You could say I like to write about deadlifts. Well that, and zombies. Or zombies fighting ninjas. Or how adorable my cat is, which has nothing to do with zombies.
Oh, and speaking of cats……cats vs. zombies.
But mostly I like to write about deadlifts.1
In my latest article that went up on T-Nation today, I break down 13 quick-n-dirty tips that many people can incorporate TODAY and see immediate improvement in their lift.
Check it out and let me know what you think.
The warm-up.
Lets be honest: most of you reading either skip it altogether or discreetly brush it to the side as something you know you should be doing, but, you know, don’t.
I’m not here to judge. I do it too.
I don’t feel I need to sit here like an overbearing parent and type out all the reasons why you should be doing a thorough warm-up prior to training. But I will anyways.
A warm-up:
All that said – and despite many, many, MANY – smart people telling us how important it is…people still tend to skimp on their warm-up.
NOTE: HERE is an article I wrote a few years ago on “The Perfect Warm-Up?” As well as THIS one I wrote for STACK.
This video was part of the article linked to above. I only post it NOW for Eric Cressey’s EPIC video-bomb. Wait for it…..
Long story short: including a warm-up prior to training is a smart use of training time, will help to offset many of the poor sitting (and standing) positions we tend to be stuck in on a daily basis, and it only takes maybe 10 minutes.
DO IT!
So now that we’ve established that you’re not going to warm-up, lets discuss the concept of the over warm-up, a term popularized by strength coach and powerlifter Paul Carter.
You’re TOTALLY going to be down for this…so keep reading!
For any uppity strength and conditioning snobs reading this can also, technically, be referred to as Post-Activation Potentiation.
Rather than attempt to define what Post-Activation Potentiation (PAP) is, I’ll defer to Bret Contreras:
“PAP is a phenomena by which muscular performance characteristics are acutely enhanced as a result of their contractile history. The underlying principle surrounding PAP is that heavy loading prior to explosive activity induces a high degree of CNS stimulation which results in greater motor unit recruitment lasting anywhere from five to thirty minutes.”
Traditionally, PAP is performed by utilizing a close to max-effort lift (think: bench press, squat, deadlift, arm wrestling a Terminator) followed suit with an explosive activity with the same “pattern” (think: medicine ball throw, vertical jump, 10-40 yd sprint, high-tailing it to local florist when you forget it’s your anniversary).
To take advantage of the phenomena most strength coaches agree that PAP is best utilized using the “lift something heavy then perform a similar explosive movement after” approach.
NOTE: I’d encourage you to read Bret Contreras’s full article HERE on PAP if you really want to dive into the nitty-gritty stuff.
However, for strength purposes I’ve found using a similar approach useful. Essentially you’ll take your “main” movement of the day – squat, bench press, deadlift – and extend your warm-up/build-up sets so that you work above your intended, scheduled work load.
So, for example, lets say you’re performing squats today and your program calls for 4×4 @ 75% of your 1RM. For the sake of argument lets say your 1RM is 350 lbs.
1) 75% of 350 = 262 lbs (rounded up to 265).
2) A traditional warm-up may look like this:
1×8 @ 40% (140 lb)
1×6 @ 50% (175 lb)
1×5 @ 60% (210 lb)
1×2 @ 70% (245 lb)
4×4@ 75% (265 lb)
3) The OVER warm-up will look like this:
1×8 @ 40% (140 lb)
1×6 @ 50% (175 lb)
1×5 @ 60% (210 lb)
1×2 @ 70% (245 lb)
1-3×1 @ 80-85% (280-300 lb)
4×4@ 75% (265 lb)
So in this case the objective is to hit a weight above or past the intended work sets to “potentiate” the nervous system, and thus (hopefully) making them feel easier/lighter.
The idea is to ENSURE your “over warm-up weight” is one you KNOW you can crush. Meaning, it’s not close to a 1RM and bar speed should still be, well, speedy.
Something else to consider is that this should only be utilized when you’re using sub-maximal weight with your work sets (60-80% of 1RM). DO NOT attempt this when you know you’re working at percentages higher than that.
I mean, you could…it just (probably) won’t end well.
Also, this isn’t something you’re going to want to perform long-term. Maybe use it for a block (3-6 weeks) and then revert to something else.
Give it a try and let me know what you think.
Full Disclosure: Today is a repurposed post written last year and coincides with Eric Cressey placing his resource, High Performance Handbook, on sale this week for $30 off the regular price.
Sale notwithstanding, it’s still a good post. You should read it.
I want to tell you about a friend of mine. Lets call him Matt Damon.
For the record, no, Matt Damon isn’t his real name. In fact this friend I’m referring to doesn’t even exist (or star in any Jason Bourne movies).
Rather, he serves as a metaphor for many of you reading this post.
You see Matt is like many of you who, unknowingly or not, repeats the same mistake time and time again when it comes to his (or her!) training.
To his credit, “Matt” makes it a point to ensure the bulk of his training revolves around the compound lifts.
Instead of an “arms and shoulders day, “ he performs a chin-up day; instead of a “hamstring and anterior tibialis day,” he performs a deadlift day; and well, you get the idea.
Likewise, while he generally prefers to lift weights 3-4 times per week, he’s not immune to stepping outside that bubble, understands that variety is the spice of life, and enjoys doing other things. Every now and then he’ll attend the Bikram yoga class or spin class or hell, he’s even been known to spend an afternoon hiking or playing Ultimate Frisbee.
At the end of the day, though, his heart and passion lies in the gym and tossing around some iron.
