CategoriesFemale Training

How To Maintain Your Back Squat During Pregnancy

Pregnancy can be an arduous and delicate time in a woman’s life. To be a bit more colloquial…shit goes down.

Shit goes down hard.

I’m a firm advocate of strength training during pregnancy. It’s a great way to keep the body healthy and strong during those nine months, and to (hopefully) expedite the recovery process once the little one arrives.

There’s a small sentiment out there that exists where women are told strength training is  bad or altogether dangerous during this time, and that it should be avoided at all costs.

Lifting weights during pregnancy dangerous? No.

Lifting weighs during pregnancy different? Yes.

Today’s guest post by Pre and Postnatal Exercise Specialist, Terrell Baldock, helps to shed some light on the issue.

Squats!

Copyright: viacheslavmaksimov / 123RF Stock Photo

How To Maintain Your Back Squat During Pregnancy

If you’ve been lifting for a while, you know the back squat is essential to any strength training program.

But What If You’re Pregnant?

Squatting will become a way of life in motherhood and you will need all of the squat training you can get during pregnancy. Squats are mostly known for their work in the lower body but they’re fantastic as full body movement as well.

A few years back, “I would have said absolutely no, there is no way you should be back-squatting during pregnancy.”

But I’ve come around a bit since then.

Instead of omitting exercises like the barbell back-squat all together, making modifications and learning how to safely execute a barbell back-squat is far more important.

The barbell back squat is fantastic to do during your pregnancy, but you will need to monitor your pelvic floor for any downward pressure as well as your overall stability.

You may also notice your “butt wink” creeping in. This is typically because as your belly is growing, additional weight is being placed onto the pelvic floor.

As a result, your hip flexors, adductors, and abductors tend to become tight and take on more work, plus your glutes become inactive due to the shift in your alignment.

In this article, I’m going to give you strategies to not only maintain your squat, but keep you back-squatting throughout your entire pregnancy.

Your Core

As your belly grows, your abdomen will begin the separation process known as Diastasis Recti. This is completely normal and there is nothing to fear, but you can minimize the effects and keep your hips more stable.

Diastasis Recti is classified as the unnatural separation of your left and right rectus muscles. This process is different for every woman, but research shows that 100% of women will have diastasis recti by their 35th week of pregnancy (Mota et al 2014).

Yes, you can still train your core during pregnancy, but this looks a little different than traditional core training methods. Personally, I like anti-rotation exercises like the Half-Kneeling Pallof Press because it provides both hip and core stability which is perfect for your entire pregnancy.

 

Many people commonly think of their core as the “six-pack” abdominal muscles, but it’s a bit more involved. Your “deep core system” is made up of your diaphragm, pelvic floor, multifidus, and your transversus abdominis and they need to work synergistically along with the glutes to provide a stable foundation for all of your movements patterns.

So if you happen to notice some coning, or tenting in your abdomen during your back-squat, you’ll need to address your lifting strategy.

Hip Mobility

Your hips can become tight to compensate for the weight of your growing baby. And this is a biggie for your squat pattern because that “butt wink” will be a result.

Not to worry my friend. If you see that “butt wink” it may not the end of your back-squatting days.

 

In this video, I’m 26-weeks pregnant and back-squatting 70 lbs in the 12 to 15 rep range. As I go into the eccentric part of the squat, you can see the “butt wink” almost right away.

Note From TG: To toss my keen coaching eye into the foray – and this is NOT to call out Terrell in any way, shape, or form – if you watch how she sets up to squat you’ll notice she starts with an aggressive arch (or anterior pelvic tilt) which means she’s likely running out of hip flexion “room” sooner than she normally has access to. As a result the lumbar spine is going to compensate by going into lumbar flexion (butt wink).

The “fix” may be to cue her to start with a little more posterior pelvic tilt first and then to squat with her hips more underneath her. Or, I can just STFU and recognize she’s 26 weeks pregnant and understand that things are a bit wonky at the moment….;o)

At 26-weeks in my most recent pregnancy, I had a “butt wink” in my back squat almost immediately. This is a good indication that I was dealing with muscle tightness in my hips.

At this point, I switched up my strategy by using goblet and sumo squats with kettlebells or dumbbells as well as incorporating soft tissue release of my hips, quads, hamstrings, glutes, abductors, and adductors.

To be perfectly honest, when I switched up my strategy, I had no intention of improving my back squat. I wanted to begin preparing my pelvis for childbirth by releasing the tightness, which is critical when it comes to labour and delivery.

Note From TG: Viola! Goblet Squat = more of an anterior load = anterior core turns on = posterior tilt = Tony does need to STFU.

However, at 33-weeks pregnant, I attempted a back squat and something pretty cool happened.

After down-training for several weeks, my squat improved. Same load, same rep rage and there was a significant difference in my squatting pattern.

Goodbye butt wink!

 

This means, you may not have to give up your back squat at all.

But if you notice your hips rolling under during your back-squat, it would be a great time to add some release work into your fitness regime.

Using a foam roller to roll out your hips and glutes are a great way to release the tightness. It may not feel good, so remember to breathe.

 

Your Breathing

A proper breathing technique can help to balance out the pressure in your core which will ultimately provide better protection to your core and pelvic floor. When you have a core and pelvic floor that is functioning well, you will have a strong and healthy foundation for all movement pattern including your back squat.

The breathing technique that you want to master along with your squat is a diaphragmatic breath with a light pelvic floor engagement or “kegel”.

  • On the eccentric phase or on your way down, inhale deeply through your nose making sure you have good expansion through your rib cage.
  • On the bottom of your squat, you’re going to begin your exhale through your mouth like your blowing through a straw, engage your pelvic floor, and then press yourself up. Julie Wiebe calls this “blow before you go” because this signals your brain to engage your core and pelvic floor naturally if your core system is functioning properly.

And there’s a lot more information in my Barbell Training For Pregnancy: Your 3 Step Guide For Maximizing Performance During and After Pregnancy.

It features simple and actionable steps to maximize your core and pelvic floor function, improve performance, and most importantly, avoid the complications that can arise from postnatal exercising.

Click here to access your free guide today.

Your Alignment

As your pregnancy progresses, you may find your pelvis starting to anteriorly tilt. Now, you want to nip this in the bud in your first trimester or as soon as possible because this can affect how you squat.

Not only that, but your alignment affects your breathing and your coordination.

Ideally, you need to maintain a neutral posture.

This means your ribs stacked over your hips. This keeps the diaphragm seated directly above the pelvic floor allowing it to work with the multifidus and the transversus abdominis together as a team. A neutral pelvic position will optimize the availability to the pelvic floor making it easier to for the pelvic floor to work in unison with the rest of the system. 

You know what else your alignment does?

It keeps your deep core system including your pelvic floor functioning optimally, helping to manage the intra-abdominal pressure. However, if you’re feeling downward pressure in your pelvis and your alignment is spot-on, it may be time to make modifications.

Here’s how to stand in neutral alignment in your back squat.

  • Stand with your legs just outside hip width apart (or a narrower stance if that’s where you’re comfortable) and toes angled at about 15 degrees and knees slightly bent
  • Squeeze your shoulder blades together, you don’t want the bar sitting on bone. It won’t feel good!
  • Stack your ribs over your hips and make sure that your pelvis is in neutral position and not anteriorly tilted.

Load and Range Of Motion

Generally speaking, you can continue to use the same load you were using before pregnancy during the first trimester and early into your second trimester (if you’re feeling up for it, of course!).

However, when your belly begins to grow, you will need to monitor your squat for pressure on your pelvic floor and range of motion.

It’s best at this point to lighten the load.

Let’s say you’re working in the 8-10 rep range. Drop the weight to where you can lift 15 reps comfortably.

The goal isn’t to work to fatigue.

If you find that you feel pressure in the pelvic floor after lightening the load, decrease your range of motion so that you don’t come down as far. If that still isn’t helping with the pressure, it’s time to modify.

Listen To Your Body

This is the most important step to any movement during your pregnancy. If you feel overexerted, fatigued, dizzy, faint, or you need extra support in your belly, it’s best to lighten the load or swap your barbell for kettlebells or dumbbells.

 

Additionally, pay attention to your pelvic floor. If you’re feeling bulging, heaviness, pain or pressure, or leak a little–or a lot, it’s time to modify. If it doesn’t feel quite right, don’t do it.

Seeing a pelvic health physical therapist (pelvic health physiotherapist if you’re in Canada), is a great defense in your prenatal and postpartum training. They can get an internal perspective of how your pelvic floor is functioning, look for any pelvic organ prolapse, and give you the best possible guidance when it comes to prenatal training when it comes to your pelvic floor.

When troubleshooting your back-squat (pregnant or not) make sure you start off unloaded to train the squatting pattern properly along with all of the strategies listed.

First and foremost is safety.

