CategoriesUncategorized

How to Increase Testosterone Levels – For Free!

I love my job.  Not to rub it in or anything, but on a daily basis I show up to work around 10 AM in shorts and sandals, get my lift on with the rest of the CP staff, and when our doors finally open for business around noon, I spend the rest of my day basically “hanging out” and coaching athletes while listening to Tiesto or Rage Against the Machine blare through the radio.

I mean, if you don’t think that’s awesome, than you need to take some awesome lessons.

However, all kidding aside, one of the best (and most rewarding) aspects of my job is the fact that, even though we as coaches oftentimes don’t realize it, we serve as pretty significant role models for our younger kids and athletes.

Case in point:  take yesterday where I had a conversation with one of our athletes – a Division I catcher, who’s coming off a pretty significant shoulder injury (dislocation while sliding back into first base).

Future Mike Piazza:  So uh, Tony – what do you think about this supplement called Cellucor P6 Extreme?

Me:  Based off the name alone, I think it’s dumb.

Future Mike Piazza:  But, the guy at GNC told me that it’s supposed to increase testosterone levels!11!1!11!!!!!

Me (giving the look of death):  You know what increases testosterone levels?  Squats and eggs!

Almost on cue, he looked at me with a quizzical look – sorta like what CP mascot – Tank – does every time you ask him if he wants a treat.

Anyways, even though I was being facetious with my squats and eggs comment, in reality, I kinda wasn’t.

While it can be debated until the cows comes home as to whether or not there’s any significant increase in t-levels during training, there’s no debating the fact that there IS a hormonal effect that stems from slapping some appreciable weight on a barbell, placing it on your back, and dominating it.

Moreover, while I know there are some that are going to shit a ketone when I say this, it’s well established in the research that diets high(er) in saturated fat (and thus cholesterol – GASP!!!!) have increased levels of testosterone as well.

In fact, in THIS study (yes, it’s an abstract.  And yes, you’re going to have to deal with it), it was shown that there was a direct relationship between dietary saturated fat intake and t-levels (as it relates to cholesterol.  Testosterone is made from cholesterol.  Ergo, eat your freakin eggs!).

And, taking it even a step further, we can look at something that CP intern – Tyler Simmons – and I were discussing yesterday:  Cortisol levels

Admittedly, what follows is a GROSS over-simplification of the process, as there are other intermediates that come into play; but simply put: cholesterol is essentially the “mother ship” when it comes to the body’s ability to make hormones.  Hormones make stuff happen.  Again, like I said, an over simplification.

Cholesterol is converted to Pregnenolone, which in turn can be directed to two distinct pathways to produce either cortisol or testosterone.

Unfortunately, there’s only a finite amount of Pregnenolone that the body can make everyday – due in part to how much cholesterol is available.  Now, this is important because, in a state or condition of chronic stress – you know, like when a athlete is coming off a significant injury, or doesn’t get enough sleep because he’s up late playing video games, etc –  Pregnenolone will “prefer” to enter the cortisol pathway, and since there’s only a finite amount of P to go around, testosterone gets the middle finger.

Watch THIS short video for a more thorough explanation.

So, in short, reducing cortisol levels, while often an afterthought, is reeeeeeally important in the grand scheme of things.  Going back to the athlete above, who knows what could happen.  Maybe if he started eating right (he is, now), put more weight on the bar (he’s injured, but we’re doing what we can), and stopped watching internet porn till two in the morning and actually got some sleep for once (maybe when pigs fly?), he’d realize that he could forego the lame supplement geared towards teenages that don’t know any better, save himself $79, and increase his T-levels for free – or, at least for a heckuva lot cheaper.

CategoriesUncategorized

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 7/7/2011

Awesome New (to me) Fitness Blog For Women (www.heyjoob.com) – Juliet

As someone who’s constantly fighting the seemingly never ending battle to convince women that it’s not the end of the world to place a barbell on their back and squat it every once in a while – and that they’re more likely to make out with Brad Pitt than end up all “big-n-bulky” because they happen to do a few chin-ups – I’m ecstatic whenever I come across blogs that help to spread the word and help to direct women away from the stupid.

It’s hard, though.

