CategoriesProduct Review Program Design speed training youth sports training

The D’Angelo of Strength and Conditioning?

I’m not bashful when it comes to admitting my weaknesses as a coach. I did it before when I wrote a post not long ago explaining why I don’t include the Olympic lifts into my programs, and I’ll do it again today.

Ready?

Speed and explosive training is not my strong suit.

This is not to imply I don’t include any speed/explosive/movement/agility training with my athletes and clients. I absolutely do! What good is it to have strong athletes who can’t express that strength quickly and/or who move like the Tin Man?

But I’ll be the first to admit that speed training isn’t my strong point as a coach. Kind of like Aquaman being a cool superhero….;o) He can get s*** done, buuuuuuut, you know, he’s Aquaman

Part of the reason is due to my philosophy as a coach. I can’t begin to tell you how many parents walk into Cressey Sports Performance on a weekly basis and wax poetic on how their 13 year old child – who plays on five different AAU baseball teams throughout the year – needs to work on their foot speed and getting faster.

I typically nod my head, play the part of the understanding coach, and quench the parent’s thirst for that “x factor” that’s going to make their kid the next Clayton Kershaw or Mike Trout.

“We’re absolutely going to try to make your kid faster,” I’ll say, “by making him (or her) stronger.”

Silence.

Crickets chirping.

This….is….getting….awwwwwwkward.

I won’t belabor the point here, but needless to say I’ll go into a short spiel explaining that doing a bunch of cute ladder and agility drills won’t make their kid faster because their kid can barely put any force into the ground as it is.

I’ve used the analogy before, but it would be akin to me putting a sweet paint job on a Ford Focus with some spoilers and sick rims, and making look fast….but unless I do something to increase the horse power of the engine it’s pretty much all a giant waste of time.

Lets place a premium on correct movement, building a base of strength and progress from there, mmmm kay?

The other reason speed training isn’t my strong suit is because CSP coach, Greg Robins, has done an amazing job within the last year at revamping our approach to it. He’s more or less taken the reigns on writing all of our off-season “movement days” which incorporates any number of skipping drills, heidens, box jumps, foot work drills, arm/leg action drills, build-ups, and change of direction.

You can get a taste for what that entails HERE.

You still won’t find any of this nonsense, though:

All that said, can I work with a young or intermediate athlete on general sprint mechanics or helping them improve their explosive power? Yes. Can I help an athlete train for the 100M dash in the Olympics? Um, no.

It’s still no excuse on my end to take a back seat and not try to improve myself on the topic.

Lee Taft is one of the most respected speed coaches in the industry. He’s worked with countless numbers of elite athletes and is easily one of the coaches I, along with many other coaches I know, go to when “we” need to up our game with regards to getting athletes faster.

He’s also a coach who’s the strength and conditioning equivalent of the enigmatic R&B singer D’Angelo.

I love D’Angelo. His first album, Brown Sugar, is still one of my favorite albums of all-time. His second album, Voodoo, released five years after his first, again, became an instant classic.

Within that time, he rarely ever gave interviews or released any new material. And then, poof….he seemingly disappeared, making a few cameo appearances here and there on various soundtracks and guest tracks.

15 years later, he just released his latest album, and again….it’s legit. Basically, when D’Angelo releases something you know it’s going to be amazing.

The same can be said for Lee Taft.

See what I just did there? I made a comparison between D’Angelo and Lee Taft. Dammit I’m good.

Now, I don’t mean to insinuate that Lee’s emulated D’Angelo and played the role of reluctant recluse. He’s a prominent player on the Perform Better tour and has always been in the trenches, coaching.

He just doesn’t release a lot of new products (his last was ten years ago).

But when he does……it’s unreal.

Complete Speed Training

Lee’s just released his latest product, Complete Speed Training, his first in a looooong time, and after reviewing it I can say it’s pretty damn awesome.

It gives you a step-by-step breakdown – from the warm-up to the drills themselves – on how to make your athletes (and clients) faster and more agile.

And there’s nothing that’s going to make your eyes bleed.

If you’re a coach who works with athletes or a personal trainer who’s looking to add safe and appropriate progressions to your client’s training repertoire, I’d HIGHLY encourage you to check this out.

It’s on sale through this Friday at midnight, and I can guarantee you don’t want to miss this amazing opportunity to learn from one of the best.

CategoriesProgram Design Strength Training

The Most Neglected Function of the Core In Training for Sports

Note From TG: Today I have a treat for everyone: a guest post from world renowned strength and conditioning coach, writer, and educator, Nick Tumminello.

Nick’s someone whom I have a lot of respect for, and someone who I feel is at the upper echelon of coaches who “get it.” He recently released an excellent resource, Core Training Facts & Fallacies and Top Techniques that I feel would be an excellent addition to any fitness professional’s library (or for anyone who likes to geek out to anatomy talk and debunking a lot of misconceptions in the industry). 

Enjoy!

Gajda and Dominquez first used the term the “core” in their 1985 book Total Body Training to describe all of the muscles which compromises the center of the body. So, contrary to popular misconception, the core is not just your abs and lower back; the core is all of your torso muscles (shoulders, chest, glutes, abs, mid-back, lats, etc.) minus your extremities (arms and legs). (1)

Now that we’ve got that established, we can’t talk about using core training exercise applications that will likely transfer into improved core performance until we first establish what the trunk (i.e., core) muscles do in athletics (and in general function).

In addition to its respiratory function, the core musculature does two things:

1. The core functions to transfer force by limiting movement.

This is the one we hear about a lot: The function of the trunk musculature is to remain stiff in order to transfer force between the hips and the shoulders.

