CategoriesMotivational

Personal Training/Coaching/Writing: Why You’re Not That Special

Sorry for the slight gap in between posts from last week to today.  While I’d like to sit here and say something honorary like I decided to prep my food for the week, or I don’t know, I spent my Friday morning reading scripture to orphans, what I really ended up doing was making the mistake of watching my very first episode of The Walking Dead.

What started as “oh, I’ll just check out one episode, and then get some work done,” turned into a Walking Dead marathon where I had season one completed by Saturday afternoon, and I’m already 3/4 of the way through season two as I type this.

How did I not start watching this show sooner??????  I mean, what’s not to like about it?  It’s zombies for crying out loud!  Zombies walking. Zombies running. Zombies attacking. Zombies getting shot.  Zombies getting a pitchfork thrown through their eyeball.

I can’t tell you how many times I’d be sitting there watching, and out of no where I’d yell “ohhhhhhhhhh snap. Lisa?  LISA???????  You HAVE to see this!!!!

As you might expect, she’s just ecstatic that I’m obsessed with this show at the moment (slight sense of sarcasm there).

But enough of that. My goal today wasn’t to sit here and type away on why zombies are the awesome. Although, lets be honest: that would make for an entertaining post.

Instead I want to exercise a massive brain dump on a topic that comes up every so often (maybe once every week or so), and something I’ve let marinate for quite some time.

I receive a fair number of emails on a daily basis from people asking questions ranging from why their [insert body part here] hurts to programming questions to my opinion on certain fitness related books and DVDs

And everything in between.

Too, I also receive a fair number of emails from people asking me for career advice.  Specifically I’ll get emails that sound similar to this (Cliff Notes version):

Tony,

How did you get to where you are today?  I’m a new trainer and I’d really like to get my name out there more. How do I get more clients?  How do I go about starting a blog or trying to write for places like T-Nation or Men’s Health?

While I’m always humbled to get such emails, and I always go out of my way to write back a detailed and positive response, there’s still a teeny-tiny percentage of me that wants to do nothing but face plant my forehead into the keyboard and yell out any number of expletives.

What I want to say (but don’t, because I don’t want to come across as an a-hole) is something along the lines of this:

How about understanding that I’ve been working as a personal trainer/strength coach/business owner for about a decade! That I spent the first five years (FIVE years!!!!) working in corporate fitness (and a number of shitty commercial gyms) trying to get better at what I do, working with as wide of an array of clients as I possibly could.

The way I saw it the only way I was going to get better was to expose myself to as many different types of people as possible; whether it was a 15 year-old kid who was only there because his parents forced him to be and could barely perform one push-up, or a 88 year old grandmother who wanted nothing more than to be able to pick up her cat without throwing her back out.

Part of that entailed getting up at 3:45 in the morning every Monday and Thursday to drive 45 minutes to work so that I could be there to open the doors for people who did nothing but walk on a treadmill and stare at a television.  Awesome.

The other days were spent closing the gym at 8 PM, only to drive home 45 minutes so that I could write programs for an hour.

No one ever talks about stepping outside their comfort zone, either.  While I don’t regret working in corporate fitness and various commercial gyms for five years, I knew that in order to grow as a professional I needed to take the next step and learn to “spread my wings” so-to-speak.

This involved packing up all my things – on a whim – to move to Connecticut into an apartment with some dude named Cressey.

Talk about a leap of faith.  I had no idea what the heck I was getting myself into, but I knew I had to take the chance.

Then, throwing myself another curve ball (on a whim), a year later, I quit a pretty sweet job to move  yet again. This time to Boston.

I arrived in Beantown with no job in sight and a dwindling back account.  But things worked out in the end because I was willing to start at the bottom of the totem pole (again), work crappy hours for a less than stellar wage, and not bitch about it.

I was adamant in making myself better through coaching my tail off and helping people reach their goals.

I still did my part: continued to read, attend seminars, and started to explore the idea of writing a blog (and eventually articles) while other colleagues were stuck in neutral and would do nothing but brag about how wasted they got the night prior.

Then, in 2007, we opened up Cressey Performance, which wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. We literally started from scratch building a successful business from the ground up.

Five years later, I’m only just now feeling as if I’m hitting my stride and starting to “get it.” But I also understand that I still have a loooooong ways to go, and that I’m no where near where I want to be.

The key point to take home here is that it wasn’t a matter of just showing up and expecting things to fall into place.  I didn’t pet a unicorn and things just happened.  I worked my ass off to get to where I am today! And you know what?  I know I have A LOT more work to do before I feel like I’ve accomplished anything.

As far as the whole writing thing is concerned, lets put things into context. If you want use writing as a way to get your name out there – whether it be starting a blog or possibly writing for other fitness sites – great!  I think that’s a wonderful goal to stive for.

The best piece of advice I can give anyone in this regard is to just write!  Quit talking about it, and do it.

As a frame of reference, I was talking about this with Ben Bruno over the weekend, and he made a pretty solid point. He had 26 articles published on T-Nation last year, at an average of 2500 words per article.

That’s 65,000 words, which, for those wondering, is a metric shit-ton of writing.

Throwing myself into the mix: I had six articles published on T-Nation, which is no where near as prolific as Ben. But giving a little credit where credit is due, I also did a lot more writing on my blog comparatively speaking, and published 204 blog posts last year.

Holla!

On average I’d say my posts run anywhere from 800-1500 words per.  For the sake of brevity, lets keep it on the conservative side and say I average 900 words per post.

That’s 183,600 (mostly grammatically correct) words!!!!!

* Or the equivalent to one Bret Contreras blog entry.

And that doesn’t take into consideration the amount of writing I did for the likes of T-Nation.com, Livestrong.com, Greatist.com, Men’s Health, and everything else I’m completely drawing a blank on at the moment.

Now, I’m not suggesting I’m anywhere near the same stratosphere as Malcolm Gladwell, Stephen King, or JK Rowling as a writer (who is?). But I’m not hesitant in vociferously stating I’m a much better writer than I was a year ago, let alone six years go when I first started.

I mean, come on –  I just used the word “vociferously” in a sentence. That has to count for something.

And, don’t be one of those people who goes out of their way to read all the “go to” texts on becoming a better writer like On Writing Well, Bird by Bird, or to be bit more specific in the realm of fitness writing, How to Get Published: Writing Domination in the Fitness Industry.

 

While all are fantastic resources, and ones that I recommend all the time, none of them will ever trump the act of actually sitting down in front of a computer screen and writing.

