CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work Uncategorized

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: Zombies!, Pull-Ups, and the best Warm-Up Article EVER

Wait a second – my alarm went off this morning.  I don’t think I’m dreaming.

*looks out window*

Volcanoes aren’t erupting, the streets aren’t flooded with molten lava, and from what I can tell, everything seems business as usual.

The Mayanpocalypsearmeggedonacaust didn’t happen.  We’re all still here!!!!!!

High Five!

But be weary my friends – we’re still not out of the woods yet.  The day is still young, and you never know when s*** is going to hit the fan.

If things do get real, and you’re forced to fight for your life, whether it be killing a grizzly bear with your nunchucks for your next meal, protecting your family from evil doers, or I don’t know, something less “doom and gloom” like clicking “next” whenever your Pandora station plays a Coldplay song……are you prepared?

Are you in enough ass-kicking shape to do what you need to do to get s*** done? Can you – WILL YOU – survive if you had to go all Snake Plissken on people’s asses?

Well just in case, earlier this week my boy, John Romaniello, released his latest training program:

Zombie Apocalypse Survival Workout

I know some reading are going to dismiss this product due to the “less than serious” premise. To that I say:

1.  Relax!  Don’t take yourself so seriously.

AND

2.  There’s actually a legitimate rationale behind it.

John, along with every other well-known fitness professional I know, routinely gets questions asking his opinion on CrossFit (myself included).

It’s a touchy topic to say the least, and something that has caused a rift between strength coaches, personal trainers, and fitness enthusiasts alike.

On one end of the spectrum you have those who swear by it, and literally eat, drink, breath, and LIVE by CrossFit.

On the other, you have those who loathe it, think it’s a fad, and that it’s hopefully going away.  Like, soon.

Well, it’s not going away.  And while I’ll be the first to admit that I too have my qualms with CrossFit, I also understand that it’s getting people excited to exercise, and there’s a lot to be said for that. How can I possibly poo-poo on that?

Like John I feel the idea of CrossFit is sound – it’s just that its execution is flawed.

To his credit John has been attending at least one CrossFit class a week for the past few months to try to get a better understanding and feel for what the culture is like.

And, not surprisingly, he’s mentioned several times that there are great coaches and absolutely terrible coaches.

The great coaches – and by extension, the most successful CF boxes – understand that it comes down to sound programming.  They take the time to properly coach their clients and use appropriate exercise progressions (and more importantly, regressions) to “guide” them through.

By contrast, the terrible coaches – and unfortunately this seems to be the rule rather than the exception – focus solely on the workouts. How can we completely obliterate our athletes/clients and make them hate life?  How can we – fingers crossed! – make them cough up their spleen?

The latter is what I 100% disagree with, and what I feel gives CrossFit its bad rap.

So what did Roman do?  He started taking CrossFit classes to see if he could fix it.

To quote the man himself:

“I thought to myself, “what if you took the idea of CrossFit–the idea of non-
specification,the idea of having a high level of general proficiency across the
board, and applied intelligent programming–with a classic Roman twist–to
that idea…what would you get?”

It’s a good question, and one worth exploring. So that’s what I did.

What I wound up with was the Zombie Apocalypse Survival Workout. 

Because really, when you strip away the fun and silliness, that’s what ZAW 
really is: my take on CrossFit. It’s CrossFit, Roman style, with all of the issues 
with programming fixed.”

Fittingly, today is the last day of the sale, so if you’re interested you better hurry.  The walking dead could be right around the corner……;o)

6 Coaches Weigh in on Pull-Ups – 6 Coaches, Duh!

Along with Bret Contreras, Ben Bruno, Dean Somerset, Tim Henriques, and Dan Trink, I was asked to contribute to this awesome pull-up article that was put up on T-Nation yesterday.

If we were a boy band, we’d totally be the most diesel boy band ever.

I’d be the shy one.

Warm-Up – Mike Robertson

The title says it all.

I wrote a blog post a while back titled The Perfect Warm-Up?  It was nothing revolutionary, but it cemented my thoughts on what I felt the purpose of a proper warm-up is, and then I offered a different spin on it.

Well, in THIS article – which should be titled The FOR REAL Perfect Warm-Up – Mike breaks everything down from what the warm-up should accomplish for each segment of the body to providing videos of all of his favorite drills.  This is a MUST read.

 

CategoriesExercises You Should Be Doing Strength Training

Exercises You Should Be Doing: TRX Batwing

A few months ago Dan John wrote a blog post (or maybe even an article) on his “batwing” principle, which is a subtle exercise tweak one can make to standard rowing variations that aids in “waking-up” the rhomboids and the upper back musculature as a whole.

It was a very simple idea – albeit brilliant, because I had never dawned on me before and it’s something that can easily be assimilated into most programs without much thought or coaching.

I mean, come on, it’s pretty self-explanatory!

After the fact my good buddy, Ben Bruno, went a head and shared with the world a few of his own variations that he implemented with his athletes. And, having been hit by the “Ah HA” fairy myself, I too came up with a cool variation: the Half Kneeling Cable Batwing/Pulldown.

It pretty much changed the world.  True story.

Anyways, fast forward to the other day when I received an email from a former distance coaching client of mine , Tom.

We still keep in touch every now and then, and in this particular case he shared a batwing variation that he felt would be a nice fit to the Exercises You Should Be Doing series.

TRX Batwing

NOTE: Before we begin, I recognize that people hate (HATE!) vertical videos.  In the ranking of things to hate, a list may look something like this:

1.  Hitler.
2. Justin Beiber’s general level of douchebaggery.
3.  Rocky V.
4.  Vertical videos
5. Cold sores.

In the grande scheme of things you can blame me, because even though Tom sent me the video as is, it’s my fault for forgetting to film one myself when I tried the exercise out at the facility the other day.

My bad.  But moving on…….

Who Did (We) Steal It From Him:  I stole it from Tom, who stole it from both Dan John and Joe DeFranco.