I mean, when you have the likes of Tracy Anderson – someone whom thousands (if not millions) of women consider an authority on fitness – spewing out gems like this (below), referring to her approach to training Kim Kardashian, it’s hard not to want to throw my face into a brick wall…….repeatedly

We don’t want to take away Kim’s amazing curves,” Tracy Anderson, one of Kim’s trainers, says. “We just do specific movements to tighten the skin and to pull the muscles tight against the bone.

This is the same woman who, in her infinite wisdom (note excessive sarcasm), believes that no woman should ever lift a weight above three lbs.  Ever.

Which is why, I want to direct everyone to Juliet’s blog.  Juliet (sorry, I don’t know last name) is a frequent reader of this blog, and someone who goes out of her way to post comments when she feels so inclined.  It’s only been recently that I actually took the time to check out her stuff, and well, I think it’s pretty cool and something I like a lot of fitness enthusiasts will enjoy.  So, show Juliet some love and check it out for yourself!

Power Endurance – Charlie Weingroff

Not that I really have to go out of my way to say so, but Charlie is kinda smart.  Here, he discusses why improving movement quality – as well as utilizing some dedicated time under the bar – can (and will) help improve power endurance to boot.  Contrary to popular belief, improving performance on the court/ice/field/bedroom (bom chicka bom bom), often starts in the gym.

Heart and Stroke Foundation Pushing Video Gaming for Fitness Now? – Yoni Freedhoff

Thanks to my friend, Mark Young, I just started reading Dr. Freedhoff’s blog recently, and I have to say, it freakin rocks.  The Doc writes extensively on obesity research, but along the way, he’ll step on a few toes and basically call “bullshit” when he feels the need to.  This post does exactly that.

I’ve never really bought into this whole “play video games to get fit” trend.  Sure, I get it:  it’s better than nothing and it at least gets people moving.  But, does it really?   According Dr. Freedhoff – not really.

My understanding is that Wii Fit burns negligible amounts of calories, and has never been shown to have any significant impact on “fitness“.

One study comparing Wii Fit Aerobics to treadmill use reported,

“Heart rate during Wii aerobics fell below the recommended intensity for maintaining cardiorespiratory fitness“

Another, looking at Wii Sports and kids reported,

“The energy used when playing active Wii Sports games was not of high enough intensity to contribute towards the recommended daily amount of exercise in children.“

Furthermore, another recent study demonstrated that video game playing increased food intake in adolescents.

I remember the days when I was a kid and would literally spend the entire day outside riding my bike, playing kickball, baseball, wiffleball, basketball, and swimming.  Shoot, my mom wouldn’t even see me until it was dark outside – and even then, my brother and I would head upstairs and do stupid things like reenact WWF Summer Slam and throw one another through a wall. That really happened!

It’s sad that in today’s society kids are more apt to enter a speed texting competition than play Little League. Moreoever, what does it say when we promote “being active” as standing in front of a television moving your arms around a liittle bit?

I don’t get it.

CategoriesUncategorized

19 Days to ShredsVille – Population: You

Q:  So I have 19 days until a big trade show in Vegas. I want to look my best, which means getting as lean as I can in that ime, but I want to protect lean mass. What would you do?

A:  Based off the title of today’s post alone, I know what you’re thinking:  Tony’s gone off the deep end, and he’s resorted to touting some looney fitness product similar to those redunkulous 7-Minute Abs infomercials you see late at night while watching re-runs of Walker: Texas Ranger.

Okay, lets not jump to conclusions.  While I’ll be the first to admit that I may watch my boy Chuck Norris kick ass and take names from time to time, you know better than to think I’d lower myself to promoting some gimmicky, flash-in-the-pan product that’s about as useful as a poop flavored lollypop, right?

Although, to give some credit where credit is due – the Shake Weight has been a god send it terms of never ending jokes.

All joking aside, 19 days isn’t much time – but assuming you’re not a disaster and/or delusional (i.e. you’re not going to go from looking like Chris Farley to Fabio in 19 days), and that you have a decent base to work with from the start, you’d be surprised at how much headway you CAN make.

Now, I’d be remiss if I didn’t start any conversation about getting shredded in “x” amount of time without first discussing the nutritional side of things.

I don’t like crash diets.  I think they’re dumb.  And I think they cause more harm than good.  That said, I’m going to assume (again) that you already know the basics, and understand that no matter what, it comes down to calories in vs. calories out.   I say this because for some reason, despite knowing better, some people still think that just because they’re eating “clean” food, that they can still eat a surplus of it, and lose fat.

