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What a Glass of Wine Can Tell You About Training Environment

A few months ago, my girlfriend and I attended the company Christmas party where she’s currently interning.  Like the good boyfriend that I am, I got all dressed up, shaved my head, put on some cologne, and even made sure the color of my shoes matched my belt.  You could say I stepped my game up.

The night was par for the course – filled with introductions to her colleagues, a few courtesy laughs here and there, and an impromptu skull session on the importance of wine and the type of glass you drink it in.

Long story short, one of the big wigs sat at the same table as us – great guy; very amicable, engaging, and clearly a bit tipsy.  Anyhoo, at some point during the evening we (and by “we” what I really mean is I was just listening) got on the topic of wine – the different kinds, how it’s made, where it comes from, how you store it, and even the types of glasses you drink it in. 

Cleary I was out of my element, because this was all news to me.   Then again, I think Applebee’s is a fancy place to eat, so there you go. 

Now, I don’t drink wine – but if I did, I wouldn’t care what it was served in.  Give me an empty pickle jar for all I care.  All the same, it was really interesting to listen to this guy talk about all the intricicies that go into selecting the proper glassware for the type of wine you’re drinking. 

Thing is:  It’s total bullshit.  In his phenomenal book, Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely discusses the notion that it makes absolutely no difference what shape (or type) of glass you drink your white wine in – it’s still going to taste the same whether it’s served in a tall glass or a short glass, or whatever type of glass white wine is supposed to be served in.   According to Dr. Ariely, research proves it. 

Nonetheless, it’s interesting to note that wine is perceived to be more “pleasant” (and as a result, more expensive) when it’s served in high(er) end wine glasses; that is to say, glasses carefully and strategically designed to presumably bring out the wine’s full aroma and texture.

In other words, you can take a bottle of two buck Chuck from Trader Joe’s, serve it in really expensive wine glasses, and people will automatically assume that they’re drinking an expensive Cabernet Sauvignon. They’re surroundings influenced their overall experience – in a positive way, no less.  Pretty cool trick if you ask me.

So, by now you’re probably wondering what’s my point with all of this?  Well, I was talking with one of our clients, Chris P, at the facility the other day, and he brought up an interesting point that parallels the discussion above.  Namely, the notion that what makes Cressey Performance so successful is the fact that people are surrounded (and influenced) by other people doing things RIGHT!

When he’s not training at CP three times per week, Chris uses a local commercial gym closer to his home.  He watches, first-hand, people just go through the motions.

He notices how many of the members always use the same machines; how most will be watching more television than actually training.  He also watches how people rarely (if ever) squat or deadlift, or perform chin-ups; or do anything remotely hard for that matter.    People rarely change – they look the same now as they did two years ago.  There’s no one to really influence them to do otherwise.

Conversely, at CP, it’s the exact opposite.  People are pushing one another; everyone is either squatting (to depth), deadlifting (without rounding their back), performing single leg work, doing heavy push-ups, throwing med balls (and breaking them), pushing the Prowler (and hating life), hitting tires with the sledgehammer, and just being badasses in general.  Their environment influences them to do so.

As much as we can easily be influenced by what type of glass we drink our wine from, so to can we be influenced by our training environment.  Simply put – if you surround yourself with people who think bicep day and Bikram yoga is “working out,” good luck trying to take your body to the next level.  How’s that for an analogy?

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This is Why My Job Doesn’t Suck

Like most people, at times, I work way too much.  A typical day for me starts between 5-6 AM where I wake up and spend the majority of my morning writing programs, answering emails, catching up onsome writing, and maybe reading a few blogs here and there.

I then drive to the facility, get my lift on, and spend the rest of the day helping people achieve a higher level of ridiculawesomeness than what they had prior to walking in.

I’m loading an un-loading plates, putting chains on people’s backs, demonstrating exercises, taking people through their warm-ups, performing assessments, and basically running around like a chicken with its head cut off for the entire day – it’s non-stop.

At the end of the day, I drive home, and much to my girlfriend’s chagrin, I spend the next hour or two before bed writing more programs, answering emails, and pretending to listen to her as she quote-on-quote, “tells me about her day.”  Just kidding, babe – I TOTALLY listen.  No, really, I do!  Remember that thing you were telling me about where what’s-her-face was driving to that place?  Hahahahahaha.  That was hilarious!  I’m in the doghouse aren’t I?

