CategoriesProgram Design Strength Training

A Day With Alex Viada: And How To Feel Like the Weakest, Slowest, and Smallest Human Being Ever

We had the pleasure of hosting Alex Viada, owner and President of Complete Human Performance and author of The Hybrid Athlete – this past weekend at Cressey Sports Performance.

You’ve seen his name pop up here and there on this site – most notably in an article I wrote recently titled You Down With GPP? – and you may be familiar with some of his work on other sites as well.

Alex is a beast (not to mention one of the nicest, most humble, and generous coaches I’ve met in recent years). To give some perspective on how much of a beast he is, Alex is an elite level powerlifter with PRs of 705 (squat), 465 (bench press) and 700 (DL) raw w/ wraps in the 220 class, but also competes in triathlons and ULTRA marathons (100+ miles). He’s also posted a best mile time of 4:32.

So much for the notion that endurance activities steal gainz.

Oh, and he also dabbles in bodybuilding. And arm wrestles grizzly bears. In fact, he’s the guy The Avengers call when they need help.

Adding to his legend, Alex has also, literally, I’m being 100% serious here, squatted so much weight he made his face bleed. I’m not referring to getting a bloody nose or popping a blood vessel in one of his eyes. I mean, who hasn’t done that?

He literally bled through the pores on his face.1

I’d like to see Chuck Norris or Jack Bauer do that!

He’s an impressive human being and someone who challenges people to push their bodies to levels and places they never thought possible. He works with many different clientele – powerlifters, ultramarathoners, triathletes, Strongman competitors, CrossFit, in addition to many different divisions of the military.

He specializes in what he refers to as “Hybrid Training,” or:

“The concurrent training of different athletic disciplines that do not explicitly support one another, and whose disparate components are not essential to success at any one sport.”

In short: someone may want to train for two goals – competing in a marathon as well as improving their deadlift numbers – that don’t necessarily support one another.

Listening to Alex speak was engrossing, and it was hard for me to put my pen down for more than ten seconds during his entire lecture. Below are a few highlights I wanted to share from the day.

An Introduction to Applied Hybrid Training Methodology

*** Or, if I were in charge of giving a title, “How To Run a 50K and Deadlift a Bulldozer, Like a Boss”

1. People fail to realize that the “system” Alex has developed is the result of years of trial and error (he’d argue mostly error). The key behind everything is to learn to be lazy. Or a better way to put things would be to say “learn to minimize stress/overuse while maximizing progress.” It’s important to understand that, when dealing with such extremes and goals that are at opposite ends of the endurance-strength spectrum, everything is a precious commodity and it’s crucial to learn how to condense training stressors.

To summarize:

“What is critically important to do the LEAST AMOUNT OF VOLUME to improve performance.”

2. For the hybrid athlete, he or she needs to recognize where the overlap is in their training and OMIT the superfluous modalities that waste time and energy.

For example:

Does one really need to include a bevy of “speed & power” work on the track if he or she is including speed & power training in the weight room? In some cases, maybe. But more often than not, the additional running volume becomes redundant.

Also, as Alex noted: what’s generally the purpose of long runs? To learn to train and perform through fatigue.

If someone is lifting through fatigue in the weight room, then, again, many of the endless miles on the road become redundant.

3. Much of the challenge when working with strength athletes is teaching them to SLOW DOWN. Zone 2 work (loosely defined as 65-70% of max heart rate, generally 120-140 BPM) is where the magic happens.

Alex mentioned that the key for many strength-based athletes is to teach them to be slow before they become fast.

When told to train in Zone 2, many will be weirded out about just how slow that really is. For some it won’t take much to get there. A brisk walk may do it. But as a frame of reference that’s akin to telling an elite marathoner (who averages 4:42 miles for 26 miles, which, I couldn’t sustain with a freakin moped) to sustain an eight minute mile pace.

It feels, well, slow!

But it’s “the slow” that’s so CRUCIAL for the hybrid athlete. Many will want to “power” through their Zone 2 work and speed things up, which will only impede things down the road.