What Does It Do:  Lots and lots of stuff going on here.  Tom mentioned that Joe DeFranco discussed a variation where you hold yourself in the push-up position on the TRX (with the arm locked out), and you grab either a kettlebell or dumbbell and perform a standard row.  Perform “x” number of reps on one side, switch, and repeat on the other.

However, Tom really liked Dan John’s idea of “reawakening” the rhomboids and instead of performing standard reps up and down, you hold each rep for time.

I agree.  Most people have woefully weak posterior chains (this includes the upper back) and IMO there’s really no such thing as too much horizontal rowing.

Too much Santa, yes.  Too much horizontal rowing, no.

By that token, this variation provides an incredible anti-rotary component (and anti-extension), as well as rotator cuff activation (because you have to have a death grip on the TRX so that you don’t tip over), and of course, provides a light training effect for the upper back muscles.

You’re not going to be crushing any big weights or breaking any PRs with this exercise, but it’s a nice way to include some LIGHT horizontal pulling while simultaneously getting in some “core” work.

Key Coaching Cues:  The most obvious: don’t fall over…..;o)

The wider the stance, the more stable you’re going to be, so depending on your ability level you’re going to have to make a judgement call here. Er on the side of caution, though and start with a slightly wider than hip width stance. Adjust from there.

Also, try to squeeze your glutes as if you’re trying to crack a walnut.  The entire backside should be in a relative straight line, so if you’re hiking your hips up in the air, squeeze those bad boys!

Along the same lines, your lower back shouldn’t be dipping.

As I alluded to above, you have two options here:

1.  You can perform “x” number of repetitions per side (8-12) using a kettlebell or dumbbell.  I’m indifferent either way.

OR (my preference)

2.  Hold each “rep” for an allotted time frame.  I think a great starting point would be 5x5s holds PER ARM.

Focus on pulling the elbow towards the hip (but don’t go past the hip! You want to try to avoid too much glenohumeral extension), and pausing in the top position for  FIVE SECOND count.  Perform five reps per side.

Feel that? Yeah, those are your rhomboids working.

Try it out today, and let me know what you think.

 

CategoriesMotivational Strength Training

A Critical Reply to an Uncritical Coach

Today’s post comes from the one and only Bret Contreras.  As he’ll note below, I received an email from a fan of my blog asking me for my opinion on some candid remarks she overheard one of the strength coaches at her university regurgitate to a few other students.

And by using the word regurgitate I’m being really nice.

To say I was shocked at this particular coach’s train of thought would be an understatement, and I had to pinch myself to make sure I didn’t somehow time travel back to 1986.

Which, actually, would be kinda sweet because tv back then was awesome, what with shows like Airwolf, The A-Team, and The Gummi Bears rocking the airwaves.

Nevertheless I was definitely taken for a loop when I read this coach’s comments, and I could think of no one else I’d rather see write an appropriate and thorough response than Bret.

Thankfully he came through with flying colors, and absolutely PWNED the guy.  Enjoy!

A Critical Reply to an Uncritical Coach – Bret Contreras

Last month, an avid reader of this blog wrote to Tony requesting expertise. Tony sent it over to me for a good laugh. But I’m always up for a good grilling, so I asked Tony if he’d let me respond. In the past I’ve been disrespectful to those I grill, so I will try my best to remain professional here. The gist is that there’s some strength coach out there (we won’t mention his name) who is simply making a bunch of stuff up. This guy needs to be corrected so his athletes can receive proper training. Below are his comments. In gray is what the reader wrote to Tony, and my responses are in red:

Today I was eavesdropping on a conversation between the head S&C coach and a couple of his practicum students. They were talking about how he teaches the squat to his athletes. The coach said that because so many athletes are stronger in their posterior chain compared to their quads, he strongly discourages his athletes from “sitting back” or having any type of hip hinge movement while squatting to minimize glute and hamstring involvement and target the quads. He said the box squat or squat to a box was a pointless exercise due to the hip hinge requirement and the nearly vertical tibia – he wants his athletes squatting by dropping straight down, staying relatively upright and getting the knees a fair ways beyond the toes. He emphasizes developing quad strength over posterior chain strength in all of his young athletes. Also, he said that prevention of ACL injuries would be enhanced if there was less emphasis on hip hinging and more emphasis on quad strengthening, especially in female athletes. 

I pretty much disagree with everything this coach said. I see this all the time, and it’s worth addressing.

Many coaches formulate their methods based on what they think happens and what seems rational in their minds. They don’t read research or utilize the scientific method, and prefer to rely on intuition. They may still achieve good results, as many avenues lead to success. For example, coaches who simply have their athletes full squat and sprint will see improvements in performance. But due to false assumptions and failure to take advantage of the thousands of available prior scientific studies conducted by hardworking sports scientists and strength coaches, their athletes will fail to achieve maximum results, which is unfortunate. At any rate, here is my retort

1. Athletes are supposed to be stronger in their posterior chains compared to their quads. Gluteus maximus plus hamstrings plus adductor magnus should slightly outperform the quadriceps in terms of total muscle force and extension-torque production. If this is the case with athletes (hip extensor dominance), you should be happy and should not try to change the ratio toward quad-dominance. Strong quads are indeed important in sports, but it’s ideal for the hips to stay stronger than the quads.

2. No squat variation is “pointless.” The box squat is a welcome variation as the vertical tibia increases the hip extension moment and decreases the knee extension moment. In other words, more torque is required out of the hips, and less torque is required out of the knees. This is highly beneficial for lifters ranging from newbies, to those prone to experiencing knee pain or injury, to powerlifters. The full squat with an upright stance is also a good variation, especially for Olympic lifters, but not everyone can handle the forces on the knee joint associated with this variation.

