2018 was splendid year, and I thank everyone for their continued support.
2019 is looking to be a busy year from a professional standpoint with several projects in the works in addition to my travel schedule.1 One of my main goals in 2019, however, is to get back on my writing (and reading) horse. I know the last two years have been a bit dearth (comparatively speaking) with the total number of posts and articles I’ve published. Who knew having a kid was so time consuming?
Nevertheless, my hope is that the upcoming year will be a fruitful one in terms of my writing prowess.
I’m very fortunate that number of quality coaches reach out and offer to submit articles for this site. Granted they have to promise to name their first born after me AND send me a bowl of yellow only M&Ms, but that’s a small price to pay for internet fame.
Thanks to everyone who pinch-wrote for me in 2018 and gave my fingers a brief reprieve.
I’m looking forward to seeing what’s sent my way in 2019….
I listened to Noah speak in person on this topic and was transfixed by what he had to say. A conversation we had after the fact led to him writing this post for my site.
Yesterday I highlighted the best articles from 2018 according to what resonated with YOU. They were the articles that received the most traffic according to Google analytics.
2018 was yet another successful year in many aspects, and I can’t express enough how thankful I am for such a loyal readership.
Since it’s the end of the year I wanted to take the next few days to highlight some articles you may have missed (or maybe want to read again). Today’s list highlights those articles which received the most web traffic.3
Put another way: these are the articles YOU felt were the best.
In a surprise (to me)…this iteration of my popular series, Exercises You Should Be Doing, made the list. I guess everyone likes cool push-up variations.
And car memes.
(shrugs)
NOTE: the push-up pictured above IS NOT a representation of the proper execution of the Renegade Push-Up, or any push-up for that matter.
In all seriousness, I do go into detail on five quickie tips you can follow to help increase your strength. This article also contains what’s likely the most awkward video on the internet of 2018.4
I’ll be making my first appearance – ever (<— how’s that possible?)( – in the wonderful state of North Carolina this coming March to put on my popular Coaching Competency Workshop.
Full details (date, location, itinerary, how to register) can be found HERE.
EARLY BIRD rate ($50 off) is in full swing at the moment and won’t last forever.
SOCIAL MEDIA SHENANIGANS
Twitter
On a scale of 1-10 (1 = jumping into a shark’s mouth and 10 = everyone should perform this exercise), kipping pull-ups are a -82
An article I wrote for the Personal Trainer Development Center earlier this year – 3 Ways to Write Better Training Programs – made their list of top articles written for their site in 2018, in tandem with many other phenomenal articles.
It’s always a great honor to be recognized for your work. It’s even cooler when it’s alongside so many other esteemed colleagues.
We live on a busy street here in Boston so it’s more of less toddler catnip for him. It’s impossible to go for a walk and he not be transfixed with every Hyundai and Honda that whizzes by. Likewise, every book we read together he points out every car,
The concept of Controlled Articular Rotations is nothing new to the industry. Coaches like Pavel Tsatsouline have been singing their praises for decades.
However, there’s been a bit of a renaissance and cacophony of interest within the industry of late due in no small part to Andreo Spina and his Functional Range Conditioning (FRC) courses.
Full Disclosure: I have not taken any of the courses myself, and my only immersion with the concepts are through various colleagues of mine – Dean Somerset, Frank Duffy, Matt Crush, to name a few – who have taken the courses or who have been certified.
FRC is a system of joint health and mobility, and CARs are just one branch underneath the FRC umbrella. Or maybe I should use tree in this analogy?
Anyway, whatever, you get the idea.
CARs are active, rotational movements that explore the outer limits of articular (joint) motion. To steal a frame of thought from Long Island based strength coach Chris Cooper:
“Stretching and other mobility drills are great, but if you can’t control your body in that new range, then what’s the point.
Explore how your body moves, and then push its limits.”
Too, another component of CARs that’s important to respect is the idea of irradiation, which is just a fancy schmancy way of saying “tension.”
When CARs are done well they incorporate an immense amount of tension in the body so nothing else moves (spine, pelvis, etc) so you can capture as much range of motion possible in that one particular joint.
To borrow another scientific word, they fucking suck donkey balls when done correctly.
