Among the many gems that I gleaned this past weekend during Greg Robin’s Optimizing the “Big 3” workshop was the notion that, contrary to popular thought, the purpose of supplemental work (or exercise) isn’t so much to make an exercise harder, but rather to address a some form of “kink” in one’s technique.
One such example would be deficit deadlifts. These are a very popular supplemental lift for those who are slow off the floor with their pull. The i
dea being that by elevating yourself on some form of platform or elevated surface you increase the ROM the bar must travel, and thus make the lift harder (and build explosiveness off the floor).
Is that really what’s happening?
Think about it: you’re decreasing the weight of the bar. If progressive overload is the rule to live by, how can taking weight off the bar help?
For the more visual learners in the crowd here’s a video of me pulling 505 lbs from a deficit to help.
Now, I’m not suggesting that performing deficit pulls – with lighter loads – doesn’t help with building explosiveness off the floor. Rather, all I’m suggesting is a slight paradigm shift and change of view.
Performing deficit pulls forces me to address my TECHNIQUE!! Honing my technique and addressing kinks in THAT is what’s going to help me pull more weight in the long run.
I naturally pull with my hips a bit higher than most people – it’s how my body is built. I’m also very slow off the floor. So is the increased ROM helping me be more explosive off the floor or is it the fact I’m forcing myself to dip a tad lower and engage my quads a bit more?
Note: I admit this would be even more applicable if I were puling conventional.
Now lets direct the discussion towards squats and what supplemental (squat) movements help with improving our technique in that realm.
Paused Squats
Anderson (Deadstart) Squats
1-1/2 Squats
In my latest article on BodyBuilding.com I discuss all three variations and why they’re a good choice to help with your squatting performance.
There are two types of people in the world: those who love Chipotle and those who hate it those who overanalyze E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G and those who don’t.
Take the philosophical question “what’s the meaning of life?” for example. Not to insinuate that this is a question that doesn’t deserve to be overanalyzed – admittedly it’s loaded and a question that’s pretty freakin deep – but it’s surprising how much of a dichotomy there is from person to person as to how it’s analyzed and thus answered.
Of course, the more introspective of us will dive into the existential components and gravitate towards a discourse of philosophy, religion, theology, science, the universe, as well as sub-components pertaining to one’s happiness (what makes someone “happy?”), spirituality (which may or may not include a God), social ties, morality, value, purpose, and a host of other equally important factors. Like kitten kisses and a Lord of the Rings marathon on TNT.
For the more critical and analytical in the crowd the meaning of life parallels that of Socrates where one should live a life of virtue and that which agrees with nature.
For someone else the meaning of life may revolve around the notion of “oneness” and developing a well-rounded relationship with oneself and with one’s surroundings (family, friends, environment, community, etc).
For the less analytical and for those people who tend to go with the flow, the meaning of life may be to make babies, have a lot of money, or, I don’t know, 2 for 1 pizza night at Papa Johns.
The point is: some people are deep thinkers (for better or worse), and some aren’t (for better or worse).
I’m not sure if the introduction above served as an appropriate segue (if you’re still reading I guess it did. I win!!!!), but when it comes to the topic of getting stronger I do feel many people fall into the trap of overanalyzing and making things more complicated than they need to be.
There are a million and one articles and blog post out there delving into the nuts and bolts of what it takes to get stronger – and 90% of them say the same thing. What do they say?
Lift heavy shit, a lot. Repeat.
Note: yes, there’s a typo. But who cares! This is hilarious.
The fact of the matter is this: if you want to get stronger it’s standard procedure to focus on “the big 3” – squat, bench press, deadlift – and to make those lifts THE HEART of your training approach and philosophy.
These movements generally allow you to use the most weight and there’s a reason why they’re the staples of most – if not all – successful training programs geared towards making people into animals:
All of the above programs (or to put it more accurately, SYSTEMS) stress barbell training and progressive overload. No fluff and no fillers.
The knock against them is that they’re boring. To which I respond, “suck it up buttercup. Boring is what works.”
There’s something to be said about building a relationship with the barbell and spending time underneath it, pushing it, pulling it, and hoisting it over your head.
I’d argue that if more people just performed TWO barbell movements per training session and worked on perfecting their technique, and poured their heart and soul into those two movements that day, they’d see tremendous results.
It’s not a sexy approach, but it works.
So to recap: the universal prerequisites to getting stronger are to focus on compound, multi-joint movements (preferably the big 3) and to try to lift move more weight in those lifts on a weekly, monthly, yearly basis.
We’re all on the same page, right? Mmmmkay. Moving on.
95.65% of me would like to end this post now. I’m definitely in the latter camp from above and prefer not to over-think things.
Which reminds me of a funny story. Forgive me for going off-topic for a second.
One day I was spotting a buddy of mine on the bench press. He was gearing up to travel abroad to play some professional football (American football) and was training pretty hard. He had something like 335 lbs on the bench press – give or take 10 lbs – and missed the lift.
He racked the weight, turned around and looked at me, and asked “dude, was my bar path off? Did my elbows flare out? Leg drive? What?” He wanted a complicated answer. All I said was “nah, it was just too heavy.”
Hahahahahahahahaha.
Trust me it was funny. You had to be there.
We probably could have made an argument for all the things he brought up, but the simple answer was that, like it or not, gravity won.
And it’s on that note I wanted to offer a bit more insight other than the cliched “just lift something heavy” mantra that’s regurgitated time and time again on the internet.
1. Aim for Small Gains
Every Thanksgiving I go home and inevitably I’ll pile on more food than I can handle onto my plate. It’s the epitome of having my eyes be larger than my stomach.
