Luke and I did this workshop last summer in London and figured it’s only fair to bring it State side.
Combined we have 30+ years of coaching experience (I.e., one Mike Boyle or Dan John) and this workshop will be two days where we uncover every nook and cranny as it relates to how we assess our clients/athletes and how we best prepare them for the rigors of every day life/sport.
This will be a unique opportunity for people to learn from myself, but especially Luke, who, along with traveling over from the UK, is one of the best and brightest coaches I know.
For more information and to register you can goHERE.
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We’ll be spending two days covering everything from upper/lower extremity assessment, program design, corrective exercise, how to coach up things like deadlifts, squats, and not kipping pull-ups, in addition to trying not to swoon too much over Luke’s British accent.
Who This Workshop is For: Personal trainers, strength coaches, physical therapists, athletic trainers, people who like to lift heavy things, people who would like to lift heavy things someday, people who would like to lift heavy things the right way, and Jason Bourne.
Who This Workshop is Not For: Dementors, ghosts, Balrogs, and Virgos.
Tentative Itinerary
Day 1
8.30 – Registration – Tea / Coffee / Tickle Fights with Tony
Cost:$299 Early Bird (until April 30th), $399 Regular (after April 30th).
Other Pertinent Tidbits
This event will be approved for 1.4 CEUs via the NSCA.
Luke’s the shit and this will be the first time he’s presenting in North America. This is a great opportunity to learn from one of the smartest coaches I know.
Okay, whatever, I’ll say it: I have a man-crush on Luke.2
I mean, it pales in comparison to a Wingardium Leviosa spell – or even bacon wrapped dates (magic in my mouth) – but if you’re looking for a drill to add to your squat/deadlift warm-up, or to help with a pair of cranky hips, continue reading.
Giving credit where it’s due, I first learned of this exercise – well, technically, an iteration of it – via Dr. Stuart McGill while attending one of his workshops years ago.
He included it as a form of progression with regards to low back rehabilitation and performance. In his version, you don’t use anything as support and you then hold your arms out to your sides (like an airplane) and perform the drill.
I’m half convinced the only people who can do it well on the first try are 1) Dr. McGill and 2) Cirque du Soleil performers.
Nevertheless it’s a fantastic drill that stresses a “rigid” (or stable) spine while also performing a CLOSED-CHAIN exercise where the acetabulum – hip socket – moves along a fixed femur.
As much as I’m a fan, however, it’s also a fairly advanced drill and often cumbersome to master for many individuals.
Try this instead.
Supported Hip Airplane
Who Did I Steal It From?: My wife was actually given this exercise by Dr. Sarah Duvall a few weeks ago to help her with some annoying hip “stuff” she’s been dealing with for the past few years.
Within days of implementing this drill my wife saw a massive reduction in her symptoms and was also quoted as saying…
“Hip internal rotation is fucking magic.”
More on this in a bit, because it’s not technically working hip IR.
What Does It Do?: As noted above it’s primarily a closed-chain exercise (weeeeeeee) which allows for the more proximal joint (in this case the hip) to move across a fixed femur (the distal joint, the foot, is cemented to the ground).
When I posted this exercise up on my IG account I had several people keep me in check (and rightfully so) when I had mentioned this exercise helps encourage more hip internal rotation.
“It’s actually a discussion of motion vs position. At the top of the airplane the hip is externally rotatED. Then as you return back to neutral, you are technically going through internal rotation but you are still in a position of external rotation. I would actually encourage you to go beyond neutral to get into an internally rotated position.”
So, yeah, do that…;o)
Suffice to say:
1. I like this drill because it hammers home the point of rigid/stable spine while moving through the hip.
2. DON’T EVER SHOW ME UP LIKE THAT AGAIN MOVEMENTS 4 LIFE. I’LL CUT YOU.3
Key Coaching Cues: I cue up a “soft” knee on whatever leg someone stands on. The idea is to extend the inside leg so that the backside is long. If someone is unable to own that position, I’d encourage them to bend the leg at the knee to reduce the lever length.
Rotate up via the hip making sure to minimize motion from the spine. When in the maximally externally rotated position one can control, reverse the action by thinking about driving the top portion of the hip towards the opposite knee.
And, as noted above, don’t be scared to go past neutral and get into more hip internal rotation (that’s what the support is there for).
To progress, let go of the support.
I’ve been including this drill as part my my lower body warm-up for squats and deadlifts and my hips/glutes are thankful.
