CategoriesProduct Review

Muscle Imbalances Revealed – Assessment & Exercise Edition

Trilogies usually suck. Sure we have the golden standards like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars (the first one, don’t even get me started on that piece of crap Phantom Menace that Lucas tried to pawn off on us), The Godfather, and The Dark Knight. But for every one that raises the bar, we have ten “sequels” that are just absolute garbage: Police Academy V, anyone?????

So what the heck does this have to do with anything?

Well, as far as fitness info products are concerned, you’d be hard pressed to find any series more impressive than the Muscle Imbalances Revealed franchise.  Having been a part of the last installment – Muscle Imbalances Revealed – Upper Body – I can attest that the information routinely provided is top notch and will undoubtedly help any professional take his or her “game” to the next level.

I mean, if you want to become the best, you need to learn from the best.  Right?

Today, as well as sporadically throughout the rest of the week, I’m going to be discussing the latest in the series (the third, in fact), Muscle Imbalances Revealed – Assessment & Exercise, which includes presentations from the likes of Rick Kaselj, Anthony Mychal, John Izzo, and Nick Rosencutter.

Assessment and Exercise for Knee Injury Recovery – Rick Kaselj

Since Rick is the “Oz” behind the Muscle Imbalances Revealed curtain, doing all of the behind the scenes work that never gets recognized (as well as serving as the figurehead of the series) I figured it only made sense to start here.

Before I begin, though, I just have to say that Rick is probably one of the most genuine and jovial human beings I’ve ever met, and his thirst for knowledge (and spreading it to others) is unparalleled.

As such, Rick has a lot of experience working with injured people (and healthy ones, too) and he’s recognized as one of the “go to” professionals with regards to assessment and rehabilitation.  For those who aren’t familiar with Rick’s work, you can check out his website HERE.

Rick’s presentation spoke volumes to me personally because I’ve had a history of knee issues for the better part of the past decade, and he has an uncanny ability to break things down into manageable, “why the hell didn’t I ever think of that!?,” nuggets of information that can easily be implemented on day one

After giving a brief overview of general knee anatomy, here are a few bits of awesome that Rick provided:

1. When it comes to assessment, it’s important to test the knee in both PASSIVE and ACTIVE ranges of motion.

Passive = gravity or someone else is doing the movement.

Active = the individual themselves is doing the movement.

2.  In terms of general ROM guidelines, we’re typically looking at an individual to be able to get to -5 degrees of knee extension, and around 140 degrees of knee flexion.

This is important because we need anywhere from 2-70 degrees of flexion in order to walk, and a loss of around ten degrees of extension can result in a limp, which, not surprisingly, will place a lot of undue stress on the ligaments and muscles.  Not to mention put a damper on your ultimate frisbee plans this weekend.

Rick also noted we need 93 degrees of flexion to get out of chair, 106 degrees to tie shoe, 136 degrees to take bath, and 141 degrees to swift kick someone in the face.

I made that last one up, but the key point is that having full knee ROM is important for every day activities.

3.  Speaking in more specific terms, Rick noted that a lack of knee extension also results in loss of what he referred to as the “screw home mechanism,” which serves its purpose by reducing stress on the quads and placing more on the passive restraints (cartilage, menisci, and bones).

This seems counterintuitive, and when I first heard Rick say this I tilted my head to one side and was like “what the what!?!?!?”

But once he explained his rationale in more detail, I was picking up what he was putting down.

In short, in stealing a line from Mike Roberston:  stacked joints, are happy joints.

4.  As far as the actual assessments are concerned, I like Rick’s approach because he takes more of a simpleton approach, which I dig.  A lot.

There’s no smoke machines, or laser show,or any theatrics for that matter. I think a lot of fitness professionals fall into the trap that the more advanced or seemingly “cool” the assessment looks, the better it must be.  I disagree.

Using one example from Rick’s presentation (and there are several):  he likes to incorporate a bilateral standing calf raise into the mix to see whether or not someone can get onto their toes and attain knee extension.

For the record:  When Rick demonstrated this, I couldn’t help but notice that basketballs he has for calves.  Well played, sir. Well played.  I hate you.

5. Rick then goes into several common exercises to regain ROM, and then progressing depending on how the knee responds.

I’ve poo-pooed on Terminal Knee Extensions (TKEs) is the past – namely because I feel they’re woefully OVERemphasized  in knee rehab – but Rick does a good job of demonstrating several variations progressing from unloaded (d0ne actively) to loaded, to adding resistance.

On top of that, he even demonstrated several Terminal Knee FLEXION exercises using a towel that I thought were pretty neat.

If anything what I took most from Rick’s presentation is that we can’t always be meatheaded with our rehab. It’s REHAB for crying out loud!!!  But there’s also a lot to be said about not treating our clients and athletes like they’re patients, and giving them a training effect.

As much as we want to think that squats cure everything from global warming to cancer, when it comes to knee pain and fixing it, that’s not necessarily the case.

More often than not, we must take it down a notch (or 20) to re-teach the body proper motor learning engrams, to teach it which muscles actually need to fire, and to prevent someone from overreaching their pain threshold.

Muscle Imbalances Revealed: Assessment and Exercise is on sale starting TODAY (Tuesday, August 14th) until this Friday for a redunkulous introductory price of $37.  Considering you can get your learnification on from some of the industry’s best, all in the comfort of your own home, without having to spend an inordinate amount of money travelling, and you’ll simultaneously earn some CECs in doing so, well, that’s a bargain if there ever was one.

—> Muscle Imbalanced Revealed: Assessment and Exercise <—

CategoriesStrength Training

5 Tips to Improve Your Deadlift

It’s no secret that I like to deadlift. Outside of sleep, going to a Sunday matinee, omeletes, Chipotle, and nunchucks, it’s probably my most favoritest thing in the world.