Here two of my current “go to’s” when it comes to how I’ve implemented CARs into my programs:
Scapular CAR
This is a fantastic option on upper body days before any heavy bench pressing. Moreover, in terms of overall shoulder health these are stellar. Many trainees have gotten into the unfortunate habit of “locking” their shoulder blades in place (most germane to the conversation: scapular downward rotation syndrome) and this drill is a great way to “unglue” everything.
Key Points to Consider
This is NOT a passive position. Glutes on, abs on, make a fist with non-working side.
Place side you’re working in scapular plane
Pretend as if there’s a glass of water on your arm you don’t want to spill.
Protract, shrug (elevate), retract, depress shoulder blade in a deliberate manner.
My cat is such a diva.
Seated 90/90 Hip Switches
I like this drill a lot because it trains both hip internal and external rotation simultaneously.
NOTE: After I posted this my boy Frank Duffy chimed in to say this:
“From a hardo FRC standpoint 90/90 transitions aren’t CARs because they’re focusing just on the IR/ER component of the hips in flexion whereas CARs address all the joint motions. What’s demonstrated is technically considered an Isometric Movement Path (IsoMP).”
Note to Frank: Don’t ever embarrass me on my blog again.6
This is also a good choice to get the hips nice a juicy before a squat or deadlift session. I prefer to start people ground-based (sitting) with hip CARs before I implement quadruped and then standing variations.
Key Points to Consider
My bad for the blatant crotch shot.
Make a fist with both hands – squeeze coal into diamonds.
Both feet must stay in contact with the floor at all times.
Try your best to stay as upright as possible.
If you need to regress, place hands on floor behind you.
The Warm-Up Blueprint For Lifting
Looking for some more ideas to spruce up your warm-up?
Listen, we all go through the motions when it comes to warming-up. I find most people fall into two camps:
Team “nope, I’d rather walk over broken glass.”
Team “the workout is the warm-up.”
You’re either someone who doesn’t do a warm-up (and likely always has achy joints and sub-par lifts), or someone who does warm-up, but then takes 45 minutes to go through a laundry list of “correctives” (and likely has achy joints and sub-par lifts).
It shows you how to design your own customized warm-up using the concepts I discussed above and then some. It takes you through soft tissue release, dynamic stretching, CARs, and targeted muscle activation techniques to better prepare you for squatting, deadlifting, bench pressing, and overhead pressing.
What’s more it’s all done with a British accent.
Jack could read The Silmarillion or, I don’t know, the Wikipedia page for the Kreb’s Cycle and I’d pay to listen to it.
The best part is that this is a home study course. So you can go at your own pace.
Today’s guest post come courtesy of Dan Edelman of The Brand X Method, which is a wonderful institution dedicated to improving youth sport(s) and fitness through professional youth coach education.
I love what they stand for and what the strive to instill in their coaches and athletes.
There’s no ONE set way to train anyone – youth athletes included – and oftentimes the larger, more pertinent approach is adopting methodologies for LONG-TERM health and fitness.
Not for ego.
Enjoy the read (and be sure to download the FREE guide “How to Reduce the Risk of Injury in Youth Athletes” below).
We hear that a lot. Mostly from a certain uppity corner of the powerlifting community and mostly owing to its shortened range of motion compared to the conventional deadlift.
Well, we love it. The Brand X Method™ loves the sumo deadlift.
And we’re often asked about this great love affair.
So yeah, why sumo?
When was the last time you set up in a conventional stance to pick up a cinder block, sack of dog food, a child? Never. The sumo stance is how we pick up stuff in the real world.
Over the course of 15 years, we have found that kids can learn a safe sumo setup more quickly and maintain a neutral spine throughout the movement more consistently. Could it be because our bodies are designed to pick up heavy stuff in this position?
The conventional stance requires more work from the spinal erectors (see, e.g., here). Should the erectors fatigue or fail under load—or be left holding the bag so to speak by primary mover fatigue or poor technique—the spine is at risk of injury. We train kids, which by definition means we’re training mostly beginner and intermediate lifters. The responsible approach is to minimize that risk.
Powerlifting guru Louie Simmons has said that training wide supports narrow applications but not the opposite. At Brand X – The Lab, we’ve seen people improve their conventional deadlift after training exclusively sumo—but, yeah, you guessed it—not the opposite.