I suggest not training alone and working or consulting with a coach who is trained in prenatal and postnatal exercise. Pregnancy isn’t the time to set personal records and egos need to be set aside. How you train during pregnancy matters in maximizing your postpartum performance, maintaining a well balanced pelvic floor, and keeping you injury free.

About the Author

Terrell Baldock is a Prenatal and Postnatal Exercise Specialist in London, Ontario, Canada. She specializes in working with women with core and pelvic floor dysfunctions and prepares them for the demands of pregnancy, birth and postpartum recovery.

With over a decade of coaching experience, she trusted by Maternity Doctors and Pelvic Floor Physiotherapists as well as a regular speaker at the University Of Western Ontario.

If you have questions about training during pregnancy, feel free to reach out on Facebook, Instagram, or check out her website.

CategoriesFemale Training

One Year Postpartum: Are There Any Special Training Considerations?

The short answer is a resounding yes.

A lot of articles and information directed towards postpartum women cover the initial weeks and months after giving birth. That’s awesome. But what about one year after? Five years?

As Dr. Sarah Duvall, creator of Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist, mentions below in today’s guest post: once postpartum, always postpartum.

PCES is an outstanding course, and one I’m currently going through now. It’s only being offered for another week, with a special offer for TG.com readers below.

Enjoy!

Copyright: vadymvdrobot / 123RF Stock Photo

Are there any special considerations for training a woman that is over a year postpartum?

For this question we need to ask ourselves, “does the postpartum period end at an arbitrary time?”

In some cases, yes.

Time does have a positive impact and in other cases, no. So, let’s take a look at when time matters and when it doesn’t.

In the early stages postpartum women are still dealing with excessive ligament laxity that was needed to help get the baby out. Most women notice a decrease in the laxity by 4-6 months postpartum but for those that continue to breastfeed, the laxity can continue well over a year.

This matters because laxity creates instability and increases vulnerability to injury, especially in the pelvic floor.

So, being further along postpartum is a real win for not having to worry about the extra ligament laxity.

Most of the stories I hear from patients about post-delivery prolapse development happen in this one-year window. There is still a chance of women getting prolapse outside this time frame, but thankfully, the chances go down with the recovery time.

Why does this matter?

Women should take it slow getting back into impact exercise that could place an unnecessary strain on the pelvic floor while it’s still healing. (This goes for C-Section ladies as well!)

Incontinence or leaking during exercise is another one of those pesky issues that a significant number of women complain about and we often associate with having a baby. A survey taken among women that experience leaking showed that women with no leaking three months after delivery had a 30% chance of experiencing leaking twelve years later.

This is a significant number!

Now we’re talking about a woman who decides to get in shape and head to the gym and all of a sudden she is experiencing this pelvic floor issue she never had before.

Why does this happen?

I think it’s a breakdown of the system. An accumulative effect, if you will.

When proper steps aren’t taken postpartum to ensure complete pelvic floor recovery, our system can form compensations. Sometimes these compensations can take years to show up. Much like many preventable chronic injuries throughout the body.

The same thing can happen with the core. If 100% of women that go into delivery have a diastasis, then checking for it should be a routine part of any initial visit. Pregnancy pushes women into poor movement patterns.

The large amount of weight in the front causes a posterior weight shift and lengthened abdominals.

Because of this weight shift, women will often end up with tight paraspinals and a hinge point at the T12-L1 junction. This can cause back pain and tightness as well as perpetuating a poor breathing system that prevents complete core recovery.

Along with this weight shift, the baby itself pushes up on the diaphragm continuing to shut down deep breathing. Proper breathing is the foundation for core and pelvic floor recovery.

These postural compensations can stay with women for the rest of their lives unless someone gives them the right corrective exercises to break these patterns. Checking for a diastasis and asking key questions about pelvic floor health should be high on the priority list for a woman at any stage postpartum.

Check out this video for a couple key posture tips that help promote diastasis healing.

 

Bottom line, once a woman is postpartum she is always postpartum.

Being pregnant increases her risk of pelvic floor issues, diastasis and postural changes.

These risks are not limited to the first year or even the first five years postpartum. These are issues that affect many women for the rest of their lives. The good thing is that with a little knowledge we can do something about it. These women can have hope for healing at any stage in life.

Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist (Special Offer For TG Readers Only)

I’m not going to beat around the bush, if you’re a fitness professional you should considering taking this course.

It will undoubtedly make you a better coach and better prepare you for the delicate nature of working with women postpartum (which, as Sarah noted, never really ends).

I’ve trained several women through their pregnancies and have obviously trained hundreds after the fact.  I thought I knew what I was doing, and I’ve done okay.

I guess.

This course has helped me immensely and has really shed a spotlight on some coaching/information gaps on my end. I can’t recommend it enough.

Sarah only offers it a handful of times per year and she’s been kind enough to extend it for another week so my readers can take advantage. What’s more, if you use the coupon code TONYG at checkout you’ll get an additional $50 off your order.1

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About the Author 

A wife, mom and adventure sports athlete, Sarah is a women’s fitness specialist that takes functional training to a whole new level. In her unique approach to treating patients, she believes in teaching. Fully understanding every aspect of the body is a necessity to complete healing. She integrates functional movement with cutting-edge exercises to bring you results-driven programs for postpartum recovery, with an emphasis on the pelvic floor and abdominals. When she is not hanging off the side of a mountain, Sarah enjoys writing and presenting at http://www.CoreExerciseSolutions.com and figuring out how her patients can continue to pursue their dreams and lead a strong, adventurous life. 

References

Viktrup L, Rortveit G. Risk of stress urinary incontinence twelve years after the first pregnancy and delivery. Obstet Gynecol. 2006 Aug;108(2):248-54.

 

CategoriesFemale Training psychology Writing

Sex In the Industry: Why Men Need to Lean In and Listen

Today’s post is a teachable moment. At least I hope it will be. It covers an uncomfortable albeit important topic and something that, up until this past weekend, I thought I’d never get called out for.

And that is….

The sexualization of women in the fitness industry.

Copyright: takoburito / 123RF Stock Photo

 

Last weekend I presented at the NSCA Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference just outside of Philadelphia, PA.

It was a splendid event.

A record breaking event in fact, with well over 500+ attendees, making it the most highly attended NSCA event in the organization’s history outside of a national conference.

I was asked to present on both days of the conference, choosing to do the following 50 minute presentations:

  • The Deadlift (breaking down my preferred hip hinge progressions and general coaching concepts as it relates to the deadlift, and how to go about choosing the right variations for people).
  • The Shoulder: From Assessment to Badass (the main theme here was how to improve overhead mobility).2

I arrived back in Boston early Sunday morning feeling great about the weekend and pretty good about my performance overall.

While I could nitpick a few things I would have said or done differently, all in all, I felt I did a good job and was able get my message across. And the feedback I received from people at the conference was phenomenal.

Later that same day, however, while sitting at home, I received the following email from a female attendee, Amy:

“Hi Tony –

I just returned from the NSCA conference in PA. this weekend, where I was fortunate to hear you speak on both the deadlift and the super-exciting shoulder. I had the opportunity to meet your fabulous wife a couple of years ago when she presented the ‘I Am Not Afraid to Lift’ workshop with Artemis Scantalides in Severna Park, MD.

I follow you on the interwebs and really admire both the quality of the information you provide, as well as the generosity you show toward the coaches and trainers who are trying to get to where you are. I have to tell you, though, that I was thoroughly disappointed during your deadlift presentation when you chose to use a gratuitous and offensive ass-shot of a woman doing a cable pull-through.

None of your other slides featured women and you made some lame joke about Googling ‘cable pull through’ and that was the first hit that came up. It’s 2017.

I (and I know several other women in your audience shared my opinion) am fairly tired of attending strength seminars and workshops and being repeatedly confronted by presentations that (a) don’t attempt to equally represent women as examples/study participants/research subjects (b) objectify/sexualize women and (c) actually demean women in a public forum of fitness professionals.

I guess I was mostly surprised because I think you generally do a great job of supporting the strong women in your life. That slide and your presentation of it came across as exceedingly tone-deaf and I hope you will consider replacing it for future presentations on the deadlift. You have great information to share and you’re a talented and charismatic speaker. It’s a shame that you chose to offend a significant percentage of your audience in order to get a laugh.”

Needless to say, the second after I finished reading that I got a pit in my stomach.

I…felt…horrible.

It’s been four days since I received that email and I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I’ve emailed back and forth with the woman who sent the email (to apologize, to thank her for the constructive feedback, and to say this topic deserves discussion), I’ve discussed it with a few of my female clients, and I’ve broken it down at length with my wife, a psychologist.

I’ve purposely spent a few days digesting, un-packaging, and reflecting upon what Amy had to say in her email before I put fingers to keyboard.

So, I guess the best place to start is with the image itself:

In the middle of my presentation, as I was breaking down hip-hinge progressions, this is the image I used as an example of the cable pull-through.

