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Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 2/10/12

Earlier this week my good friend, John Romaniello, released his opus to intermittent fasting (IF), Fat Loss Forever.  For those who missed it, John was kind enough to stop by and answer a few questions regarding IF – what is it?, who is it for?, is there any science behind it?, will it make me grow a third nipple? – as well talk about the specifics behind the product itself.

In passing, too, I had mentioned how I experimented with IF a few years ago, but didn’t really realize it at the time.  Yeah, I was smart like that.

Nevertheless, when John sent me an advance copy, I read it – in one sitting – and was thoroughly impressed.  So impressed, in fact, that I am now on day #3 of my own intermittent fasting extravaganza.

Okay, extravaganza is a little bit of an indulgence. Really, all I’ve done is push my breakfast back a bit in the morning (essentially taking myself through a 12-16 hour fast), and then pwning my first meal after I’m done picking heavy things up and putting them down – which, is generally around 12PM

I’ve always had the tendency to crush a HUGE breakfast every morning, and often wondered whether or not that affected how I felt heading into my workout.  I have to say, after a few days, I feel spectaculous!!!!

I can’t say for sure whether or not I’ll do it long-term, but at the very least, I wanted to try it out.

Fat Loss Forever  – John Romaniello and Dan Go

Anyways, today (2/10) is your last chance to purchase Roman’s opus to intermittent fasting at the discounted rate of $50 OFF the regular price. He’s has gone out of his way to include a TON of sweet bonuses – including a training manual and supplement guidelines, to name few – but I’m going to sweeten the pot.

1. This kind of got lost in the shuffle earlier in the week, but for anyone who purchases FLF from this site, and emails their receipt to me ([email protected]), I’ll send you a TG written and Roman approved strength-based, 2-day-per-week workout that acts as an adjunct to the program.

2.  In addition, I’ll also throw anyone who emails me their receipt into a raffle for a free DIGITAL copy of Muscle Imbalances Revealed – Upper Body. And, if you play your cards right, maybe a bologna sandwich.  Winning!

Performance Training:  Adaptations for Femoral Acetabular Impingement (FAI) – Kevin Neeld

This was an excellent post by Kevin detailing the intricate and complicated mechanisms behind FAI – how to recognize it, and more importantly, how to go about implementing training modifications.

While it’s generally accepted that FAI is more prevalent in the athletic population, it’s something that we’ve witnessed creep into other less common populations as well – including your typical gym rat population.

If you’re a fitness professional, I HIGHLY suggest you give it a read, and don’t ignore the other links in the article as well, as Kevin as a TON of information to share on this topic.

5 Questions with a Girl Gone Strong:  Julia Ladewski – Trey Potter

Continuing his series interviewing the amazing Girls Gone Strong crew, here Trey speaks with Julia Ladewski, wife, coach, mother of two, and formerly the world’s #1 ranked female powerlifter in the 132 lb weight class.  Yes, she’s probably stronger than you.

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Exercises You Should Be Doing: DB Reverse Lunge to 1-Legged RDL

This is an exercise that’s been in my programming repertoire for a while now, and every time I place it into someone’s program, I either get one raised eye brow of intrigue or a chuckle; as if to say, “dude, really?  This?  Come on….I need something more challenging.”

Then, of course, those who fall into the latter category wake up the next morning and realize their hamstrings feel like they were put through a meat grinder.

*strokes evil strength coach beard*

Muhahahahahahahaha.  I win.

Anyways, getting right to the point, there are quite few inherent benefits to this exercise.

1.  It’s a single leg movement.  People need to do more single leg work. Nuff said.

2. Thing is, single leg work can be about as exciting as watching Gossip Girl. More to the point, it’s a hybrid single leg movement, combining both the reverse lunge and the 1-legged Romanian deadlift, so I’ve found it’s a nice change of pace, and a bit more palatable for most trainees.

Note:  I will say, though, that this is a more advanced variation so I’d be reticent to encourage newbies to throw this into the mix right off the bat.

3.  With regards to the reverse lunge component, it’s more knee friendly compared to forward lunge variations.  With forward lunge variations you have to decelerate the body, which can be problematic for those with a history of knee pain.  Conversely, with the reverse lunge, it’s more accelerative (I think I just made a word up) in nature, and thus less stressful on the knee joint in general.

4. On the flip side, with respects to the 1-legged Romanian deadlift component, I just like it because it trains the lateral sub-system, and it really forces the trainee to focus on his or her hip stabilizers.

5.  Maybe a little less obvious, but nevertheless an important point to consider, is that this exercise – being hybrid in nature – kicks your ass! It’s not uncommon for peeps who perform this exercise for the first time to be fairly winded by the end of their set.

So, what does this bad boy look like?

Key Coaching Cues:  First and foremost, don’t be a hero.  You won’t need a ton of weight with this particular exercise, and given most people butcher the 1-Legged RDLanyways, I’d be more inclined to start conservative with the weight selection.

Secondly, while the reverse lunge part is pretty self explanatory, the 1-legged RDL is a different animal altogether. That said, I’d HIGHLY encourage you to click HERE to get a little more insight on how to be less sucky at it.

I generally keep the reps in the lowish range and shoot for 5-6 per leg, which is really 10-12 reps per leg because you’re doing two exercises in one.

AC/DC in the background is optional.

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

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4 Things Your Girlfriend Should Know (Revisted)

A few weeks ago I wrote a post titled Tony Takes a Yoga Class (Part I) that, surprisingly enough, became fairly popular and made its rounds around the blogosphere.

In it, I used part of an old article I wrote years ago titled 4 Things Your Girlfriend Should Know, where, in the first part of that article, I kinda of threw yoga under the bus.  Okay, there was no “kinda” about it.  Not only did I throw yoga under the bus, but I also somehow managed to challenge it to a wrestling match (it’s my blog, and shit like this happens all the time), where I jumped off the top rope, grabbed it from behind, and suplexed it out of the ring.

