort weight, so you can relax “guy who is invariably going to scoff at this exercise because I’m going to tell you to use 50-70% of your 1RM.”

Remember: the objective of accessory work is to address a technique flaw (see points 1-3 above), which down the road will (hopefully) improve your 1RM.

To that end, I like using these after I pull heavy. I may work up to a few sets of heavy triples or if I’m feeling good, singles, and then follow those up with 4-6 sets of 4-6 reps in the 50-70% 1RM range.

Note: Yes, I’m wearing shoes in the video above. I know it’s borderline sacrilegious to deadlift with shoes on and that I should hand in my CSCS certification and banish myself to some remote island where people do nothing but squat in Smith Machines and watch Tracy Anderson DVDs.

I was just too lazy to take my shoes off during filming. Sorry.

To Summarize

–       Correct movement is corrective. If you want to improve your performance on any lift, you need to perform that lift.

Variety, in this instance, is not the spice of life.

–       Accessory movements should address a technique flaw or imbalance with a “main” lift. Their purpose is not to simply make stuff harder. There should be a purpose for choosing your accessory movements.

–       Pausing your (accessory) lifts can have a profound affect on increasing the overall poundage you can lift on the main lifts.

– Paused training is one component I utilize quite often with my Premium Workout Group on WeightTraining.com. I write the program, you follow it, and increase you general level of awesomeness. It’s that simple.

– Did you hear it was announced that Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass are going to make another Jason Bourne sequel? OMG – BEST DAY EVER!!!!!!

CategoriesMedia

Affiliate Marketing: Worse Than Ebola, Hitler and Gluten Combined

Let first state for the record that:

1. I generally avoid confrontation. In fact I hate it.

2. I’ve long ago accepted that no one can make everyone happy, and that by choosing to make myself more of a public figure with my writing and speaking, that it opens up the flood gates to (more) people being candid with their opinions and criticism (both negative and constructive) with my work.

When I first started writing – especially when my prose (if you want to call it that?) started to appear in more mainstream outlets – it was hard for me to pull a Jay-Z and wipe the dirt negative comments off my shoulder.

In time I learned to do just that. I either ignored said comments and moved on with my life, or I played along with them.

Like the one time I caught flak for writing an article on bench pressing and a reader commented that he stopped reading after the first paragraph because I had noted my best lift was 315 lbs.

I replied, “yeah but my internet max is 405 lbs, so we’re all good.”

I’ve just learned not to let certain comments bother me, that many people just things (and themselves) way too seriously, and that some people will suck at life no matter you say or don’t say.

As the saying goes, hates gonna hate.

But then every so often someone chimes in with a comment that, like an unexpected case of explosive diarrhea, makes your day pretty shitty.

Pun intended I suppose.

A few days ago I wrote a blog post titled The Forgotten Quality of the Fitness Industry. In it I discussed the virtue of integrity and how, like any profession, there seems to be a lack of it in the fitness industry.

It’s grown to be an industry that predicates itself on quick fixes and individuals who prey on other individuals in order to charge their credit card $49.99 for some detox elixir that contains goji berries, flax seeds, and grass fed dark chocolate mixed in Unicorn tears.

Moreover, it seems anyone with an Instagram account and has an ass, and is willing to showcase it 24/7, can become an authority on fitness. Credentials, education, and actual experience be damned.

At the end of the post I made a soft pitch/endorsement towards Examine.com, a nutrition and supplementation website that’s dedicated to providing factual, peer-reviewed, UNBIASED information to the masses. A site I feel epitomizes integrity.

Apparently I lack integrity for doing so.

The following is a comment I received yesterday:

Wouldn’t lack of integrity also be the affiliate market which you are such a huge part of?

I mean promoting a product in 99% of your posts that I can bet the majority you haven’t tried personally or used with clients falls into lack of integrity as well.

Just because another coach is in your affiliate circle doesn’t mean you should pimp out their products as the next greatest thing.

There is a difference between recommending something you have actually used, but pimping out a product just because of someone’s name or reputation without testing it on yourself and/or your clients is just as bad and misleading as your claims on this post.

For the record: I don’t feel the commenter was being a “troll,” and giving credit where it’s due: he didn’t resort to ad hominem attacks and he even used his real name. But I do feel his “attack” was unwarranted.