Even though my first inclination was to be defensive – that’s Dani Shugart (the wife of my editor at T-Nation.com, Chris, and amazing writer herself), it was used in an article I wrote for the site titled “Pull-Throughs For Elite Strength,” the picture was taken at an angle, she’s wearing appropriate gym attire, and she’s demonstrating correct hip-hinge technique, that’s why I used it – Amy’s comments and feelings were/are valid.

Here’s why.

I don’t feel it was about the picture per se. It’s fairly neutral in nature.3

However, what wasn’t neutral was my momentary lack of tact and professionalism.

By chuckling when the slide first appeared on screen, making light of the situation with my “Google image” commentary, and making a joke out of it…I can see how it came across as objectifying and demeaning.

I made it a thing by my actions.4

In our subsequent email exchange I clarified with Amy that I DID use another image of a female in my presentation – I included a slide of a woman attempting a heavy sumo deadlift – however, the mere fact I chose to use that picture for that particular slide should come under scrutiny.

More to the point, the bigger theme at play here, I think, is that my commentary colored Amy’s experience. Those 20-30 seconds influenced what she got out of my presentation and what she remembered.

It wasn’t good, and that sucks.

It’s my goal to train women. To empower them. To show them that strength has its roots everywhere (and that the weight room is a wonderful place to harvest it).

In the end this was a teachable moment for me.

The last thing I want to do is sexualize women. It’s not lost on me that what happened in that room, in those 30 seconds, was, in some ways, a microcosm of what’s happening in today’s society.5

I don’t want any woman I work with or speak in front of to feel embarrassed, uncomfortable, objectified, or ashamed.

Ever.

It’s our responsibility, especially as men, to lean in, listen, and be open to change.

Thank you Amy.

CategoriesFemale Training muscle growth

Women and Hypertrophy: Why Should Jill Get Jacked?

I train a lot of women.

In fact, if I broke down my client roster I’d say it’s about a 50/49/1% split (women/men/Centaur6). I live in a little strength & conditioning bubble where the bulk of women I work with don’t blink an eye at the idea of adding muscle to their frame.

In fact, most want that to happen.

Today’s guest post by my boy, Dean Somerset, explains why most women can (and should) want the same thing.

NOTE: Dean and Dr. Mike Israetel released an amazing resource this week, The L2 Fitness Summit Vol 1, which delves deep into assessment and how to get your clients results (specifically, how to get them diesel).

It’s really, really good (and it’s on sale for this week only)

Copyright: annotee / 123RF Stock Photo

Women and Hypertrophy: Why Should Jill Get Jacked?

The vast majority of my clients are female, somewhere around 70% at any given time. The reason these women are training with me varies a lot, either they’re working against some medical disorder, an injury, or other significant problem, or they’re training for some performance goal like running a faster marathon or deadlifting twice their bodyweight.

In most of their goals, the thought of getting bigger muscles often ranks somewhere between stubbing their toe and waxing their eye lashes off.

In some instances it’s a pragmatic element.

If a client has invested a significant amount of money into their wardrobe and suddenly their lats are just too gunny, they’re going to have to spend a lot of money on alterations or worse, go shopping for new clothes.

 

It might come down to spousal support too.

It’s all too common for a female client to say their husband told them they don’t want them to turn into a man, a statement so ridiculous to hear that it’s hard to bite my tongue.

Guys, 3 lbs of muscle on a female will not make them manlier than you. Maybe you should put on a couple pounds of muscle and not worry so much about your girlfriend or wife out lifting you.

In any case, training to gain some muscle (read, some. It’s very hard for anyone to gain a lot, male or female) is very much a good thing for most if not all goals you could have in the gym.

  • Muscle looks better at almost any body fat percentage than not having it.
  • Muscle helps performance goals, like doing a chin up or deadlifting a dump truck
  • Muscle improves cardio performance, making you a faster runner, cyclist, or whatever the rage is these days
  • Muscle demands calories, which means you can justify eating a little more without affecting your body composition
  • Muscle can improve bone density, hormonal function, and sleep quality.
  • Muscle helps yoga pants or your favorite pair of “butt jeans” fit better.
  • Science.

Now, will training for hypertrophy make you bulkier?

Possibly, but there’s a lot of factors that have to go into that.

First, it’s a long process to see notable increases in muscle, and for the purpose of this article we’ll assume a 5% increase in body mass as notable.

So for someone who weighs around 130 lbs, a 5% increase would be around 6.5 lbs.

Male or female, an individual would look notably different with an extra 6.5 lbs of muscle on their build.

If you talk to most competitive physique or figure competitors, a 6.5 lbs gain of muscle can take a very long time of very dedicated workouts, nutrition, and frequency. What would be reasonable would be to see about 3 lbs a year of actual muscle gain in a caloric surplus, so if you’re looking to gain, you’ll likely be dedicated to 4-6 hypertrophy-focused workouts a week for a full 12 month phase while eating enough to support that development.

This isn’t to say it’s impossible to gain more than this in shorter time frames, but just what seems reasonable for a lot of female lifters.

Here’s an example of this process in action with a friend of mine, Kait Cavers. She looks to compete in figure competitions and dedicates a large portion of her training calendar to gaining muscle.

She recently posted a before and after pic of her at the same weight, and you should see how awesome a comparison it is:

To be clear, as she stated in her post, it’s not about one being better than another, or which one would be preferred, but just showing that you can look vastly different at the same body weight with differences in muscle and body fat.

She’s considerably more muscular in the right pic, but her waist and hips are miniscule compared to the left.

Now if you didn’t want to dedicate to this kind of work load, the gains of muscle will be much less, and if you wanted to phase in hypertrophy training for a few months out of the year versus make it your whole focus all the time, you could do different things without worry about packing on some lat muscle or thicker delts.

That’s the great thing about training: you don’t have to do the same thing all the time and can cycle your training calendar throughout the year to focus on different stuff as you see fit. Hypertrophy can fit into the flow, be the entire goal, or just have a sprinkling for flavor on other stuff as you go.

This is a concept used by another friend, Ben Bruno, when he trains a lot of Victoria Secret supermodels. None of them would be judged to be too bulky, but most of their training uses heavier resistance training, hypertrophy protocols, and intense conditioning elements.

Example #1

Big congrats to @barbarafialho1 for crushing it at the Victoria’s Secret fashion show. Hard work pays off! A lot of women who want to have a body like Barbara steer clear of weights out of fear of bulking up, but I want you to know that 70% of Barbara’s routine is comprised on heavy strength-based circuits consisting of deadlift variations, hip thrusts, sleds, chin-up variations, and core work. The other 30% is a mix of high-intensity interval cardio on the ski erg, endless rope, and Airdyne bike mixed in with some lower-intensity cardio in the form of hiking outside in the sunshine. The analogy I like to use is to think of strength training as the entree and cardio as the side dish. If you’re a woman who is hesitant to strength train, or if you’re a trainer who works with women, I hope Barbara can serve as inspiration to get out there and get STRONG!

A post shared by Ben Bruno (@benbrunotraining) on

Example #2

Example #3

Example #4

Facebook reminded me that it’s been five years since my friend and former client @megangrahamfitness earned third place in the Miss Bikini Universe contest. This was so exciting. We trained very hard for 12 weeks with a program centered around getting STRONG on RDLs, hip thrusts, reverse lunges, inverted rows, sleds, etc. She was also very disciplined with her eating (but didn’t starve herself) and cut way back on drinking alcohol. She completely transformed her body, yet we never once stepped on the scale for the whole 12 weeks, and interestingly, she didn’t lose any weight (may have even gained a few pounds, actually) even though she looked MUCH more slim and toned. And as you can see, she clearly didn’t “bulk up”. After the contest, I wrote a blog post titled “Look Like Barbie, Lift Like Ken” where we showed videos of her crushing 225×10 on hip thrusts, 12 feet elevated inverted rows, and several other impressive feats of strength, and the blog ended up going viral because tons of women shared it amongst themselves, which I think is so cool because it’s such a great message.

A post shared by Ben Bruno (@benbrunotraining) on

Aside from gaining muscle, what other good could training for hypertrophy offer?

If you’re training for a specific goal, such as powerlifting, running, or even weight loss, shifting gears for a phase or two can offer a type of cross training that can help refresh your mind about training, and give your body a break from the stuff you were doing consistently.

An example of this is my own wife. 10 months of the year she puts in a lot of miles on her bike as a competitive road and track cyclist. During the bulk of her in-season, she’s on the bike upwards of 15-20 hours a week with a mix of long duration low intensity rides and max effort sprints.

During the offseason, she wants to jump into some heavier weights, which definitely have their place in her program, but going straight from cycling and minimal weight training into maximal resistance training isn’t that great of an idea, so we involve a phase of 6-8 weeks of hypertrophy training due to the lower relative loads, and easier recovery compared to max lifting.