To say the sumo stance is functional is to lose its significance in all the buzz around that overused label.
But it is functional.
Profoundly so.
The sumo stance is everywhere in the everyday world, from the backyard to the ball field, from the garage to the library.
When we train sumo, we enhance physical literacy, we improve our ability to engage with the environment. The more we are able to interact with the world and others around us in positive and rewarding ways, the healthier and happier we—and everyone around us—can be.
Imagine a world like that.
We do.
Never Say Never
So am I saying that we never train conventional?
Of course not.
We program conventional deadlift variations all of the time for our experienced lifters:
Single-leg dumbbell, deficits, rack pulls, RDLs… Conventional deadlifts make for great accessory and supplemental work.
Some of our experienced kids are committed competitive powerlifters. Our sports-specific programming includes conventional deadlifts because it makes sense to identify which position the kid best pulls from.
Is this a contradiction?
No.
We’re talking sport.
We’re talking kids who want to lift the most weight possible. That doesn’t mean we simply let the kid pull conventional. A TBXM™ program for a kid who can stand up with more weight in the conventional stance than in the sumo position also includes exercises that support the conventional stance to ensure that safety and efficiency are maximized during training and competition.
The conventional stance deadlift transfers to the power clean, a staple power-building exercise for The Brand X Method™.
Let’s optimize.
Occasionally anthropometry such as long femurs, long torso, and comparatively short arms call for us to explore a conventional stance for plateau-busting insights.
Individualizing our program is essential to our mission.
Frankly, variation is a fairly conventional strength training principle. And therein lies one of the great things about The Brand X Method™—our principles are sound; they are long-established, evidence-based, and proven. With that kind of foundation, we can forever explore and evolve best practices for teaching kids how to move more safely and efficiently for fitness, sport, and life.
If You Ain’t Cheating You Ain’t Trying
The Brand X Method™ wrangles with the constant tension between the goals of youth sport and the goals of our program.
The former wants high performance at all times (e.g., lifting the most weight, throwing the hardest, running the fastest) while we want to see the discovery, participation, and enjoyment of sport and other physical activities for all time.Thing is, the tension seems to come from the sports side and is almost entirely driven by an over-reliance on sports-specific training and a lack of knowledge about how our program should be viewed as essential to sports-specific training rather than some kind of extraneous “activity.”
We know that high performance and lifelong physical activity based on consistently good movement don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
Our proof is in the USA Powerlifting—California state record book where our kids and teens (and even some adults) hold more than 100 records.
Imagine that—prioritizing safety and efficiency in the form of consistently excellent (and natural) movement yields record holders, champions, and national qualifiers, most of whom stepped onto the platform just for kicks.
High performance is a by-product of The Brand X Method™.
Sumo. What they call cheating, we call common sense.
What they snicker at, we find advantageous.
Efficient.
Safe.
Long-term.
We want our kids able to lift when they’re 40 50, 60, beyond.
A youth fitness program that is not thinking about lifetime fitness is not thinking period.
We’ll continue to train the most efficient, safest movement built on naturally intended, functional motor patterns and positions. We’ll continue to encourage kids to try different sports and then provide them the best strength and conditioning we can to keep them strong, fast, and durable. We’ll continue to imagine a better future for our kids. And we’ll continue to gather the medals, trophies, and records that come with it.
They say cheating. We say scoreboard, baby.
About the Author
Dan Edelman is a Brand X Youth Coach and has been a member of The Brand X Method staff for nearly a decade, principally as staff writer and editor. He is the current Director of Marketing & Communications and is co-owner of R Town Strength & Wellness – A Brand X Method Training Center in San Diego County, California.
About the The Brand X Method
Since 2004, we have been driven by a relentless pursuit of best practices in youth training. Our focus on motor pattern training and physical literacy enhancement optimizes kids’ fitness and elevates their athleticism. We help protect kids and teens against sports injury, boost their sports performance, and push back against the forces behind obesity.
The mastery, confidence, and motivation that kids develop in our gyms are the ingredients of freedom and fearlessness. The Brand X Method™ instills the essence of adventure, passion, and joy in kids and teens when playing their favorite sports, trying new things, and tackling life’s challenges so they can step out of our gyms knowing they can do whatever they set out to do.
It’s popular nowadays for people to brag about how hard their workouts are.