Against better judgement (and the advice of friends and colleagues who told me it was a waste of time to do so anyways), I decided to comment on his comment.

Yes I realize it’s (probably) going to fall on deaf ears. And yes, I realize that by responding to someone who’s not in my “Tribe” in the first place, is more than likely never going to sign up for my newslettter, purchase anything from me, much less vote for me for Class President, can be seen as a waste of time.

However, his commentary and tone is something that needs to be addressed, because it’s a theme that constantly pops up.

That, and My Integrity is Something I Take Very Seriously.

For starters lets address the comment: “I mean promoting a product in 99% of your posts that I can bet the majority you haven’t tried personally or used with clients falls into lack of integrity as well.”

This. Is. False.

This comment is crazy.

Since it was directed towards Examine.com in the first place, let me say this. It’s a good product, and one I think will help people. Does my soft pitch at the end of the post in question help move some units? I sure hope so.

But consider this:

In the back end of my blog, my metrics indicate that, including this one, I have now published 1514 posts. Of those, if I had to take an educated guess, less than 100 have mentioned or “promoted” some type of program or product.

Less than 100.

That comes out to about 7%. And I think 100 is an aggressive number. In addition that isn’t counting any of my articles published elsewhere, which, like my blog, are a FREE resource.

So, really: it’s mathematically unarguable that I only “promote” stuff I believe in. Programs and products that I really and truly think will add value to my readers or the fitness community and industry over all.  It’s my intention, always, to direct people towards products I feel will educate the.

But for shits and giggles, lets take a look at the last five products I’ve helped pimp (and as a result, sold my soul) endorse1.

Examine.com – As noted above, a nutrition and supplement website that prides itself on using peer-reviewed, factual information to educate the public. It doesn’t sell supplements.

Yes, I use it. I’d be a fool not to!

Lift Weights Faster 2.0 – Developed by Jen Sinkler who, admittedly, is a friend of mine, but a stellar coach nonetheless and someone I have a ton of respect for. She’s an accomplished editor, writer, and someone who has never pigeon holed herself into any one specific training modality or approach. She’s literally done everything.

Oh, and she was a former member of the National USA Women’s Rugby team. So, yeah, I’d trust her training advice.

And yes, I routinely used LWF (1.0) when programming conditioning workouts for myself and my clients.

Complete Speed Training  – Developed by renowned speed coach, Lee Taft. Someone who has worked with a litany of professional athletes and teams, and has coached countless athletes all over the USA and world at every level.

Yes (again). Many of the things Lee discusses in this product are principles we use at Cressey Sports Performance.

Ultimate Athleticism – Developed by Max Shank, a guy who’s about as diverse and open minded as they come. Here’s a guy who can not only deadlift 500+ lbs, but can also perform amazing feats with his own bodyweight. Handstands, flips, you name it…he can do it.

You may have me here. While it’s unlikely that I’ll ever do a walking handstand (or have any interest in doing so), I did read the manual and felt it was a nice fit for my audience. Especially those looking to challenge their bodies in different ways.

Plus Max is an accomplished coach who knows what he’s doing. I loved the progressions he used.

Core Training Facts & Fallacies and Top Techniques – Developed by Nick Tumminello who’s one of the most respected fitness educators on the planet, and someone who’s about as evidence based as they come.

Yes (again) – many of the things he discusses are things I’ve used with my own clients.

All of this to say…..

Geez, I’m such an asshole.

I feel it shows more integrity to point people in the direction of coaches who actually know what they’re talking about and do good for the industry than to link to any number of things that make my corneas perpetually bleed on the internet.

Now lets discuss this whole concept of an “Affiliate Circle.”

Or circle jerk as it’s more affectionately known as.

Apparently whenever someone is set to release a product, all any of us “affiliate circle” coaches do is fellate one another while sitting in our evil volcanic lairs as we refresh our Clickbank pages every five minutes.

Note: this is NOT my Clickbank page. If it were I wouldn’t be driving an Elantra and I’d most definitely have my own evil volcanic lair built.

It has nothing to do with supporting one another and relaying SOLID information ti people. Nope, never.

People fail to realize how small this industry is.

On top of that there’s only so many trainers and coaches who consistently put out fantastic content and are the ones that many of us (Us = the fitness industry) recognize as the cream of the crop. I’ve been fortunate enough within my career to work with, interact, and become friends with many of them.