In that same vein, far too often I notice people making overly ambitious training goals.
Don’t get me wrong it’s great to have goals, and I wish more people would take the time to write them down. Doing so gives people purpose in their training! However, saying that you’d like to squat 600 lbs by the end of the year when you can barely perform a squat now without looking like a newborn baby giraffe is a bit of a stretch.
It’s like some guy saying “I WANT TO MAKE OUT WITH SCARLET JOHANNSON,” when all he’s ever done is practice on his pillow.
Calm down big guy and lets be a bit more realistic.
Squatting 600 lbs is cool and all, but why not just make a goal of perfecting your technique first? Then we can graduate to loftier things like a 2x bodyweight squat and then some!
Think about it this way: If you break a max by 5 pounds a month, that’s 60 pounds a year. If you keep doing that, you’re going to make some fantastic progress.
As the godfather of badassery and getting strong, Louie Simmons, states: “Stay focused, stay strong, stay patient. You’ll get there.”
2. Restoration and Recovery Matter
It sounds borderline counterintuitive – but you DO NOT make gains in the weight room. Lifting weights breaks down muscle tissue – that’s the point! – and serves as the stimulus for the body to repair itself and come back stronger.
If you’re not getting ample sleep, hitting up the foam roller here the there and working on maintaining adequate tissue quality, and/or taking precautions to RECOVER from your training (like including scheduled deload weeks)….then it’s all for not.
As the saying goes, fatigue will mask your true fitness.. You can’t consistently beat your body to a pulp and expect to make continued, long-term gains/progress.
Try this: take an off day. And by “off day,” I don’t mean perform a strongman circuit or head to the track and perform a bunch of 400m tempo runs. I mean exactly what it implies.
Relax. Chill out. Stay at home, fire up Netflix, and watch some 24 re-runs.
If you’re one of those people who shits a stability ball if you’re not in the gym on any given day, maybe try an ACTIVE RECOVERY day – this THIS one – where the objective is to move around a little, get the blood pumping, and to break a small sweat.
You don’t need to be running on all cylinders 100% of the time to make progress.
3. Make Your Foundation Wider In Order to Gain Higher Peaks
This is a profound point that fellow Cressey Sports Performance coach, Greg Robins, hit on yesterday during his “Optimizing the Big 3” workshop.
The idea is this: in order to hit higher peaks in strength, you HAVE to develop a wider base.
For beginner and intermediate trainees it makes little sense to spend time performing lifts in the 90% + range (of one’s one-rep max) and testing PRs when their PR isn’t that impressive in the first place.
Think of things in terms of a triangle:
To the right is someone who hasn’t spent a lot of time accumulating VOLUME in their training. Their base is fairly narrow, and hence their peak (I.e., strength) isn’t anything to brag about.
Conversely, to the left, is someone who’s spent a lot of time under the bar and has amassed more volume and frequency in their training. As a result, their base is wider and peak is much higher.
Put another way: how you get strong is by moving what you could originally do for 3 reps and perform it for 5.
What was originally your 92.5% 3RM is now 87.5%.
You can only do this by accumulating volume and by putting in the work. It’s not just going to happen.
4. The Best Supplement?
What would a post on strength be without some sort of commentary on supplements!?
I had a high-school athlete walk up to me the other day asking me what I felt was the best supplement to take to get strong and to add on weight.
All I said was……….
CALORIES.
Calories is the best supplement.
He looked at me all perplexed. He was expecting me to go on some diatribe on creatine or protein powder or some Mass Gainer Hypertrophic Matrix 2000 Unicorn Antler Advanced Formula.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: supplements are progress ENHANCERS not progress STARTERS.
If your current diet and training plan isn’t getting the job done, then the “x-factor” isn’t what supplements you’re not taking.
Your training is suspect or you’re not ingesting enough calories. Most likely it’s both!
Before we get to this week’s list of Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work I wanted to quickly remind everyone about mine and Dean Somerset’s Excellent Workshop High-Five the weekend of October 18th in Washington, DC.
You may be wondering what the heck is an Excellent Workshop High-Five? Well, for starters we couldn’t just name this shindig “Hey You, Come Hang Out With Us!” or “An American and a Canadian Walk Into a Gym…..”
We had to give it some pizzazz. Hence, the title.
Second, and most important, this is a two-day event, where Dean and I bleed just about everything we know with regards to assessment, program design, coaching, and everything in between. It’s very much an opportunity to learn from two coaches who have been around the block and who have a TON of coaching experience. Plus it’s an opportunity to earn some continuing education credits and see what I’m like before and after drinking a Spike.
For more information regarding location, itinerary, accommodations, and price you can go HERE.
There are a handful of coaches where whenever they talk, write, or allude to anything strength and conditioning I’ll drop whatever it is I’m doing and listen and soak up as much information as I can.
Unless I’m getting fed grapes by a Victoria Secret model, then it can wait. But other than that I’m glued.
I have an immense amount of respect for both Mike and Coach Kenn and this seminar series is about as close as you’re going to get to a master class on how to develop freaky athletes as you’re going to get.
The introductory sale of $150 off ends TONIGHT (8/22) at midnight. In addition everyone who purchases will be able to sit in on a live Q&A with both Mike and Coach Kenn.
What’s more, if you’re a coach or personal trainer the NSCA approved this course for 1.4 CEUs. Holla!
There’s little reason not to jump on the train folks. Go HERE, and thank me later.
There’s a lot more to building an impressive bench press than you think. I really enjoyed this article by Adam because he hammers home the importance of the set-up (which is something a lot of trainees never think about).