But here’s the thing: he loves to lift weights. That’s what he eats, drinks and breaths. He spends a lot of his free time reading fitness websites like T-Nation.com, Men’s Health, or various blogs (even this one!)3, and he’s been doing it for a few years now.
Yet, he’s never been really happy with his results.
Matt hasn’t sniffed a PR in months (if not longer), he always seems to have some kind of nagging injury – a tweaked shoulder here, a dinged up knee there – and he can’t remember the last time he looked in the mirror and thought to himself, “are those my pecs or a steel plate I have on my chest?”
He’s more or less spinning his wheels.
Does this sound vaguely familiar? Can you relate? What the hell is he/you doing wrong?
It’s certainly not lack of effort or desire.
Well, I think a more cogent saying should be,
“The best program is the one you’re not doing, and the one you’ll actually follow for more than a week at a time.”
One week Matt wants to focus on fat loss, only to do a complete 180 after reading an article the following week talking about a kick-ass Smolov squat cycle.
Then, inevitably, he’ll join his local CrossFit box and do that for a few weeks. That is, of course, until he’s done so many kipping pull-ups and burpees that he hates life or can’t feel the right side of his face.
Which ever comes first.
And then he’ll come across yet another program that promises to add four inches to his biceps, 50 lbs to his bench press, and help him speak fluent Mandarin in a month.
Oh, but wait – two weeks into that program he forgets he promised his girlfriend he’d train for a 5K with her scheduled later next month.
Shit. Goodbye gainz.
You get the point. And I have a fair assumption that, while the above example(s) are a bit exaggerated, many of you reading are sitting their with your tail between your legs.
Many begin an exercise program (whichever it may be), only to follow it for a week, or worse, days, and don’t get immediate results…then blame everything on the program.
Guilty as charged, right?
1. You never give the body the chance to truly adapt to anything. While it’s a good thing to NOT perform the same things over and over again for months on end (which a lot of trainees make a mistake of doing); the same can be said for switching things up too often.
More to the point: There’s a distinct lack of skill development. You never get “good” or develop proficient at doing anything.
It’s a pendulum that’s swung either too far to the left (not changing anything) or too for to the right (program hopping), and what most people need is to swing it back to the middle.
2. Moreover, with program hopping, it makes it much more of a challenge to gauge actual progress.
As noted above, if one week you’re performing a deadlift specialization program only to switch gears three weeks later to follow a bench press specialization program, how the heck do you expect to measure progress?
I don’t know if there’s such a thing as program hopping Adderall, but I will say that for most people, most of the time, what will help them most is a program that will give them structure.
Something that will lock them in and keep their focus for more than a week at a time.
A program that will give them purpose, a goal. Results!
A few years ago my good friend, business partner, and long-time training partner, Eric Cressey, released his flagship resource Show and Go.
To say it was a popular program and a huge success would be an understatement. It helped countless people nail personal records they never thought possible, take their physiques to another stratosphere, not to mention helped thousands to learn to move better and feel like a million bucks.
As much as the programming was top-notch, I think the biggest benefit was that it held people accountable and kept them on track for an extended period of time.
It gave them focus!
And like magic, people finally attained results.
A few years later Eric released his second digital training program, The High Performance Handbook.
It’s everything Show and Go was/is, but 10x better.
For movie buffs out there reading, it’s like this: The Godfather was the shiz. But the Godfather II? Well, that mofo slapped you in the face and called you it’s daddy.
High Performance Handbook is The Godfather Part II (<– Eric, you have my permission to use that as a blurb).
It’s been a very popular program, one of the best selling programs on the internet since its initial release, and it’s currently on SALE at $30 off the regular price.
NOTE: I recognize everyone who’s anyone in the industry is highlighting the sale today (and all this week for that matter4.) on their respective blogs and websites.
And rightfully so…it’s an awesome program.
But unlike everyone else, I’ve actually seen the program performed in the flesh and KNOW how well it works.
1. First off, The High Performance Handbook allows anyone who purchases it to customize the program to fit their body-type. There’s a self-assessment component that no other training program has implemented before.
Rather than provide a cookie-cutter program – which, lets be honest, is how things have to be done over the internet when you have limited (if any) actual face time with people – Eric made it a priority that people would be able to modify the program based off their body type, exercise frequency, as well as equipment availability. So, in many ways, this is as NON-cookie cutter of an internet program as you can get.
2. This is about as close as anyone is going to get to training at Cressey Sports Performance without actually stepping foot in Cressey Sports Performance. The templates used and the exercises provided have been tested (and proven to work) time and time again, and are the EXACT same protocols we use to turn people into tanks on a daily basis.
3. Speaking of exercises: Eric filmed over 200+ videos for this product, including all the coaching cues and bullet points we use with our athletes and clients at the facility. That’s over three hours of content on its own.
4. Lastly, there are some pretty sweet bonuses involved from fellow Cressey Sports Performance coaches Miguel Aragoncillo and Andrew Zomberg
In all, you’ll have the option of purchasing the Gold Package (which includes the Nutrition Guide) for $30 off the regular price, or the Silver Package (no Nutrition Guide) for $30 off the regular price as well.
I tried convincing Eric into tossing in a 5×7 picture of me flexing to help sweeten the pot, but he didn’t bite. Pfffft, whatever.
Both options are a steal considering you’re getting 16 weeks of programming with Eric coaching you every step of the way.
The sale’s almost over. Act now. You won’t be sorry.