The strength athlete needs to get married to the idea that training at 100% effort all the time IS NOT going to help them succeed.

Managing fatigue and optimizing recovery is key.

4. The other advantage of Zone 2 work is the added benefit of increased capillary density and venous return.

Think of it this way: the more muscle or cross-sectional area someone has (or adds), the more potential there is for waste product. If an athlete doesn’t take the time to build the appropriate “support network” to transport/filter said waste product (via capillary density, improved venous return, etc), there won’t be any improvement(s) in performance.

5. ANOTHER advantage of Zone 2 work are the improved adaptations one gets on their GENERAL work capacity.

General Work Capacity = ability to produce more work over time.

A nice example Alex gave was with a powerlifter he’s currently working with who wants to get his deadlift up to 400 kg’s (<– a lot more in pounds) while improving his general conditioning for health reasons.

[Being able to see your kids graduate high-school is a nice benefit of improved cardiovascular conditioning].

In the beginning the lifter noted he was only able to get three work sets (with wraps) in before he’d be absolutely wiped out.

After only a few months of dedicated GENERAL Zone 2 work (non-specific: bike, elliptical, brisk walk, etc), the same lifter was now able to get SIX work sets in.

He essentially was able to DOUBLE his volume (and thus, work capacity). Not too shabby.

6. Attachment points matter. No matter how much muscle you add, it’s hard to overcome attachments points of the muscle. This is why you’ll (probably) never see a world-class Kenyan squatter.

Basically it’s important to “vet” predetermined ranges of a lot of things – attachments points, one’s natural propensity to increase cross-sectional area, etc) to see where an athlete will be most successful.

7. Want to sell the importance of strength training to an endurance athlete? Have him or her place a barbell on their back for the first time and see what happens.

No disrespect, because you could say the same thing for anyone who places a barbell on their back for the first time, but you’ll often see something that resembles a giraffe walking for the first time.

It can’t be stressed enough how much strength training improves balance and proprioception. Reiterate to an endurance athlete how it can improve body awareness and stability – and they’ll be putty in your hands.

8. Specific Work Capacity = athlete’s ability to perform specific movements at a given frequency/repetition (without unacceptable performance decrease).

If you want to get better at cycling you need to cycle. If you want to get better at bench pressing you need to bench press.

Remember: General work capacity is the foundation for Specific work capacity.

Need to be selective on what you choose, too.

Many would deem Prowler work as applicable “specific work capacity” for a powerlifter. But is it?

Look at foot placement (on the toes). How much knee bend is there? Very little. So, how does this help a powerlifter with their squat?

Prowler work for a sprinter, now we’re talking.

9. No one should listen to ANYONE – coach, writer, Jedi Master – who says everyone should run a certain way. This disrespects the notion that everyone has different attachments points, leverages, and anthropometry.

We wouldn’t tell everyone to squat the same way, so why does this notion that everyone needs to run the same way apply to running?

By that token, everyone should wear skinny jeans!2

Remember a few years ago when the book Born to Run came out? I read it, and loved it. It was entertaining and a well-written book.

However, this book basically bred the movement of minimalist or barefoot running in no small part to it highlighting the running prowess of the Tarahumara Tribe.

The Tarahumara run with minimalist footwear and they run on their forefoot. And they never get hurt. Soooooo, that means everyone should do the same, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ytCEuuW2_A

 

Some people perform better and their running technique cleans up significantly when they heel strike first. Telling them to put on a pair of Vibrams and run on their toes is going to be the worst thing for them.

There are a lot of physical therapists out there who are now driving Maseratis3 due to that book. You’re welcome.

CategoriesFemale Training Motivational Strength Training

An Open Letter to Everyone Who Has Told Women “Don’t Get Too Muscular”

NOTE: As some of you may or may not know, I’m getting married this weekend. As such, I’m going to be a little hit and miss as far as how often I update the blog for the next week or so. I’m going to be too busy eating my fair share of carrot cake and *ahem* partaking in extracurricular activities…;O)

Today is a RE-POST of an article I published last year on the site. It’s without question one of the more popular posts ever published on TG.com. For anyone who missed it the first time around (or is new to the site), enjoy!