I think it was William Faulkner (or maybe Kurt Vonnegut) who, when standing in front of a room full of writing majors and asked what piece of advice he’d give on how to become a better writer, just simply said, “write.”

And while many people don’t like to hear it:  you often need to write for years (and for free) before anyone actually reads your stuff, let alone pays you for it.

Just to reiterate:  I’m always more than happy to help people out and to offer advice and words of encouragement, and I’d certainly be the first one to state that I don’t have all the answers.  I just wish more people would take a step back and understand that it takes a lot of hard work, sacrifice, and yes, sometimes years in order to become “successful.” At least a lot more than what I can offer in one simple email response.

As Malcolm Gladwell states in his phenomenal book, Outliers (which I feel everyone should read at some point in their life), it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate and purposeful practice in order to become good at anything.  It doesn’t just happen.

So, have you even sniffed 10,000 hours?  1,000?  What about 100?  Don’t expect things to just happen. You have to work your ass off and put the time in just like everyone else. You’re not that special.

CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work Uncategorized

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: Chest Builders, Tickets to the Gun Show, and New Blogs

6 Coaches on Chest Training – A Bunch of Smart (and Swole) Dudes

A while back I was contacted by the editors of T-Nation to contribute to an article specifically geared towards people interested in pull-ups:  how to not suck at them, how they can go about building a back wider than Kansas, you know, stuff like that.

It went over really well, so the higher-ups at T-Nation decided to ask the same crew to write their thoughts on chest training, and this was the end result.

60 Must-Read Health & Fitness Blogs for 2013 – Greatist.com

I was truly honored (and humbled) to have my blog listed amongst so many other esteemed health and fitness professionals.  As it turns out, many of the blogs I follow on a consistent basis (Mark’s Daily Apple, Bret Contreras, Adam Bornstein, Eric Cressey, Kellie Davis, Girls Gone Strong, to name a few) made the list, which doesn’t really surprise me because they’re all fantastic.

But it was nice to get e-introduced to a number of other blogs that are equally as awesome and badass.

Maybe you’ll find one on the list you’ll enjoy?

2 Tickets to the Gun Show – Dan Trink

Honestly, Dan had me a “Gun Show,” so I’m already in and an easy sell.  But in case you’re not up to snuff with broscience lingo, my good friend Dan Trink, Director of Training at Peak Performance in NYC and co-author (along with me) of the first three month’s of programming for Greatist’s Workout of the Day (GWOD), released his very first fitness product this week that’s a 4-week arm specialization program.

For those who don’t know Dan, he’s a brick shit-house and has arms bigger than both Optimus Prime and Megatron combined.

See?  Told ya.

But he’s also one of the nicest and most down-to-earth human beings I know.  Not that that really matters when purchasing a product, but I just thought you should know….;o) I generally shy away from people who are a-holes, let alone endorse their products.

Anyhoo:  As a dude, I know the first thing I do when “sizing up” other dudes is to look at the size of their arms. While it doesn’t necessarily tell me much in terms of how strong they are (or if they have some super secret Jedi mind trick powers that I don’t about), chances are if someone’s rocking 18″ pythons, I’m not going to attempt to take their lunch money.

Having big arms is the “holy grail” for just about any guy who has ever lifted a weight in the history of the world, and this 4-week program delivers the goods.

The manual includes 4-weeks of programming, training templates, and links to videos of every exercise.  The only thing it doesn’t include is a tape measure and a copy of Hulk Hogan’s theme song, “Real American.”

It’s on sale now for $14.99 until this Friday at midnight, and then it reverts to the normal price of $27.99.  So for 0.54 cents per day, you could have Rambo arms.  Seems like a no-brainer to me.

====> Get Your Tickets Here <====

CategoriesExercises You Should Be Doing

Exercises You Should Be Doing: KB Lateral Lunge with Pulse

Some of you may recall an exercise I featured a year or two ago that I stole from Dan John called the Goblet Squat with Pulse.  For those who may need a gentle reminder you can click HERE to get the gist.

Similarly, today’s exercise takes the same “pulse” concept yet adds a slight modification in the form of a lateral lunge (and some pretty sweet techno in the background).

KB Lateral Lunge with Pulse

Who Did I Steal it From:  Well I guess by extension Dan John, but given I haven’t yet seen this tweak anywhere else on the interwebz, Cressey Performance is calling dibs on this one.

Bitches!

What Does It Do:  I love this exercise for people with short or stiff adductors for obvious reasons, but really this is a fantastic exercise for just about anyone as it gets them out of their comfort zone in the sagittal plane. Moreover, the pulse component adds a significant anti-flexion flavor into the mix that Ben & Jerry can’t touch, not to mention, by association, helps encourage people to maintain more t-spine extension which is never a bad thing.

Key Coaching Cues: First of all don’t be a hero and automatically reach for the 24 kg kettlebell, because that ain’t gonna happen. As far as weight selection goes, I’d start on the conservative side – the lighter the better.

One major point to dive into is how to perform a lateral lunge.  Many people make the mistake of stepping to the left or right and allowing their knee to translate too far forward over their toes.  Now I’m not one of those alarmist who feels that the knees should never go past the toes (try walking up a flight of stairs without that happening, or play a sport), but in this scenario I coach people to make their step/lunge to either side and to SIT BACK into the hip.

The knee is obviously going to come forward slightly, but the heel should stay DOWN and glued to the floor at all times. If anything, the tibia (lower leg) should stay a bit more vertical, but if you’re making an effort to sit back into the hip this shouldn’t be an issue.

Once in the bottom position, press the KB out in front of you until your arms are fully extended (elbows locked out), and pause for 1-2 second count.

Bring the KB back towards your torso, return back to the starting position and repeat for the desired amount of repetitions.

I generally shoot for anywhere from 6-8 reps per side.

For those who don’t have access to kettlebells, you should still be able to perform this exercise with a standard dumbbell.  Except in this case you’ll have to hold the DB with both hands wrapped around the handle.  It’s a bit more cumbersome, but doable.

And there you have it.  Try it today and let me know what you think!

CategoriesCorrective Exercise Rehab/Prehab

Introduction to Spinal Health and Core Training

Some of you may recall I took a little trip out to Edmonton, Alberta back in June to take part in the Spinal Health and Core Training seminar alongside my fellow cohorts Rick Kaselj, Dean Somerset, and Dr. Jeff Cubos.

While I’d like to sit here and state that what transpired was a Hangover inspired two-day extravaganza of hookers, cocaine, tigers, and babies wearing oversized sunglasses, what really transpired was completely not that.

Nope, our Wolfpack was all about program design, corrective exercise, assessment, and anything and everything that you can think of as it pertains to core training and spinal health.