It was a one-sided affair, and I think I won pretty convincingly.

My main beef then, and now, is that yoga is often marketed in a way that promises everything to women.  It’s somehow the magic pill that will result in long, lean, sexy muscles. In addition, unicorns will fly underneath rainbows with Leprechauns on their backs, and Greys Anatomy will never, ever, ever, never, end.

See what I mean?  It promises everything!

Anyways, in the years since I wrote the original article, and as something I went out of my way to touch on in the blog post linked above (as well as elucidate in more depth in Part II)………I’ve changed my mind to an extent.

Yoga ain’t so bad.

I’ve had several people contact me asking me for the rest of that 4 Things Your Girlfriend Should Know article.  It was originally published on t-nation.com back in 2007, and subsequently moved to FigureAthlete.com.  That site no longer exists, and as a result, the article has vanished into some kind of internet blackhole.

Luckily, I saved the original on my laptop and thought I’d re-post it here for everyone’s viewing enjoyment.

A few notes beforehand:

1. Again, the yoga part is omitted. But you can read it in the Tony Takes a Yoga Class link above.

2. I wrote the article five years ago, so forgive me for the dated pop culture references.

3. To reiterate, I wrote the article FIVE YEARS AGO, so please take that into consideration before you go a head and call me out on anything I said back then that doesn’t jive now.

4.  Did I mention I wrote the article five years ago?**

4 Things Your Girlfriend Should Know

*** with the yoga part omitted.  So, really, this is 3 Things Your Girlfriend Should Know.

Being a man in today’s society is darn tough.  We are constantly inundated with constant struggles and frustrations:

  1. Deciding which is the best trilogy ever made:  the ORIGINAL Star Wars or Lord of the Rings?
  2. Which Jessica to choose from:  Jessica Biel, Jessica Alba or Jessica Simpson?
  3. Trying our very best to not throw the television out the window every time we see Jared (from Subway) espousing the benefits of eating a low fat diet.
  4. Trying to convince our girlfriend or wife that lifting weights won’t make her look like a she-man.

Being a guy myself, I feel your pain.  I know how frustrating it can be to try to convince a woman (let alone your significant other) that doing endless hours of aerobics or spending the majority of her gym time using those hip abductor/adductor machines is a fruitless endeavor from a body composition standpoint.  If you’re in the same situation as most guys, the likelihood that your girlfriend will accompany you to the gym on deadlift day is about as slim as Rosie O’Donnell keeping her big yapper shut.

Needless to say, this is for all the guys out there who are losing the battle.  This article is going to serve as your ammo to try to convince that special lady in your life that what she has been doing in the gym week in and week out is flat out wrong.  You can thank me later.

Low Reps vs. High Reps

I’m not going to sugar coat anything.  I’m going to cut right to the chase.  I love low rep training.  I love low rep training almost as much as I love Justin Timberlake’s “D**k in a Box” parody he did on SNL not too long ago.

Unfortunately, most women (including your girlfriend) are obsessed with “dieting” and love the color pink.  As a result, they love to perform endless repetitions with those 8 lb pink dumbbells every chance they get thinking that that will elicit more fat loss.  This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Memo to your girlfriend: 

Ditch the light weights (especially when you’re dieting).  You’ll just end up with a fragile, weak, and soft looking body; otherwise known as the “skinny-fat” look.  Your muscles will lack what is known as good neurogenic or myogenic tone (basically fancy words used to express muscle hardness).

Simply put, there are two types of muscle tone:  myogenic and neurogenic.  The former refers to your muscle tone at rest, the latter refers to muscle tone that is expressed when muscular contractions occur.

Low(er) rep training increases the sensitivity of various motor units resulting in increased neurogenic tone.  Myogenic tone on the other hand, is correlated with the overall density of your muscles (specifically the contractile proteins myosin and actin) and is vastly improved by lifting heavier weights.

This is going to come as a shock to most women, but utilizing light weights (anything above twelve reps in my book) while dieting will likely result in loss of muscle, which is the exact opposite of what you want to happen.

When dieting, the body will adapt to the caloric deficit by down regulating many of the hormones involved with metabolism (T3, T4, leptin, etc), as well as getting rid of metabolically active tissue – muscle.  Obviously one would want to prevent this from happening in the first place, which is why I always recommend that women shit-can the 20 rep sets and start training with heavier weights.

The Inevitable Retort from Your Girlfriend:  “Whatever.  All the fitness magazines say I should use high reps for fat loss when I’m dieting, and they obviously know what they’re talking about.  When are you taking the garbage out?”

When someone goes on a diet, catabolic hormones, which promote muscle breakdown, rise (bad) and anabolic hormones, which promote muscle growth, decline (also bad). Your body is smarter than you, and as I alluded to above, your body will “slow down” to work at your reduced caloric intake.

As a result, it will reduce whatever is metabolically active- muscle.  With regards to training, a great way I like to explain things is from a conversation I had via e-mail with Erik Ledin, a well known figure coach I know.

If you train light, you’ll keep enough muscle to be able to continue to train “light.”  But given this doesn’t take a lot, from a relative and individual standpoint (ie. it takes more muscle to lift a weight that limits you to 8 reps, than it does to lift a weight that limits you to 20) you’ll keep what you need to accomplish these generally ‘easier’ tasks.  The key to a lean, hard body is a nice balance between nutrition, cardio and low rep, heavy weight training. What builds muscle is what keeps muscle.

Train More Like a Man

Question (from you):  “Babe, how bout I teach you how to squat today?”

Answer (from your girlfriend):  “But I don’t want to get big and bulky.”