There’s certainly no shortage of quality articles out there breaking down the deadlift and offering suggestions on how to increase your overall sense of badassery.

Likewise, there’s rarely (if ever) anything new to say – as it’s already been said in some fashion elsewhere in magazines, in books, in DVDs, and various blog posts.

Nevertheless, here are five quick and easy-to-implement tips that will definitely help improve your pulling prowess.

1.  Save Your Hardest Workout for Early in the Week, But Not Too Early

It stands to reason that if you have a weak link or are trying to “bring up” one particular lift, you should reserve the hardest training session of the week for Monday when you’re the most fresh and and presumably, the most recovered.

Seemingly most people spend their weekends chillaxing watching sports, eating good food, having a few beers, taking power naps, throwing the frisbee around, playing with the dogs, or maybe, if your’re lucky, spending a few hours at the beach soaking up some vitamin D.

Come Monday you’re recharged and ready to tackle the upcoming week. It makes sense, then, to head to the gym on Monday and absolutely throw yourself to the wolves and make yourself hate life to the point where you can barely walk by the end and you can’t feel the left side of your face.

Mmmmmm, maybe not the best idea.

Raise your hand if Mondays are typically your best day at work? Hahahahaha, yeah that’s what I thought.

Nada.

We’ve all heard the lame statement “looks like (s0 and so) has the case of the Mondays,” and for good reason. Mondays suck! For a reference point, watch the movie Office Space (and thank me later).

 

After two days (or three, for the lucky few who get the extended weekend) of laying low and living the lazy life, effectively placing your body in an extended “hover” mode, you can’t expect it to rebound efficiently and go right into breaking PRs on Monday.

For some it will work, and they can bounce back and feel like a superhero. For many,  however, it won’t be nearly as “superheroish,” and it won’t be a pretty site.

I’m a rare example and use Mondays as my main deadlift day, but that’s because I work at a gym and I’m able to use Saturday (and sometimes Sunday) as an actual training day, mostly as a GPP or movement based day, but training nonetheless. Most people don’t have this luxury and opt to forego the weights for pina coladas instead.  And more power to them!

What I propose is to hold off, and save your main deadlift session for Tuesday or better yet, Wednesday.

Instead go to the gym on Monday and train, but don’t necessarily go balls to the wall. Most of you are going to go and blast your pecs anyways – Monday IS National Bench Press Day – so go right a head and do it.  Or, just think of it as a “medium” intensity day

By the time Tuesday or Wednesday rolls around, your nervous system will be a little more “primed” and less lethargic and I’m willing to bet you’ll find your DL numbers improve.

2. Get More Lifts Above 90%

I’m a bit reticent to openly state that more people should add more lifts at or above 90% (as a percentage of their one rep max) into their repertoire because, well, you need to know what the heck you’re doing!

To that end, I have two prerequisites:

1.  You MUST have technical proficiency in the lift. If my eyes will perpetually start bleeding from watching you lift a weight that’s only 50% of your 1RM, then I certainly don’t want to know what will happen if you go any heavier.

<—– Like this

2. You should already be able to lift at least 2x (I may even lower this to 1.5x) your bodyweight before utilizing 90% lifts. As an example, this would mean that a 175 lb person should be clearing a 350 lb pull. Not too shabby, but certainly not earth shattering.

I understand this is a a blanket statement, and there are plenty of people who incorporate heavier loads into the mix that aren’t that strong (and do so safely), but this is just for my own edification and peace of mind.

Rather than re-invent the wheel, I’m going to cut/paste a portion of an article I wrote for T-Nation a few years ago titled Limiting Factors:

When a more “advanced” trainee approaches me and mentions that he’s stuck on a certain weight with a particular lift, I can almost guarantee his limiting factor is that he hasn’t been incorporating more lifts above 90%.

(Side Note: For beginner trainees, I’d be more inclined to check their food intake and/or overall programming. Most just need to eat more and shy away from the bodybuilding/body-part split routines.)

To recap, lifts above 90%…

1. Increase total muscle fiber recruitment.

2. Increase recruitment of higher threshold motor units (which have a greater propensity for growth).

3. Increase rate coding (rate at which motor units fire).

4. Increase synchronization between muscles (improved inter and intra-muscular coordination).

5. Make girls want to hang out with you.

Maybe even girls who actually deadlift will want to hang out with you, too:

All of the above help to improve one’s neural efficiency. Getting stronger is all about making the central nervous system (CNS) more efficient at allowing the brain and spinal cord to better communicate with motor units/muscle fibers to get the job done. In short, improved neural efficiency allows you to lift more weight, which last time I checked, is a pretty cool thing.

For the advanced lifter, each session is an opportunity to maybe hit a new PR (personal record), but really it’s just about lifting heavy things off the ground.

Using the DL as an example, lets assume one’s original PR is 400 pounds, the goal for this training session is to get FIVE lifts at 90% and above:

135×5
225×3
275×1
315×1
365×1
405×1 (PR!!!  But it was a grinder and you’re pretty sure you blacked out for like three seconds and saw pink unicorns as you locked it out)

At this point the trainee has already gotten two lifts above 90% (365, 405), which would mean he needs to get three more lifts in to get to the goal of five. The objective now is to stay at or slightly above 90% (usually in the 90-92% range) and focus on bar speed and actually not miss any lifts.

360×1,1,1

From there, the trainee will continue on with his accessory work depending on his needs and goals.

3.  Oh Yeah, Hammer Your Accessory Work

For me I like to use what I call “marker” exercises, which are those exercises I know have a a huge carry over to the deadlift, and also allow me to gauge progress.  In short, I know that if I improve on a particular marker exercise, chances are my DL is going to improve as well.