Anyways, while it’s not uncommon for me to be working six (sometimes seven) days per week, it’s things like the video below – made by Chad “Dragon” Rodgers of the Atlanta Braves and Matt “Scorpion” Kramer of the Boston Red Sox that only reaffirm why my job kicks your job’s ass:

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Q and A: Separating Warm-Up Sets and Work Sets

Q:  Hey Tony, I was wondering if you could write up a blog post on the proper way to work up to a heavy set, like when you work up to a 1rm, 3rm or a 5rm. When does the warm up end and the work sets begin, etc?  Thanks in advance, love the blog.

A:  This is actually a really great question because if there is any one thing that I see most people flub in the gym, it’s this. 

You have two sides of the coin, really.  On one side you have the guy who thinks he’s some kind of superhero, and just loads the bar up to his “working” set(s) and has at it.

Unless you’re name is He-Man or Charlie Sheen, this is stupid.

On the flip side – and equally as stupid – is the guy who takes foooooooooooorever to get up to his work set.  In reality, he’ll do what seems like 17 sets before he even sniffs his actual sets; and then wonder why he’s always struggling to make any progress.

But to keep this as concise as possible (I could easily go off on a rant here.  As a matter of fact, I kinda alteady did HERE), lets use myself as an example and go through how I’d progress to a heavy single on the bench press.

Note: Lets just assume that “heavy single” means anything at or above 90% of my 1RM.

Another Note:  it’s also important to keep in mind that anytime we’re going for a heavy single, there’s going to be some sense of auto-regulation coming into play.  Meaning, you’re not always going to feel like a million bucks and break PR’s every time out.  Sorry, it’s the truth.

Having said that, we always need to be cognizant of the fact that every day is different – some days you’ll have it, and others you won’t. 

Current 1RM:  315

Goal is to work up to 3 singles at or above 90%

Bar x whatever – as silly as it sounds, I always start with the bar just to groove technique.

From there I typically add either a 45 lb plate or a 25 lb plate with each subsequent “set,” until I start getting close to my estimated “work set’ (which again, is at or around 90% of my 1RM = anything 283 lbs and up).

For less advanced trainees, it may come down to adding only 25 lb plates and 10 lb plates – this is obviously dependent on the individual and their current strength levels. 

Basically, with every subsequent “set,” I add a 45 then a 25, like so:

135 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 3
275 x 1 – for me, this is generally my last warm-up set, and depending on how “fast” this feels is usually my marker for how high I think I’ll be able to go.  If it’s fast, it’s on like donkey kong.  If it’s slow, I suck at life.

295 x 1 – was a little bit of a grinder, but still have a little more in me.  Technically, this would also count as my actual first set since this was my first set above 90% of my 1RM.  As such, I now have TWO more sets left, which means anything at or above 285 (rounded up) lbs would count as a true work set.

305 x 1
300 x 1

And that’s basically it.  You can also use the 90% rule when working up to a 3RM or even a 5RM.  So, for example, if you’re planning on working up to a heavy 3RM, you’ll follow the same warm-up and just gradually work up to a challenging set of three.  Once you hit it (lets say it’s at 225 lbs), then every set that’s at or above 205 (rounding up from 202) lbs will count as an actual “work” set.

I really like this approach because it forces people to 1) work at a higher intensity than normal and 2) Be less douchy.  Many trainees tend to undershoot their actual work sets by counting their warm-up sets, too.  Big, big mistake.   Is it any wonder, then, why so many people are baffled why they’re not making any progress when they’re counting their set of 135 lbs as an actual set!

Nevertheless, while this is a topic that could easily be dissected a bit more, I hope this clears up some of the confusion.

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Miscelleaneous Miscellany Monday: Surprise B-day Party Edition

1.  I’ve had to keep my lips sealed for far too long on this one, but this past weekend I flew home for the day for a surprise 60th b-day party for both my mom and step-dad.  My sister and sister-in-law have been in cohoots for quite some time, and they did an amazing job at pulling off an epic party.

Now, rather than spend ten hours in a car driving to and from NY, I elected – reluctantly – to fly instead.