Wrong

Just to save face, I recommend that you start with a 10 to 20% caloric deficit (given your time constraint, I’d lean more towards the 20ish end of the spectrum), and go from there.  A few key points to note, however:

  • Keep it low carb.  Studies have repeatedly shown that, all else being equal, those who follow a low(er) carbohydrate diet will generally lose more bodyfat – given a certain time frame – than those who don’t.
  • Keep the “bulk” of your carb intake to AM (breakfast) and/or post-training times only.  Of course, training time will throw a monkey wrench into things, but playing the odds, I’m going to guess you’re a 9-5 guy and most likely train later in the afternoon.  If that’s the case, starchy carbs (oatmeal, sweet potatoes, cereal, pasta, etc) should be saved for POST-TRAINING only.  Veggies and fruit can be used judiciously throughout the day (although, with fruit, I’d be more inclined to stick to breakfast only).
  • When in doubt, stress protein.  Have some sort of protein with each and every meal.  This can be anything from dead animal flesh to yogurt.  I don’t care.  Make it happen.
  • In addition, outside of post-training, “healthy” fats should be stressed.  Things like fish oil, coconut oil (which is dense in Mid-Chain Triglycerides, which are more readily used for energy by the body), extra virgin olive oil, nuts, (real) butter, so on and so forth are all fair game.
  • Honestly, there is no set formula that I can recommend, as they’re all a crap shoot, and just give you an idea of where to begin.  That said, as I noted before, start with a 20% deficit (maybe go with 10% on training days, since you’ll need the calories), and keep protein fairly high – say 1-1.5 grams per lb of LEAN bodyweight.  Keep fat around the same ballpark, and then use carbs as the caloric ballast (whatever is left over).
  • Again, it’s a crap shoot.  Is it perfect?  No.  But it’s a start.
  • Oh, and let me just say that that whole “you have to eat every 2-3 hours to keep your metabolism going” is bullshit.  If anything, I’d say with the lower kcals you’d be taking, spreading out your calories into LESS meals would be ideal.  I don’t know about you but if I’m only allotted 2000 calories for the day, I’d much rather divide that out over FOUR meals (500 kcals each), than six meals (333 kcals).

Outside of that, one major mistake (I believe) many trainees make when trying to get lean is amping up the training volume.  Going against the grain, I believe that if you want to maintain LBM (and get shredded), I’d still make a concerted effort to lift in the low(er) rep ranges.  Say, in the 3-6 rep range with your compound movements.

As I’ve noted in the past, “what makes muscle, maintains muscle.”  And, since you’re trying to get hella lean in 19 days, and given you’re going to be in a slight caloric deficit (you don’t need to go too crazy), it only makes sense that you’d want to continue to give the body the stimulus it needs to MAINTAIN lean body mass.

You DO NOT need to go bat shit crazy with training volume.  This is a notion that falls on deaf ears for some reason.

In any case, I’d say you want to start each training session with one of the big three movements (squat, DL, bench) – and stick with something like 4 sets of 3-6 reps. From there, you can spend the rest of your session doing “density” or “chaos” type training utilizing tri-set or even quad sets to break a sweat and kick your own ass.

So, for example, one day may look something like this:

A1.  Deadlift 4×3-6 reps
A2.  Some sort of filler exercise like wall hip flexor mobilizations, or Wall Glute ISO holds, or just sit and chill and watch people manually unclench their butt cheeks as they watch you lift heavy things.

B1.  Spiderman Push-Ups (band resisted if necessary) 3×4/leg

B2.  Kettlebell Swings 3×10
B3.  Seated Cable Row 3×8
B4.  ValSlide Bodysaws 3×8

***do in circuit fashion for 3-4 rounds, with 60s rest at the end

C.  Med Ball Circuit – 50 Hits or anything else that will make you hate life for 10 minutes (EDT circuits, Airdyne Bike, battle rope, Prowler etc).

And that’s about it.  I know I was kind of all over the place there, and I certainly wasn’t super thorough, but I hope it at least sets off a few light bulbs and gives you some idea of how I would approach things.  Hope that helps, and good luck!

