Single leg training isn’t sexy to talk, much less write about. In terms of excitement factor I’d rank it somewhere between a watching a NASCAR race and picking lint out of your belly button.
I can understand the cacophony of subsequent eye rolls and yawns that are being directed my way.
“An article on single leg training?! Come on, Tony. What’s next keto recipes?”
5 Ways I Include Single Leg Training In My Programs
Single leg training is important shit.
Now, more often than not whenever there’s an article written on single leg training it’s under the guise or in congruence with taking a massive dump on bilateral training (think: squats and/or deadlifts).
The implication being one should avoid bilateral or two-legged training in lieu of performing only unilateral or one-legged training.
I think it’s a stupid argument to have on par with which is better: Low-bar vs. high-bar squats? Or mint chocolate chip vs. mint Oreo ice-cream?
With deference, almost always, the appropriate answer to the single leg vs. bilateral debate (and, really, any question in the history of ever) is “it depends.”
Some people are more concerned with being brutally strong with the “Big 3” and are only worried about optimal force production. If that’s the case bilateral movements should make up the bulk of training.
Conversely, some people, especially athletes, need to marinate in a diverse pool of movement. In that case single leg training is going to take precedence and play more of an integral part in their training and programming.
Are there people out there who debate ice-cream? Don’t be cray-cray.
Suffice it to say, here’s my take on the debate: BOTH are important, BOTH play a significant role in a well-balanced program, and BOTH should be used simultaneously.
If we’re being honest, though, we generally don’t have to pull any arms behind backs in order to convince people to perform bilateral movements like squats and deadlifts.
It’s pretty much bro-code.
Single leg work on the other hand?
Well, that can be a bit of a harder sell.
It’s unfortunate because even if someone’s goal is to be a brick shit house (or a house of shit bricks, I’m not here to judge) single leg training has many benefits, mmmkay.
Including but not limited to:
Joint health and integrity (I have yet to find an individual with a history of knee, hip and/or back issues who doesn’t benefit from a healthy dose of single leg training).
Improved balance.
Improved foot/ankle/hip stability. Or, stability in general.1
A fantastic way to train rotary stability (<— a fancy schmancy way of saying something will work your core).
Greater specificity to sport (and real life).
Improved strength & hypertrophy (depending on how it’s implemented).
Helps address weaknesses and imbalances from limb to limb.
Below are (some) ways I like to include single leg training in my programs.
1) Treat Single Leg Training Like Eating Broccoli
It’s just, you know, something that has to be done.
It’s hard for me to peruse the list I made above of all the benefits and not include some semblance of single leg training in a program (regardless of someone’s goal).
There aren’t many scenarios I can think of off-hand where it won’t help.
Be a better athlete? Check
Be a better lifter? Check
Beat Jason Bourne in a knife fight? Check.
All the bases are covered.
That said, one pet-peeve of mine and something I notice all….the…..time as a coach is that people tend to go way too heavy.
I’ll watch some guys grab the 80+ lb dumbbells and perform walking lunges and think to myself “why?”
But this is after both my corneas jump out of their eye sockets and then proceed to jump into a bucket of battery acid.
Their knees are caving in every which way and it’s evident most are unable to control the load. This kinda defeats the purpose of doing it in the first place.
Stop training your ego and lower the load.
I’d rather people use a load they can control and perform it for high(er) reps than to grab the heaviest weight possible and make perhaps do more harm than good.
ALSO…..
It’s my own preference as a coach, but I much prefer people to adopt more of a forward lean when performing lunge variations.
When you assume a more upright posture during lunges it makes it easier to crank through the lower back which can also result in excessive rib flair; I.e., a more unstable position.
The inner dialogue should be more “shoulders over knees” than “shoulders over hips.”
2) Potentiation (Or, Turning “Stuff” On)
I often have my clients perform a single leg movement before squatting or deadlifting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Y73sPHKxw
I find it’s a nice way to turn “stuff” on and to prime the body for the extracurricular shenanigans going down shortly thereafter.
Goblet variations are my go to here (less grip intensive): Goblet Reverse Lunge, Goblet Forward Lunge, Goblet Reverse TO Forward Lunge, Goblet Split Squat, Goblet Bulgarian Split Squat, Goblet Whateverthefuck.
The idea is to go LIGHT and to OWN the movement.
I like to use 2-3 sets of 6-8 reps per side.
Pants optional.
3) Adding Isometric Holds
If you really want to humble someone (and to make their glutes scream for blood mercy) try adding in some isometric holds.
I LOVE using these with my clients/athletes as it forces them to use sloooooow down, to stay more cognizant of body position, and it also aids in more time under tension.
4. Combo Movements
Another way I like to include single leg training into my programs is to combine two movements into one.
This is a fantastic way to make the movements a bit more challenging and also serves as an opportunity to stroke my evil strength coach beard (despite the fact I don’t have one).
You want sore, I’ll give you sore.
Goblet Step-Through
Rear Foot Elevated Kang Squat
5) Fake Single Leg Training
Least we forget single leg training can be too advanced of an option for some people. Whether it’s due to novelty or “just because” we can incorporate “fake” single leg options to help ramp people to the real thing.
I’m more concerned with setting people up for as much success as possible rather than making them feel frustrated.
In that light here are two excellent options I use all the time:
Wall Press RDL
Here, we can still groove a single leg hinge pattern, but in a supported fashion.
For those who have balance issues this is an excellent choice.
B-Stance Squat
With the offset (or B) stance, we place more load on the front leg. Again, this is a great option for those with stability/balance issues and who aren’t quite ready for actual 1-legged squats (you sadistic bastard).
I’ve long stated that the largest “gap” in knowledge for most fit pros isn’t the area of program design or the “x’s” and “o’s” of how to improve scapular upward rotation.