3. Actually, quad-dominance increases the risk of ACL injuries, in addition to increasing the risk of hamstring and low back injuries. And actually, youngsters, females, and beginners typically exhibit quad-dominance due to high daily-activation in the quadriceps with concomitant low daily-activation in the glutes. For this reason, hip extension strength, particularly gluteal strength, should be emphasized with these athletes, along with just about every other athlete too. 

But wait! There’s more. The reader later sent another email to Tony with more “gems”:

He pretty much had a hate-on for the hip hinge. He said that “vertical displacement” is the key in sprinting and jumping, not the horizontal displacement of the hips moving back and forth. Therefore, the hip hinge should not be emphasized and the quads should. He never tells his athletes to “sit back”. He said that if he had an athlete who was knee-dominant, he would not try to strengthen his/her hips “because then they’ll use their hips for everything.” 

Vertical displacement is indeed the key for jumping, but not for sprinting. You do not want to be bouncing up and down excessively when sprinting. The key to sprinting is to produce just enough vertical force to raise the center of mass just enough to cycle the legs back around so they can reproduce horizontal force. Anything greater in terms of vertical force production is wasted energy and will result in slower speeds.

But now I need to address something very alarming.

Nothing we do in the weightroom completely mimics on the field performance.

If resistance training had to exactly mimic sport actions in order to transfer to performance, we would not be able to add resistance, since adding load in any form (bands, vests, sleds, free weights, etc.) immediately changes mechanics.

Squats, RDLs, split squats, hip thrusts, and back extensions would all screw up sprinting and jumping performance. Hell, squats would screw up RDLs and vice-versa, sprints would screw up jumps and vice-versa, etc.

However, we have tons of research showing improved performance and transfer of training from resistance training to sporting actions, from plyometrics to resistance training, and so on and so forth. There is a synergistic effect with the various types of hip extension exercises, and an athlete should be strong in all leg and hip muscles through a full range of motion. This requires multiple exercises.  

Of course you don’t want athletes sitting back excessively when they jump, but they can differentiate RDL’s and box squats from jumping performance as they are separate motor qualities.

RDLs and box squats don’t automatically cause athletes to sit back too much when they jump, Oly squats and split squats don’t automatically cause athletes to stay too upright when they jump, and hip thrusts don’t automatically cause athletes to want to lie down on their backs in the middle of a game (note the heavy sarcasm).

As long as there exists a balance in programming, athletic form remains intact. In the weightroom, we strengthen muscles and movement patterns, and the athletes are able to blend the newfound neuromuscular improvements into their jumping and sprinting motor programs. 

Last, research shows that the knee extension torque does not increase nearly as much as hip extension torque when transitioning from running to maximal sprinting, submaximal jumping to maximal jumping, and submaximal squats, lunges, and deadlifts to maximal squats, lunges and deadlifts. This is very important as it suggests that continual improvements are reliant upon strengthening the hips!

He thinks “glute activation” is complete BS because there’s no way to “prove” that it works (even using EMG). He said that the simple, low-load, isolated movements that are used to activate the glutes have no transfer to multi-joint movements like the squat or to the performance of the actual sport. I don’t think he believes that the glutes need to be activated in the first place.

There are many ways to show that glute activation works. We can obtain clues by examining the EMG activation, but at the end of the day we need training studies showing significant results. Glute activation is in its infancy in terms of the literature. However, in just the past couple of years, several important studies have emerged: 

  1. One showing actual EMG profiles of strongmen performing various strongman exercises. The better performers clearly used their glutes more so than the poorer performers.
  2. One showing increased glute activation with simultaneous decreased hamstring activation during hip extension exercise
  3. One showing increased hip extension strength, decreased hamstring activation during the support phase in running, and cured hamstring cramping in a triathlete
  4. And one showing significantly improved power production during a vertical jump compared to controls and a whole-body vibration warm-up

Considering that many well-respected coaches and rehabilitation specialists such as Tony Gentilcore, Eric Cressey, Mark Verstegen, Michael Boyle, Pavel Tsatsouline, and Stuart McGill have seen good results with glute activation drills, it’s definitely worthy of incorporation until more research emerges. It’s worth mentioning that I am a huge fan of glute activation and believe that research will eventually show its value. 

He thinks bracing the core (or whatever you want to call it) is stupid. He said “when would you ever do that when you’re playing your sport? You don’t have time to consciously think about activating your core.” He said that the core had much, much greater activation during the performance of big compound lifts.

I agree with the coach in this situation, aside from when an athlete is about to collide or be struck in the midsection. Sports are markedly different from resistance exercises, both in terms of timing and muscle activation requirements. When you put a heavy bar on your back or in your hands, you place considerably more bending torque on the spine, which requires a much greater amount of spinal stiffening compared to ballistic bodyweight movements.

He doesn’t really like single-leg training, but especially hates the single-leg squat because it “produces too much compensation.” He thinks that training the single-leg squat will only make the athlete better at single-leg squats and won’t transfer to the sport. I have seen him use split squats with his athletes, though.

I’m not sure what he means by “compensation,” but I suspect he’s referring to the oft-seen lumbar flexion and posterior pelvic tilt exhibited in the bottom range of motion during a pistol squat.

It’s worth mentioning that single leg box squats provide a solution for this issue. But the notion that they don’t transfer to performance is absurd.

Take a novice lifter who struggles with a bodyweight squat. Over the course of 12 weeks, utilize progressive overload and get him able to perform five full range pistol squats. Guess what? His barbell squat and vertical jump will have improved along with his pistol squat.

Sure you can argue that the pistol squat isn’t the safest or best way to load the lower body, but it definitely transfers to sport. Everything challenging compound lower body movement does, and the transfer is more pronounced with less experienced lifters.

That’s all for today! Hopefully sports science spreads and coaches are forced to step up their game or be replaced by those who have an appreciation for the scientific method and the literature. 