Newsflash ladies:  you WILL NOT get “big and bulky” just because you’re doing squats and deadlifts.  That statement is akin to me saying, “eh, I don’t want to do any sprints today because I don’t want to win the 100m gold medal next week.”

Getting big and bulky isn’t easy, just like winning the 100m gold medal isn’t easy.  If anything, it’s quite an insult to all those people who have spent years in the gym to look the way they do.  It didn’t happen overnight, which is what you’re assuming by saying something so absurd.

And lets be honest, most people (men AND women) won’t work hard enough to get “big and bulky” in the first place.  It’s hard enough for a man to put on any significant amount of muscle, let alone a woman.  Women are physiologically at a disadvantage for putting on muscle due to the fact that they have ten times LESS free testosterone in their bodies compared to men.

That being said you still need to get the most out of your training buck, and that includes ditching the glute buster machine and focusing more on the compound movements.

Joe Dowdell, owner of Peak Performance in NYC trains many of the top female models in the city and their programming includes squats, deadlifts, chin-ups, bench variations, sled dragging, and tons of energy system work.  Yes, Victoria Secret models are doing squats and deadlifts.  And yes, that is completely hot.

Guess what they’re not doing…watching Oprah every day while walking on the treadmill for 60 minutes.

Just because you’re a woman doesn’t mean you can’t train like a man and lift some serious weight.  I never bought into this whole mindset that women are these delicate creatures that can’t hang with the boys.

Steady State Cardio/Aerobics (Not the Fat Loss King You Thought It Was) 

Not to beat a dead Barbaro (er, I mean horse), but steady state cardio/aerobics is not the most efficient way to burn body fat.   I like lists, so I am going to use a list to prove my point.

1. Steady state cardio doesn’t elevate EPOC all that much, which again is one of the main factors in fat loss.  Sure, one hour of steady state cardio will probably burn more calories than one hour of resistance training, but it’s the calories you burn in the other 23 hours OUTSIDE of the gym that really matter.

Essentially, once you’re done doing steady state cardio, you’re done burning calories.  However, with resistance training and/or with high intensity interval training (HIIT), your body’s metabolism will be elevated for upwards of 24-48 hours.  Thus, you will burn a TON more calories.

2. Speaking of metabolism.  Your metabolism is in direct correlation with how much LBM you have.  The more LBM you have, the higher your metabolism.  Given that long duration, steady state cardio actually eats away muscle; you’re shooting yourself in the foot in that regard.

3. The fat burning zone doesn’t exist.  It’s true that your body will burn a greater percentage of fat at lower intensities, however the TOTAL calories being burned is so small, that it doesn’t even really matter.  Again, it all comes down to EPOC.

4. As Alwyn Cosgrove has pointed out on numerous occasions; your body adapts very well to cardiovascular exercise (in this case, steady state cardio).  This is a bad thing.  As you get more efficient at running a certain distance, the work required to complete that distance will become less and less as you get fitter.

To improve you have to go further in order to burn the same amount of calories. What once took you 30 minutes to burn “x” amount of calories, now takes you 45 minutes.  Doesn’t sound too efficient in my book.

5. The majority of your fat loss should come via diet, not copious amounts of steady state cardio/aerobics.  From a time efficiency standpoint, which makes more sense?  Not eating that bowl of cereal at night (300-500 calories) or spending 60 minutes on a treadmill to burn that same 300-500 calories every single day?

6. Steady state cardio/aerobics does little to change how your body looks.  Sure, you may lose 20-30 lbs, but you will still be the same “shape.”  You won’t look leaner, only smaller (not to mention weaker).

7. Lets be honest…do you really enjoy spending 45-60 minutes on one piece of equipment?

Some Other Random Thoughts

*Women need to eat more protein.  Cassandra Forsythe says it best, “when in doubt, eat meat.”

*You can’t be on a diet forever.  Learn to incorporate dietary breaks.

*Ladies, you’re four times more likely to have an ACL tear compared to men.  Get off the leg extension and leg curl machines and train your posterior chain more!  Various deadlifts, box squats, Anderson squats, pull-thru’s, glute-ham raises, one-legged back extensions, and lots of single leg work.

*Train with your man.  He secretly loves it.

*Get off your cell phone, for the love of god

 I’m Done

Okay fellas, there you go.  All you have to do now is click the “print” button and strategically place this article in a place where you know your girlfriend will see it.  Your best bet would either be in between the pages of this week’s People Magazine or inside the dvd case of any of the following movies; Steel Magnolias, Dirty Dancing, or The Notebook.

** I wrote the article five years ago.
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Fat Loss Forever

Back in the winter of 2009, having nothing better to do than pick the worst time of year to get lean (not many people see your six pack when it’s 15 degrees outside), I took it upon myself to do a little experiment which I appropriately called Tony Gets Sexified.

I’m not going to go into the details here, but little did I know at the time I had inadvertently used a form of intermittent fasting (IF) to help expedite the fat loss process.

You see, at several points throughout the week I’d have “windows” where I’d eat very little which, from a hormonal standpoint, allowed my body to become a fat burning ass kicking machine.

I’d train. Hate life. Fuel my body.  And then repeat the process, giving myself a “cheat” meal on the weekends.

My cheat meal, contrary to most who dream of endless mountains of ice-cream and all-you-can-eat pizza buffets, consisted of 2 lbs of BBQ steak tips, with homemade sweet potato fries and a shit ton of broccoli.  Exciting, I know.

Anyways, it worked. I took my body fat from a fairly consistent 10% year round, to 7-8% in a matter of six weeks, which ain’t too shabby given my starting point.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m NOT an expert on intermittent fasting. The fact that I wasn’t even aware that I had done a pseudo IF experiment on myself back in day should make that abundantly clear.