If you work with high-school athletes this is for you.
Friend and colleague, Mike Anderson, who’s a strength coach in Ohio, reached out and asked if I’d be open to sharing a roundtable discussion of several coaches discussing the rigamarole of working with this population.
I always enjoy other coaches riffing and pontificating on this subject and I think there are many perils of wisdom below.
One of the most important populations for strength and conditioning / fitness right now is the high school aged athlete.
Training has become so common amongst this age group that if you even think that you might want to compete at the next level then you need to be in a gym. I myself train a metric shit-ton of high school athletes and it’d be an understatement to say that this population has some unique traits and attributes.
As a strength coach, it’s sometimes easy to forget that not everybody knows the same things you do. I occasionally take some information for granted and am surprised when the kids or their parents don’t know it.
Some recent interactions I had with athletes spurned the writing of this post and I thought it would be really interesting to get some points of view from friends of mine in the industry around the country regarding the two things that they, as coaches, wished that both high school athletes and their parents would really understand about training.
Jarrod Dyke – Owner / Coach, First XV Performance, Brookline MA.
1. Every athlete that walks into a weight room or training facility needs to remember this: you are there to help you get better at your sport, not to set the world record in powerlifting or weight lifting (unless those are your sports). Check your ego at the door.
If your squat doesn’t jump 100 pounds in 3 weeks, it’s not the end of the world.
Put in the work and the weight will go up! You will get stronger and be much stronger on the pitch, field, court, ice, track etc. Just because you tick the room temperature up from 29 degrees to 30 and the ice isn’t melted yet doesn’t mean you aren’t making progress, be patient!
2. In season training is a big must if you want to last throughout the season.
It is very possible to maintain your strength or even gain strength, depending on the circumstance, throughout your sport season.
Not training at all is probably the worst thing you can do; your practices and game aren’t enough to maintain the strength you just put all the work into building up. Then when the off-season comes you are not starting all the way back at square one, but rather you’re still better than you were at the start of the last off-season.
Hilary Lederer – Strength Coach, Force of Nature Strength & Conditiong, Toronto, Canada.
1. The first thing I’d want parents and athletes to understand about strength training is that it doesn’t need to be (and almost always shouldn’t be) something that completely exhausts the athlete. A ton of productive work can be accomplished while still feeling pretty fresh after.
2. The second thing is how valuable a solid coach and program can be for every athlete. You can be talented and successful without, but those athletes tend to be less common and rarely last long.
Injury prevention, weak points, confidence, etc. will all be positively affected in the short and long term, plus you are setting the athlete up for lifelong good habits relating to health and fitness.
Mitch Gill – Head Athletic Trainer at Dacula High School, Private S&C in Dacula, Georgia
1. “Sports specific” training is just practice; it is not the weight room. Strength and conditioning is about building the qualities such as strength and speed to increase the robustness of the athlete’s skills. The goal in the weight room is to create a better all-around athlete who is able to express that athleticism on the field.
2. Athletic development is a long term process; or as I like to call it, “slow cooking the athlete.”
We live in a microwave society that wants to see results right away.
They want their squat to go up 80 lbs in a month or their 40 time to drop half a second in that same time. For long term success, let nature and time in training take its course.
No one cares if the kid is the best 14 year old in their county at their sport if he/she has already peaked or is always hurt.
1.The idea of “Sport Specific training” is a hoax – Athletes and parents need to understand that our jobs as strength and conditioning coaches is to make better athletes (through strength, speed, and power gains along with injury reduction protocols).
The training program that the athletes receive will be very similar to one another (in regards to the movements and speed development). The only thing different will be how they apply their training program into their sport (ex: A swimmer and a baseball player will both squat to develop stronger and more powerful legs.
For the swimmer it’s to have a better start and turns off the walls. For the baseball player, it’s to have a stronger swing and faster sprint to the bases). Leave the specificity to the actually sport coaches who know and understand the sport like the back of their hands.
2. Be patient with your training – Understand that good things take some time to develop.
You actually have to work your tail off to get results.
Some people adapt quicker than others and see improvements much sooner than their counter parts. But that’s the beauty of us being human; we’re all different and react to stimulus and stress differently. This might sound like another point but it goes right along with being patient and that is staying consistent with your training and who you are training with.
Be organized with your training and have a set schedule of when you’re doing it (certain circumstances I understand will pop up but try to stay as close as you can to your schedule). The number of training sessions per week will alter how fast or slow your results will be.