They say you’re the equivalent of the five people you surround yourself with the most.

I feel this has merit in the professional setting as well.

Coaches like Dan John, Mike Boyle, Eric Cressey, John Romaniello, Nia Shanks, Molly Galbraith, Mike Robertson, Mike Reinold, Neghar Fonooni, Dean Somerset, Bret Contreras, and many, many others, are all friends of mine. They’re also colleagues that I’d defy ANYONE to say don’t go out of their way to educate people and put out damn good products.

Am I an individual who lacks integrity because I help to promote their products? Products I know work and that don’t pretend to be something they’re not?

And honestly, how is it I lack integrity because I make money from affiliate income?

1. None of this conversation takes into consideration the metric shit-ton of shit that gets sent my way on a weekly basis.

People whom I have NO idea who they are, have never met in person, much less interacted with in any fashion, are always asking me to “pimp” their products.

Why? Because of point #2.

2. I matter.

I’ve worked my tail off to make this site into something that, not only serves as a labor of love and something I thoroughly enjoy, but has also granted me the opportunity to use it as a source to supplement my income.

You know, make a living.

Plus, I’ve taken pride that people trust me enough to trust my opinion. I think my track record speaks to and shows that I don’t go out of my way to be shady with what I endorse.

I don’t say this lightly, because I’ve never been someone who pounds my chest and uses bravado to get my point across. If you ask most people who know me well, they’ll back me up when I say that I’m a very humble person.

I don’t walk around bragging about how many Twitter followers I have or how many “Likes” any particular article accumulates. In fact, I took that function OFF my site when I updated it.

However, I’d be remiss not to recognize I’ve been able to build this site into one of the most visited fitness sites on the internet. I’m proud of that. I’ve worked my ass off for that. Why wouldn’t I try to monetize it (or my time)?

And at the expense of blowing sunshine up my own ass, I feel I’ve done so in a very non-pushy, non-invasive, non-douchey way. I don’t have any paid advertisements on my site. I don’t have any (direct) affiliate banners on my site. And much to the chagrin of several of my colleagues, I’m not even super aggressive with collecting emails for my newsletter.

(This isn’t to suggest that people who DO take that approach are wrong. They’re not! It’s just an avenue I choose not to walk down).

Since We’re On the Topic of This Site

It’s a FREE site (for you).

But guess what?

It’s NOT free to maintain.

Here’s a little transparency for everyone. When I decided I had reached the point where getting a professionally built/custom site made sense (back in 2010) – I had used free templates up until that point – it cost me $5000 to hire someone to develop and another $1000 to add updates and aesthetic changes.

(Shout out to Copter Labs for the phenomenal job they do).

And this doesn’t take into account hosting fees, etc.

The site re-design (this past September) costs me another $6000. And with the site growing (thank you, everyone!), even higher hosting fees.

But in the end that’s a good problem to have. I’m not complaining.

Does it show lack of integrity to try to offset those costs? Does it show lack of integrity to take advantage of free enterprise?

In the End

Do I help promote products I like? Yep. Do I know a lot of smart and well intentioned coaches who have REAL WORLD experience, actually coach people, and use research and science to back their claims up? Yep.

Do I have ANY reservations in helping to spread their message? Nope.

I can live with that.

UPDATE: my good friend, Adam Bornstein, wrote a rebuttal post (of sorts) about this post that I think would serve as a nice follow-up.

The gist: why what I did was a waste of time. Check it out HERE.

Bornstein: 1

Gentilcore: 0

CategoriesMotivational Nutrition Supplements

The Forgotten Quality of the Fitness Industry

I’d like to start with a story. It involves a temple, a monk, a woman, and her small child.

(Sorry, this story doesn’t begin with your standard “a cowboy, rabbi, and turtle walk into a bar…..”)

It’s a story I originally heard from strength coach Martin Rooney and few years ago, and it’s a story that has resonated with every since.

It begins with a woman and her small child walking up the stairs of a temple that houses a monk. At wits end, the woman reluctantly approaches the wise monk and asks, “wise Monk I’ve tried everything I can to get my child to stop eating sugar and nothing has worked. Can you offer any sage advice? Anything?”

The monk looks at the woman and the child, and calmly says, “come back and ask me again in two weeks.”

With a quizzical look on her face, the mother reluctantly walked away. Two weeks later, she brings her son to see the monk.