CategoriesUncategorized

How to “Stick” the Box Squat

Vacation is over.  Sad face.  Having spent the past three days in paradise (Captiva Island, Florida) soaking up some good ol’ vitamin D, relaxing, eating my fair share of insulin coma inducing foods, and even catching my very first glimpse of a manatee, it’s time to head back to good ol’ Boston, Massachusetts.  I just looked at the local weather there and it’s miserable, rainy, and cold.  Like really cold. Like I can’t feel the left side of my face cold.

Awesome!

In fact, as I type this Lisa and I are in the Ft. Myers airport waiting for our flight to depart.  Per usual, given my affinity for hating to fly, I’m fighting back the urge to hyperventilate into a brown paper bag, but since we have like an hour to kill before we start boarding, I figured I’d spend the time to my advantage and try to bang out a quick blog post.

I’m a ninja like that.

So as it happened, the resort we stayed at in Captiva Island – the SouthSeas Resort – had a fairly well equipped fitness center that we used each day we were there – except yesterday.  HA!

Two out of three days ain’t too shabby, though, right?

Anyways, I wasn’t expecting a Gold’s Gym or anything, but I braced myself for the worst.  Typically when a resort or hotel states that they have a “fitness center,” it generally consists of a treadmill (or two), an old school universal gym complete with an antiquated leg press and lat pulldown station, a few med balls (with no wall to throw them to), and if you’re lucky, a pair of matching dumbbells.

It is what it is. When you take a trip to paradise, it only makes sense that they place more emphasis on the all-you-can-eat buffet rather than the the number of barbells available.

I have to say, though, that this particular fitness center served it’s purpose. It had dumbbells (albeit only up to 50 lbs), a full Life Fitness circuit, as well as a baller functional trainer.  And yes, they had more than enough cardio equipment.

But I have a confession to make.

*cue Darth Vader theme music*

I used a Smith Machine.  To squat in.  Ahhhhhhhhhh.

I know, I know.  It’s blasphemous – but it’s all I had available to me and I had no other choice than to MacGyver the shiznit out of my workouts.

I mean come on: Give me a Smith Machine, a roll of duct tape, a rubber ducky, and some jelly beans, and I can somehow conjure up a killer program.

Nevertheless, I felt kinda “dirty” afterwards, and to make up for it I felt compelled to write a quick post on box squats (as well as commit myself to 47 Hail Mary’s for committing such a sin).

How to “Stick” the Box Squat

I think the box squat is an invaluable tool.  Not only is it a superb way to groove rock-solid squatting technique, it also serves as an excellent exercise that adds unparalleled muscle mass (specifically to the posterior chain:  hamstrings, glutes, mid & upper back), not to mention helps get people uber strong.  If that’s your bag, which it should be.

Unfortunately a lot of things can go wrong when box squatting – knees caving in, upper back rounding, not maintaining more of a vertical shin angle, not sitting back (hip hinging) enough, poor lat (and subsequent thoraco-lumbar) activation, poor bracing, and you even run the risk of splitting your pants wide open in the middle of a set, which actually happened to one of my female clients a few years ago.

It was awesome.  It didn’t even phase her.  She finished the rest of her sets like a rock star.

Needless to say, there’s a lot to think about!

Squatting in general is a fairly technique heavy movement, and if someone isn’t careful to learn proper technique (or doesn’t take the time to properly progress), they run the risk of seriously hurting themselves.

I’m not going to go into too much depth on ALL the intricacies of the squat with this post, but I do want to hammer on one point that I feel doesn’t get enough recognition.

One common mistake I see a lot of people make when BOX squatting is how they “stick” the landing.  Many times it looks something like this:

As you can see in this example, there’s really nothing “technical” about it.  I just plop onto the box.

This is cringe-worthy for two reasons:

1.  You lose ALL tension on the box when doing this.  I’m not a huge fan of the “rocking” variation that some coaches like to teach off the box.  For more advanced lifters this may be appropriate (as they’ve accumulated enough time under the bar to stay out of  spinal end ranges of motion), but for the beginner or intermediate lifter, this could spell disaster.

I much prefer trainees to STICK the landing, pause for a second, and try to maintain as much tension as possible when sitting onto the box.

2.  The second and probably most pertinent point to the post: Your spine will hate you squatting in this manner.

To clarify – the spine can handle compressive loading pretty efficiently and can take care of itself, thank you very much.

I don’t want to cause mass hysteria here.

But when you just plop onto the box like a dead fish, you run the risk of increasing compressive loading twofold. Actually, a lot more than that, but who’s counting?  This becomes even more worrisome when you combine this with losing tension on the box, as one will definitely increase the risk of the spine buckling.

 

Instead, I like to coach people to “land softly” onto the box.  I want to see them initiate the descent by hip hinging like a bastard (read:  hip hinge correctly) while simultaneously pushing their knees out, and as they inch closer to the box, I want them to pretend as if they’re sitting on broken glass.  DO NOT PLOP onto the box.

It looks something like this:

God, that’s sexy.

Hopefully that helps shed some light on one of the lesser known intricacies of proper box squatting.  It’s a minor detail I know, but something I feel a lot of people dismiss.

Now if you excuse me, I have to board my flight.

*grabs blankie and half a gallon of Nyquil*

UPDATE:  I made it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work Uncategorized

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: Conditioning? Review of CP Seminar, and Arnold

As this post goes live I’m most likely confined in an airplane on my way to Florida with Lisa for her cousin’s wedding.

We’re actually head to Captiva Island for three days and it’s going to be glorious. I haven’t had any direct sunlight in like two months, and I can’t even remember the last time I had a tan. 1994 maybe?

Plus, things are going to be getting uber busy at the facility within the next week or two with all of our college guys coming home for Christmas break, contributing more or less, to a “perfect storm” of pro baseball players, college baseball players, and high-school baseball players….

…..so this short getaway will serve as a welcome length of quiet before the storm.

That said, as you’re reading this, I’m sitting in a plane (clenching my butt cheeks like you wouldn’t believe), which isn’t one of my more favorite things to do.

