Categoriescoaching Program Design psychology

The Road to Recovery Is Paved With More Training

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of trainer, writer, and guy I hate because he is waaaaaaay too good looking, Michael Gregory.

Michael wrote an excellent post on nutrient timing for my site last year which you can check out HERE. He’s back again discussing an important topic: “reframing” injury and how to use (more) training to aid recovery.

Warning: Avengers: End Game spoilers ahead.

But come on: It’s been three weeks for crying out loud. If you haven’t seen it by now it’s your fault.

Copyright: javiindy / 123RF Stock Photo

The Road to Recovery Is Paved With More Training

Let’s talk about acute injuries in your clients: those accidents that leave a scar in the shape of a teddy bear.

“Oh! What a cute injury!”

Allow me to elaborate, for those of you who aren’t a fan of Dad jokes.

If you hurt yourself, the best recovery plan you can follow includes continuing to train and actually treating the injury as if it is less egregious than it may actually be.

I’m not suggesting that you act as if nothing happened, but I am suggesting that you only adjust your training as much as you have to in order to work around the pain.

As a coach, you aren’t a doctor, so don’t act like one. You are, however, in the chain of recovery, and may be the only fitness professional around when an injury first occurs.

Know your role Snoop Lion

How you react matters to your client more than you realize.

The Assumption Is You Know What You’re Doing

You’re a shit hot programmer that doesn’t plan anything your client isn’t ready for because you follow the principle of progressive overload.

One-rep maxes are not a spontaneous event that you perform when the sunset is a particularly auspicious color. They are planned for and prepared for, for weeks or even months in advance.

Because you program smartly, you know that any injury a client sustains under your care isn’t going to be a career ender.

It’s simply a kiss from the weightlifting gods that initiates them into the barbell illuminati.

If you train hard you will have battle wounds. That being the case, it’s time you learn how to get your clients past their injuries in the most economical way possible.

The Biopsychosocial Model of Pain for Acute Injuries

This framework comes from Dr. Austin Baraki over at Barbell Medicine. It applies on some level to every injury you or a client may sustain.

This entire process is about facilitating the best environment for healing. That means not freaking out and quitting, but rather, changing training only as much as is needed.

Step 1: Reassure AKA “Don’t freak out.”

Even if someone’s eye is hanging out of their skull, the best thing you can do is keep your cool. The power of positive thought is a hot topic these days.

There’s guys healing broken spines with just their minds, supposedly.

Even if those stories are only 10% accurate the power of the placebo effect is a wildy useful tool to have on your side. Keeping your cool and addressing unhelpful thoughts and fears are the first things you can to do to help your clients harness the effects of the placebo.

This is the psychosocial aspect of the model. It is the most important to get right the first time. Poisonous thoughts are really hard to uproot once they’ve been planted.

This whole step is the opposite of what my Junior Varsity football coach did to me and my relationship with the 2-plate bench press.

He told me I’d never be able to bench 225 with my long-ass arms unless I weighed 300+ pounds and the gravitational pull of the moon was twice its normal strength.

(Brief aside: Of course, the world’s weather and tidal patterns would be thrown into absolute chaos if all of a sudden the moon was twice as strong. So the joke’s on Coach J, because we’d all be dead before I could even make it to the gym. Try to remain calm after that sick burn.)

Regardless, I struggled for years with that negative reinforcement (nocebo effect) in my head. I could rep out 205 for sets of 5 but as soon as that second plate went on the bar “it was too heavy.”

Step 2: Assess the Situation

Like a good cub scout that just stumbled onto the remains of a deer that had been hit by a car, you’ve got to get your bearings.

Should you help it?

Put it out of its misery?

Add it to your Instagram story?

He already knows he messed up. Overreacting isn’t going to help the situation.

Start by asking the trainee what they were attempting and what they felt.

Remember, poker face: don’t let ‘em see you wince.

This is the first two “O’s” of the OODA loop, something that fighter pilots and military tacticians love to reference. Observe and Orient to the situation. (DA is Decide and Act, but you have to orient first).

No need to jump to any reactions here or start calling people lower life forms.

Be a professional.

Step 3: Move Forward by Reintroducing Movement in a Non-Threatening Context

Your special snowflake of a client is down, but not melted. You can still fix this and get them back to lifting heavy and kicking in doors faster than you can say “rubber baby buggy bumpers”.

Arnold said it first.

Your goal is to work your way backwards from the exercise that caused the injury in as short a distance as possible.

Start by asking these questions:

1st Question: Load. Is there a weight you can use that does not hurt?

If you can just reduce the weight of the exercise and the client no longer feels pain or discomfort then… do that.

If your client felt a “tweak” (technical term) in their mid-back while deadlifting, deadlift day isn’t over. Just take some weight off the bar. If it still hurts with 135, use the bar.

If it still hurts with the bar, use a PVC pipe.

The goal here is to show your client that the movement isn’t inherently dangerous at all weights.

2nd Question: Range of Motion. Where does it hurt?

If your client is still in pain conducting the movement with only their bodyweight, the next thing to adjust is range of motion.

In deadlifting, for example, if their pain is in the first two inches off the floor, elevate the bar until you are out of the danger zone.

No, this isn’t perfect form, for you deadlift sticklers out there, but your client isn’t going to be doing deadlifts from the rack or with the high handles on the trap bar forever. Pretty much as soon as you adjust the range of motion of a movement you should be planning for a progression to get the trainee back to the full movement.

If you haven’t seen it, consider this your warning.

Secondly, who the fudge decided what “full range of motion” is for any given exercise?

If your client isn’t a competitive lifter, it doesn’t actually matter.

I promise you won’t cause a rift in the space-time continuum resulting in an alternate timeline where Thanos succeeds in destroying half of all life in the universe and it stays that way. (Okay, that’s not really a spoiler so much as conjecture. Hey, spoiler warnings entice the reader to finish the article).

3rd Question (well, statement): Exercise Selection. If decreasing the weight and range of motion still results in pain, work your way backwards down the line of exercise specificity.

Only now should you be thinking about changing up the exercise entirely. This is assuming that you chose the initial exercise because it is the one which most completely trains you client to achieve their specified goal. If you just chose the exercise because it makes the vein in your biceps pop when you apply the Clarendon filter on Instagram I ask you the following question. How did you get this far in this article?

As an example, let’s say you were doing conventional deadlifts with your client. In my mind, the regression looks something like this:

  • Conventional deadlift
  • Snatch grip deadlift
  • Sumo deadlift
  • Straight leg deadlift
  • Romanian deadlift
  • Trap bar deadlifts
  • Rack pulls
  • Dumbbell deadlift variations
  • Single-leg DB deadlift variations
  • Single-arm DB deadlift variations
  • Single-arm single-leg DB deadlift variations
  • Good mornings
  • Cable pull-throughs
  • Hip thrusts

Okay, I digressed quite far there, but I think you get the point.

There are lots of exercises you can try with your client to teach them that they are not only not broken, but in fact still strong even with pain.

There is no excuse for the countless number of trainees doing leg presses and camping out on the stationary bike in the name of recovery.

Training is recovery.

It’s All Really Just Reassurance

This entire process of managing acute injuries is really just reassuring people that they aren’t fragile.