One such example are goodmornings.

 

Everyone is different, and I’m not saying you should go start playing around with goodmornings today. But it stands to reason that if you want to improve your deadlift, you need to hammer your posterior chain and place a premium on those exercises which strengthen the glutes and hamstrings.

Another exercise to consider would be something like Deadstart/Andeson Squats.

 

What I love about these is that they emulate the exact hip/torso positioning I use when I setup to deadlift.  I’m woefully slow off the floor when I pull (and I have weak quads), so this is an exercise I try to incorporate a lot when I’m trying to ramp up my deadlift numbers.

Again, that’s just me.  What works for me may not work for you, but if I had to make a short list of exercises that people should focus on in terms of accessory work:

– RDLs
– Goodmornings
– Partial ROM squats
– Pull-Throughs
– GHR
– KB Swings
– Barbell Hip Thrusters
– Leg Press**

4. Focus on the 70-80% (But More Around 70%).

Admittedly this is something that I’ve pretty much ignored up until recently, and it wasn’t until diving into the phenomenal book Easy Strength by Dan John and Pavel (as well as taking the advice of other coaches like Bret Contreras and Todd Bumgardner) that I began to see the error of my ways.

This sorta flies in the face of what I was saying above with regards to utilizing lifts above 90%, but I really feel that this is a woefully under-utilized method of improving one’s deadlift.

I understand that many strength coaches are adamantly opposed to anything that isn’t either “speed” work (40-60%) or max effort work (90%+), and that anything in the middle is a complete waste of time.

But I feel there’s something to be said about honing technique, solidifying one’s exercise proficiency (and being able to repeat it), and seeing how that parlays into bigger pulling numbers.

In looking at my training past, whenever I’d make a run for 600 lbs, I’d inevitably approach the 550ish mark, attempt to get my 90% lifts in week in and week out, for weeks on end, and eventually my spine would be like “that’s it Gentilcore.  I’m done!”

My back would end up feeling like shredded up salami, my CNS would be fried, and I’d have to take a hiatus from pulling heavy.

I think once you start approaching 2.75-3x bodyweight pulls, the body can only take so much on a repeated basis.  Lately, I’ve been focusing more on getting fast, QUALITY reps at a lower percentage and I feel amazing.

I’m still doing my speed work on separate days, but instead of hitting multiple lifts at 90% or above, I’ve been taking it down a notch and performing repeated lifts at 70% (with limited rest) and then hitting a “sorta” max every other week.

So, for example:

6×2 @ 315 lbs (with 20-30s rest between sets)

Then I’ll work up to a 500+ pull.  Last week I ended up working up to 520 lbs, and felt great.

You’re always going to have ebbs and flows with training, but I really feel that this approach is going keep me fresh longer and not beat me to a pulp.

5.  Use Straps

No, seriously, I’m not kidding….use them!

Listen, most commercial gyms have really crappy bars with no knurling and you’re relegated to wearing a Scarlet letter if you have the audacity to bring chalk onto the gym floor.

It’s almost impossible to lift any appreciable weight when the bar keeps slipping out of your hands.

Back in the day I totally used wrist straps to help bring up my deadlift.  Granted, I tried to sneak in chalk whenever I could (even going so far as to make sure I wiped down the bars when I was done), but I didn’t think any less of myself.

Grip strength is going to be a limiting factor for a lot of peeps, and I posit that so long as you go out of your way to NOT be the dork who uses straps for everything from seated lat pulldowns to bicep curls, your grip strength will automatically improve given you’re using various dumbbells and barbells in your training.

I won’t judge you for using straps.  If it allows you to use more weight and overload the exercise, great!  That’s the point.  If you use gloves on the other hand………

Got any tips of your own to share?  I’d love to hear them below

 

** Come on.  You didn’t think I was serious did you?

CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 8/10/12

Raise your hand if you’ve spent the better part of this past week driving with reckless abandon down various side streets, looking over your shoulder around every corner, and/or jumping down the sides of buildings in anticipation of The Bourne Legacy coming out this weekend!

I totally have.  Amongst other things – like this exchange I had with a cashier yesterday.

Cashier: “Excuse me sir, will that be paper or plastic?”

Me: “Who’s running Treadstone now?

Cashier: “Tread wha?  What are you talking about? Will that be cash or credit?

Me: “I SAID WHO’S RUNNING TREADSTONE!?!??! DON’T MAKE ME PUT YOU IN A CHOKEHOLD!!!!”

“By the way, Greek yogurt is buy one get one free, right?”

While the new installment is Damonless (nooooo), and Paul Greengrass isn’t directing, I have full confidence that Tony Gilroy (who actually wrote the screenplays for all the previous films) will do a great job taking the reigns, and that Jeremy Renner (who’s not playing Jason Bourne but another super agent, Aaron Cross) will nail it.

Fitness Bullies? – Jen Comas Keck

I thought this was a fantastic post written by Jen, and something that more fitness professionals need to read. I’ll be the first to admit that there have been times in the past where I’ve been a fitness bully myself.

I’d scoff and judge and stick my nose up in the air if someone wasn’t going out of their way to lift heavy stuff.

But then I came to the realization that that was kind of a douchy way to approach things.  If someone is exercising – even if it is super-duper-red-hot-naked-metabolic-yoga-insanity-pilates-extreme – isn’t that a good thing?

Train Like a Man Part 4 – Martin Rooney

Martin always has a knack for keeping it real and lighting a fire underneath people’s asses when it comes to training.  I LOVE his stories, and I especially like some of the brutal circuits he outlines in this one.