You see that your vertical hasn’t improved in two weeks. Well maybe it’s because you’ve only had a total of four training sessions in those two weeks.
Lastly, jumping from coach to coach will break up and stunt your progress because each coach has a different approach to their training. Your body will not be able to adapt if you are constantly changing the training stimulus with a new program from a new coach each month or even week. The moral of this spiel is that good things will come to those who wait!
1. I need you to understand what it is you want to gain from training with us.
Can some of this be coached? Yes, probably.
However, if you don’t have a clear picture of what you hope to gain from training you will not achieve much of anything in the end. While I can explain what training can do for you, it is not the same as YOU knowing what you want to gain from training.
As parents, you need to understand that from the same level as I do as the coach. You telling your kids what they should get from training is not the same as them expressing what they want to get from training. It has to come from within them…what is it that they want to achieve?
2. I need you to understand WHY achieving that is important to you.
I mean really break it down on every damn level. Why, why, why, why, why?
Why do you want to get stronger? To play on varsity. Why do you want to play varsity…oh snap…now that’s where the ball is usually dropped. Guess what? You’re 16. Your child is 16. Why do you want to play varsity?
Don’t give me the lip service of you want to be the best you can be unless that is really true. Maybe you want to elevate your social status. Maybe you want to be like someone you look up to. Maybe you think it will help you get a date with that girl on the softball team you like. Why you want it is the most important thing you need to understand about training.
WHY ARE YOU HERE?
You are going to be pulled in 6 directions at that age…you will continually have other things you could do. If you understand WHY you are training, and have therefore decided that that “why” is the most important thing to you then you will get it done. Whether or not you’re training with me, whether you’re on the best program or worst program. The kids that know their why and who are supported by parents that know their WHY will succeed.
Mike Anderson – Owner / Coach, Anderson Strength & Fitness, Cleveland Ohio.
1. The real impetus behind this discussion, for me, was that I really want athletes and their parents to understand that getting ready for a particular season takes more than two weeks.
I recently had two different kids reach out to me ready to “get jacked” and “crush shit before season” only to realize that one of them had three weeks to go and the other one was actually in the middle of try-outs.
There is very little I can legitimately do for you in that time frame. If you really want to explore how much you can develop athletically then it needs to be a year round part of your life.
2. The other thing that I’d really want to impress upon both athletes and their parents is that you will directly get back what you put into your training.
If you consistently show up to Saturday morning training after a seven hour Fortnite binge ending with three hours of sleep and no breakfast, then you’re going to have a really shitty training session.
If we are fueling our young athletes with Pop Tarts and Captain Crunch then we should be expecting their development to be reflective of that. Sophomores in high school are rarely in charge of their own nutrition, and thus parents really need to be aware of providing the right things for their kids to make good choices with.
I hope that this was ultimately helpful in some way, and if you found it to be so then please share it so that other athletes and/or their parents can benefit! If you’re in the same area as any of the coaches on this panel please don’t hesitate to find them on social media and get your young athlete in the gym and working!
Luke and I did this workshop last summer in London and figured it’s only fair to bring it State side.
Combined we have 30+ years of coaching experience (I.e., one Mike Boyle or Dan John) and this workshop will be two days where we uncover every nook and cranny as it relates to how we assess our clients/athletes and how we best prepare them for the rigors of every day life/sport.
This will be a unique opportunity for people to learn from myself, but especially Luke, who, along with traveling over from the UK, is one of the best and brightest coaches I know.
For more information and to register you can go HERE.
3) Strong Savvy Cyclist & Triathlete Podcast
I was invited onto the Strong Savvy Cyclist & Triathlete Podcast recently hosted by my good friend Menachem Brodie.
Whenever he and I start chatting we tend to lose track of time. We covered a litany of topics in this episode, but we tried our best to stick to shoulder training for endurance athletes.
I’ve been putting in more (supported) Hip Airplanes into my client’s warmups. Great closed chain drill that allows the acetabulum (hip socket) to move about a fixed femur. Try em before a squat session.
But seriously, John and Ryan very much mirror my sentiments with regards to squat assessment and squatting technique. Except, you know, they’re way smarter than I am. So, it’s more appropriate to say I mirror THEIR sentiments.
The adage “you can’t out-train a poor diet” is very much true.