Some of our fellow humans, some of them your clients, have spent their entire lives avoiding pain at all costs. As a result, they’ve never had to learn how to overcome true adversity. By teaching this process to your clients, you are giving them the gift of self-reliance.

Resiliency is something most trainees are looking to build, mostly in the context of making their muscles more resilient. As far as I’m concerned, tenacity, fortitude, resilience, and mental toughness are all muscles. Each and every one of those is embedded in this process, and they are all made stronger every time someone learns to overcome something you or the barbell throws their way in the weightroom.

Does that tempt you to injure your clients on purpose now so that you can teach them about mental toughness?

Don’t do it.

But do be prepared to react calmly and with precision when accidents happen.

About the Author

Michael is a USMC veteran, strength coach, amateur surfer, and semi-professional mushroom connoisseur. As an intelligence officer and MCMAP instructor Michael spent the majority of his military career in the Pacific theater of operations.

He now lives in Bali where he writes, trains, and has had multiple near-death experiences in surf that is much too heavy for him.

For more by Michael check out his Instagram,  Facebook, or his website www.composurefitness.com.

 

 

Categoriescoaching

Coach’s Roundtable: Two Things They Should Know

If you work with high-school athletes this is for you.

Friend and colleague, Mike Anderson, who’s a strength coach in Ohio, reached out and asked if I’d be open to sharing a roundtable discussion of several coaches discussing the rigamarole of working with this population.

I always enjoy other coaches riffing and pontificating on this subject and I think there are many perils of wisdom below.

Enjoy!

Copyright: tonobalaguer / 123RF Stock Photo

Two Things They Should Know

One of the most important populations for strength and conditioning / fitness right now is the high school aged athlete.

Training has become so common amongst this age group that if you even think that you might want to compete at the next level then you need to be in a gym. I myself train a metric shit-ton of high school athletes and it’d be an understatement to say that this population has some unique traits and attributes.

As a strength coach, it’s sometimes easy to forget that not everybody knows the same things you do. I occasionally take some information for granted and am surprised when the kids or their parents don’t know it.

Some recent interactions I had with athletes spurned the writing of this post and I thought it would be really interesting to get some points of view from friends of mine in the industry around the country regarding the two things that they, as coaches, wished that both high school athletes and their parents would really understand about training.

Jarrod Dyke – Owner / Coach, First XV Performance, Brookline MA.

1. Every athlete that walks into a weight room or training facility needs to remember this: you are there to help you get better at your sport, not to set the world record in powerlifting or weight lifting (unless those are your sports). Check your ego at the door.

If your squat doesn’t jump 100 pounds in 3 weeks, it’s not the end of the world.

Put in the work and the weight will go up! You will get stronger and be much stronger on the pitch, field, court, ice, track etc. Just because you tick the room temperature up from 29 degrees to 30 and the ice isn’t melted yet doesn’t mean you aren’t making progress, be patient!

2. In season training is a big must if you want to last throughout the season.

It is very possible to maintain your strength or even gain strength, depending on the circumstance, throughout your sport season.

Not training at all is probably the worst thing you can do; your practices and game aren’t enough to maintain the strength you just put all the work into building up. Then when the off-season comes you are not starting all the way back at square one, but rather you’re still better than you were at the start of the last off-season.

Hilary Lederer – Strength Coach, Force of Nature Strength & Conditiong, Toronto, Canada.

1. The first thing I’d want parents and athletes to understand about strength training is that it doesn’t need to be (and almost always shouldn’t be) something that completely exhausts the athlete. A ton of productive work can be accomplished while still feeling pretty fresh after.

2. The second thing is how valuable a solid coach and program can be for every athlete. You can be talented and successful without, but those athletes tend to be less common and rarely last long.

Injury prevention, weak points, confidence, etc. will all be positively affected in the short and long term, plus you are setting the athlete up for lifelong good habits relating to health and fitness.

 

Mitch Gill – Head Athletic Trainer at Dacula High School, Private S&C in Dacula, Georgia

1. “Sports specific” training is just practice; it is not the weight room. Strength and conditioning is about building the qualities such as strength and speed to increase the robustness of the athlete’s skills. The goal in the weight room is to create a better all-around athlete who is able to express that athleticism on the field.

2. Athletic development is a long term process; or as I like to call it, “slow cooking the athlete.”

We live in a microwave society that wants to see results right away.

They want their squat to go up 80 lbs in a month or their 40 time to drop half a second in that same time. For long term success, let nature and time in training take its course.

No one cares if the kid is the best 14 year old in their county at their sport if he/she has already peaked or is always hurt.

 

Brandon Strausser – Performance Coach, Spire Performance, Geneva Ohio.

1. The idea of “Sport Specific training” is a hoax – Athletes and parents need to understand that our jobs as strength and conditioning coaches is to make better athletes (through strength, speed, and power gains along with injury reduction protocols).

The training program that the athletes receive will be very similar to one another (in regards to the movements and speed development). The only thing different will be how they apply their training program into their sport (ex: A swimmer and a baseball player will both squat to develop stronger and more powerful legs.

For the swimmer it’s to have a better start and turns off the walls. For the baseball player, it’s to have a stronger swing and faster sprint to the bases). Leave the specificity to the actually sport coaches who know and understand the sport like the back of their hands.

2. Be patient with your training – Understand that good things take some time to develop.

You actually have to work your tail off to get results.

Some people adapt quicker than others and see improvements much sooner than their counter parts. But that’s the beauty of us being human; we’re all different and react to stimulus and stress differently. This might sound like another point but it goes right along with being patient and that is staying consistent with your training and who you are training with.

Be organized with your training and have a set schedule of when you’re doing it (certain circumstances I understand will pop up but try to stay as close as you can to your schedule).  The number of training sessions per week will alter how fast or slow your results will be.

You see that your vertical hasn’t improved in two weeks.  Well maybe it’s because you’ve only had a total of four training sessions in those two weeks.

Lastly, jumping from coach to coach will break up and stunt your progress because each coach has a different approach to their training.  Your body will not be able to adapt if you are constantly changing the training stimulus with a new program from a new coach each month or even week. The moral of this spiel is that good things will come to those who wait!

Greg Robins – Co-Owner / Coach, The Strength House, Worcester MA.

1. I need you to understand what it is you want to gain from training with us.

Can some of this be coached? Yes, probably.

However, if you don’t have a clear picture of what you hope to gain from training you will not achieve much of anything in the end. While I can explain what training can do for you, it is not the same as YOU knowing what you want to gain from training.

As parents, you need to understand that from the same level as I do as the coach. You telling your kids what they should get from training is not the same as them expressing what they want to get from training. It has to come from within them…what is it that they want to achieve?

2. I need you to understand WHY achieving that is important to you.

I mean really break it down on every damn level. Why, why, why, why, why?

Why do you want to get stronger? To play on varsity. Why do you want to play varsity…oh snap…now that’s where the ball is usually dropped. Guess what? You’re 16. Your child is 16. Why do you want to play varsity?