So You Think You Can Design a Good Workout? – this is an article I recently wrote for MensHealth.com on the topic of program design where I hit on some quick and easy (and I hope self explanatory) tips to make your programs more effective.
It’s by far been the most successful post in the history of this site – to the tune of 13,000 (and counting) “Likes” – and has been making the rounds via various social media outlets. People are sharing it left and right, and I couldn’t be more ecstatic. I don’t think if I posted a video of me arm wrestling Tracy Anderson (in space!) that it would go more viral than this article has.
I guess the lesson to be learned is that, when an outspoken, articulate, and strong woman such as Sophia goes out of her way to relay such a profound & powerful (and slightly controversial) message, people will undoubtedly listen.
Thanks again to Sophia for her contribution. And thanks to everyone who went out of their way to help spread the message.
And now that I’ve increased me female readership by 1017%…..
….it only makes sense that I switch gears, possibly decrease my female readership by 1013%, and discuss the topic of POWER!! More specifically how to train for power.
Mind you, this doesn’t imply that women aren’t interested. They can benefit just as much as guys when it comes to training for and hence improving power output. It’s just that, you know, is there any more of a “manly” topic than the topic of power?
Think about it. Guys are seemingly obsessedwith power.
How many guys go out of their way to buy a Prius? Most lean towards the sports car. Unless you’re me and you opt for an Elantra. With spoilers! But I digress.
Likewise, when it comes to movies, there’s a reason why most dudes opt for testosterone infused eye candy like the Fast & Furious franchise or Transformers in lieu of anything starring Julia Roberts or adapted from a Nicholas Sparks novel.
We want tanks, explosions, the occasional zombie apocalypse, and more explosions.
Not sappy dialogue and clichéd boy-meets-girl-lets-make-out-in-the-rain storybook endings.
Although to be fair: The Gossinator (Ryan Gosling) is the man.
Hell, as far as guys are concerned, whether we’re referring to power tools or drugs that give us more powerful erections, power is all around us, seemingly marinating our every waking moment.
Not coincidentally this mindset has many of its own parallels in the strength and conditioning realm.
In my latest article on T-Nation, I discuss what power training is (and isn’t) and how one can go about training it more effectively using protocols and movements that can be applied TODAY!
I had an interesting interaction on Facebook yesterday I wanted to share with everyone. No, it has nothing to do with an internet troll trying to one-up me (although it happens a lot). And no, it has nothing to do with ice or buckets or pouring anything over my head (which, I happily did thank you very much).
<—– LOL (and, I smell an abs alert!!!!!!!!)
It has everything to do with a story I shared on my Wall concerning actor Chris Pratt and his sincere interaction with a fan admiring the actor’s physical transformation for a recent movie role.
For those of you who have no idea who Chris Pratt is, he’s probably best known for his role as Andy Dwyer on the television show Parks and Recreation.
In addition he’s also had bit roles in a handful of hit movies such as Moneyball, Zero Dark Thirty, Her, and most recently as the lead (voice) character – Emmet – in The Lego Movie.
Even more recently, you can see him in the movie Guardians of the Galaxy as the lead character and protagonist Peter Quill/Star Lord.
It’s been regarded as a “break out” role for Pratt who, up until now, has never been the main attraction in anything he’s been associated with. Movie geeks like myself, however, have been familiar with his work for some time now and understood that it was only a matter of time before people jumped on the “where did this guy come from?” bandwagon.
Not for nothing: he has several HUGE projects in the pipeline. He’ll be the main character in the upcoming Jurassic Park reboot, Jurassic World, and it’s been rumored that he’ll also be involved with the Knight Rider reboot.
And before I give my hopes up that this will actually happen, can I just say how obsessed I was with Knight Rider when I was kid!?! I may or may not have pretended that my BMX bike was Kitt and I was Michael Knight (sans the chest hair).
Anyways, all of this to say: Chris Pratt is kind of a big deal and don’t be surprised if you start seeing him all over the place.
More germane to the point of this post is that, outside of how awesome Guardians of the Galaxy is (4.5 lightsabers out of 5) and how perfect for the role Chris Pratt was, is the fact that it’s widely known he got into phenomenal shape in order to play the part.
You see, he’s never been associated with muscles or anything to do with fitness, and he’s certainly never been mentioned in the same breath as The Rock, Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), or hell, even Gina Carano.
But it’s hard to look at his transformation and not be impressed.
Like, whoa!
As is the case whenever a Hollywood actor makes such drastic changes to his or her’s body, people want to know how they did it? What’s their secret?
Of course, we can’t forget that these people have many more resources at their finger-tips compared to the average person and it’s their job – and often in their contracts! – to “look the part.” So part of me feels we have to put things into perspective and perform a little “expectation management” when comparing ourselves to actors.
I.e., what works for them in a span of six months won’t necessarily correlate to “bringing sexy back” in the same six month span for us.
Regardless, people are always curious and want to know how said person was able to accomplish their goal(s), in addition to looking up to said actor/actress for inspiration and insight.
And it’s with that I want to share Chris’s answer to a question he received asking him “how did he do it?”
I LOVED his answer.
It’s amazing how his answer makes much more sense (and I suspect will resonate with more people) compared to much of the garbage and hearsay that’s promoted by a lot of quote-on-quote “fitness experts and gurus.”
I wasn’t able to link directly to the video, but you can watch it below. It’s only like three minutes long and worth the time.
He didn’t fluff anything. He didn’t allude to a magic pill or elixir or special gadget that’s going to lead to better results.
All he said was START.
Doing SOMETHING, along with CONSISTENCY is the key.
Whatever your goal is -whether it’s to shed some weight, lose a few inches, or look like a badass – there’s no need to make things more complicated than they have to be. You need to START and be CONSISTENT.