As an example, during a barbell push-press, both the legs are able to work with both the arms simultaneously to drive the weight up by transferring force through the trunk via the torso musculature remaining stiff and creating a stable platform, which allows the extremities to more effectively express force.

As another example, during sprinting, the torso musculature stiffens and limits the amount of torso rotation in order to effectively allow the hips to transfer force up and across the trunk (i.e., diagonally) to the opposing shoulder, and to allow the shoulder to transfer force down and across to the opposing hip.

In short, along with running and sprinting, many of our free weight and cable-based strength training exercise applications – from squats and deadlifts to pressing and pulling movements – involve torso stiffness where your core muscles are primarily functioning to transfer force between the extremities.

This reason is why we use a variety of anti-rotation, anti-extension and anti-lateral flexion exercise applications: to potentially improve the ability of the core muscles to remain stiff and more effectively transfer force during a variety of movements.

2. The core functions to produce force by creating movement <–This is the most neglected aspect of core function in sports performance training.

What we just covered above can easily give us the false impression that our core musculature only has one kind of a passive role in performance: where the torso only functions as a stable platform that channels force between the hips to the shoulders vertically, horizontally and/or diagonally.

Hence the current emphasis the training and conditioning field has with “anti-movement” core training exercise applications.

However, the torso musculature doesn’t just transfer force, it also helps to produce force.

This reality is perfectly summarized by the researchers in a 2012 study published in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, which stated:

“Core strength does have a significant effect on an athlete’s ability to create and transfer forces to the extremities” (2).

And, it’s this aspect of core muscle function that’s often ignored and neglected by strength coaches, fitness professional and athletes, which is why I’m highlighting here in this post.

Put simply, just by looking at athletes in action one cannot deny the obvious active, movement role in power production (i.e., force summation) the trunk has in sporting actions like throwing, golfing, batting, punching, etc.

As you can see in the images above, in the loading phase (before the exploding phase) of a baseball pitch, a soccer throw, swinging a golf club, and throwing a punch, there’s movement of the trunk, which creates eccentrically lengthening (in various planes of motion), so the torso musculature can actively contribute, along with the legs and arms, to produce power.

Power is the Summation of Your Levers

It’s often said that power comes from the summation of force. But it’s your levers (i.e., your joints, which are controlled by muscles and connective tissues) that produce the force. So, producing power is really about summating your levers in a coordinated and synchronized fashion to produce maximal force.

Keep in mind that your spine is one big series of levers – each segment is a small lever. With these realities in mind, you can appreciate the trunk’s contribution to power production in sporting actions like throwing a ball and swinging a golf club or tennis racquet.

You can also appreciate the active contribution the torso has in power production by trying this simple experiment:

First, perform an overhead soccer medicine ball throw (use a medicine ball that’s approx. 4-6lbs) in the normal fashion (as it’s performed in athletics) where you extend at your spine and hips a bit (I didn’t say go to end range) in order to allow your (anterior) torso musculature to eccentrically load. ]

Then, compare that to an anti-extension soccer style throw where you don’t allow your spine to move at all. You already know which of the two throws will be more powerful. Not to mention, which throw will feel more natural and athletic.

Check out this video to see this topic being discussed in real time:

It’s important to note that what we’re really talking about here is heavily related to the “Serape Effect,” which Logan and McKinney discussed in their 1970 book Anatomic Kinesiology (3).

So, although identifying the fact the torso doesn’t just transfer force and reduce force by limiting movement, but also helps to produce force by contributing to many foundational movements to athletics, is nothing new it’s one of the most ignored, and therefore neglected aspects of core training.

Improving Core Performance

Now that you understand both aspects of core function in athletics: to transfer force and to produce force, you know that you need to train both in order to maximize your strength and performance.

You can learn the exact exercises we use in our core training system to maximizing performance and improve core function in the Core Training: Facts, Fallacies & Top Techniques 3-part video series.

These videos give you a virtual front row seat to a closed-door workshop uncovering the myths and misconceptions around core training and teach you the Full Spectrum Core Training System.

Learn More Here

References:

  1. Dominguez, R, and Gadja, R. Total Body Training. New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons; 7-12, 1982.
  1. J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Feb;26(2):373-80. Effect of core strength on the measure of power in the extremities. Shinkle J, Nesser TW, Demchak TJ, McMannus DM.
  1. Logan, G., and W. McKinney. The serape effect. In: Anatomic Kinesiology (3rd ed.). A. Lock- hart, ed. Dubuque, IA: Brown, 1970. pp. 287–302.
CategoriesProgram Design Strength Training

Yet Another Reason to Include Barbell Glute Bridges Into Your Program

Like many boys during that time in their life, I was a Boy Scout when I was 10-13 years old.

Dedicated to train youths to become responsible, altruistic citizens, building character, and self-reliance through participation in a wide variety of outdoor activities, educational programs, and community events…the Boy Scouts is definitely something I cherished when I was a kid and something I’d recommend any child today to pursue.

But here’s the kicker: I was a horrendous Boy Scout.

I wasn’t what you would call the “outdoorsy type.” Being a Boy Scout was all about starting a fire, rustling up some grub, lashing spars, setting up shelter, and being able to find your way out of the woods through unfamiliar territory with nothing but a cloths pin, duct tape, and a rubber ducky.

That wasn’t my bag if you catch my drift.

Funnily enough I grew up with a sawmill in my backyard. My step-dad was (and still is) a lumberjack (I know, pretty badass). In the winters, because we had a wood burning furnace to heat the house, me and my brother would have to cut wood every weekend. It sucked. But what are you gonna do, freeze to death?

I did it every….single….weekend.

I remember one of the badges you had to earn for Boy Scouts was to split wood for some random people as a nice gesture (and to coincide with the whole altruism thing). I also remember thinking to myself when I saw that, “eff that. I’m out.”