Okay, maybe there was a tiger involved……but that was Dean’s idea, not mine.

All kidding aside, it was an amazing weekend and everyone who attended walked away with a gulf of information.  Lucky for you we taped the entire thing and plan on releasing it as a product in the very near future.  And by “very soon,” I’m talking about within the next few weeks.

To wet everyone’s palette, Rick K. is releasing a series of “sneak peeks,” and for those interested below is a quick 22-minute clip of my presentation.

And there’s A LOT more where that come from. I ended up speaking for close to three and half hours that day (how, I have no idea), and Dr. Cubos finished off with another three hours himself.

Day 2 revolved around Rick and Dean, and while I had to take off for Vancouver that day for a friend’s wedding, I heard it was equally as informative and awesome.

Like I said, we’ll be divulging more information on the actual release within the next few weeks, so keep your eyes and ears peeled.

CategoriesFemale Training Motivational

A New and Better Butt? Why Not a STRONGER Butt?

Today’s post comes courtesy of my internet buddy, Emily Giza Socolinsky. Some of you might recognize her since I’ve linked to several of her articles in the past. She sent this one my way last week, and after reading it (and doing a few cartwheels down the street because 1) why not? and 2) this article was the bees knees and deserved it) I asked if she would be cool with me slapping in on my site for your viewing pleasure.

I mean, what’s not to love?  She talks about badonkadonks.  More specifically she discusses the outright pervasive attitude that much of our mainstream culture has towards women and how they “should” look, as well as its meager attempts at offering training advice.

To be blunt:  I trust the mainstream media with giving fitness advice towards women about as much as I trust a barber with a mullet.

To that end, this one is a doozy and sends an absolutely wonderful and positive message.  It’s my hope that you’ll read it.

I don’t get women into my gym by promising them a great ass. They acquire their awesome asses as a result of doing goblet squats, split squats, kettlebell swings, step ups, reverse lunges, deadlifts…you get the picture.

I don’t promise them “toned” arms. But they end up with awesome arms from push ups, rows, chin ups, face pulls, presses….you get the picture.

In fact, I don’t promise them anything. They come to me because they want to get stronger. They come to me because they want to move better. They come to me because as one of my clients said to me today, “Because I don’t want to be in pain. Because I want to be able to keep moving this way when I am 90.” And of course, I will not deny the fact that many of them also want to look better too. I am not going to ignore the fact that most women wish they had ______. (You fill in the blank.)

I just want other things to take priority.

Because if you promise a woman a better butt or if you promise weight loss or toned arms and after weeks of exercising, it doesn’t happen as fast as they like, she will be left feeling worse about herself than she did before she started.

I think that these type of promises encourage negative thinking in women. I think that when you focus on body image, you put a woman’s body image before performance, before health, before confidence.  These empty promises encourage a woman to feel bad about herself, not better and honestly, she has enough to feel bad about as a woman. Remember, it is hard enough just being a woman (I wrote about that recently here.)

So in my mind, these types of promises should not exist. It is easier and WAY more satisfying to build a woman’s confidence by introducing her to the deadlift (by the way, a great ass exercise), boost her self-esteem by teaching her how to do a proper push up (toned arms anyone?) or a barbell squat (another great ass exercise) than just help her fit into a pair of pants. Women do not need to be reminded of what they don’t have. They need to be reminded of what they DO have and they need to be coached how to use the body they DO have.

Just ask my ladies.

The other night, after watching one of my clients bang out a set of 10 push ups, my husband asked her if she started off at my place with such good push ups. “NO way,” she said. “This is what I am most proud of too. My push ups.” She told me that she has also been getting compliments right and left from friends about how awesome she looks and these friends just cannot wrap their heads around the fact that all she has been doing is squatting, pressing and rowing.

No running? They ask. No cardio, she tells them aside from a few ball slams and rope slams here and there.  Of course, she said, she would rather them ask her how much she can squat these days than how she got her body.

This past summer, I wrote an article about my ladies and their feelings about strength training. You can read it here. The women speak about the empowerment they feel as a result of strength training, how much more confidence they have in their daily lives, how they are able to do things they never thought was possible.

They talk about the focus and concentration that goes into training, why they do it, what they get from it. And yet, I still find it difficult to get some women to believe in the power of the iron. I was recently on my Facebook News Feed and I saw a post by a friend of mine (a dancer) who was talking about building a new butt for the new year at Pop Physique. I had heard of this place (it’s a chain) and knew that it was just another type of barre class (They are popping up like mad all over the city. You can read about my feelings  in regards to barre classes here.)

Note from TG:  I actually linked to Emily’s article above in a recent Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work segment, and the feedback/response that it received was nothing short of awesome.  If you’re someone caught in the “dancing/yoga/pilates/pick your poison trap” and think such classes are the key to lean, toned arms, I HIGHLY encourage you to read it.

I checked out the website and the first thing staring at me was some woman’s ass. Ugh. Seriously?

Right there, I knew what this place was all about. With a little more digging, I found a YouTube clip from one of the classes. Take a look.

What bothers me the most (I was face palming so much I turned my forehead red – it was like hearing nails on a blackboard), was the fact that the woman interviewing the instructor in the video is seen at the beginning of the video standing in front of a squat rack with a loaded barbell. Loaded with 45lb plates and a couple of smaller plates.

A squat rack people.

The clip then goes on to show women pulsing with 3lb dumbbells and then humping a ball. WTH? Where did the squat rack go? Why was it there in the first place? To tease us women who believe in the power of the rack? For the love of…..where the hell did the squat rack go??? NOOOOOO!

Okay, okay….I get it. The point of these classes is to  build a better butt. How do you do that when you use no resistance?

Do you want to see what a butt looks like from a barre class? Cue picture to your right. Whoa. Now, mind you, during this time, I was also teaching cycling and doing some machine work at the gym. But this is my butt after two years of barre classes. Flat as a pancake. Non-existent. Is it even there, you ask? I just see wrinkles.

Yes, there is something beneath the pants. Not much though. And look at my chicken arms too. Hell, look at my breast. Where is the muscle????? Where is the butt? I thought I looked great…..until I saw this picture and saw my body and realized how pathetically weak I looked.

I had recently lost weight too (due to not eating as a result of my back injury – in too much pain to eat. This was the year I had my relapse.) But all the time I was teaching my barre class. I was squeezing and pulsing, squeezing and pulsing. Where was my ass to show for all that work??

Fast forward one year. ONE year.

