When it comes to the setup, however, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.
In this instance we’re all special snowflakes with varying limb lengths, torso lengths, and hip orientation… all of which will affect what will feel best and allow us to lift the most amount of weight.
That said, there are two tenets to the deadlift setup that applies to every lifter:
1. Use the Wedge.
Popularized by Dr. Stuart McGill, it’s a foolproof way to set yourself up for success and protect your back. Basically, when you bend over to grab the barbell, you want to use it as a counterbalance to “pull” your chest up and get the hips down, “wedging” yourself between the bar and the floor.
2. Now think, “Armpits over the bar, with maximal hamstring tension.”
Today’s guest post comes courtesy of Dr. Lisa Lewis (AKA my wife).
Earlier this year she released her Psych Skills for Fitness Professionals course which was designed to help fill a gap where many fitness professionals lack formal education: psychology, motivation, and the “softer skills” needed to coach effectively and help clients attain their goals.
I’ve long noted that what burns and stresses most coaches/trainers out isn’t the x’s and o’s of program design or breaking down someone’s squat technique…
…rather, it’s the ongoing attempts to maneuver around the dark recesses of our clients’ psychological needs (particularly when it comes to motivation).
Of more relevance, COVID-19 has really done a number on just about everyone’s life in 2020 and the importance of motivation, healthy habits, and resilience through stress and uncertainty has never been more apparent.
Lisa has just opened up enrollment for her course, with a NEW, just-added module focusing on how fitness professionals can better build immunity to stress and uncertainty for themselves AND their clients/athletes.
If no foreplay is needed, you can dive right in HERE.
In 2020, this sequence of emotions, and the resulting toll they take is familiar to us all. Whether your personal, professional, or financial life has been stressed, shaken, or stamped out by the pandemic, chances are you have been significantly impacted by closings, stay-at-home orders, and social-distancing mandates.
When we have a stressful day, most of us can cope well.
We may become flustered, negative, or pessimistic, but a trusted coping strategy can typically help us to recover and turn the page quickly, like dinner with friends, a big hug from a loved-one, a good training session, or a hot bath.
But when days turn into weeks, and weeks into months, we all need more than a good pump and steamy soak in the tub. We need skills that can help us to persist.
To maintain hope.
To help us access our strengths in the face of long term adversity.
Starting in April and May of this year, I have been asked to contribute to articles and podcasts on “coping with the pandemic,” or “coping with stress,” or some similar topic.
As a psychologist, these requests and their resulting discussions and writings led me to explore the current literature on resilience, and this in turn focused my attention on the field of positive psychology.
Over the past 20 years, positive psychology has offered evidence-based recommendations for living well, coping effectively, and thriving (Peterson, 2006). The benefits of optimism, positive emotions, personal strengths, gratitude, meaning, healthy relationships and other optimal experiences in life have been examined, evaluated, and clearly identified as real, measurable, and worth-while.
This research, and the resulting recommendations for coping and living well offer a rich variety of skills that are relevant, important, and even essential in the current climate.
For example, as I read up on how to build and sustain resilience, I learned about “mental agility” from Karen Reivich (2002), who explains that we can learn and practice thinking flexibility and more effectively. Reivich states that by recognizing our tendencies to think in overly-rigid ways, intentionally changing direction, and carefully planning for negative outcomes, we can be more productive, efficient, and hardy in difficult situations.
Dr. Karen Reivich
The same way fitness professionals and enthusiasts can practice skills and drills for physical agility, so too can we work on mental agility.
If your thinking sometimes gets you stuck in negative, ruminative, unhelpful patterns of all-or-nothing, catastrophizing, or “poor me” thinking, then working on your mental agility could help you to think more objectively, effectively, and productively.
In addition to mental agility, challenging life events require us to not only work on our deficits, but also to draw on our strengths. In my work with patients, clients, and fitness professionals, I’ve found that most people gravitate toward addressing weaknesses, blindspots, or shortcomings in their thoughts and behaviors. However, understanding and leveraging the best of you is also a rich and potent source of resilience (Petersen & Seligman, 2004). Your personal character strengths can contribute to coping and even thriving in adversity – especially now!
Whether they be optimism, diligence, spirituality, or a great sense of humor, the best of you has so much to offer in the face of the worst times in life.
Do you know how to practice flexible, agile thinking?
Are you familiar with your character strengths? Do you appreciate them and harness them intentionally in the face of adversity?