…what’s really lacking in most fit pros’ repertoires is how to leverage your own way of thinking, feeling, and behaving in order to maximize your effectiveness as a coach, your rapport & working relationships with clients, and your own resilience and mental health.
Being an effective, professional coach isn’t about barking orders or putting on a facade of a hard-ass.
Dr. Lisa Lewis (my wife) released Psych Skills for Fit Pros last year and it helped many coaches realize the importance of “mindful” coaching and how to better build motivation.
This Fall, in Boston, she is going to continue the conversation with a brand new 2-day event that will dig deeper into the coach’s mind.
It’s focus is to enhance your own understanding of psychology and how to use it to enhance and best utilize coaching skills.
The weekend’s curriculum includes:
But also…
Mental Preparation – for coaching and training
Character Strengths – Know them. Leverage them.
Professional Orientation – Mission, values, philosophy. Name them. Practice them.
Unconscious Processes in Coaching – Transference, Framing, Psychological Dynamics
Professional Boundaries – Set them. Maintain them.
Self-Care – For sustainability, efficacy, and mental health.
When: Saturday, November 6th and Sunday, November 7th, 2021
It’s coming up on a full year since I’ve done a live event. I miss it terribly and can’t wait for the day to hop on an airplane and travel somewhere that isn’t my dining room table.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 isn’t going anywhere anytime soon and I’ve mentally prepared myself to put off any notions of travel until at least the Fall of 2021.
(🤞🤞🤞)
To that end if there’s anything this past year has taught me, it’s that not touching my face is impossible technology works. Specifically, if I can’t travel to your neck of the woods to put on a workshop, I can bring MY neck of woods to you.
Via a WiFi connection.
I’m elated to announce that I will be hosting my popular COACHING COMPETENCY workshop virtually this March, and in an effort to make things more accessible I will be doing so over the course of three consecutive weekends in bite-sized modules:
3 Hours on 3/7/21
2 Hours on 3/14/21
2 Hours on 3/21/21
Let’s Be Real: No One Wants to Look at My Grill On a Computer Screen For Seven Hours Straight
Attending a live event in person for an entire day is one thing.
For starters nothing beats seeing & listening to a presentation in person; information is seemingly absorbed a little easier that way. Too, between break out sessions, Q&A, and the intermingling of attendees, live events just seem to be less of a grind.
The “fatigue” factors seems a little less exorbitant.
Conversely, to ask people to stare at their computer screens for seven hours – especially considering that’s pretty much everyone’s life right now anyway – is whole other thing entirely.
Speaking personally I’d rather jump into a shark’s mouth. I mean, unless you have Jennifer Lopez & Shakira lined up to provide entertainment sporadically I’m likely out after 45-60 minutes.
That being said I figured 1) people still want to learn and 2) why not spread it out a bit?
The Virtual Coaching Competency Workshop is an opportunity for fitness professionals (or those who just like to lift heavy things) to gain better understanding and insight into how I structure assessments and program design, how I coach, tweak, and progress common strength exercises, as well as how I build and maintain motivation/rapport with my clients and athletes.
Topics Covered Include:
1) Using the Self-Determination Theory – Autonomy, Competency, and Relatedness – to foster and enhance motivation and long-term success with clients.
2) Upper & Lower Extremity Assessment: “Big Rock” things to look at and the importance of demonstrating success to your clients on Day 1.
3) Coaching up common strength exercises and how to individualize them to fit the goal(s), injury history, ability level, and maybe most important of all, anatomy, of each client.
4) Top 5 Netflix shows I’ve watched during quarantine.
Date: Sunday, March 7th, 14th, & 21st, 2021
Time:
2:30-5:30 pm, EST on 3/7
2:30-4:30 pm, EST on 3/14
2:30-4:30 pm, EST on 3/21
(NOTE: Everyone who registers will also receive a recording of everything, so you don’t technically have to attend each “live” presentation. Although it’s encouraged if you want to ask questions. Or witness my awesomeness as it happens).
Location: Everywhere (Except Minas Tirith. They know why).
Register: You can go HERE to sign-up and take advantage of the Early Bird rate.
Today’s guest post comes courtesy of Dr. Michael Mash.
I have a legit man-crush on him ever since I’ve started diving into his online resource Barbell Rehab. As the name implies: Its mission is to help barbell athletes (and aficionados) overcome pain and improve performance WITHOUT being forced into “corrective exercise” purgatory.
In a sense, it’s designed to use barbells (and lifting stuff) to help fix shit. What’s more Tony G than that? Okay, maybe Jason Bourne fight scenes.
Or dragons.
Or an endless cheese plate.
Regardless, Barbell Rehab speaks to my strength coach love language, and as it happens Michael is offering his course to all my readers at $50 off the regular price for this week only.
All you have to do is click THIS link and enter the coupon code TONYG50 to receive your $50 credit.
And even if you’re not keen to saving money (weirdo) you should still give his blog post below a read because it’s riddled with common sense and practical applications you can use TODAY to improve your squat screen or assessment.
When it comes to effectively screening the squat, many personal trainers and strength coaches have different approaches. From not utilizing a screen at all, to performing dozens of assessments prior to implementing a bodyweight squat, what is the best way to screen the squat?
Before we answer this question, let’s first talk about the function of a “screen” in general.
What is a Screen and Should We Use it?
According to John Hopkins…
“…a screening test is done to detect potential health disorders or diseases in people who do not have any symptoms of disease.”
If we apply this definition to the squat, one could say that a squat “screen” is a test performed to detect potential joint, muscle, or movement impairments in those who don’t have any pain.
In order for a screen to be effective, a “failed” test must be highly predictive of future injury or pain. If it’s not, this could create a lot of false positives results (a.k.a telling someone they’re doomed for injury if they really aren’t). So on one side, you want to make sure your client is “safe” to squat before loading them up, but you also don’t want to prevent them from squatting if they don’t really need to.