Take a look at my ass now after a year of squatting, deadlifting, pressing, benching, doing chin ups, push ups.  Uh, big difference, wouldn’t you say? I was still teaching my barre classes (this was the year before I opened my gym), but what had I added into my program that was not there before? You guessed it. Heavy squats, deadlifts, glute bridges.

More specifically, weight. Weight, people. Weight. None of that 3lb bullsh**.  Real weight.

And more weight. And more weight. My goal was a stronger butt, not a “better butt. Hell, my goal was to just get stronger. The butt came as a bonus from all the hard work.

And I continue to work on getting stronger each and everytime I train. And consequently, my glutes get stronger too.

So, ladies, if you are looking to build a stronger, more able backside, please for the love of all that is humane in this great world, give up humping the barre while squeezing a ball between your thighs and grab a freaking dumbbell and start doing some goblet squats.

Or teach yourself how to do a kettlebell swing. Holy backside Batman! Or roll a barbell over your hips and thrust away! Your glutes will thank you and will appreciate the work. Because the work you do in your “build a better butt class for the New Year” will only work for some time then it stops working because nothing has changed. No resistance has been added. If you stick with 3lb dumbbells, you will end up looking the same. The body adapts. So, instead of working towards a cute ass, why not do yourself a real favor and work towards a stronger body and consequently, a stronger, maybe cuter ass.

Author’s Bio

Emily is a certified Starting Strength Coach, AFAA certified, USA Weightlifting certified Level 1 Sports Performance Coach, and cycle certified through Madd Dogg Athletics. Emily holds a Masters degree in Education and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance from the University of Maryland at Baltimore County. As a fitness coach and mentor, she has helped many clients explore their true potential through hard work and persistence. Emily has also been active as a professional dancer and teacher for over 20 years. During that time, she has focused on strength training and a variety of cross-training methods that helped her grow and develop as a dancer and athlete.

For more information, visit her website HERE.

CategoriesMotivational Program Design

5 (Simple) Ways To Make Your Workouts More Effective

So we’re what, three weeks into the New Year? As I suspect, most reading this site have made your New Year’s resolutions three weeks ago, and whether it was to try to read more, watch less television, eat less cheese, smile more, put 10% of your paycheck into a savings account, drink more water, eat out less often, introduce a little culture into your life and watch more foreign film (or listen to jazz, or buy Grey Poupon), travel more, floss more, or simply accept the fact that a shirt is required attire when grocery shopping (which is utter BS!), I’m sure many are crushing it and still going strong.

But lets be honest, when it comes to New Year’s resolutions, 90% of them revolve around finally (like, I mean it this time) making a concerted effort to head to the gym on a regular basis and getting into shape.

While many have undoubtedly taken the plunge and dedicated some time and energy to fitness goals, the real coup de gras is sticking to these New Year’s resolutions for more than a month!  Understandably there are many reasons why people don’t stick to their workouts and fitness New Year’s Resolutions.

Some of them are just facts of life, such as time commitments, financial concerns, and lofty expectations, as my friend Mike Reinold noted in a recent post of his. Some of them are just lame as lame can get , such as “oh, American Idol starts tonight!” or ” Dammit, I forgot my gym shoes!” or “I have a hang nail.”

While I’m being a bit facetious in tone, it’s certainly not outside the scope of reality that there are some people out there who are pros at sabotaging their own efforts.

But then again, there are far, far more people who make a resolution to get healthy, purchase their gym membership, iPod, and new white kicks, and stay about as consistent as humanly possibly.

Yet, for some reason, fail to garner the results they’re after.

Many may head to the gym 3-5x per week, for weeks on end, yet fail to see the fruits of their labor.  Before long frustration sets in (why the heck do I ever bother!), and soon they become nothing more than a New Year’s resolution statistic.

While it’s almost impossible to nail down (exactly) what, why, and how someone fails to achieve optimal results in the gym, below are some ideas/thoughts/insights I’d like to throw into the mix for everyone’s consideration:

Supersets (Are You Using Them?)

Simply put, supersets are arguably (but I don’t really see what there’s to argue about) the most efficient way to set up your programming.

For those scratching their heads, all a superset implies is that you pair two exercises – preferably ones that work opposing muscle groups or an upper/lower tandem – together that are performed back-to-back.

So, rather than performing a set of bench presses and then walking around for two minutes twiddling your thumbs, annoying the hot personal trainer you have no shot with, or watching highlights on SportsCenter, you’d pair another exercise like a row variation, lunge variation, or mobility/activation drill. You increase training density, and can use the pairings to bring up weak areas.

Many people waste too much time in the gym by performing straight sets, where they’ll perform a set of an exercise, rest for an allotted amount of time, and repeat.

While there’s definitely a time and place for straight sets, instead try to pair exercises in an A1-A2, B1-B2 format.  By doing so, you’ll get more work done in a shorter amount of time, and burn infinitely more calories in the process.

If you’re still kind of lost on the idea, and need some ideas for exercise pairings, check out THIS post by Eric Cressey, which should turn on a few light bulbs.

Implement Fillers

Pigging back on the point above, adding “fillers” to your program is an awesome way to address imbalances and weaknesses.

Another common mistake I see many trainees make (along with trainers for that matter) is taking too long to warm-up or getting too caught up in “corrective exercise” mode.

Yes, it’s important to active “stuff.”  In fact, I’m often flummoxed that some people still don’t understand the importance of taking themselves through a proper warm-up.  Getting the body and nervous system primed for physical activity is kind of a big deal, and I won’t belabor the point here.  You should be doing it.

But I do feel – at times – people baby themselves.

I’m sorry but if you’re someone who takes 30 minutes to active your left glute, you’re missing the bigger picture here.

To save time I LOVE implementing fillers into my programs.  The idea is to address common “problem areas” by tossing in some low-grade activation/mobility drills during one’s rest intervals.

The key point here is LOW-GRADE.  Performing a set of 400M sprints or Tabata anything IS NOT a filler, and defeats the point. We’re trying to turn stuff on, not train for a cage match.

Instead, if I’m working with someone with poor T-spine mobility I may have them do a set of side lying rib rolls after their bench presses:

If they have poor glute function, I may throw in some glute bridges in between sets of squats:

Or if they’re just one massive knot in general, I may have them perform a Yoga Push-Up complex to work on everything:

Again, the idea here is to keep it simple, address common weaknesses, and not to shit an appendix.

There’s no need to go overboard here.

Don’t Perform Anything Sitting

It’s insane how much people sit during the day.  I’m a fairly active person, and yet I still sit upwards of 4-5 hours a day writing in the morning and driving to and from work.