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of Seattle based blogger and writer, Sophia Herbst. I first crossed paths with Sophia- via the interwebz – a few months ago when I read her outstanding article on the Huffington Post 1200 Calories.

I included it as part of my Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work series and low and behold, Sophia reached out to thank me for sharing and to say that the feelings were mutual:  she was a big fan of my work as well.

We pretty much became internet BFFs at that point.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago and she reached out again to see if I’d be interested in contributing to an article she was writing on CrossFit.  We exchanged several emails – along with some inappropriate (to share) commentary – and I asked if she’d be down with writing a piece for my site.  She was more than happy to oblige.

She’s an amazing writer. I don’t use that compliment lightly. And while I’m not a woman, as a man, it was almost impossible for me not to nod my head in agreement with everything she had to say below. 

Enjoy!

Also, just a heads up: there is some not-so-PG-13 language involved.  Deal with it.

An Open Letter to Everyone Who Has Told Women “Don’t Get Too Muscular.”

I have been strength training for about two years now. Before that, I was a starvation-dieter.

I began dieting around the age of 13 or 14. My freshman year of high school I discovered I no longer fit into size zero jeans and bam! Diet time. By the time I hit 21, the years of self-imposed malnutrition had left me at 100lbs, able to easily wrap my thumb & middle finger around my upper arm (“bicep” doesn’t seem like the appropriate word) and unable to open jars, heavy doors, or windows by myself.

Why am I telling you this?

During my seven years of starvation-dieting, I was never once told, “don’t get too thin”.

In contrast, during my two years of strength training I have been told, “don’t get too muscular” countless times.

The first time it happened to me, I had excitedly been telling someone about my new squat PR. Weighing in at a (finally) healthy 125, I had just squatted 100lbs. I was in the middle of explaining  “my goal is a bodyweight back squat-” when I was interrupted with a “well, don’t get too muscular now”.

Being new to strength training, this crushed me.

For an awful few days it took my focus away from becoming stronger, and back to measuring myself by the gauge of “is my body pleasing for others to look at?”

After I got over it, my dismay turned into anger – no – absolute fury at this society in which 42% of girls 5-8 years old want to be thinner, and 10 million women are battling eating disorders (source), yet we hear the words “don’t get too muscular” far more often than “don’t get too thin.”

Now, while this unsolicited “advice” is generally never welcome nor appreciated, it brings up two issues: The encouragement of female weakness, and the lack of respect for female body autonomy.

One: Culturally-Encouraged Female Weakness

Let me tell you right now, women who strength train know how hard it is to build muscle.

If you tell a woman who strength trains “don’t get too muscular” then congratulations! You have just ousted yourself as a totally ignorant fool who doesn’t even lift.

The problem is that women who don’t strength train don’t know how hard it is to build muscle, and so this phrase, “don’t get too muscular” will seriously deter them from ever picking up heavy things in the first place.

This is a big problem. Naomi Wolf explains it better than I ever could:

“A culture fixated on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty, but an obsession about female obedience. Dieting is the most potent political sedative in women’s history; a quietly mad population is a tractable one.”

― The Beauty Myth

When women strength train, it is an act of borderline social disobedience. “Don’t get too muscular” is the phrase of choice used by people who are threatened by strong women to put them “back in their place”.

And it’s working.

We have three generations & counting of women who have been brainwashed into voluntarily physically debilitating themselves. 

Three generations of women who have been more focused on losing weight than running for government. Three generations of women have would rather be thin than intelligent. Three generations of women that would rather let the men-folk open jars for them, rather than develop the strength to open jars for themselves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMHXLUvNuJg

Now, I am not advocating that people start going around, accosting teenage girls with desperate pleas of “don’t get too thin! Put some meat on dem bones!” But to be completely honest, I probably would have benefited very much if I had received the message “don’t get too thin” at some point in my adolescence.