Oh the dilemma!
It’s Tough to Really “Predict” Pain and Injury
As mentioned, in order to analyze the efficacy of a screen, we need to know if it can indeed accurately predict injury. As it turns out, the research isn’t so sure about this.
In fact, it has been shown that one of the most common movement screens, the FMS, is only slightly better than a 50/50 coin flip at predicting injuries. This doesn’t mean, however, that you need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. While both myself and the authors of this paper note that the FMS can be used to see HOW a person moves, it shouldn’t be used as a way to predict injury.
If the FMS can’t reliably predict injury or pain….what can?
Because pain is a multidimensional experience driven by biological, psychological, and sociological factors, it is really a reductionist mindset to blame pain solely on “tight hamstrings” or “poor form” in general.
In fact, factors such as stress, anxiety, depression, lack of social support, job dissatisfaction, and poor sleep and nutrition can ALL affect a person’s pain experience. This is why we need to zone OUT when it comes to “predicting” injury and really take a comprehensive approach. The WAY someone moves is certainly important, but it’s just one tiny piece of a much larger puzzle.
What is an Effective Movement Screen?
So how should you effectively screen the squat? In order for a screen to be effective, it needs to be SPECIFIC, and there’s no better way to be specific than to actually perform the movement itself. Yep, that’s right. The best way to “screen” the squat, is to actually have the client perform a squat.
This process will give you ALL of the information you need in order to make a decision on whether or not they are “safe” to proceed forward with loading the squat.
And guess what?
It doesn’t involve any kind of joint-by-joint assessment, specific muscle flexibility testing, or any other long drawn out processes either.
While the aforementioned approaches can be beneficial to “dig deeper” if someone already has pain, they’re rather unnecessary as part of a screening process in asymptomatic individuals.
For those without pain, here’s a simple process I recommend in order to determine if they are safe to squat.
Step 1: Show Me Your Squat
The first step of our world’s simplest squat screen is to simply ask the client to “show me a squat.” I like to do this for a few reasons. First, it will give you an idea of what they “think” a squat is and how they move in general. Two, it will also give you an idea of how hesitant they are to move.
Some will just drop it low into a perfect squat and others will hesitate to start and move really slowly. You may see the latter example if someone has a history of pain or has fear with movement in general.
This is all useful data to collect on this important first step. If the squat looks good, congratulations!
Your job is easy today, and it’s time to load them up!
If it needs some work, it’s on to the next step.
Step 2: Coach the Squat
After asking the client to show you their squat, it’s time to coach it. While everyone is going to squat with a different stance width, degree of toe out, and torso angle, it helps to at least have a frame of reference to start from.
I recommend cueing them into a heels shoulder-width stance with a moderate 20-30° toe out, and then asking them to squat as far down as they comfortably can. While this foot placement won’t work for everyone, it’ll work for the majority of people. In this initial bodyweight squat coaching phase, some people may have discomfort or won’t be able to quite get to parallel…and that’s ok.
That’s why we have Step 3.
Step 3: Modify Stance and Depth if Needed
If you coach the client into a shoulder-width slightly toed out stance, and they have pain with this, or they can’t squat very deep, all is not lost yet. Two of the most common pains you’ll see with a bodyweight squat are hip and knee pain. And just because they have pain, doesn’t mean they are injured or need to be referred out to a rehab professional. It may simply just be the way they are built.
For example, if you take someone with highly retroverted hips, and have them try to squat with a narrow stance with minimal toe out, they may get a “pinch” in the front of their hips at the bottom. This can usually be remedied by widening the stance a bit and turning the toes out more. This doesn’t mean anything is wrong with them…it’s simply the way they are built!
Tying it all together, if someone has pain when you coach them into a bodyweight squat, see if it’s relieved with a simple stance adjustment. This is 100% within your scope to do as a personal trainer or strength coach, as you’re not diagnosing, assessing, or putting your hands on the client at all.
Step 4: Change the Exercise and/or Refer Out
Sometimes the squat pattern itself is so sensitized, that a stance or form adjustment isn’t enough to eradicate pain. If this is the case, I’d recommend NOT proceeding forward with having the client squat, and instead, finding a similar exercise like a rear foot elevated split squat or a lunge variation that they can tolerate.
If the client’s goal is to squat, it would also be best at this point to refer out to a qualified rehab professional as well. This is why interdisciplinary care is so important in the health and fitness world. At this point, as the personal trainer or strength coach, you can continue to train your client with what they can tolerate (full upper body workouts and modified lower body exercises) while the rehab professional addresses the pain itself.
A Quick Note on Squat Depth
Sometimes no matter how much you modify stance, degree of toe out, or hip position, your client won’t be able to squat to “depth.” Depth is defined as when the greater trochanter of the hip goes below the top of the patella from a side view.
In this case, you need to find out if it’s simply because they feel “tight” or if it’s limited by pain.
If it’s limited by pain (even after stance adjustments) then you may want to refer out. If they just feel “tight,” then you can proceed forward with loading them up to tolerance….even if it’s not quite to depth. That’s right. There is no evidence to suggest that squatting above parallel is inherently dangerous.
Rather than spending six months working solely on mobility to increase squat depth, you can work on BOTH simultaneously. Train the squat to the depth the client is comfortable with and tease in mobility drills at the same time.
This one-two punch of increasing mobility and loading through it, will help your clients squat deeper (if that’s their goal) much quicker than not squatting at all.
Tying it All Together
The squat is one of the most beneficial lower body movement patterns to coach your clients through. While everyone will squat with a different stance, degree of toe out, and variation, there’s no need to take clients through an extensive “screening” process prior to loading them up.