Don’t give me the lip service of you want to be the best you can be unless that is really true. Maybe you want to elevate your social status. Maybe you want to be like someone you look up to. Maybe you think it will help you get a date with that girl on the softball team you like. Why you want it is the most important thing you need to understand about training.

WHY ARE YOU HERE?

You are going to be pulled in 6 directions at that age…you will continually have other things you could do. If you understand WHY you are training, and have therefore decided that that “why” is the most important thing to you then you will get it done. Whether or not you’re training with me, whether you’re on the best program or worst program. The kids that know their why and who are supported by parents that know their WHY will succeed.

Mike Anderson – Owner / Coach, Anderson Strength & Fitness, Cleveland Ohio.

1. The real impetus behind this discussion, for me, was that I really want athletes and their parents to understand that getting ready for a particular season takes more than two weeks.

I recently had two different kids reach out to me ready to “get jacked” and “crush shit before season” only to realize that one of them had three weeks to go and the other one was actually in the middle of try-outs.

There is very little I can legitimately do for you in that time frame. If you really want to explore how much you can develop athletically then it needs to be a year round part of your life.

2. The other thing that I’d really want to impress upon both athletes and their parents is that you will directly get back what you put into your training.

If you consistently show up to Saturday morning training after a seven hour Fortnite binge ending with three hours of sleep and no breakfast, then you’re going to have a really shitty training session.

If we are fueling our young athletes with Pop Tarts and Captain Crunch then we should be expecting their development to be reflective of that. Sophomores in high school are rarely in charge of their own nutrition, and thus parents really need to be aware of providing the right things for their kids to make good choices with.

I hope that this was ultimately helpful in some way, and if you found it to be so then please share it so that other athletes and/or their parents can benefit! If you’re in the same area as any of the coaches on this panel please don’t hesitate to find them on social media and get your young athlete in the gym and working!

Categoriescoaching Motivational

Porcelain Post: Fitness Marketing 101

NOTE: The term “Porcelain Post” was invented by Brian Patrick Murphy and Pete Dupuis. Without getting into the specifics, it describes a post that can be read in the same time it takes you to go #2.

Huh, I guess that was more specific than I thought.

Enjoy.

Copyright: dolgachov / 123RF Stock Photo

 

Fitness Marketing 101

The fitness industry is growing fast.

I was l listening to an episode of The Fitcast with Kevin Larrabee and guest Lou Schuler recently and Lou brought up an eye-popping stat saying something to the effect that within the past 3-5 years there’s been a steady rise of people graduating with a degree in Health Science.

I’m having a brain fart on the actual stat, but I wanna say it’s in the 200,000 to kajillion-billion range per year. It’s definitely closer to the former, but suffice it to say: there’s a lot of people entering the fitness industry.

And lets be honest: there’s not really much one can do with a “health science” degree.

Sure, some will enter collegiate strength & conditioning, maybe gravitate towards academia, or, I don’t know, join a ninja gang. The vast majority of people, however, will likely root themselves getting a job as a personal trainer at a local commercial gym.

And this is when the shit show happens.

Marketing.

via GIPHY

Most fitness professionals have a firm grasp on the intricacies of concurrent vs. undulated periodization, the nuances of breaking down squat mechanics, or hell, maybe they’re an uber nerd and can articulate every step of gluconeogenesis.

Many can write a program or assess scapular upward rotation with their eyes closed.

Yet, when it comes to marketing their services – and “wooing” new clients – they’re as lost as a White Walker in Westeros.

There’s intense pressure on trainers – especially in bigger box commercial gyms – to “recruit” more patrons into personal training each month and to hit quotas.

And this is where I feel most trainers have it backwards.

I believe time would be better spent – not to mentions it’s waaaay more cost effective – doing everything one can to foster an environment where client retention is the goal.

What’s more lucrative?

1. A trainer spending an inordinate amount of his or her’s time scratching and clawing to maybe entice two new people to sign up for one (maybe two) months of training, never to be seen again?

OR

2. A trainer who has a healthy roster of ten clients who are continually re-upping their packages?

SPOILER ALERT: the latter.

Some Stuff to Consider

None of this is to insinuate that the burden should be solely on the trainer’s back 100% of the time; I do believe commercial gyms can (and should) play a more proactive role in supporting their staff.

Offering (free) continuing education opportunities would be a nice start.

I.e., invest in their trainers.

That said, here are a few quick-n-dirty suggestions for trainers:

1. It’s quoted often and may induce a hefty amount of eye rolls, but Mike Boyle’s “no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care” line is never more germane than here.

  • Be punctual.
  • Be professional.
  • Never underestimate the power of a hand written note.

All are more apt to maintain a client’s business more so than your proclivity to break down synergistic dominance or name every articulation of the body in alphabetical order.1

2. Try not to be a fitness industry T-1000.

Maybe you think it’s cool you haven’t missed a workout in four years, post shirtless pics of yourself eating a kale salad, and haven’t eaten gluten since 2009, but your clients could likely give two shits.

They want to be able to build a connection with you.

This is NOT to say you shouldn’t practice what you preach and be proud of it. This is also not to say you’re #1 goal and priority in keeping clients is to elicit results.

It IS to say, however, it wouldn’t hurt to be a bit more relatable and not give the impression you eat, drink, and breath fitness at all times.

Remember that one time you ate an Oreo after 9 PM?

Share that.

Or, what about that time you lived life dangerously and didn’t spend your Friday night watching YouTube training videos and instead watched Eyes Wide Shut?

Share that.

Or, I don’t know, maybe not.2

Either People prefer to know they hired a human to interact with and are more inclined to stay with someone they can relate to.3

3. When I was at Cressey Sports Performance the most valuable way we “marketed” our services was to be present and attend our athlete’s games whenever we could.

First of all, our athletes loooooooooved it; and what better way to build long-term rapport than that?

Second, it was a free advertising and it wasn’t uncommon for other parents to approach us and inquire about our services.

Third, it’s not lost on me that many of you reading don’t work with athletes and that it would be awkward to just randomly show up at your client’s open mic poetry slam reading or their powerpoint presentation at work on “How the 2018 Tax Laws Affect Free Market Sales of Industrial Strength Penis Enlargers.”

That said, maybe you started working with someone who’s going to compete in their first powerlifting meet or figure competition or kite flying contest.

Go!

Be a voice and beacon of support for them.

They’ll love it and will undoubtedly be loyal to you as a client for the foreseeable future.

I Guess What I’m Trying to Say Is

Be unapologetic with regards to making your CURRENT clients happy and fostering those relationships. It’s a slight reframe from what we’re programmed to do and think, but one I feel will pay huge dividends.

Categoriescoaching

How to Get Your Clients to Work Harder

I often say that what bogs down most fitness professionals, and what often causes the most stress, isn’t the x’s and o’s of program design, assessment, or breaking down the Creatine phosphorylation cycle.

Nor is it the ability to break down squat or overhead pressing technique.

Most coaches/trainers can do all the above without blinking an eye.4

Nope, what really grinds most fit pro’s gears is how to better motivate their clients and to get them to work hard(er).

Copyright: annotee / 123RF Stock Photo

 

Now, to be fair (and to add a sense of brevity), when I say “to get them to work hard(er)” I am not implying the word “hard” means someone trains to the point of shitting their kidney on their last set of cleans or that they can’t feel the right side of their face after finishing that day’s WOD.