However, one of the highlights of the year when I was a Cub was the annual Pinewood Derby. In short it was an event where you were given a “kit” that contained a block of wood, wheels, glue, paint, and all the works to construct a car that you would race during the Pinewood Derby.

Some people went all out….constructing these spiffy works of art that defied aerodynamics and looked beautiful. Others, like myself, took the piece of wood and put the wheels on it, painted it some random color and WAH-LAH…..we had a winner.

Well, not so much. I got my ass handed to me. But the point is, my brain just didn’t (and still doesn’t) work in a creative fashion. Sure I can tell a story, relay information and write pretty sentences where I use hoity-toity words like facetious, acetabulum, and poop; and I can differentiate between your/you’re, too/to, and their/they’re/there (sometimes). But when it comes to being creative with my hands or being creative for the sake of being creative (like coming up with new exercises ALA Ben Bruno)…my brain just doesn’t work that way.

It just doesn’t.

Take the barbell glute bridge for example.

Bret Contreras has written anything and everything as it pertains to this exercise and there’s nothing I could add to the conversation that would shed some more light on how awesome of an exercise it is.

You’d be hard pressed to find any other exercise which serves so many functions with regards to building sexy-ass asses, training the hips in an anterior/posterior fashion, addressing lower back pain, posture, and helping to improve overall athleticism, to name a few.

As a coach who writes a lot of programs for athletes and general fitness clients I’ve used the barbell glute bridge as a strength exercises, as a “corrective” exercises, and as a way to build more glute hypertrophy. I’ve incorporated them into maximal strength programs, fat loss programs, and have utilized them when people are injured and I need to find a way to get a training effect.

In addition, because it’s such a versatile exercise (and because the learning curve is relatively low), the barbell glute bridge can easily be regressed or progressed to fit the needs and current abilities of the lifter. A newbie may be limited to performing 1-legged glute bridges with their bodyweight only, while a meathead or gym veteran may be performing traditional barbell glute bridges with significant weight on the bar.

And all of this doesn’t even take into account all the other things we can manipulate like sets/reps, tempo, rest periods, bands, chains, rest/pause method, AMAP, and all the other permutations and adjustments we can make.

We’ve pretty much exhausted and thought of every possible “thing” of how we can use the barbell glute bridge for. Right?

Right??

Well, not so much.

Here’s something to consider (and all the credit goes to CSP coach, Greg Robins for this).

What about using the glute bridge as a way to “potentiate” the glutes to fire to help improve bench pressing performance?

I hired Greg to take over my programming to help me address some nagging injuries, reach some goals of mine, and more importantly to allow me the luxury of not having to do any thinking for myself.

I’ve never made it a secret that I’m not the best bench presser in the world. It’s my weakest lift and something I’ve always struggled with. I can coach it like a bastard, but I’m most likely never going to be breaking any world records.

While the squat and deadlift get most of the love from a coaching technique standpoint, we could make the case that the bench press is FAR more coaching intensive than the two combined. It’s MUCH more of a full-body lift than most people give it credit for.

In particular, leg drive is an important component of pressing big weight. And even more particular to that, being able to activate the glutes to not only aid with transference of force from the lower body to the upper body, but to also “protect” the lower back, is an often massively overlooked component of bench pressing.

So, why not perform a few sets of barbell glute bridges prior to benching in order to activate or “potentiate” the glutes????  It’s brilliant, right? And something that I haven’t seen many people discuss as to how the glute bridge can be useful.

As an example, here’s what I’ve been doing (through Greg’s programs) for the past few weeks on my heavy bench days.

Four sets of barbell glute bridges (2×10,2×5) done with SPEED in mind. These aren’t ball busting sets.

2×10 can range from 135-185 lbs (for women, 85-135lbs).

2×5 can range from 205-225 lbs (for women 115-185 lbs).

** These numbers will obviously depend on one’s ability in terms of a starting point, and will also be PROGRESSED as time goes on.

All I’m worried about here is QUALITY reps, and fast reps! With a TWO SECOND pause at the top of each rep.

So there you have it: Yet, another way to incorporate barbell glute bridges into your training repertoire. Give it a try and let me know if you notice an improvement in how your bench press feels.

CategoriesExercise Technique Program Design

One Drill to Build Athleticism?

Today’s guest post is not only the last guest post of 2014 (sad face), but comes from good friend and regular contributor, Michael Anderson.

Enjoy!

When you are in your first year of damn near any Exercise Science or Strength and Conditioning program in college, one of your professors will inevitably ask you to define “athleticism”.

One guy will always raise his hand and say “it’s being athletic” and you will laugh at him but really he’s sorta right. Having “athleticism” (to me) means that you contain and exhibit the traits of coordination/balance, power, strength and suppleness (the ability to absorb external forces and remain uninjured) as well as being able to tie those all together into the context of your sport.

As strength coaches, many of us are out there trying to figure out the best ways to improve and fine-tune the athleticism of our athletes. There are a ton of drills that you can use to try and do this, but my personal favorite is the medicine ball shot-put.

It, through several variations, can really do a lot in the way of increasing the way an athlete performs.

Note from TG: Not to take away from Michael’s thunder…..HERE’s a video I shot for Stack Magazine on how we coach some popular med ball rotational drills at Cressey Sports Performance.

Through the several variations I’m going to present, your athletes will be challenged in several ways.

– They will be required to exhibit a good base of balance in their lower body will producing a ton of force through their upper body.

– They will also be asked to demonstrate some coordination and proprioception while throwing the ball hard. If they are missing any of the “links” that connects their feet to the arm pushing the ball then they are going to get a pretty lame sound when the ball hits the wall. When an athlete is able to figure out how to connect each piece of the exercise they should get a really satisfying “pop” from the MB slamming against the wall.