This summer, I’ve designed a curriculum for developing and practicing these skills, and added them, for free, to my Psych Skills for Fitness Pros course. This curriculum has been included as a bonus module for students of Psych Skills for Fitness Pros, and covers the following content:
An Introduction to Resilience
Optimism
Mental Agility
Character Strengths
Implementation and Practice
In addition, this bonus module includes an interview with Mike T. Nelson, Ph.D., who discusses the concept of anti-fragility, and it’s parallel to stress hardiness and resilience! Dr. Mike and I explore the physical and psychological benefits of anti-fragility, as well as how to promote anti-fragility with your clients.
Psych Skills for Fitness Pros offers not only a review of theory and research, but also real life applications for coaches in fitness, wellness, and nutrition. Here’s what a recent graduate of the program had to say about her experience in the course:
“Coaching is about so much more than exercise selection and macros. I’m always looking to get better at the psychological side of coaching so that I can help my clients actually make the changes they want to make. Psych Skills for Fitness Pros was exactly what I needed. It was not just theoretical, but practical. “Here are the theories and here’s how you can use them in your day to day work.”
As a result of practicing the skills Lisa teaches I am better at meeting clients where they’re at with regards to motivation while helping them to develop along the motivation continuum and using motivational interviewing techniques such as helping clients work through their ambivalence. You will without a doubt be a better coach after taking this course.”
For the rest of 2020, and beyond, these skills and assets are what I hope you can draw from, lean on, and utilize to cope with the pandemic and all that it brings. But even more than that, I hope we can all develop more strength, agility, and skill as a result of having to cope with the pandemic. If we can endure this year, good – but if we can thrive and improve ourselves as a result of it, great!
Please read more about Psych Skills for Fitness Pros, Volume 1, HERE.
If you want to see more of my writing and approach to interlacing strength training and physical activity with mental skills and positive psychology, follow me on Instagram, HERE. If you want to learn more about positive psychology, mental agility, and/or character strengths, check out the fabulous content at the Positive Psychology Center at UPenn, HERE.
References
Peterson, C. & Seligman, M. (2004). Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification. Oxford University Press: NY.
Peterson, C. (2006). A Primer in Positive Psychology. Oxford University Press: NY.
Reivich, K. & Shatte, A. (2002). The Resilience Factor: 7 keys to finding your inner strength and overcoming life’s hurdles. Broadway Books: NY.
Today’s guest post comes courtesy of TG.com regular, Justin Kompf.
Ever have a family member or friend give you flak for going out of your way to exercise?
How about for eating healthy?
What about for having pecs that can cut diamonds?1
In any case, it’s important to understand that when this happens it’s (rarely) because they’re judging you or attempting to make you feel bad on purpose. It’s often a result of other, internal factors on their end.
Great post from Justin today.
Also, I defy anyone to read the word “sabotage” and NOT immediately have the Beastie Boys’ song of the same title reverberate in their head.
In 1686 Sir Isaac Newton introduced his three laws of motion in “Principia Mathematica Philosophiae Naturalis.” His third law states that for every action in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Centuries later, and much less importantly, I was interviewed in a podcast and was asked what to do when attempts to be healthy are sabotaged (i.e. met with cruel remarks) by significant others.
Why, when we try to be healthy do other folks try to stop us?
I’m of the mind that their behaviors are often not malicious. Your desire to change and your behaviors cause an emotional reaction.
Behaviors are just behaviors, reactions and the extent to which someone reacts to your behaviors is a reflection of what that means to them within the context of everything else that is happening in their lives.
Let’s say your partner gets upset with you for something you did. Maybe you put your dishes in the sink and not the dishwasher. Their reaction should be a 1 out of 10 but instead it’s a 5 out of 10.
Note From TG: In the case of my household it would be a sleep on the couch out of 10.
Something else caused the elevated reaction. Perhaps it was the fact that they have asked you to not do this. Maybe they have had a really tough day at work or a fight with a family member. Either way, something else caused the elevated reaction.
So, if you eat a salad and that makes your partner upset, this is because something else is happening on their side of the equation.
Here is my law of social sabotage:
A behavior + it’s meaning to the other person = reaction.
If for whatever reason I keyed someone’s car right in front of them, they should flip out. They should be pissed! They should have an elevated reaction.
Maybe they will yell at me. Maybe they will call the cops or punch me in the face. Their reaction will be based on what it means to them in the context of my bad behavior.
Exercising should mean nothing to someone else. It is a completely neutral behavior. If someone makes snide remarks about you exercising it is because it makes them feel a certain way. Maybe it makes them feel insecure that they are not exercising.
What to do?
Be crystal clear in your conversation with that person. Tell them how their behaviors have an influence on you. Tell them why doing this is important to you and that you would like their support.