Instead:
1️⃣ Ask them to “show me a squat” to get an idea of how they move to begin with
2️⃣ Coach the squat. Cue them into a moderate stance with slight toe out and ask them to squat as deep as they can
3️⃣ If they have pain, see if you can find a stance width, degree of toe out, and depth that is tolerable for them. If so…it’s time to load them up!
4️⃣ If they still have pain after a stance adjustment, it’s probably best to hold on squatting for now and to refer out to a rehab professional for further assessment.
About the Author
Dr. Michael Mash is the owner and founder of Barbell Rehab, a continuing education company dedicated to helping fitness and rehab professionals improve the management of barbell athletes. Check out his CEU approved online course, The Barbell Rehab Workshop at this link and use coupon code TONYG50 for $50 off.
It’s one thing to get a client on board with lifting heavy things on a somewhat regular basis and how it can have positive effects on their overall health and well-being.
It’s another thing altogether to get them to commit to the nutrition & recovery side of the equation and how that too plays a significant role in the grand scheme of things. I’ve often joked that I’d rather wash my face with broken glass than attempt to get a client to try some kale.
That being said, it behooves any trainer/coach/fitness professional to have a system in place to address their clients’ nutritional & recovery needs. My good friend, Dr. Mike T Nelson, has opened up his Flex Diet Certificationto my readers only this week. It includes 30 hours of continuing education and covers anything and everything as it relates to nutrition coaching
You can click HERE to sign up for a FREE 1-hour webinar and to learn more about the certification and whether or not it’s a good fit for you.
(Ahem: you should also check out his guest post below)
Top 2 Mistakes Trainers Make With Nutrition & Recovery…and How to Fix Them
The old saying is true. . . at best you are only with a client for one hour a day and they have the other 23 hours to hose it all up.
This is reality.
You are not going to follow them around to their workplace and bat the doughnut that coworker Betty brought into work out of their hand.
What you do with clients in the gym and online for programming matters tons, but what are you providing them for the time when they are not with you?
Here are the top 2 mistakes I see trainers making in this area. A big reason I know this is that I’ve made these two mistakes in the past and wish someone would have grabbed me by my undies, dragged me to the curb and showed me how to do it better.
Mistake #1: Prioritizing the Wrong Items
I know you.
You love to spend time working on getting better at your craft. That is commendable and kudos to you. The fitness world needs more people like you, and Tony G will even give you a virtual high five.
Note From TG: Better yet, I’ll toss over a “bearded Robert Redford playing a lumberjack (?)” head nod of approval.
The downside is that everyone is pushing the latest and greatest nutrition/ recovery item you should have your clients do.
“No way Bro, you have to be doing keto esters between every meal to recover and get ripped.”
“What, you don’t need any veggies. Don’t you know they have these nasty ass compounds in them to prevent other animals from eating them, so they are bad for you. Just eat more meat you, wimp.”
“You are missing out Bro-ette since this corset is what you really need to get toned in your abZ.”
You get the idea.
Much of what you read is walking BS on a stick and easy to spot. But even legitimate items can be overwhelming from veggie intake to protein to breathing techniques to sleep.
How do you know where to start with a client?
Here is where the concept of leverage can be helpful to figure out what interventions may be best for your clients.
You remember the concept of leverage from Physics class right? In case you slept through it, leverage allows you to amplify a small input for a much bigger output. It was also a semi-ok now defunct TV series . . .
If you have a big enough lever, you can move huge amounts of load with less effort.
Think of the concept of the kingpin.
If you’ve ever looked at logs going down a river all jammed up. It looks like a mess, and you would need massive effort to get them flowing again. Then, suddenly some crazy ass lumberjack removes just one log and instead of being all jammed up, all of the logs seem to flow much better.
That one log had a lot more leverage than the other logs around it.
This concept can also be applied to when you’re working with clients to determine what kind of intervention should you do on the recovery side on nutrition and different aspects related to that.
In regards to your client’s other 23 hours, sleep is something that’s trending now, which is great, but most conversations about sleep with clients does not end well.
We know that sleep is an absolute requirement for survival. We know that if you don’t sleep for several days, you’re going to have a whole bunch of physiologic changes that are not going to be good, right?
All sorts of things that kind of go offline with sleep on the physiology side. I can make a huge argument that sleep may be near the top.
I did a lot of discussion about sleep and why I think they should get more sleep. And the short answer is, and again, if you’re a trainer, you’ve run into this, I absolutely guarantee it was excruciatingly hard to get clients to make large changes in sleep.
Most client’s response when you tell them to sleep more
The reality is at the end of the day, having someone who only sleeps five to six hours and trying to get them up to maybe a seven to eight hours of sleep was very difficult. I felt like I was beating my head against the wall because I had all this data, all this research to show how important sleep actually is.
But the mistake that I made was I was only rating that on the physiology.
And as you know, when you work with clients or even yourself, I rarely find that physiology is the main rate limiter. It’s definitely a factor for sure, but I find the psychological ability to change as the biggest thing that will limit your results.
I took my physiologic rankings, and I put them on just an arbitrary one to 10 scale, kind of based on the research and what I had found.
Next, I took the same interventions, and I ranked them on the client’s ability to change (psychology). This was primarily based on my own experience, from talking to a lot of other trainers and polling trainers at seminars and education.
Coaching Leverage = Physiology Effect x Client’s Ability to Change
Back to topic of sleep, the psychologic ability to change with sleep is very low despite a very high physiologic effect; thus, our coaching leverage score for sleep turns out to be crazy low.
The concept of coaching leverage is a cool way to then rate all the different interventions that you can do.
When I set up the Flex Diet Cert, that’s exactly what I did . . . I ranked all eight possible interventions in order with the highest coaching leverage being the first one to focus on and the lowest one being last.
My recommendation is to start with the higher ranked items first.
Here is a clue, eating more dietary protein ranked as #1.