Still, in the few years since, IF has grown by leaps and bounds in terms of its popularity, and with that in mind, you’d be hard pressed to peruse any fitness blog or website and not see it mentioned in some fashion.

Which is why, today, I’m pleased to introduce John Romaniello’s latest product Fat Loss Forever.

Roman – as he’s more appropriately referred to – has gone out of his way to provide an outstanding product that not only educates, but entertains as well. It edutains!

When was the last time you were told breakfast was NOT the most important meal of the day?

Yeah, that one hurt me too. I heart breakfast. But when you think about it:  our ancestors had to chase down, wrestle, kill, butcher, and cook various small (and large) animals.  They didn’t eat breakfast everyday, and they turned out alright.

Moreover, what’s the deal with ALWAYS being told that you HAVE to eat 5-6 meals per day in order to keep your metabolism up?

Guess what: doing so may be making you fatter.

Fat Loss Forever goes against conventional wisdom, and helps introduce the concept of intermittent fasting in way that’s easy to understand and easy to implement.  But be forewarned: IT IS NOT easy.

You’ll have to do some work along the way.

With that said, Roman was kind enough to answer a few questions I sent his way, so feel free to read the interview below which sheds some light on this very popular topic.

Enjoy!

*** Oh, and since I know a fair share of you won’t make it all the way to the end, on top of the already stellar bonuses that Roman is offering, anyone who purchases Fat Loss Forever from this site and sends a copy of their receipt to my email address – [email protected] – I’ll send you a TG written, Roman approved, FLF strength-based program that will increase your overall level of badassery by at least 156%.

On to the interview!

TG: Roman you’re an NYC native, and I currently live in Boston (and yes, am completely immersed in the sports scene here). The Giants just beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl (again…FML).  This is your chance to gloat. 100 words or less. Go.

John Romaniello:  Ha! No gloating here—was actually rooting for the Pats. As a Jets fan, that’s heretical…but honestly, the last thing I wanted to deal with was Giants fans with an inflated Big Brother complex.

On to next year!

TG:  My apologies. I just assumed everyone in NYC was a Giants fan.  Lets get down to business: If there was ever an app listing what’s “trending” in the fitness industry, intermittent fasting (IF) would be right up there along with LOLz Bosu Ball Fails

Note to Reader:  LOLz BOSU Ball Fails doesn’t exist, but it should.

 1.  Can you provide a Cliff Notes version explaining the premise behind IF?

and

2. Why do you feel it’s gained so much popularity in such a short amount of time? 

Roman: It certainly does seem to be trending.

The premise is simple: IF is essentially alternating structured, pre-determined periods of “not-eating” with periods where you’re allowed to eat.

There are a lot of different styles of IF, the differences between each essentially being the length of the feeding and fasting periods.

IF has a number of benefits, ranging from practical (caloric restriction becomes easy when you are only allowed to eat for a few hours each day) to more physiological (hormonal benefits, including increased secretion of GH).

Each “type” of fasting will allow for each of these, some more than others—but all of them work.

As to why it’s popular recently, that’s simple: once I started talking about it, it became cool 😉

Okay, that’s not true…I can’t back that up.

The real reason it’s reached a tipping point as a result of a few factors: the first is that the research just kept backing it up; that’s a big thing.

More than anything else, it’s really that the “fasting guys” caught the attention of the rest of the industry, and finally forced us to see the truth.

A good example is Brad Pilon, who has been preaching the benefits of fasting for many years.

More recently, Martin Berkhan has been the head of the movement—his clients get incredible results, and Martin isn’t exactly what you’d call a quiet guy; he’s very vocal about his opinions and that he believes his way is the best.

Guys like these catch the attention of magazines with big numbers of followers, and then it just cascades.  We owe those dudes a lot.

TG: Indeed – while they’re not necessarily the pioneers, those two have definitely brought the concept of IF to the forefront.

That said, I know some people reading right now may be under the impression that IF is too radical and that it couldn’t possibly fit into their current lifestyle. What would you say to them?  What are the benefits?  Negatives?  Will it increase their general level of awesomeness?

Roman: I would just say to try it.  Read the research.  Give it a shot.  You really don’t have anything to lose, other than whatever emotional attachment to your particular set of beliefs you have.

The benefits are clear: hormonal optimization, increased satiety.  More than that, you will start to see the difference between “head hunger” and “body hunger” – that is, you’ll realize when you’re actually hungry and stop snacking out of boredom.

The drawbacks are that you might try something new.  This scares the shit out of some people.

Another drawback is that you might be uncomfortable for a little while. Yup. Fasting has the potential to be mildly uncomfortable. This is different from sprinting, deadlifting, squatting, and dieting in general, all of which are incredibly pleasant, right?

TG:  Very true. It’s very similar to a phrase I like to throw out there when people question doing something different to they’re unfamiliar with: 

If you continue doing what you’ve always done, you’ll continue getting what you’ve always gotten.

Pigging back on the question above, can you explain what IF isn’t?  Meaning, people are going to see the word “fast” and automatically assume that it’s a starvation method.  Could you elucidate on this fallacy, as well as any other common misconceptions that you’ve come across?

Roman: Ah, that’s a good one.  Mainly, fasting isn’t starving, because, at the end of the day, you’re still going to get roughly the same number of calories you would on any fat loss plan – just all at once.

Let’s say you maintain at 2400 calories, and you’re dieting; maybe you want to take in 1900 calories per day.

In a traditional dieting model, you might have six meals, each with about 320 calories.  You might be hungry after each one.

With IF, you’ll have three meals, each with ~630 calories. You’ll be fuller, longer, and possibly eat less.

You’re eating the same amount of food, just in less time—the extended fasting period giving you more time to be active and productive, as well as the hormonal benefits.