Five hours in the car vs. a 60 minute flight:  easy choice, right?

Upon arriving at the airport early Saturday morning, I looked at my plane and it had freakin propellers.   PROPELLERS!!!!!

Anyone who knows me, knows I HATE flying.  And, as you can probably surmise, up untll that point I had never flown in such a small plane before.  Packed in like sardines, we took off, and I pretty much destroyed the back of my pants.

Long story short, both my parents were caught off guard, and it was awesome to see their reactions when they walked through the door to see all of us standing there.

Everyone:  SURPRISE!!!!!!!

Mom [deer in headlights look]:  Oh…….oh my gosh, what in tha………OMG, Tony!  Where’s Lisa?

Me:  Hi Mom, I love you.

Mom:  Where’s Lisa?

Me:  Happy Birthday!!

Mom: Where’s Lisa?

Needless to say, my Mom really likes my girlfriend…….haha.

2.  While away this weekend, I was able to get a quick lift in at my alma mater, SUNY Cortland.  I hadn’t been there in like eight years, and it was really surreal to be walking around campus again.

A quick aside:  for those that don’t know, Cortland has played host to the NY Jets for the past few seasons during their training camps, and was featured this past season on HBO’s Hard Knocks.

Of course, as expected, I was surrounded by a bunch of dudes with wife-beaters on, doing every bicep curl variation known to man – not to mention the obligatory guy who puts waaaaaaaay too much weight on his back, only to squat down maybe four inches.

It comes with the territory, I suppose; kinda what I expected.

I was didn’t expect, however, was how the facility itself has really improved since I left.  While most college (student) gyms are lucky to have one squat rack, this one had three – as well as an olympic platform, various different bars (thick bars, trap bars, etc), a glute ham raise, battle ropes, kettlebells, and a host of other goodies that made me feel like a kid in a candy store.

I kept it pretty simple:  worked up to a few heavy singles on the deadlift, followed by some bulgarian split squats, then glute ham raises, and then finished off with some KB windmills and swings.  Okay, okay…..I also sneaked in some curls, too.  Jesus! But it was only two sets.  Okay, three.  I mean four.

3.  Someone sent me this quote from strength coach Nick Horton, and asked for my response:

But, personally, I’m in favor of dumping box squats all together (we never do them), as the idea of spinal compression from BOTH ends is scary to say the least.  You should never sit down when heavy weight is on your back, IMO (powerlifters start throwing stones at me … now).  The potential benefits do NOT outweigh the risks.

Still, he’s dead right about Oly squats kicking the butt of box squats.  And, that you should squat if you have any interest in not being wimpy.

My Response:  We use box squats quite a bit at CP – as we feel it’s a great tool to teach proper depth in the squat.  Likewise, we don’t teach our athletes the traditional “powerlifting” box squat (rocking off the box); instead, we teach more of a tap-n-go approach, and to stay tight in the bottom.  Additionally – and this is an important point –  the spine does a fairly good job at handling compressive loads – it’s sheer loads (rounding of the back) that you have to be careful of.

To that end, we also use Olympic style squats a lot, too.  It just depends.

Either way, this is no jab at Coach Horton – the guy trains a ton of athletes and he’s doing things the right way.   Besides, there’s more than one way to skin a cat, and who am I to say that he’s wrong and I’m right?  We may have different thoughts on certain things, but so long as our athletes are getting better, that’s all that really matters.

4.  I will say, though, if we’re going to talk about how NOT to perform box squats, this video pretty much hits the nail on the head.  Seriously, if you can make it past the whole “you don’t want to squat to parallel – you should keep your knees below the hips” comment without wanting to jam a pen through your eye, you win!

Since you’re not going to parallel, the key to this exercise is to load it up as heavy as possible, so that the body gets used to handling a lot of weight.

Says the guy with 15 lbs on his back.

A small part of me is thinking this has to be fake – but them again, it probably isn’t.  Excuse me while I go jump into a live volcano.

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Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: Chin-Ups vs. Pull-Ups and a Little Bit of Bittman

It’s been brought to my attention that some of you who have been long-time subscribers to the blog (through Blogger or Google Reader) haven’t been getting any updates of current content.  As it so happens, when we switched over to the new site, I was an asshat and forgot all of my login info for the old site.  Go figure!