Exercise doesn’t burn as many calories as you think it does. So, does this mean you should chalk exercise up as a pointless endeavor with regards to hitting your body composition goals?
NOTE: The term “Porcelain Post” was invented by Brian Patrick Murphy and Pete Dupuis. Without getting into the specifics, it describes a post that can be read in the same time it takes you to go #2.
Huh, I guess that was more specific than I thought.
I was l listening to an episode of The Fitcast with Kevin Larrabee and guest Lou Schuler recently and Lou brought up an eye-popping stat saying something to the effect that within the past 3-5 years there’s been a steady rise of people graduating with a degree in Health Science.
I’m having a brain fart on the actual stat, but I wanna say it’s in the 200,000 to kajillion-billion range per year. It’s definitely closer to the former, but suffice it to say: there’s a lot of people entering the fitness industry.
And lets be honest: there’s not really much one can do with a “health science” degree.
Sure, some will enter collegiate strength & conditioning, maybe gravitate towards academia, or, I don’t know, join a ninja gang. The vast majority of people, however, will likely root themselves getting a job as a personal trainer at a local commercial gym.
Most fitness professionals have a firm grasp on the intricacies of concurrent vs. undulated periodization, the nuances of breaking down squat mechanics, or hell, maybe they’re an uber nerd and can articulate every step of gluconeogenesis.
Many can write a program or assess scapular upward rotation with their eyes closed.
Yet, when it comes to marketing their services – and “wooing” new clients – they’re as lost as a White Walker in Westeros.
There’s intense pressure on trainers – especially in bigger box commercial gyms – to “recruit” more patrons into personal training each month and to hit quotas.
And this is where I feel most trainers have it backwards.
I believe time would be better spent – not to mentions it’s waaaay more cost effective – doing everything one can to foster an environment where client retention is the goal.
What’s more lucrative?
1. A trainer spending an inordinate amount of his or her’s time scratching and clawing to maybe entice two new people to sign up for one (maybe two) months of training, never to be seen again?
OR
2. A trainer who has a healthy roster of ten clients who are continually re-upping their packages?
SPOILER ALERT: the latter.
Some Stuff to Consider
None of this is to insinuate that the burden should be solely on the trainer’s back 100% of the time; I do believe commercial gyms can (and should) play a more proactive role in supporting their staff.
Offering (free) continuing education opportunities would be a nice start.
I.e., invest in their trainers.
That said, here are a few quick-n-dirty suggestions for trainers:
1. It’s quoted often and may induce a hefty amount of eye rolls, but Mike Boyle’s “no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care” line is never more germane than here.
Be punctual.
Be professional.
Never underestimate the power of a hand written note.
All are more apt to maintain a client’s business more so than your proclivity to break down synergistic dominance or name every articulation of the body in alphabetical order.4
2. Try not to be a fitness industry T-1000.
Maybe you think it’s cool you haven’t missed a workout in four years, post shirtless pics of yourself eating a kale salad, and haven’t eaten gluten since 2009, but your clients could likely give two shits.
They want to be able to build a connection with you.
This is NOT to say you shouldn’t practice what you preach and be proud of it. This is also not to say you’re #1 goal and priority in keeping clients is to elicit results.
It IS to say, however, it wouldn’t hurt to be a bit more relatable and not give the impression you eat, drink, and breath fitness at all times.
Remember that one time you ate an Oreo after 9 PM?
Share that.
Or, what about that time you lived life dangerously and didn’t spend your Friday night watching YouTube training videos and instead watched Eyes Wide Shut?
Either People prefer to know they hired a human to interact with and are more inclined to stay with someone they can relate to.6
3. When I was at Cressey Sports Performance the most valuable way we “marketed” our services was to be present and attend our athlete’s games whenever we could.
First of all, our athletes loooooooooved it; and what better way to build long-term rapport than that?
Second, it was a free advertising and it wasn’t uncommon for other parents to approach us and inquire about our services.
Third, it’s not lost on me that many of you reading don’t work with athletes and that it would be awkward to just randomly show up at your client’s open mic poetry slam reading or their powerpoint presentation at work on “How the 2018 Tax Laws Affect Free Market Sales of Industrial Strength Penis Enlargers.”
That said, maybe you started working with someone who’s going to compete in their first powerlifting meet or figure competition or kite flying contest.
Go!
Be a voice and beacon of support for them.
They’ll love it and will undoubtedly be loyal to you as a client for the foreseeable future.
