Author: Tony

I have a simple rule I like to follow. If you can’t perform at least one body weight pull-up (if you’re a woman) or five body weight pull-ups (if you’re a man) or twenty pull-ups with a full grown elephant on your back (if you’re me), then you have no business what-so-ever spending ANY time performing arm curls. Ever.

I always find it comical how trainees will spend so much time training their biceps, yet can’t even perform a proper pull-up. Many people will revert to the lat pulldown machine, because well, it’s easy.

I’ll see some men who can pull the entire weight stack for ten repetitions and think it’s some great feat. Sorry fellas, watching a 27 year old woman vertical jump over 30 inches constitutes as a great feat. Heck, I would even go so far as to say watching the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy nonstop with no bathroom breaks would be a bigger accomplishment than performing “x” amount of repetitions on the lat pulldown machine.

Nevertheless, I do realize that many trainees cannot perform a proper pull-up without assistance. A great tool I like to use with clients is the concept of Accommodating Resistance.

In general, accommodating resistance refers to the concept of increasing muscular strength throughout the complete range of joint motion. Better yet, you can technically refer to it as a way to sustain near maximal force throughout the complete range of joint motion. This is the basic premise behind the use of bands and chains.

There comes a point when you’re doing an exercise (squats for example) where the force generated during the movement is less at certain joint angles compared to others. This is why you can handle more weight with one-fourth squats than you can with full squats (force-velocity curve).

Another great example is pull-ups. Instead of using the assisted pull-up machines that offer a counterbalance for trainees (hence, the lifter isn’t able to sustain maximal force throughout the duration of the movement), I like to use bands.

1. Take a Jump Stretch Band and loop it around the top of a pull-up bar so that the band hangs from the top.

2. Step onto a box and place the bottom of the band between your knee and ankle (mid shin, if you will). The leg with the band around it will be bent throughout the duration of the exercise. The opposite leg will be straight.

3. Start from the bottom position (don’t jump up) and pull yourself up to the bar till your chin reaches the top of the bar.

4. Return to the bottom position and repeat for the desired repetitions. With each set, switch up the leg that the band is around.

All in all, you get a little “boost” from the band at the bottom position (where you’re weakest), and as you get closer to the bar, you’re getting less “help” and pulling more of your own body weight (where you’re strongest due to the improved joint angle). As you get stronger and more efficient you can use bands with less tension, and before you know it, you’re performing pull-ups with your own body weight. You’re so cute.

Admit it, your Thanksgiving was spectacular. Even though you would rather drink laundry detergent than torture yourself with another slice of Aunt Jane’s mince meat pie; or I don’t know, listen to a Britney Spears album rather than listen to your dad tell the same story of how he caught three touchdown passes in a high school game (30 years ago), it’s still great to come home.

While I was home last week, I had the opportunity to train with my brother and a few of his friends at their gym. It wasn’t more than a few weeks ago where I was talking to my mom on the phone and she had mentioned to me that my brother had joined a gym and was excited for me to come home so that I could help him out a bit. You see, despite being a two sport athlete in high school, and working a relatively active job now, my brother has never really been a “gym rat,” and you can imagine my surprise (and joy) when I found out that he was starting to train with his friends on a consistent basis.

A few weeks ago, I talked to him on the phone and he had mentioned to me that he wasn’t losing any weight. Normally I don’t worry about scale weight with people, but in my brother’s case, he needs to lose some weight and he has been perplexed as to why he hasn’t lost any despite training everyday with his friends.

When I arrived home last week, we sat down for awhile and discussed his eating habits. While he made some vast improvements with his diet, come to find out, he was still drinking three Powerade’s a day:

One of the first rules I tell people to follow when trying to “clean up” their diet is to eliminate ALL calorie containing beverages (alcohol, soda, fruit juice, Starbucks, and sports drinks).