As a result, we had to set up a new feed through feedburner, so for those interested here it is:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/gentilcore

Unfortunately, my first choice, http://feeds.feedburner.com/Mr. Alicia Keys was already taken.  Nonetheless, hopefully this clears up some of the confusion, and I appreciate all of those who contacted me personally to give me the head’s up that this was an issue.

And now, here’s some stuff you should read.

Pull-Up or Chin-Up?  Which is Better? – Mike Reinold

Mike discusses some interesting research and breaks down the chin-up and pull-up and explains which one is “better.”

Is ‘Eat Real Food’ Unthinkable – Mark Bittman

One of my femaie clients sent me the link to this article a few weeks ago, and I was just able to sit down and read it the other day.  All I have to say “right on!”  Here, Bittman calls out the USDA and basically states what friends like Cassandra Forsythe, Mike Roussell, Brian St. Pierre, Leigh Peele, John Berardi, and a lot of other really smart peeeps have been saying for years.  Namely, the USDA needs to get their head out of their ass.

How to Make Oatmeal….Wrong – Mark Bittman

Yet another female client sent me this link, which essentially sparked me to read the article above.  I figured that if two separate clients sent me two different articles, from the same author, I should probably check them out.

I gotta say, this Bittman guy has a new fan.  I love his no BS approach.  It’s weird how practical, common sense can go a long ways.

 

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Thomas Test: Hip to Be Square Part II

Yesterday I went into a little detail on the Thomas Test and how it can be a very effective test to assess hip flexor length.  Unfortunately, while it’s a fairly idiot proof test to administer, many fitness professionals out there perform it incorrectly and have no clue on how to interpret what they find.  In case you missed it, CLICK HERE to read part one.

Today, however, I want to switch gears and talk a little about some of the corrective strategies one can implement after having completed the Thomas Test.   Come on, you didn’t think I was just gonna leave you hanging like that did you?

Predictably, as I noted yesterday, pretty much everyone has a little sumthin, sumthin going on in their hip flexors, whether we’re talking poor tissue quality and/or limited length – no big surprises there.  We sit…. a lot.  We sit on our commute to work.  We sit at work.  We sit on our way home from work.  We then sit some more at home.  And, for most, we even sit while we “workout,” if you want to call it that.   It’s no wonder our hip flexors are tighter than a crowbar!

But this is where the waters get a little murky and people start to miss the boat entirely.   Simply put, while many are quick to just throw in a few mundane stretches into the mix – if they’re even stretching at all – it takes a little bit more than that to alleviate the problem.

As such, here’s the basic formula I like to use:  release, stretch that mofo, then activate/mobilize.

Does the order matter?  In my opinion, absolutely!  When dealing with soft tissue restrictions, it’s important to break up any trigger points, adhesions or scar tissue first, because you can stretch till you’re blue in the face but you’re never going to get full extensibility/length of a muscle if it’s nothing but one massive knot in the first place.

Likewise, while it can be argued whether or not prolonged stretching actually stretches the muscle or just increase our tolerance to a stretch, the fact of the matter remails – it’s better than nothing; and, it undoubtedly makes people feel better afterwards.  in addition, lenghtening the muscle allows us to “use” the new range of motion.  It’s a win-win.

Don’t ne a Jonny Raincloud – just do it!

And finally, it makes sense that once any triggers points or knots are taken care of, we need to mobilize and/or activate the muscle to help engrain/cement the new ROM we’ve established.

Rectus Femoris:

In terms of self myfascial release, you need a foam roller.  if you don’t have one, get one.  They’re only $10 and there’s really no exciuse not to have one.  No, really.

Having said that, the video below is a great place to start.  While it demonstrates our entire foam rolling series, you can easily see how we hit the anterior surface of the thigh, which is where the RF is located.

From there, a few of my favorite exercises to mobilize the area are the yoga plex, and the wall hip flexor mobilization.

Perform 8-10 repetitions on each leg and you should be good to go.  Just be cognizant NOT to hyper-extend your lower back while doing these.