I had someone make a comment in the original thread on Facebook:
“I agree everybody makes everything so complicated. Just move more and eat less!”
I couldn’t DISAGREE more.
Listen, people aren’t stupid. They know that crushing a bag of Doritos before bed isn’t the wisest (or healthiest) nutritional choice they could be making. They know that regular exercise – any form of exercise – is far more productive than trash talking some 13 year old kid who lives across the country while they attempts to increase their kill rate in Call of Duty.
People KNOW they should move more and eat less. That’s not the problem. The problem is trying to figure what obstacle(s) prevent them from exercising more and eating less in the first place!
If someone’s cupboards are filled with nothing but highly-processed foods – cereal, chips, cookies, etc – and they have easy access to such foods…..it’s going to be really hard to lose weight.
The answer isn’t telling them to “just eat less.” The answer is figuring out a way to get those foods out of their reach in the first place. Educating them on how to make better food choices would come in handy. If the shitty food isn’t there to eat, then we’ve tackled a huge obstacle.
From there we just have to make sure there’s a level of CONSISTENCY!!!!
Likewise, if lack of exercise is the bottleneck. Just telling someone, “dude, you idiot, you just need to move more!” isn’t going to help matters.
For shits sake, maybe the reason why they don’t go for walks is because they don’t have a decent pair of walking shoes!
Sometimes, you just need to lead the horse to water, ya know!? But of course, as the saying goes, you can’t make it drink the water.
I understand the frustration, though. At a time where people have entire conversations in 140 characters or less and want (and expect) instant gratification, it’s a tough sell to say to someone “you have to be consistent.”
Unfortunately health and fitness doesn’t happen instantly. It just doesn’t.It doesn’t come down to simply telling someone to follow “x” program or “y” supplement.
And what I LOVED about Pratt’s message is that he makes no connotation to that point.
Many of us (fitness professionals included) would be wise to listen to Star Lord.
BIG weekend this weekend. My twelve year old nephew is coming to visit Lisa and I for a few days here in Boston and we’ve been spending a few minutes the past couple of nights figuring out a suitable itinerary that A) would keep the attention span of a kid his age and not make him hate life (I.e., no trips to the art museum!) and more importantly B) maintain my position as the coolest, hippest, most rad uncle this side of the Charles River.
Note to self: Omitting the word “rad” from my vocabulary would be a nice start.
This is a presentation that I filmed for Mike Reinold’s RehabWebinars.com which covers my general approach to training women.
It’s 75 minutes long and I try my best to debunk as many fallacies and misconceptions as possible. I also touch on training women through pregnancy as well as discuss programming strategies such as how to improve chin-up and push-up prowess.
The cost is $19.95, but you’re NOT just purchasing my webinar. You’re also gaining access to the ENTIRE site which includes 100+ webinars from some of the top people in rehab, sports performance, and coaching/personal training.
Not too shabby if you ask me!
For more information and to gain access to the presentation you can click HERE.
Also…..
If you’re looking for something to actually READ, I did write a guest post over on Mike’s site earlier this week titled 3 Mistakes Coaches Make When Training Women. In it I discuss 3 mistakes coaches make when training women……;o)
I felt this was one of the most fair, balanced, and understandable articles I’ve read on this topic in a while.
Celiac Disease is real. Gluten intolerance is real. The chances you have either of two (and by extension, absolutely NEED to avoid gluten) is really, really low.
Every Wednesday we hold a staff in-service at Cressey Sports Performance where the coaching staff along with the interns get together and talk about “stuff.”
One week Eric may break down thoracic outlet syndrome and how to go about programming around it. Another week Greg may discuss some new sprinting drills and how we can better cue our athletes with their movement training.
Chris may take a week and touch on some elbow or shoulder anatomy. I’ll take the reigns one week and speak to the differences between external vs. internal cueing (or just reenact a full blown assessment using nothing but shadow puppets).
And Andrew will jump in on some weeks and discuss youth training or how it is he’s able to maintain salon-quality hair at all times.
It’s fascinating.
As you can see, we hit on any number of topics and nothing is ever off the table. We even had one of our current interns discuss the merits of blood-restriction training recently and how if may have some merit with regards to training injured athletes. The idea being that the increased hypoxia will help engage or stimulate type II muscle fibers in the absence of appreciable load.
I’m a bit skeptical, but he made some interesting points!
Nevertheless the idea behind the in-services is to promote an open platform for learning and for open dialogue and discourse.
Yesterday happened to be what we like to call the Intern Programming Challenge. The idea is simple: We give the interns several specific scenarios with regards to injury history and musculoskeletal dysfunction of an athlete/client, and they’re expected to write a 2-day/week program for each one.
An example might be:
1. Severely sprained right ankle with secondary external impingement in left shoulder.
OR
2. Extension based back pain.
OR
3. Grade II hamstring strain with no left eye due to a pirating accident and an explosive case of diarrhea.
We all gather together and dissect each person’s program(s). Admittedly it can be an intimidating environment because no one ever likes seeing their work held under a microscope for public scrutiny. But as Eric noted yesterday, sometimes the best way to get better is to have your stuff ripped apart.
Not that we’re purposely ripping programs apart to make our interns feel bad. Rather, we’re using this as an opportunity to refine their programming skills and to think more objectively and “outside the box.”
Take secondary external impingement for example. The word impingement is a garbage term as it is, because it speaks nothing to what’s actually causing the impingement (or pain) in the first place.
In watered down terms all “secondary impingement” means is that we know it’s not caused from a bony growth or deformation like a bone spur (this would be referred to as primary impingement, where the boney growth affects the acromion space and makes it narrower).