Given a choice between lighting my face on fire or flying, lets just say I’d have to think about it.

So of course what did I do all this morning?  Like an asshat I watched videos of plane crashes, of course!

I just want to make sure I’m prepared.  You know, just in case.

Anyways, here’s this week’s stuff to read:

Conditioning is a Sham – Mark Rippetoe

I respect the hell out of Coach Rip, and it’s hard not to love anything the man’s written given his remarkable career and experience.

This article is no different.

Funnily enough, just yesterday I was joking with a few of the guys after performing a high-rep set of deadlifts (405×12), bent over and panting trying to catch my breath, that anyone who thinks strength training can’t count as “cardio” or that it can’t improve your conditioning is crazy.

You don’t need to bring your body to the brink of shitting a kidney in order to improve your conditioning.  No kidding!

1st Annual Cressey Performance Fall Seminar Review, Part II – Matt Kramer & Chad Rodgers

In the last installment of “stuff to read,” I linked to the Matt and Chad’s awesome review of the CP seminar from a few weeks ago.  Here’s part II where they cover both Eric Schoenberg’s and Chris Howard’s topics.

Thanks for doing this fellas!

Arnold Wisdom – John Romaniello

Those who are familiar with John’s writing will eat this post up.  Those who aren’t familiar – well, you’re welcome. Your world just got a little more awesome

And one more BONUS addition.

How to Get Your Period Back – Cassandra Forsythe

I know half my audience will balk at the title (and yes, it’s about EXACTLY what you think it is) but this was an absolute knowledge bomb of an article that I feel should get more attention.

On that note, I’m out!  See everyone when I get back!

CategoriesNutrition

Should Personal Trainers Give Nutrition Advice?

Today’s post comes from current Cressey Performance intern, and competitive powerlifter, Pat Koch.

As someone who’s often giving nutrition advice myself – albeit in a very limited fashion – I think this is a very important and pertinent discussion to have considering the resounding alternatives that people have at their disposal.

Who should we listen to?  Who should we believe?  Who’s right?  Who’s wrong? What the hell is going to happen in Fringe this season? 

You see, I like to ask the important questions!

Nevertheless, I think everyone will enjoy this one.  See you tomorrow.

Within the last couple months, a battle has been waging.  This battle is of particular interest to those involved in the health and wellness industry, but for the most part has flown under the radar.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics formerly known as the American Dietetic Association has used aggressive tactics to deter a blogger from disseminating nutrition advice.

The blogger in question is a diabetic who used a paleo diet to help him get off meds and improve his quality of life.  He openly encouraged other diabetics to follow his lead.  The blog provided advice mostly free of charge, and built a decent web presence.  Ultimately he seemed to help a few people out.

After an uproar from his supporters, documents leaked from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics showing a plan to disenfranchise other nutrition providers, using state legislature.

It raises the question: Is the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics doing this for “the good of the people,” or are they trying to destroy competition for their business?

Certainly it is in their interest to make sure that registered dieticians are the gold standard of nutrition care.

I can certainly see why we don’t want any Joe Blow off the street giving diabetics nutrition advice, but do we need to make a crack down on other nutrition providers?

Physical therapists, chiropractors, personal trainers, MD’s, routinely give nutrition advice.  Should it be illegal?  Some of these professionals have no business talking Nutrition, and some of them have useful knowledge.

Note from TG:  on that tangent, it’s been said that medical students receive – at most – around two weeks of nutrition related course work during their tenure in school.  To me this is woefully deficient, and speaks volumes to the gap between who should be giving nutrition advice and who shouldn’t?.

On one hand you have someone who’s spent the better part of the past decade of their life studying the human body collecting a knowledge base that I can’t even begin to fathom. There’s a lot to be said for that and it should be commended and respected.

Yet, by that same token, I think we can all agree that two weeks of course work is peanuts and is by no means enough to cover one’s nutritional bases thoroughly.

I mean, we have some doctors out there spewing out nonsense like whole eggs are tantamount to smoking a cigarette (no joke!). I’m still waiting with bated breath the day where egg yolks are compared to ebola virus. 

Similarly, while there are undoubtedly thousands of reputable and well respected Registered Dietitians out there who “get it” and don’t coddle to the establishment, I’d be remiss to ignore that that number pales in comparison to those who are still spewing out nonsense like high(er) protein diets lead to renal damage or disease. 

On the other, you have those who, just because they read a book on how to make gluten free cupcakes (or have 10,000 posts on some random fitness forum) feel they have the nutritional fortitude to shell out advice to anyone and everyone with a computer screen.

Needless to say, there’s a lot of gray area here.

Personally, I feel completely comfortable discussing a bevy of nutritional topics with my athletes and clients.  I get questions all time relating to which supplements are worth taking, which are a waste of money, and which – if any (and there are a few) – are dangerous.

Too, I routinely answer many other inquiries ranging from what’s a good meal to eat after training and discussing with a young athlete the importance of getting enough protein in their diet to more geektastic topics like Intermittent Fasting and gluconeogenesis.

Thankfully I have a close network of diet and nutrition professionals whom I refer out to on a consistent basis.  I KNOW my scope of practice (I’m certainly not writing diets or diagnosing anything), and I would hope most personal trainers and coaches are doing the same.

That said, this is an interesting topic for sure.  For all the verbal fireworks that are abound, I think the answer does lie somewhere in the middle.

Okay, sorry for the slight rant.  Back to Pat!

Do consumers need to protect themselves from quack nutritionists?  Or should the government tell us who to listen to?

Certainly we don’t have to be reminded of the, “credible sources” that back in the day provided us with the recommendations for 6-11 servings of grains a day…

It would be a sad day when a doctor legally could not give nutrition advice but moments before entering the office, patients read magazines in the waiting room showing them how to “Lose Thirty LBS in 10 Days.”