“Stop eating sugar,” he says to the little boy.

“Why did we have to wait two weeks for that?”

“Because,” the monk said, “I myself had to stop eating sugar.”

That’s integrity.

in·teg·ri·ty
inˈteɡrədē/
noun
  1. the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.
    “he is known to be a man of integrity”

It’s something I feel that’s missing from the fitness industry.

But this isn’t to throw the entire fitness industry under the bus. Nor is it an attempt to single out the fitness industry as the sole proprietor of snake oil fishery.

By and large I feel the industry as a whole is rife with well-intentioned, good-hearted, truthful, and honest professionals who want nothing more than to help people and do so in a non-douchey manner.

Likewise, it would be naive of me to say that no other profession is immune to having its veins cut off from integrity with a tourniquet. All we have to do is take a hop, jump, and skip back to 2008 with the housing market and all the Wall Street and investment banking scumbags who purposely preyed on and sold subprime mortgages to unsuspecting home buyers knowing full well that what they were doing was unethical and likely going to bankrupt a lot of people.

Not to mention the economy.

Likewise, we don’t have to steer far off the beaten track to witness shady deals and actions by our politicians. And, have you not heard a good lawyer joke lately?

I don’t want to sound like a Jonny Raincloud, though; I truly am someone who gives most people the benefit of the doubt and feels most people are kind and good hearted.

While there’s a lot about the industry I love, there’s something about he fitness industry that rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it’s partly because I’ve been “in it” for so long and have seen anything and everything that can happen. All I have to do is turn on the television at 2AM and see any number of shams being sold to the public. Anything from Shake Weights to 7-Minute Abs (or are we down to 6 minutes now? I’ve lost count) to detox diets to a certain “celebrity doctor” announcing that Acai Berries are the greatest miracle food in the history of ever.

They make you shit rainbows!

It’s nauseating at times.

And it all makes me reminisce about that Wendy’s commercial from the 1980s where the three ladies exclaim: “where’s the beef?”

Except in this case I want to ask: “where’s the integrity?”

But then again who am I to judge? All these people are making bank and it’s a free country, right? And this isn’t to suggest that all the aforementioned people and examples are the Spawn of Satan. For all I know they’re all lovely individuals who donate blood a few times a year, pay their taxes, volunteer their time at a local homeless shelter, or read scripture to orphaned kittens. Or whateverthef***.

All that said, while it’s my own opinion, there’s an astonishingly emaciated level of integrity in the fitness industry.

At the expense of coming across as a little holier than thou, I can count numerous times where I turned away distance coaching clients in lieu of encouraging them to purchase The New Rules of Lifting or The New Rules of Lifting For Women instead.

They don’t need to drop a few hundred dollars over the course of a few months when a book that costs $10 can be just as useful. Many times I tell them to buy the book, read it (<— this is important: they need to understand the WHYs of doing what they’re being asked to do), follow the program, and after 3-6 months, if they’re ready for a more personalized approach, to shoot me another message.

Moreover, while I could easily step away from coaching and do nothing but tap away on my computer on a day to say basis writing articles and fitness programs for people all over the world, there’s just something that doesn’t jive with me to write about training people and not actually train people.

In a gym.

In person.

In real life.

But that’s just me. I have all the respect in the world for those colleagues of mine who have the luxury to work from home seven days a week and travel the world. Many of them still do coach people, though. And many of them accumulated years of experience beforehand.

It’s when the new trainer who’s fresh out of school and feels he knows everything because he read SuperTraining (dude, you didn’t understand a thing! I still don’t understand it) is quick to jump on the “I’m-going-to-be-rich-because-I-wrote-an-ebook” train, that my gears starting grinding.

How can someone with little or no actual coaching/training experience write a book on how to train people?

My good buddy, Bryan Krahn, wrote an amazing article on this phenomenon not too long ago. Essentially on how to go about spotting the Liars, Scammers, and Douchebags in the fitness industry. Part I and Part II.

It’s a great read, and not for nothing…Bryan is someone you should be following.

And then there’s the supplement industry.

Oh boy…….now that’s a cesspool of douchebags to the douchiest degree if there ever was one.

Did I break the record for using the word douchebag in a post yet?

If not, douchebag.

Yes, I believe there are companies out there who provide awesome products and I’d be lying if I said I don’t use supplements or recommend them to my athletes and clients.