On another note, I believe you should always err on the side of light when performing medicine ball work. I’m 6’1” and 210 pounds and in the following videos I’m using a 6# dynamax ball. Using a ball that is too heavy will result in the movement looking a helluva lot less crisp and explosive.

Half-Kneeling Shot Put


This variation is great for beginners because it takes the lower body totally out of the equation; the fewer things for a novice to think about, the better.

The half-kneeling position will allow the athlete to create a strong position to keep their hips stable while allowing for good torso rotation if you have the requisite mobility. Without the proper mobility, this drill won’t feel quite as powerful as it should and you’ll want to work a little more on your upper body and hip mobility. Athletes who have a tough time figuring out how to brace their lower body to create power will benefit from this drill as well.

Base Position Shot Put


This is the seated box jump variation of the shot puts. It requires the athlete to start in a complete stable base position and create forward propulsion of the ball without any countermovement whatsoever.

The big benefit I find with a static start like this is that athletes are forced to learn how to brace and fire muscles without just relying on momentum to get things going. Weaker athletes who tend to rely on their springs rather than muscles will find this drill awkward and will probably hate it a lot. This will also be a good opportunity for you to teach them how to drive off their back leg and snap their hip to create force from the ground up.

Rockback Shot Put


This is probably the first variation where your athletes are going to feel like they can produce some serious power. Start them in the base position and have them transfer their weight over their trail leg and load up their back hip.

Once they feel comfortable with their weight shift they can explode forward and pound the ball into the wall. This is my favorite drill to teach athletes how to drive off of their back leg to initiate the movement. This drill will allow for enough force production that they will start to need to bring their trail leg around for a little bit of a decelerative effect.

I like the rockback to be a controlled movement rather than just all-out ballistic. I feel that this allows the athlete to understand the movement that you’re looking for better than just trying to bounce off of their back leg to take advantage of the stretch-shortening cycle as much as possible.

Step-Behind Shot Put


All things considered, this is my favorite medicine ball drill. From the first time I learned it (from a CSP blog, surely) I knew it was a good way to produce a bunch of power. It took me a little longer to understand just how useful a drill it was to get athletes doing athletic things.

It’s a very complete drill: the footwork requires more coordination than you’d think, the forward momentum created plus the power from the throw requires the athlete to decelerate properly, and the lower body and upper body are doing two different things at the same time.

If the athlete is unable to link all of these pieces together they are going to end up performing a pretty flaccid medicine ball throw. Much like the rockback exercise, I think the step-behind portion of this is best performed with a measure of control rather than being completely explosive from the get-go.

Crow Hop Shot Put


This is the most technical medicine ball drill that I’ll give to most athletes; if they can’t perform the step-behind shot put without a high level of proficiency then asking them to perform this drill is going to be like watching a monkey hump a football.

The “crow hop” is a movement that baseball players use to gain some momentum in a short amount of time/space to create more power to deliver the ball further/harder.

We can use that same movement to our advantage to teach athletes how to create a bunch of power as soon as their feet hit the ground. This requires a high level of reactivity from the athlete, or else the movement will become awkward and cumbersome. Teaching an athlete how to transfer fluidly from one movement (in this case, a hop) into another one (a lateral push to throw the ball) will have a great carry over effect to their sport of choice.

Sport Specific?

I hate the phrase “sport specific” because it’s been so bastardized in the last few years, but these are some of the most sport specific drills that you can do in the weight room. Teaching athletes how to move laterally, create rotational force starting at the their feet and transferring it up into their torso and how to decelerate their body after force production will help just about any athlete in any sport.

Spend some time working these drills into your athletes programs over the next several months and take some measures to see how their performance increases. Have a great day and go lift some heavy shit!

Additional Commentary from TG

How we implement med ball work in our programming depends, in large part, on where we are in the year. In the very beginning stages of the off-season, our baseball guys are pretty banged up and the idea of throwing anything, much less a med ball, is about as enticing as a colonoscopy. That said we’ll still implement *some* med ball drills, albeit at a very low volume.  However, it’s not uncommon to OMIT then altogether depending on total innings pitched, etc.

Once we enter the meat and potatoes of the off-season we’ll hammer a TON of med ball drills. We’ll typically try to hit one rotational drill and one overhead drill (per training session) 2-3x per week. Although we’ll also divide it up like this:

Monday: Overhead Med Ball, Box Jumps, Lower Body strength training.

Tuesday: Rotational Med Ball, Upper Body strength training.

Wednesday: Movement (skipping, marches, linear sprint work)

Thursday: Overhead Med Ball, Box Jumps, Lower Body strength training.

Friday: Rotational Med Ball, Upper Body strength training.

Saturday: Movement (heidens, change of direction work)

Sunday: eat dead animal flesh.

As we inch closer to the competitive season and guys start throwing bullpens and preparing for Spring Training, we’ll tone down the med ball work and reduce volume significantly.

However, outside of rotational dominant sports (where it’s almost mandatory), placing med ball work into the mix regardless of what sport you play or if you don’t play a sport and you’re just Ron from Accounting or Hillary from Scottsdale, can be highly advantageous and fun!

What’s more, I’ve found that med ball training is about as close to a self-limiting modality as you can get. Meaning just about anyone, regardless of experience (and assuming there’s no contraindications), can implement it into their program without much of a learning curve and risk of injury. Granted you make look like you have two left feet out of the gate. But as with anything, with a little practice and consistency, you’ll look like an athlete before you know it!