Tips for Your Strength and Conditioning Internship – Kyle O’Flaherty

Kyle’s a current intern here at Cressey Performance and he wrote this guest post over on Ben Bruno’s site that I felt hit the nail on the head.  I’m constantly getting emails from people asking what it’s like to intern at CP (it’s kind of like watching The Dark Knight Rises while driving a tank, only a little less awesome) and questions on what we look for in prospective interns.  This post elucidates on both fronts.

Enjoy the weekend!

 

CategoriesUncategorized

Greatist Workout of the Day

Affectionately referred to as GWODs, these are workouts designed by both myself and strength coach Dan Trink that will give people a firsthand look as to what a well structured, properly progressed fitness routine should look like.

Taken from the Greatist.com website:

“….these are high-quality, comprehensive strength and conditioning programs anyone can use. GWODs were created after Greatist.com readers expressed their frustration at a lack of quality fitness programming accessible to the average gym goer — not just the most “elite” or “hardcore” individuals among us. So we partnered with some of the best minds in the health and fitness industry to create killer workouts we could give our readers — for free (we think you’ll agree that’s a good price).”

You read that correctly:  FREE.  As in F to the R.E.E.

A few things to note:

1. It’s purely coincidental that both Dan and I could pass for a Mr. Clean impersonator.

2. We recognize that there are limitations to this program.  I think I speak for both of us when I say nothing will trump working with a reputable trainer on a face-to-face basis. But that’s the thing: there are a lot of crap trainers out there writing crap programming which are woefully craptastic at best, and flat out dangerous at their worst.

That said, everyone is unique with their own set of weaknesses, strengths, imbalances, injuries, and experience level and I’d be remiss not to recognize that following a program written for the masses will address every issue for every person in every circumstance.

It ain’t gonna happen.

You’re your own unique flower, and we understand (and appreciate) that.

However, we feel confident that the programming we’ve outlined will be a welcome breath of fresh air for the Greatist community (and the rest of the interwebz for that matter).

3. We’ve covered all the bases from the warm-up (it’s a lot more than just doing some cute arm circles and hopping on the elliptical for five minutes) to laying out, set by set, rep by rep, a well organized, structured, and progressive workout plan (2x, 3x, and 4x per week) that will help people move better, get stronger, and feel like a million bucks.

4. We’re not saying it’s perfect, and we’ll be the first to say that it’s still a work in progress.  We’re still very much  at the “grassroots” level with this shindig, and we’ll undoubtedly have a few kinks to iron out as the upcoming weeks/months progress.

But we’re really excited that we have the opportunity to help a lot of people and hopefully assist them (and more importantly, YOU) take their fitness and well-being to the next level.

So what are you waiting for?  Check it out HERE.

Enjoy the ride!  It’s going to be awesome.

 

CategoriesMotivational Strength Training

Shut Up and Lift

I had the pleasure of doing an interview for Jon-Erik Kawamoto’s site last week, and without tooting my own horn, I have to say it’s arguably one of my best ones, like, ever.

To read it in its entirety, you can go HERE.

But since I know a lot of people never click on the links (jerks), I wanted to post one of the questions – and my answer – here because I think it’s a message that a lot of people need to hear.

JK: From stalking you on Facebook and your blog, I know there is nothing more important in your life than deadlifting and bacon (and your new cat). There are a kagillion articles on deadlifting out there. In your expert opinion, what’s the best method/program to deadlift two ton Tessie?

TG: That is true, I do love bacon. And, it’s funny: if you would have told me five years ago that I’d eventually own a cat, I probably would have 1) laughed in your face, and 2) make some kind of joke that I was more likely to listen to John Mayer while eating tofu in my Prius on my way to a yoga class.

But it’s true, my name is Tony Gentilcore, and I own a cat (Dagny).

Who’s the most beautifulest pretty Princess on the planet???? You are, that’s who.

So bringing this to a more manly discussion, lets talk about deadlifts! What’s the best method/program to pull over two ton Tessie?

1. For starters, I really wish people would just get off the freakin internet, go to the gym, and actually lift some heavy shit. There are countless “internet warriors” out there that all they do is talk and talk and talk, and speculate, and argue, and brag about how many posts they have on any given forum, and any number of other things equally as dumb, and yet forget one key component: you need to actually lift some damn weight!

Stop talking, get your ass to the gym, place some weight on the bar, get angry, and then lift it……sometimes repeatedly.

2. Speaking more colloquially, it really comes down to one simple concept:

PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD

Here’s a personal reference. I didn’t start deadlifting until 2004. I shit you not, you can probably find posts on T-Nation where I’m asking people “what are these deadlifts you speak of?”

Like a lot of people I started out lifting weight at a young age and followed more of a body part per day split. Chest day, back day, blah blah blah. Trust me, a little piece of my soul dies just thinking about it. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I cringe looking back at how I trained as a high school and even collegiate athlete. If I ever had the chance to take a time machine back to 1994, I’d totally go back and Sparta kick myself in the face.

While I laugh and make fun of it, you know what? I always, and I mean ALWAYS had it in my mind to consistently try to lift heavier loads – whether it was adding a rep here and there, or incrementally increasing the load. That just made sense, ya know? I didn’t need anyone to tell me otherwise.

Anyways, so I started reading a few things here and there and slowly but surely started to understand that, for lack of a better term, I was training like a moron. I started incorporating deadlifts into my weekly training. I nixed the leg press, and started learning to squat to depth (a very humbling experience I might add).

One day I decided to test my 1RM deadlift. Mind you, I had NEVER tested my 1RM before. On day one I hit a 420 lb lift. Not too shabby. The kicker? I didn’t even train for it. All I did was focus on progressive overload. I wasn’t on internet forums arguing about foot placement or set/rep schemes or whether or not Han shot before Greedo (token Star Wars reference there). I was in the gym. Training.