This helps to prepare her for the heavier stuff, give her body a break from the bike, and still look to gain a small amount of muscle after a hard in-season, which will help her performance on the bike next year, but also prepare her for the heavier weights of the off season.

Another example was a recreational skier who tore her ACL and needed surgery to fix the injury. During the pre-op phase, we involved work to keep some muscle mass through the quad with lighter loading and moderate volume, and following the surgery her workouts progressed from next to no loading, through to loading to technique failure, and then on to muscular failure through drop sets or extended set options.

A major goal of ACL rehab is to regain quad volume, so we went after it, using the progressive range of motion her knee was re-establishing, and as her strength development allowed.

She’s back on the ski hill now and having a great time 6 months after her surgery.

Gaining muscle can be a very challenging goal, especially if someone is already somewhat well established in their training and have been at it for a while. Because of the requirements to see notable increases in muscle, women shouldn’t fear training for hypertrophy, but should involve it in their programming on a regular or even occasional basis to help augment their goals, what ever those may be.

Having some extra muscle is often a major benefit under any goal set, including fetching water from up the hill.

Maybe if Jill lifted a bit more, she wouldn’t have come tumbling down after Jack, but would have farmer carried that shit all the way back home with Jack on her shoulders, straight up Medal of Honour style, so he could get some medical attention to fix that broken crown.

She could use that water to make some tea to sip while thinking if only Jack had trained he wouldn’t have fallen from such a simple task, but that’s none of Jill’s business.

Special Limited Time Offer

Dean Somerset and Dr. Mike Israetel filmed 11 hours of amazing content at the recent L2 Fitness Summit and it’s nuts.

Half of it is Dean breaking down assessments and the other half is Dr. Mike talking about getting people jacked and swole.

 

It’s on sale THIS WEEK ONLY (12/5-12/10) at a heavily discounted price of $50 off the regular price. As if the content and quality of presenters isn’t enough to entice you: If you’re still seeking CEUs to finish off your certification requirements this bad-boy offers 1.2 CEUs via the NSCA.

Holla.

—> Get Jacked and Swole and Stuff <—

CategoriesFemale Training

Fitness During Pregnancy: What’s a Girl To Do?

It’s not lost on me I have a Y chromosome and that discussing pregnancy and how to train during and after it can be a bit, well, peculiar. I mean, it’s something my body will never experience, so how can I discuss the topic without coming across as some mansplaining a-hole?

Simple.

50% of the human population is female. Surprise!, roughly 50% of my clientele are female. And, as it happens, I have worked with several women through their pregnancies (and after) and have always felt it important to understand and respect the nuances that manifest during this delicate time in a woman’s life – both pre and postpartum. 

While I very much operate under the umbrella that every pregnancy is different regardless of one’s previous fitness level and experience and that how someone feels during any exercise or workout should dictate the path taken – progressions, regressions, loading, volume, etc – I also feel there’s a strong stigma that women shouldn’t train during and after pregnancy. 

Come on. 

The body is preparing for something a helluva lot more traumatizing than a set of squats or deadlifts. It’ll be okay.

What’s more, as my colleague and women’s health expert, Dr. Sarah Duvall, often says with regards to postpartum considerations: “women need to lift shit to fix shit.”

And it’s on that note I’m gonna take my little Y chromosome and STFU. I’m elated to introduce to you another woman whom I feel is generating a ton of useful information on the topic of training during and post pregnancy: Terrell Baldock.

She wrote today’s guest post and it’s awesome.

Enjoy.

Copyright: wavebreakmediamicro / 123RF Stock Photo

 

Fitness During Pregnancy: What’s a Girl To Do?

With all the random misinformation out there it’s tough to know how you should workout – or heck, whether you should even workout at all – during and after pregnancy.

Here’s the good news:  The short answer is yes.

You should continue to exercise during and after pregnancy.

You can keep being the best version of yourself. And isn’t that what it’s all about?

But exercise during and after pregnancy needs to be done the right way.

Lindsey’s Story

My client Lindsey was a competitive volleyball player who wanted to get right back into hard training and competition after her daughter was born.

Then, reality set in.

Lindsey noticed when she was working at a high level of intensity, she’d pee a little.

Still, she pushed through.

That continued until she became pregnant with her second baby.

When she went through the same experience, Lindsey knew she needed to see her doctor.

Bad News: She had a grade-two bladder prolapse. She was told: “Lindsey, you can’t play volleyball anymore.”

Lindsey was crushed.

This is when Lindsey and I started working together. My role as a coach is to show women like Lindsey exactly how her prenatal fitness and postnatal fitness programming could affect her body both during and after pregnancy.

Unfortunately, women are cleared for exercise at the six-week checkup with little to no information regarding rehab, their core, or pelvic floor.

As you can imagine, women like Lindsey feel betrayed by their body. It’s as if they have an entirely new body to “figure out” as they begin their new lives as mothers.

I want to help you avoid common problems such as pelvic organ prolapse, incontinence, and even other issues such as diastasis recti that haven’t healed postpartum.

Training Before Pregnancy

With up to 50% of the female population experiencing pelvic floor dysfunctions like incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, the combination of pregnancy and childbirth along with high level exercise are leaving women vulnerable.

Even more shocking?

Most women who train hard during pregnancy never have symptoms until they’ve had their baby.

Training During Pregnancy

Generally speaking, you can continue to train the way you did before you were pregnant in your first trimester.

But adaptations need to be made in the second and third.

A common misconception that you’ve probably heard is that you can continue to do what you’ve always done during your pregnancy because your body is well conditioned.

Big mistake.

First trimester

Pregnancy brings on structural change that impacts your fitness performance and how you move naturally, which begins in the second trimester.

In the first trimester, the core and pelvic floor isn’t a big concern but this is a time where rapid change is happening physiologically. Energy is low and nausea may be a factor.

Women also tend to experience breast tenderness which may make exercise feel impossible.

If the symptoms are intense, exercise may be sporadic at best.

Second Trimester

In the second trimester, symptoms usually subside or disappear completely, and because of this, women are ready to return to their regular program. This is also where the body starts to visibly change and the Transverses Abdominis becomes inhibited (Hodges et al 2003).

Alignment changes begin to put more pressure on the core on pelvic floor. This is generally when the pelvis anteriorly tilts, the ribs shift and move behind the pelvis.

If this isn’t taken care of and training is continued, the glutes become inactive and the low back, adductors, abductors, and hip flexors take over.

Many women will begin to experience pelvic discomfort and/or pain like pelvic girdle pain, SI pain, and lower back pain which occurs in 45% of pregnant women and 25% of postpartum women (Wu et al 2004).

Third Trimester

In the third trimester, 100% of pregnant women will experience diastasis recti which is classified as the “unnatural separation of the abdominal wall” (Mota et al 2014).

DR is a completely natural part of the pregnancy process, but it can be exacerbated by the nature of the training as well as alignment in addition to the growing baby.

The pelvic floor is vulnerable, especially in the third trimester because of the physical and physiological changes. The pelvic floor isn’t designed to carry the load of a 200 pound back squat and meet the demands of pregnancy. This is where women experience issues postpartum.

Combine that with stretched and a weakened core and the impact of vaginal delivery (Sleep et al 1984), this can lead to pelvic floor complications like incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse if a woman returns to her fitness program before taking the steps to recover, rehab, and recondition first.

Training Post Pregnancy

The body doesn’t completely heal in six weeks postpartum.

It has taken nine months to adapt to the changes that occur during pregnancy. It takes at least that much time for the body to completely heal.

And that’s with rehab.

In fact, if Diastasis Recti hasn’t completely healed within the first 8-weeks postpartum, research shows that it won’t heal on itss own (Coldron et al 2008).

Whether you’re a lifter, runner, or enjoy taking classes at your local gym, you can still partake in your favourite activity. But you will need to cut back during your pregnancy.

Retraining following birth to optimize your performance long term.

New moms are often eager to return to high impact fitness, boot camps, or athletics before their bodies are ready.

Most skip the rehab and retraining process.

This leaves some of these women with less than desirable results like peeing their pants, pelvic organ prolapse (where the pelvic organs descend through the vagina), back/hip discomforts or pain, and lagging performance when working at a high intensity.

As your pregnancy progresses, you’ll find that you’ll need to make modifications to your lifts. In this video, I will show you how to modify your deadlifts using a barbell and kettlebells.

 

And there’s a lot more information in my Barbell Training For Pregnancy: Your 3 Step Guide For Maximizing Performance During and After Pregnancy.

It features simple and actionable steps to maximize your core and pelvic floor function, improve performance, and most importantly, avoid the complications that can arise from postnatal exercising.

Click HERE to access your free guide today.

About the Author

Terrell Baldock is a Prenatal and Postnatal Exercise Specialist in London, Ontario, Canada. She specializes in working with women with core and pelvic floor dysfunctions, and prepares them for the demands of pregnancy, birth and postpartum recovery. Check out her award-winning website Mom’s Fitness Boutique.