What does everyone think?  Should personal trainers be allowed to give nutrition advice?  Is the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, “protecting the people,” or overstepping boundaries in order to stifle competition?

To read more about the situation read on HERE

Author’s Bio

“Pat Koch is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, and Sports Nutritionist (CISSN) through the International Society of Sports Nutrition. After studying at Ithaca College, Pat obtained his undergraduate degree in Health Sciences with a concentration in Nutrition. Since then he has been working as a trainer specializing in Sports Performance.  Currently Pat interns at Cressey Performance, and has recently started competing in powerlifting.”

CategoriesUncategorized

Cold Case Files With Brian St. Pierre

Both Brian St. Pierre and I have been on an emailing tear this past week, going back and forth on a litany of nutritional topics, and I figured that since I really didn’t have anything flashy or important I wanted to discuss this fine Monday morning I’d give everyone a peek into a few of our e-conversations.

NOTE:  Oh, what’s that?  You don’t know who Brian St. Pierre is?

Well, long time readers of this blog will know exactly who he is. But for those who are a bit newer around these parts, Brian was actually Cressey Performance’s very first full-time intern, part-time employee, full-time employee, and subsequent first employee to leave.  Jerk!

Okay, in his defense he did get married to his lovely wife, Anna, and they ended up having a kid and buying a house up in Maine.  So he gets a mulligan for that one.

Since leaving, he’s gone on to make quite the name for himself getting his Masters in Human Nutrition and Dietetics as well as becoming a coach for Precision Nutrition.

Basically, he’s become one of the “go to” guys for no nonsense nutritional information, and it’s been awesome to see him grow as a professional.

And what’s more, he likes to quote Star Wars, so there’s that.

A few weekends ago we were both in attendance for a mutual friend’s wedding and we ended up sitting at a table discussing a few hot topics in the nutritional realm, which as it happened, spilled over into several back and forth emails last week.

Some of the discussions included:

1. Why type II diabetes can’t (or shouldn’t) be blamed solely on sugar intake. Instead, much of the data suggests that, as Brian notes, “you essentially get it from having too much bodyfat (specifically visceral fat) and/or inflammation (which sugar can contribute to, but is FAR from the definitive cause).”

2. Why is it that cholesterol always seemingly gets the bad rap in the mainstream media?  Sure, roughly 47-50% (0r somewhere in that range, I don’t have the actual number in fromt of me) of people who suffer from a heart attack have high cholesterol levels, and there may be something to look a little deeper into there.

Okay, but what about the other 50% who have a heart attack and have LOW cholesterol levels?  What then?  Huh

3. Why the New York Times bestselling book, Wheat Belly, according to Brian, is a poo-pooey book.

“Much like Taube’s insulin theory,” he noted, “William Davis’ starting premise is simply flawed.  There is certainly some credence to grains and wheat in particular being potentially problematic for some people, but his overall argument is poor.”

Here is a great scientific debunking of his book:

Click ME (<—-and have your world rocked.)

I love talking with Brian about these sort of topics because, unlike a lot of nutritionist out there on the interwebz, he has an uncanny ability to weed through the BS and not fall prey to any preconceived hype.

Needless to say, I really appreciate his candor and the fact that he has an open mind when it comes to many of the “hot topics” in the nutritional world.

Another prime example is a comment I received from a former distance coaching client of mine concerning eggs and oxidized cholesterol levels. Knowing I’m a huge egg fan, and that my preferred way to eat them is in omelet form (onion, bacon, broccoli, salsa, and bullets), he wanted to share a comment which Dr. Batshitcrazy Dr. Mercola wrote on his website about eggs, how you eat them, and oxidized cholesterol levels.

Dr. Mercola:  “Eggs are one of the richest sources of dietary cholesterol, so the way you cook them will influence the level of oxidized cholesterol in your blood. Oxidized cholesterol contributes to hardening of your arteries, which increases your risk of heart disease.

High heat will promote this oxidation. Since there is iron in the egg white, when it combines with the egg yolk that will also oxidize the cholesterol. Scrambled eggs or omelets are one of the least healthy ways to prepare eggs.

Surprisingly, the best way to prepare eggs is to not cook them at all and simply eat the whole egg — yolk and whites — raw. This is an advanced technique, so no need to rush on this one unless you feel especially motivated.

I realize the texture of raw eggs may not be very appealing. If you have strong objections to the texture of eggs, that can be easily modified by whipping them into a meringue or blending them in a protein smoothie. You won’t even notice they’re there!”

Don’t get me wrong, my client had my best interests in mind – and wholeheartedly appreciated his concern.  Still, something in the good Doc’s logic seemed amiss and my bullshit meter was essentially rearing back to round-house kick me in the face.

I decided to ask Brian his opinion.

Brian St. Pierre: “Your bullshit meter should go off.

There is currently no evidence that consumption of oxidized cholesterol leads to oxidized cholesterol in the blood.  Plus how much actually oxidizes is a function of time x air exposure.  A freshly made omelet or some scrambled eggs is little to worry about.

Having high blood levels of oxidized cholesterol is certainly unhealthy and an independent risk factor, however they are not one in the same.

Eating raw eggs is most certainly not the most effective method!  Raw eggs contain avidin, which binds to biotin, preventing its absorption.  Raw egg protein is not as well absorbed as cooked egg protein – the denaturing from the cooking actually improves its absorption.  Plus you are taking an unnecessary salmonella risk!”

I’ve always said that I don’t like to live my life in absolutes (only Siths live in absolutes!), and that keeping an open mind is always the  best approach.

I think it’s important to bring these controversial topics to the forefront every now and then if for nothing else to demonstrate to people that just because someone in the mainstream media says “carbs are evil,” or “eggs cause cancer,” or “unicorns poop diamonds,” that we DO NOT have to take their word as dogma.

What say you?  Do you have anything to offer in the conversation?  I’d love to hear your thoughts!