So. If you are going to say anything to a woman about her body (which you shouldn’t be doing in the first place, as I am about to explain), “don’t get too thin” is 1000% preferable  over the completely moronic “don’t get too muscular”.

Two: Lack of Respect for Female Body Autonomy

Why do people think it’s appropriate to tell women what they can & can’t do with their bodies in the first place? What makes someone think it’s perfectly acceptable to tell a woman “don’t get too muscular”?

This is an issue that’s been going on since the dawn of time, with female body autonomy being disrespected from reproductive rights, to personal space in public places, to -yes – appearance, weight, & fitness.

Most tellingly, no woman – no matter what kind of body she has – is immune from invasive suggestions on how she should be caring for her body. Women who strength train are warned against getting too “bulky”, “muscular”, or (my absolute favorite) “manly”.

Women who are on the larger side by far endure the most unwanted commentary. From people remarking on what’s in their shopping carts, to what they should order at a restaurant, to what type of exercise they should be doing, to what they should be wearing whilst exercising… it never stops. Even thin women can’t escape the self-appointed body police, who unhelpfully pester them to eat more because “men like women with curves”.

If you are a man, and the idea of a random passerby raising knowing eyebrows at your gut whilst commenting on your ice-cream cone sounds invasive and preposterous – that’s because it is invasive and preposterous. You are just lucky enough to not experience it every day.

Sometimes multiple times a day.

Men, for the most part, do not have to entertain this type of “well-intentioned” advice, because people actually respect male body autonomy. This is something that women would like to enjoy as well.

The people who tell women what they should do with their bodies are, frankly, so arrogant they believe their “benevolent suggestions” are actually doing the woman a favor.

Y’know, helping us be more attractive to potential mates.

This completely disregards the fact that women do not exist to be aesthetically pleasing for others, and we (this may surprise some) often do things for ourselves.

Which brings me full circle to my anecdote in the beginning, about the first time someone interrupted my squat-excitement to not-so-helpfully remind me to avoid bulky she-man status.

Women who strength train are doing it for themselves, not for you. Women who lift weights have already eschewed social norms by touching iron in the first place, and I guarantee they give negative fucks about your opinions on their bodies.

So next time you are tempted to “help” a woman by telling her not to deadlift things because you don’t like muscular women, remember that nobody cares about your stupid boner. Especially not the lady deadlifting 200lbs in the gym tank that says “GET SWOLE”.

But even more importantly than not telling this to women who already have the ability to overhead press your girlfriend, don’t say it to women who aren’t strength training yet (like your girlfriend).  Because chances are, with every “don’t get too muscular” a girl hears, weight gets added to the already-heavily weighted scales that tip women away from becoming strong, healthy, and powerful, and towards a life of cardio, carrot sticks, and misery.

And no woman deserves that. 

*** Be sure to check out Sophia’s bio below and to find out how to read more of her stuff!!!

Note from TG

At this point, if you’re a woman reading this who has little experience with strength training (or if you’re a friend, family member, or significant other of someone who’s expressed interest) you may be wondering to yourself, “well, where do I start? I don’t know my ass from my acetabulum, let alone how to perform a squat or deadlift correctly!  And, how often should I workout?  How much weight should I lift? Is it okay to train two days in a row?  OMG DID I LEAVE THE STOVE ON THIS MORNING!!?!?!?!?!”

Deep breaths!  Relax.

Lucky for you I have a lot of smart, genuine, and highly respected friends in the fitness industry (male and female) who have gone out of their way to provide some fantastic resources for women.

For those with limited access to a gym

Lean & Lovely – Neghar Fonooni

This is an excellent choice for those with limited equipment and who prefer workouts that utilize bodyweight and kettlebells.

Lift Weights Faster – Jen Sinkler

Another resource which places more emphasis on minimal equipment and no traditional “cardio.” It will still make you hate life, though…..;o)

For those with full access to a gym

Modern Women’s Guide to Strength Training – Girls Gone Strong

This is one of the most comprehensive “female-targeted” products out there. Not only do you get a “how to” guide to strength training, but a full-blown nutritional manual written by Dr. Cassandra Forsythe.  No 1200 kcal diets here!