Shut up, and train. It’s that simple. If more people did that…….they’d see marked improvements in their lifts.

I know that that wasn’t the “x’s and o’s” answer you were looking for, but I just feel that we’re living in an age where people are so inundated with information, that they’ve become paralyzed. It’s literally gotten to the point where people over-think things so much – should I do 5×5 or 4×4; So and so said I should wait 47 seconds between sets in order to elicit optimal growth hormone elevation; For max strength, this article said to use a 212 tempo, but my best friend’s brother’s second cousin’s Little League coach said to use a 311 tempo – that they forget one crucial thing.

Fucking lift!!!!!!

To read the rest of the interview (it’s pretty awesome) go HERE.

CategoriesMiscellaneous Miscellany Strength Training

Miscellaneous Miscellany Monday: 8/6/12

1.  I firmly believe that one of the best ways to bring up any lift is repeated exposures to that lift.  One major mistake I see a lot of trainees make – particularly intermediate and advanced lifters (beginners can do ANYTHING and get stronger, and we all hate you for it) – is assuming that training a lift or movement once a week, even if they’re going at it hard, is enough.

For example, I train a fair number of females and one major goal that many of them aspire for is that Brad Pitt stars in the movie adaptation of 50 Shades of Grey to be able to perform a strict, un-assisted chin-up.

For those who missed it the first time around, you can check out my three -part article Chin-Up Progressions For Women- The One Rep Hump: Part I, Part II, and Part III.

One general theme I hit on throughout is repeated exposures.  Namely, if you want to get better at chin-ups, you need to do chin-ups. And a lot of them.  Why anyone would think that performing “x” number of reps on ONE day is going to get them anywhere is beyond me.

That said, if I were to do little role reversal and point the spotlight on all the guys reading, I think it’s fair to assume that many want a big bench press.  Thing is, many go to the gym on Monday (National Bench Press Day), perform their three sets of ten, and that’s it.  Yeah yeah, they’ll throw in some incline presses, decline presses, and some pec flies for good measure, but the point I’m trying to make is that it’s that ONE day, and that’s generally it.

Having read Easy Strength recently – and loving EVERY page – both Dan John and Pavel hit on this notion of LADDERS, and how they can be used to help bring up one’s bench.

To give the Cliff Notes version:

  • You’re going to bench three, maybe even four times per week.  Heresy, I know.
  • Each “session” you’ll perform three bench press ladders of 1,2, and 3 repetitions, using a weight that you know you can handle for 6-8 reps.

– Perform 1 rep, rest 15-30s, perform 2 reps, rest 15-30s, perform 3 reps.  THAT’S one ladder.

  • From there you rest 3-5 minutes and repeat the awesome two more times.

To give you an idea of what ONE week looks like:

Session 1:  THREE ladders: 1,2,3 reps
Session 2: TWO ladders: 1st ladder (1,2,3), 2nd ladder (1,2)
Session 3: TWO ladders: 1,2,3 reps

  • You want to stick with the SAME weight throughout until you hit every rep of EVERY ladder.

Meaning if you start with 200 lbs, you’ll stick with that weight until you hit every rep during any given session.  If you do, you can increase the weight 5-10 lbs on the next session and repeat the same process, only increasing the weight when you hit every rep.  Did I mention you need to hit every rep?  You need to hit EVERY rep!

  • I just had one of my distance coaching clients do this for a month and he had amazing results.  At the beginning he was using 240 lbs for his ladder sets. Four weeks later, he was hitting ladders using 280 lbs!

We just tested his 1RM, and he hit a solid 315 lbs – a 15 lb PR.

Now, you tell me that repeated exposures don’t work!

Granted, this isn’t something you’ll want to utilize indefinitely, as it’s pretty CNS intensive.  But for a dedicated 4-5 week block, it’s a sure fire way to take your bench press to new levels!

2. Since I’m the one who opened up the can of worms and exposed the world to my recent back issues, I’ve been getting a lot of emails from readers asking how things have been coming along.

Swell, actually!

For the last few weeks I had been ramping up the intensity of my deadlifts performing a lot of pulls with chains as accommodating resistance (lighter at the bottom, heavier at the top).  About a month ago I hit a 555 lb pull (405 lbs of bar weight with 150 lbs of chains at the top). It felt good, not great…..and Dean Somerset (who was writing my programming) just about blew a gasket when he saw that I did that.

In hindsight it was dumb, and I really lucked out that I didn’t reverse all the progress I had made up until that point.

Fast forward a few weeks – and roughly 12,686 deadbugs – Dean gave me the green light to start pulling heavy again.

I was on that like a CrossFitter on a gluten free PopTart!

Not wanting to be too aggressive, last week, I decided I’d do me speed work and then, depending on how I felt, I’d work up to a sorta-kinda heavy single.

I felt goooooooooood.  And when I was done with my speed work, I told Greg (Robins) that under no circumstances was he to allow me to go any heavier than 500 lbs. If I attempted to go any higher, he’d have my permission to Sparta kick me in the groin.

Here’s what 500 looked like (wearing a Dragon tee courtesy of one Jon-Erik Kawamoto)

Not too shabby. Today, I’m going to shoot for 520 ish.

600 lbs by the end of the year.  Fingers crossed.

3.  I came across this quote the other day and I really have no recollection of where I saw it or who said it, but I thought it was awesome and whoever said it deserves a meatloaf sandwich:

The reality is if you are lifting a weight ten times, numbers nine and ten should be difficult. If you can lift a weight 20 times but choose to do only ten, you are wasting your time. Period.

4. This past weekend I went to the theater to see the remake of Total Recall:

Here’s my one-sentence review:  it should have been called Total Regurgitate In My Mouth.  HA, see what I just did there?  I took the title of the movie and then re-worded it so that you’d get the impression that it sucked, and, well, you get the idea.