In much the same light as the video above, when discussing the topic of stretching, it’s important to recognize that the RF crosses TWO joints (the hip and knee) and we need to take that into consideration.   To that end, I really like the kneeling heel-to-butt stretch.   Simply kneel on the floor, placing one foot behind you on a bench.  From there, one important cue I like to give people is to squeeze the glute on the same side that’s kneeling.  This “co-contraction” of the glute will posteriorly tilt the pelvis and allow for a more intense stretch of the RF.  Hold for 30-60 seconds and switch to the other leg.

Psoas

The psoas is a bit tricker to get to in terms of SMR work, and as such, calls for modalities that are a bit more aggressive.  Since the foam roller is virtrually useless in this case, I like to defer to the Thera Cane instead.  Lie on your back with one leg flexed to 90 degrees.  From here, I like to cue people to perform a teeny tiny crunch and feel for the lateral aspect of their rectus abdominus; then relax.  Where you feel the muscle relax is where you want to “dig” the knob of the cane into.  Hold it in place, and SLOWLY extend your leg until it’s completely straight.   Try not to cry.

Essentially what you’re doing is a poor man’s version of Active Release Therapy, and to say that it’s a tad bit uncomfortable would be an understatement.  Put another way: it f#@cking sucks, and I won’t think any less of you if you have to grab a Kleenex.

Perform 3-5 total passes on each side.  Told ya, not fun.

In terms of activating the psoas, I like to use two exercise.  The first is one that I got from Mike Boyle called the Seated Psoas Activation.  Because the psoas is the one hip flexor that’s active above 90 degrees of hip flexion, it’s important that you find a low enough box to perform this exercise effectively.

All you’re going to do here is sit on the box with your back flush against a wall (so that you can’t lean back and cheat).  Raise you foot off the ground and hold for 10-15 seconds.  Lower it back to the ground and repeat the same sequence on the opposite side.  Don’t be surprised if you can’t raise you’re foot that high – really, all we’re looking for are a couple of inches.

Another exercise I like is the lying psoas band march.  Here, you’re going to lie supine (on your back) with a light band wrapped around both feet.  Bring both knees up to 90 degrees of hip flexion and then extend ONE leg, keeping the other stationary at 90 degrees.  The psoas is forced to fire by resisting the pull of the band (and staying above 90 degrees).  Peform 8-10 repetitions on one side, then switch.

As far as dedicated stretches, I like the feet elevated warrior lunge stretch.  Here, I like to note a few things:

1.  You’re going to place one foot on a slight elevation (8-12 inches).

2.  The leg that’s extended behind you is the side you’re stretching – much like the heel-to-butt stretch, be sure to squeeze the glute of that same side to posteriorly tilt the pelvis, which in turn, will elicit a more intense stretch.

3.  Too, you want to reach up towards the ceiling with your arm and lean slightly in the opposite direction.  So, if you’re right leg is extending behind you, you’ll reach up with your right hand and then lean slightly to the left.  In all, it should look something like this:

Hold for a 30-60 second count and repeat on the opposite side.

TFL:

Okay, here’s the deal.  In the process of writing this blog post, I accidentally deleted the ENTIRE thing and had to start from scratch.

FML!!!!

AFter throwing my face through a wall, I wrote the entire thing again (not quite as awesome as the first go round), and now I’m short on time, and the TFL is getting the shaft. Sorry.

Maybe I’ll throw a little tidbit in tomorrow, but for now, I really need to go lift something heavy to get this pent up aggression out.  Hope this helps, and if anyone has anything to share, please feel free below!

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Thomas Test: Hip to Be Square Part I

Not surprisingly, when it comes to assessment, there are many school’s of thought.  During our staff in-service the other day, Eric made a great point in saying that most assessments are very general to start and then move into more specific things as you dig a little deeper.  For instance, in his book Movement, Gray Cook notes that the Functional Movement Screen hits on seven key movement patterns:

Deep Squat Movement Pattern
Hurdle Step Movement Pattern
Inline Lunge Movement Pattern
Shoulder Mobility Movement Pattern
Active Straight-Leg Raise Movement Pattern
Trunk Stability Push-Up Movement Pattern, and
Rotatry Stability Movement Pattern

All the above are very general and do a supberb job at assessing movement quality, addressing assymetries, and just covering our bases.

Conversely, Cook also has what he calls the Selective Functional Movement Assessment (SFMA), which, unlike the FMS, has many “breakout” (more specific) assessments depending on what you find.