Rig the system in your client’s favor.
Allow them to see some change, some positive wins, and try to do the things that are easier for them to change and have an also bigger physiologic change.
This allows them to see results with less effort.
Mistake #2: Not Using a System
You use a system for training right?
What system do you use for the other 23 hours a day for your clients?
Many trainers don’t have a system and just lob 30-day challenges at clients with a dash of “hope and pray.”
There are lots of great systems out there, and of course I am biased to the one I created (cough… Flex Diet Cert…cough cough).
Heck, even if you opt to not use my system (you crazy person), please pick one and implement it. Your clients will get better results, which makes you look even better.
Summary
Above you have two mistakes that many trainers are making and two solutions to fix them.
To make your life even easier, I have opened up the Flex Diet Cert for only 7 days exclusively for fans of my buddy Tony G.
Go to the link below to learn more today and implement solutions to your clients other 23 hours a day for better results.
Mike T. Nelson, PhD, MSME, CSCS, CISSN, is a research fanatic who specializes in metabolic flexibility and heart rate variability, as well as an online trainer, adjunct professor, faculty member at the Carrick Institute, presenter, creator of the Flex Diet Cert, kiteboarder, and (somewhat incongruously) heavy-metal enthusiast.
The techniques he’s developed, and the results Mike gets for his clients have been featured in international magazines, in scientific publications, and on websites across the globe.
In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his wife, lifting odd objects, reading research, and kiteboarding as much as possible.
Many of us have a bit of extra time on our hands of late.3
You’ve finished Tiger King on Netflix.
You may have even gone a step further and watched every episode of Love is Blind.
If so, MARK, WAKE UP, JESSICA IS NOT THAT IN TO YOU.
The next logical choice in this line of binging, of course, is something revolving around shoulders & hips.
Copyright: mihalec / 123RF Stock Photo
Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint and (Even More) Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint on Sale
(Tony pulls up a chair)
Dean and I had planned to go through with this sale about two months ago, but obviously world events gave us some pause.
We went back and forth with the idea of selling during this time because we knew many people would be going through some financial struggles and we didn’t want to come across as too tone deaf.
That being said, we also understood the fitness industry has been put on pause for the foreseeable future and there are a lot of personal trainers, coaches, and physical therapists trying to figure things out and/or are sick of posting their 47th variation of split squats on Instagram.
This is an opportune time to sharpen your skills and get smarter.
Dean Somerset and I have put the ENTIRE Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint series on a hefty sale starting today (with finance options for those who’d prefer to spread out their payments).
A special discount code to Tony’s reenactment of the entire Star Wars saga (with shadow puppets).4
If you’re still on the fence or skeptical on just how much this series will melt your face here’s a few sneak peeks on the some of the content Dean and I cover:
1. Squat Set-Up
A ten minute clip outlining how we determine a client’s ideal stance for their squats based on their individual anatomical considerations.
2. Shoulder Stability Training
Almost 13 minutes of drills to help improve shoulder stability while getting a training effect along the way.
3. Breathing for Mobility
A nine minute video outlining how we use positional breathing drills to access more range of motion, plus make exercises instantly more challenging.
4. Plyometrics for the Elderly Client
Say what? Yep, you can use a stretch-shortening cycle with older clients to improve power output and keep their functional capacity as high as possible for much longer than slower movements. This 8 minute video shows the how and why.
Whether you’re a fitness professional or just someone who likes to lift heavy things and geek out over scapular upward rotation and the miracles of posterior pelvic tilt, the Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint series will undoubtedly provide you a TON of actionable, real-world, evidence-based content to help you connect the dots between assessment and helping your athletes/clients perform at a high(er) level.
We’re limiting this sale through this Sunday only (4/5/20), so take advantage while you can.
I’m excited to announce that Dr. Lisa Lewis’s brand new resource, Psych Skills for Fit Pros, is now live and ready to purchase/melt people’s brains.
This resource was made specifically to help personal trainers, strength & nutrition coaches, and physical therapists accelerate their clients’ results (and YOUR success) by mastering communication and motivational skills.
I.e., What often separates great coaches from the average ones isn’t so much their ability to break down shoulder assessment, deadlift technique, design the perfect concurrent periodized program, and/or discuss the intricacies of gluconeogenesis – although those are all pretty baller skills to have.
Rather, what really separates the great fit pros from the masses are their SOFT SKILLS of coaching.
Eleven Years In the Making
Full Disclosure: For those unaware, Dr. Lewis is my wife.
See, here’s proof:
We met in 2009 while I was a coach at Cressey Sports Performance and she was finishing up her doctorate in Sports Psychology at Boston University.
It wasn’t long into our relationship when she noticed I had amazing pecs I’d sometimes come home zapped and frustrated.
For starters I’m an introvert through and through and after eight straight hours of coaching athletes and listening to Metallica and Rage Against the Machine I’d want to sequester myself in my Fortress of Solitude with a book whenever I arrived home.
“Hi Babe. How was your day? Bye Babe.”
But too, what drained me the most was the mental gymnastics tethered to keeping certain clients motivated and consistent with their training. I’d come home mad at myself that “so and so wasn’t getting results” and then either start crying in the corner in the fetal position or jump through a pane glass window.
Okay, neither of those happened…but the discontent was real.
Lisa, thankfully, was always more than happy to help talk me through things and provide a “script” or blueprint or lesson plan to take with me back to work to implement with my clients.
After like the 47th time I came home asking her for advice it dawned on me…
…the health/fitness industry NEEDS her and her expertise.
It needs an ACTUAL DOCTOR in this shit (and not some tool on Instagram who labels themself a “mindset coach” because they read a book once) who actually lifts to come up with a resource.
Something to help health/fitness professionals to develop their people skills and to build better rapport with their clients/athletes. I mean, like or not, there’s A LOT of psychology stitched in with being a coach.