But that’s peanuts compared to most people.

Many have a rough commute to work, and then have to spend 8-10 hours sitting in front of a computer all day, only to head to the gym and sit even more on the recumbent bike or through various exercises like seated DB press or seated leg extensions or seated whateverthefuck.

Performing the bulk of your exercise standing will not only be more challenging, but it will also force you to engage more muscle groups, which in turn will help you burn more calories, which will probably increase your chances of seeing someone of the opposite sex with their clothes off.  Maybe even with the lights on.

It’s a win-win.

Start With a “Money” Movement (The rest is just details.  Kinda).

When I write my own programs I don’t necessarily take the mindset that Monday is a “leg day” or a “lower body day.”

It’s deadlift day!

Likewise, Tuesday isn’t “chest day,” it’s bench day.

Are you picking up what I’m putting down?  Well good – you should.

Each workout – or to be more appropriate, each training session – should have a main exercise (or focus) of the day.  That’s the what I mean when I refer to a “money movement.”

And for the record, you should put all your heart and soul into that money movement.  When I know it’s a deadlift day, I don’t pussyfoot around.  I’ll get myself mentally prepared by planning out my session, visualizing hitting all my lifts, cueing up some mid-90s hip hop, and either sparta kicking a wall or punching a dolphin in the face.

Whatever gets me amped.

It’s me vs. the bar and that’s really all that matters.

And if I did everything right, and didn’t leave anything in the tank, I’m absolutely trashed afterwards.

Of course I’ll have a list of accessory exercises I’ll perform after the fact, but those are just details and serve just to “compliment” my money movement and to help me bring up my weaknesses.

I truly feel if people placed more of a premium on that money movement, got a little angrier, put every ounce of energy into it, and did more than just putter around on the Cybex circuit, they’d see marked improvements in their progress.

Include More Movement/GPP/Or Whatever You Want To Call Them Days

Know what I can’t stand (other than Ryan Seacrest)?  Are “off days” where people head to the gym only to walk on the treadmill for half an hour.

Listen, I get it:  getting your cardio in and improving your heart health is important. And if it’s something you want to do, than do it.

But if it were me, I’d nice the warm and cuddly cardio sessions and perform more movement based or GPP days into the mix.

Instead of hopping on the elliptical and dying a slow death of boredom, why not get your heart rate up in other ways and actually work on things you need to improve?

If you have access to a Prowler, farmer carry attachements, kettlebells, TRX, and the like, you’re golden.  You can set up some killer circuits and absolutely torch yourself.

Understandably, most of you won’t have access to those things, but that doesn’t mean you’re relegated to treadmill hell.

You can simply set up a circuit like this:

A1. LIGHT Goblet Squats: x10

A2.  3-Point Extension-Rotation: x10/side (thank you Conor Nordengren for the video)

A3. Side Plank w/ Row: x10/arm

A4. Bodyweight Reverse Lunge: x10/leg

A5.  Hand Switches w/ Push-Up: x5/side)

 A6. High FIve Someone

Perform in circuit fashion with as little rest as possible between each exercise.  At the end, rest 30-60s, and repeat for a total of 3-5 rounds.

It’s roughly 10-15 minutes of work (depending on how long you rest and how many rounds you complete), but it will definitely get your heart rate up (and be of more benefit because you’re addressing common weaknesses like poor glute function, core stability, etc), and it’s a heckuva lot more exciting than rotting away in the “cardio” section.

And I’m Done

While I could throw in a few wildcards like getting more (quality) sleep, drinking more water, hiring a reputable coach, or making an effort to train with people who will push you (even if it’s only once per week), I think I stated my case.

Nothing I mentioned above is revolutionary, but I think the above suggestions will go a long ways in helping people take their programs to the next level.  We often think that making things more complicated than they have to be is the way to go, and that couldn’t be further from the truth.

In reality just making an effort to simplify things, or to be more aware of common mistakes we’re making can make all the difference in the world.

CategoriesUncategorized

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 1/16/13

The weather in Boston today is pretty craptastic, and as such, I spent a fair amount of time cleaning off both our cars this morning.

For me it’s not that big of a deal because I’m able to park my car in the parking lot at the adjacent building next to our apartment complex, so I only have like a 30 second walk to my car.

Lisa on the other hand has to park her car down the road a ways at some random person’s driveway in a spot that she rents on a month by month basis.  I rent a spot too. But like I said, I’m only like a 30 second walk away.

You see Brookline, the town in which we live, has a “no overnight street parking” policy where the powers that be decided it would be an awesome (and be “awesome” I mean the complete opposite of awesome) idea to not allow any street parking from 12-5AM.

Why?  I have no idea. Either way it sucks whale vagina, and unless you own a helicopter and can park that badboy on a rooftop somewhere, or can somehow defy the law of physics and teleport yourself from point A to point B, you’re renting a parking spot.

Anyways long story short:  the weather sucks, I just spent half an hour clearing off both our cars, and I now only have a few minutes to get this here post up for ya’ll before I have to head out the door early to give myself ample time to get to work on time.

And yes, I just used the word ya’ll. I have no idea where that came from.

3 Step to Getting Your Girl to Train – Joy Victoria

I had the pleasure of meeting Joy in person a few weeks ago when she came to Cressey Performance to observe for the day. We had the opportunity to talk some shop, and I could tell right off the bat that she was someone who really had a passion for what she did, not to mention had an insatiable appetite to get better.

I mean, why else would she spend an entire day at CP?  It certainly wasn’t for my good looks and witty banter.

Nevertheless, I was stoked to see the above article on T-Nation last week that was written by her, and thought it was fantastic.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE:  Guys, read this article before even thinking about approaching this topic with your significant other.

There’s definitely a lot more to it than just slapping your girl on the tush, handing her some creatine, and yelling out, “lets go get hyyyyyyyyyyoge.”

Trust me. Don’t do it. This will have the opposite of the intended effect.  Just read the damn article, okay?

Best Squat Depth for Glute Activation – Chris Beardsley

An incredibly thorough (and honest) review of some research on the topic of squat depth and glute activation by Chris Beardsley via Bret Contreras’ blog.

The geek factor is high here, but Chris does an amazing job at breaking things down and explaining things in way where us mere mortals can understand.

Sitting is the Smoking of Our Generation – Nilofer Merchant

I “stole” this article from Jen Sinkler via Twitter, and loved it.

We sit, like a lot.  And there are a plethora of long-stemming health ramifications from all the sitting we do.

And while I’m a bit hypocritical in posting this article given I’m typing this while in fact sitting down (bad Tony!), I also know that I’ll be spending the next 6-8 hours running around coaching my tail off.