Author’s Bio

Mike Anderson is a graduate of the UMass Boston Exercise Science program and spent a year interning with Boston University Strength and Conditioning. After spending five fun years physically developing absolutely savage doctors and teachers as a personal trainer in Brookline, MA he is now residing in sunny Cleveland, OH and works as a Performance Coach at Michael Johnson Performance at the Spire Institute in Geneva, OH. You can read his blog HERE or email him at [email protected] if you have any questions.
CategoriesProgram Design Strength Training

But Can You Move Your Body?

I hate Max Shank.

He’s a phenomenal strength coach with a unique perspective and approach that I admire. He’s also a lovely human being. But I still hate him.

Why?  Because I’m not him.

He can do cool stuff like deadlift 315 (for reps)….on one leg. He can do handstands, backflips, L-sits, overhead press a human being, squat a metric shit-ton, and probably win a fight against Batman and/or a pack of ninjas. And he’s ripped. What a jerk!

It’s really impressive to watch the things he can do. And it’s even more impressive to watch him coach regular people to do all of the same things (except maybe the whole fighting Batman thing). Which is why I admire his work.

He just released his new resource, Ultimate Athleticism, this week. While I’ve only had the chance to peruse the first few chapters, I can tell you that Max’s approach to training is different compared to anything else you’ve ever come across. While it may seem like the things he can do are superhuman, it’s important to understand that, despite not having a gymnastics background, he taught himself how to do those things through persistence, practice, and implementing the proper progressions.

What’s more, he teaches regular people how to do all the same things….every day! He’s adamant that lifting heavy things is important. But in addition to that he feels building more overall athleticism is the key to help fill in the gaps to better performance and a better body (and one that’s less likely to break down!).

In today’s guest post he discusses a few ways to accomplish this feat. Enjoy! And be sure to check out Ultimate Athleticism HERE.

But Can You Move Your Body?

Smashing weights in the gym makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I can’t get enough of it.

Warm and Fuzzy Pic Credit: Snuggle Pup

I feel like the tides are shifting in the sense that more people are sharing that same passion for fitness.

But like everything else, it leads to extremes on both sides. This is especially true with those of us who are smashing weights.

It’s a bit silly how getting winded while walking up the stairs or not being able to squat to full depth without 300lbs on your back can somehow be a badge of honor among heavy lifters.

Some of you are probably thinking, “this guy doesn’t even lift, bro.” Here’s the deal; the pendulum has swung to far to the right. The goal hasn’t become, get stronger, or more athletic–it’s become lift more weights, or do more reps.

Before you excommunicate me from the lifters guild, just hear me out.

I’m still suggesting we all continue to hammer away at heavy deadlifts and throw ridiculous weights overhead, but let’s do just a couple things to make it more well-rounded. Let’s get more athletic for life, not just for gym movements.

So without further ado, here a couple simple things you can do to get more athletic without losing your heavy lifting gainz.

Mobilize

Combining yoga, dance, martial arts–whatever floats your boat–move around and improve your coordination at the same time. Throw this in at the beginning of your session and splice it in to your heavy lifts as an active rest.

Jump/Sprint

Don’t just jump straight up, and don’t just sprint straight ahead. Move in a variety of directions! Jump onto things, off of them. One leg, two legs. Lateral bound, maybe even learn how to do some basic tumbling if you have anyone willing to teach you.

Gymnastics

Upper body strength has, for whatever reason, become very one-dimensional. There are so many gymnastics, or even breakdancing movements with steady progressions starting out at a beginner level that will give you an even greater stimulus, and ultimately more gains than traditional gym movements targeting the upper body.

My two personal favorites are L Sit to Handstands, and Front Levers. If you’re confused, just go balance on your hands and climb stuff–a great substitute for overhead presses and pull-ups, respectively.

If your goal, like mine, is to be able to crush it athletically in any situation I am ever tossed into, you’re going to have to widen your spectrum of athleticism. Keep smashing heavy weights but add in some other movements to fill the gaps in your overall athleticism.

Ultimate Athleticism is on sale NOW through the end of the week. You can check it out HERE.

About the Author

Max is an author, coach, and owner of Ambition Athletics in Encinitas, CA. He also competes in a wide variety of sports ranging from Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu to Scottish Highland Games.

Max’s desire to constantly improve his knowledge and personal skills has led him to be a sought after international presenter of his unique and pragmatic blend of strength, flexibility, health, and overall athleticism.

www.ultimateathleticism.com

www.maxshank.com

https://www.facebook.com/MaxShank

Instagram: maxshank

Twitter: maxshank

CategoriesExercise Technique Program Design

Get the Most Out of Your Farmer Carries

This won’t come as a newsflash to those who read my blog on a regular basis, but I heart beef jerky, Gandalf, lightsabers, snuggling, butterfly kisses, farmer carries1

As far as exercises which have a lot of carry-over to performance as well as every day life events and doing their part in, pardon my french, “fixing shit,” 2 farmer carries are the bees knees.

In my latest article on MensHealth.com I discuss why farmer carries are worthy of “bees knees” status, in addition to offering up a handful of ways to implement them into a program

Get the Most Out of Your Farmer Carries

Also, I submitted the article before filming the video below. It shows me performing one round of a killer Kettlebell Get-Up, Carry, and Swing finisher that 1) is featured in the article and 2) I think you’ll enjoy. Depending on what your definition of “enjoy” is.

If it means something along the lines of eating a bowl of cookies-n-cream ice cream or getting a foot massage think the opposite of that.

CategoriesProgram Design Strength Training

Rethinking Percentage Based Training

I like to think of myself as an open-minded kind of guy:

– I used to hate Brussels sprouts, now I love em. Especially when they’re drowned in bacon fat.

– The other weekend, while dining out in DC, Dean (Somerset) and Ann (Wendel) ordered some sweetbreads for an appetizer. In my mind I was like, “Sweet! Sweetbreads! Are we talking cinnamon raisin here? Something with a cheesecake frosting?”