The Lift Like a Girl Guide – Nia Shanks

This is a video series that guides you step-by-step on how to build your own fitness program catered to your goals and needs.

For those who just want solid information

The New Rules of Lifting for Women – Lou Schuler, Alwyn Cosgrove, and Dr. Cassandra Forsythe

No book does a better job at debunking a lot of common myths with regards to women’s fitness than this book.

Strong Curves – Bret Contreras and Kellie Davis

A bit more “sciency,” but still a fantastic resource for any woman looking to get stronger and building her ideal body.

About the Author

 

Sophia Herbst is a Seattle-based freelance writer, blogger, and proud feminist. When she’s not writing for Cody, a health & fitness startup, she’s changing the conversation about social & cultural issues through her blog.

CategoriesProgram Design Strength Training

How the Powerlifts and Sport(s) Go Together Like Peanut Butter & Jelly

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of strength coach, and good friend, Kelsey Reed. Some of you may recall Kelsey’s popular post – Fitness Marketing to Females: Don’t Be a Victim! – from a few months ago.

She’s back. And this time she’s discussing the powerlifts and how applicable they are when training for sport(s).

Enjoy.

Recently, I have been immersed in Easy Strength by Dan John and Pavel. (Tony mentioned it HERE.) If you’re a strength coach and you have not read it, do yourself a humongous favor and do so. Your athletes will thank you.

Dan and Pavel divvy up the various types of trainees into four quadrants. Today’s post will focus on Quadrant III: athletes/clients who possess a symbiotic relationship of strength training and their sport or goal in question. I’ll leave the other three quadrants as a mystery awaiting your discovery.

Unless you work with elite athletes, Olympic hopefuls or professionals, the bulk of your clients will be in QIII.

The mentality when working with said clients should be:

They are ___ athletes (i.e. football, soccer, or fill-in-the-blank) who happen to lift, NOT lifters who play ____.

Personally speaking, this has always been helpful for me to keep in mind when I’m tempted to allow one of my teenage boys to go for a 1RM (the answer is usually “No.”). After all, my athletes are training with me to improve their sport performance, not their weight room performance.

In general, there are two types, or spheres, of training: general physical preparedness (GPP), and special physical preparedness (SPP).

As strength coaches, our job often falls more in the realm of GPP rather than that of SPP. The bulk of GPP training is derived from the basic human movements: push, pull, hinge, squat, carry/walking pattern, and crawling. Those look remarkably like, bench press, rows, deadlifts, squats, and farmer carries.

Nikolay Vitkevich, a full-contact black belt and world-class powerlifter, says:

“You must clearly understand the difference between basic training and special physical preparation. [SPP] is different for everybody; one beats up on a tire with a sledgehammer, another does figure eights with a kettlebell, and someone incline presses. Basic training is roughly the same in all sports and aims to increase general strength and muscle mass. Powerlifting was born as a competition in exercises everybody does.”

Did you read that last sentence? Read it again and let it sink in.

A strength coach can easily accomplish 90% of what an athlete needs by intelligently dispersing those movements throughout the training week. From a training economy standpoint, you can’t go wrong by placing a premium on squatting, deadlifting, and pressing.

Deadlifting, squatting, and pressing are exercises every athlete should perform. They are the meat and potatoes (or meat and sweet potatoes for the Paleo adherents out there) of strength and conditioning. The number of muscle groups involved in the powerlifts allows for higher poundages to be used, which in turn, stimulates the neuromuscular and endocrine systems in ways not found in other exercises. The effect produces really strong people. And with everything else being equal, the stronger athlete will win.

Not that it’s impossible to become strong without the powerlifts, it just takes much, much longer. You cannot beat the efficiency and efficacy of picking up heavy things in building powerful athletes.

The powerlifts are also scaleable to each athlete’s strength and experience level.