 

CategoriesUncategorized

Exercises You Should Be Doing: Yoga Push-Up Complex

If you’re like me, you’re still recovering from the insulin coma you put yourself in this past weekend.  If the endless array of burgers, hot dogs, steak tips, potato salad, and baked beans weren’t enough, on Sunday, the ladies of CP (otherwise known as our significant others), had it in their heads to make this dessert called crack White Trash Toffee that, surprisingly, isn’t illegal in at least 37 States.

In short, the ingredients are pretty basic:  saltine crackers, enough butter to give an elephant a heart attack, brown sugar, chocolate chips, and crumbled Heath bars.  Again, like I said, crack.

 

Coincidentally, just last week, I picked up a book that was highly recommended to me titled The End of Overeating, and one of the chapters, funnily enough, is titled:  Sugar, Fat, and Salt Make Us Eat More Sugar, Fat, and Salt.

In any case, after the fact I was a bit amused by the slight case of foreshadowing – and given I was incapable of stepping away from the tray of yumminess, I’ll be very intrigued to sit down and dig a little deeper as to why that combination is so freakin addictive.

Outside of that, the weekend was pretty standard as far as Fourth of July’s are concerned:  lots of food (obviously) and power naps.  As well, few of us were able to sneak in a quick lift on Sunday morning (yes, I still train even when on vacation), and we were also able to go watch one of our athletes, Jeremy Hazelbaker, play a game for the Double A Portland Sea Dogs, which was pretty cool.

Nevetheless, it was an awesome weekend, and I hope everyone reading was able to enjoy it just as much as I did.

Moving on, I haven’t done an Exercise You Should Be Doing bit in a while, so I figured I’d throw it into the mix today. 

Lately, as it happens, when it comes to warm-ups I’ve been toying more and more with movements that give people more bang for their training buck.  In other words, rather than give people a set list of 8-10 movements to follow (which they tend to skip anyways), I’ll give them a few that are a bit more complex – albeit provide a bit more benefit given the lower overall volume.

The way I see it, people are more likely to perform 3-4 exercises that cover more ground, than 8-10 that divide the same tasks into smaller pieces.

A great example would be today’s featured exercise:

Yoga Push-Up Complex

What Does It Do:  as I noted above, this is an exercise that combines a few exercise into one extended exercise.  I mean, if I wanted to get technical, I’d call this exercise Yoga Push-Up with Stationary Spiderman with Contralateral Reach, but that’s a mouthful, and it sounds dumb – so I opted for Yoga Push-Up Complex.

Here, we have a lot of things going on that tend to be problematic areas for many trainees:  thoracic extension, thoracic mobility, serratus anterior activation, hip flexor mobilization, glute activation, and core stability, to name a few. What’s more, this is also a fantastic exercise that “stretches” us in the spiral line.  You’ll notice that when my left leg is extended, for example, I’m also reaching up with my right arm, which targets the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and fascia incorporated in the spiral line.

Note:  for those interested or wondering what the hell I’m referring to, see Thomas Myers’ fantastic book, Anatomy Trains.

Coaching Cues:  Nothing really pops out other than to say that this is a fairly advanced movement, so I’d be more inclined to use this exercise as part of a warm-up with someone who has a little more experience under their belt.  For newbies, it’s going to be a significant challenge and they’d be better off breaking this one down into it’s separate parts.  That being said, it’s an awesome movement and I typically like to perform 5-6 reps PER SIDE as part of a traditional warm-up, or as a “filler” exercise to be performed in between sets of squats or deadlifts.

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

CategoriesUncategorized

The Most Outlawed Exercise

In light of the upcoming holiday weekend (no, I’m not referring to my birthday), like everyone else, I’m bowing out early today and basically preparing myself mentally to do nothing but head up to Maine for a few days to chill with friends, take a power nap (or two), eat copious amounts of dead animal flesh**, partake in some quality beach time, and of course, make fun of Eric’s farmer’s tan.

That being the case, below is a video from Martin Rooney, of Training For Warriors fame, that was sent my way via Facebook, and I thought I’d share with all of you because, well…..it just pissed so much excellence.

It’s a litlte over six minutes, but definitely worth every second. Great stuff – especially the kegel exercises joke (sorry ladies).

Anyways, for those reading who reside in the States, have an awesome 4th of July weekend.  Have fun, be safe, and if you happen to cross paths with anyone who serves in the Armed Forces, make sure to give him or her a high five.  See you next week!