Today’s guest post comes courtesy of strength coach, nutritionist, and researcher, Mike Sheridan. Mike’s written for this site before. His article Is Running Natural? was a big hit and sparked some friendly debate.
This time around he cracks the whip on what the term “intensity” really means.
Enjoy!
Other than the word functional, ‘intensity’ is one of the most misunderstood terms in fitness. The reason you’re picturing a sweaty out-of-breath person ready to run to the bathroom and puke at any moment, is because we’ve been taught to associate intensity with exhaustion…
…and insanity!
The actual definition of intensity is pushing your muscles to their maximum capacity within the designated training variables. Which means choosing a weight that’s optimal for the given rep range (not too light or heavy) and executing the movement with the proper form and tempo.
For example:
|
Sets |
Reps |
Tempo |
|
|
DB Bench Press |
4 |
6 – 8 |
3010 |
Note: the numbers “3010” underneath tempo do actually mean something.
3 = 3s lowering
0 = no pause
1 = 1s explosive concentric/overcoming movement
0 = no pause
If the form and tempo is not there, the weight is too heavy, or exercise choice too challenging. Prompting the trainee to lower the load, or regress to an easier variation of the movement.
Conversely, if the form and tempo are clean, and the trainee is not challenged on the last few reps, they’re encouraged to raise the weight.
This is called ‘progression,’ and it forms the basis of ‘progressive resistance training.’ Also known as, the thing a good chunk of the population thinks they’re taking part in, when they fire up a couple giant circuits of burpee to med ball twist to skipping rope to kettlebell swing to push up to…
Muscle Confusion right?
Along with progression, rest determines the intensity of the workout. But not to the point of exhaustion or depletion that’s common in warehouses and living rooms across the country.
|
Sets |
Reps |
Tempo |
Rest |
|
|
DB Bench Press |
4 |
6 – 8 |
3010 |
90sec |
Yes, this type of intensity can have you slightly out of breath (especially if you’re super-setting, or pairing two exercises – usually training antagonistic muscle groups – together), but it’s very different than aerobic fatigue.
Instead of tiring you to the point where you can’t do anything, it’s pushing your muscles to their maximum capacity, and giving them adequate rest to perform in a specific training zone.
Although our obsession with exhaustive training has everyone believing we should be exercising continuously, any qualified fitness professional understands that the work-to-rest ratio determines the training zone.
And despite the ‘rest makes you weak’ mantra from aerobic instructors, or the ‘no pain no gain’ philosophy of many CrossFitters, we start training a different energy system when rest is too short.
We’re not trying to exhaust the muscle, we’re trying to strengthen and improve it.
When we perform an endless number of muscle contractions (repetitions), we end up building muscular endurance as opposed to hypertrophy or strength.
And start training aerobically, instead of anaerobically.
Compromising our ability to build strength and muscle, and facilitating an overall loss in power and explosiveness. Whether it’s resistance training or not.
Even though shorter rest periods produce a larger hormonal response and more metabolic stress, while longer rest periods allow for more weight to be lifted on subsequent sets, there is still a minimum threshold for proper recovery.
If rest periods are too short, the number of reps declines, the weight lifted declines, and so does the total workout volume.
A 2013 review published in the journal Sports Medicine analyzing research on hypertrophy, concluded that rest periods longer than 1 minute are preferable for maintaining optimal workloads while maintaining some metabolic stress.
So, although metabolic stress is one of the main drivers of hypertrophy, we still need to recover between sets.
Otherwise, any increase in exercise byproducts and growth hormone that gets our muscles all pumped up, is balanced by decreases in mechanical tension and strength capacity.
We don’t want our rest period at a point where it’s difficult to perform as much ‘work’ as would be possible with slightly longer rest. Which means keeping it high enough to maximize the number of successful reps over multiple sets, while still experiencing adequate metabolic stress to stimulate hypertrophy.
Anything below this threshold and we’re turning strength training into endurance training. And anything above that, and we’ll struggle to put on muscle.
As illustrated in the chart above, the magic seems to happen between 90 and 180sec of recovery between sets.
Maximizing hypertrophy (metabolic stress) without sacrificing strength (mechanical tension) on the low end, and maximizing strength without minimizing hypertrophy on the high end.
Plus, it’s maximizing muscle-building hormones (testosterone, IGF-1, gH), with high volume and intensity, while minimizing the muscle-burning hormones (cortisol) associated with excessively short rest periods. AKA Cardio!
You can definitely bring ‘intensity’ to your workouts, but it’s not achieved by doing things faster or longer. Bringing intensity is nailing your rest, and selecting a challenging weight that you can perform with proper form and tempo.
Don’t shorten the rest, or do extra sloppy reps, like the exhausted exerciser. And don’t do partial reps with a weight that’s too heavy, like a bro with an ego.
That’s not intensity, it’s stupidity!
Mike Sheridan has been advising on nutrition and fitness for nearly a decade. He developed an obsession for research early in his career as he noticed the immense gap between the scientific evidence and the message to the public.
Mike has helped a tremendous amount of people lose the fat and keep it off without counting calories, doing cardio, or sacrificing their health. His success is due in large part to his philosophy that ‘Transformation Starts With Education;’ not just showing his clients what to do, but teaching them why.
To learn more about training ‘smart’ not ‘hard,’ check out Mike’s new book 1% Fitness. Where, in addition to showing you how to maximize your training results with a minimal commitment to exercise, he delivers 14 weeks of workouts that you can view and track on your smartphone.
Structuring training programs off of pre-set percentages has it’s advantages and disadvantages.