Instead we can chalk secondary impingement towards things like poor t-spine mobility, anteriorly tilted scapulae (poor scapular stability), poor tissue quality in the pec, pec minor, and/or lats, downwardly rotated scapulae or “depressed” shoulders, so on and so forth.
Conventional wisdom may dictate that the prone plank is an innocuous enough of an exercise where it would be a nice fit for most people, even in this example.
Mmmmm, maybe. Maybe not. It depends.
The plank position will cause a lot more approximation in the shoulder joint (jamming the humeral head into the shoulder socket itself) which may be problematic for someone with external impingement.
It’s this kind of critical thinking – and the type of feedback we give back to our interns – which helps them become better and programming.
Lets dive into another common scenario……
Extension Based Back Pain
While flexion tends to get all the attention and love, extension-based back pain is something that’s grown in prevalence in recent years – especially in more athletic populations which involve a lot of extension and rotation. Think: baseball, golf, etc.
Too, extension-based back pain is very common in the more “meatheaded” population in addition to the personal training and coaching fields (where we tend to stand on our feet all day).
I’m not going to re-invent the wheel and elaborate on the specifics since I already wrote on this topic extensively HERE.
Needless to say, since we’re on the topic of programming I wanted to highlight some ways and ideas we could work around the issue when working with a client or athlete who exhibits this condition.
Seriously, read my post HERE if you’re curious how to assess for extension-based back pain as well as some thoughts on how to address it (rib cage position, how to cue certain lifts differently, and how to address proper breathing mechanics).
Do it!!!!!!
The most severe cases will typically manifest as Spondylolysis. “Spondy” refers to a fracture of the pars interarticularis portion of a vertebra (95% of the time, it’s L5). The pars essentially connects the vertebral body in front with the vertebral joints behind.
Presence of spondylolysis runs the gauntlet in terms of who it effects, but its highest prevalence is among weightlifters. That said we’ve seen a huge influx amongst young athletes as well, especially those who participate (and specialize too early) in sports that require excessive extension and rotation (ie: baseball).
I wrote a post on Spondy HERE if you’re interested.
1. First and foremost the name of the game when dealing with ANY injury is to ensure you’re eliciting a training effect.
No one wants to feel like a patient when they’re training. I mean, what fun is it to head to the gym only to perform a litany of ankle mobility and breathing drills?
Booooooorrrrrrrrriiiiiiinnnnnnggggggg.
This isn’t to say that those things won’t need to be addressed, but it’s important to understand that your job as a trainer or coach is to garner a training effect for your clients.
2. Whenever we have an client or athlete with a legit case of Spondy start at the facility our general rule of thumb is no back squatting for TWO YEARS – and that’s even if they’ve gone through an entire “treatment” with a back brace.
Placing a bar on the back means you’re moving it further away from the axis of rotation which increases shear forces on the spine ten-fold.
In this case things like Goblet Squats may be a better fit. But even then, you may need to hold off for a few months before you implement them into a program.
3. Single-leg work will almost always enter the equation, but you need to be very cognizant of back positioning.
If someone lives in extension and has extension-based back pain, they’re going to want to go into extension. I know, it’s confusing.
It’s important to engrain proper rib positioning, core bracing, and pelvic positioning when doing any single leg work.
4. To that end, variations like slideboard reverse lunges are an awesome fit because they inherently make people use less weight, which in turn will result in less axial loading on the spine.
But even if we’re not dealing with a severe case like Spondy, it’s crucial to stress “neutral spine” throughout.
Start with dumbbells and progress to barbell variations.
5. Glute bridging is fantastic provided the back stays in a posteriorly tilted (flatter) position throughout the entire set.
6. Anything which promotes posterior pelvic tilt with someone with extension-based back pain is going to be money.
To that end, ensuring they’re squeezing their glutes during things like chops and lifts will be paramount.
I’ve often incorporated Posterior Pelvic Tilt Hip Thrusts (via Bret Contreras) into the mix:
I’ll be your BFF for life if you do these in a public park or something. I dare you to perform them in the waiting area at your doctor’s office!!!!
That’s just some food for thought. It’s important to embrace a more critical mindset when writing programs – especially when writing them for people with specific issues or dysfunction(s).
Hope that helps.
Now excuse me as I go practice my shadow puppets…..;o)
Note from TG:Today’s guest post comes courtesy of Mike Sheridan, a nutrition researcher, trainer, and author of the book Eat Meat and Stop Jogging.
That’s about as manly of a title for a book as I’ve ever seen. The only way it could be even manlier is if it said:
He-Man Says to Eat Meat and Stop Jogging.
My immaturity aside, I’ve long been a proponent of the saying “you need to get fit to run, not run to get fit.”
I understand why many people gravitate towards long-distance, steady-state cardio. There’s no equipment involved – all you need is a straight line and a pair of shoes (shirt and pants optional) – and pretty much anyone can do it.
Thing is: running – especially long-distance, repetitive running – can be a joint killer if one is not properly prepared for the additional stress. In addition, many people are programmed into thinking that jogging (and “cardio” in general) is the key to a lean, healthy body.
While it can most certainly enter the equation – I do feel it’s an often overprescribed and over-rated mode of exercise outside of actually being an endurance athlete.
More to the point: it should be a component of one’s overall fitness plan, not the sole approach.
Nevertheless I like to think of myself as a middle-of-the-road kind of guy and hate using monikers such as everyone, never, and always.
Everything has a time and place – except maybe Crocs – running included.
That said I do lean more towards the camp which favors either walking or short bursts of sprinting and avoiding “stuff in the middle.” And, of course, lifting heavy stuff.