 

** and cookies

CategoriesUncategorized

Extreme Makeover: Deadlift Edition

Anyone familiar with popular show Extreme Home Makeover knows the premise:  a family, fallen on hard times and down on their luck, is sent on vacation for two weeks while Ty Pennington and his team of contractors, designers, carpenters, not to mention an entire town of volunteers, build them a brand spankin new house – hopefully with an indoor bowling alley attached.

If you’re like me, ten minutes into the show, you’re already half way through a box of Kleenex, and when you’re girlfriend happens to show up expectantly – like a ninja – you quickly fumble for the remote and change it to Spike TV or something.

Oh, hey babe.  How was your day?  Huh, what was that?  Why are my eyes all red?

Yeah, well, uh……I just got a little something stuck in my eye, that’s all. I’m gonna go make a sandwich – want one?

Anyways, it’s a great show, and after receiving an email from a distance coaching client of mine (for the sake of anonymity, lets calls him Matt Damon) asking me to critique is deadlift technique, it got me thinking:  Why not take the same concept and apply it towards fixing or cleaning up someone’s deadlift?

But first, a little backstory

“Matt Damon” started working with me about a month ago.  Like many guys in his situation, he had done several programs on his own, and to no avail, never really saw the progress he was hoping to attain.   Frustrated, he decided to contact me inquiring about distance coaching.

Now, before I continue, I’ll be the first to admit:  distance coaching definitely has its disadvantages (see exhibit A below), but at the same time – and not to blow sunshine up my own ass – I feel my experience and abilities as a coach trumps any program some local boxed gym, pencil necked personal trainer could come up with.

Not to get into the particulars, but in order to become a client, I have people fill out a few lengthy questionnaires detailing, among others things, stuff like training history, injury history, goals, equipment availability, and other pertinent information like their ideal training split or whether or not they have any weird eating habits (penguin anyone?).

In addition, to help me better ascertain what it is they’re looking to accomplish, I also have them send me some full-body postural pictures (interestingly, some guys will send me a picture of their rear double bicep pose.  I have no clue why), and I also ask them to send me a video of their squat and deadlift technique.  You know, just to see what’s going on.

Well, fast forward to last week when I received the following email from “Matt Damon:”

Hi Tony–

I just started Week Three, and I realized I never sent you these squat and deadlift videos from my first week.  So here they are.

The squats are from my first day when I forgot my gym shoes, so I’m in my street shoes.  I also sometimes forgot to pause at the bottom.  And the video’s from kind of a funny angle.

I thought my gym had a trap bar, but it turns out they don’t.  So I’ve been doing regular deadlifts instead of trap bar deadlifts.

Let me know what you think!

As I noted above, distance coaching has its disadvantages – the most obvious being that I’m unable to be there in person to offer coaching cues and to otherwise keep people from hurting themselves.

That being said, here’s what I wrote back:

STOP……..DOING……THAT…….NOW.

Okay, that’s not really what I wrote, but you can imagine the look on my face when I watched that video for the first time.  Truth be told, I don’t think it’s possible for someone’s jaw to drop any further than what mine did.

Nevertheless, “Matt” is a trooper and he’s agreed to allow me to exploit him for your own education.  I asked if he’d be cool with me sharing this on my blog, and he was more than willing to participate.  So without further ado, here’s the actual email I sent him once I retrieved my laptop after throwing it out the window.

  • You need to elevate the bar more.  If you load it to 135 lbs (45 lb plates on each side), the bar will be at regulation height.  That will help.  If that’s too much weight – I’d suggest placing the bar on top of steppers or plates so that you can get it to the right height.  From there, a few key points to note
  • You’re essentially squatting the bar down.  A big no no.  Deadlifting should be more of a hip hinge pattern, not squat.  So, to that end, try to SIT BACK.  Basically you want to focus on pushing your hips back until you feel a pretty significant stretch in the hammies.  When you can’t go any further, THEN you’ll bend the knees to get down to the floor.
  • The bar should slide down your thigh, but again, you need to SIT BACK!!!!  I attached a video to demonstrate what it should actually look like.  If you see how I descend, you’ll notice how I don’t have to lower the bar AROUND my knees like you do.  See what I’m talking about?