In case you’re wondering, I’m totally sticking my tongue out at you…..;o) I have the coolest job ever.

CategoriesUncategorized

Beware of Cookie Cutter Training Programs

Today’s guest post comes from Liberty University undergrad student, Joe Amberlock. Joe’s a bright kid who’s writing has been featured on T-Nation.com as well as Elitefts.com.  It’s a slightly different flavor compared to the posts I normally write (or even include as a guest post), but for those who like to geek out on baseball, and more to the point, baseball mechanics, this one will be right up your alley.

Also, as a quick reminder, Bootcamp in a Box, an excellent collaboration between Mike Robertson, Jim Laird, and Molly Galbraith geared towards bootcamp owners is now available (and currently on sale throughout the rest of the week). 

Loaded with 6-months of tailor-made programming, as well as a plethora of progressions (and regressions), this product is a must have for anyone looking to separate themselves from the bootcamp masses.

Beware of Cookie Cutter Training Programs

Improving performance in sport is always the goal of an athlete’s training. However, in many ways the training community has begun to veer away from this goal of late. Progress is being placed on how much an athlete can squat, clean, or press rather than on the increase effectiveness in the actual sport.

This is true in all sports, not excluding baseball. An example would be a baseball player that increases his max back squat from 400 to 500 pounds over the course of an off-season. This is viewed as progress, the player has improved. He returns to spring training pleased with his improvements, tells his coach and everyone is happy. However, the athlete plays no better on the field and can’t figure out why his gains are not transferring to his sport.

Unfortunately this form of “progress” is a frequent occurrence. Common knowledge says increase the athletes power, speed, strength and they will improve. Hence athletes are given “cookie cutter” programs that only take into account the athlete’s current state of performance which is determined by a set of lifts and pre-determined speed and agility protocols. The athlete improves in these “cookie cutter” programs however their sport is not performing “cookie cutter” movements, it is baseball.

Power, speed, and strength of a movement are not the only contributors to an athlete’s success in a given movement (task) but also heavily weigh on the athlete’s skill to effectively use and execute the task with the potential power, speed, and strength developed.

Every sport consists of the body completing a series of small tasks to form what to the naked eye would seem like a simple movement.

However, a sport cannot be generalized or simplified as just a body in motion, but rather every sport presents its own complex motor patterns to complete a task as it is presented during the competition of that sport.

Every game a player will encounter numerous tasks and they must accomplish this task through a motor pattern (Sequence of movements arranged to succeed).

That motor pattern can involve several different tasks throughout competition such as in baseball. An athlete will be expected to complete tasks such as fielding a ground ball, throwing to another player, or hitting. Each task is different in its own unique way, and each athlete is unique in how he accomplishes each task. Hence why cookie cutter programs aren’t the most effective way to train.

Say an athlete swings on a fastball, makes enough contact to hit over the right field fence, home-run. Spectators marvel at the athletes’ power and strength, the pitcher had no chance. The athlete was able to hit the homerun because he overcame the external opposition he was facing; the pitcher. He studied the pitchers tendencies and knew what was coming.

Although the battle at the plate is often chalked up to the pitcher vs. the hitter there are many other oppositions the hitter must overcome in order to complete his task successfully.

When an athlete steps into the batter’s box to hit the focus is generally placed on the external opposition. In this case it is the pitcher. The pitcher will present resistance in the form pitch selection, pitch speed, and location.

An athlete’s preparation is usually catered to focus on the external opposition he is certain to face. However, the athlete will also encounter forces he cannot directly see.

Opposition comes in the form of gravity, balance, inertia, and reactive force. All of these come into play and must be overcome. Each of these forces can be analyzed and broken down on the effect of the swing just as pitchers tendencies can be analyzed.

Therefore increasing the effectiveness of a task requires improvement of specific skill to control body movement and to generate force to overcome external resistance.  Not just getting more powerful and stronger in a squat or deadlift. 

When an athlete is first taught the correct form, technique, mechanics on how to swing and hit a pitch generally it is not a pretty sight. Perhaps his technique shows progress as he takes each swing slowly and deliberately. You then ask him to perform that same technique but now swing as powerfully as possible, as I’m sure you can imagine the swing mechanics would almost entirely break down and the athlete looks as if he had never swung a bat in the first place; It looks as if there is no rhyme or reason to his technique.

Note from TG:  Sort of like CrossFit, but without all the blacking out, and puking on the floors and stuff.  Ohhhhhhhhhhh snap!

Okay, sorry Joe, I’ll let you finish.

As the athlete becomes more mechanically proficient inefficiencies in his mechanics become harder to realize.

Flaws in the swing are not as apparent as they were at the beginner stages. Although this does not imply that the inefficiencies, although smaller, are any less important. Every portion of the swing’s motor pattern must be analyzed.

Each portion of the swing interacts with another forming a specific pattern of sequential actions known as a biodynamic structure. A small mechanical error can affect the entire biodynamic structure and throw off an entire at bat just like an incorrect guess at an oncoming pitch can.

There are key elements and movements that must be broken down in each athletes swing and accompanying these elements are secondary-elements that assist them. A good example of this is the athlete’s bat speed would be a key-element and movement and the elastic energy stored in the muscles before the swing would be an example of secondary-elements because they assist in the key-elements success.

To improve these key elements there must be a specific analysis of the biodynamic structure of the swing. The analysis should consist of the following:

Identifying the key-movements in the swing

There must be an examination of where during the swing there is a shift or displacement of the athletes’ center of body mass.

In relation to this center of body mass how does this shift or displacement impact the force propulsion throughout the swing; a small inefficient shift could result in failure. Also the key displacement of the body’s limbs from the center of gravity during the swing must also be taken into account and the phase in which the ball makes first contact with the ball.

Finally there must also be a mechanical observation of the synchronization of these two (the center of body mass and displaced limbs upon contact) An athlete at a glance may have a smooth proficient swing, this appearance is due to the syncing of all these small aspects.

Increasing the key-movements abilities

Increasing the effectiveness key-movements in the swing is a multifaceted task.

However it is made easier if the principle of dynamic correspondence is implemented correctly. This principle assures that the athletes training will be applicable to the improvement of the swing. The muscle groups and their range of motion, along with direction of motion must be observed. It is also necessary to examine types of muscle contractions that are taking place throughout the movement.

All of these observations must be taken into account before planning out an athlete’s preparation. Key movements and elements must be analyzed and broken down to find inefficiencies. If these inefficiencies are not trained and improved than the athletes increases in power, speed, and strength will not be used or translated into the sport if mechanically there is something out of whack.