Tell them that their reactions to you trying to improve yourself hurt. Importantly, tell them that you would like to listen and hear why they are doing what they are doing.
Then actually do what you said you would do, listen!
Again, it is not your behavior that is the problem if you’re trying to be healthy, it’s how your behavior is making someone else feel.
Want to learn more about how to deal with things that can drain your motivation? Want to learn more about ways to harness motivation? This was an excerpt from Justin’s motivation eBook which you can download HERE.
About the Author
Justin Kompf is doctoral student studying exercise and health sciences. He is a personal trainer in Boston at CLIENTEL3.
In fact, I think this is the longest I’ve gone without writing anything – like, complete radio silence – in the history of this blog.2
I don’t know…I just haven’t been inspired to write much of late. And while part of me feels a sense of regret that I’ve left my audience hanging the past several weeks, the other part of me falls under the umbrella of “better to not write anything at all than write crap.”
So, to that end, what follows hopefully isn’t crap…;o)
For those keeping up with my life, a little over two months ago I ruptured my Achilles tendon. I wish I could sit here and say I did it while doing something cool like split jerking 440 lbs, deadlifting a Mack Truck, or fighting a pack of ninjas.
Alas, I did it while performing a very vanilla, hum-drum drill.
A jump-back start.
Essentially this:
Achilles ruptures are difficult to endure 👀and hard to treat 💥
Learn how to manage this injury and more in our latest Masterclass: Optimal loading for Achilles tendon rupture and tendinopathy.
The only difference between what’s shown above and what I did was that 1) I injured my right side, not left and 2) the woman in the video made it waaaaaay further than I did. When I injured mine I fell straight to the floor once my foot made contact with the floor.
In any case, since the injury I’ve been trying to set an example and prove to people that you CAN train around pretty much any injury.
To me “rest” is rarely going to be the long-term answer.
Sure, you need to rest, not be a jerk, and allow ample time post-surgery to heal and recover.
However, the idea that COMPLETE rest is the answer to expediting the healing process and using that as the foundation of rehab is a bit off-kilter if you ask me.
To that end, I wrote THIS blog post a few weeks ago highlighting the concept behind the “Trainable Menu,” or the idea that it behooves most people to focus on what they CAN do rather than what they can’t.
Moreover, I started the hashtag #findyourtrainablemenu on Instagram which I’ve been using to showcase some of my thoughts and ways I’ve been ensuring a training effect working through a significant injury.
As it happens, today’s Exercise You Should Be Doing champions this mindset. But it’s also an exercise that I’d advocate everybody perform, injured or not.
Chaos Bridge
Who Did I Steal It From?: Strength & Conditioning coach, personal trainer, and quite literally someone with a MUCH keener eye than myself when it comes to assessing movement, Katie St. Clair.
What Does It Do?: To steal a train of thought from Katie herself:
“Use chaos to build organization.”
Implementing the band forces the body to stabilize itself. Too, and maybe more to the point for my audience: this drill hammers the glutes and hamstrings and anterior core without necessarily placing an inordinate amount of load on the spine.
Believe me: It’s harder than it looks.
Key Coaching Cues: You’ll want to start with thicker band than you think. From there the idea is to press down into the band with one leg while you pull the opposite leg/knee towards your chest (using the bench as a counterbalance).
As you press down into the band try to emphasize feeling your glute contract (the hamstring will take care of itself). Likewise, pull, HARD, toward your chest.
Say hello to your abdominals…;o)
Give this one a try and let me know what you think.
I’m just past the seven-week mark in my rehab and I have to say…
…I’m crushing it.
I feel like if my Achilles had to fight Megatron it could give him a run for this money. I’ve been working with Dan Pope from Champion Physical Therapy & Performance in Waltham, MA and he’s been having me work on my gait the past few weeks attempting to put more weight into the forefoot of the affected side.
I’m still in the boot, but we did manage to take a wedge out last week.
And I think we’re gonna begin to experiment with some BFR (Blood Flow Restriction) shenanigans this week to help stave off any further atrophy of the calf muscle.
Onward!
2. Oh, hey, have you checked out my newCORE @ Homeplatform yet?
It’s designed so that I can deliver workouts you can perform at home – pants optional – using minimal equipment.
You have two options:
1. Subscribe for FREE and receive one workout per week.
2. Subscribe for $29.00 and receive three workouts per week (in addition to special bonus content).
My hope is that it helps take the thinking out of things and keeps people more accountable to workout more consistently despite not having access to their normal gym.
LOVED this perspective from Bryan on what the “new normal” will likely be for most people as they begin to contemplate heading back to their big box gyms.