5.  Lastly, I wanted to give you all a heads up on a really cool site I’ve been using for the past week called RebelMouse.com.

In short, it’s a site that takes all of your social media – Facebook and Twitter – and conjoins everything under one umbrella into your very own social front page.  It’s pretty freakin sweet.  Check out my page HERE.

It’s currently in Beta, and there’s a waiting list to join, but it might be something worth checking out.

 

CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 8/3/12

The other day while walking around on the gym floor, I ended up having a small chat with one of our current interns, Doug, on the education system. Random topic I know, and I honestly have no recollection as to how we even got there, but it definitely was something that got the two of us fired up.  While I won’t bore everyone with the details, I will say we both came to the conclusion that we can’t believe how ass-backwards everything has gotten.

Maybe it has something to do with reading several books on how higher education isn’t necessarily all it’s cracked up to be – The Education of Millionaires and most recently, Chris Guillebeau’s The $100 Startup – or maybe it’s because I’ve been getting some emails as of late from undergraduates asking me if they should pursue their Masters Degree (in and effort to gain a few more letters next to their name and hopefully have a leg up on their competition), or maybe it’s because I have a sister who’s a teacher.

Either way, the “system” is broken. In today’s society we’re basically programmed right from the get go to think that higher education is the key to being successful, and as a result we have more and more people going into disheartening amounts of debt.

Although, to be fair:  no one is pointing a gun at someone’s head that they HAVE to go to a $40,000/per year school….to major in Humanities.

Now, I am in no way saying that going to college is a bad thing or is something that shouldn’t be strived for.  But it’s gotten to the point now where 3rd graders aren’t even allowed to go outside and play and have upwards of 2-3 hours of homework per night.

3rd graders!!!!!!

I don’t know about you, but when I was in 3rd grade I was pimpin it on the kick-ball field and figuring out whether or not red Play-Doh tasted any differently than blue Play-Doh.

FYI: it totally doesn’t.

I certainly wasn’t memorizing my multiplication tables.

Anyways, in light of our conversation Doug sent me this TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson that I thought was amazing, and totally worth 20 minutes of your time.

Do Schools Kill Creativity?

Coaching the Kettlebell Swing – Kettlebell Form Check for Tony Gentilcore – Troy Pesola

Last week I posted on how we go about teaching (and implementing) the Turkish Get-Up and kettlebell swing at Cressey Performance (HERE).

From what I could tell it was received well (no hate mail), and at the end of the post I opened it up to the masses to go a head and give ME feedback on how I could go about improving my technique and coaching cues.

Wouldn’t you know it – someone did just that.

Here, Troy Pesola throws me under the microscope and breaks down my KB swing.

Contraindicated Exercices vs. Contraindicated Lifters

This post is a blast from the past that I randomly came across while searching for something else.  I re-read it, thought it didn’t suck, and figured that since I wrote it over two years ago and there’s a lot more people reading the site now, it wouldn’t hurt to re-post it again.

On that note, Enjoy the weekend!

Who’s going to see Kate Beckinsale be Kate Beckinsale Total Recall?

 

CategoriesExercises You Should Be Doing Strength Training

Exercises You Should Be Doing: 1-Arm Dumbbell Press.

More appropriately this post should be titled:  Exercises You Should Be Doing:  1-Arm ANYTHING.

It’s a bit of a conundrum if you ask me, but why is it whenever you come across articles that discuss unilateral (one-limbed) training, more often than not it ONLY discusses the lower body?

I’ve been a culprit of it in the past:

Perfecting the 1-Legged RDL

DB Reverse Lunge to 1-Legged RDL

Don’t get me wrong, I think 1-legged training is crucial, otherwise why would I go out of my way to write about it all the time?  It’s an important component of any well-rounded strength training program, and something that, thankfully, in no small part to the likes of coaches like Mike Boyle, Ben Bruno, and Mike Robertson, a lot more trainees are starting to implement into their weekly repertoire.

Rarer, however, is the person who includes unilateral upper body training into the mix. At least that’s been my experience.

Using a completely unrelated analogy:  It’s kinda like Ben Affleck vs. Matt Damon.

Ben, while respected in the movie industry and a lot of people know who he is, has always lived in the shadow of his best friend, Matt, who, as we all know is freakin Jason Bourne.

In much the same way, unilateral upper body training has always taken a back seat while the lower body has taken all the admiration and accolades.

Well, no longer my friend.

1-Arm Flat DB Bench Press

What Does It Do: This is just one example, of course; there are a million and one variations to choose from – 1-arm push presses, 1-arm DB rows, etc. But while it’s stating the obvious, the 1-arm DB bench press is an awesome way to train overall upper body strength, whether you’re looking to build steel plated pecs or triceps the size of Kansas.

In addition, utilizing more unilateral upper body exercises such as this is a great way to weed out any imbalances that may exist between the right or left side.

A little less ubiquitous is the notion that 1-armed (offset) exercises are a fantastic way to hammer the core as well, as you really have to fire the contralateral side so as not to fall off the bench.

Key Coaching Cues: Well for starters, I’m going to call myself out and say that I really wussed out on the weight selection in that demonstration.  Really Tony? 40 lbs?

That notwithstanding, I like to coach a slight arch in the lower back and to use more of a semi-pronated/neutral grip whenever someone performs supine pressing exercises as it’s a little more shoulder friendly to do so.

Moreover, one of the key things to be aware of here is to try your best to keep the butt/pelvis flat on the bench the entire time.  As I alluded to above, as you lower and press the weight on one side the offset loading is really going challenge your “core” to fire and to keep the body steady on the bench throughout the duration of the set.