This takes time and patients however, with these observations progress can be correctly measured rather than with vague movements or drills that contribute little to actual on the field performance.

And That’s That

To summarize, a program designed to increase a player’s performance is not a one size fits all deal. Each athlete is different and therefore each approach to an athlete must be unique to them. What works for one athlete may only be detrimental to another. Be wary of cookie cutter programs and arbitrary methods and take the time to analyze and get to know what your athletes really need to improve.

Author’s Bio

 

Joe Amberlock(Orlandi) is an undergraduate student at Liberty University pursuing a degree in Kinesiology. Joe’s tutelage under master strength coaches Bill Gillespie and Dave Williams along with experience working with Division 1 collegiate athletics has allowed him to learn, apply, and share his methods to all levels of athletes. Find out more at AmberlockPerformance.com

 

 

CategoriesMiscellaneous Miscellany Uncategorized

Miscellaneous Miscellany Monday: Yes, I Watched the Golden Globes. Don’t Judge Me!

I just realized it’s been a good 5-6 weeks since I’ve done one of these, which is just completely unacceptable.   Part of me feels like I’m doing a disservice to everyone by “wasting” a day to post about random shit.

I mean does everyone really care that I watched every minute of the Golden Globes last night?

Hell yeah you do!

1. If you missed them – all sorts of shenanigans went down.  Tina Fey and Amy Poehler did a bang-up job hosting.  While I didn’t get my panties all up in a bunch like a lot of people did when Ricky Gervais hosted last year, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a breath of fresh air to see that they didn’t go out of their way to “roast” all the attendees.

While on one hand I think if you’re making upwards of $10 million+ to pretend you’re someone else on screen, you should be able to suck it up if someone wants to bust your chops a little bit.

On the other, I don’t necessarily feel someone deserves to be humiliated in front of millions of viewers.

Nevertheless, I was happy to see my boy (as if I know him?) Quentin Tarantino win Best Screenplay for Django Unchained, and was equally as happy to see Ben Affleck (Ben freakin Affleck!) win Best Director (and Best Picture) for Argo.

I’ve had my qualms with Ben in the past. Namely for marrying my long-time crush (from her Alias days) Jennifer Garner, and you know, for making all of us suffer through Gigli.

But I have to say, he’s completely redeemed himself.  I was really impressed when he made his directorial debut with Gone, Baby Gone back in 2007. I was dumbfounded when The Town came out.

Many – myself included – felt Gone, Baby Gone might have been some kind a fluke; beginner’s luck if you will.

But when The Town came out two years ago, anyone who loves movies could tell that he had a knack for this directing thing.

With Argo, he’s easily established himself as one of the A-list directors in H-town.  And, giving credit where credit is due:  the guy’s grown on me as an actor as well.

If you haven’t see it already, I suggest you do it ASAP.

I read the other day that he’s in cohoots with Jason Bourne Matt Damon to make a movie based off the life of Whitey Bulger. Which basically means that if they decide to film in Boston (which I don’t see why they wouldn’t), the entire city is going to go into apeshit mode.

OMGOMGOMGOMG  – it’s going to be awesome.

The other highlights from last night: Wolverine can sing! He won for Best Actor in Les Miserables.  I haven’t seen it yet (mainly because I pee standing up), but stranger things have happened and I’ll most likely check it out soon.

The Oscars are next.  See you in a few weeks.

 2. One of the more common questions I receive on a somewhat regular basis is Tony are those your pecs or cinderblocks you have underneath that shirt? Tony, what’s your beef against Olympic lifting?

Presumably many are under the assumption that because I don’t discuss OLY lifting that much – or that I never program it – I’m adamantly against it.

Au contraire mon soeur.

This couldn’t be further from the truth!

For starters, as a strength coach, I’d be the worst one in history if I was somehow opposed to the OLY lifts. I think it goes without saying that they’re an unparalleled tool to help build explosiveness, power, and overall athleticism.

Thing is:  I don’t have a lot (if any) experience with them. As such, I don’t really go out of my way to coach them, or include them in any of my programs, because I’d be a walking ball of fail if I tried. If anything, I’m taking a huge bite of humble pie by admitting that I don’t feel comfortable as a coach including OLY lifting in my programs.

This isn’t to say that we don’t have other coaches at CP who have more hands-on experience with them and are more comfortable around them. But for me, I think I’d be doing my athletes and clients and disservice by pretending that I know what I’m talking about.

Besides, we make do with various med ball drills, sprinting drills, and the like, which get the job done.

Considering we don’t necessarily know how long we have each athlete for, it makes much more sense from a time-efficiency standpoint to utilize less “coaching intensive” protocols.

Sadly, there are quite a few coaches and trainers out there who don’t have the same mentality as myself. Instead of admitting their weaknesses, they pretend to know what they’re talking about at best coaching people with god-awful technique, and at worst……hurting someone.

That said, recognizing my weaknesses as a coach, I’ve started to delve a little deeper and started to read and watch various texts and DVDs on Olympic lifting.  It’s a whirlwind for sure, but something I feel will help make me a better coach in the grand scheme of things.

As luck would have it, I was sent an advance copy of Will Fleming’s Complete Olympic Lifting DVD a few weeks ago, and it’s been awesome.

The problem isn’t deciding whether or not to incorporate these lifts into our programs. It’s getting your athletes to properly execute them.

And THAT’S what’s helped me the most.

It takes you through the process of assessing, teaching and fixing the Olympic Lifts (and their variations) in a simple, straight forward way you can begin implementing immediately.

No technical jargon. No fluff. No scientific text. No cowbell.

If you’re like me, and the thought of OLY lifting makes you cower in the corner sucking your thumb, I’d highly suggest checking this fantastic resource out.

It’s on sale this week for 40% off the regular price, which is a steal if you ask me.

Check it out HERE, and thank me later.

3.  For more of universal flavor, and because bootcamps are now all the rage in the fitness industry, Mike Robertson, along with Jim Laird and Molly Galbraith have just released a 30-minute webinar as a precursor to their Bootcamp in a Box product coming out later this week (Tuesday, Jan. 15th in fact).

This is a product geared towards bootcamp owners that want to run a smarter and safer bootcamp.

I know all you hear right now is blah, blah, blah, just another bootcamp product to throw onto the “not interested” list.

But what differentiates this from all the other similar products there is:

  • I personally know Mike (as well as Jim and Molly) and know they’re all passionate about the type of information they put out there, and won’t allow themselves to put out a poo-poo product.
  • This is a DVD and manual which gives you – on a platter – an entire training system that you can use with your bootcamp clients.