ADDENDUM:  Brian wanted to make a small clarification for any nitpickers that may be out there concerning the whole cholesterol and oxidation argument:

“There actually is some evidence that consuming oxidized cholesterol can lead to increased levels of oxidized cholesterol in the blood, but overall the research is underwhelming.  They heated the cholesterol for inordinate amounts of time where you are likely getting compounds that you won’t find in scrambled eggs cooked on medium heat.  There is even some evidence for specific methods of causing oxidized dietary cholesterol being less atherogenic in the blood.  All in all, it is much like the fructose data – in supraphysiological amounts it can be problematic, in regards to a normal food consumption pattern, it is not much to worry about.
How much actually oxidizes would be even more appropriately termed as heat x air exposure x time.”
CategoriesUncategorized

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: Squat Like a Baby?, Letter to Women, and CP Seminar Review

I don’t think I’ve ever said this before, but this week’s list of stuff to read is arguably the best one ever!  I don’t know if it’s because of pure coincidence, the planets aligned just right, the Red Sox signed Mike Napoli, or if it’s simply because people churned out some awesome content this week.

Whatever the case may be, it’s awesome.

First on the list is an EPIC post by my buddy, Nick Tumminello, on what it really means when someone says “everyone should be able to squat like a baby.”

Saying something like that just sounds asinine, and doesn’t make any sense, right?  Sorta like saying, “everyone should be able to fart cinnamon.”

Comparing the anatomy of an adult to that of an infant is just dumb. But in typical Nick fashion he’s a bit more articulate than myself, and explains why this is a faulty belief to carry in your back pocket whether you’re a coach or general fitness enthusiast.

Squat Like a Baby: 7 Reasons This is a Ridiculous Myth – Nick Tumminello

I couldn’t agree more, and while I’ve used the whole “squat like a baby” analogy in the past (more so as a counterpoint to the whole “squatting deep is dangerous” argument), Nick does a bang-up job in debunking this common myth.

As an aside:  I’m currently working on my next T-Nation article which digs into this topic as well, titled Does Everyone Need to Squat (Deep)?

SPOILER ALERT:  No.

Letter to a Client or Why I Don’t Believe in Barre Classes – Emily Giza Socolinsky

If nothing else this post serves as an AMAZING message to women on why they should ditch the pink dumbbells and incorporate more strength training into their repertoire.

From Emily herself:

I believe, as many other women who strength train believe and who are in my field, that women need more than what a barre class offers. Women do not need special classes like barre because they are women and they should “train this way because this is how a woman should train.

Doing tiny little pulses until your thighs burn does nothing but make your thighs burn. So what? As my husband said, “My butt would burn too if you made me squeeze it 100 times. But it won’t help me develop a strong butt.”  You will not build a strong body unless you stress the body ie. lift weights that are more than 5 pounds. No one is telling you that you need to lift 200 lbs (although this is damn impressive and shows true strength and domination.) But 5lbs? Come on.”

And really, that’s just a taste. Emily pours her heart out in this post, and it behooves all of you to take five minutes to read it.  Especially YOU, ladies!!!!!

1st Annual Cressey Performance Fall Seminar Review, Part 1 – Guys From Show-Me-Strength

Given I’m an epic ball of fail for never writing up my own summary on the seminar from a few weeks ago (It was awesome – how’s that????), I breathed a sigh of relief when both Matt Kramer and Chad Rodgers (both of whom train at CP) posted this up on their site yesterday detailing some of the highlights.

CategoriesUncategorized

Talking Shop On The FitCast

Kevin Larrabee reached out to me yesterday and asked if I’d be willing to hop on Skype early this morning (8 freaking 30 thank you very much) and talk a little shop on The FitCast.

Luckily I’m an early riser so I had plenty of time to mentally prepare myself, try to be “on my game,” and more importantly, put some pants on.

It’s a short talk – like 40-45 minutes – and we delve into a few topics that I think many of you would be interested in: like my current deadlift programming, the importance of hip stability, how to coach the hip hinge, some new things we’re doing at Cressey Performance with our clients, and there may or may not be some geek talk on The Hobbit.

HINT:  there totally is.

Anyways, if you have some time to spare, and you’re boss isn’t around, you can check out the episode HERE.

 

 

 

CategoriesProduct Review

Gift Ideas For the Fitness Fanatic

Tis the season!

Well, I guess technically the season started a while ago having witnessed the first Christmas themed commercial a few days before Halloween, and thinking to myself, “wow, really?????  This early???”

But alas, like most people, now that we’re well past Thanksgiving and Christmas (or whatever respective holiday you choose to celebrate: Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, He-Man’s b-day) is right around the corner, it’s time to put our game faces on.

As is customary in my family, when everyone’s home for Thanksgiving my mom literally forces us to sit down and make our respective list of gift ideas. In no certain order mine consisted of:

  • World Peace.
  • For Nickleback to never release another album ever again.
  • For my upstairs neighbors to NOT decide that 2AM seems like as good as time as any to reorganize their apartment and move around their furniture.
  • Socks.
  • Red Ryder BB Gun.
  • The Batmobile.

You know, nothing fancy.

In reality, however, my list generally consists of books I want to check out, some DVDs, maybe a few dress shirts, and definitely not socks.

Not everyone is as easy to shop for as me, though.

*cough cough, X-Box, cough cough*

But given this is a fitness site and you’re presumably reading it because you (and those close to you) dig lifting heavy stuff (or making fun of Tracy Anderson), what’s better than to give the gift of fitness, health, and well-being?

Okay, a movie quality Chewbacca mask is right up there too, but that goes without saying.

With that said, the following are some fitness themed gift ideas for the fitness minded individual in your life.  Some are things that I’ve recommended before, but there are a fair number of new ideas as well.

I hope this helps.  And if it doesn’t, you can always go the underwear route.  But that’s kinda lame.