I enjoyed this piece by Mike and I hope you do too.
Is Running Natural?
Depends what you consider running. The one for speed or the one for distance?
Based on the prevalence of marathons and triathlons, and the number of visible joggers in most neighborhoods, you’re likely thinking distance. Moderate intensity running appears to be the most common form of exercise, but does that mean its natural?
The reason most of us start jogging is because that’s what we think is necessary to burn calories and lose weight. Sadly, our sedentary, inactive, technologically driven jobs and lifestyles, and tendency to select high-carb, sugar-loaded foods, has given us the false impression that we need to eat less and exercise more.
Apparently our fatness is because of a lack of fitness (and an abundance of foodness!)
Don’t get me wrong, we all need to move more; but the question of ‘how’ is critical. Instead of getting scientific, lets look at two simple questions that provide considerable insight into how we should be moving:
What was our daily activity like in the past? When we were hunter-gatherers.
How did we move before we were taught how to move? When we were kids.
Prior to the agricultural revolution, we actually had to go out and get our food. The cows weren’t in the barn, they were roaming the countryside. The berries weren’t at the grocery store, they were out in the wild. And you didn’t drive somewhere to eat, you gathered fruits and vegetables on your walk…as you looked for animals to hunt!
The biggest difference between then and now is that they moved frequently at a slow pace,[I] and we don’t. Many are surprised to learn that most hunter-gatherers walked more than six miles per day. Any exercise outside of that was infrequent, and usually consisted of acute bouts of highly intense movement in order to survive.
Hunter-gatherers didn’t run for 20 miles at 70% intensity to escape a hungry wolf, they ran for 20 seconds at 110% intensity to escape a hungry wolf.
There was obviously some lifting, climbing, carrying, and building involved as well, but generally speaking their daily walking combined with a diet composed of animal protein, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and fruit is what produced this physique:
Our ancestors would probably laugh watching us run for hours to ‘burn calories.’ Back then, energy was conserved, and you either walked to get somewhere, or you ran really fast to get away from something.
Even when organized hunting developed, hunter-gatherers relied on their brains and other resources to track and trap animals (not chase them around for 3hrs!). Recent findings provide evidence that the earliest form of human was not designed to run long distances because the conical shape of the ribcage made it difficult for them to swing their arms.[II]
The same conclusion is reached when looking at early childhood movement prior to instruction from parents and coaches. If you take a look at children playing in a park with no constraints, you’ll notice that they run and play with intensity for short bursts, and follow it up with ample recovery before running again.
If you don’t feel like observing it yourself (or you don’t want to look like a creep), science did it for you in a 1995 study in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. Researchers found that children playing didn’t move consistently at a constant speed, they unknowingly exercised in intervals.[III]
Most kids have to be taught how to jog – instinctively they feel more comfortable walking or running fast.
Ask any rehabilitation specialist (physio, chiro, masseuse) and they’ll tell you how detrimental chronic repetitive movements can be on muscles, joints, bone, cartilage, ligaments, and tendons.
During the time of writing this article there’s a Dr. Scholls commercial with celebrity trainer, Dolvett Quince. The commercial is about ‘clients missing workouts because of injuries.’ Interestingly, all three problems he mentions are related to running:
Shin splints, plantar fasciitis, and runners knee.
Note from TG: Listen, no one is saying (and I think Mike will agree) that going out for a jog here and there is going to steal all your gainz or turn you into a Christian Bale’s character from The Machinist overnight.
Moreover, no one is saying that jogging doesn’t have any health benefits – it most certainly does! And honestly, if jogging is something you like to do and enjoy….by all means jog to your hearts content.
But please don’t continue to espouse on all it’s “benefits” when you’re the one always hurt and paying for your physical therapists or chiro’s Porsche.
Looking at the medical records of most Cardio Kings, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they’re consistently nursing injuries. All of these conditions are because of the stress and impact from chronic cardio sessions. And it’s the reason running shoe companies, like Nike, bring in trillions of dollars selling you pillows and cushions for your feet.
Other than musculoskeletal damage, continuous and prolonged exercise conflicts with our natural fight or flight response to stress.[IV] Usually when there’s a threat to homeostasis (stress), our heart beat accelerates, blood vessels constrict, and we secrete adrenal hormones (corticosteroids), so that our brain and muscles have the necessary energy and blood flow to ensure we survive.
A beneficial adaptation for short periods of time, but when experienced chronically the body produces excess stress hormones (cortisol), and other important functions and systems must take a backseat (like digestion, reproduction, and immune function) as our muscles and brain take priority.
Excess corticosteroids are linked to heart disease,[V] poor reproductive health,[VI] and decreased immunity.[VII]
The irony in the term ‘stress fracture’ is almost laughable, when you understand the excess cortisol and oxidative stress attributable to chronic cardio.
Unfortunately, many that select running (the long duration kind) as their predominant form of exercise tend to seek more miles and higher speeds, which further damages muscle and bone, increases stress, and raises one’s risk of degenerative disease and early death.[VIII]
So What is Natural?
Obviously, we can’t mimic the exact daily regimen of the hunter-gatherer, but we can all take 30min or more per day to go for a walk.[IX]
It may not be 5+ miles/day, but it drastically lowers our risk of the common diseases affecting North Americans. Walking lowers cortisol, decreases inflammation, lowers blood pressure and triglycerides, improves cognitive function, and increases lifespan; with no muscle loss, hormone disruption, or potential for injury.[X]
Aside from daily walking, the exercise regimen that’s most in line with our genetics is functional strength training. We can match the physical labor of our forefathers by lifting, pressing, pulling, carrying, and squatting a few times per week. Sprinkling in the occasional ‘run for your life’ sprint every once in a while doesn’t hurt either.