A 9 year-old can benefit from the squat while using a 5 pound plate as much as a 20 year-old with 200lb on the bar in the next rack over.

That same little guy can deadlift with 15 lbs, while our older athlete has 300lb on her bar: both will increase the strength in their posterior chains. The 9 year-old may learn how to hold a plank (still a press) while an older athlete benches, again both are developing full body strength.

What’s more, the powerlifts are broad enough to apply to every sport and so effective at strength building, why wouldn’t you use them?

Now, before you attack me with pitchforks and PubMed articles, I know that some lifts are not optimal choices for all sports or for all athletes. It’s the difference between contraindicated exercises and contraindicated people.

For example, I will rarely (if ever) bench press an overhead athlete, but will defer to one of the hundreds (literally) of push up variations.

 

I would be remiss to note, too, that non-powerlifter athletes should use the powerlifts, but should not train like a powerlifter.

The powerlifts, programmed appropriately, build a solid strength foundation from which speed and power will spring.

What do I mean by that?

Powerlifting methods can produce CNS fatigue, joint/muscle soreness, and require substantial recovery time. Which is fine if the athlete’s sole goal is to add weight to the bar. But, the human body has only so much capacity for adaptation and recovery. QIII athletes are focused on another goal, typically involving their sport, and need to have plenty of gas in the tank for sport practice.

Another point to remember, in most, if not all athletic endeavors, power (force x velocity) is driving force behind quick athletic movement, like this dude:

 

Max strength does contribute to maximal power output, but only up to a point. If it takes .3 seconds to reach maximal force output but a broad jump only takes about .1 second, you’re not going to be able to express your full strength in that brief amount of time.

Therefore, power athletes (which is pretty much every sport) need to increase their rate of force development. To prevent this post from becoming longer than the lines for the new Star Wars movie, read this and this for more in-depth information.

Max strength and power are not distinct entities, but the latter is built upon the former. Thus, it is imperative to develop a solid strength foundation from which an athlete’s power explodes (pun definitely intended). How to train for power is another post for another day.

As Yoda Pavel says, “Power is strength compressed in time, so to get powerful, you must get strong.”

Athletes have a limited amount of time and energy therefore, exercises that require minimal amount of time are ideal; the powerlifts fit the bill. Like peanut butter is to jelly, barbell work should complement sport practice in an athlete’s overall development.

About the Author

Kelsey Reed is head strength coach at SAPT Strength & Performance located in Fairfax, VA. Bitten by the iron bug at 16, Kelsey has been lifting ever since. Her love for picking up heavy things spurred her to pursue a degree in the Science of Exercise and Nutrition at Virginia Tech.

Now she spends her days teaching and coaching others in the iron game. In her down time, she lives life on the wild side by not following recipes when she cooks, fighting battles through characters fantasy fiction novels, and attempting to make her cats love her.

Kelsey, along with her husband, Coach Steve.

Categoriespersonal training Program Design Strength Training

The Key to Program Design. Diamonds?

I’m heading to my alma mater this weekend to take part in the 2nd Annual Strength & Conditioning/Personal Training Symposium at SUNY Cortland.

I – along with my colleagues Nick Tumminello, Mark Fisher, John Gaglione, and Joy Victoria – will be speaking to undergrad and graduate students (in addition to the event being open to the general public) on a variety of topics ranging from the meaning of life and other existential things like how to survive cafeteria food and nightmare roommates to more pertinent things like deadlifts and assessment.

A wide spectrum to say the least!

Okay, we’re not going to discuss cafeteria food or anything related to the meaning of life. Unless, of course, Mark (Fisher) goes into detail on leotards, ninjas, and unicorns. If that’s the case I’m all ears. The man knows a thing or two about living an epic life.

Our objective is to arm the attendees with some “real life” anecdotes on what it takes to be successful in this industry. For instance Mark will discuss what it takes to build a popular (and very successful) gym – built around culture – in one of the most saturated markets on Earth; the concrete jungle, New York City.