TG:  Well that makes a whole lotta sense.  Sweet!

So, now that you’ve thrown yourself onto the IF train, what makes Fat Loss Forever different from the various predecessors?

Note:  I only ask this because you know you’re going to get some a-hole who’s a Berkhan or Pilon fanboy (and rightfully so) getting his panties all up in a bunch

Roman: Haha, well, far be it from me to deny the right of a fanboy to hate me for impugning the honor of his guru =)

Here’s the deal: again, all credit to Pilon and Berkhan. I’m fans of their stuff. Which is the lead-in to this answer:

My stuff isn’t radically “different” from their stuff because it’s inspired by their stuff—HOWEVER…

It’s different BECAUSE of that as well.

My program takes a look at all of the best and most effective forms of fasting around, and, after much experimentation, creates a synthesis of all of these things.  It takes the best and makes them better.

FLF is the Frankenstein’s monster of fasting—it’s made up of the parts of other programs, and, in the end, is something that is both exceptionally effective and unique to me.

It’s a lot of fun, and Pilon is promoting, so I’d say we’re pretty solid in that regard.

TG: I’d say so!  Lastly, how “adaptable” is it?  For example, there are people on this site who spend a large portion of their day staring at a computer screen and are lucky to get three hours per week to train.  On the flip side, you have those, like me, who are on their feet for a large portion of the day, coaching. How easily can IF, and specifically, FLF, be implemented?

Roman: That’s that best part—all forms of IF are highly adjustable.  FLF is even MORE so.  All you need to do is NOT EAT…then eat.

The program works well for guys like us, who make our own schedules—but also for people whose time is less their own.  We’ve had firefighters and nurses who work 36-hour shifts have success, as well as entrepreneurs and other trainers.

It’s the most moldable nutritional protocol around; certainly moreseo than those that make you eat every few hours.

Plus, you get a cheat day…so right there, you know it’s awesome.

TG: Okay I lied, one last question: How is training “adjusted” when following the FLF protocol?  I know many reading may balk at the idea of training on an empty stomach, or with very little calories in the tank.

Roman: This is pretty individual.  Personally, I like to train in a fasted state.  But—and you’ve known this about me for years—that’s because training with a full tummy makes me get all…pukey.

I have trained truly empty, though; as in, haven’t eaten for 50 hours.

Anyway, this isn’t about me, it’s about other people—and my clients are mixed.  Some love the fasted training. Some find that some BCAAs are enough to give them the energy and have a great training session.

Others seem unwilling to break away from old ideas and just have a snack before training.  And that’s fine.

As long as you follow the bigger rules, eating 30 minutes before your workout won’t derail you =)

TG:  Thanks Roman!  Jets suck!

And there you have it folks. For more information, and to save $50 off the regular price (not to mention having access to a bunch of sweet bonuses), I highly encourage you to check out Fat Loss Forever HERE.

And remember, if you send your receipt to my email address (see above), I’ll send your my special 2-day per week strength-based program that I wrote specifically for this program!!

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Check Out the New Digs!

It’s been a few weeks in the making, and I’ve been talking about it for what seems like forever (and yes, I’m purposely NOT talking about the Pats losing last night), but for those who are regular visitors to this site you probably noticed a few changes when you logged on today.  Whoot! Whoot!

Pretty sweet, huh?

I don’t know about you, but seeing how baller the site looks now, all I can do is keep re-playing the chorus line from Drake’s Fancy over and over in my head:

Go, go, go, go, go, go ‘head
Go, go, go, go, go, go ‘head

Oh, you fancy, huh?
Oh, you fancy, huh?
Oh, you fancy, huh?
Oh, you fancy, huh?

Nail done, hair done
Everything did
Nails done, hair done
Everything did

First, and the most obvious upgrade: that’s me to the right doing my best Mr. Clean impersonation. Granted, I’m not wearing an all white outfit, and I’m definitely not wearing an earring, but I feel the picture is a huge improvement from what I had on the site originally.  A huge thank you goes out to Kim Lloyd for rendering her services and providing all the kick-ass photography – including THIS pic.

Secondly, one of the main points I wanted to hit on was upgrading the social media so that it would be more accessible to the masses.  To that end, you’ll notice a ‘static’ tab to the left that has links to my Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, RSS, and StumbleUpon pages.

HINT:  you should click on them.

In addition, I also added a blog archive that links to every post from the past year categorized by month.  You can still access posts from previous years, too (by clicking the pages buttons at the bottom), but the archive box provides easy access to the past year’s posts.  What’s more, I also added a “Tony’s Favorites” section that links to some of my favs (old and new).

HINT:  you should click on those as well (especially if you’re new to the site).

If you have a real good eye, aesthetically, you may have noticed I had the guys over at Copter Labs get rid of the “grid-like” lines that served as the background to the site.  Now it’s just a solid white background which should make reading a little easier.  You’re welcome.

Above all, if you look to the right – underneath my biceps – you’ll see a section titled Get All the Updates.

Which, to put it another way, means……….

Someone Got a Newsletter!!!!

This is dedicated to Eric Cressey, Kevin Neeld, Jim Smith, and many others who have been hounding me to step into the 21st Century for the past year.

Pigs are now flying.

I’d be very appreciative if you signed up for it. I promise I won’t spam you and stuff.  Instead, for now, I’ll just send updates of what’s going on: schedule of speaking engagements, articles of mine that are published elsewhere, weekly blog reviews, what I had for dinner last night, you know, important things.

And that’s about it. In an ideal world, I’d somehow figure out a way to make it so that a Velociraptor would jump out and rip the page in half with its claws each time someone clicked on a page.  But I was told that that would have been a bit over the top.  A guy can dream, right?

Nonetheless, I hope you like the changes and would love to hear your thoughts and opinions. Feedback welcome.