Foot positioning is based off of personal preference.  I like to tell people to dig their toes – or heels, whatever is more comfortable – into the floor and to make sure they’re placed more underneath the body rather than splayed out.

I’d say anywhere from 2-4 sets for 6-8 repetitions is par for the course.

CategoriesUncategorized

Tony Takes a Pilates Class

Nope, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you, and you’re (probably) not hallucinating.

Copyright: racorn / 123RF Stock Photo

 

As I’m writing this I’m about two hours removed from taking my very first Pilates class, like, EVER. As YOU’RE reading this, it’s more like 24 hours after the fact. But I decided rather than wait until the following morning (today) to write my summary, it was best to hash out my thoughts and observations now while everything was still fresh in my mind.

Well, there’s that, and the fact that my legs are still shaking and I can’t walk anywhere and I’m pretty much glued to my couch at the moment writing this.

So you may be wondering to yourself, “Um, yeah, Tony, how in the heck did this ever transpire?”  Good question, because if you were to rate on a scale the likelihood I’d ever take a Pilates class (1 being “lets go, baby!”, and 10 being “Dude, what’s next:  eating a tofurkey burger and peeing sitting down?), I’d say it would be around a + 56,000.

Me? Pilates? Hahahahahahahahaha.  That’s like trying to mix oil with water; or Ted Nugent with Democrats. It just doesn’t jive.

But 2012 has seen the fruition of a new Tony Gentilcore.  As some of you may recall this past winter I stepped outside my comfort zone (waaaaaaaaaaay outside my comfort zone) and took a few yoga classes with my girlfriend.  For those interested and who missed it the first time around, I highlighted my experience in Tony Takes a Yoga Class Part I and Part II.

To give the Cliff Notes version:

– In the past I’ve had my misgivings about yoga, and I still feel that it’s woefully misrepresented to the masses as some magical panacea of health and fitness.

– That being said, I took the class, kinda/sorta liked it (the instructor was less than to be desired), and I certainly do see the many benefits that yoga has to offer in terms of flexibility/mobility and the whole mind-body connection.

– As with anything, when done right, yoga is a tool and if it gets someone motivated to get off their keester, get out of their house and move around a little bit, who am I to poo-poo on it?

In light of this, I had still never really considered taking a Pilates class for whatever reason.  Maybe I felt I met my “trying new things quota” with the yoga experiment, or maybe I was just a teeny, tiny bit intimidated.  Whatever the reason, I never really had the inclination to try it.

That is up until a few weeks ago when a buddy of mine, Mike  – who works as a trainer at a local commercial gym here in Boston – sent me an email saying that his fitness manager approached him asking whether or not he felt I’d be interested in trying a Pilates class?

My initial reaction after reading went something like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Y73sPHKxw

 

But after thinking about it, I thought to myself “sure, why the hell not?  What do I have to lose?” I’m not that much of an a-hole where I can’t accept a free offer when its given.

Besides, I’m turning a new leaf, right?  I’m trying new things, venturing outside my meat-headed ways in an effort to become a more well-rounded, cultured human being.

Next thing you know, I’ll be wearing Lululemon pants!

Okay, not really.  That’s taking it a liiiiiiiitle too far.

So anyways, fast forwarding to this morning, I sent an email to Mike (who agreed to join me on this little adventure):

“We still on for today?  What time should I show up?  What should I wear?

He responds:

1:15. Wear shorts.  And underwear.

Dually noted.

At one O’clock, with a clean pair of underwear on hand, I made the seven minute walk down to BodyScapes Fitness in Coolidge Corner.  There, I met up with Mike and our instructor Shelley Hardin.

Right from the get go I felt really comfortable with Shelley.  She introduced herself  and we immediately started chatting about Pilates: what it is, who’s it for, and all the different variations.

For those not familiar – Pilates was designed and developed in the early 20th century (so it’s not that old) by Joseph Pilates, a German born physical-culturist who, I believe, came up with the idea as a way for bedridden soldiers during WWI to still be able to exercise.

In every sense, it was his belief that even if you had a shredded up arm, a broken leg, or some other form of illness or disability, you could still get a training effect.

And I am totally down with that, as I’m constantly telling people that you can ALWAYS train around an injury.

Expounding a bit further (cut/pasted from Wikipedia):

Pilates is a body conditioning routine that helps build flexibility and long, lean muscles, strength and endurance in the legs,abdominals, arms, hips, and back. It puts emphasis on spinal and pelvic alignment, breathing to relieve stress and allow adequate oxygen flow to muscles, developing a strong core or center (tones abdominals while strengthening the back), and improving coordination and balance. 

My only qualm with the above definition is the whole notion that you can build long, lean muscles.  To be frank, this is utter nonsense, and it takes every ounce of willpower I have not to plant my face into the nearest wall every time I hear or see those words in succession.

Lets be clear:  a muscle has a set origin and insertion point, and the only way to make it “longer” is to increase the length of a bone. So, unless you’re into medieval torture or happen to be a character from Harry Potter, you’re not lengthening anything.

But that’s just semantics, and the last thing I want to do is make this into some long-winded rant that takes away from the actual discussion at hand.

Shelley explained to us that, much like yoga, there are several variations of Pilates and that the two most common are classical (mat based) Pilates and those variations that utilize the Reformer apparatus (STOTT being the most common, and one which Shelley said was very popular in Boston).

For her part, Shelley noted that we’d be doing classical Pilates since that’s what she studied and, well, we needed to keep things as basic and simple as possible since both Mike and I were newbies.

She took us into the group exercise room, placed a few mats on the floor, and we were off!

What I Liked

1.  As I noted, I felt really at ease with Shelley. For starters, she mentioned that the form of Pilates that she generally teaches has more of a base in Physical Therapy and corrective exercise, which I thought was pretty cool.  Secondly, she took the time to ask whether or not either of us had any injuries we were currently working around, which is something that the instructor from the yoga class I took just kinda haphazardly tip toed around.