For some it provides accountability, structure, a sense of built-in auto-regulation, and I’m pretty sure I read somewhere it increases the likelihood members of the opposite sex5 will want to hang out with you by 413%.
Don’t argue, it’s science.
For others, percentage based training can be a double-edged sword: with loading parameters either too easy or too aggressive for some.
In my latest article over on T-Nation I break things down and and discuss why percentage based training may (or may not) be a good fit for you.
Relax. My ego hasn’t ballooned to the point where I now refer to myself (and my posts) in the third person. Although I do kinda like the sound of it:
As it happens today’s post is a guest post by personal trainer, Travis Pollen, who used me as his subject matter (hence the title).
Brilliant if you ask me.
Travis has written for this site before, on innovative ways to include bands in your training, and he’s back today with a look into CrossFit and how it’s helped influence the way we program.
FYI: Travis recently released a new e-book, 50 Fit Tips (available for free HERE), in which he advocates for a unique blend of powerlifting, bodybuilding, kettlebells, and CrossFit to help readers look, feel, and move better.
The short answer to the question posed in the title of this post is yes. Of course Tony should be critical of CrossFit. Exercises like rebounding box jumps, GHD sit-ups, and overhead kettlebell swings have no place in most people’s training, and Tony deserves a good baseball-slap-on-the-rear for his uncompromising viewpoint.
This is the greatest photoshop picture ever. Gentilcore printed onto an MLB jersey?! 13 year old Tony would have a raging boner right now if he saw this.
But a simple yes doesn’t make for a very compelling blog post, does it? Let’s dig a little deeper.
Oftentimes, fitness professionals adopt a polarizing stance on a topic in an attempt to keep their pupils safe. In general, this is a good thing. Sometimes, they’ll even flip-flop sides later on when new evidence is presented. After all, changing one’s mind is a sign of maturity, right?
Note from TG: Maturity is my middle name. Which is why I wrote THIS article a while back defending CrossFit.
Practices like long distance running, yoga, and, most recently CrossFit have all, at some point, been the subject of fitness floggings. The truth, however, is that there are pros and cons to every flavor of fitness (except the Tracy Anderson method), and program design doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing proposition in terms of their inclusion or exclusion.
None of this.
What I mean is that we don’t have to choose just powerlifting, bodybuilding, CrossFit, strongman, kettlebells, or yogalates (unless we want to). Instead, we can analyze each modality, incorporate the elements we like, and ditch the ones we don’t.
For instance, although both Tony and I love powerlifting, it doesn’t mean we totally reject things like bodybuilding and kettlebell training, for elements from these domains can help our clients and athletes excel. We would be negligent if we didn’t throw in some curls and KB swings every now and again.
Even better, here’s trainer and Men’s Health fitness expert, BJ Gaddour, doing both curls and kettlebells at the same time!
One of the aspects of CrossFit that I’ve chosen to adopt is its varied set and rep schemes, and I encourage others to do the same.
To appeal to authority7, Tony has already embraced at least one of them, even though he might not know it yet.
Read on to find out more.
It’s important to point out that CrossFit didn’t invent the set and rep schemes I’m about to discuss. However, it has popularized them over the last decade, so it does deserve some credit.
Here are a few of my favorite protocols, their benefits, and examples of how I implement each.
Description: Set a clock for a specified period of time, and perform a set number of reps at the beginning of each minute. Rest, breath, or do some mobility work for the rest of the minute.
Primary Benefit: Strength and power. This framework is a good alternative to simply timing rest periods since the lifter is penalized (by a reduced amount of rest) for dilly-dallying during the actual set.
Example: 3 dynamic effort deadlifts at the top of each minute with a 10RM load for 10 minutes, resting for the rest of the minute.
Description: Perform 3 sets of two exercises with a descending rep scheme, alternating between exercises. Minimize inter-rep and inter-set rest in order to complete the work in the shortest amount of time possible.
Primary Benefit: Hypertrophy/pump, density (work divided by time).
Example: A couplet of curls and skull crushers with a 15RM load (i.e. 21 curls, 21 skull crushers, 15 curls, 15 skull crushers, 9 curls, 9 skull crushers).
Description: Set a clock for a specified period of time, and perform as many rounds or reps as possible of the given exercise(s). Rest as little as possible.
Primary Benefit: Density, analogous to sports in which work is done for a set period of time, as opposed to a specified number of sets and reps.
Example: As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of 5 reps each of bench press, pull-ups, and squats using 12RM loads.
Description: Lay out the desired implements in an obstacle course fashion (because who doesn’t love an obstacle course?). Move across the physical space performing the exercises for a specified distance or number of reps, aiming to complete the course as fast as possible.
Primary Benefit: Conditioning and work capacity, plus the feeling of completing a badass obstacle course.
Example: 10-yard tire flip, 50-yard farmer’s carry, 10-yard seated sled pull, 50-yard overhead walking lunge — all while listening to John Mayer.
With all these schemes, the most important thing to remember is never to sacrifice form for reps. Watch the best CrossFitters on TV, and you’ll see that the ones who consistently win do so with beautiful technique – even under distress.
Of course, the problem of lousy form isn’t unique to these protocols or to CrossFit. (Just visit any globo gym, and you’ll quickly realize it’s an epidemic.) It’s just a little harder to control when the clock is running, as with CrossFit-style training.
Although I am endorsing some of CrossFit’s set and rep schemes, I’m not saying that your next workout should consist of a 30-minute AMRAP of kipping pull-ups and high-rep Olympic lifts (scoliosis for AMRAP, as Tony might say).