  • Moreoever, a great cue I like to use with people is to pretend there’s someone standing behind you with a rope tied around your waist.  As you descend, they’re pulling your hips back.  See if that helps at all.
  • Frankly, there’s a lot more we need to work on, but lets focus on those few things for now and see what kind of progress we can make.

A few days later, “Matt” sent me this (practice) video:

While not perfect by any means (he’s not getting his hips through at the top, his upper back is still just a teeny tiny bit kyphotic, and he NEEDS TO USE MORE WEIGHT.  If you can curl it, you certainly shouldn’t be deadliftng it.), it shows a marked improvement from the original video he sent.

if anything, what I hope this demonstrates, is that 1).  I’m awesome and 2).  More importantly, by just using a few simple cues, you can make huge strides in terms of cleaning up someone’s technique.  I think a major mistake that many personal trainers and coaches out there make is trying to OVER coach things and using waaaaaay too many cues that do nothing more than complicate things and frustrate the client.

All I told “Matt” to do was sit back, and feel a stretch in the hammies before bending the knees, and look how many other things just sorta “fell into place” as far as his technique is concerned.

And to think, I did all of this without ever having met him in person.   O’Doyle rules!!!!!

CategoriesUncategorized

A Closer Look At…….Shoulder Pain

Note from TG: the post below will take you to my latest article over at LiveStrong.com.

It’s Monday, otherwise known as National Bench Press Day.

Like so many others in the same weekly routine, you dutifully head to the gym after work, get to the locker room and toss your gym bag into a locker, give your training partner a fist pump and head out to the gym floor to get your bench on.

Set one, and you feel like a rock star. You turn up your iPod a little louder and add some more weight.

Set two, and you notice something weird. The shoulder that’s been a little “tweaky” for the past few weeks is starting to act up again. You’ve been ignoring it, taking the attitude that it’s just something that comes with the territory when lifting. You shrug it off, add a little more weight and think to yourself, “Once I’m warmed-up, it’ll be fine.”

Set three, and the pain is still there. But you’d sooner jump into a live volcano than skip bench day. There’s no chance you’re bowing out. So you add more weight.

Set four, and “Houston, we have a problem!”

Continue reading —>

UPDATE: For those interested (which I’m assuming is like, two people) I caught the mouse!!!! We used an electrical mouse trap. Basically, you place the food inside, turn it on, the mouse enters, and its zapped into oblivion.

Tony Gentilcore: 1

Mouse: 0

I win!!!!!


CategoriesUncategorized

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 6/28/2011

Attention Scale Addicts – Jason Seib

One of my female distance coaching clients sent me the link to this post the other day, and I thought it was fantastic.  If anything, it drives home the point that scale weight doesn’t mean diddly squat in terms of body compositional changes.

 

 

 

I Don’t Want to Get Big and Bulky:  Fitness Marketing and It’s Effect on Women – JC Deen

In keeping with the “it’s okay for women to lift heavy things” theme from above, JC breaks down fitness marketing and how the mainstream media does nothing but placate many of the myths and fears that women generally have when it comes to lifting some iron.  Awesome, awesome post – couldn’t have said it better myself!

Balancing Fitness with a Busy Life – Jim Smith

We’re all busy – and more often than not, the last thing on our to do list is “head to the gym.”   Coincidentally, we always seem to find the time to watch, on average, 6-8 hours of television per day.  Weird.

Anyways, here, Smitty provides a little insight on how to become more efficient with your gym time so that you’re able to maximize your results in the shortest amount of time

SPOILER ALERT:  there’s no mention of eliptical trainers, aerobic classes, “arms day,” or yoga.  Thank god.

CategoriesUncategorized

Miscellaneous Miscellany Monday: Die Mouse Edition

1.  Figured I’d start this week off with an Operation Co-Habitation update.  As many of you who already read this blog know – my girlfriend, Lisa, and I moved in together about a week ago today.  The good news:  neither of us have felt the need to strangle the other yet.  The bad:  read below.

I’m what you would call an introvert.  Mistakenly, many are under the impression that introverts are socially reclusive people, who hate human interaction, live in their mother’s basement, and play World of War Craft in their spare time.

In fact, as Lisa (who’s getting her PhD in Sports Psychology, so she’s wicked smaht) has noted to me on numerous occasions, introverts are just people who prefer to “re-energize” by doing stuff on their own.  For some, they need to be around others to “reboot” or derive energy from.  So, if you’re the type of person, for instance, who likes to go out with friends and colleagues for happy hour after work on a Friday, you’re most likely an extrovert.