However, the “good” ones are few and far between.

Which is why I find the guys (and girls!) over at Examine.com invaluable. When it comes to integrity – and lets be honest, the supplement industry, at times, is severely lacking in that department – Examine.com is the integrity police.

It’s the largest (over 1 million visitors per day) and most trusted UNBIASED resource on supplementation on the internet. They have an advisory board full of physicians, researchers, scientists, and probably wizards that scrutinize and dissect every piece of literature released on their site.

You can be assured that the information they provide is 100% correct, and not to be reiterated enough….UNBIASED.

As it happens, the site itself just turned 4 years old yesterday. Holla!

To celebrate they’re placing all their resources on sale for the next 60 or so hours. Starting TODAY (3/17) at 12 PM.

That means…

– Supplement-Goals Reference Guide on sale.
– The Stack Guides on sale
– Examine Research Digest (<— monthly research review) on sale.

Up to 40% off in fact. Which is a steal given the amount (and quality) of information you’re getting.

Integrity in the fitness industry is hard to find; but it still exists. You just have to know where to look.

CategoriesOff Topic

Day 10: Sydney Seminar

Tony and I were up at 6:30 and headed down to the hotel breakfast. Cereal, toast, milk, vegemite. None of which was appealing to me. After we ate Tony got all ready and pretty, and off we went to iPT Australia, just up the block.

Note from TG: any aspiring fitness professionals in Australia should consider contacting iPT Australia. Without question it’s a place that best sets up future fitness professionals for success. While it’s much more than this, what you can expect is a 26 week course that prepares you with all the skills you’ll need – assessment, anatomy, exercise technique, programming – to become a bonafide personal trainer. You’ll basically become 007, except without the license to kill.

Soon we met Jess, one of the day’s attendees, and then James, accompanied by his girlfriend Gill, and Brendon. As Tony and the boys got set up, Gill, Jason and I talked about what I would do with my day, since Tony was gracious enough to encourage me to go out and enjoy Sydney, instead of staying at the seminar all day.

I was asking about the Market on the Rocks during the weekend, and when Gill heard Jason and I talking about this, one eyebrow went up, and she said, “I’ve never heard of that…” She pulled out her phone, and after a quick Google, she was reading about the where and what of the market. I started to say goodbye and excuse myself, and Gill said, “want some company?”. Yeah!

So Gill and I set off.

First to a big fancy mall, where I got myself some Uggs, which are Australian in case you didn’t know. Not big boots, but these super warm + cute moccasins that I will TOTALLY rock at work so that no longer will my feet be freezing while I sit and meet with patients every single day! Yay.

Australian autumn is just beginning, so lots of summer stuff was on sale, which of course made me want to buy up everything. But I controlled myself. Prices are higher, and I guess that’s either because we’re in a major city, because Aussies say everything is more expensive in Australia, or both.

Gill and I were fast friends. You may not know this about me, but I am a shopping Jedi. Bargain huntress. Clearance Ninja. I do not give out shopping prowess compliments easily, but I must say that Gill is equally skilled. I was lucky to have her company all day. Here we are together in front of Hyde Park:

 

The Open Market on The Rocks happens every Saturday and Sunday, and I was worried I would have to miss it, since we would be in seminar Saturday and flying home Sunday. But when Tony encouraged me to Carpe Diem, I was thrilled to get to check it out! Look, isn’t it wonderful?:

It reminded me of SOWA (South End Washington Street) market, in Boston during the summertime. I helped myself to some Australian souvenirs, and of course got a little gift for Tony (Which you’ll see later on).

After shopping Gill popped back into the seminar and I returned to the hotel to start packing. I took care of about half of it, and then went to the seminar to observe Tony wrap up the day. When I came in he was coaching a deadlift and answering some questions:

The day ended just shy of 5:00pm, and Tony was satisfied with how much material he covered. He was happy to have another attentive audience! Special thanks to all of the Sydney Seminar participants.

Here we are with James and Gill, just before saying goodbye:

Once back at the hotel, I presented Tony with his congratulations-on-two-Australian-seminars-completed gift:

As you can see, he put it right on, and we headed out for dinner.

Tony’s friend and colleague, Mike Cambell (and author of bestseller Unleash Your Alpha) recommended a nearby spot for dinner. Riley’s Garage is, in fact, a renovated garage.