One look at the nutritional label for a Powerade, and you find the following:

Serving Size: 1 cup (8 fl. oz)

Servings Per Bottle: 4

Total Calories: 68

Protein: 0

Fat: 0

Carbohydrates: 17 grams (Sugar: 15 grams)

Each bottle of PowerAde he has been drinking contains roughly 270 calories and 60 grams of sugar. Remember however, that he has been drinking THREE per day, which equates to 810 calories and 180 grams of sugar PER DAY. No wonder he hasn’t been losing any weight! This just proves my point that you will never out train a poor diet.

After hitting him upside his head, I instructed my brother that under no circumstances is he to drink anymore PowerAde. Ever. Unless of course, Jessica Alba herself knocks on his door one day while wearing a bathing suit and just so happens to be holding a Powerade in each hand. One for her. And one for my brother to sip while serving as Jessica’s personal “oil boy” during one of her photo shoots.

Dude, that could totally be a commercial. You owe me Powerade advertising executives.

Myth: The knees should never project ahead of the toes during any exercise.

In a study titled, “How many clueless aerobic instructors and personal trainers still follow this archaic nonsense,” done by The Journal of Stupidity, it was shown that a vast majority of fitness professionals still believe the above myth to be true. Matter of fact, the same study showed that many fitness professionals would rather see you club a baby seal (that’s just mean) than witness your knees project over your toes while under their supervision.

Needless to say, they’re wrong. Sarcasm aside, having the knees project over the toes is perfectly normal and occurs quite frequently in everyday life. Just ask anyone who participates in football, karate, dance, or mudwrestling. Heck, try walking up a flight of stairs without your knees going over your toes. Despite all of this, many fitness professionals still claim that the knees going over the toes during weight bearing exercise is dangerous. I’ll even go so far as to say that this guideline has assumed the stature of law in the aerobics world.

In past writings, both Eric Cressey and Alwyn Cosgrove have referenced one study which kinda debunks this whole myth.

Fry AC, Smith JC, Schilling BK. Effect of knee position on hip and knee torques during the barbell squat. J Strength Cond Res. 2003 Nov;17(4):629-33.

The above study examined joint kinetics during back squats under two conditions. The first condition placed a board in front of the participants’ shins, which restricted forward displacement of the knee. In the second condition, movement wasn’t restricted at all. They squatted normally and the knees were allowed to pass the toes (GASP).

The researchers found that restricting the forward excursion of the knees during the squat (not allowing the knees to go over toes) increased anterior lean of the trunk and promoted an increased “internal angle at the knees and ankles.”

The results showed a 22% decrease in knee torque and a 1070% increase in hip torque! That stress has to go somewhere. Keeping the knees behind the toes definitely reduces the forces on the knee, but those forces were transferred more than tenfold to the hips and lower back. Translation: that’s an ouchie.

Recently at Cressey Performance, we started a “Quote of the Day” board. They range from anything inspirational: “The only time success comes before work is the dictionary,” (from legendary football coach Vince Lombardi) to motivating: “There’s two things female athletes need; balls and hamstrings. And since girls don’t have balls, they need more hamstrings,” (Eric Cressey) to factual: “Tony, you’re the best trainer ever. Wanna make out?” (from Jennifer Garner to me……….last week……….in my dreams).

However, last week we had a quote from a client of ours that truly speaks volumes for the type of attitude that we try to instill here at the facility:

“If it ain’t deadlifing, it ain’t worth it.”

This coming from a client who before he started training with me a few months ago, had never touched a weight in his life and was an avid runner (still is to a degree). Needless to say, it brought a tear to my eye. My boy is all growns up.

The link below is an interview I did a few months ago for John Kuhlman regarding endurance athletes (or anyone who is a recreational jogger, biker, etc) and their reluctance to include more strength training into their programming. Lets face it, you’re more likely to find the Abominable Snowman making snow angels in your backyard than you are finding an endurance athlete in the gym lifting weights.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people fail to grasp the notion that resistance training CAN and WILL improve their times. Given the fact that the Boston area has a fairly large “endurance” population, I hope that many of you click on the interview below and learn a thing or two.

Strength Training for Endurance Athletes