It entails 6-months of done-for-you programming, progressions and regressions for all the major movement categories, and they’ve literally taken any guesswork out of the program.

For what it’s worth, many of the principles covered are things we’ve incorporated into our own Excellence Bootcamps at Cressey Performance

Like I said, the 30-minute webinar is FREE, and will give you a better idea of what the system entails.

Check it out HERE.

4.  And lastly, I want to touch on the whole training women while they’re pregnant topic. I’ve personally trained a handful of women through their pregnancies, and I’m currently training two as I type this.

Well, I mean not literally as I type this, but you know what I mean.

I definitely have some strong viewpoints on this topic – and I do want to share them in more detail – but I’d be curious to hear what other’s have to say (or think).

For me there’s a massive dichotomy between what I do and what most (not all) of the research says we should be doing.

While it definitely comes down to the individual, their comfort level, listening to their body, as well as their past training history, I find it asinine that there are physicians out there (and even more articles) that suggest that “training” should revolve around light walking and what mounts to arm circles.

For me, when I’m working with someone who’s pregnant, it’s about preparing them for something a helluva lot more significant than lifting pink dumbbells or anything I’ll ever have to do.

In my eyes, if they’re able to grow and push a human being out of their body, they’re capable of lifting a barbell off the ground.

Sometimes even over their head.  Repeatedly.  GASP!!!!!!!!

But again, this definitely doesn’t apply to everyone. I understand that there are subtle training modifications that should be addressed trimester to trimester, and there are times where extenuating circumstances come in to play as far as complications are concerned.

In my experience, however, these are few and far between and I often feel like we’re being overly cautious.

Now, I’m not insinuating that someone carrying child should go out and try to hit deadlift PRs on a weekly basis or snatch a mack truck over their head.  But I’m certainly in the camp that feels we can offer a lot more than “go walk in the treadmill.”

Like I said, I’d like to jump into this topic with more detail, but I wanted to throw out a “feeler” to see if anyone would bite and offer their insight on the matter.

Soooo, what say you?

CategoriesMotivational

Mondays: A Fitness Professional’s Worst Enemy (Behind Tracy Anderson)

LOL – see what I just did there?  I burned Tracy Anderson right from the get-go!  Oh man this day is off to a good start already.

The only thing that could make it better is if by some miracle it started raining bacon.  And, you know, I drove a tank to work.

But I’m getting a little carried away here.

Tracy Anderson jokes and bacon aside, Mondays generally suck no matter which way you look at it.  Personally I don’t mind them that much because I actually love my job.  But there was a time, when I first started in this industry (in corporate fitness), where my Mondays consisted of getting up at 3:45 AM to drive 50 minutes to work so that I could open up the gym by 5 AM.

That…..sucked…….donkey……balls.

Even more so when it was the dead of winter, ten degrees outside, and the roads weren’t even plowed yet. For those unfamiliar with central New York winters – it’s essentially the lake-effect snow capital of the universe (yes, the universe), and it’s abysmal weather from December to April.

But at least it’s not Edmonton (sorry Dean Somerset).

Suffice it to say, I’d spend most of my day on Sunday dreading the start of Monday.

But that isn’t really what this post is all about.  Things are cool now. It’s true what they say:  if you enjoy your job, it’s never really “work.” Mondays now are just like any other day in my eyes.

Except for the day AFTER attending a seminar.

I know I’ve seemingly harpooned the CP Elite Baseball Development seminar this week and have taken it hostage, using it as the impetus for every post.

But what can I say?  I learned a lot – and it provided me with some blogging ammo for a week.

Yesterday I dissected a quote from Eric Schoenberg on how “arm care” programs shouldn’t just be limited to the shoulder.  As Eric noted, we don’t throw a baseball with JUST our shoulders.

Sure, the shoulders play an important role – and it’s no coincidence that they’re a problematic area in many baseball players – but throwing a baseball involves the entire body, and taking the mindset that we should solely focus on the shoulder (and elbow) is a bit, well, dumb.

Having said that, not everyone reading this blog follows baseball, plays baseball, or really cares one way or the other how we train them.

So I’ll do everyone a favor and shut my yapper on that front.

But there is one more gem that I took away from the seminar that I feel applies to any fitness professional reading whether they train professional athletes, high-school athletes, soccer moms, type-A doctors, lawyers, and CEOs, or bomb sniffing dolphins.

And that’s this:

Turn on the brakes!!!

The hardest part about attending seminars – and something Mike Robertson alluded to in THIS fantastic post –  is the following Monday, where you want to try all the new exercises you learned, and demonstrate to the world that performing a one-legged squat on a BOSU ball while juggling oranges is EXACTLY what everyone needs to be doing.

I think there are many fitness professionals out there that bombard their athletes and clients with a host of exercises thinking that more is better.  Worse, is that they’ll attend a weekend seminar (which should be commended by the way), arm themselves with an endless supply of new and “cool” exercises, and then, without any discretion what-so-ever, include them in every client’s program on Monday.

Throwing a nice corollary into the mix, Dennis Treubig, PT, DPT, CSCS, wrote a nice guest post on Mike Reinold’s site earlier this week where he talked about the same topic, but included something I’ve read about is several behavioral economic books I’ve read referred to as the jam experiment.

Mmmm, I like Jam

If you are unfamiliar with this experiment, here is a brief synopsis (officially titled, “When Choice is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing?”).  Shoppers at a grocery store were presented with two different displays of jam – one had 6 flavors and the other had 24 flavors.  The results showed that 30% of people who visited the display with 6 jams actually purchased jam, while only 3% made a purchase after visiting the display that offered 24 jams.

So what’s the take home message?  Less is more.

Or better yet:  refraining from being an a-hole and recognizing that not everything applies to every client….is more.

Don’t go thinking that the more exercises you include (or add) in your programs somehow shows off your superiority as a trainer or coach. All it really demonstrates, with bright, gleaming colors, is that you’re unable (or unwilling) to think for yourself and to properly apply what you’ve learned.

This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t apply new techniques, exercises, or principles into your programming.  On the contrary, you should STRIVE for that. I can’t even begin to tell you how much it saddens me when a trainer or coach never grows, cultures, or adapts their training methodology.

All I’m suggesting is that, come Monday, don’t jump the gun and immediately overhaul your programs with an avalanche of new exercises.  Take the time to actually dissect and assimilate the information and to see what (if anything) applies to you and your clients/athletes.

Having more of a “filter” and learning how to disregard new information is just as important as learning it in the first place.