The seed was planted.
Now, Fast Forward Moving-In Together, Getting Married, Adopting a Cat, Starting Our Own Separate Businesses, and Having a Kid.
Lisa started officially working on this project in April 2019.
We all have clients who are noncompliant, dropout, relapse, or just straight up give-up on their health/fitness goals.
And it really grinds our gears.
Psych Skills for Fitness Pros addresses a gap in the nutrition and exercise science knowledge base – psychology. This online, do-at-your-own-pace course provides an introduction, theoretical review, and extensive application of psychological processes that are central to working with clients.
The course is divided into 6 chapters, and each chapter contains 4-6 modules of content. These modules include webinars, quizzes, interviews, and worksheets for self-reflection and practice. Specifically, the course content includes the Self-Determination Theory, the Transtheoretical Model of Change, and Motivational Interviewing.
Of Note: the interviews include some names you might be familiar with (and how they used these very skills to help build their businesses and brands): Mark Fisher, Molly Galbraith, Dean Somerset, Meghan Callaway, Kelly Coffey, Georgie Fear, and some jallopy with the last name Gentilcore.
This product is ON SALE at 20% off the regular price today though the next two weeks.
What Else Can You Expect?
Continuing Education credits have been approved via the NSCA (and NASM is pending)
You have the option to either purchase in full or take advantage of a payment plan.
Gluten free.
There’s no other resource out there like this specifically designed for trainers and coaches.
My good friend, colleague, and currently ranked in my Top FIVE of man-crushes, Dan Pope, just released his latest resource: Fitness Pain Free Certification.
NOTE: Dan’s a physical therapist and coach here in Boston who’s one of my “go to” sources when I need to refer some of my more banged up clients to someone with a keener eye than myself. Plus he’s just someone I have learned a ton from throughout the years and his new course is fucking OUTSTANDING.
Dan provided me with a special discount code to my readers to save $200 off the price of course for a limited time.
Use code [TONYGFPF] to save through the month of January.
There’s more about the course at the bottom, but in the meantime Dan was kind enough to answer a few questions I had for him about the resource and his approach to training.
TG:Can you take a few moments to inform my readership how awesome you are?
DP: Sure Tony, I’m not 100% I’d use the word “awesome” to describe myself but I’ll give you a little background on me.
My name is Dan Pope.
I’m a physical therapist and strength coach.
I’ve got a pretty big background in sports, particularly strength and fitness. I was a polevaulter in college at Rutgers. After that I got really involved in Strongman and won a state and national title in 2009. After that I got involved in CrossFit and have competed at the CrossFit Regionals competition twice. Now I’m a bit washed up but still enjoy lifting heavy things in the gym.
I’ve also always been very involved in the fitness and strength world from a professional background. I’ve been a personal trainer and strength coach for about 15 years and did that full time before becoming a physical therapist.
I got into the pain and injury game as a strength coach and personal trainer because I was working with people on a very regular basis that had pain and injury. Every time I was working with these folks I’d refer them to a physical therapist. The physical therapists I was working with kept on telling me, “Of course your athlete got hurt, you were performing deadlifts.” or “Of course your athlete got hurt you were performing kettle bell swings.” Basically every exercise in the gym was responsible for injury.
Being a meathead at heart myself, I knew this had to be wrong. I wanted to learn how to help these people. So I went on a journey to do exactly that.
Fast forward over a decade of schooling and experience and I’ve found that this old advice was anything but true.
Training is definitely good for you, for getting out of pain and ALSO preventing future injury (duh).
However, there is definitely an art to it.
You can’t go willy nilly with your clients in the gym and expect to never get them injured. You also can’t go blindly into working with some one who is injured or coming out of an injury. If you make the wrong decisions you can keep them painful or even make them worse.
Do the right things and you can continue working towards their goals safely and can help them get out of pain as well. So I’ve basically devoted my life towards helping athletes in pain and also teaching other fitness and rehab. professionals how to safely and effectively work with these folks.
I also love gratuitous amounts of grilled cheese once per week and have a pet snapping turtle named Champ.
TG:For the record, I wouldn’t have had enough eye rolls to give if I had to endure a bunch of narrow-minded physical therapists – who likely never lifted a weight in their life – tell me that deadlifts were the bane of everyone’s injuries.
Anyway, with the particulars out of the way, who is the Fitness Pain Free Certification designed for and what do you feel separates itself from the masses?
DP: I actually created this certification because I feel it fulfills a very specific niche.
I still really feel there are no certifications out there right now that do a good job of preparing fitness professionals to work with individuals with pain and injury.
It used to drive me crazy as a personal trainer back in the day.
I’d be working with people in pain every day of the week and was supposed to know how to deal with all of these people with complex pain problems. The solution for pain was always, “Just avoid doing anything that hurts and refer out to a doctor or other healthcare provide.” Meanwhile as I said previously the healthcare providers were no help and were even more useless than I was.
The truth of the matter is that the good trainers out there would figure out how to work with painful folks over time, but this made no sense to me. If you want to be a plumber, there’s education for that. If you want to be a physician there is school for that. For trainers there was school and certifications but everyone stayed away from pain and injury. Pain remained this nebulous problem only reserved for healthcare providers and physicians, yet half of my clients had some sort of nagging injury they were dealing with that affected their ability to train on a regular basis.
Meanwhile, the healthcare providers don’t have the knowledge to work with athletes in the gym. They’re making exercise the villain when we know this anything but the truth. For this reason there isn’t any good certification out there that shows these folks how to work effectively with powerlifters, olympic weightlifters, CrossFit athletes and really anyone who just likes to train hard in the gym.
With that being said, I made this certification with these two folks in mind.
For the fitness professionals I completely demystify pain and injury and show you exactly how to safely and effectively work with people in pain.