CategoriesFemale Training

Strength Training, Pregnancy, and Motherhood

My wife gave birth to our son, Julian, seven months ago. She continued to strength train during her pregnancy and has continued to do so since.

During that time she, along with every other woman who has gone through the joyous albeit intricate and painstakingly “what the **** did we do?” reality check that is having a baby, had to sort out her own unique levels of anxiety, trepidation, and circumstances when it came to exercise.

Below she discusses her experience and sheds light on some common themes many women juggle with and are curious about during their pregnancies.

[ALSO: Lisa is one of 16 contributors to the Pre-and Postnatal Coaching Certification…the new certification course offered by Girls Gone Strong. Today, and for a limited time only, you can register to join the PRE-SALE list and save $200 once it becomes available. It’s really, really good.

It’s not lost on my I’m a little biased, but if you’re a fitness professional and you work with women – which is all of you – then I’d highly recommend giving this a look.]

Copyright: wavebreakmediamicro / 123RF Stock Photo

 

Strength Training, Pregnancy, and Motherhood

As a lifelong athlete and strength training enthusiast, I looked forward to the changes and challenges that training throughout pregnancy would present. I had not heard or read about what training was like for other pregnant women, so I was not sure what to expect from myself.

Fortunately, I have been strength training in one way or another since high school, and working with a world-renowned strength coach for the last eight years – so I felt confident about taking good care of my body and modifying strength training as needed.

(Disclaimer: for those readers who may not know, my strength coach is also my husband, and my husband also happens to be the person who’s site you’re reading right now…Tony Gentilcore).

I am happy to report that, overall, pregnancy agreed with me.

I was able to continue my habit of strength training four days a week at 5:30am, and teaching indoor cycling classes on weekends.

In hindsight, the most important factor that contributed to my strength training throughout pregnancy was having a supportive, flexible, competent strength coach. Although at times I could logically understand the importance of listening to my body when it needed a rest, and staying in bed instead of training when I felt exhausted, sometimes that didn’t feel like the right thing, in the moment.

First Trimester

I needed to dial back training the most during the first trimester, due to feeling exhausted and nauseous.

Note From TG: Here’s a video of Lisa during her 1st trimester performing an “easy” movement day at BU which consisted of some change of direction work and “tempo” (70% effort) sprints.

As I write this, it sounds perfectly reasonable! But at the time I wondered if I was being lazy, thinking to myself, “I’m not even that pregnant yet!”

Being able to communicate with my trainer about how I was feeling helped me to take days off when I really did need it. And that helped me to keep going. I never injured myself, I always felt that my training was supporting my body and my pregnancy, and I consistently felt enthusiastic about training, because I wasn’t dragging myself there when I felt wiped out or sick.

Second Trimester

When I “made it” to the second trimester, I felt significantly better – the sickness went away as well as the fatigue.

Although I thought I could continue to train just as I had before I was pregnant, it felt much different at the gym. I could still exert myself to the same intensity, but I needed modifications on exercises that required lying prone, or on my back.

In addition, my balance was a little off, and I was more clumsy than usual. My trainer was always right on top of this. Thanks to us working closely together, I stayed consistent with training, strong at the gym, and safe with modifications to my favorite lifts and exercises.

NOTE: To coincide with the release of The Pre-and Postnatal Coaching Certification, Girls Gone Strong has also released a few FREE reports. One of which delves into body confidence and the bevy of changes, emotions, and anxiety women often must cope with pre and post pregnancy.

The Get Your Body Confidence Blueprint can be downloaded by going HERE.

Band Assisted Chin-Up (w/ Natural Progressive Overload)

Preggo Friendly Hip Thrusts

Preggo-Friendly hip thrusts!! Feels awesome after a day of sitting.

A post shared by Lisa Lewis (@lilew13) on

Third Trimester

I continued feeling pretty fabulous throughout the third trimester, and trained all the way to the day I went into labor. I was a little more tired and slow-moving, but it felt great to strength train. My trainer and I spoke about how I felt and how work outs were going on an almost daily basis, and it was reassuring to know that I would go into labor about as fit as I could possibly be!

Lisa will be 35 weeks pregnant tomorrow. Forget the idea that we’re quickly approaching the “shit is now getting real” window and that I’m equal parts excited and trying not to destroy the back of pants. How cool is it that Lisa’s still getting after it in the gym? Strength training through pregnancy can be a tricky thing and I always default to how the woman feels and whether or not anything makes her feel weird. Prior experience plays a key role here. In Lisa’s case: 20+ years of strength training prior (and the load used in this video – 155 lbs – is no where near her 1RM). All that said I do find there’s still a lot of stigma with training through pregnancy and unfortunately many women are told to stop lifting weights. Of course no pregnancy is the same, but assuming one is healthy and has experience there’s no reason not to keep up with it. Modifications need to be addressed as a woman progresses (in the case of the video above we elevated the trap bar, even with high handle setting, to accommodate for her belly), but we need to do a better job at relaying the message that pregnancy is NOT a disease and doesn’t mean you have to be relegated to the elliptical and pink dumbbells.

A post shared by Tony Gentilcore (@tonygentilcore) on

Note From TG: During her entire pregnancy Lisa was also performing a litany of positional breathing (diaphragm) drills, core stability drills (birddogs, deadbugs), as well as single-leg work and pelvic stability drills (clam shells, etc).

It’s just, you know, those aren’t nearly as exciting to post on social media as deadlifts…;o)

HOWEVER, I’d argue these drills were more important and integral to her recovery (and ability to bounce back postpartum) than the more traditional strength & conditioning exercises.

Check out THIS free resource from Girls Gone Strong titled “Exercises Your Clients Should Do and Avoid During Pregnancy” for a more detailed look into the types of exercises Lisa performed.

“Go” Time & Beyond

Luckily, I had a straightforward labor and delivery, with no complications.

Although I was dying to get back to the gym and continue training as soon as possible, my body had other goals in mind!

I had mistakenly thought training through pregnancy would be the challenging part – so I was frustrated to realize that I needed much more time and patience after giving birth than I did before, with regard to my training.

Once again, I was fortunate to have a competent and compassionate strength coach, who reminded me to rest as much as possible, be patient and gentle with my body, and remember that there would be plenty of time to get after it in the gym. Even though I understood this logically, I needed the emotional support and reminders about the time it takes to recover.

First Postpartum Workout (Curls, Obviously)

Lisa’s first post-baby workout. BOOM.

A post shared by Tony Gentilcore (@tonygentilcore) on

In addition, I needed to communicate clearly and regularly about how I was feeling, and how different exercises made me feel.

Oppositely, there were some movements and exercises that felt fabulous. For example, my bench press felt great, and I really enjoyed pushing myself on that exercise. The combination of being aware of my body and communicating with my trainer helped me to enjoy the lifts that felt good, avoid the exercises that I wasn’t ready for, and maximize the little bits of time I had at the gym.

Bench Press Badassery

Thanks to the ongoing support of my trainer, regular clear, honest communication about how I was feeling, and sleep training for our little one, I am happy to report that I am training regularly and feeling good.

Tired – but good.

Family selfie at the airport. Complete with baby throw up on my shoulder. Off to D.C. to visit friends.

A post shared by Tony Gentilcore (@tonygentilcore) on

Instead of focusing on my body weight or “getting back” to my weight pre-pregnancy, I’ve been focusing on how I feel, mobility, stability, and strength. These foci have been much more enjoyable, and I believe have helped me to feel as healthy as I currently do!

Closing Thoughts

I realize not all women have the benefit of having a world-renowned strength coach, who also happens to be her husband.

But I do write this post to emphasize how important it was for me to work with a coach who was competent in pre and post natal training, and who understood the importance of constant communication, modification, and flexibility with my training.

I believe that the psychological and communication skills a personal trainer or strength coach has is just as important as his or her knowledge of kinesiology and exercise science. Yes, I needed to know which exercises to avoid and which ones to modify, but much more importantly, I needed someone to encourage me to listen to my body, take time to rest whenever it felt best, and most of all, to be patient.

Become a Certified Pre-and Postnatal Coach

Starting today (9/5), and only lasting for a very short while, you can sign up to be placed on the pre-sale list for the CPPC.

Click HERE to sign up!

Putting your name on the pre-sale list does not mean you are obligated to purchase the cert– but it provides the opportunity to purchase the CPPC at a $200 discount. If you’re a fitness professional who works with women – and I’m 100% certain you do – this resource will undoubtedly make you a better coach and well more prepared to deal with the unique demands and intricacies of the pre and postnatal client.

—> Who Doesn’t Want to Save $200? <—

CategoriesCorrective Exercise Female Training

5 Things to Consider With Postpartum Training

My wife gave birth to our son on January 31st, which was a Tuesday. She was back in the gym that Friday. Although, admittedly, all she did was a few easy bodyweight exercises and listened to my advice on hammering drills like deadbugs, birddogs, and anything else that would help to build back her core strength and integrity.