And I don’t mean “hard” as in “man, I’d rather jump into a shark’s mouth than do that squat session again” hard.
No, for whatever reason, it’s become more important to one-up each other, to champion shenanigans over actual progress in the gym:
Person #1: “I could barely walk to my car after my workout today.”
Person #2: “Pfftt, whatever. I threw up today during my workout. It was awesome.”
Person #3: “Oh yeah, well, after my workout I couldn’t feel the right side of my face.”
Progress, it seems, has more to do with how close to a medical emergency someone can get than it is actually seeing tangible improvements in their lifts.
My hoity toity introduction wasn’t meant to imply I’m against trainees pushing the envelop in their training. I’ve often said, somewhat facetiously, that lifting weights isn’t supposed to tickle.
I love when people work hard in the gym.
But there’s a stark contrast between someone working hard during a workout and them going out of their way to routinely surpass their ability to recover from said workout.
In a very much watered down explanation, “progress” can be applied, measured, or attributed to the following factors:
Doing more sets/reps of a particular exercise.
Adding more load to a particular exercise.
Manipulating rest periods and/or tempo of a particular exercise.
Changing “mode” of an exercise (I.e., switching from Trap Bar Deadlift to Conventional)
Adding physics into the equation (I.e, moving center of mass further up and away from base of support. I.e., switching from Dumbbell Reverse Lunges to Barbell Reverse Lunges).
In Short: Are you making a concerted effort to “do more work?” What’s more, are you able to do so over the course of weeks, months, years?
Your ability to progress long-term is directly correlated with how well you’re able to recover from your workouts (via purposeful fluctuations in training volume, as well as ensuring ample sleep, calories, and hydration). It has nothing to do with one’s prowess at regurgitating their Quinoa & Kale power salad from a few hours ago.
But I’ll get off my high-horse and get to the point.
“Feel” Matters
Last year I started working with another local coach here in Boston. She’s co-owner of a KB-centric gym and Strong First certified, but she wanted to hire me to help her get more proficient with the barbell lifts (specifically the deadlift) as well as help her prepare for the Strong First barbell course.
Jessica was already pretty freakin strong when she started.
When we tested her deadlift she hit 300 lbs; a number many guys would love to hit.
However, it didn’t “feel” or look easy.
She had a few technical glitches I wanted to iron out.
We had ten weeks. During that time my only goal was to clean up her technique in an effort to make 300 lbs feel easier.
I knew that if we worked on cementing her technique, making each repetition look (and feel) pristine, and getting her into better positions to be able to express her (true) strength…we’d likely see an improvement when she re-tested her 1 rep-max at the conclusion of the certification course.
Conventional wisdom would dictate that in order to get her to lift more weight we’d have to focus on progressive overload – more sets, more reps, heavier load, did she destroy the back of her pants, etc.
That’s not the route I took.
Over the course of ten weeks we never touched a weight above 265 lbs.
35 lbs under her best lift.
Instead, like I said, we focused on improving position(s) and making sure we trained with loads that allowed her to marinate in impeccable and FAF reps.8.
Fast Forward Ten Weeks
Before she left for her certification weekend we re-tested 300 lbs.
Few things have made me cry – saying my vows to my wife during our wedding, holding my son for the first time, watching Rose let go of Jack at the end of Titanic, flipping my omelet and not breaking it.
Okay, I cry all the time.
Jessica’s deadlift brought a tear to my eye it looked so good.
What was originally a 19 on the Rate of Perceived Exertion scale, looked (and felt) like a 7/8 by the time ten weeks were over.
What’s more, she ended up hitting a PR of 35o lbs that weekend.
*drops the mic.
Progress = Feel, Too
Far too often trainees are quick to add more weight to the bar, or use the concept of more (more sets, reps, load, etc) as the sole metric to gauge progress.
All are important of course, and everyone should remain cognizant of them.
However, don’t be so quick to underestimate the value of staying put and getting more acquainted with a specific weight. If five reps of a certain weight is challenging, even if you can complete five reps, stay there.
Stay there until it feels less effortful. Many people are too quick to add weight at the expense of actually owning it. More to the point, I much prefer someone leave a session feeling refreshed and that they could do more rather than shit their spleen and miss reps on a routine basis.