For the healthcare providers I show them how to effectively get these folks out of pain, back to high level performance and how to keep them pain free for the long haul.
TG: What I respect about you most is that you’re not only an amazing therapist/clinician, but you also practice what you preach. I.e., you actually lift weights. I know you’ve touched in this already, but just how integral do you feel the whole “you gotta lift shit to fix shit” manta plays with helping people get out of pain?
DP: Hahaha, I think it all comes down to the person’s goals and what they’re trying to get back to.
I think there is a trend right now in the physical therapy and strength world that heavy strength training fixes everything.
I’ve got to be honest, I’d love to shout that from the roof tops if that was completely true.
In reality a lot of treatments can be effective for pain.
Back pain is a great example.
We have research to show thats squats and deadlifts are helpful for getting people out of pain. However, we also have research to show that walking, aerobic exercise, core stability and pilates can help decrease low back pain. We also have some research to show that sometimes deadlifting is not the best plan of action to get out of pain.
I think the best treatment option does two things.
For one, it’s got to be something that the person will actually do. So it definitely helps if the person enjoys some sort of active exercise.
Secondly, the rehab has to be specific to what the athlete wants to get back to.
If you take a 600lb deadlifter with low back pain and rehab them with pilates for three months, great. They’re out of pain. But if you ask them to pick up a 600lb barbell after three months of nothing but pilates you’ve probably got another injury on your hands. So if you want to get back to weight training then yes, you’ve got to pick some heavy shit up.
The body is very adaptable if we show it the stress it needs to adapt to. Show it that it needs to be able to lift heavy shit and it will learn and grow.
TG: Since we’re on the topic of addressing and training around injury: Which inane term makes you want to throw your face into a wall more when you hear it: Shoulder impingement or anterior knee pain? I know you’re on the same page as me that those two terms really don’t mean anything (but we have to use nevertheless).
DP: Man, I have a bunch.
I think the term that I’m disliking recently is “balance”.
I.e., The reason why your shoulder got hurt is because you have a poor “balance” of training all of the muscles around the shoulder.
What I will say is that having a comprehensive program for the shoulder is important, so balance is important from that perspective.
However, in other sports we very clearly define “mechanisms of injury” or basically how people get hurt playing their sport. For ACL injuries in the knee for example it’s usually when an athlete is pivoting and their knee goes in under too much load.
Boom, torn ACL.
So how do we go about preventing future injury? We work on pivoting and landing without having knee in. It makes total sense. However, we don’t always approach injury prevention in the gym the same way.
Let’s say I hurt my shoulder bench pressing. Now, I can chalk this up to “having a poor balance” of shoulder training in the gym.
But this doesn’t really make sense to me.
The shoulder breaks down because it doesn’t have the strength and integrity to handle the forces of training. These injuries are typically “overuse” in nature.
This means to me that the shoulder was either:
1) Under too much stress (excessive volume / intensity)
2) Not strong (or prepared) enough to handle the forces of training
3) Not recovering well enough
So if we understand that this is why the shoulder breaks down we can very easily come up with a strategy to prevent future injury.
For the bench presser’s shoulder that may mean:
1) Decreasing pressing volume slightly
2) Strengthening the pressing muscles with accessory exercises to improve the shoulder’s ability to tolerate training
3) Improve sleep, nutrition and stress management
Now, maybe a “balanced” shoulder training program does all of these things but I feel like we’re just beating around the bush. If we want to prevent injury we need to figure out why injuries are happening in the first place and come up with a comprehensive plan to prevent future injury based on these factors.
TG: I’m constantly asked what are the major differences between writing programs for athletes and that of general population clients.
Do you have any thoughts?
DP: I’m a big fan of writing training plans with end goals in mind.
For athletes this is generally optimized performance.
For the general population this is usually health, function and looking good naked.
For athlete’s we’ll always be pushing the boundary between doing as much as possible to optimize performance and doing too much and getting injured.
This means there is a lot more wiggle room for general population folks.
For athlete’s we’re constantly pushing the envelope.
TG: With regards to working with athletes, load management is a term that’s grown in popularity of late. Training around injury is something I know you’re fanatical about – in a good way (I refer to it as Trainable Menu) – can you offer some general tidbits for other fitness professionals to consider when working with athletes/clients who are injured?
DP: For sure.
Exercise is an amazing medicine that heals injured structures in our bodies. What’s important to understand is that this medicine must be dosed appropriately after an injury to have positive effects. Think of the difference between taking two aspirin and taking the whole bottle.
One is the perfect amount and the other kills you.
The magic is in the dosage.
After an injury we need to find that right dosage to create a positive effect.
I think step 1 is learning how to dose stress to muscles and joints. For example, if someone has knee pain, what factors increase and decrease stress on the knee in the gym? Well, technique, speed of execution and load are three easy variables we can use to dose stress. If we understand these principles we can figure out the right dosage of exercise and then slowly progress this dosage as our clients heal over time.
The other important concept to understand is that a lot of injuries don’t tend to get better unless we stress it enough. So you get these folks where rest doesn’t help them and they’ve got a bum knee for the rest of their lives because no one ever taught them to load appropriately and they thought loading it was bad. If you learn these principles you can be the person who finally ends your client’s pain problem.
TG: Let’s end with a bit of fun.
I’ve always kinda bashed on the kipping pull-up. Okay, there’s no “kinda” about it. I know you cover the exercise in your course and I want to learn: Can you “defend” it here?
Why is it a thing? Who does it benefit? What are the training advantages?
DP: You’re right, kipping is terrible for you…
Just kidding!
My views on kipping have been shaped largely by two things.
1) I work with a bunch of olympic level gymnasts that coach CrossFit athletes how to move well. Kipping is a very common and remedial movement for those guys. There are certainly good and bad ways to kip and when done well can be a safe and effective exercise.