I’ve always appreciates Trish’s perspective on things and how she’s able to keep a level head on often controversial topics. I also appreciate she actually lifts weights…;o)
In this one I discuss how to figure out your best stance for deadlifting success as well as some of my go to cues to help clean up deadlifting technique.
It even includes a 20-30 minute video of me taking Dani Shugart through the process.
I mean, I had to cancel my teeth cleaning appointment today.
That’s exciting.
Oh, hey, have you checked out my newCORE @ Homeplatform yet?
It’s designed so that I can deliver workouts you can perform at home – pants optional – using minimal equipment.
You have two options:
1. Subscribe for FREE and receive one workout per week.
2. Subscribe for $29.00 and receive three workouts per week (in addition to special bonus content).
My hope is that it helps take the thinking out of things and keeps people more accountable to workout more consistently despite not having access to their normal gym.
What Doesn’t Get Results: Following an 8 to 12 to whatever week program and then when finished being like “huh, guess I’m done” and then wondering, weeks later, why you’re not getting results or they never seem to stick.
This may seem surprising, but I hate reading research. It’s important of course, and I try my best to stay on top of current trends and to balance the teeter-totter between being evidence-based and respecting the power of anecdotal experience.
But yeah, I’m more likely to sit down and read Elvish poetry before reading a full-length research study.
This is why I am SO pumped to share with you Examine.com’s Personalized.
To be as succinct as possible: they scour the internet for pertinent research you’re interested in, they summarize it, it gets copy edited so that you don’t need a degree from Harvard to read it, and then it’s peer reviewed for accuracy.
They make it SUPER easy and it saves a TON of time.
Today is your last chance to take advantage of their initial LAUNCH pricing:
Dieting or “locking in” sound nutritional habits always tends to be the elephant in the room for most people. For some it’s eating when bored, for others it’s a sweet tooth.
And for others it’s simply all just too confusing.
A few years ago on Mike Robertson’s Physical Preparation Podcast (<— you should check it out if you haven’t already) I listened in as Memphis Grizzlies’ Director of Performance, Chris Chase, went into detail on the concept of the Trainable Menu.
It was such a simple phrase, yet so eloquent of an idea that it:
Blew my mind.
Melted my face.
Made me hate him because I didn’t think of it.
All the above.
I’ve written several blog posts and adopted the concept as my own in the years since, even championing the hashtag #findyourtrainablemenu on Instagram.
It truly is a splendid way to re-frame training (and program design) into highlighting what people CAN do rather than what they can’t.
One of my biggest pet peeves in the industry is when coaches or personal trainers treat program design as this one-size-fits all phenomenon; as if it’s an Old Navy knit scarf.
It drives me bonkers.
To take the mentality that a 60 year old “computer guy” with a history of low back pain (and who hasn’t touched a barbell since Dalton was practicing shirtless kung-fu and busting heads in the movie Road House) should have the same “menu” as a 21 year-old college basketball player is, well, dumb.
Don’t get me wrong.
Across the board – whether we’re talking about computer guys, basketball players, baseball players, someone training for fat loss, or Orcs – there are going to be more commonalities in everyone’s trainable menu than differences.
Meaning, most are going to be squatting, deadlifting, pushing stuff, pulling stuff, throwing stuff, carrying stuff, performing single leg work, doing an array of dedicated core work, and otherwise just getting after it.
However, where the difference show up are in the types or variations of those movement patterns being performed.
As an example, if I am working with a 6’7″ basketball player I’m probably not going to be too concerned with his or her’s ability to squat ass-to-grass.
I mean, it’s possible they’ll be able to do it (and do it well), just like it’s possible I’ll someday make-out with Jennifer Lopez.
But, it’s unlikely.
Rather, more often than not, if I’m working with a tall(er) individual, their trainable menu (which is an amalgamation and compromise between their health/injury history, training goals, ability level, and anthropometry) will consist of things like box squats, rack pulls, elevated Trap Bar deadlifts, pin squats, and the like.
Likewise, I can take the same train of thought with regards to any sport. For instance, I work with a fair number of endurance runners here in Boston; a handful of which train yearly for the Boston Marathon.
Strengthening a runner’s hamstrings and glutes and developing the ability to put more force INTO the pavement – in short: getting strong(er) – will undoubtedly help with getting to the finish line faster.
However, none of them are competitive powerlifters or Olympic lifters so I could care less whether or not they deadlift with a straight bar (or from the ground for that matter).
Every trainable menu should take into account an athlete’s sport, the demands it places on the body, what (s)he needs to do in order to succeed at that sport (from a movement standpoint), and then the cost-benefit of the exercises being prescribed.