Just so we’re on the same page…

I Am Not Referring to This

via GIPHY

5 Tips to Get Your Clients to Train Hard(er)

1) Meet Them Where THEY Are

We all have biases as coaches. We all have notions of how most people we work with should train and what they need to do to get from Point A to Point B.

Using myself as an example:

“Lifting heavy shit.”

I’ll unabashedly admit that the bulk of people who walk through the doors at CORE already know what they’re getting themselves into

I mean, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to take a gander at my logo and tagline to put 2 and 2 together:

I.e., we’re not participating in tickle fights.5

That said, I’ve made a massive philosophical change in my coaching style ever since marrying my wife, Dr. Lisa Lewis.

She’s a psychologist and knows a thing or two about Jedi mind-tricks.

To that end, I try really, really, really hard not to force feed and project MY preferences onto my clients. Granted I live in a bit of a strength & conditioning bubble where I don’t have to work very hard to convince new clients to understand and appreciate the benefits of strength training.

Many times people walk through the doors of CORE on Day #1 wanting to deadlift, or front squat, or discuss why Colton was a fool (and FOOL I tell you) to pick Cassie over Tayshia in the latest season of The Bachelor.

However, NEWSFLASH: a lot of people could give two shits about deadlifting 2x bodyweight or performing a low bar back squat.

Using the latter as a reference point, not many people have the ability to perform a barbell back squat well, and if I played the meanie head strength coach card all the time and forced every client to do it – even if it didn’t match their current ability level, injury history, or goal(s) – I’d be doing them a disservice and likely taking away from their training experience.

Doing our part and meeting our clients where THEY are – oh, you mean not everyone wants to train like a powerlifter? – would be the more germane and responsible approach.

If your client can’t perform a certain exercise because it’s too advanced (or worse, it hurts), then yeah, they’re not going to be very motivated to work hard.

2) Set Them Up For Success

I’m going to divulge a big (coaching) secret; something that will undoubtedly help separate any coaches/trainers who may be reading from the masses.

Wanna know what your clients want most and what will (likely) allow them to work harder?

No, it’s not a Instagram feed of you wearing yoga pants making a smoothie or posing shirtless next to a Tesla.

And it’s definitely not however many supplements you want to peddle their way.

Nope, what they really want is to not feel like an incompetent asshole on the gym floor.

The fitness industry likes bright shiny things; exercises that are flashy and look cool. That’s fine. I am not anti having a little fun in the gym.

That being said, lets stop with the exercises that take 13 minutes just to set up or are only good for garnering “likes” on social media.

 

I think the more prudent approach, and at the expense as coming across too “vanilla,” is to hammer the basics – squat, hinge, row, push, single leg, carry, core – and to use your skills as a coach to find out what variations of these patterns best fits the needs of your clients.

Want your clients to work hard(er)?

Set them up for success and provide a litany of exercises they can actually perform well and without feeling like a fool.

And then, you know, progress them accordingly.

3) Have Them Write Shit Down

Let me know if this sounds familiar:

Client: I’m frustrated by my lack of progress.

Me: Okay, lets break this down. Let me look at your program.

(looks at program)

Me: Why isn’t there anything written down?

Client: Oh, I just try to remember each week what I do.

Me: Excuse me, brb.

(tosses face into a brick wall).

Please.

Most people can barely remember what they had for dinner the night before let alone what they did on their third set of DB Bench Press last Wednesday.

“What gets tracked, gets managed”

I like to place a bit of accountability with my clients and encourage them – almost naggingly so  – to WRITE THEIR SHIT DOWN FOR THER LOVE OF GOD.

4) Appreciate RPE

It’s one thing when I can have my eyes on a client and adjust load or otherwise provide instant feedback on their technique in real time.

It’s a whole different ballgame when a client trains on their own.

There’s always going to be a bit of trial and error, however most of the time (not always) I find people tend to UNDER-estimate how much weight they can lift when training on their own.

Lets say a program calls for 4×8 of a particular exercise and that’s exactly what a client does.

Great.

That’s half the battle6

Upon further inspection, though, when you bring up effort or Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE), you come to the realization that they could have done eight more reps with that same weight.

[Cue The Price is Right horn here.]

Granted, they’re doing work, which should be celebrated…just not work that’s challenging enough (or, to be more specific, “work” that challenges the body and forces it to adapt to the load placed upon it).

Getting your clients to appreciate and adopt “RPE” to help provide feedback and direction in terms of what loads to use can be a game changer with regards to nudging them to work harder.

Courtesy of Mike Turscherer

5) Use a Teeny Tine Dose of Tough Love

Lastly, sometimes I like to write little notes into my client’s programs – especially those who can’t seem to live without their cell phone – to remind them that I have their best interests in mind.

Unless you’re a brain surgeon on call, leave your phone off the gym floor…;o)

 

Categoriescoaching personal training psychology

The Subtle Art of Shutting Up and Listening

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of TG.com regular, and my 1-day-per-week training partner7, Justin Kompf.

Listening, I mean really listening, is a learned skill and takes a lot of (purposeful) practice to master. Those who are able to so, however, are often the ones who separate themselves from the masses in the fitness industry.

This is a quick read, but worth your time

Copyright: aaronamat / 123RF Stock Photo

The Subtle Art of Shutting Up and Listening

I take a deep breath before I knock on my advisor’s office door.

“Keep it together Justin, whatever you do don’t cry”

I take a seat in his office and immediately start crying. We don’t need to go into details, but I was in a tough place.

Fine, my girlfriend broke up with me and I had no idea where I was going with my career. Okay, great, sharing feelings, my favorite.

Can we move on?

I’m sitting in his office, which mind you is surrounded by other offices, just balling.

But as I’m talking, I’m starting to feel better.

Why?

Well, here’s what he was doing. Just listening, providing me with enough silence to think thoughts and say them out loud. He asked me open ended questions without giving advice. That was special for me because up until then I don’t recall ever really being heard like that.

via GIPHY

Of course, there are friends I could say anything to, but I never really had this kind of experience before. This experience profoundly changed the way I interacted with people and even changed my approach on coaching.

Empathetic Listening

The other day in a lecture I hammered home the importance of forming relationships with the people you coach.

Given enough time in anyone’s life, something stressful (which is not necessarily bad) or crappy is bound to happen with different magnitudes of crappiness.

Sometimes I like to think of God as Donkey Kong from Nintendo just throwing barrels filled with crap (like bad or stressful events not actual poop) at people. It’s not a bad thing, that’s just life and it happens to everyone but it’s nice when you have someone to help you work through it.

Low levels of crappiness might be failing to get a promotion at work whereas high levels of crappiness might mean going through a divorce or a death in the family.

Many of the clients I train I’m close with, especially those close in age to me. I’m sure lots of other trainers are the same. Over time, trust forms and when things that bother them come up, they know I’ll listen.

This isn’t to say that a lift should turn into a therapy session, because it shouldn’t. But imagine how much a client would appreciate it when something came up and you just said:

“Hey, it sounds like you’re going through some tough stuff, let’s grab a coffee after the session”

How to Do This Empathetic Listening Thing

I don’t have set in stone guidelines on how to accomplish this, but I know when I’ve done it the right way and I know when I’ve failed.