Again, be critical. Although I don’t have a problem with those practices for competitive CrossFitters, you must apply the protocols judiciously based on your own level of fitness.
Do this properly, and you’ll reap far greater benefits than if you were to completely ignore them simply because they came to you via CrossFit.
Travis Pollen is an NPTI certified personal trainer and American record-holding Paralympic swimmer. He recently completed his master’s degree in Biomechanics and Movement Science at the University of Delaware. He maintains his own blog and is always posting fitness tips and videos of his “feats of strength” on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
There’s a popular saying I use often:
“The painter’s house is always the last one to get painted.”
I can’t say I know many painters personally to know for certain that this is true – which sorta makes the saying moot – but it serves as a fitting metaphor to today’s post.
I guess I could have just as easily said:
“The carpenter’s house is the last one to get carpeted.”
Or
“The landscapist’s house is the last one to get landscaped.”
Or
“Whatever it’s called when someone installs a customized gold plated Han Solo frozen-in-Carbonite fridge in your kitchen. That guy. He’s always the last one to get a gold plated Han Solo frozen-in- Carbonite fridge.”
Note to my wife: like I have to say anything here.
So what’s the point I’m trying to make?
You’d be surprised as to how many coaches, personal trainers, and other fitness professionals put themselves second and don’t care for themselves as well as they should.
“The coach is often the last one to get coached.”
Reversing time about a year ago, my back was flipping me the middle finger and my training was a complete train wreck.
It wasn’t just a “oh my back is a little sore today, so I think I’ll just move around a little bit and see how I feel tomorrow” kind of thing.
No, this was more along the lines of “holy mother shit balls, it hurts to sneeze, and I’m walking around like an 80 year old man” kind of sore.
Something was up, and I needed some help. I was still training, but it lacked any semblance of structure and all I was really doing was going through the motions.
Not to sound overly dramatic or anything, but I was thiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to walking into the local 7-Eleven to grab a pint of Ben & Jerry’s and then spending a solid week watching lame Julia Roberts movies while I drowned myself in a pity party.
Unfortunately, like the painter analogy above, I came to the realization that I had made a bad habit of putting myself second. I came to the conclusion that I spend so much time writing programs for other people, that the last thing I wanted to do is write one for myself.
But there was a problem. I LOVE to train. More specifically, I LOVE to deadlift.
It’s Monday? Deadlift. Only have a half-hour to train? Deadlift. Someone wore a blue shirt today? I’m going to deadlift baby!
Newsflash: I like to deadlift.
1. I was a hurtin puppy.
2. It’s generally not a good idea to deadlift when you’re in pain. And more germane to the point: I was an asshat for trying.
3. Rather than rely on myself, I needed to swallow my pride and ask someone to take over my programming. As I often say: “the hardest person to train is yourself.”
So I ended up hiring Cressey Sports Performance coach, Greg Robins, to write my programs.
And I haven’t looked back since. He’s been writing my programs for the past year and I couldn’t be more appreciative.
Why?
Well, at least when it comes to writing my own programs. Oh, and rocket science. I’m pretty horrible at that too.
It’s a powerful thing when you’re held accountable to someone else’s expertise and programming. It’s a tough pill to swallow for many.
There’s a lot of trust that goes into the process, and it’s that trust, I feel, that helps keep people more accountable and on task. It did for me.
We’re more likely to follow through when there’s a plan in place. A direction. We tend to shut up, do the work, and as a result…magical things begin to happen.
We’re creatures of habit. We tend to watch the same television shows, listen to the same music, eat the same foods, and when it comes to exercise, perform the same exercises or routines.
In short: we like to do the things we’re good at.
And we tend to ignore the things we ought to be doing to get better. Just because you’re good at something, doesn’t mean you should be doing it (much less more of it). Sometimes it’s that one thing that could be feeding into why you’re hurt in the first place.
Much of the value in following someone else’s lead or plan is that it often forces you to address your weaknesses and technique flaws.
It forces you to do more of what you’re NOT good at.8
“What should I do today?”
“Bench press? No, wait, maybe decline bench press? Should I go with a narrow grip or wide grip?”
“GODDAMMIT….Eff it, I’ll do bicep curls.”
Following a preset plan takes the thinking away – which is a HUGE hurdle for many people to conquer.
I recently started working with a woman who’s a personal trainer herself. She came to me with some nagging injuries and too, a deflated ego due to sub-par, aimless training in recent months. Basically, much like me a year ago, she was just going through the motions and not getting much out of anything.
In less than two weeks she’s reported back with 1) less pain and 2) an invigorated sense of excitement and purpose towards her workouts.
All because she allowed someone else to do the thinking for her, and alleviate any self doubt or negative inner dialogue related to her training.
Having a plan and purpose made all the difference in the world.
Not everyone can afford to hire their own coach or personal trainer to write individualized programs. And even if they could, due to location, not everyone has access to a “GOOD” personal trainer or coach to begin with.
Thankfully someone invented the internet.
Don’t get me wrong: I feel in-person training trumps distance coaching any day of the week. In addition, there’s no shortage of “shady” internet trainers out there. These are the people who make a name for themselves on social media by uploading scantily clad pictures of themselves and/or by posting videos of themselves squatting a BOSU ball while juggling chainsaws.9
For whatever reason both give the illusion of legitimacy and authority, and many people are snagged – hook, line, and sinker – into the facade.
As it happens, many of these so-called “fitness celebrities” rarely train anyone and have no education and/or certification in the field.