I Guess What I’m Trying to Say Is
Be unapologetic with regards to making your CURRENT clients happy and fostering those relationships. It’s a slight reframe from what we’re programmed to do and think, but one I feel will pay huge dividends.
If you missed the previous installments of this series from Massachusetts based strength & conditioning coach, Matthew Ibrahim, you can check them out in the links below:
One of the top priorities to focus on when warming up prior to performing your deadlift in training is to spend time in the ACTUAL hip hinge (deadlift) position itself.
Most folks tend to skip out on this and lose out on the benefits. It becomes super important to groove the hip hinge pattern with repetition in the warm-up if you plan to load it in training with your deadlift.
In addition to grooving the hip hinge pattern, here are some other key areas to target in your warm-up when preparing to deadlift: trunk stability, lat activation, hamstring tissue flexibility and hip joint mobility.
All eight exercises below provide your body with the opportunity to warm-up everything labeled above in an efficient and cohesive format:
1) Yoga Pike – x5
2) Walking Inchworm – x5
3) Alternating Bird Dog – x5 each side
4) KB Dead Bug – x8 each side
5) Band 1-Leg Hamstring Pull-Down – x10
6) Band Standing Straight Arm Pull-Down – x10
7) MB Hug Good Morning – x10
8) Cable Pull Through – x10
About the Author
Matthew Ibrahim is the Co-Owner & Lead Performance Coach of TD Athletes Edge in Salem, MA. He has been an invited guest speaker nationally in over 10 U.S. states, which was highlighted by his presentations at Google Headquarters and Stanford University, in addition to guest speaking internationally in Milan, Italy.
His work has been featured in Men’s Fitness, STACK Media and The PTDC. Currently, he is completing his masters degree at Rocky Mountain University with a direct track into their PhD program.
He is a big fan of interacting on Instagram and regularly posts about training, performance and recovery.
I’ll be in Raleigh, NC THIS WEEKEND putting on my popular Coaching Competency workshop
Full details (date, location, itinerary, how to register) can be found HERE.
3. Strategic Strength Workshop – Boston, MA
Luke and I did this workshop last summer in London and figured it’s only fair to bring it State side. Combined we have 30+ years of coaching experience (I.e., one Mike Boyle or Dan John) and this workshop will be two days where we uncover every nook and cranny as it relates to how we assess our clients/athletes and how we best prepare them for the rigors of every day life/sport.
This will be a unique opportunity for people to learn from myself, but especially Luke, who I think is one of the best and brightest coaches I know.
For more information and to register you can goHERE.
She’s running a pull-up challenge this month (starts Monday, March 18th) and everyone who participates will receive a FREE PDF outlining exercises and tips to improve your pull-ups.
Plus you get to be part of a motivating challenge.
Also, on an aside: Meghan’s popular Ultimate Pull-Up Program will be on sale at 25% off the regular price throughout the duration of the challenge (and I think the offer is available right now).
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Progressive overload matters. I can’t tell you how many people will bring up “x” supplement or “y” exercise thinking that THAT, finally, will help explain their lack of progress. They just needed that.
There’s no shortage of myths and naysayers when it comes to attaching strength training to an endurance athlete. I want to give Menachem a hug so freakin bad for writing this article.
I often say that what bogs down most fitness professionals, and what often causes the most stress, isn’t the x’s and o’s of program design, assessment, or breaking down the Creatine phosphorylation cycle.
Nor is it the ability to break down squat or overhead pressing technique.
Most coaches/trainers can do all the above without blinking an eye.7
Nope, what really grinds most fit pro’s gears is how to better motivate their clients and to get them to work hard(er).
Now, to be fair (and to add a sense of brevity), when I say “to get them to work hard(er)” I am not implying the word “hard” means someone trains to the point of shitting their kidney on their last set of cleans or that they can’t feel the right side of their face after finishing that day’s WOD.
We all have biases as coaches. We all have notions of how most people we work with should train and what they need to do to get from Point A to Point B.
Using myself as an example:
“Lifting heavy shit.”
I’ll unabashedly admit that the bulk of people who walk through the doors at CORE already know what they’re getting themselves into
I mean, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to take a gander at my logo and tagline to put 2 and 2 together:
That said, I’ve made a massive philosophical change in my coaching style ever since marrying my wife, Dr. Lisa Lewis.
She’s a psychologist and knows a thing or two about Jedi mind-tricks.