I think one of the biggest issues people have in conversations is that they wait for their turn to talk. They have already concluded what they are going to say next even before the person in front of them has finished talking.

Yes Karen8, you’re guilty of this so pay close attention.

As soon as you’re thinking about what you are going to say next, you’re not fully engaged with the person, so that means you’re not listening.

Side Note: This is also super important for a successful initial consultation with a client if you want to truly understand their goals and why their goals are important.

If you’re going to be a good listener, you need to suspend your thoughts.

via GIPHY

Good listeners don’t jump to give advice or relate their experiences to the person in front of them. If you feel like you have something that the person can relate to, try saying:

“You know, everyone’s experience is different, and I don’t want to pretend like we’ve gone through the same thing, but I’ve got a story that I think you might relate to.”

People don’t always talk to get advice back.

They just want to talk because things are tough, and they want to get it off their chest. If they want advice, they’ll probably say “what do you think I should do?”

The last thing that I know for sure is that if you want to be a great listener you need to put your phone down.

All the incredible memes will still be there when your conversation is over.

The Subtle Art of Shutting Up

Listen…

Listening is incredibly important. Yea, sometimes it can be just about as comfortable as being single for the third year in a row at your families Thanksgiving get together.

Right…

But in order to be a good listener, you need to shut up.

Something great happens when a person feels accepted and can speak their mind. You might find out way more about the person you are working with, whether it’s about their goals or about their life, by saying nothing.

Just like lifting, writing, or slipping high brow poop jokes into casual conversations with your highly successful clients, listening is a skill that needs to be practiced.

So, I would encourage all of you to go out their and in the appropriate times, just shut up.

About the Author

Justin Kompf is doctoral student studying exercise and health sciences. He is a personal trainer in Boston at CLIENTEL3.

You can follow Justin here and here.

Categoriescoaching Conditioning

The Problems With Youth Fitness. With Solutions

I’ve got a guest post from Baltimore based strength & conditioning coach, Erica Suter today. She’s someone I respect a lot not only for her writing prowess (she gives me a run for my money with Lord of the Rings references), but also for her steadfastness in sticking to her guns.

She could easily train professional athletes given her own athletic background, but more to the point because she’s a gifted coach.

However, her preference is to work with youth athletes

And she crushes.

I am always impressed with Erica’s content and commitment to serving our younger generation of athletes. She’s recently released her first product – Total Youth Soccer Fitness – and it’s fantastic.

It’s really a manual for all young athletes and not just soccer, and I think it does a superb job at bringing the pendulum back to the middle. It provides a detailed strength & conditioning component, of course, but emphasizes something sorely lacking in today’s culture…

….fun!

It’s on sale for $67 for the next three days and then jumps to it’s full price of $97. Coaches, parents, Nazguls, act quickly. You won’t be disappointed. Get it HERE.

Copyright: matimix / 123RF Stock Photo

The Problems With Youth Fitness (With Solutions)

Besides J.R.R. Tolkien book themes, snowboarding trips, and triple shots of espresso, nothing lights me up more than youth fitness.

After seven years of coaching kids, I guess I have a lot to say on the topic. As a self-proclaimed introvert, my extrovert side certainly shines through any time strength and conditioning for youth athletes comes up. Here’s a common conversation I’ve had countless times:

Parent: “Can you do conditioning for my 10-year-old?”
Me: “Like take them to the playground?”
Parent: “No, like suicides, laps, timed miles.”
Me: “Find another coach.”

(hangs up phone abruptly)

via GIPHY

Okay, okay, maybe it’s not this dramatic, but you get my point.

Look. I love working with kids. There’s something magical about teaching a beginner the ropes of training and seeing them all the way through their athletic development to college and beyond.

But what I love more is teaching everyone involved in youth fitness that there are safe, fun, and effective ways to get kids better at their sport.

Still, some of these kids are in the wrong training hands. With overuse injuries, sports drop-out rates, lack of passion for sport, and sedentary lifestyles on the rise, I fear the future of the youth athlete.

More often than not, kids are trained wrong.

Whether a coach is misinformed, parents are Googling Messi workouts for their 10-year-old too much, or a new trainer wants to grow his social media following, kids are doing some ridiculous things (most that are unsafe) in the gym and on the field.

With that said, besides sitting at the DMV, there’s nothing worse than perusing Instagram and seeing these things:

– an 8-year-old sprinting up a hill carrying a medicine ball.
– a 10-year-old attached to a sled while dribbling through cones.
– a team of 8-year-olds running sprints around the field as punishment.
– a high school kid doing CrossFit box jumps without mastering jumping and landing mechanics.

Of course, I could make a laundry list here, but instead of complaining, I want to shed light on some of the biggest problems in youth fitness as well as provide actionable solutions.

Let’s do this:

1. People Aren’t Keeping Youth Fitness Simple.

When it comes to training kids, I like to be guided by this mantra: keep it simple, stupid.

A training session with kids should focus on 1-2 skills or performance components you want them to improve, then progress from there. There’s no need to be all over the place and complicate things. If you’re a coach who is trying to teach speed and jumps right into the speed resistance bands, harnesses, sleds, and unicorns to look flashy, who the hell are you?

Worse yet, the kid’s reps are terrible, form is weak, and coordination is non-existent.

So.

I have an idea: tell kids to skip or march and see the whacky coordination show. If they can’t do these simple tasks, what makes you think their linear and multi-directional mechanics will be clean?

Besides asking yourself what skill you want to teach that day, I’d also argue you should ask yourself: “am I developing athletes or social media stars?” before you jump to posting flashy videos on your Instagram.

*drops mic*

2. Youth Athletes Don’t Learn the Basic Motor Skills Enough.

Speaking of keeping it simple, always start with the basics.

Here are some staples to my youth fitness programs:

– Balance
– Contralateral Coordination
– Core Stability
– Jumping and Landing Mechanics
– Athletic Stance

What’s funny is, these basics set youth athletes up for the “cool” things they get to do later on in their development, like power cleans, deadlifts, pull-ups, lunge variations, and more. Behind every healthy, athletic youth athlete is someone who masters the basics.

Relentlessly.

Vertical Jump Tutorial

 

Because this much I know: motor skill learning is REAL. Like anything else in life, such as learning math, an instrument, or a soccer skill, this stuff takes a long time frame to master. Like as long as it took Frodo to trek across Middle Earth time frame.

Reflexive Strength

 

Being able to be coordinated (contralateral) is critical for not only developing optimal speed mechanics, but also for blending the left and right hemispheres of the brain.

Kids who can connect across their bodies through movements like Bird Dogs, Crawls, and Marches can tap into their logical and creative sides. A great book to check out on the benefits of coordination for brain development in youth is Smart Moves.

Here is a fun drill that touches on coordination, balance, and core stability to try:

 

3. Youth Athletes Aren’t Strength Training Enough.

Let’s get this out of the way: youth strength training does not mean throwing a kid under a barbell right off the bat.