As an example, Lower Body Extension can be broken down to:  standing hip extension, prone active hip extension, prone passive hip extension, FABER test, and the Thomas Test.

Not always, but because of the population we deal with at Cressey Peformance (baseball players), we start with more specific tests (testing GIRD, lead leg ROM, ect) and then go into more general things.

One test that seems universal, however, is the Thomas Test.  Named after Dr. Hugh Owen Thomas (thank you Wikipedia), this test is a great assessment tool to better ascertain hip flexor length (or lack thereof).

Here’s the deal, though.   As simple as this test is, many fitness professionals have no clue how to perform it correctly, let alone interpret the results.  Here, I’m going to try my best to break it down and hopefully clear up some of the confusion, and maybe drop some knowledge bombs along the way.

Starting Position:  Seated at the end of the table, with the thighs half off the table.

**This is an important point, because the body position shifts as the subject lies down and brings his or her knee toward their chest.  The end position for the start of the testing is with the other knee just at the edge of the table so that the knee is free to flex and the thigh is full length of the table.

From there, simply hold your thigh, pulling your knee towards the chest, only enough to flatten the low back and sacrum on the table.

In an ideal world, I like to hold down the pelvis – on the testing side – to allow a little more posterior tilt.  Many people will go into excessive lumbar extension, which will give the illusion of having ample hip flexor length.  By holding the pelvis down, they can’t cheat.

Conversely, in Muscles: Testing and Function With Posture and Pain, Kendall recommends NOT to bring both knees to the chest because it does allow excessive posterior tilt which can skew the results towards apparent (not actual) hip flexor shortness.

In the end, use your own discretion.  For those of you reading who are coaches or personal trainers, I prefer the “bring one leg towards the chest, pin the pelvis down approach.”  If performing this alone, I prefer the “two knees to the chest, lower one leg approach.”

Anyhoo

So, what now?  As noted above, the Thomas Test is a great test to assess hip flexor length – namely the rectus femoris, psoas, and TFL.

Testing:  With the low back and sacrum flat on the table, a “passing test” will show that the posterior thigh touches the table, and the knee passively flexes – to approximately 80 degrees.

Almost always, you’ll rarely (if ever) come across a perfect Thomas Test.  We’re a very sedentary society, and it’s no surprise that pretty much everyone has poor hip flexor length.

One thing to consider, however (especially if you’re dealing with a well-trained individual), is the size of one’s hamstrings.  Dudes (and girls, too) who have well developed hamstrings will seemingly “fail” this test because the posterior thigh does not touch the table.  So, it’s not so much they have short hip flexors (which still could be the case), but rather, they have hamstrings the size of Kansas that prevents the thigh from coming down flush to the table.

Ruling this out, if the thigh does come off the table, we can rule out the rectus femoris by simply extending the lower leg.  Since the RF crosses both the hip and knee joint, if we extend the leg and the thigh then touches the table – viola – you found your culprit.

On the flipside, if you extend the lower leg, and the thigh still stays off the table, you can assume it’s the psoas that’s short and/or stiff.

In terms of the TFL, we don’t need to get too detailed here.  Some trainers like to get all geeky and bust out their protractors and Bunsen Burners and measure every degree.  I have my limits and just prefer to keep the assessment flowing.  If there’s an issue with the TFL, I’ll note any lateral deviation of the thigh from the midline of the body and move on with my life.

And that, ladies and gentlemen is the Thomas Test – in a nutshell……..more or less.  Tomorrow, in part II, I’ll discuss a handful of correcive strategies you can implement to help fix some of the issues you may have come across.  Till then, stay sexy.

 

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Carry, Carry, and More Carries

One of my favorite authors, Robert Ludlum (author of the Bourne Identity trilogy, most notably), always had an uncanny ability to paint a scene, in almost vivid detail.  Known for his meticulous research, Ludlum would take his protagonist (and the reader) across the globe, describing car chases in Prague, double agent debauchery in Moscow, breaking people’s faces in Paris, and anything and everything in between in terms of spy and espionage thrillers.

He did this all while keeping the reader engaged with pristine imagery from what the buildings looked like to how narrow the streets were.