1.  TRX Suspension Trainer 

This is one of those repeat gift ideas, but I find that this is perfect for those who want to get in shape (or do something) yet either don’t have time for the gym or just don’t want to deal with the hassle of dealing with pushy salesmen, shady trainers, crowds, lots of grunting and groaning, and people who wear way too much cologne.

In other words:  everything about a commercial gym.

The TRX is a very versatile piece of equipment that can be used at home or even as a nice alternative to those who do a lot of travelling and can’t always hit the gym.

For those looking to save a little money, however, I also recommend that Jungle Gym.

2. Heart Rate Monitor

Stealing a quote from Joel Jamieson, who’s really brought the whole concept of heart rate variability to the forefront in recent times:

A high quality heart rate monitor will help you get the most out of your conditioning work because it can help keep your heart rate in the right training ranges while also providing invaluable feedback so you can determine if your program is working the way it should be or not. Without this sort of objective feedback and information, a lot of your training becomes nothing more than guesswork.

Where I find the most value in using a heart rate monitor is managing your rest intervals during circuit training.

Using predetermined work:rest ratios is fine – and a great starting point for most individuals – but may be detrimental for some in that it can be either too aggressive or not enough.

With regards to the former point, some people take longer to recover when performing high intensity training.  An effective approach is to let your heart rate return to 130-140bpm before repeating an interval. This helps make sure you’ve recovered enough and are ready to push yourself to the max.

Conversely, some people recover faster than others, and if this is the case, you’re doing yourself a major disservice if you stick to preordained work:rest ratios.

Using a heart monitor takes the guess work out and allows people the luxury of optimizing their training.

I actually got one for Lisa for her Birthday not too long ago and she loves it!

NOTE:  I’m indifferent as far as which one to use:  the one that wraps around your chest, or the one that wraps around your forearm/wrist.  I guess it just comes down ti personal preference.  I don’t know if one is more effective than the other.  Maybe someone else can chime in?

3.  150 Healthiest Foods on Earth

Speaking of Lisa, I bought this book for her three Christmases ago, and it’s arguably still the best present I’ve ever got her.

To this day it’s not uncommon for either of us to reference the book for new food ideas or to serve as a refresher as to why grass fed beef is a better option or what it is about curcumin that makes it so healthy.

In all honestly, the entire book is chock full of nutritional information.

Likewise, I believe she and I have given this book as a gift for family members or friends no less than five times, and it’s always been a huge hit.

4. REPboards

So you’re at the gym and your program calls for board presses.  It’s already a pain in the ass enough to ask some random person to offer a handoff (which is an art in of itself), let alone to ask yet another person to come along and hold the boards in place.

If you train at a powerlifting gym it’s one thing – it’s part of the regular rigmarole and scheme of things to spot one another and to be “board bitch” on occasion.

At a commercial gym, though, things can get dicey.

Sure you can use your own boards and place them underneath your shirt and hope they stay in place, or you can even use a mini-band and wrap that around them, but nothing is guaranteed and it’s often a cumbersome cluster****.

A few weeks ago I was sent a complimentary set of REPboards to try out, and gave them a go.

They’re a handy little tool that takes all the cumbersomeness (is that a word????) out of the picture and allows one to utilize 1,2,3, and 4 board presses without all the fanfare.

Personally I don’t have a lot of need for them given where I train, but for those who don’t have the luxury of a training crew, these are a great alternative.

5. The Dark Knight Rises

Granted this has absolutely nothing to do with fitness, but it’s Batman, and Batman is awesome.

Actually Tom Hardy (who plays Bane) is pretty diesel in this movie, and Anne Hathaway (who plays Catwoman) is pretty flexible and stuff (and kicks several people in the face), so it does have a slightly fitness feel to it.

What’s more important is that your boyfriend already has the first two movies in the trilogy (Batman Begins and The Dark Knight) in his DVD collection, so you might as well do him a favor and complete the collection.

DO IT!!!!!!

6. Show and Go

Written by my good friend (and business partner, Eric Cressey), Show and Go is a comprehensive FOUR-MONTH training program that’s about as close as you can get to training at Cressey Performance without actually stepping through the doors.

Rather than wasting $597 (or however much it costs to buy “x” number of sessions with your local schmocal personal trainer), why not spend infinitely less and actually get your loved one a program that will actually yield results?

Note:  Show and Go is definitely geared towards the more intermediate/advanced trainee, so I wouldn’t look into this product for someone who doesn’t have a lot of experience under the bar.  In that case, hiring a personal trainer – if that’s the avenue you were going to take anyways – to show them the ropes would be the right path to take.

7. Post Rehab Essentials

For the more nerdtastic fitness enthusiasts in your life (those who want to geek out on anatomy, assessment, corrective exercise, programming, Dean Somserset’s sultry voice), I can’t recommend this one enough.

I really feel this is a “must-have” product that any coach or trainer should have in their fitness library – especially if they’re someone who works with a lot of banged up clients (which basically means everyone).

In fact I used many of the tests and exercises Dean discusses as part of my own rehab a few months ago when I was dealing with some lower back funkiness.

Dean talked me through a few months of programming and I was back to tip top shape in no time flat.

8. New Rules of Lifting (Series)

I’ve mentioned this in the past, but I can’t thank Lou Schuler, Alwyn Cosgrove, and by extension, Cassandra Forsythe (who helped pen the female version) enough for writing these books, as they have saved my fingers from doing a lot of typing.

In a time where people are inundated with an avalanche of information when it comes to fitness, and seemingly more confused than ever, this series is the one that I ALWAYS divert people towards for information that they NEED to hear as well as to help set them on the right path towards success.

The New Rules of Lifting

The New  Rules of Lifting for Women

The New Rules of Lifting for Abs

The New Rules of Lifting for Life

And that’s about it.  I know I could probably list a few more books, gadgets (and movies), but I know people are probably stressed tot he gills and don’t need more lists to read or check off.  Hope I was able to help somewhat.

Happy shopping/Don’t kill anyone.