Here are several things that could mean “strength training” for kids:

– Bodyweight
– Resistance Bands
– Free Weights (dumbbells, kettlebells)
– Barbells
– Prowlers
– Peg Boards

Now that you see you don’t have to sign your kid up for CrossFit to become the next Lebron, how should we gingerly go about strength training?

Taking the conversation back to the basics, always start with bodyweight first to ensure the kid can move well and execute good form.

Split Squat

 

Then, once bodyweight looks as pretty as a Starbuck’s peppermint mocha, you can progress to more crazy shenanigans like this:

Bulgarian Split Squat

 

Here’s a rough template I like to use as far as when to strength train:

– Girls 11-years-old and up
– Boys 12-years-old and up
– However, this may vary based on physical maturity and mental readiness.

How do we know a kid is mentally ready to enter a gym setting with clanking barbells?

– Ask them why they want to go in the gym.
– Notice their body language (proud, head up upon leaving gym)
– If they can’t stop talking about how awesome Coach Erica’s Pull-Up competitions were, they’re a green light. ;-O

4. Youth Athletes Aren’t Having Fun.

While structured training and coaching should done in a controlled environment, sometimes we need to set the seriousness aside and have some fun.

After all, don’t we want kids to fall in love with fitness?

Not just to get better for their sport, but to be inspired to move for a lifetime. In the midst of today’s Fortnite culture, it’s pretty freaking scary how little kids move nowadays.

Think about it: most sports teams practice a few times a week, amounting to a total of 2-4 hours a week of activity. This is meager compared to what we did back in my day. By “my day” I mean the 90s.

Shout out to those of you who played Dodgeball, Capture the Flag, Four Square, and Tether Ball.

Alas, I digress.

We don’t see this anymore. So to inspire kids to move, let’s lean into our creativity as coaches and make fitness fun. Here are several examples of games I’ve come up with over the years:

Example #1

 

Example #2

 

Example #3

 

Of course, these are just glossing over the tip of the iceberg. The good news for coaches is that yes, keep things simple, but sprinkle in creativity as you go to keep kids passionate and engaged.

Teaching must be done to some degree so kids learn, but we have to be cognizant of peppering in the fun.

To that end, let kids be kids.

Total Youth Soccer Fitness

If you’re a coach of young athletes this is for you.

If you’re a parent of young athletes this is for you.

Kids aren’t professional athletes and they should NOT be treated as such. Erica has provided a stellar resource that will help guide you step by step on how to build a well-rounded athlete, but remain cognizant that kids are kids.

Take advantage of $30 off the regular price HERE.

Categoriescoaching muscle growth Program Design

When to Bench Press With Your Feet on the Floor, and When Not To

I received an email awhile back from someone asking a simple question:

“What are the reasons one would or would not bench press with their legs on the bench as opposed to the floor? Just personal preference? Back issues?”

Tony of a few years back would have been like, “When would someone bench with their feet on the bench? WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER, THAT’S WHEN.”

Then that would have been followed by a guttural scream, dramatic desk clearing, and door slam.

You know, a mature, rational response.

Tony of today has a different viewpoint. Read below to hear allllll about it.

Copyright: spotpoint74 / 123RF Stock Photo

Why Bench Press With Feet On the Floor?

Why do we look both ways before crossing the street, or wash our hands after using the bathroom, or, I don’t know, wear pants to the dinner table?

It’s just the way stuff is done.9

The same can be said about the bench press. We perform it with our feet on the ground because that’s the way it’s supposed to be done.

To be a bit more colloquial, we perform it that way because:

  1. With the feet on the floor we can defer to a bit more leg drive which can help with lifting more weight; if that’s what you’re into.
  2. Moreover, as strength coach and competitive powerlifter Tony Bonvechio notes, “leg drive can help you get a bigger arch via hip extension.”

Now, admittedly, this last point is catered to more of the powerlifters in the room who are solely interested in one thing (well, two, after “where’s the nearest pizza buffet?”)….bench pressing as much weight as possible.

An arch in the lower back = a more biomechically sound position to shorten the distance the barbell must travel.

Both feet on the ground allows one to solidify the arch.

I love this analogy from Strength House coach Greg Robins:

“Think of it like a structural arch. In order to make an arch you need pressure from two sides. Like if you put a piece of paper on the table, and gently push from both ends simultaneously what do you get?

An Arch.”

A Slight Conversational Detour

For those who are about to hyperventilate into a brown paper bag at the mere notion of arching your back during a bench press, relax.

A kitten won’t die if it happens and it’s not inherently more dangerous to do so. Your lumbar spine has a natural lordotic curve to it anyways (an arch), sooooooo there’s that. And no one is sitting here insinuating you have to adopt a Marissa Inda bench set-up in order to bench press (and to do so with a high degree of success).

Much of what dictates how much of an arch to use is predicated on personal preference, goals, and what feels comfortable to each individual lifter.

Do you have to arch as much as the photo above? Nope.

Are you likely arching your back when you bench press, even if not on purpose, because that’s what your body is designed to do? Yep.

Will you please STFU and stop telling people arching is bad? ——> watch THIS.

Okay, Back to Benching With Feet on the Floor

I don’t have much more to say here.

If you’re interested in benching more weight, putting your feet on the ground is a splendid approach.10

Also, it decreases the chances you’ll drop the barbell on your face.

Why Bench Press With Feet On the Bench?

I’m not kidding when I say there used to be a time where I felt benching with the feet on the bench (or in the air) was one of the stupidest things someone could do, on par with texting while driving, thinking you can read a Thomas Pynchon novel in one sitting, or trying to take a selfie with a panther.

Pretty dumb.

However, we all marinate in our own ignorance sometimes.

As with anything in strength & conditioning there’s a time and place for everything.11

A drill I’ve been using in my own programming (and that of my clients) of late is the Larsen Press.

 

To explain the advantages of this stellar movement I’ll lean again on the shoulders of Tony Bonvechio and Greg Robins:

Tony:

“The main benefit of putting the feet up on the bench is teaching lifters to maintain their upper back arch and shoulder blade position. One of the biggest mistakes we see lifters make is collapsing the upper back as they bring the bar down, which can tip the shoulder blades forward and push the bar in front of the elbows. If you take away the legs, it’s much harder to keep the upper back arched, especially as you bring the bar down to the chest. Hook lying position, Larsen press and floor press are all variations of a no-legs press that work well.”

Greg:

“The biggest advantage I see to using feet up is to purposefully make the exercise harder. When the feet go up you have more range of motion and more instability which means more work for the muscles that move the weight – pecs shoulders triceps. I think this is really important for those who rely on big arches, and thrusting weights off their chest with their whole bodies.

There are other benefits as well:

– Create higher relative intensities with less weight on the bar.
– Awareness as Tony B said in how to stay tight.
– Relief on back and hips from being in contorted bench position.”

So There You Have It

So there you have it.

Categoriescoaching Exercise Technique

5 Dumbbell Row Mistakes and What To Do Instead

The dumbbell row is a common exercise performed in gyms everywhere and is a splendid choice for anyone interested in building a back the size of Nebraska.12

It’s a staple in my own programming (and that of my clients) because it offers a bevy of other benefits – shoulder health, emphasizes unilateral strength, promotes increased eccentric loading (they’re superb for accentuated eccentric sets), and it’s undeniably versatile, to name a few.