However, not everything on the internet is garbage and devoid of decency and integrity. I mean, look at LOLCats!
Also, hello….I make much of my living off of my writing and other endeavors on the internet.10
In that vein I also like to think I’m able to direct people towards programs and products I feel are worthwhile and not in the slightest sense…”shady.”
Dean Somerset’s latest resource is a doozy.
It’s a 6-month, semi-customizable (<— meaning, there are assessments involved) training program that’s designed to help get people stronger, more mobile, and able to beat up a Transformer.
Except Optimus Prime.
Of more value, I truly feel it’s a program that will give people the STRUCTURE many covet and will allow everyone who tries it the opportunity to know what it feels like to “trust the process.”
With 200+ videos and various training templates to follow based off one’s goals, training schedule, and specific needs, I’d be surprised if someone followed this program to a “T” and didn’t make profound progress.
It’s on sale all this week at 50% off the regular price. Soooo, yeah, what are you waiting for? Check it out HERE.
Today’s guest post comes courtesy of Dean Somerset, who’s excellent new resource, High Tensile Strength, is set to be unleashed today to the masses. It’s a 6-month, semi-custom based training program based on how you move, where you need to work the most, and what your specific goals may be.
Even if you’re trying to be Jason Bourne. It’s that good.
Enjoy!
Mobility is a simple word with big implications.
In many circles, it determines whether you can progress from a basic exercise to a more advanced exercise. For instance, if you don’t have the ability to actively bring your arms over your head, the chances of doing a solid overhead squat or even overhead press without having some negative compensation through the spine become limited.
There’s also those who say mobility to a specific benchmark is needed to maintain health.
Things like squatting to the floor sound awesome and are a great way to show off for those who have the innate ability to do it, whereas those who might not have the anatomy to get there will be frustrated with their lot in life.
I’ve always viewed mobility a little differently and with a much less extreme “yes/no” kind of ideal:
“How much do you have versus how much do you use?”
Let’s say you can grab your knee and hug it to your chest, but when you have to do a squat you wind up looking like you’re more of a marionette puppet whose strings aren’t quite long enough.
Note From TG: or you can perform and nail this simple “deep squat” assessment from the floor (seen below). But, like Dean said, when you stand up and try to squat without assistance from the floor, you resemble a baby giraffe learning to walk.
This disconnect between where you could get to by hugging your knee to your chest and where you managed to get to when asked to squat means you may have to get some more control over your motion, and maybe not as much time spent doing static stretch or “muscle lengthening” exercises.
This doesn’t mean there’s no use for them, but that the use is not as well spent as others.
So in this vein, I wanted to showcase a few mobility drills that teach how to use a range of motion effectively, while also trying to use as much of it as possible. Some people will have anatomical structures that will allow massive excursions during these movements and some won’t. There isn’t a standard I would want anyone to work to in order to say they’re a sufficient exerciser or good person, but just use as much as you have, and work hard at using it.
Here’s a simple hint to make each of these exercises even more diabolically intense:
Whenever you get to the end of the range of motion, try to contract the muscles pulling it in that direction as hard as possible to try to coax a little more room out of each position. If you find a sticking point in the range, this would be a good point to try those max isometric tension developments.
This movement works on getting some adductor stretch while also imparting some controlled rotation through internal and external rotation. Considering how overlooked adductors are to general health and function of the hips and knees, they can definitely stand having some direct work once in a while.
This is an active and vertical movement similar to the side lying thoracic rotation.
With most mobility drills, there should be a progression to coming off the floor into a more vertical position so that the usability of that mobility can be more applicable. This movement relies on core control to develop hip and thoracic spine rotation, plus some extension of the spine to accommodate the arm movement.
Try to reach the arm as high as possible and get the biceps as close to the ear as possible.
These look deceptively simple, but can be massively challenging.
The key here is to make the movement come entirely from the hip socket doing the work. This means keeping the knees locked out and trying to not have any twisting from the hips, side leaning, or any deviation from neutral at all.
This stretch focuses on developing tension into the hip flexors and glutes in reciprocal manner.
When in the half kneeling position, try to get the glute of the down leg to flex hard and drive into the hip flexor without letting the low back extend. When in the pigeon pose on top of the knee, try to drive the knee into the floor to get the glutes to respond to the stretch reflex more effectively. Don’t forget to breathe either.
This is a solid way to start up a workout and work on improving hip internal and external rotation simultaneously.
It’s a simple movement with some excellent carry over into many of the activities you would want to include in your workout, and can be scaled down by simply putting your hands on the ground behind you, and scaled up by doing something like this:
You could even work into something like this if you’re feeling up for it:
To see these exercises, as well as over 200 others in action, pick up Dean’s brand new product, High Tensile Strength.
As noted above, it’s a 6-month training program that’s customizable based off a handful as self-assessments and it focuses on building strength, improving usable mobility, and making everyone feel like a million bucks.
Moreover, the workouts can be taken from the gym to the living room to the hotel room seamlessly, making it one of the most user-friendly and portable programs available.
In addition, and this is something I hope people can (and will) appreciate, Dean took 18 months to brainstorm, build, and hone this program before releasing it.
This isn’t some “quick money grab” project he wrote in 20 days. He put in a lot of work to make it right, and I think it’s his best to date. What’s more, the program is designed for both men AND women and it’s undoubtedly going to help a lot of people and provide a ton of direction in their training.
High Tensile Strength is on sale all this week at 50% off the regular price, and for a 6-month program is a steal!
For more information go HERE.