I say all this, because nothing can describe the look on Chris Howard’s face when I turned around early Saturday morning and saw him standing there in the middle of the office with a WTFAIDH? (WTF Am I Doing Here?) look on his face.

To give a little background, we generally train before clients show up to CP during the week.  So, while we open our doors at 12 PM for business, we arrive around 10-10:30 to train beforehand.  Except for Saturdays.

On Saturdays, because we open earlier (9 AM), we typically wait till later in the afternoon to lift heavy objects off the floor.  The thing is, though, waiting until 3 PM to train (which means I don’t get back home till 5, sometimes 6 PM) on a Saturday kinda puts a damper on the whole “spending time with the girlfriend, lets make dinner reservations, so I GUESS THIS MEANS WE’RE NOT GOING TO IKEA TODAY!!!!! ” scenario.

In short, she’s not a fan  – neither am I.

So, long story short, I made an executive decision last week that I was going to try a little experiment to train earlier on Saturday.  For a little incentive, I recruited both Chris and Pete (Dupuis) to come in as well so I’d held accountable to them.

Accountability.  I really wish more people would take that word to heart.  We’re always so quick to push blame on someone (or something) else, when the truth of matter is – it’s the person looking back at us in the mirror that’s the real problem.

YOU – no one else is the culprit.

To that end, I certainly didn’t want to be “that guy” who decided not to show up when everyone else got their ass out of bed – talk about the ultimate case of douchebaggery.

So, there I was, sitting in the office at 7:45 in the morning when I heard the front door open and Chris was standing there with a “FU Tony look.”  It was priceless.  Fifteen minutes later, after foam rolling, going through our dynamic warm-up, and firing up fratmusic.com “Broin Out” station, and it was go time.

Taking a page from Dan John, we’ve been dedicating Saturday’s as “Carry” day.  Basically, all we do is carry heavy things back and forth – pretty simple.  It kind of looked like this:

A1.  Kettlebell Crossbody Carries (Suitcase and Racked position) 3×2 trips
A2.  Kettlebell Swing 3×10

B1.  HAS (Heavy As Shit) Farmer Carries 3×1 trip (1 trip = 40 yds)
B2.  Hate Life

***Here, on our final set, we worked up to 210 lbs in each hand for a total of a 420 lb carry.

C.  Farmer Carry + Sled Drag

All told, I had 240 lbs of weight + a Matt Cooney (another 220 lbs) on the Prowler while carrying 110 lbs in each hand.  I’m not saying it’s the most manly thing I’ve ever done at 8:30 in the morning, but I’m going to somehow incorporate a live grenade in the mix next week.

Finishing up, I think the main point I’m trying to make is this:

1.  Holding yourself accountable to other people (training partners) goes a loooooooong way to keeping you on task.

2.  Farmer Carries are the shiznit

3.  My biceps are huge.

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Happy President’s Day

One great thing about holidays that fall on a weekday is that I don’t have split hairs (pun intended) battling traffic to and from the facility.  The ride into work today was a breeze, and I’m currenty sitting here in an empty facility enjoying the peace and quiet, listening to a little Norah Jones (yep, not scared to admit it) while I catch up on some programming before the rest of the crew shows up to get our swole on.

I don’t really have anything important to write – it IS a holiday afterall.  So, instead, I just figured I’d take the day off from blogging, and just post a picture of Anne Hathaway – who, for those not as much of a nerd as myself (I swear to god I’ve seen a girl naked), was recently cast by director Christopher Nolan as Catwoman in the next Batman movie to be released sometime in 2012.

Already bought my tickets.

On that note, I’ll be back tomorrow with some actual content.  Enjoy your day-off.  I hate you.  Only slightly kidding.

 

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Are You Really Healthy?

Yesterday was one of those days where I couldn’t wait to get home.  It certainly wasn’t the stack of dirty dishes waiting for me in the sink, nor was it the pile of laundry that I had been puting off – although, for the record, they both got done!

No, I was anxious to get home because I wanted to dive into Nate Green’s The Hero Handbook.  Once my “chores” were done, and the next day’s meals we made, I grabbed my laptop, light a few scented candles, turned on some Sade, and….whoa whoa whoa, wait a second – I’m thinking of Monday night.  My bad.

Okay, so last night I drove home, blah blah blah, washed dishes, made my meals for the following day, grabbed my laptop, sat on my couch, and read.