However, it’s an exercise that’s often butchered in terms of its execution, and as a result many trainees lose out on all those benefits

I wanted to highlight a few of the more egregious culprits in today’s post.

Copyright: huurah / 123RF Stock Photo

There’s No One Perfect Way, and I’m Not Saying You’re Wrong

Let me set the record straight out of the gate.

This post is not meant to be the end-all-be-all-Tony’s-right-and-you’re-wrong-so-STFU answer to everything dumbbell row.

I’ll be the first to admit there are many nuances of the exercise I’m omitting from this post. Truth be told I didn’t want to write a 3000 word article on the dumbbell row and make people want to commit seppuku out of sheer boredom.

  • 3ooo words on Why The Gummi Bears Were the Best Saturday Morning Cartoon of the 80’s = Pulitzer material.
  • 300o words on the DB Row = someone toss me a sword.

That said, my main objective here is to 1) point out a handful of technique flaws I’ve observed over the span of a 15+ year coaching career, 2) suggest some “fixes” and 3) hopefully keep my pants on in the process.

DB Row Mistake #1: Not Pushing Away

 

Understandably, when we’re performing a DB Row we should emphasize and be cognizant of what the working/moving arm is doing (more on this below).

However, it’s important to recognize that the supporting/non-moving arm is also a major player and is very much involved in the proper execution of this exercise.

Mike Robertson has pointed this out in the past, and it makes a ton of sense. I watch a lot of people “hang out” on their supporting side when performing a DB Row…more or less “dumping” into that shoulder.

This places the scapulae in a precarious position –  anteriorly tilted, often in more of a shruggy pattern – which isn’t doing anyone’s shoulder any favors.

Instead, you want to protract or “push away” on the supporting side for better positioning, stability, and, as a bonus, Serratus Anterior activation.

DB Row Mistake #2: The Path

 

Many people view the DB Row as two things:

  • A straight up and down motion.
  • An exercise that targets scapular retraction, namely the Rhomboids.

I view the DB Row as two things:

  • More of an arc motion (forward and backward).
  • An exercises that, yes, can (and kinda-sorta does) hit the rhomboids, but due to the increase line of pull (arc motion), is actually a superb exercise for maximal Lat engagement.

Strength coach Lee Boyce has hammered home this concept in the past, but it bears repeating here: the force angle of the DB Row – especially if it’s performed straight up and down – doesn’t lend itself as a great scapular retraction exercise.

Simply put: There are better options (Seated Row variations, bent over row, jumping into a live volcano).

Instead, you should treat the DB Row as more of Lat exercise.

Implementing more of a sweeping action or “arc” pattern with your arms allows you to match the fiber orientation of the Lats.

And that’s what it should target.

No diggidy, no doubt.

DB Row Mistake #3: Too Much ROM

 

More ROM isn’t always better.

A common mistake I often see trainees doing when performing a DB Row is allowing their elbow to travel too far past the midline of the body (glenohumeral extension).

Excessive glenohumeral extension (as what happens when the elbow travels past midline) can lead to excessive scapular anterior tilt and Anterior Humeral Glide, both of which will likely kill you.

Just kidding.

But they’re not going to make your shoulders (or elbows for that matter) feel great.

I like to cue my trainees to bring their elbows towards their hip or “back pocket” and that’s it. I’ll often have to place my hand just off the small of their back so they know when to stop.

Once they understand that, it’s makes all the difference in the world.

DB Row Mistake #4: Pinning the Shoulder Blade

 

Many people are cued to retract their shoulder blade at the top of the movement when they perform a DB Row.

Cool.

But then they keep it pinned there, in place, throughout the duration of a set.

Not cool.

And then this is how I react.

via GIPHY

When I coach the DB Row I encourage people to feel a slight stretch at the bottom of the movement.

The shoulder blades are meant to move around the rib cage.

Pinning them in place can lead to a litany of other situations – like Downward Rotation Syndrome – which you’re better off avoiding.

There are situations where I may cue someone to hold a retracted position more, but it’s rare.

Don’t be afraid to let those bad-boys explore their full movement capability.

DB Row Mistake #5: Going Too Heavy

Here’s a nice rule of thumb: If you look like you’re having an epileptic seizure – or it looks like you’re using an industrial strength Shake Weight – when performing a DB Row you’re likely not doing it correctly (or gaining much benefit other than stroking your ego)

I understand there’s a time and place for body english.

I do.

But as Eric Cressey poignantly Tweeted the other day:

Moreover, and as my colleague Chris Cooper succinctly reminded me of the other day, the DB Row is just as much of an upper back exercise as it is an ANTI-ROTATION exercise.

I prefer to encourage as rigid of a torso as possible during a set. There’s going to be “some” movement, mind you, but it shouldn’t be too prevalent.

When it is it’s often a sign someone is using too heavy of a load.

For a bit more of a the science and biomechanics of what I’m getting at – especially as it relates to the Resistance Curve and Strength Curve of rowing – I’d encourage you to check out THIS article by Nick Tumminello.

1100 Words

Boom shaka-laka.

Categoriescoaching

Coaching: The Fine Line Between Building Toughness and Being Destructive

Jordan McNair, a (former) University of Maryland football player, died a few weeks ago during practice as the team was completing conditioning drills.

All signs pointed towards him being in distress.

Yet, the cloud of “being tough” and persevering through a grueling workout seemed to have overcast common-sense.

We can learn from this tragic event as fitness professionals and be more cognizant of what our roles truly are. Thanks to NYC based strength coach, David Otey, for sending this article my way to post.

Copyright: oskanov / 123RF Stock Photo

Coaching: The Fine Line Between Building Toughness and Being Destructive

It shouldn’t take a devastating loss to rattle the heads of everyone in an industry.

The death of Jordan McNair, a 19-year-old sophomore football player at the University of Maryland is one that got shockingly little attention until recently.

Jordan died a couple weeks after a conditioning incident when running 110’s with the team.13

While there is much to be seen regarding specifics of the circumstances the part that is clear is this happened under the watch of their Strength and Conditioning staff.

We work in a field where bigger, stronger, faster, and more resilient is the goal.

With increased expectations can come increasingly negligent practices or, at the very least, less attention to the factors we can control. I bring this up because this is just a concerning situation when looking at Personal Trainers and instructors who have less education, experience, and want to show what they can do.

This isn’t to say that less education or experience can make someone more dangerous, but someone may be less in tune with the risk factors and signs showing that someone can be in distress.

The symptoms of a heat illness include:

  • High body temperature
  • Nausea
  • Vomiting
  • Rapid breathing
  • Flushed skin
  • Headache
  • Racing heart rate
  • Confusion
  • Agitation
  • Slurred speech and irritability (1)

Don’t the top seven symptoms look like what a “tough workout” would lead to when working out outdoors in the summer?

While heat stroke symptoms are the example I use above, this can be similarly associated with any client that is thrown too far into a program without the proper baseline. As I would compare it, throwing someone into the deep end who doesn’t know how to swim. While there are many factors we cannot control, there are many we can control.