Above all, she admitted to lifting heavy things on occasion, so she automatically earned a gold star in my book.

2. Unlike yoga which is generally done in a group setting with upwards of a couple dozen people under the tutelage of one instructor, Pilates has a little more of a one-on-one feel, and I really appreciated that Shelley was a little more “hands on” with the two of us.

As a coach myself, and as someone who takes more of a kinesthetic approach when doing so, it was interesting to listen and observe her give her cues and adjust us accordingly.

Oh, so THAT’s what that’s supposed to feel like.  Gotcha.

3. Interestingly, in a handful of ways, Pilates is the exact opposite of what I’ve programmed my body to do for the past decade.  I tend to want to brace and hold my breath for E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.

Whether it’s hoisting a barbell overhead my head, picking something heavy up off the ground, or, I don’t know, licking a stamp and slapping it on an envelop….

….I’m seemingly engrained to hold my breath, and brace like mofo.

Just learning how to inhale and exhale appropriately and without passing out was challenge in of itself, and probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life.  This includes sitting through an entire season of Sex and the City when Lisa and I first started dating, looking at this picture of model Larissa Riquelme and trying really hard not to see how intelligent she looks, and taking (and failing) my driver’s test – TWICE – when I was a teenager.

Yes, I failed twice. Don’t ask.

In any case, learning the proper breathing mechanics while performing all the exercises was really eye-opening and something I feel has a lot of applicability to what I do as a strength coach.

4.  Having actually done it now, I can say without wavering that Pilates is no cake walk and that it’s freakin godawful. But in a good way.

I like how every movement was easily progressed (or regressed) using any number of simple tools such as light dumbbells, a strap, or a block.

While I’m not going to disillusion anyone and say that you’re going to break personal records in the gym, there is something to be said for learning how to control your own bodyweight and being more cognizant of what you activate and when (and in what sequence).

Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera with me to take pictures, but I’m pretty sure this picture best represents what Mike and I looked like after our session:

I’ll admit it:  it was humbling.  But, by that same token, I felt AMAZING afterwards.

What I Disliked

1. The only drawback was that I was a little leery of all of the cues to “draw in the abs” and breath into the chest.  It seems Pilates buys into the drawing in or “hollowing method,” and I can’t say I’m a fan of that approach given the amount of time I spend coaching people to increase intra-abdominal pressure (PUSH OUT) – in an effort to increase spinal stability – when they’re lifting heavy weights.

But that’s just my personal opinion, and isn’t necessarily a knock against Pilates. I understand that it doesn’t use heavy weights, and that UN-LOADED spinal flexion is okay

Too, given the prominence of faulty breathing patterns we see in our society (most people are chest breathers and have no idea how to use their diaphragm), it’s a hard pill to swallow to actually cue people to breath into their chest.

But I get it.  Shelley fully explained why breathing into our chest was important – to learn to allow the ribs to move – and it wasn’t the end of the world.

2. Outside of that, however, other than my ego being crushed like a bug, I can’t say I had all that much to be negative about. Again, this is a testament to Shelley and the fact that she wasn’t trying to push Pilates as the end-all/be-all of everything.

That said, I can definitely see how given the wrong instructor (ie: someone who doesn’t take into account one’s movement quality, skill level, injury history (past and present), postural deficits, etc) this medium could be construed into one massive ball of fail, especially when you consider taking the spine into end ranges of motion.

But that’s just me being nit-picky.

I really did enjoy myself and I had a blast doing it.  I’ve been offered the invitation to go back, and contingent on surviving the barrage of ball busting I’m inevitably going to receive once my colleagues and athletes from CP read this, I think I’m going follow up on it.

If anything, I see this as a way to give myself a day to lay low on the heavy stuff, work on some postural imbalances, RELAX, and more importantly to have some fun.

That’s never a bad thing.

CategoriesUncategorized

Talking Shop on The FitCast

So I had just finished doing all of my Sunday morning errands yesterday (laundry, grocery shopping, crushing bacon, what have you) and finally sat down to try to figure out what I wanted to accomplish for the rest of the day. I had a few things on tap.  For starters, I had to catch up on some writing. I also had a handful of  programs that needed to be completed, fine tuned, and sent out to clients so that they could start them today.

And, as is the case with every Sunday, I had to figure out which matinee I was going to go see. Frankly, once I had my “work” done for the day, I really had no set agenda other than to watch a movie (I ended up seeing Take This Waltz), maybe catch a little of the Olympics, touch base with Lisa on Skype (she’s off exploring in Europe for a month), and then spend the rest of the day vegging out.

I flipped open my laptop to check my emails really quick and noticed I had a message from Kevin Larrabee.

“Want to join Fass, Leigh and I for some podcasting at 6pm for like 25 minutes?

Like, whoa. I can’t even remember the last time I was on The Fitcast. I think Lost was still on the air, Paula was still a judge on American Idol, and Tebowing didn’t even exist.

Yeah, it had been a while.

So anyways, what was supposed to be a quick “25 minute” recording turned into an over two hour reunion of catching up, debauchery, and shenanigans.  Don’t worry the episode isn’t two hours long, and we also happened to squeeze in some health and fitness content too.

Among a few things we touched on:

– Breathing Patterns

– Internet Gurus

– Cressey Performance expansion

– My cat

– The Dark Knight Rises (relax, no spoilers).

The episode is so chock full of awesome info and nuggets, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this happened:

Episode 240: Return of the Jedi

***This marks the first time I have ever been referred to as a Jedi.  This should happen more often.

It was great to be back!  Hope all of you enjoy it as well.