I’m not what you would call an adventurous omnivore.

They were “breaded” so I ate them. They weren’t sweet (weird), but tasted good.

When it comes to things like calamari, pate, fois gras, or putting anything other than caramel on ice-cream, I’d rather jump into a live volcano than eat that stuff. It wasn’t until a week later when Lisa and I were watching the season premier of Top Chef Boston that I learned what sweetbreads really are.

Noooooooooooo.

I’ll get over it.

– I went to a screening of Brokeback Mountain – by myself, mind you – when it first came out in theaters. Two dudes making out in a tent? Whatevs.

– I once voted for a Democrat (even though I’m a registered Republican).

– And, I’m not skeered to rock a pink shirt when the occasion calls for it.

In the above scenario I believe it was because it was Wednesday.

This open-mindedness doesn’t just default to regular life stuff either. I’m pretty open when it comes to fitness-related things as well.  Sure, I have my biases and preferences on certain things – I think kipping pullups are dumb, I believe everyone should perform some sort of deadlifting 1-2x per week, I loathe how yoga is marketed towards women (if I hear one more “long and lean” muscles diatribe I’m gonna snap) – but for the most part I take a “middle-of-the-road” attitude on most things.

I can see the rationale or benefit on just about everything. What I can’t stand is when fitness peeps are so far to the left or right on any given topic that they become irrational.

We have people arguing over the merits of organic vs. conventional foods (GMO), and yet a vast majority of people aren’t even eating a serving of fruit or vegetables per day! Who cares if it’s organic or GMO? I hate to break it to you, but 95% of what we eat is GMO anyways, including those organic cherry tomatoes.

Photo Credit: val’sphotos

We like to argue over minutia and it’s human nature to be set in our ways I suppose. We like to believe we live in a black or white world (where you’re right and everyone else who disagrees is wrong), but so much of it is grey.

More to the point, whatever the debate may be or question being asked, in the entire world, but especially in the fitness world, everything can be answered with one simple (albeit complicated) phrase……

It Depends.

Is Paleo a good fit for you? It depends.

What about intermittent fasting? It depends.

CrossFit – yay or nay? It depends.

HIIT over steady state cardio? It depends.

A roast beef sandwich is smarter than Tracy Anderson? No debate. Abso-freakin-lutely.

But lets get serious for a second. What about percentage based training?

I used to dismiss this type of training, but as of late I’ve been having a bit of a change of heart and have been incorporating it more and more with my own programming, as well as that of my athletes and clients.

But, as with everything else, there’s a time and place for it and whether or not it’s a good fit for YOU will, wait for it……………..

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….depend.

What Is It?

Many programs will utilize percentages (based off of one’s 1RM) for loading schemes and provide detailed set and rep schemes for the lifter.

For example, a day may call for 4 sets of 6 reps with 75% of 1RM.

The Advantages

1. Such an approach takes a lot of guess work out of the equation and provides instantaneous direction to many trainees who otherwise would be confused as to how much weight they should be using.

All you have to do is figure out one’s 1RM for any particular lift, type out some numbers in a calculator, bleep, bloop, beep, beep, bloop, and PRESTO, you have a training session!

2. Olympic weightlifters use this approach religiously, and they’re ridiculous athletes. I hate them…..;o)

3. Percentage based training makes a lot of sense when working with larger groups or team based training. Some collegiate strength coaches I know are in charge of 3-4 teams which is a crap load of programming for one person.

This approach drastically reduces the workload, while still allowing for some tweaking and individualization.

4.  And, it works!

Some of the most successful training programs in the past few years, Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 and Brandon Lilly’s The Cube Method are two gleaning examples.

Not to mention, of course, the classics like Shieko, Smolov, and The Russian Squat Routine….those sadomasochist bastards!

The Disadvantages

1. Some coaches, myself included, can see the benefits percentage based training has for beginner and intermediate lifters. Like I mentioned above, it provides structure and takes out a lot of the guesswork.

That said, the knock against it is that it doesn’t take into account one’s preparedness for any given day. One day may call for 80% and you feel like you could deadlift a bulldozer. You get your reps in, but it was too easy.

Conversely, one day you walk into the gym feeling like you got run over by a bulldozer and your programs calls for 2×3 @ 90%. You miss reps and your entire session is a train wreck.

Expounding on this point a bit further, I’ll steal some insight from Bret Contreras:

Programming just isn’t that simple. My colleague Brad Schoenfeld and I recently collected data for an upcoming study we intend on publishing that examines the EMG activation in the leg muscles with heavier weight (75% of 1RM) versus light weight (30% of 1RM) to failure. While we weren’t particularly interested in the number of repetitions the subjects achieved during exercise performance, we were intrigued to find that with the 75% of 1RM loading, the ranges of repetitions achieved by the subjects varied dramatically from one lifter to the next. While most subjects performed between 10 and 15 repetitions, one subject performed a whopping 21 repetitions, and another subject performed just 7 repetitions (with 30% of 1RM, the range was 30 to 71).

What does this mean for percentage based training?

For some it will be on point. The load, sets, and reps mirror that of the person’s ability and they’ll see great progress.

For others it will be too much.

2. Another thing to consider is the argument that strength doesn’t happen in a linear fashion. As Eric Cressey notes:

I rarely use percentages. Think about it this way…

If you test your squat and it’s 500 at the beginning of a 16-week cycle, and then put 50 pounds on it over the course of that period, the percentages based on that 500 number aren’t very accurate by the time week 11, 12, 13, etc. roll around, are they?

In short, you’d have to re-test your 1RM every four weeks or so to update your program calculator which is a major pain in the ass (not to mention detrimental in that people spend waaaaaaay too much time testing their 1RM rather than actually building it. More on this below).