The problem with most North Americans is that they attempt to make up for crappy eating habits and an inactive day with lengthy moderate intensity cardio sessions. All these 3-hour bike rides and 10 mile jogs lead to is an increased appetite (for sugar!), elevated stress levels, muscle mass loss, free radical accumulation, decreased immunity, and chronic inflammation.[XI]
The time and effort wasted is not the sad part, it’s that this weight management strategy shows little improvement in body composition (muscle-to-fat),[XII] and the additional stress and overconsumption of sugar[XIII] to ‘fuel workouts’ actually increases belly fat.
Ironically, losing belly fat is the reason most start jogging or doing cardio to begin with.
We shouldn’t be running marathons, or taking part in the high-mileage, high-frequency training that goes with it, because we’re not designed to consistently handle that kind of stress.
Although it’s common for endurance fanatics to cite examples of long distance running in some of the earliest-known hunter-gatherer tribes that we descended from, this was not frequent.
Note from TG:Born to Run is still one of the most interesting books I’ve read in recent years.
For example, the San People, or Bushmen, of the Kalahari Desert are known for their persistent tracking and hunting techniques to catch larger prey like antelope. However, it’s clear that this was a rare occurrence. The San People did a fair amount of trapping and practiced a variety of less labor-intensive hunting techniques.[XIV]
Furthermore, as you can see from this video,[XV] the tracking involves mostly walking, with only one tribesman taking part in the long-distance running portion.
I think it’s fair to say that the Bushmen doing the running wasn’t the same every month, and if it was the same, that would mean 99.9% of the tribe did no running. Likewise, one could assume that a successful hunt would mean adequate food for some time. Suggesting that these runs were very infrequent.
I don’t doubt that marathons, triathlons, and ultra-endurance events are possible, but that doesn’t mean they’re plausible.
Just because we have the hamstrings and Achilles tendon to run, and are equipped with the unique ability to sweat and release heat so we can go far, doesn’t mean we should. When it comes to survival, we’re capable of staying awake for days, going without food for weeks, and running for extremely long distances until an animal tires, but that doesn’t mean we should turn these practices into habits.
I believe this quote from Dr. Mark J. Smith sums it up quite well:
“While the endurance athlete has a need to maintain a high sub-maximal intensity for long periods to be successful, the vast majority of athletes, and certainly humans in general, have no need for this type of activity.”[XVI]
About the Author
Mike Sheridan has been advising on nutrition and fitness for nearly a decade. He developed an obsession for research early in his career as he noticed the immense gap between the scientific evidence and the message to the public.
“I know conventional wisdom is not working for you, because it’s not working for anyone! The first step in rescuing your health is understanding why everyone else believes and follows the nutrition and training recommendations that have unfortunately become common knowledge.”
Mike has helped a tremendous amount of people lose the fat and keep it off without counting calories, doing cardio, or sacrificing their health. His success is due in large part to his philosophy that ‘Transformation Starts With Education;’ not just showing his clients what to do, but teaching them why.
[IV]Cordain, L., Gotshall, R. W., and Eaton, S. B. 1998. Physical activity, energy expenditure and fitness: an evolutionary perspective. International Journal of Sports Medicine 19:328-335.
[VI] Loucks, A. B. 2001. Physical health of the female athlete: observations, effects, and causes of reproductive disorders. Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology, 26: S176-85.
[XIII] 1990. Utilization of fatty acids during exercise. In Biochemistry of Exercise VII, ed. A. W. Taylor et al., 319-28. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
SPOILER ALERT: No. Women don’t needto train differently than men. Sometimes they should, however. More on that below.
And speaking of spoilers – how many people stayed for the bonus scene after the end credits of Guardians of the Galaxy?
How many in the ballpark of my age (37) chuckled to themselves with the Howard the Duck cameo appearance?
Sooo funny/random, right? And not to be out-stated, as a whole, Guardians was as nerdtastic as nerdtastic could be. I remember thinking to myself when I first saw the trailer a few months ago, “Yikes! How is Marvel going to pull this one off? I think they might have bitten off more than they can chew.”
But kudos to them for yet again setting the standard for comic book movies. Epic fail on my end for doubting them.
So what has this got to do with training women? Actually, nothing. But for what it’s worth I gave the movie a solid 4.5 lightsabers out of 5.
Okay, for real this time.
The topic of female specific training is a dicey one to say the least. I think one of the reasons why I write about is so much and why I’m so passionate about it is because I find most (not all) women are misinformed.
Or to be more precise, are nudged towards a specific mindset at some point in their lives.
This was never more apparent than a conversation I had with a former female client of mine last year. This client was a mom and a personal trainer herself. She came to Cressey Sports Performance, like most trainers like her do, to hire someone else to do the thinking for her. For the record I’d recommend to ALL trainers to hire their own coach at some point!
As it happened, my client loved training at the facility and loved our approach to training female clients/athletes and eventually reached out to the local high-school where she lived to see if she could volunteer her time. She reached out to several of the coaches for the female JV and varsity teams, as well as the athletic director of the school (who also happened to be female and a varsity coach).
Long story short, the coach wrote back saying that getting any of the female athletes to come to the school-gym during their summer break was a pointless endeavor given that the weight-room had, in her words, “limited equipment that was ‘female friendly’.”
What the what!?!?!?!?!?!
She DID NOT just say that.