To that end, I try really, really, really hard not to force feed and project MY preferences onto my clients. Granted I live in a bit of a strength & conditioning bubble where I don’t have to work very hard to convince new clients to understand and appreciate the benefits of strength training.
Many times people walk through the doors of CORE on Day #1 wanting to deadlift, or front squat, or discuss why Colton was a fool (and FOOL I tell you) to pick Cassie over Tayshia in the latest season of The Bachelor.
However, NEWSFLASH: a lot of people could give two shits about deadlifting 2x bodyweight or performing a low bar back squat.
Using the latter as a reference point, not many people have the ability to perform a barbell back squat well, and if I played the meanie head strength coach card all the time and forced every client to do it – even if it didn’t match their current ability level, injury history, or goal(s) – I’d be doing them a disservice and likely taking away from their training experience.
Doing our part and meeting our clients where THEY are – oh, you mean not everyone wants to train like a powerlifter? – would be the more germane and responsible approach.
If your client can’t perform a certain exercise because it’s too advanced (or worse, it hurts), then yeah, they’re not going to be very motivated to work hard.
2) Set Them Up For Success
I’m going to divulge a big (coaching) secret; something that will undoubtedly help separate any coaches/trainers who may be reading from the masses.
Wanna know what your clients want most and what will (likely) allow them to work harder?
No, it’s not a Instagram feed of you wearing yoga pants making a smoothie or posing shirtless next to a Tesla.
And it’s definitely not however many supplements you want to peddle their way.
Nope, what they really want is to not feel like an incompetent asshole on the gym floor.
The fitness industry likes bright shiny things; exercises that are flashy and look cool. That’s fine. I am not anti having a little fun in the gym.
That being said, lets stop with the exercises that take 13 minutes just to set up or are only good for garnering “likes” on social media.
I think the more prudent approach, and at the expense as coming across too “vanilla,” is to hammer the basics – squat, hinge, row, push, single leg, carry, core – and to use your skills as a coach to find out what variations of these patterns best fits the needs of your clients.
Want your clients to work hard(er)?
Set them up for success and provide a litany of exercises they can actually perform well and without feeling like a fool.
And then, you know, progress them accordingly.
3) Have Them Write Shit Down
Let me know if this sounds familiar:
Client: I’m frustrated by my lack of progress.
Me: Okay, lets break this down. Let me look at your program.
(looks at program)
Me: Why isn’t there anything written down?
Client: Oh, I just try to remember each week what I do.
Me: Excuse me, brb.
(tosses face into a brick wall).
Please.
Most people can barely remember what they had for dinner the night before let alone what they did on their third set of DB Bench Press last Wednesday.
“What gets tracked, gets managed”
I like to place a bit of accountability with my clients and encourage them – almost naggingly so – to WRITE THEIR SHIT DOWN FOR THER LOVE OF GOD.
4) Appreciate RPE
It’s one thing when I can have my eyes on a client and adjust load or otherwise provide instant feedback on their technique in real time.
It’s a whole different ballgame when a client trains on their own.
There’s always going to be a bit of trial and error, however most of the time (not always) I find people tend to UNDER-estimate how much weight they can lift when training on their own.
Lets say a program calls for 4×8 of a particular exercise and that’s exactly what a client does.
Upon further inspection, though, when you bring up effort or Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE), you come to the realization that they could have done eight more reps with that same weight.
[Cue The Price is Right horn here.]
Granted, they’re doing work, which should be celebrated…just not work that’s challenging enough (or, to be more specific, “work” that challenges the body and forces it to adapt to the load placed upon it).
Getting your clients to appreciate and adopt “RPE” to help provide feedback and direction in terms of what loads to use can be a game changer with regards to nudging them to work harder.
Courtesy of Mike Turscherer
5) Use a Teeny Tine Dose of Tough Love
Lastly, sometimes I like to write little notes into my client’s programs – especially those who can’t seem to live without their cell phone – to remind them that I have their best interests in mind.
Unless you’re a brain surgeon on call, leave your phone off the gym floor…;o)
Humans are very tribal, and especially so when it comes to their nutritional preferences: Paleo vs. Keto vs. Vegan vs. Jets vs. Sharks vs. Decepticons.
It’s crazy out there.
In lieu of the release of his new book, Athletic Nutrition 101, regular TG.com contributor, Travis Hansen, sent me this fantastic blog post the other day I think you all will enjoy.
Before we dive in I want to make it clear that my sole intention with writing this objective article is to just be, you know…objective.