Excuse my language: but fuck what the scale says.
I hate that the scale is often deemed the end-all, be-all measure of progress; the litmus test innumerable people gravitate towards to gauge their success when it comes to their health and well-being (or worse, self worth).
I’ve written on this topic before – Should You Use Scale Weight As a Measure of Success? – so I won’t go too off tangent here. Besides, if I do I’ll get all worked up, emotional, and inevitably end up having to resist the urge to Sparta kick a random wall in my apartment.
But in case you’re too cool for school to read the article it can be summed up as follows:
Whenever I start working with a client (male or female) I almost always “nudge” them towards a performance based goal, rather than something arbitrary like:
“I want to lose 10 lbs.”
Or
“I’d like to look like Hugh Jackman when he’s Wolverine.”
Or
“I want to lose fat here (<— points to body part).”
Or
“I want to mud wrestle Rhonda Rousey.”
Save for the last one, which is creepy as hell11, none of these “goals” speak to anything concrete or quantifiable.
It amazes me how often the magic number is “10 lbs” whenever someone refers to losing weight, as if that number really means anything. Likewise, will looking like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine make you a better human being?
Yep, probably
This isn’t to belittle these goals or begrudge the people who make them. Honestly, if either of them are what helps keep people motivated to train and to stay consistent with their training I’m all for it.
I just feel these types of goals pale in comparison to setting concrete, measurable, performance-based goals. Goals like deadlifting 1x, 1x5x, or 2x bodyweight, or bench pressing bodyweight for reps, or being able to bang out a clean, full ROM, bodyweight chin-up/pull-up.
THESE are the markers of true progress IMO.
Here’s a video of Lisa hitting 5-reps during one of the 17,94212 snow storms we had last winter in Boston.
I feel it’s these types of goals which give people more intent and purpose in their training. Moreover, from my own experience as a coach, it’s these types of goals which (almost always) result in people attaining their aesthetic goals as well.
And, as an added benefit: more often than not, the whole notion that “scale weight” means anything is tossed to the curb (especially as it relates to the toxic mindset and environment that many women impose on themselves).
I dig that.
The sooner I can get them to say “sayonara” to the scale, the better.
I work with a lot of women as a coach, and it’s not uncommon for many to express how they’d love to eventually be able to perform a chin-up/pull-up.
Unfortunately, for some, the negative self-talk takes over.
Whether because they’ve been programmed to think otherwise from magazines which tell them that lifting 3-5 lb dumbbells is what they’re supposed to be doing, or from ill-informed and ill-intentioned trainers in the past who bought into the bullshit and “vomited” said bullshit in their direction …many are left thinking themselves:
“I’ll never be able to do that!”
However, with the right information, support, and plan…it is possible.
[The video below highlights a 6-Week Chin-Up Challenge I wrote for Women’s Health back in 2013, where a number of the participants succeeded].
I’ve had a slight change in strategy of late, though. My initial “step” to training the chin-up/pull-up with the bulk of my female clients13 starts from the floor and not from the chin-up/pull-up bar.
Much of the credit goes to Artemis Scantalides. It’s been the information I’ve gleaned from her that’s been the main influence on my revamped approach.
The biggest “take home” point is allowing people to understand and respect the importance of getting and maintaining full-body tension, and then taking that tension and applying it to the bar.
Many are unable to grasp this concept and frankly, until they do, aren’t ready to hang from a bar.
This can be done in several ways, and it doesn’t require anything elaborate or fancy.
Yep, plain ol’ vanilla-flavored push-ups.
Improve someone’s ability to perform a push-up, and inevitably you’ll see improvements in the sexier lifts like deadlifts, squats, and chin-ups/pull-ups.
Why?
Better lumbo-pelvic-hip control and a better understanding of core tension (specifically: Anterior core control).
The sooner one learns to “own” the push-up, the sooner he or she will own the weight room. And I don’t mean “girl push-ups” either. You know, the ones that girls are supposed to perform with their knees on the ground.
I think those a stupid and set a dangerous precedent.
Girls can (and will) do push-ups. We just may need to augment them to better set them up for success.
Elevated Push-Up
Band Assisted Push-Up
One variation a really like that better emulates carry-over to the chin-up/pull-up is:
Push-Up Walkout to Plank
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2DzjiJsllc
Along the same lines as the push-up, I also find a ton of validity in rollout variations. Many of the same benefits apply: cuing of bodily tension (brace abs, squeeze glutes), better anterior core activation, and improved lumbo-pelvic-hip control.
What’s more: the rollout – from the extended position back to an upright position – very much “copies” the pulling motion akin to the chin-up/pull-up.
Both exercises are crucial in introducing tension and bodily awareness and help to build context in a more “user friendly” manner. It’s not uncommon for me to program one or the other – choosing from a wide array of variations – every training session for some trainees.
Another teaching tool I’ve been using a lot of late (thanks to Artemis and other coaches like Karen Smith) is something called the Hollow Position.
This move has been a game changer for me as a coach, and something I’ve been incorporating into many of the programs of my new clients in Boston, like Alex in the video above.
The Key Points to Remember
Once I clicked “publish” on this article: there are 30 Days, 8 Hours, and 43 Minutes until Star Wars Episode VII premiers.
Not that I’m keeping track or anything…..
There aren’t many coaches out there who are as “diverse” as Nick Tumminello. He’s equal parts meathead and evidence based, which basically means he can sit at any table he wants to in the proverbial high-school cafeteria.