Conversely, if you’re like me, you like to get a few hours to yourself every now and then and head to the local coffee shop to get some writing done, or maybe the local bookstore to peruse some books, chill, and catch up on some reading.  Heck, maybe you go catch a Saturday matinee at the theater, or head to the local Farmer’s Market and just walk around eating beef jerky.  It’s all good.  The point is, you just need some “me time.”

Well, as it so happens, every Friday night when I get home from the facility, I like to get away and have a little “Tony Time.”  Lisa is totally cool with it, and more often than not, usually takes the opportunity to make plans with one of her girlfriends.

This past Friday was no different:  I grabbed my backpack, put my laptop and book inside, kissed Lisa goodbye, and left her and her friend, Jess, to do whatever it is that girls do when they’re alone.  Which, of course, means pillow fights right?

Anyways, a few hours passed, when I finally got a text from Lisa saying, “babe, can you come home now, please?” Now, a few hours before she had texted me saying that she and Jess were attacked (attacked in this sense just means they saw it) by the elusive mouse that’s in our apartment, and I just assumed that she needed me to come home to take care of business.

Being the good boyfriend that I am, I packed my things, bolted out the door, and took the five minute walk home to prepare myself for World War III with this mouse.

What do I arrive to?  Lisa and Jess sitting on the couch watching, of all things, Pretty Woman.

Pretty FREAKING Woman

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

2.  Anyone looking for a good book to read should pick up Dan John’s Mass Made Simple.  I picked a copy up a few weeks ago, and am now just starting to dive into it.  I’ve always loved Dan John’s writing.  His other book, Never Let Go, is arguably one of my all-time favorite strength and conditioning books if for no other reason than he just makes sense.

One of my favorite quotes from that book was when, in response to someone saying that squats were dangerous, Coach John replied, “not wearing a seatbelt is dangerous.”

Pwnage!

That said, Mass Made Simple is no different.  The title alone speaks for itself – contrary to popular thought, you don’t need some advanced text giving you elaborate algorhytms that only a person with a degree from MIT can decifer.  Building muscle, while that easy, definitely isn’t THAT complicated.

I’d highly recommend it to anyone looking to add some meat to their frame or just looking for great perspective from one of the best coaches out there.

3.  I’m not gonna lie:  One of the best perks of co-owning (and working) at a premiere facility is the free gear that’s often thrown my way.  Between all the college and professional athletes that walk through our facility, much to my girlfriend’s chagrin, I never have a shortage of t-shirts to wear.

Recently, however, the staff has been lucky enough to have the opportunity to try out a lot of New Balance gear – specifically their new Minimus footwear.

Like many shoe companies, New Balance has noticed the ever growing trend of minimalist footwear that has saturated the market, and they’ve gone out of their way to produce a shoe that not only feels amazing, but doesn’t look “silly” either.

I’ve had my pair for a week, and I can’t take them off.  The true test is to see how they hold up after a month or two of training, but for now, I love them!

4.  Just a quick reminder:  the Peak Training and Diet Design Seminar will be the weekend of July 8th.  Both Joe Dowdell and Dr. Mike Roussell will be presenting, and from what I hear, they’re expecting a great turn out.  I’ve already booked my tickets on Bolt Bus to take from Boston to NYC, and I can’t wait!

5.  I just read HERE that NBA star, Ron Artest, is going to legally change his name to, of all things, Metta World Peace.

Okay, so let me get this straight.  The same guy who, in 2004, jumped into the stands and attacked a fan causing one of the worst brawls in NBA history, is now changing his name to something douchy like Metta World Peace?

If that’s not an oxymoron of epic proportions, I don’t know what is.  What’s next?  Kobe Bryant changing his name to Kobe Fidelity?   LOL – get it?  Get it?  You see, he cheated on his wife and……. Oh never mind.

That should do it for today.  I’m out.

 

 

**Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

CategoriesUncategorized

Q and A: If It Hurts – Stop Doing It (but you can still do other stuff)

Q:  Hi Tony- Love your articles.  I am 50 years old and have been lifting since 1975.  Mostly bodybuilding programs.  Back in August of 2008, I was doing heay seated front presses when I twisted wrong upon pressing up.  A day later I had a lot of inflammation in the shoulder joint – pretty much zapping all my strength.