PS:  Seriously, sign up for my newsletter. Before I cry.

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Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 2/3/12

I’m sitting here with my fingers crossed as I write this post because there are going to be some minor changes to the site shortly.

I know I’ve been talking about this for months now, but I’ve been working with my web designer, Jason Lengstorf and the crew over at Copter Labs, to give the site a little bit of a Bazinga factor – or face-lift, if you will – and if all goes according to plan you should all see the finished product at some point today.

OMGIJUSTPEEDMYSELFALITTLE.

NOTE:  It’s official, the new updates are live.

That said, while I sit here and wait, here are some great reads to check out from this past week.

The Pull-Up Manifesto – Todd Bumgardner

Todd’s a fellow contributor to t-nation.com, and an awesome strength coach/strong man competitor located near State College, PA. Having met Todd in person last year when he and his girlfriend came to CP for a few days, and exchanging emails with him routinely (we talk shop and argue about who’s more diesel:  Megatron or Soundwave?), he’s definitely someone I’ve become a huge fan of.

About two weeks ago, he sent me a preview of his Pull-Up Manifesto, which accordingly, I read in one sitting while hanging out at Panera on a Friday night (I know, party central).

In a word – awesome.  You should read it.

All you have to do is sign up for Todd’s newsletter (located on the right of his site) and you get it FREE.

The “Boring But Big” 3-Month Challenge – Jim Wendler

Arguably one of Wendler’s best articles, which is saying a lot.  Never to bullshit anyone, here, Jim outlines a basic – albeit very effective – program that will, you know, get you big-n-stuff.

Eat Like a Predator, Not Like Prey – J. Stanton

One of my clients sent this article to me after reading how Lisa and I are currently going through our own ‘Paleo’ experiment, and I have to say, it was refreshing considering how much people tend to get their panties up in a bunch arguing over semantics.

Less dogmatic, I like how this article allows a little more freedom compared to its predecessors.  Butter is allowed!  What what!  He also advocates supplements like vitamin D and fish oil. Hey, I like this guy – great minds think alike.

He also mentions that people should go out of their way to “play” and lift heavy things. I’m down with that.

A very informative and entertaining read that breaks everything down in an easy to follow format.  It ain’t rocket science people……Weight Watchers isn’t food.

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Upcoming Speaking Engagement

Earlier this month, much like everyone else in the free world, I made a few resolutions that, so far, I’ve been able to not suck at.

Operation Hydration is still in full swing.  I’ve been crushing water like it’s my job, and it’s really made a difference in how I feel on a day-to-day basis. Granted I pee a lot more – and I absolutely HATE getting up in the middle of the night – but that minor nuisance is well worth it considering I’m walking around less lethargic and just feel like a new person overall.

NOTE:  For those interested, I just take my body weight and divide that by half, and that’s how many ounces of water I shoot for. Whatever I drink over that is just a bonus.

On a more professional level, I also mentioned how I was going to try to do more speaking engagements this year. As it stands now, I have a handful that are in the works for later on this summer and fall, but I’ll elaborate on those at another time when I have all the details. More relevant to the near future though, I’ll be speaking at a local Boston Sports Club in mid-February.

The event will be held on Tuesday, February 21st at 2:30 PM at the Downtown Crossing BSC. My talk is going to be catered towards personal trainers and it’s tentatively titled 10 Traits of an Effective Fitness Professional. I know, it’s a lame title. I may opt to go with something more Gentilcoreian, like, Stop Doing Stupid Shit.

I don’t know, I’ll keep working on it.

Nevertheless, I plan on discussing several topics, but serving as the meat and potatoes will namely be assessment and program design.  And maybe a teeny tiny bit on why I’d rather set my face on fire than include any unstable surface training into the mix.

The idea is to keep this a more manageable and “intimate” setting, so spots are limited (I believe the cap is between 16-20, and as of today, ten are already confirmed). If you’re a local trainer in Boston, and you happen to have a few hours free that afternoon, it might be well worth your time to come down and listen.

The talk is going to be roughly 90-120 minutes, and I’m pretty sure there’s going to be a smoke machine and laser show as part of the introduction (only a slight exaggeration).

For more information, please contact Peter Humer at:  [email protected].

Hope to see you there!

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The Deload Week and Why YOU Should Use It

Today’s guest post comes from Jeff Barnett, and it’s on the importance of deload weeks which is something I feel is relevant to EVERY person reading this post who trains on a consistent basis.

For more info on Jeff, check out his sites HERE and HERE.

Recently at my facility, I’ve been getting a lot of questions from my athletes regarding deload weeks.  Specifically, what is a deload week and how they can incorporate it into their training?

A deload week is simply a week spent recovering from exercise. Rest is not just a break from going to the gym. It’s an absolutely essential part of training! We are all familiar with rest days. Why not extend the concept further to a rest week? After all, your body has no respect for how long you think it should take to recover.

Only reality matters: how long does your body actually need for recovery? Consistent training eventually builds a deficit that cannot be repaid in a single rest day. A deload week is a chance for your body to recover from that deficit. The deload week allows your body to catch up – to repair connective tissue and restore testosterone/cortisol ratios. Muscle can recover more quickly than connective tissue. A deload week keeps tendons and ligaments healthy. If you chronically develop tendonitis, then scheduled deload weeks are definitely part of the solution.

Here’s the disconnect: You don’t get stronger by exercising!

You get stronger by recovering from exercise. This simple concept forms the basis of exercise physiology. Hans Selye first described it in 1936. Countless professionals like Zatsiorsky, Rippetoe, and Kilgore have expanded it further. The basic theory goes like this:

1. Provide a stimulus to an organism (exercise)

2. Remove the stimulus (rest)

3. The organism adapts to better handle the stimulus (Next time you can deadlift 375 lbs instead of 370 lbs). This is called supercompensation.