When my client told me that story I was dumbfounded! With that sort of mentality and message being relayed to young, impressionable youth by adult “role models” is it any wonder that there’s a growing DECLINE in girls participating in sports? And more to the point, can we be at all surprised why so many are programmed into thinking that girls don’t belong in the weigh-room, that just thinking about touching a barbell will make them grow an Adam’s apple, and that instead they should just focus on cardio, yoga, pilates, and Barre classes?
NOTE: I have nothing against yoga, pliates, or Barre classes. Unlike a lot of fitness professionals who like to bag on certain modes of exercise, I’ve actually taken – and written about my experience – a yoga class and pilates class.
Any exercise is good exercise.
What I don’t agree with is how these classes are generally marketed towards women as some end-all-be-all panacea of health and fitness. Based off the key words and promises many of these classes highlight – stuff like building “long, lean muscle” which is utter BS – I’m surprised no one has elucidated on the benefits of bathing in unicorn tears to boot!!
But I digress.
I LOVE training women and female athletes for many reasons. For starters I think it’s rad when one of them hits a PR on a particular lift or achieves something they never thought possible – their first unassisted chin-up for example – and they end up having a “light-bulb” moment where they finally accept that they have just as much to gain from strength training as their Y-chromosome counterparts.
I love “deprogramming” them from the stagnant and life-sucking mentality many have been inundated with since junior high and high-school. I love seeing the sense of confidence, empowerment, and freedom that blossoms once they understand that strength is a good thing and is something that should be embraced.
And while the saying states the girls are “made of sugar and spice and everything nice,” I can say without hesitation that some of the most tenacious and competitive clients I have worked with in my career are women.
Here’s distance coaching client, Sarah, cranking out a set of chinups. Yes, we can make the argument that she’s not extending her elbows at the bottom, but she called herself out on that when she sent me this video. The point is, when we started working together last October the could perform ZERO
Here’s CSP bootcamper, Paula, crushing some KB swings as part of a finisher AFTER hitting up heavy deadlifts and squats earlier in the workout.
Yes, as some commenters posted on YouTube, she’s hinging early, blah blah blah. I appreciate the feedback (and I agree!), but it’s by no means an egregious snafu in her overall technique and is a far cry from a lot of the eye-wash “swings” other trainers and coaches post on their pages.
Regardless this is someone whose work ethic is outstanding and you’d be hard pressed to find anyone more competitive than her.
And here’s former client of CSP, Cara, hitting a challenging-but-not-nearly-as-heavy-as-she-could-go-deadlift at 33 weeks pregnant.
And before someone chimes in with a “holy crap Tony, are you insane for allowing a pregnant women lift that heavy?” comment, please read THIS.
Also, I can’t let this video slide without making a slight crack at the musical selection. Kind of ironic, huh?……..hahahahahahaha x 10!
I don’t feel that women needto train differently than men, but I do think there are cases where they should train differently.
And it’s on that note I’d like to direct people to a presentation I recently filmed for Mike Reinold’s RehabWebinars.com:
It’s a 75 minute webinar that covers my general approach to training women. I discuss everything from initial intake/assessment to many of the progressions and programming strategies I implement to “specialty” scenarios like training someone through their pregnancy as well as covering some of the often glossed over psychological barriers that prevent women from stepping foot in the weight-room in the first place.
In addition I also cover such water-cooler topics as does weight training make women “big-n-bulky?” and why do people continue to listen to Tracy Anderson?
I feel this would be an excellent resource for any trainer or coach who works with female clients!
The cost is $19.95, but you’re not just purchasing the presentation itself. You’re also gaining monthly access to ALL the content on RehabWebinars.comwhich includes dozens of hours of great contact from some of the most prestigious people in the fields of rehab, strength, and sports medicine.
If you pride yourself on continuing education and want to stay on top of the most relevant topics in the industry, this is one of the best ways to do so.
Click below to not only get access to my presentation, but over 100+ as well. But mostly because of mine……..;o)
Before I get to this week’s list, I wanted to run something past all of you. Many of you know that I run a Premium Workout Group on WeightTraining.com. And if you didn’t, now you know. And knowing is half the battle.
Goooooooo Joe!
Here’s the deets: there are a lot of people out there going to gym with no plan or purpose in their training. They just show up, walk around performing random exercises, and then post their workout on Facebook (it doesn’t count if you don’t post it on Facebook).
The idea behind the Premium Group is to offer people some semblance of focus in their training, or a plan if you will.
I write monthly “canned” programming, you follow it, and then your general level of awesomeness is increased by a factor of infinity. Don’t argue. It’s science.
The Premium Group is amazing and I love seeing the results that people are getting. However, I want to up the ante and I’m toying with the idea of using the WeightTraining.com platform to offer more “specialized” programming.
If I were to write, say, a 4-month program dedicated solely to improving your deadlift would anyone be interested? Yes, there will be a price involved…..but not only will you get 4-months of programming written by me, but you’ll also be able to set your schedule, get email reminders of your workout days, in addition to the ability to follow/track your workouts (and progress) on your iPhone, iPad or Droid using the WT.com app (which is FREE).
Does this sound like anything anyone would be interested in?
I don’t mind people taking selfies. Like the author, I DO mind the people who post nothing but staged shots of themselves a particular pose and what I have to assume is their 27th attempt at getting the lighting juuuuuust right.
Not to be confused with the 5-point palm exploding heart move (via Kill Bill), this was a workout I had published in this month’s issue of Men’s Health Magazine (as well as the online version) that utilizes kettlebells and helps improve core strength, iron out imbalances, and improve athletic performance.
Mike Sheridan has been advising on nutrition and fitness for nearly a decade. He developed an obsession for research early in his career as he noticed the immense gap between the scientific evidence and the message to the public. 