Postpartum training is a very tricky topic, and a serious one. Many women make the mistake of jumping back into (aggressive) exercise before their body is ready and sometimes suffer the consequences.

In today’s guest post, Dr. Sarah Ellis Duvall, helps shed some light on a delicate topic.

Copyright: maximkostenko / 123RF Stock Photo

 

Recently, I saw an awesome Instagram post by Tony of his wife, Lisa. She was maxing out on bench press when she was only a few weeks postpartum. Go Lisa!

She is kicking butt and taking names and I was totally impressed.

Note From TG: THIS is the post Sarah is referring to. It was an awesome lift. What was not so awesome was how another trainer came in to highjack the thread and grandstand about how “dangerous” it was that Lisa was lifting so heavy so soon after giving birth, despite, you know, Lisa having been training all through her pregnancy, taking her time after giving birth to get back up to that point, AND being cleared by her doctor.

Since she has an awesome coach, her programming is perfect, but what if you are postpartum, headed back to the gym and not being trained by Tony?

Well, your life is probably a little less fun and devoid of Star Wars humor but here are 5 things to keep in mind before maxing out on your lifts postpartum.

#1. Do You Have Full Core Strength Back?

Start by checking for a diastasis. This is a thinning of the fascia (think shiny layer when you pull the skin off a chicken) that connects the front of your abs. It should feel like a trampoline when you lift your head and poke it. If your finger sinks in, that’s telling us your core is not connecting yet.

Lie on your back, knees bent

Place your fingers in the middle of your stomach

Lift your head just a little and push

Do they sink or do they spring?

Check halfway between your ribcage and your belly button, right above your belly button and halfway between your pubic bone and your belly button.

Anything that sinks in or is more than two-fingers wide is considered a diastasis. I consider the sinking part more important than the width.

 

Think about this as how well your core is transferring a load or pressure. It will not transfer well if there is a gap or hole in the system.

#2. Check for Doming.

When you do a crunch, sit up or plank your abs should flatten, they shouldn’t dome out in the front.

Doming tells us that your abs aren’t firing together correctly.

Along with not supporting the spine and pelvis enough, doming can also lead to hernias. Prevention is definitely the best medicine when it comes to hernias!

 

#3. Is Your Deep Breathing System in Place?

Does your inhale reach your pelvic floor or is it all upper shoulders or belly?

This is also part of building correct core strength.

Your diaphragm is the top of your core. Think about it as the top of a pressure cooker. We use pressure to help support our spine. If your diaphragm and core muscles are not firing correctly, it can either create too much or too little pressure. The pelvic floor really hates both those scenarios because that can lead to leaks and prolapse (months and months down the road).

I love the umbrella analogy. If you breathe up into your neck and shoulders, you will never open the umbrella. If you only belly breathe, that’s like opening a broken umbrella where only one side works. Aim for your back, sides and front around your ribcage to expand with every breath.

#4. Make Sure Your Pelvic Floor is Timed With Your Diaphragm

A long pushing phase or holding too much tension in the pelvic floor can disrupt the natural movement of the pelvic floor. Make sure you can feel your inhale pushing down on your pelvic floor – pelvic floor responds by relaxing down, then naturally recoils up on your exhale.

 

#5. Be Aware of What Happens Under Exertion

The more demand, the harder the exhale, the more your pelvic floor should contract. Sometimes this gets mixed up and instead of your pelvic floor contracting it bears down in response to pressure.

Bearing down is a great way to cause leaking and pelvic organ prolapse.

I’ve seen many women in person and received many, many more emails from women that have gotten pelvic organ prolapse 3, 8, and even 10 months after having a baby.

They thought things were going well.

They thought they were in the “clear.”

Then they tried some new crazy bootcamp class with lots of jumping or they maxed out on a lift or they simply lifted something heavy over their heads. Getting prolapse at anytime can be very heart wrenching and frustrating, but getting it months after you thought you were fine is the worst.

I’m not saying, don’t exercise hard.

I’m simply saying be aware of what’s going on and make sure you have the groundwork laid before pushing your body. If you don’t know what your pelvic floor does under pressure, that’s the same thing as not knowing your knee caves in during a squat. If any professional saw you, they would immediately fix the knee caving in issue and tell you how they just saved your knee from years of pain.

Pelvic floor prolapse is a real issue with real consequences, and it’s crucial to take the requisite steps a head of time to (hopefully) prevent it from happening.

About the Author

A wife, mom and adventure sports athlete, Dr. Sarah is a women’s health specialist that believes in teaching. Helping women understand how the body works is the basis for her results-driven online program. She focuses on issues from the pelvic floor and diastasis to building strength injury free. When she is not hanging off the side of a mountain, Sarah enjoys writing and presenting at Core Exercise Solutions and figuring out how her patients can continue to pursue their dreams and lead a strong, adventurous life. 

Find out more about her Pelvic Floor and Diastasis Programs here: http://www.CoreExerciseSolutions.com

Categoriescoaching Female Training

It’s Time for Women to Buy Into Strength Training

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of NY-based personal trainer, Meg Julian and covers a topic I feel is very important: the notion that some women still have a phobia about walking onto a weight room floor.

It’s gotten better in recent years, but there are still some roadblocks which Meg discusses below.

Enjoy.

Copyright: mavoimage / 123RF Stock Photo

 

It’s Time for Women to “Buy Into” Strength Training

Houston, we have a problem.

Most women understand the importance of strength-training, but there is still a full-blown phobia of the weight room floor.

In case you missed it, strength-training

  • Builds muscles,
  • Increases or maintains bone density,
  • Boosts mood by relieving stress and building confidence,
  • Helps fight against chronic disease and
  • Exponentially increases your awesomeness.

So what’s the hold-up?

This video might offer some clues:

 

Even though most women know they should be lifting, a number of factors inhibit the urge to actually cross over the threshold of the weight-room floor—which isn’t just disappointing, but bad for their health.

So how can we convince women to buy in to the idea of committing to the iron jungle?

John Kotter and Lorne Whitehead have a tremendous book, “Buy-In: Saving Your Good Idea From Getting Shot Down,” about the concept of getting others to buy into an idea. Kotter and Whitehead provide four reasons why a magnificent idea (see: strength-training) gets shut down:

  • Death by delay
  • Fear-mongering
  • Confusion
  • Character assassination

Let’s look at how these issues are often at play in women’s heads when it comes to strength-training.

Death by Delay  

We are great at finding a good reason to put off obligations… until Monday/after exams/once we get past the holidays. This can be a never-ending cycle,  Because a “good time” is never going to knock on the door and offer us Girl Scout cookies. The good news is that we can create “a good time.”  

The more we put off strength-training, the more our muscles, hormones and mind-set get stuck in the same old comfy rut. It doesn’t get easier. On top of that, women reach our peak bone mass in our 30s, which means fighting an uphill against osteoporosis going forward.   

Don’t delay. The time to start is now.

Fear-Mongering

There can be a lot of fear when starting to lift weights.  Fear of the unknown or looking like you have no idea what you are doing is something I often hear from clients, and that’s something that gets its own section, below.

In the meantime, we also might have a lingering fear of being watched or judged by others. I understand, but really, most people are either too focused on themselves to notice you or are praying you won’t take the piece of equipment they want to use. But to be safe, here is a list of gym etiquette rules.

If someone if making your feel uncomfortable, please alert the gym staff and they will handle it… because that’s not cool.  The gym setting shouldn’t be unlike any other public setting.  Think of the grocery store. Yes, there is a chance someone is looking at you and your cart, but so what? You need food and you need the benefits from strength-training.  

Fear of other’s sweat and grossness? Valid. But most gyms have antibacterial spray and paper towels  everywhere —which is better than most public settings. Just sayin’.

Confusion

Back to the fear of not knowing what to do.

I highly recommend hiring a personal trainer, even for a couple sessions, to show you the ropes. Some gyms even offer a complimentary training session or orientation to the facility. The money you invest in your health early on will save you from doctor’s bills in the future, so it’s a positive return on your investment.

If working with a trainer isn’t possible, here are some basic moves I put together to get started.

Character Assassination

This one is a heart-breaker, but I’ve seen it too many times before. It’s when women doubt themselves and their ability to reach their goals despite previous accomplishments or even before making any attempt. You might not believe you can be successful and that you don’t deserve to be on the weight-room floor. Well, consider this your personal invitation… because you do have a place among the bars, bells and cables.

Need more of boost? Again, I recommend a session or two with a trainer to affirm that you are capable of being “Queen of the Iron Throne.” Aside from that, tap into the power of  friends, family, social media or Beyoncé to encourage you to slay. It is essential to be your own cheerleader, rather than your enemy.