We all recognize the importance of Step #1. We all recognize the fun of Step #3. But Step #2 often goes neglected, even though it’s equally critical.

What happens when you neglect Step #2 and you never remove the stimulus (you continue to exercise constantly)? Seyle actually studied that too. The organism dies. Now everyone will stop exercising before they die, but the point is that a never-ending stimulus (unceasing exercise) doesn’t make you better. It makes you worse. It digs your body into a hole that keeps getting deeper. This is overtraining.

I first read about deload weeks from Jim Wendler in his short and violent book, 5/3/1. His program advocates training at precise percentages in four-week cycles. The first three weeks of each cycle are heavy and the last week is a deload week.

Note from TG:  We use a similar approach at Cressey Performance as well, albeit we modify training stress a bit differently.

Week 1 – High Volume
Week 2 – Medium Volume
Week 3 – VERY High Volume
Week 4 – Deload/eat lots of dead animal flesh

The deload week uses three sets of five reps for each exercise at 40-60% of 1RM – very few reps and very light loads. The intent is to preserve the neuromuscular pathways of lifting without actually breaking down muscle (the usual intent of strength training).

Top CrossFit competitor Blair Morrison also uses deload weeks. Morrison trains 1-on/1-off for 3 weeks and then takes a week of recovery. His training days include up to three workouts. Morrison says, “I can go really hard in all those workouts because I know I have the next day as a rest day.”

How can you incorporate a deload week into your training? Simple. Every few weeks of training, take a week off. I have adopted the 3/1 ratio that Wendler and Morrison prescribe, and I recommend it. You still take your normal rest days during your training weeks, but when your training weeks are over, take a full week of dedicated recovery.

Schedule your deload week in advance, and stick to it. And when it arrives, remember that allowing your body to recover is more important than the fun of jumping into another workout. You are not wussing out—you are making yourself stronger!

Now, some caveats.

First, I don’t suggest complete rest for the whole week. I suggest a couple active recovery workouts, a couple thorough mobility sessions, and yes, some straight-up rest. Active recovery means you are working, but not at an intensity that is breaking down muscle or challenging you metabolically. One of my favorite recovery WODs is rowing 2000 meters on the Concept 2.

Rowing is low impact and involves almost your entire body. I can also precisely monitor my pace to ensure I keep the intensity low. Jim Wendler’s prescription is also excellent. Three sets of five reps of back squat and shoulder press at 50% 1RM with 2-3 minutes rest between sets is also a great recovery workout.

You could also use Yoga (at low intensity), lacrosse ball and foam roller work, joint mobility work, and deep tissue massage as recovery tools during your deload week. Of a seven day week, you want 3-4 complete rest days and 3-4 recovery and mobility sessions. Have a plan for your deload week, but listen to your body. That’s what the deload week is all about.

Note from TG:  HERE is a post I did a while back on active recovery that may provide some ideas of what to do.

Next, a deload week is not an excuse to derail your nutrition. On the contrary, sticking to your nutrition plan is even more important during your deload week. Keeping your normal gym schedule while just performing recovery and mobility workouts can help keep your routine intact. Routine helps most athletes stick to their nutrition plan. Your body is repairing itself. You need to provide it all the quality fuel it needs to complete the repairs, along with plenty of sleep every night. Recovery is not just the absence of training; it is a critical part of the training process!

Why should you consider working deload weeks into your training schedule? You will become stronger, faster. You’ll suffer fewer chronic injuries. You’ll be less prone to burning out.  You’ll be an overall better athlete. Try it.

DO IT!!

Resources:

“A Syndrome Produced by Diverse Nocuous Agents” – 1936 article by Hans Selye from The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences

Kraemer, William J.; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M. (2006). Science and Practice of Strength Training, Second Edition.

Rippetoe, Mark (2009), Practical Programming for Strength Training

Wendler, Jim (19 August 2011), 5/3/1: The Simplest and Most Effective Training System to Increase Raw Strength

 

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Coaching Etiquette: The Grey Area of the Commercial Gym Setting

I’m lucky that I live in a strength and conditioning bubble that allows me the ability (and luxury) to control pretty much everything around me.  With the exception of the music – which is a never ending battle of techno vs. rap vs. country vs. metal vs. Katy Perry my ears are bleeding – as a coach and part-owner of my own facility I have a large say in the everyday shenanigans (for lack of a better term) that goes down.

Between myself, the other two coaches (Eric Cressey and Chris Howard), and our interns, every warm-up drill, every sprint drill, every exercise, every set and rep, EVERY PROGRAM is supervised – meticulously. While I don’t want to sound like I’m blowing sunshine up our own ass – although that’s exactly what I’m doing – seemingly, we’re doing something right, and I like to think we’re doing our part in cementing proper exercise habits and techniques along the way.

One of the best compliments we can receive as a staff is when other fitness professionals stop by to observe and they go out of their way to commend us on how well coached our athletes and clients are.

It happens all the time.  And I’m proud of that fact.

People squat to proper depth; their deadlifts don’t make my spine start hyperventilating; they know how to perform a push-up correctly; they know that a chin-up really means sternum-up; there’s absolutely no cell phones allowed on the gym floor; and there’s certainly no curling in the squat rack.  Unless your last name rhymes with Smeshshmentilore. In that case, it’s totally pimp.

Like I said, I live in a pretty sweet bubble where I can control things, and people, more often than not, do things right….and get strong and swole to boot.

And then, I go to a commercial gym, and I’m immediately reminded how much I want to throw an ax into my face.

Now, before I continue, let me just say that I’ve been trying to make more of a concerted effort to stop drinking the haterade.