We’ve had a sick toddler on our hands the past few days (hence the lack of content this week) and our apartment is basically a Petri dish of whateverthef*** at the moment.
He’s feeling better – and back at daycare – but, yeah, that wasn’t fun.
Anyhoo, lets get to this week’s list of stuff to read.
Ever wonder what it would look like to have me take you through an assessment?
No?
Well, I DIDN’T WANT YOU TO KNOW ANYWAY!
[slams door]
Fast forward five hours….
A few months ago Adam Rees of GRIT Gym and his girlfriend, Rachel, stopped by CORE to hang out and to so that I could take a look at Rachel.
She had been having some hip issues and wanted me to take a look at her deadlift and squat.
A technique audit if you will.
They ended up making this video to document their experience.9
3. Appearance on The Strength Running Podcast
I was invited back onto the Strength Running Podcast hosted by Jason Fitzgerald.
It’s a on-going battle, but I do feel the tides are turning and that many runners are starting to understand the importance of strength training (and how it should serve to compliment their running).
Jason and I discuss a bevy of things in this episode, but we dial in on the deadlift and why it’s such an integral movement to learn.
I’ve been incorporating more Copenhagen Side Planks into my programming of late. Great drill to target core stability, hip strength, and to help offset hip, knee and low back ouchies. Here are three progressions to consider: pic.twitter.com/NGYNzAgkzs
This is an excellent 3-part (but short read) series written by friend Steve Bergeron of AMP Fitness here in Boston. Plenty of practical and sane advice here.
It was a pleasant surprise to have an email waiting for me this morning from Dr. Mike T. Nelson asking if I’d be interesting in posting this article up on my website?
“Does He-Man give zero shits about rocking a bowl cut?”
Of course I’d be interested.
The animal protein vs. plant-based protein debate is alive and well. Thankfully we have smart, sane, and subjective researchers in the field like Dr. Nelson to hand us the facts so we can make more informed decisions.
Plant proteins are all the rage now, but should you drop all your meat consumption to save the planet at the expense of your biceps? Is there any data to prop up the idea that eating more plants helps the earth?
Hang on to your propeller hat for a short trip down the nerd chute to see if the environmental concerns have weight and how plant proteins stack up.
I don’t trust thez gunZ to plants only
Plant proteins have become more popular recently in part due to environmental concerns or ethical concerns (1, 2). Environmental research is not my main wheelhouse, however I can read research.
Pimentel et al. in 2003 (3) analyzed the of land and energy resources devoted to an average meat-based diet compared with a lactoovovegetarian (plant-based) diet. Both diets contained the same number of calories at 3,533 kcal per person. According to their analysis:
“The meat-based food system requires more energy, land, and water resources than the lactoovovegetarian diet. In this limited sense, the lactoovovegetarian diet is more sustainable than the average American meat-based diet.” (3).
Meat-eaters = do not pass Go and collect 200 colones (about 33 cents).
In the USA, Europe and Australia, meat and dairy provide about 80% of the daily protein intake compared to Africa where as little as 7 g of meat and 4 g of milk are consumed per capita (4).
I hear your biceps shrieking in terror from here.
In an analysis from Scarborough et al., in 2014 (1), the researchers found that greenhouse gas emission in self-selected meat-eaters was about twice as high as those in vegans. They concluded that reductions in meat consumption could lead to reductions in green house gas emissions.
Meat-eaters 0, plant people 2.
Editor’s note: Tony here, if you want to know my true thoughts on kale, go HERE.
While the above around two selections, a reduction in the consumption of meat proteins may provide an advantage for the environment; but can they provide the same physiologic response in MPS (muscle protein synthesis – aka stuffing those amino acids into your muscles to make them bigger and stronger)?
Will Tony’s biceps become baby biceps?
Science Bitches
A study by Yang et al. (5) compared the effects of whey and soy protein in older men (age 71 +/- 5 years). The subjects completed a single-leg extension exercise before taking either no protein (eeeek) or 20 grams of soy protein (sorry gonads).
The researchers sampled the men’s muscle tissue via biopsy to compare the results to the non-exercising leg. They found that consuming soy protein was better than nothing, but it did not match to the response of whey protein from previous studies (6).