It’s amazing! One of the most fabulous places I have ever been. We showed up without a reservation, but being the early birds we are, there was one more table we were able to snag. I’m not kidding you, the place was brimming with fabulous Australians.

I, on the other hand, was not looking Australian or fabulous. Today being my third-and-a-half day of not-feeling-so-hot, being under the weather has taken its toll on my appearance. So you will not be seeing a picture of Tony and I out to dinner at Riley’s Garage.

The food was delicious. Tapas style with shared-everything, we had some beetroot salad, and I actually got Tony to say yes to ordering the whole fish! It’s a favorite of mine, but if it’s not pristine, boneless, and lacking all semblance of an animal, Tony’s disgusted by it. But tonight, he decided to live on the edge, and I was so glad!

After dinner we needed to head back down Victoria Street in search of an ice cream place that colleagues of Tony’s told him he must have before leaving. Messina was a happening ice cream joint, with sexy music and customers. Actually, the entire neighborhood was happening and sexy.

At this point I turned into a pumpkin. But not just any pumpkin; a tired, chills-ridden, angry-tummied, I-am-sick-of-being-sick, irritable, cranky pumpkin. Poor, poor Tony. So we weren’t happening, fabulous, sexy young Australians on our last night in town. But we did our best. Hopefully whatever this is will be all gone tomorrow so that I am not dealing with any illness on a 13-hour flight!

Good night and talk to you tomorrow,

Lisa and Tony

CategoriesExercises You Should Be Doing

Exercises You Should Be Doing: Birddog With Band RNT

I have two words for you: Jet Lagged.

After three movies, a Twin Peaks marathon (because, why not?) and far too many Tim Tams to count1,Lisa and I made it back to Boston from Sydney after a marathon 27 hour travel extravaganza.

We landed at Logan at 7 PM, were in our apartment by 8, and in bed by 9.

Not too shabby, right?

Except now I’m on “Sydney time” and was wide awake at 2:30 AM this morning. I tried to fall back asleep, but decided it was a pointless endeavor and opted to get up and tackle my inbox and catch up on some programs I needed to write.

I have to apologize to the clients who’s programs I wrote at 4AM. I was cranky, which may explain the inordinate amount of squatting you’re doing this month. Sorry (but not sorry).

Anyhoo: as much as I’d like to sit here and wax poetic about my Aussie trip, I know this isn’t the section where people want to read about that.2

SIDE-NOTE: HERE’s a nice write-up about my workshop in Ballina, though.

I’m still easing my way back to my regular schedule. Or as Lisa would put it, “hatching.” To that end, I’m going to keep things simple today and share a nice birddog variation. Because, you know, people go bat-shit crazy for birddogs.

(Emphasis on the slight exaggeration)

Birddog With Band RNT

 

Who Did I Steal It From: Brett Jones

What Does It Do: Birddogs aren’t anything new (or exciting). Watching paint dry, or grass grow, or an episode of Downton Abbey is Mardi Gras compared to birddogs.

That being said, any fitness professional would be remiss not to recognize they’re an integral drill/exercise that provide a lot of bang for our “core-training-motor-lumbo-pelvic-hip-control-OMG-BIRDDOGS-ARE-THE-SHIT buck.”

Not only that, birddogs are an excellent way to train rotary stability in addition to helping people learn to dissociate their hips from their lumbar spine. I.e., learning to gain movement from the hips and NOT the lower back.

Besides, if Dr. Stuart McGill says to do birddogs, we all better sure as shit do them!

In terms of this particular iteration, the band helps to kick in a little RNT (Reactive Neuromuscular Training) action which, by and large, helps the trainee to better perform the movement.

Speaking candidly: most people BUTCHER birddogs. To the point where their performance and execution is more counterproductive than helpful, often feeding into many of the mechanisms that cause one’s back pain in the first place.

I like using the band because it instantly gives the trainee feedback which forces him or her to clean up their technique.

Key Coaching Cues: using a PVC stick is fine (where you lie it lengthwise and tell the person to keep three points of contact: back of head, between shoulder blades, as well as their sacrum), and I’ve seen some trainers and coaches opt for placing a foam roller on the lower back telling their athlete or client to “balance” it during their set.

I don’t like this latter approach. I find that far too many people end up “balancing” the foam roller by defaulting into lumbar hyperextension, which defeats the purpose of the drill in the first place (which is to try to ensure spinal “neutral” throughout the set).