2) Second, I really don’t see too many injuries strictly from kipping. Ya, they certainly do happen but I’d say I see more back issues with deadlifting and shoulder issues with pressing then kipping injuries.
If you have absolutely no desire to compete in a competition that allows kipping during pull-ups then I wouldn’t train it. You can probably build as much muscle and strength (and probably better) with our good old friend the strict pull-up.
However, if you want to perform kipping pull-ups then you probably want to learn how to perform them with solid technique and also how to program them into your training properly.
What I will say is that learning some of the more advanced dynamic gymnastics movements like ring muscle-ups and front uprises is a lot of fun and can be a really cool addition to your normal training. You should probably learn how to do this properly before going about it though.
Remember above when I said how this course is fucking outstanding?
That’s an understatement.
You get 20+ hours of lecture and videos of Dan covering a plethora of topics. If you’re a personal trainer/coach in any capacity this is an investment in yourself that will be well worth the price.
Course Curriculum
7 Reasons Why Athletes Get Hurt in the Gym and What To Do About It
What is Pain and Why Modification is Essential
How to Create Injury Prevention Plans
How to Write Rehabilitation Programs
Breaking Down the Power Lifts
Breaking Down the Olympic Lifts
Pull-ups, Muscle-ups and Kipping
Handstands and Handstand Push-ups
Overhead Press, Push-ups and Dips
Shoulder, Low Back, Knee and Hip Pain
All of this on top of endless templates, progressions/regressions, videos on exercise technique, how to develop injury prevention and rehabilitation programs, as well as assessment breakdowns.
NOTE: Due to space we are limiting this to 35 attendees only. We aren’t saying this to be marketing sleezeballs and to create a false sense of urgency. Like, for real, space is limited. You better jump on this quick if you’re interested.
This workshop is “user friendly” for the masses. Whether you’re a personal trainer, strength & conditioning coach, physical therapist, or just someone who likes to dabble in the lifting of heavy things…you’re bound to benefit and learn something that will help you better serve your clients and athletes.
Here are FIVE quick-n-dirty reasons you should consider purchasing it.
1) I’m Awesome
Lets be real: You don’t think I’m going to attach my name to something sub-par do you?
Pffffft, whatever.
I mean, this isn’t season two of Stranger Things or, I don’t know, whomever Carrie ended up dating after she broke up with Aidan.5
But just so that I don’t come across as a total pompous a-hole, every person involved with this project is an established fitness professional with years of experience under his or her’s belt.
Every…single…person has at least 10+ years experience in the health/fitness industry.
And with that, 10+ years of mistakes, successes, hindsight, things they’d do differently, things they’d do the same, not to mention an absurd number of protein shaker bottles left in their gym bag for a week too long.
The Toolbox came to fruition because we saw an opportunity to help other fitness professionals improve and grow their business: to tackle common industry pitfalls and traps, save time scouring the internet for answers, and foster a scenario where you build a successful career with integrity.
What’s more, every contributor is a coach who actually coaches people…in real life.
How better to learn than from coaches who practice what they preach?
But seriously, I am awesome…;o)
2) There’s a Little Something For Everyone
As can be expected with a resource such as this, The Toolbox goes into the weeds on topics such as program design, assessment, why Tony incessantly posts pictures of his cat online, and breaking down exercise technique.
Sam Spinelli’s presentation on “Everything Squats, Knees, & Hips” is outstanding. And if Luke Worthington’s presentation on assessment doesn’t make you swoon, his British accent will.
However, what I feel makes this resource special is that it includes a little bit of everything. I don’t know about you, but I can only handle so many hours of any one topic before I want to jump through a pane glass window.
The only exception(s) would be 1) breaking down and ranking Jason Bourne fight scenes and 2) bacon.
Here you get 17 hours of content, albeit all bundled up in a consortium of diverse topics – everything mentioned above in addition to presentations on:
Programming For Pull-Ups
Understanding Flexion & Extension Based Back Pain
How to Write Stellar Fitness Content
Improving Overhead Mobility
Finding Your Ideal Client, and
Core & Pelvic Floor Lifting Considerations.
What’s more, Dr. Lisa Lewis’s presentations on Negative Self Talk and How to Increase Motivation are the two wild cards, in my opinion, that provide a ton of value that most fitness professionals need to educate themselves more on.
Like it or not, if you’re a personal trainer or coach, half of what you do entails psych0logy and the “soft” skills of coaching
This is what will separate you from the masses.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Dr. Lewis is my wife. I don’t call her Dr. Lewis at home by the way6.
3) It Isn’t JUST Dudes Talking
Nine industry experts are involved with this resource.
4) Go At Your Own Pace and Earn Continuing Education Credits
The Trainer’s Toolbox is an online resource that you can view at your own pace. There’s no time requirement to complete it, so whether you want to binge watch everything in two days or watch a little here and a little there…you do you.
Moreover, when complete (and you send in your exam) you can earn 1.7 continuing education credits via the NSCA.
I believe 202o is a re-certification year and if it’s tough for you to travel to attend workshops and seminars this is a convenient way to meet those requirements.
5) You Can Purchase Individual Webinars
Maybe you’re not feeling the entire package and only a few presentations peak your interest?
Cool, cool, cool.
You also have the option to purchase individual webinars, and this week only they’re all on sale at $29 apiece (normally $37).
6) BONUS: You Can Save $100 OFF the Regular Price
The Complete Trainers’ Toolbox is currently on sale at $100 off the regular price, but it only last through this Sunday (10/20) at midnight.
Mike T. Nelson, PhD, MSME, CSCS, CISSN, is a research fanatic who specializes in metabolic flexibility and heart rate variability, as well as an online trainer, adjunct professor, faculty member at the Carrick Institute, presenter, creator of the 