While it’s been a really enlightening read thus far, there was one phrase in particular that really struck a chord with me:

A hero builds his body – his greatest asset – to look good and withstand sickness and physical obstacles.

Ding ding ding ding ding

So true.  In fact, the above statement is very much analogous to a Mike Boyle reference from an article he wrote a while back, where asked a simple question:

Imagine you are sixteen years old and your parents give you your first car. They also give you simple instructions. There is one small hitch, you only get one car, you can never get another. Never. No trade-ins, no trade-ups. Nothing

Ask yourself: how would you maintain that car?

As you might guess, he went on to say that most people would be meticulous with oil changes, using proper fuel, keeping up with maintenance, etc.

Taking it step further, he then asked:

Why is the human body different? Why do we act as if we don’t care about the one body we were given?  ONE BODY.  No refunds.  No warranties.  No do-overs.

Some pretty heavy stuff right?

Just the other day I shared with the world how I had a little, shall we say, “bug” crush my world, and I essentially spent the entire night praying to the porcelain gods.  It wasn’t pretty.   Matter of fact it was downright scary at times, and I have to give credit where credit is due and thank my girlfriend, Lisa, for stepping up to the plate and taking care of me.

Afterwards, I received several emails – mostly from friends and family – asking me if I was alright, and more importantly, to inform me that if I ever break up with Lisa, they’d pretty much disown me.

But there was one email, though, from a distance coaching client no less, that is the real inspiration behind this post.  It was a simple email – basically just saying that it was nice to see that I had such a speedy recovery and that “it’s a sign of a healthy body” that I was able to do so.

Again, a hero builds his body – his greatest asset – to look good and withstand sickness and physical obstacles.

How many of us are quick to equate six pack abs or the ability to fit into size zero jeans as “healthy.”  I know plenty of guys with impressive abs that are a train wreck on the inside – booze, smoking, drugs, you name it.  Not healthy.  Likewise, there are plenty of women out there who somehow squeeze into size zero jeans, yet haven’t had a carb since 2002.  Again, not healthy.

Looking good, as subjective as it is, is only half the equation.  There’s no question that hitting the gym a few times per week is going to help.  As an example, I can count on one hand the total number of times I’ve missed a scheduled training session.

Forgetting your gym clothes (again) is not an excuse.  It’s a cop out.  Lets be clear – there are only a handful of reasons to skip a training session:

– you have ebola and/or

– Jessica Alba just called and needs you to be her personal oil boy for the day.**

That’s pretty much it.

But there are so many other factors that come into play.  A few off the top of my head that come to mind…..

1.  Going to bed at a decent hour.  I may be butchering this, but it’s been said that for every hour of sleep you get BEFORE midnight, it’s worth two hours afterwards.   Meaning your quality of sleep is much more “quality’ish” if you sleep from 10-6, than it is from 2-10.

What’s more, having a routine that doesn’t involve playing Call of Duty right before bed might be a good idea.  Same thing goes for those of you spend all their time on the internet.

Get off Facebook for crying out loud and do something productive, like read a book, or have sex.

2.  Buying and cooking real food.  Simply put: you are what you eat.  If you’re the type of individual that lives off of Hot Pockets and frozen pizza, it’s no wonder you have little energy and feel lethargic and depressed all the time.

Conversely, providing your body with ample nutrients, vitamins and minerals from whole, real, nutritious foods will make your immune system as strong as an ox.

You wouldn’t put low grade fuel into your BMW, right?  Why, then, not treat your body the same way?

3.  Call me lame, but limit your alcohol intake.  I am by no means passing judgement – if you’re the type of person who enjoys a glass of wine with dinner every night, or even a nice, cold brewski on a hot summer day, more power to you.  But there is a big difference between that and pulling off your best Charlie Sheen impression every night of the week.

I’m sure I could make this list longer, but I think you get the idea.  Building a healthy body – unfortunately – is a lot more than just heading to the gym every day.  While admirable, it’s only part of the equation.  Have any suggestions/tips/rants you’d like to share?  I’d love to hear them below…..

 

**EDIT:  Just read on Yahoo’s home page that Jessica is pregers, again.  RATS!!  Okay, Olivia Munn, you’re up!