Adding the band does a few things:

1. It provides a very slight resistance, almost “feeding” the dysfunction, so the trainee is better suited to counteract it.

NOTE: don’t be a hero and be too aggressive with the band selection. As you can see in the video above all I’m using is a 1/2 inch “easy” band.  Save the max effort work for squats and deadlifts chief.

2. The band also forces people to SLOW the EFF DOWN and think about what they’re doing. This isn’t an exercise you want to rush in the first place; so anything that allows me to slow people down is gravy in my book.

3. I also find the band allows for a little diversity. I can regress the exercise as needed and have people ONLY perform with the legs moving or the arms; and the resistance of the band makes it easier to use the cue “get and keep your spine long.

4. Lastly, the band encourages more anterior core activation which helps to keep things in line, literally. Many will fall into anterior pelvic tilt on this exercise – a big no no – and the band will encourage more posterior pelvic tilt and help to maintain neutral.

Use these as part of an extended warm-up or as a “filler” exercise for sets of 5-8 repetitions per side. Quality reps are paramount!

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

CategoriesOff Topic

Day 9: Skippy: The Bush Kangaroo.

12 hours of sleep! I was a new woman this morning. I did need to hatch though, and not do my normal catapult out of bed (I am a morning person). So Tony and I searched Australian TV, which is slim pickings (who needs TV when you have all of this amazing weather?!). But, we came upon a gem this morning. Something so special.

Friends, please say hello to Skippy: The Bush Kangaroo:

Skippy is Australia’s answer to Lassie. Created and released upon happy Aussie boys and girls everywhere, and then syndicated in the US in the early 70’s, Skippy: The Bush Kangaroo is an amazing friend, pet, and detective.

He is ready to help at all times, and can hop like nobody’s business. I don’t know what you have to do, but whatever it is, do that in order to watch this show!

While chanting the theme song to Skippy: The Bush Kangaroo, Tony and I hit the hotel gym. (Here it is:

Skippyyyyyy,

Skippyyyyyyyyy,

Skippy, The Bush Kangarooooooo!)

 

Actually, it was more like we tapped the gym. Or gently spooned it. My calves are wrecked from the last few days, and overall I think our bodies are just tired! We followed that up with a nice big breakfast at the hotel, and we had a great view from our table, where we could see the rain start to fall.

After packing and checking out of the hotel, we took advantage of the free wifi in the lobby. Unfortunately, my bug has not run its course yet, so I also took lots of medicine and availed myself of the hotel lobby bathroom a conspicuous and embarrassing amount of times.

But still an improvement from yesterday. BTW, we love the Sir Stamford Hotel! Jarrod and Troy, the concierges (is that the plural?), were mega-accommodating, and locked away our luggage so we could go to the Taronga Zoo.

Unfortunately, it was raining. We left with water, wallets, and shorts on, and that’s it. Not smart.

We realized the extent of our lack of preparedness (which we can mostly blame on not being parents) when we were freezing and in need of an umbrella!

Here I am waiting for the ferry to take us across the Harbour from the Quay to the zoo itself:

And when we arrived, we took a quick picture of the entrance:

Despite the “bad” weather, it was still amazing. Overall we lucked out, and ducked in and out of coverage when it really came down. I was not feeling good, but when there are giraffes, and wallabies, and Skippy: The Bush Kangaroo, who can complain? See some pics:

That’s a Wallaby in the forefront, and a female kangaroo in the back.

Also, the zoo is in a prime location, so you get amazing views of the city:

My favorite, naturally, were the kangaroos. I think I was taking kangaroos for granted all this time. Look how gorgeous they are!:

And see how big and muscular they are!:

Amazing. They are now rivaling the giraffe as my favorite animal. We also sang to them:

Skippyyyyyyy,

Skippyyyyyyyyy,

Skippy, the Bush Kangarooooooooo!

Tony and I hopped the ferry back to the Quay, and sadly, checked out of our fancy-assed Sir Stamford Spot. Jarrod, the fabulous concierge, offered us some keys to the locker room in the gym, so that we could change, and even shower if we wanted.

We hopped a cab over to our final hotel, the Ibis Budget in East Sydney. Here is our room:

It is the same size as the bathroom at the Sir Stamford. There are no drawers, no hangers, and not even a hook. It was… interesting. However, it did have amazing view!