There is no denying that there are some profound emotional ties with various types of diets and nutritional approaches and although the information and science presented may trigger or ruffle up some feathers, please understand that is not my intent at all.
The purpose of this write-up is to simply look at some of the brief scientific literature as it pertains to proper vegan nutrition and its role on athletic performance outcomes to either confirm or disprove its credibility as a reliable dietary strategy for athletes.
That’s it.
I think it’s best to start by breaking down specific topics of discussion aimed at providing a conclusion into whether or not utilizing a vegan approach could support you or an athlete you train into becoming a better performer on the field or court.
Here are the most common areas of concern as far as the research is concerned on vegan nutrition and performance:
#1-Supplementation factors-Vitamin B12 deficiency
#2-Adequate protein intake
#3-Iron and Creatine levels
Supplementation Factors
Vitamins and Minerals are absolutely critical to so many biochemical reactions and functions in the human body.
Vitamins are stimulatory in nature and satisfy specific roles responsible for improved athletic performance measures, or a lack thereof. According to one study, supra or mega-doses of vitamins does not seem to have any increased benefit on sport performance.
“In general, vitamin supplementation to an athlete on a well-balanced diet has not been shown to improve performance. However, additional research with certain vitamins appears to be warranted, such as with the vitamin B complex and fine motor control, and with vitamin E and endurance at high altitudes. Moreover, research with mega-dose supplementation may also be necessary.” (1)
Unfortunately, there is some concern regarding a vegan approach and whether or not it can deliver proper doses of Vitamin B12 without supplementation.
“On the other hand, questions have been raised by some investigators regarding unique risks of the vegetarian diet, including oligomenorrhea and amenorrhea, iron deficiency, vitamin B12 deficiency, vitamin D deficiency, and impaired mineral status.” (2,3)
However, if athletes remove deficiencies and restore normal Vitamin B12 levels then there doesn’t seem to be an issue in terms of performance.
Adequate Protein Intake
The next issue deals with protein intake. This topic definitely seems to be the most detailed and alarming, but again, if
athletes supplement and consume adequate amounts of vegan protein sources they should be just fine.
Here is a short excerpt from my nutrition book that puts it into perspective and then afterwards I want to share some important information and a diagram you can check out from the infamous Boirie study which will help you appreciate why you need to attempt to overcompensate and consume more protein than normal to ensure an adequate anabolic muscle building response in the body.
“Adequate protein intake, although more perhaps difficult to come by for vegans vs. non vegans, does seem attainable to support proper athletic development.
For example, a study from van Vliet, 2015 found that plant protein is typically less anabolic than animal protein for several reasons. 132
Some include a reduced amount of essential amino acids, in particular Leucine. Greater excretion rates, proposed digestibility issues and more. However, the author did state that several strategies could be used to improve the anabolic response of a protein based meal primarily derived from plants. Including a higher variety of plant based protein sources, supplementing the amino acids leucine, lysine, and methionine, and eating greater amounts of plant based protein sources. Gorissen et. al agrees that compensating for reduced functional protein content by eating higher quantities of plant based protein is one way to go.133 “
So, the research clearly states that it is possible to ingest enough protein if you are a vegan, but you need to be particularly aware of the types of protein that you are consuming with a strong emphasis on getting in more than normal to overcompensate for any issues in amino acid content, increased removal of this type of protein, and digestive issues associated with vegan protein sources.
The amino acid Leucine is a key regulator in muscle growth via the MTOR pathway and lowered levels of this Branched Chain Amino Acid will cause reduced muscle growth levels, so you may need to supplement here if you are electing to be vegan.
Another issue that was brought to attention compliments of leading researcher Lyle Mcdonald, is the extremely poor digestion rate of vegan based protein sources.
According to the Boirie study chart, our digestive network has an absorption rate of 3.9 grams of Soy Isolate based protein per hour!
This is insanely low compared to meat based sources.
The unfortunate reality is that protein digestion rates are markedly slow to begin with and Soy based products compound this issue and make it even more difficult. Not to mention you have to be very concise with your vegan protein food combing selections if you aren’t consuming a vegan based protein supplement.
Here is another helpful excerpt from my book:
“Let’s first take a look at a limiting factor with regards to vegan based protein sources, comparative to animal based proteins dense with complete protein. When we eat meat, eggs, and other animal sources of protein then there is no need to fret about fulfilling a complete amino acid profile. Plant based sources, on the other hand, lack one essential amino acid and need to be complemented by another source to deliver all amino acids.