3.  Something else to consider is that some programs that utilize percentage based training are absolute eye wash and make no sense.

As Jesse Irizarry notes in THIS article, a large number of programs have rep counts assigned to percents that don’t factor cumulative stress on the body of doing multiple reps at that given percent.

Performing 5 reps of any movement at 80% of 1RM doesn’t sound too hardcore, right? Easy peasy.

The FIRST rep is the only one that represents 80% of 1RM. Every rep thereafter represents cumulative stress on the body and is greater than the demand of 80% 1RM.

And then we’re asking some trainees to perform 5,6, even 7 SETS at that percentage!?!?!

That’s going to smoke some people.

Rethinking Percentage Based Training

Here’s my thought process today as I tap away on my keyboard.

1. For beginners and a fair portion of intermediate trainees, I feel percentage based training can work, but it may not be a good fit right out of the gate. To be blunt, most just aren’t strong enough to even worry about it. Yes, it provides structure – and I can’t argue that. But if you’re a grown man and your 1RM squat is only 185 lbs, is it really going to make a huge difference if you train at 90% (which is 166 lbs???).

Yes, it’s relative – 90% is 90%, and heavy is heavy – but I think most people in this camp would be better served using an RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) scale or following something like THIS.

2. In addition to the point above, most beginners aren’t remotely ready to handle loads upwards of 85-90%+ of 1RM. That’s just silly talk.

3. Remember earlier when I said a lot of trainees spend too much time testing their 1RM rather than building it?

This is something fellow CSP coach, Greg Robins, has discussed as of late and I couldn’t agree more.

Percentage based training helps people build a wider foundation in order to build a higher peak.

Photo Credit: Circled Thrice

How you get strong is by moving what you could originally do for 3 reps and perform it for 5.

What was originally your 92.5% 3RM is now 87.5% (<– based off of Prilepin’s Chart).

You can only do this by accumulating volume and by putting in the work. It’s not just going to happen. And this is where using percentage based training has a TON of merit, and, not coincidentally, is why Wendler’s 5/3/1 is so effective!

If more upper level intermediate lifters (and advanced lifters) bought into this mantra, I’m sure they’d see some improvements in their numbers.

4. I think too, percentage based training, more so for advanced lifters, provides some semblance of forced autoregulation.

Speaking from personal experience I know I’d always get into trouble when I consistently forced myself to train my deadlift in the 90% and up range. At some point, by week 4 or 5, my back would be like, “hahahahahahaha, not gonna happen Tony.”

Utilizing more percentage based work forces me to tone it down a bit, place more of a premium on bar speed and technique, and allows me to accumulate more volume without my back flipping me the middle finger. And I’m cool with that.

Percentage based training isn’t the end-all-be-all approach, and it isn’t going to work for everyone.  But that’s my thought process as it stands today. What do you think?

CategoriesProgram Design Strength Training

5 Reasons You’re Not Getting Stronger

Getting strong is easy. Focus on compound, multi-joint movements – preferably the squat, deadlift and bench press – and then try to move more weight in those lifts on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis.

Photo Credit: JD Hancock

Basically, lift heavy shit, a lot. Repeat. Forever.

So why do many people fail to make appreciable progress with their strength goals? In my latest article published on T-Nation.com today I delve into five mistakes you can fix:

Continue Reading…..

CategoriesExercise Technique Program Design

New Warm-Up: Keiser Flow

Today’s guest post is brought to you by Boston University Assistant Strength and Conditioning coach, Jill Zeller.

I started training and making cameo appearances at BU two or so years ago when one my good friends, Dave Rak, was a GA there. He left (now a S&C coach at University of Washington), and the staff at BU were nice enough to let me continue to stop by. I’m sort of like that character Milton from the movie Office Space who just continues to show up to work despite technically no longer being an employee.

Without the stapler fetish of course.

Nonetheless, it’s a beautiful facility and the staff is fantastic.

As it happens, Jill and I were discussing “flow” warm-ups recently and she had a nice idea on how to incorporate a Keiser system into the mix. I asked her if she’d be interested in writing about it, and this is what she came up with.

Enjoy!

PS: if you don’t have access to a Keiser system, no worries! You can just as easily use a standard pulley system.

In the last few years many coaches have been discussing developmental patterns that challenge people to breathe and crawl to increase their movement quality. The term Flow has been used by many strength coaches to describe a series of drills that effortlessly seem to blend together while constantly challenging the athlete to stabilize and mobilize.

Note from TG: Fun, random Tony fact (and my apologies to Jill for highjacking her article). When Lisa and I first started dating she had mentioned that one of her favorite books was Flow, written by renowned psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. 

In it he describes the “optimal experience,” and that what makes an experience genuinely satisfying is the state of consciousness called…….flow.

During this state, Dr. Csikrerweufushjahkswqoiojfsyi describes people as typically experiencing deep enjoyment, creativity, and a total involvement with life.

Examples include people who enjoy cooking, gardening, tinkering with their car, or for the more geeky of us, engaging in a full blown Magic the Gathering marathon. Whatever the case may be, we’re in it…with laser like focus.

The day after our first date, I bought the book as a way to prove to Lisa “see? I was listening!! I like you so much that I bought your favorite book from Dr. Whateverhisnameis. We should totally make out!”

Um, yeah, that book is still sitting on my bookshelf unopened. Someday I’ll crack it open and give it a go.

This FLOW warm-up follows the ground up approach incorporating an upper body push, pull, core and lower body squat and hinge pattern.

The Ground-Up Approach

Starts with some form of diaphragmatic breathing because this is the number one pillar you need to master before any other movement. Once you can exhale longer than you inhale, push your rib cage down towards your hips and engage your pelvic floor, you can begin.