It doesn’t matter if it’s with the cool-kids, football players, hipsters, Honor Society, or theater nerds…Nick’s “in” with them all, just like in the fitness community.
I respect Nick a ton. He’s someone I’m always learning from and someone who always keeps things in perspective. What’s more, he’s never dogmatic in his approach to training people. If something works – and can be backed up with a rationale explanation (whether anecdotal or backed by evidence/research) – it works.
There’s a reason his Twitter profile says the following:
“I train the trainers.”
His latest resource, S3 Training Method: A Programming Framework for Improving Speed, Size, and Strength, is a doozy (<– it will rock your world it’s so thorough, and is an excellent addition for any trainer or coach looking to add a little “kick” to their programming for the new generation of clients looking to have it all), and is available starting today at a heavily discounted price.
He was kind enough to contribute a stellar guest post today.
Enjoy!
Is it possible to get stronger, enhance your performance and get bigger all at the same time?
I’d say yes…
Training through a spectrum of movement speeds and loads will enhance your explosiveness, improve your strength, and increase your muscle will leave. Gone are the days where you must focus on one specific goal and ignore the others.
Let’s explore the three S’s—speed, strength, and size—to help you understand exactly what each quality is.
In the context of this article, movement-speed training focuses on improving your rate of force development—that is, how quickly you can use your strength.
Remember: power = strength × speed. Therefore, exercises used to improve your movement speed are total-body power exercises. The heavier the load you’re working against, the slower your movement becomes. For this reason, the principle of specificity dictates that, in order to do all you can to improve your explosive power, you don’t just do exercises that involve moving against high loads (i.e., strength exercises). You also do exercises that require you to move at high speeds.
Adaptations to training are specific to the demands that the training puts on the body. Therefore, regularly performing exercises that require you to move fast in certain directions makes your body more capable of moving fast in those or similar directions.
With this principle in mind, you should include exercises for each of the three pillars of power—vertical (or diagonal), horizontal, and rotational—in order to improve your functional capacity by enhancing your capability to move fast in multiple directions.
Since the goal is to move fast, the exercises improving total-body power (i.e., movement speed) use loads that are not heavy (relative to the loads used to improve strength). In fact, they should incorporate very light loads (sometimes just body weight), but demand that you move at high speed – as fast as you possible can.
In addition to training movement speed, we also need to better adapt to and potentially refine the tri-phasic muscle-activation pattern used only during fast, ballistic athletic movements.
One of the best workout methods to achieve both of these goals is to perform medicine-ball throwing exercises.
When throwing the ball, unlike when lifting weights, you don’t have to slow down at the end of the range of motion; you can just let the ball fly. Therefore, simply throwing the ball in different directions (power is direction specific) trains your body to generate explosive power without putting on any brakes.
Also, whereas Olympic weightlifting can be difficult to learn and trains only in the vertical or diagonal power pillar, explosive medicine-ball throwing exercises are easy to learn and require you to move fast and explosively in all three pillars of power.
To do so use a variety of medicine-ball throwing exercises—throwing either against a wall or into open space (e.g., field or parking lot)—to help you become more explosive and therefore more powerful and athletic.
Training for improved strength means improving one’s capability to produce force in various movements. Put simply, the more force you can produce in a given movement, the stronger you are in that movement.
Like power, strength is task specific; therefore, the further an exercise gets away from the specific force-generation and neuromuscular coordination patterns of a given movement, the less directly it carries over to that movement. This fact in no way makes the exercise bad, and it certainly doesn’t make it nonfunctional. It simply means that the less specific an exercise is, the more general it is.
You should incorporate a wide variety of cross-body and compound exercises to help you improve your functional capacity by developing strength in various movement patterns, directions, and body positions.
Remember, if you can perform a broader range of specific tasks, you possess a higher functional capacity. This relationship is crucial because you don’t want your body to be merely more adapted to a limited number of gym-based exercise movements (only Olympic lifters and powerlifters need to specialize in specific exercise movements).
Instead, you want your body to be more adaptable so that you can successfully take on a variety of physical demands.
Although training for strength gains and training for size gains (i.e., hypertrophy) are certainly not mutually exclusive, the size–strength continuum is characterized by some important differences between the two.
Although both involve creating mechanical tension on the muscles, strength training is geared toward increasing force production. Size training, on the other hand, is geared toward getting a muscle pump and creating microscopic damage in the muscle, which causes the muscle to repair itself and grow larger.
If you think of your body as a computer, then strength training is geared more to upgrading your software (your central nervous system, or CNS) than to upgrading your hardware (your muscles). In contrast, training for size is geared more to upgrading your body’s hardware—bones, connective tissues, and, of course, muscles.
The rule of thumb in training for size calls for using more reps and lower loads than when training for strength. In practical terms, this approach means using a weight load that allows you to perform about 9 to 15 reps per set; performing 6 to 8 reps per set serves as a nice middle ground between the general strength.
Although all types of training can provide neurological benefits—especially early on—the goal of training for size is more physiological than neurological.
In fact, contrary to popular belief, increasing muscle size depends not on the specific exercises you do but on the specific physiological stimulus you create. To build muscle, you need to create a training stimulus that elicits the three mechanisms for muscle growth (i.e., hypertrophy): mechanical tension, metabolic stress, and muscle damage (Schoenfeld 2010).
In short, there are two ways to get stronger and build a great-looking body that can get things done: neurologically and physiologically. Both approaches are addressed by the S3 Method: A Programming Framework for Improving Speed, Strength & Size, which helps you reprogram your body’s software and improve its hardware for more muscle and better performance capability.
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