I have had off again on again intermittent pain aroind the shoulder blade which I have tried to work around.  I was told I had slight fraying of the tendon and some shoulder impingement, but nothing that warrants an operation.  Lately, though, squats or front presses seem to promote some achiness around the shoulder blade where I originally hurt it a few years ago.  It’s usually worse in the mornings, and about six weeks ago I started having some spasms on that side that eventually went away. 

Long story short, I was wondering if this sounds like anything you may have heard of before?  I really do not want to pursue any surgery if I don’t have to.

A:  For the sake of simplicity (and because I love making lists**) I’m just going to attack this with a few key points that come to mind off the top of my head:

1.  Are you making ANY effort to get any manual soft-tissue work done?  It stands to reason, especially after 3+ years of dealing with the same issue, that you’ve got some significant scar tissue accumulating in that area.  While daily foam rolling is a good start, it’s only going to take you so far – more than likely, you may need something a bit more aggressive.

To that end, finding a reputable manual therapist (whether it’s massage, ART, Graston, etc) that can get his or hers hands in there and dig around would be very advantageous in your situation.  This isn’t something that you just rub some dirt on, drink a shot (or two) of Tequila, add more weight to the bar, grit your teeth, and grind through.  Get it fixed!!!!

If, however, you’re unable to find a good therapist (whether you have limited access in your area, or just don’t have the funds), at the very least you may find some relief using the protocol in the video below.  Oftentimes, some dedicated work on the pecs works wonders.

NOTE:  Yes, ladies, Chris Howard IS single.

2.  Nix the overhead pressing and benching for 2-3 weeks.  Trust me, it won’t be the end of the world if you don’t press for a few weeks.  No, seriously, pigs won’t fly or anything!

A funny a side:  I had a guy walk into the facility yesterday who did an initial assessment with me a few months ago about some hip/leg pain he had been having while squatting and deadlifting.  When all was said and done, even though we cleaned up his technique, I suggested that he lay off the heavy loading for a while and instead, focus on some single leg work, toss in some dedicated corrective exercises, as well as HAMMER the foam rolling.  In all likelihood, I said, he should notice an improvement.

Same guy walked in yesterday, describing the exact same symptoms – pain when he squats and deadlifts.

Are you still squatting and deadlifting?  Yes

Have you done any of the foam rolling and stretches I suggested?  No, I don’t really like stretching.

The point is:  1). Some people just don’t get it,  and 2).

If it hurts, stop doing it – simple as that.

Anyways, back to matters at hand.  Instead, amp up your horizontal rowing (seated rows, 1-arm standing rows, chesy supported rows, etc) to a 2:1 (maybe even a 3:1) ratio.  Meaning, for every “pushing” movement you perform, you’ll want to counteract that with 2-3 pulling/rowing movements.

Almost always, making this minor adjustement in programming speaks volumes for one’s overall shoulder health.

3.  If you’re like most, you’re still going to bench.  I’m not stupid.  If that’s the case, stick to board presses, or DB floor press (with a neutral grip).  Better yet, I’d be ecstatic if you just performed some closed chain pressing (push-ups), and just focus on loading them or making them more challenging in general.

4.  Chances are, you have some upper trap dominance (welcome to the club.  Population:  pretty much everyone) which is going to superiorly shift the glenohumeral joint into the subacromial space.  In other words, you have an ouchie, and you need to fix it. Because the upper traps are pretty much pwning your lower traps, that subacromial space is diminished, and you need to take some corrective steps to fix it.

Throw in some no money drills (off the foam roller), scapular wall slides (without shrugging), band pull-aparts, retraction to low rows, shoulder w’s, etc which place more of an emphasis on the LOWER traps, as well as scapular depression and posterior tilt.  Really, anything that doesn’t involve shrugging and improves scapular upward rotation will be good for you.

5.  Nix the back squats.  Due to the “at risk” position that back squats place on the shoulders (external rotation + abduction), you’re just setting yourself up for something worse to happen.  Instead, switch to a front squat which will be a lot more shoulder friendly in the long run.  Likewise, if you happen to have access to speciality bars like a giant cambered bar or safety squat bar, both would be a better option that your typical back squat with a standard bar.

6.  Stop doing bodybuilding splits……..;o)

Hope that helps!