Busting on commercial gyms is easy, and in a lot of ways played out. It serves no purpose than to feed the fire and make me come across as kind of douchey.  Besides, not all commercial gyms are created equal, and I know of plenty who do it right (ahem, Dean Somerset), actually take some pride in their craft, and go out of their way to actually help their members and demonstrate that they care for their well-being.  In my experience, however, those are few and far between.

Because I live in the city, I have easy access to numerous commercial gyms.  As such, on the off chance that I don’t go into CP on any given day – like this past Tuesday for instance – it makes it convenient to still get a lift in.

It’s inevitable that I’m going to see stupid stuff while I’m there.  I’m prepared for that.  There’s the woman who hangs upside down off the bars and then proceeds to perform some sort of core training/circus act. There’s the guy performing 1-legged DB lateral raises – off a BOSU ball.  And there’s the two meat-heads performing 57 variations of chest presses.

As a coach I can’t help myself but observe. It’s ingrained in me. Still, I realize that (most) people don’t know any better, and in any event, at least they’re doing something. I just shrug it off, turn up my iPod, and move on with my life.

It’s when I watch some of the trainers in action that I get furious. Half the time, I feel as if the client would be better off taking their money and flushing it down the toilet.

Almost always, technique is just AWFUL! I don’t care who you are, or how many letters you have next to your name, if your client is deadlifting with a rounded back, and you don’t correct it,  you lose all credibility in my eyes.

I watched one trainer actually demonstrate with a rounded back, and then proceed to allow his client to do the same. Encouraging him along the way.

Moreover, I watched a female trainer take her female client through an entire session using nothing heavier than a ten lb dumbbell. Jesus, I’m willing ot bet the woman’s purse is heavier than ten lbs!

Really?  10 lbs?

I don’t know, maybe they were training for the National Paper Weight Carrying championship.  Specificity, right?

Or what about this exchange I overhead from a female TRAINER getting trained from her male counterpart.

Dude Trainer (putting her on the Smith Machine to perform RDLs):  Okay, so now we’re going to target the medial hamstring.

***I have no idea how performing RDLs in the Smith Machine somehow targets the medial hamstring. Whatever.

Female Trainer:  okay, so what are we going to do after this?

Dude Trainer:  Walking lunges

Female Trainer:  You mean, with weight?

Unbelievable. I wanted nothing more than to turn around and scream…….”YES, with weight!!”

But I didn’t, of course.  It wasn’t my place to do so.

When I got home that afternoon, I posted a ‘status’ update on my Facebook Wall describing the above exchange, and someone responded with:

How do you feel about critiquing people? Especially because of your expertise in the field?

To which I replied:

I don’t offer ANY unsolicited advice when I train at commercial gyms. I get asked questions all the time, and when that happens, I’m all for giving my opinion. Of course, as a coach, I can’t help but observe (and shake my head sometimes), but I’d NEVER go out of my way to openly chastise someone. Especially another trainer.

This isn’t to say I’ve never helped someone out. On numerous occasions I’ve been approached by other patrons, and was more than willing to offer some insight or words of encouragement.  Several times, I’ve actually coached people through their deadlifts or squats.  But then again, they asked.  It’s not like I walked up to them with an “holier than thou” attitude and started drilling them.

Sure, there’s ways to be subtle, especially if it looks like someone is going to break their back in half……

But it brings up an interesting conversation:  what’s crossing the line?

When is it acceptable to step in and offer unsolicited advice?  For me, it’s a VERY grey area, and something that’s more or less a case-by-case scenario.

What are you thoughts?  I’d be interested in hearing them.

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Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 1/26/12

If there was ever a feature on which topics were currently “trending” on all of the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of health and fitness blogs out on the interwebz, I’m sure Intermittent Fasting would be right up there on that list.

The topic, it seems, is like catnip lately.

I’m not even going to attempt to explain what it is (what?  No breakfast!!? No.  Noooooo), who it’s for (I’ll tell you who it’s NOT for.  Guys who weigh 150 lbs soaking wet, trying to look like Brad Pitt from Fight Club), or whether or not I feel it’s beneficial (sure, it has its moments).  What I am going to do, however, is point you in the direction of someone who can break it down, as it’s a rather complicated (and just a tad bit controversial) topic that many people need to be more well informed about.

The 5 Diet Rules You Must Break – John Romaniello

I had mentioned this FREE report earlier in the week, but felt it got lost in the shuffle, so I wanted to give it a little love here where more people would have access to it. Many of you who read this blog are very familiar with John and his work, so it’s not like I’m coming out of left field here when I say I’m a fan.

And since intermittent fasting is such a hot topic as of late, I figured if you’re going to read about it, you might as well get your information from someone who’s hella smart, knows the science behind it, has actually done it himself (and coached numerous people through it), and is a Lord of the Rings nerd, which obviously has nothing to do with anything.

Did I mention it’s free? (it’s free).

What I’m Thankful For in 2011 – Matt Kramer

For those who like a “feel good” story, this one is right up your alley.  Matt, pictured above with his guitar and mullhawk (half mullet, half mohawk), is in his fourth off-season with us at Cressey Performance, starting as a catching prospect for the Atlanta Braves, getting released, then interning with us, then working his way back with the Boston Red Sox as pitching prospect.

A Harvard graduate, Matt’s wicked smaht and a hell of a writer, and better still, just an awesome human being.

What a Rejected Article Looks Like, and Why Your Thoracic Extensions and Hip Flexor Stretches Are Wrong – Anthony Mychal

I just started reading some of Anthony’s stuff over on t-nation.com recently, and as it happened, I also started perusing his blog because I’m a stalker like that. I came across this post, and felt it was applicable to many people reading given you’re all stiffer than a 2×4 anyways. Needless to say, I think Anthony has a lot of great things to say, and I think many of you will appreciate his style given it’s very similar to mine.