With all the benefits of strength-training, it’s time to quit talking yourself out of this wonderful process. Address your concerns and excuses, then move on. You’ll be glad you bought into this idea.

P.S. To crush any lingering concerns: You won’t bulk up, unless you’ve been blessed with the genetics of Xena Warrior Princess.

About the Author

If you enjoyed what you read, want to learn more or just need to know where to send the hate mail, visit me at https://trainermegj.wordpress.com, where you can subscribe to my weekly email dedicated to tips like these and improving technique and strength for obstacle course racing. You can also follow me on Instagram at @TrainerMegJ.

Megan Julian is a New York-based NASM Certified Personal Trainer, with additional certifications such as, FMS L2, NASM-CES and CFSC. She specializes in preparing brides for the big day, helping obstacle course racers improve their times and working with clients of all ages overcome injuries. In her free time, she enjoys running through the woods, jumping over walls and crawling under barbed wire — sometimes at events such as the World Championship Obstacle Course Race in Canada.

Sources

Buy-in Saving Your Good Idea From Getting Shot Down

John P. Kotter – Lorne A. Whitehead – Harvard Business Review Press – 2010

 

CategoriesFemale Training mindset mobility

Yoga: For People Who Lift

I lift. You lift. We all lift. Raise your hand if you do yoga?

[Cue crickets chirping]

Chances are not many of you raised your hands. I can count on one hand the total number of times I’ve been to a yoga class. In fact, I wrote about taking one HERE.

It was okay, but it’s never been my cup of tea. Because, you know, yoga.

Copyright: alexandralexey / 123RF Stock Photo

 

If only there was a style of yoga that was quick, not boring, and designed with meatheads in mind.

Egads, here comes Neghar Fonooni to the rescue.7She sent me a copy of her Wildfire Yoga resource last week and made sure to include this note (as if she knows me or something):

“I know what you’re thinking, yoga. But even meatheads can’t afford to not do this. This isn’t your standard yoga, but more along the lines of “flow series” that can be done in 5-20 minutes. The idea is to take the minimal effective dose and DO this shit.”

She had me at meathead.

Check it out HERE. But also read Neghar’s guest post below. If I can’t convince you she certainly can.

Yoga: For People Who Lift

The first time I stepped into a yoga class I was 18 years old. I’d been lifting weights for a few years as part of my high school sports requirements, and I had recently started working at the local YMCA—which meant I could try all of the classes free of charge.

And try them I did, which is how I ended up in this yoga class in the first place—the youngest, least flexible person in the room by a landslide. I remember watching these women, most of whom were 10-20 years my senior, get into positions I couldn’t even wrap my head around. It wasn’t so much that I wasn’t flexible, as I’d always stretched and mobilized while playing sports, but I sure wasn’t “yoga flexible” by any means.

Copyright: dimol / 123RF Stock Photo

It was during that extremely uncomfortable hour that I decided I couldn’t allow that physical discrepancy to stand. A competitive athlete all my life, I just couldn’t accept the notion that these “older” women could do something I couldn’t—which is absolutely comical when you consider that I sit here today in that age bracket I once considered old.

In response, I spent the next several years straddling both the lifting and yoga worlds, learning how to down dog and deadlift, and more than anything, learning how to be at home in my own body. At some point in my mid-twenties I officially became a meathead, chasing strength goals and worshipping barbells—and in that process, I lost touch with my yoga practice.

I was training 1-2 hours a day, and I just couldn’t find the time for yoga practices. Not to mention, I’d gotten so into lifting that yoga began to feel…superfluous. Unimportant, even. It wasn’t until a few years later, while seeking emotionally and mental balance, did I realize what a disservice I’d done myself by abandoning my yoga practice.

Sure, deadlifts and squats were great—but something was missing.

I’d gotten so serious about training to the extent that I’d actually lost touch with my body. It became a tool to lift things up and pick them down, and as a result, I often felt like a stranger in my own skin.

It didn’t take long for me to figure out that yoga was the missing link. But, having completely immersed myself into the meathead world, I simply didn’t have the time to dedicate to a yoga practice. Not to mention, I’d gained a lot of muscle in my yoga off-season, making it a little trickier to get into some of those poses.

I found myself uncomfortable and intimidated in most of the yoga classes I attended, not having a typical “yoga body” and finding resistance in certain poses due to my delts of doom and my Quadzilla legs. I also found that during 60-90 minute yoga classes I would get bored, distracted, and even anxious.

I wasn’t really a yogi, at least not like the yogis I saw around me. But I knew I wasn’t only a meathead either, because yoga felt like something I needed in my life. I was, in fact, a meathead yogi—the most flexible person at my gym, yet the least flexible in my yoga class.

I had a unique perspective in this role, one that allowed me to see the beautifully inverse relationship between the two practices. But I couldn’t balance them with my schedule—at least not completely. I was a single mom, a full time personal trainer, and a blogger—all while taking night classes to finish my degree. I didn’t have time for 60-90 minute yoga classes, but I could carve out space for the minimal effective dose.

We talk about this a lot as it pertains to strength training; we know that we don’t necessarily have to dedicate hours in the gym in order to get strong, and that by being consistent with a minimal effective dose, we can make major strides.

Copyright: jtrillol / 123RF Stock Photo

We know that a 20 minute workout is better than no workout at all, and we know that by giving ourselves permission to do these shorter workouts, we’re more likely to build momentum when it comes to our training.

In contemplating this lesson I’d spent years teaching my clients, I realized that, just as I could get a lot out of a 20 minute training session, I could really benefit from just 5-10 minutes of yoga as well. Was a 60 minute yoga class going to be effective? Absolutely. But I didn’t have that kind of time, and I knew that I couldn’t afford not to do yoga.

I was spending so much time in the gym, lifting heavy weights, doing serious, strenuous movements, and I had nothing to balance me out. I was all yin and no yang, all hustle and no flow. But once I gave myself permission to do the bare minimum with regards to yoga, everything changed.

I started spending 5 minutes per day on my mat, and that 5 minutes eventually increased to 10, then 15, then twenty. Today I fluctuate between 5 minute morning flows and 20-30 minute flows on Sunday. I still consider myself a yogi but I rarely make it to a yoga studio. And despite that fact, I enjoy the myriad benefits that come with a yoga practice.

If you’re anything like me, you love to deadlift too. You probably like to squat, maybe even bench. Me? Pull-ups are my absolute favorite. And by doing just a few minutes of yoga per day, I’ve improved all of those lifts. My lifting regimen has benefited immeasurably from the addition of a short yoga practice, and in ways I’d never even imagined.

Here’s how…

More Active Recovery

Yoga is an effective and low impact way to move on your non-lifting days without compromising recovery. Rather than take a full day “off,” you can keep your movement momentum going every single day by doing just a few minutes of yoga.

Plus, if you’re feeling sore from a particularly intense training session, a short yoga flow can help redistribute blood flow and in recovery. If you could help your body recover in just 5-10 minutes per day so that you felt better going into your next training session, wouldn’t you say that’s a no-brainer?

Kinesthetic (Body) Awareness

Flowing through poses while barefoot and without a mirror requires a great deal of control. Yoga requires you to listen to your body, tapping into your trunk, your feet, your legs, and your hands to enter and sustain postures without visual aid.

This process increases kinesthetic (or body) awareness and can help when moving through compound lifts at the gym such as squats and pushups. Because yoga carries such an internal focus, it can encourage you to practice more intuition during your lifts.

Balance

And I don’t mean stability, although you’ll certainly get your fair share of that from yoga. I’m referring to the balance of activity that yoga provides to meatheads like us. Lifting sessions are typically aggressive and weighted, while yoga is intrinsic and uses the body as leverage. This can create a balance between Herculean and Buddha-like activities, which in turn, encourages balance within your daily life.

If you’re anything like me, you find that you’re more hustle than flow—yoga helps you add more flow into your life, which actually benefits your hustle.

Mobility and Flexibility

No matter how many times someone tells us that we need to spend more time stretching our muscles or mobilizing our joints, we would just rather lift, wouldn’t we?

I mean, who has time to do all that flexibility work when we have to make sure we snag that open rack for a squat sesh? But, improving your mobility and flexibility will increase your movement efficiency-benefiting your lifts exponentially.

Yoga is a fun way to get bendy that won’t take up valuable gym time. By doing 5-8 minutes of yoga every day, you’re building a foundation of mobility that doesn’t require you to do lengthy warm-ups at the gym, or add time to your already time-consuming lifting sessions.

Breath Control

I cannot tell you how many times I have helped someone out of shoulder pain by teaching them to breathe from their diaphragm or coached a client into a stronger overhead press just by cueing them to BREATHE. Yoga places significant emphasis on the breath, which will keep you aware of your breathing during your training sessions.

Note from TG: while not quite the same thing (it’s close) here’s me explaining what it means to get 3D expansion of rib cage which is all about keeping diaphragm and pelvis aligned for optimal stability.