To steal my own quote:
“A football strength & conditioning coach may look at a program that doesn’t include Olympic lifts and back squats as a joke.
Well, if we’re not talking about football players, what the fuck? That’s a completely different menu we’re talking about.”
A more germane angle to take would be what I am going through currently with my Achilles injury. For the past several weeks I have been highlighting some of my training sessions on my Instagram feed.
My goal in doing so is to prove to people that I’m still jacked AF despite an injury – even a significant one – you CAN still train.
I remember vividly as my wife and I were driving home after rupturing my Achilles I was sitting in the passenger seat actively building a mental rolodex of exercises I KNEW I was still going to be able to still pull off:
All the bench pressing and pull-ups I wanted.
Arms.
Affected Leg: open chain band curls and leg extensions, hip clams, etc.
Non-Affected Leg: Supported 1-Leg RDLs, 1-Leg Squats, etc.
Heck, even 1-week post surgery Hallway Lightsaber Battles were on the menu…
I didn’t attempt anything asinine, and in fact, took a full three days post-surgery to just chill and sleep like a champion. But I’d be lying if I didn’t reach a tipping point on Day #4 and was like…I…NEED…TO…DO…SOMETHING.
By Day #5 I was back in the gym doing a little of this and a little of that, and if felt gooooooood. Seated DB Bicep curls and 1-Leg Hip Thrusts never felt so empowering.
In my mind it was more about starting the healing process (without being an asshat about it) while also giving me a much needed mental boost.
I’m now six-weeks post surgery and fully weight bearing on my affected side (still in a boot, though). Just the other day I performed my first bilateral RDL @ 135 lbs.
Nothing crazy in terms of the weight on the bar, but I’m constantly tweaking and adjusting my Trainable Menu to match my current capabilities.
I have zero doubts this mindset is going to help expedite my recovery and rehab.
That’s the beauty of the Trainable Menu: It’s applicable whether you’re an athlete prepping for a competitive season or you’re someone trying to train through an injury.
It doesn’t have quite the same ring as “Return of the Jedi” but nevertheless it was AWESOME to make another cameo appearance on Casey Lee’s 3 Things Podcast.
This format is really fun and engaging and I appreciate Casey’s interview style.
We cover topics ranging from business and goal setting to COVID shenanigans and also get a little off-topic with some Star Wars geekery.
You can check out the episode HERE or listen directly below.
But seriously, for those that celebrate it I hope you’re able to find some joy eating some burgers, setting off some fireworks, or, I don’t know, watching Flight of the Navigator (<– I don’t think 4th of July movies exists, but if there are this should be in the Top 3).4
2. I Started PT Today
For those interested (and following along with #achillesgate2020) I was cleared by my surgeon to start PT and I met up with my man-crush friend/colleague, Dan Pope, of Champion Performance & Physical Therapy located in Waltham, MA.
Dan’s been my “go to” guy for numerous years with several niggles I’ve had here and there – strained adductor, neck kinks, a broken heart, you know, stuff – and I could think of no one better to help me get back on track.
Day 1 was exciting – we worked on swaying side to side, a few step throughs, and me learning to put weight back on my Achilles (while in a boot).
Who knows, next week we’ll live life dangerously and I’ll walk without crutches (and be able to do long division).
I keed, I keed.
I was thrilled to test the waters today and I can’t wait to see what Dan has in store for me in the coming weeks.
3. Oh, hey, have you checked out my newCORE @ Homeplatform yet?
It’s designed so that I can deliver workouts you can perform at home – pants optional – using minimal equipment.
You have two options:
1. Subscribe for FREE and receive one workout per week.
2. Subscribe for $29.00 and receive three workouts per week (in addition to special bonus content).
My hope is that it helps take the thinking out of things and keeps people more accountable to workout more consistently despite not having access to their normal gym.
– Writing thank you notes to your clients.
– Leaving your bad day at home.
– Point out a client’s “wins” before pointing out what they did wrong on an exercise.
The Complete Trainers’ Toolbox is currently on SALE ($100 off the regular price) now through this Sunday. Myself as well as an all-star list of other fitness professionals delve into common topics that will make you a better trainer and help you to grow your fitness business.
But complaining and whining isn’t going to pay the bills. COVID has flipped the health/fitness industry on it’s head and if you’re not adapting you’re not going to survive.
Switching (or adding) online coaching to your repertoire is a smart move. Andrew provides some much needed levity and insight in this fantastic article.
Justin Kompf is doctoral student studying exercise and health sciences. He is a personal trainer in Boston at 