Your friendly author here with Dr Jose Antonio
In another study (7), wheat protein was compared to dairy protein sources in healthy older men (average age: 71 ± 1 years old).
The subjects (n=60) were split into 5 groups where they consumed 35 g wheat protein, 35 g wheat protein hydrolysate, 35 g micellar casein, 35 g whey protein, or 60 g wheat protein hydrolysate.
Plasma and muscle samples were collected at regular intervals. They found that a 60-gram dose of wheat protein was needed to see the same MPS response as the lower dose of 35 grams of the dairy based proteins (7).
Take Away?
Even if you are using a wheat protein supplement, you need a piss ton of it to match the same acute muscle building effects as dairy based proteins. Only trying to get that much wheat via whole food sources bro?
Good luck and enjoy the masseter hypertrophy along with lower body mobility from the Wilford Brimley two-step time.
Chronic Data
I hear the Pubmed ninjas rising up from their war-torn keyboards in their Mom’s basement in a unionism cry:
“…but that is all acute data Mr. PhD Sciency pants – don’t you know that you need chronic data?”
In a chronic study from Joy et al (8), subjects were given either 48 grams of rice protein as a supplement or 48 grams of whey protein isolate after exercise. They did not see any difference between groups over 8 weeks at that dose (8).
This study provides data that while plant proteins tend to be inferior to dairy based proteins on a gram-for-gram basis, that difference in MPS can be equalized at a higher intake dose.
Summary (AKA: Too Long, Did Not Read)
In short, there is data that eating less meat may be better for Mother Earth.
Good news – if you are eating a plant protein you can up the dose (amount) to get similar effects as your meat based bro-tein consuming doooooode bro buddies with bulging biceps.
The downside is that it takes many larger serving sizes.
In the end, it is up to each person to decide their own cost/ benefits, but now you can make an informed decision without watching your biceps wither in the process.
About the Author
Mike T. Nelson, PhD, MSME, CSCS, CISSN, is a research fanatic who specializes in metabolic flexibility and heart rate variability, as well as an online trainer, adjunct professor, faculty member at the Carrick Institute, presenter, creator of the Flex Diet Cert, kiteboarder, and (somewhat incongruously) heavy-metal enthusiast.
Scarborough P, Appleby PN, Mizdrak A, Briggs AD, Travis RC, Bradbury KE, et al. Dietary greenhouse gas emissions of meat-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians and vegans in the UK. Climatic change. 2014;125(2):179-92.
Millward DJ, Garnett T. Plenary Lecture 3: Food and the planet: nutritional dilemmas of greenhouse gas emission reductions through reduced intakes of meat and dairy foods. The Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. 2010;69(1):103-18.
Pimentel D, Pimentel M. Sustainability of meat-based and plant-based diets and the environment. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003;78(3 Suppl):660s-3s.
Gorissen SHM, Witard OC. Characterising the muscle anabolic potential of dairy, meat and plant-based protein sources in older adults. The Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. 2018;77(1):20-31.
Yang Y, Churchward-Venne TA, Burd NA, Breen L, Tarnopolsky MA, Phillips SM. Myofibrillar protein synthesis following ingestion of soy protein isolate at rest and after resistance exercise in elderly men. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2012;9(1):57.
Tang JE, Moore DR, Kujbida GW, Tarnopolsky MA, Phillips SM. Ingestion of whey hydrolysate, casein, or soy protein isolate: effects on mixed muscle protein synthesis at rest and following resistance exercise in young men. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2009;107(3):987-92.
Gorissen SH, Horstman AM, Franssen R, Crombag JJ, Langer H, Bierau J, et al. Ingestion of Wheat Protein Increases In Vivo Muscle Protein Synthesis Rates in Healthy Older Men in a Randomized Trial. The Journal of nutrition. 2016;146(9):1651-9.
Joy JM, Lowery RP, Wilson JM, Purpura M, De Souza EO, Wilson SM, et al. The effects of 8 weeks of whey or rice protein supplementation on body composition and exercise performance. Nutrition journal. 2013;12:86.
Since 2004, we have been driven by a relentless pursuit of best practices in youth training. Our focus on motor pattern training and physical literacy enhancement optimizes kids’ fitness and elevates their athleticism. We help protect kids and teens against sports injury, boost their sports performance, and push back against the forces behind obesity.