For example, plant based protein sources are often guilty of being unable to deliver a single amino acid known as the ‘limiting amino acid.’
“For example, grains’ limiting amino acid is lysine, but grains are high in the amino acid methionine. Therefore, grains match well with legumes, which are low in methionine but high in lysine.”
So greater consumption of complimentary proteins becomes essential to make sure that all potential deficiencies are accounted for, while also giving some extra supply of amino acid’s since plant based proteins are only 85% digestible, compare to animal sources which scale around 95%.” 2
And here are some combination strategies if you are going down the vegan path of nutrition to ensure you get a complete arsenal of amino acids to build all of your proteins….
Plant Based Meal Combo’s:
Stir fried vegetables and tofu over rice (soy and grains)
Vegetable chili with cornbread (legumes and grains)
Oatmeal with nuts and soy milk (grains, nuts, and soy)
Spinach salad with vegetables, garbanzo beans, and sunflower seeds (legumes and seeds)
Iron & Creatine Levels
The final concern for vegans trying to optimize their nutrition and athletic development deals with keeping Creatine and Iron levels.
As many of you already know, Creatine phosphate is the primary metabolic driver for literally any activity performed at or very near maximal intensities, and Iron is critical to any aerobic based activity.
But what about the upside to a vegan approach on performance?
This wasn’t directly mentioned in the research, but upon observation it’s obvious that vegan based diets contain higher levels of carbohydrates. This topic is another article series in itself, but if you are interested in how and why carbohydrates are essential for ANY athlete looking to perform better, here is a quick primer series below, and my book goes into even more detail if you are interested.
Vegan diets do a great job of prescribing the proper amounts and types of carbohydrates which many other nutritional approaches lack, so kudos to Vegans on this front!
3. Even More Reasons Why Athletes Should Eat Carbs – HERE
Final Thoughts
In closing, there is no magic cure for nutrition for any athlete.
Rather there is a broad range of diets you can experiment with and see how you and your performance responds.
A vegan approach, although more difficult for the few reasons I mentioned above, does seem to work, contrary to what many people say. Also keep in mind that there are indeed absolutes that need to be considered when it comes to nutrition, and once you begin to learn and understand these timeless principles it will make you and your athletes life much easier.
For example, overall energy intake regulates so much of our metabolic system and needs to be set at certain levels for proper functioning. Researchers have dialed down precisely how much protein our body’s can assimilate per meal and per day along with governors in our body that have been developed in the liver and through fullness responses. There are different ways to go about nutrition and some subtle differences between individuals, but then again there seems to be FAR more similarities and that helps simplify the topic to a high degree.
Athletic Nutrition 101
To pick up a copy of Travis’ book, which is priced at a steal given the amount of information he provides and the depth at which he goes into, you can go HERE.
Scientific References
#1-Williams, MH. Vitamin Supplementation and Athletic Performance. Int J Vitam Nutr Res Suppl, 30: 163-191, 1989.
#2-Barr, Susan I, and Candice A Rideout. “Nutritional Considerations for Vegetarian Athletes.”Nutrition, vol. 20, no. 7-8, 2004, pp. 696–703., doi:10.1016/j.nut.2004.04.015.
better at your sport, not to set the world record in powerlifting or weight lifting (unless those are your sports). Check your ego at the door.
1. The first thing I’d want parents and athletes to understand about strength training is that it doesn’t need to be (and almost always shouldn’t be) something that completely exhausts the athlete. A ton of productive work can be accomplished while still feeling pretty fresh after.
qualities such as strength and speed to increase the robustness of the athlete’s skills. The goal in the weight room is to create a better all-around athlete who is able to express that athleticism on the field.
1. The idea of “Sport Specific training” is a hoax – Athletes and parents need to understand that our jobs as strength and conditioning coaches is to make better athletes (through strength, speed, and power gains along with injury reduction protocols).
1. The real impetus behind this discussion, for me, was that I really want athletes and their parents to understand that getting ready for a particular season takes more than two weeks.
Matthew Ibrahim is the Co-Owner & Lead Performance Coach of TD Athletes Edge in Salem, MA. He has been an invited guest speaker nationally in over 10 U.S. states, which was highlighted by his presentations at Google Headquarters and Stanford University, in addition to guest speaking internationally in Milan, Italy.