1) Communication

An open line of communication is paramount to gaining success and identifying everyone’s boundaries.

Self-awareness is not a trait that every individual comes equipped with when they begin working out.

At the end of the day, the risk of an exercise should never outweigh the reward it pays out.

There are always options to improve the health and performance of someone while avoiding some dumb shit you saw on Instagram.

The phrase I commonly use with all my clients or potential clients is…

“If at any point in time you feel tired, sore, fatigued, dizzy, or just generally uncomfortable, please let me know.”

I say this so frequently it becomes a natural part of their program dialogue.

Creating a line of communication where the athlete, individual, or child you are working with understands they can trust you to be open is when real progress begins.

2) Hydration

I think we all have at one point in our life had that coach that used “no water” as a form of punishment.

That is an awful and ridiculous idea.

To be sufficiently hydrated it is recommended to drink 16-20 oz of fluid prior to exercise and replenish every pound of weight lost in a training session with 20-24 oz of water afterwards.

While hydration numbers are often changing based on many variables, it is safe to say 8-12, 8 oz glasses of water are recommended daily (2). Water effects everything from cognitive function do muscular activity so, yeah, its kind of a big deal.

3) Symptoms

Identifying when someone you have been consistently working with just isn’t themselves comes with time and attention.

Understanding what these signs look like can help avoid injury or regrettable overexertion.

The following examples pertain to system overload scenarios:

  • High respiratory rate
  • Wheezing
  • Blurred Vision
  • Clammy skin
  • Not sweating during vigorous activity
  • Headache
  • Uncontrollable HR

The following examples pertain to potential injuries (Muscular/Joint):

  • Wincing
  • Compensation to one side
  • Irregular gait pattern
  • Verbal cues (grunts or moans)
  • Visible cues (facial expression)

Unsure? Don’t Pass Go

Ultimately, we cannot avoid all situations.

We try out best to avoid every wrong turn to get the most out every person we have the privilege to work with. The best we can do is keep our eye and attention at making sure we keep our clients and athletes in the safest position possible.

Mental toughness is built in dealing with adversity and pushing the current limits.

Generic training and standards of what we expect can be thrown out the window. Arbitrary training protocols and “toughness” challenges are a thing of the past.

With all the advances we have seen in the fitness industry we can avoid some of the circumstances we have seen ourselves in over the past few years. We need to develop individuals from where they currently stand to where they can eventually thrive.

Because I said so is never a good response.

Don’t find yourself to be the health professional who neglects health.

For those who’d like to help you can go HERE to contribute to the GoFundMe account that has been set up to support the McNair family.

Resources

  1. “Heat Illnesses.” Korey Stringer Institute, ksi.uconn.edu/emergency-conditions/heat-illnesses/
  2. Roy, Brad A. “Exercise and Fluid Replacement.” ACSMs Health & Fitness Journal, vol. 17, no. 4, 2013, p. 3

About the Author

David Otey is a Strength and Conditioning specialist based out of New York City. David is the 2015 Fitness Manager of the Year for Equinox and has been featured in several major fitness publications on the topics of strength and Conditioning. David will be presenting at this year’s NSCA PT Conference on the topics of Rotational Power and Hex Bar Protocols.

Instagram: HERE.

Categoriescoaching Program Design

The Underrated Value of Mediocrity

Remember that iconic and hilarious scene from the movie Billy Madison when Billy (Adam Sandler), upon realizing one of his classmates embarrassingly peed his pants, attempts to “normalize” the situation by pretending to also pee his pants, thus reframing the unfortunate situation into something that’s not only desirable to do, but something everyone thinks is “cool” and will make you popular.

Remember that?

Well, in fitness, we encourage people to pee their pants.

Copyright: goodmoments / 123RF Stock Photo

Wait, Stop, It’s Just a Metaphor

Please don’t go and pee your……..

Goddamit.

I can’t take you anywhere.

Now, for those of you who didn’t take my words literally (which I hope is all of you), let me attempt to elaborate further on the point I’m trying to make.

It’s a bit of a reach, but I think it’ll make sense.

  1. Peeing your pants isn’t normal.14
  2. Similarly, hitting PR’s every day in the gym (or the expectation that you have to) isn’t normal.

To be clear: I am not saying we shouldn’t work hard or strive to push ourselves in the gym. As I’ve been known to say time or two:

“Lifting weights isn’t supposed to tickle.”

Likewise, it’s that drive to do better or to “do more work” week-by-week, month-by-month, and hopefully, because consistency matters most, year-by-year…that will make all the difference in the world.

Not that it needs repeating to my regular readers, but if you’re new (welcome!), the “doing more work” part is kinda important if you want to see continued progress in the gym. You have to provide enough of a (recoverable) stimulus to the body in order to force it to adapt to the demands placed upon it.

If on Day #1 of your fitness journey you found pressing the 30 lb. dumbbells hard, and here it is, Day #287 (<—no small feat) and it’s still hard, you may want to audit your program (or effort).

There has to be a degree of uncomfortableness and/or sucktitude in the process.

It’s just the way things are.

via GIPHY

However, Not Always

And this is where things get interesting.15

There’s always been this prevailing notion – especially in this social media age – that workouts have to, at all times, be ballbreakers.

We watch these amazing feats of strength on Instagram and YouTube, or read about someone’s insane workout on Twitter, and we believe that’s what we should be doing also. We’ve been desensitized into believing our workouts don’t count or are pointless unless we leave the gym crawling on all four or we can’t feel the right side of our face.

“Average” workouts are dull, prosaic, and for lammos who don’t really want to work hard and can’t hang with the big dogs.

I could not disagree with this viewpoint more.

The only thing I could possibly disagree more with is Becca choosing Garret over Blake in the latest season of The Bachelorette.

80% Workouts and Why Mediocrity Matters

Giving credit where it’s due, I want to point out that what follows is a concept I stole from strength coach/bodybuilder/fellow brother in baldness, Paul Carter.

There’s a time and place for workouts that crush us, and there’s a time and place to push the envelop with training.

In fact if we did the math, 10% of the time you’ll walk into the gym feeling like a million bucks and that you could beat Rambo in a staring contest.

Conversely, 10% of the time you’ll walk into the gym feeling like a bag of dicks and weights you pwned a week ago suddenly feel like they’re being lifted against the gravitational pull of a Black Hole.

I.e., There’s also a time and place to back off, not be a hero, and listen to your body.

The other 80% of the time – which is almost always – you’re going to show up and just do the work. You’re going to hit all your reps, strain (but not too much), and for all intents and purposes you’re going to complete a mediocre workout.

These are the workouts that matter most.

These are the workouts that build the grit, resiliency, and the base for pretty much all future outcomes.

My friend, Ben Bruno, reverberated a similar message a few days ago:

Battling through the mundane – and accepting it as a necessary component of progress – is a tough pill to swallow for many trainees.

I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had with athletes and clients over the years trying to make this concept stick.

“That workout was easy,” for some coaches, is the last thing they want to hear.

For me it’s a sign we’re headed down the right path. A path everyone, in the history of ever, has also travelled and navigated to get where they are today.

Show up, do the work, strain (but not too much), and don’t think you have to pee your pants…;o)