 

The Goldilocks Principle

Understanding when to hold back on your lifts and when to push through is a delicate dance.

You can sometimes set down the weight and think, “I could’ve done more.” Inversely, you might be wishing you hadn’t pushed through that last ugly rep. Yoga teaches you how to feel free within your body, accomplishing challenging poses while fostering ease of movement.

You can’t force the poses if you intend to do them correctly, but you are encouraged to work with the body you have in that moment, and access what abilities you can find. It’s a beautiful balance of just right that can aid you in your lifting endeavors.

Bodyweight Strength

When I started bringing yoga back into my life, I realized that my strength training had some critical holes in it. Being able to move heavy iron relative to your bodyweight is awesome, but then discovering that you have little ability to leverage that bodyweight? Well, that was a revelation.Yoga improves bodyweight strength, and puts you in positions that you might not otherwise put yourself in at the gym.

Noncompetitive Environment

Most of us who lift regularly have an inherent competitive nature. We compete with ourselves to set PRs, compete with friends at the gym, or even compete in an organized environment such as powerlifting, CrossFit games, or sporting events.

This is a personality trait I see in most of my gym buddies, and it’s something that can certainly benefit us. However, even when this competition is friendly, it’s still competition and can sometimes blind us.

Yoga is a noncompetitive environment that can bring you back to your center when your hunger for big lifts gets ravenous. You’ll have to learn to accept your progressions and avoid comparing yourself to others.

There is no “PR” in yoga, just a commitment to show up on the mat and move.

Bigger Lifts

You might not typically think of yoga as something that can make you stronger, but it sneaks up on you like that. Yoga poses can translate to lifting strength by waking up muscles you don’t often use, encouraging cooperative multi-joint movements and giving you wicked upper body strength. I can deadlift over twice my bodyweight and perform multiple sets of 10 pull-ups-but there are yoga poses that absolutely humble me.

With all of these amazing benefits, you cannot afford not to do yoga. Give yourself a few minutes on the mat per day, and I guarantee your training—and your quality of life—will improve drastically.

Wildfire Yoga

Can you get all of these benefits in just 5 minutes a day? Of course you can! Chances are you’re not doing any yoga right now. You’ve decided it’s not for you because:

  • It takes too long
  • You’re not good at it
  • Yoga studios are not your jam
  • You don’t want to spend money on classes
  • You’d rather lift

And I get it, trust me. I can totally relate to all of those things. But what if I told you that you could use the minimal effective dose of yoga to get you all of these benefits and more?

Enter Wildfire, the 21-day yoga program designed for people who would rather lift…

CategoriesFemale Training

Why Women Should Embrace the Bigness

Or, to make things a bit more click baity maybe an alternative title of this post should be: “Why Women Should Train for Gainz.”

Copyright: restyler / 123RF Stock Photo

 

I mean, why do words such as “mass, size, gain, muscular, bulk, and bigness” need only apply to men?

While the tides have changed in recent years – in no small part to places like Cressey Sports Performance, MBSC, I-FAST, AMP Fitness, Tuff Girl Fitness, War Horse Barbell Club, SVPT Fitness, Mark Fisher Fitness, Legacy Strength, and Beyond Strength Performance, to name a few, not to mention the popularity of CrossFit8 – it’s still readily apparent walking past any magazine rack or watching any infomercial, the overall message directed towards women with regards to fitness is still one rife with less than stellar connotations.

“Tiny”

“Tone”

“Tight”

“Drop”

“Small”

“Smaller”

Women tend to be inundated with these sort of words all….the….time. Actually, more like punched in the mouth 24/7, seven days a week.

Being smaller, or less of what they currently are is the reverberating theme. And I don’t like it. I don’t like it one iota.

NOTE: Please don’t interpret this as me saying any one woman has to look or strive to look any one way. It’s your prerogative to look how you want to look – small, big, twight (<– said with Goldfinger’s accent from Austin Powers), rotund, I don’t care. Be you. However, I think it’s a fair assessment that the majority of the mainstream media nudges women into thinking that adding, or being more, is less than desirable.

And with that, here are some reasons why women getting their diesel on is a GOOD thing.

1. Purpose

This bodes well for anything – whether it’s to add size, lose fat, train for a competition, or squat King Kong. Having a goal in mind, any goal, gives your training a little oomph, or purpose.

It’s amazing what happens to one’s mindset and approach in heading to the gym when there’s a plan in place. Rather than haphazardly “showing up” and doing a little of this and little of that, training under the guise of adding muscle provides a kick in the pants like nothing other.

To steal some insight from Julie Read:

“You see, a hypertrophy program helps you build the size of your muscles, the cross-sectional size…the girth. I really like how Nick Tumminello puts it “unlike strength training, the goal of training for size is more physiological than it is neurological. It’s about upgrading your body’s hardware, like bones, connective tissues, and muscles. You literally build your body, forcing the tissues to develop and grow stronger.”

And, while it leaves me feeling fatigued, it does so at the muscular level versus in the Central Nervous System (CNS).”

Which is a nice segue to…

2. It’s a Nice Break

I like getting people strong. That’s what I do best. Many of the women who train with me operate underneath the same umbrella. It’s like they’re my own personal army of deadlifting fembots.

Ohhhhh, snap. Austin Powers reference #2!

I can’t deny, though, that training for strength – at least long-term – can be a bit of a drain. Both physically and mentally. Taking a bit of a break and dedicating a macrocycle (or two9) towards aesthetics (namely, muscle growth), and using sub-maximal weight, is a fantastic way to approach things when you’re feeling drained and need an opportunity to reenergize.

Speaking of aesthetics…

3. Aesthetics

Far be it from me to attempt to explain or pontificate on what looks good and what doesn’t. I’m not here to sway anyone’s beliefs or preferences on the topic.

That said, I’d be remiss not to mention the aesthetic benefits of adding muscle to one’s frame. Muscle is what adds shape and contour to the body. What’s more, assuming one’s diet is in check, and there’s less fat covering the muscle, the more those shapes and contours can be shown off or accentuated.

You can’t do this trudging away on the elliptical machine for hours on end and performing endless repetitions of whateverthefuck with pink dumbbells.

Copyright: ammentorp / 123RF Stock Photo

There’s a saying out there a lot of misinformed people like to spout out in defiance of women strength training and training for size.

“Muscle weighs more than fat.”

This is often used as a scare-tactic – mostly by people trying to sell their shady products – to deter women from lifting (appreciable) weights.

Um, no. 1 lb of muscle is the same as 1 lb of fat. A pound is a pound.

You see, muscle actually takes up less space than fat. Which is why, often, when many women begin to lift weights they may only set a net difference of a few lbs. of total bodyweight lost, however look as if they lost much more.

Obligatory “lifting weights won’t make you big-n-bulky” diatribe.

“It’s hard to put on muscle. Real effing hard. 100% of guys wish they could add muscle as fast as many women “think” is possible.”

You won’t turn into He-Man in a week. Or a month, or a year for that matter.

This is still my favorite video ever on the topic:

 

4. Confidence

I think this one is self-explanatory. I LOVE when I witness the switch flip with many of the women I train, from delicate flower to Xena beast mode deadlift warrior.

The key to programs like The Bigness Project is to always, at all times, demonstrate success. The idea should be to showcase to women that they can do stuff, and not revert to lame semantics where the message is “oh, you’re a girl, you should do this instead.”

The easiest examples would be the idea behind “girl push-ups” and/or the idea that women can’t perform pull-ups/chin-ups.

 

Good programs, programs that work, are ones that build people up and help to make their participants autonomous.

And they also, not coincidentally enough, make people work.

Both hard and intelligently. And that begets confidence. And that’s priceless.

5. Because, Why the Heck Not?

*Also, because my wife is obsessed with Jen Sinkler.10

In my wife’s eyes Jen can do no wrong. Everything from her funny daily anecdotes to her choice of eye liner, my wife is on board with. And when Jen made her big reveal the other week after completing The Bigness Project….

…….all I heard over my shoulder was “daaaaaaaaaaaaayum.”

I think she was referring to both the biceps and leg warmers.

Suffice it to say, Lisa was impressed and is already chomping at the bit to give this program a go once she has the “all clear” from her doctor. She’s 40 weeks pregnant (our little guy is due any minute now), and she’s amped to get started. How cool is that?

I mean, it’s no secret many women struggle with feeling “too big” during and post-pregnancy. The fact my wife is salivating over a program squarely focused on “Bigness” is very cool and a radical notion.

The Bigness Project

Is on sale NOW. However TODAY will be your last chance to get in on the action before it’s taken away.

That’s right, if someone wants to get a copy of The Bigness Project they’ll need to do it between now and end of day today (1/27), or wait until the project is offered again at a future date to get in. If you’re interested, even remotely, THIS is your last chance to get in.

Do it. DO IT.