We ran out for dinner, and discovered Sydney’s answer to Bare Burger (<— Tony’s favorite burger joint when he visits NYC)! Grill’d offered all grass fed meat, fresh produce, and yummy everything. I was very hungry, but feeling nervous to eat. What would the sensible person do? Get some broth and a ginger ale and play it safe. What did Dr. Lewis do? Order a lamb & hummus burger with a ginger beer!

As you can see: Tony is ready to pounce on his burger. The “claws” are out.

The ginger beer was amazing. It was water, ginger, sugar, and alcohol. How could that not be good for your tummy? As for my burger, I hoped for the best, and was able to eat most of it. For the rest of the night, we’ll just keep our fingers crossed….

So, tomorrow, Tony’s off for Seminar #2, taking place nearby, and I’ll do a Tony pick-up and drop-off with some exploring and shopping in between! Tonight, we’ll serenade ourselves to sleep, with “Skippyyyyy, Skippyyyyyyyyy, Skippy, the Bush Kangaroooooooo…..”

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned!

Lisa and Tony

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Day 8: I Refuse to Chuck a Sickie!

Dammit. I was up most of the night with an angry tummy, and when Tony got up a little after 6:00am he needed to go out and get me some Tylenol, Imodium, and water. I was having shakes and chills, and feeling crappy.

Note from Tony: Lisa will kill me for putting this up, but the picture says a thousand words.

Dammit! Who wants a bug on vacation?!

I felt sorry for myself for a few minutes while Tony was out, and once I took a bunch of medicine, I decided NOT to chuck a sickie (Australian for calling out sick from work).

My best friend Leslie is a trooper when it comes to travel, and also of being a sport when she’s sick, so I decided to channel my inner Leslie and not miss out on any of the fun scheduled for today! Off Tony and I went, to spend the day with our Sydney host, James (Garland).

We met James at the same gym we trained at yesterday. I tagged along with Tony on his bench day, since my legs were shot from yesterday’s leg day + bridge climb. After our workout, we jumped in the car with James and headed north. First we had some brekkie at The Bent Spoon in Ja Freshwater, then got back in the car and checked out Freshwater beach:

Then back in the car again headed a little farther north to Avalon beach and took a hike up to Barrenjoey lighthouse. Here are some pics:

 


It was great to be able to see such amazing sites! James knew where all the good photo ops were. Don’t you love this one, where Tony is totally striking a pose?:

I always find the decent is tougher on my legs than the assent, and as we walked down I could feel the leg day + the bridge climb (and descent) making my legs shake! We found a different route back down, and here are a few more pictures:

We jumped back in the car again, and James dropped us off at Manly beach! One of the “must sees”, Manly was recommended to us by almost everyone who knows anything about the Sydney area.

Unfortunately, the Tylenol I took had worn off, and I was freezing in the 82 degree weather, and ready for a nap! Tony and I lay right down in the sand and passed out for a good half hour. I am not kidding.

For lookers-on, it probably looked like we had been up for two days and had 35 shots of tequila. After sleeping soundly like a pair of hobos for 30 minutes, my plan was to jump in the ocean, but I was cold and feeling so weird (is there another way to describe what a fever feels like?) that I couldn’t do it! I did give it a try though:

Thank goodness Tony was tired too, because I felt like a buzz-kill. Eventually we walked up Manly beach and down a street lined with shops to the ferry.

The ferry from Manly to the Quay was also highly recommended to us, and reminded me of the Staten Island Ferry – except for its not being free.

Now I was full-blown lame, and fell asleep on the Ferry. But Tony took some pictures:

Luckily our hotel is a 5-minute walk from the Quay, so we were back at the hotel in a jiff. I fell asleep again, but not before taking some more Tylenol. Tony was in the mood for pizza, so we ended up at a cute little place called Zia Pina on the rocks, and then we got Tony an ice cream cone afterward.

When returned to the hotel at 7:00pm, I got in bed and really couldn’t get back out! Mega-lame. I tried to catch up on my writing, but was kind of a waste of space. Every 5-7 minutes I needed a mini-nap-break. Tony was down in the lobby using the free wifi, but I still felt bad about our boring night. I am praying that it’s just a little 24-hour bug, and that I’ll be as good as new tomorrow!

Fingers Crossed and talk to you then,

Lisa and Tony