Photo Credit: Supremedalekdunn

The first movement is a dead bug, which we all know Tony is obsessed with. It’s actually kind of creepy.

This is a supine core exercise. We start supine because if you cannot master your lumbo pelvic position supine you have no business moving into quadruped, half kneel or any other positions against gravity that offer a lesser base of support. Do 10 reps each side.

Note from TG: this ground-up approach highlights the SFMA’s 4×4 Matrix and serves as an excellent framework for customizing corrective exercise as well as programming considerations in general.

For example a 1-1 would be a supine glute bridge with a band wrapped around the knees (for proprioceptive feedback). A 4-4 would be something like a traditional squat or deadlift.

While rules are always meant to be broken, when you’re dealing with clients or athletes who exhibit stability/motor control dysfunction, the 4×4 Matrix acts as a foundation for addressing things through progressive postures, loads, and reflex activation.

NOTE: full video demonstration ALL the moves below.

From supine we have a smooth transition into the next core drill….Side Plank Row.

This is anti-lateral flexion exercise compounded with a one-arm horizontal pull. This is stability, mobility and strength in one exercise. The whole kinetic chain is working as you stabilize your core and row with your top hand using your rotator cuff muscles and rhomboids. Repeat 10 each side.

We progress into the quadruped position for Bird Dogs.

Bird dogs are a level harder than a dead bug because they challenge the base of support through your anti-rotary muscles and lumbar stabilizers. Repeat 10 on each side with a one second pause at end range without any lumbar movement. (Ladies: Make sure you’re far enough from the keiser that your pony tail doesn’t get caught in it..Just saying).

In the tall kneel position we transition to doing a One-Arm T with a Press. The tall kneeling position challenges our lumbo-pelvic position. The T forces us to have proper scapula stability and abduction. After abduction we add another horizontal press for an extra anti-rotary component.

Do 10 each side.

From a tall kneeling position we narrow the base of support to come into a ½ kneel position or an in-line position. To reiterate, it’s important to be cognizant of where our diaphragm and pelvis are in this position. Are we locked in?

Here we perform an anti-rotational press, the Pallof Press. Do 10/side.

We are finally approaching a standing position.

Hold the keiser handle at belly button height and have the athlete squat. By holding the keiser distal from your body you’re slightly pulling your thoracic position into flexion so you have to use your core stabilizers to maintain proper spinal alignment through a squat pattern.

Do 10 Core Engaged Keiser Squats.

The last exercise is a Single Leg Deadlift to Row. This teaches the hip hinge in a unilateral fashion. It’s a great regression when teaching an SLDL because the tension on the keiser allows you so sit back into the hip on the ground while extend and slightly internally rotate the hip moving through the sagittal plane. At the top we row to exaggerate hip extension upper body pulling.

The objective of this warm up is to go through many movement progressions within one seamless action. I.e., flow.

Athletes can appreciate the difficulty of each movement tier but still see the final outcome. (A standing position).

Lets See the Whole Thing in Action!

Repeat this twice and you have completed numerous core exercises, two upper body pulls, two upper body presses, one unilateral, one bilateral, a squat pattern, and a one leg hip hinge pattern in about 5-10 minutes.

You’ll definitely break a sweat and be more prepared for your subsequent training session. Plus, it serves as a nice change of pace and breaks up the monotony of most warm-ups. Give it a try today and let me know what you think in the comments section!

About the Author

Jill Zeller is an Assistant Strength and Conditioning coach at Boston University as well as one of the Head Strength and Conditioning coaches at Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning.

She loves to deadlift. And give high-fives.

You can check out Jill’s Facebook page HERE, and follow her on Twitter HERE.

CategoriesProgram Design Strength Training

Pick Things Up – Month #2

I hope everyone enjoyed their extended Columbus Day weekend (for those who had the additional day off anyways).

Mine was lovely. I took Lisa to go see Gone Girl – you know, a nice romantic comedy. And by “nice romantic comedy,” I mean the exact opposite of that.

It was my second time seeing it. You can read my initial thoughts on it HERE.

Lisa and I also spent a fair portion of Sunday taking engagement photos in and around Boston. I know, I know: for most of you the last thing you want to read about is something on our photo shoot, and I PROMISE I won’t be that guy who routinely “vomits” relationship/engagement cuteness stuff your way.

But come on!  You have to admit: we’re so cute you want to punch us in the face.

Did I mention we’re engaged?

We’re engaged…..;o)

I also spent a good portion of the weekend prepping for the new website launch.  I’m soooooo excited for all of you to see the new site, and I about peed myself a little when Jason and the peeps over at Copter Labs revealed the new digs.

I’m still sorta knee deep in website jargon today, and don’t really have a ton of time to put up a content heavy post.

But I do have something cool for you to check out! 

Pick Things Up – Month #2

While it’s technically a deadlift-centric program, in reality it’s a program that will get you strong. If that’s your bag.

You will deadlift, a lot.  But it’s a well-balanced program under the umbrella them of STRENGTH!

Another cool aspect of this program – and something I feel separates it from the masses – is that it utilized the WeightTraining.com platform.

What this means is that not only do you get 24/7/365 access to a 4-month program that I designed, but you’ll also have the opportunity to set your own schedule (with email reminders), log your training sessions online, have the ability to use your iPhone, iPad, or Droid to do so, in addition to having access to WT.com’s extensive video library (as well as other features).

Remember

Hiring me for one month of individualized distance coaching will cost you more than it will to follow this program for FOUR MONTHS.

And, you have the benefit of all the goodies that come with using the WeightTraining.com platform.

For those who missed out on Month #1 go HERE.

But for those who want to continue the awesome, you can purchase Month #2 HERE.

Thanks, and happy lifting!