Nick (Tumminello) will discuss some of his secrets to single leg training. John (Gaglione) is going to coach the s*** out of everyone. Joy (Victoria) is going to discuss female fitness and how, to a large degree, it’s marinated in negative commentary and connotations.

And what am I going to discuss?

Plot details of Star Wars VII

How to Prepare For the Zombie Apocalypse

My Man Crush on Mark Fisher

Program Design

Or to be more specific: offering up the basic tools, insight, and inner dialogue young trainers (and old) will need to arm themselves with in order to write effective training programs.

I’m not going to discuss how to break down and/or choose the optimal set/rep schemes for any particular exercise. I’m not going to discuss ideal exercise order. Nor am I going to broach the idea of tempo, rest intervals, super-sets, tri-sets, how many days per week someone should train, or body-part splits vs. full-body vs. upper-lower splits vs. Godzilla.

Why?

Because none of it matters.

At least not for most young trainers anyways. Far too often young, impressionable trainers get too caught up in the minutia of program design. Often to the point where they’re stymied or paralyzed and are unable to think “big picture.”

“It is better to have someone squat past parallel with a 5-1-2 tempo with feet 17 degrees externally rotated; or should I have them deadlift instead using the rest/pause method with 6, no, 7 seconds rest between each set?

Some of you reading may be laughing, but scenarios like what’s described above happens all….the…..time.

Trainers and coaches get too caught up in the methods rather than the means.

One of the BIG ROCK themes I’m going to hammer this weekend is the notion of exercise variability. How much variety to trainees actually need?

We’ve all heard the concept of “muscle confusion” before. To dumb it down to it’s lowest possible dumbness (because, you know, it’s dumb): it can be watered down to the idea that we need to constantly “confuse” the body in order to make progress in the gym.

We need to go out of our way to change up our exercises every so often so that we don’t stagnate and/or lose all our gainz and turn into some catabolic ghost.

Now, before someone gets all huffy and thinks I’m telling everyone that exercise variety is  a waste of time, hear me out.

I’m not saying you can’t switch things up every now and then – whether due to a change of goals or sheer boredom. I understand that sometimes we just need to do something different in the gym.

What I can’t stand is when we have trainers telling people that they have to switch up their exercises because the body will get used to them and then they’ll be unable to make any progress.

The human body is not stupid. And, correct me if I’m wrong……people back in the day did just fine with just a barbell. Plenty of people got massive and and in shape with very little variety. I suppose it’s just the nature of the beast when we live in a society where entire conversations take place in 140 characters or less.

Is someone really going to try to make the argument that if we perform back squats for eight straight weeks – and we’re staying cognizant of progressive overload – that the body will somehow stop making progress because there’s not enough variety?

Puh-lease.

Having said that, I do agree with Chad Wesley Smith in that the more advanced someone gets in their training career (I.e, strong) – and especially if they compete – their programming will reflect less variety, because the objective, then, is to hone in on their competitive lifts.

Powerlifters will focus on their competitive lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. Their accessory work will address a weakness or technique flaw in those specific lifts.

Weightlifters will focus on their competitive lifts: snatch, clean & jerk; with a healthy dose of front squats, deadlifts, and clean and presses.

CrossFitters, well, they’ll still need to focus on their competitive lifts too. I just don’t know what the hell that is. They’re a bit of an outlier.

In his article, The Pyramid of Strength, Chad notes that the tip of the pyramid is where advanced lifters will live. They won’t need much variety. This SHOULD NOT be interpreted as there is NO variety (there is!). It’s just not as diverse as many are led to believe for advanced lifters.

Yes, they rotate exercise or implement the conjugate method – but if you take a deep look at what their programs look like, for many advanced lifters – especially world class, elite level – they don’t stray too too far from their competitive lifts. Particularly the closer they get to an actual meet day or competition.

Conversely, at the bottom, where the base of the pyramid is wider, this is where most beginners will live.

Here variety is more or less open to interpretation. Using an easy analogy, I find one of the biggest mistakes young athletes make is to concentrate or specialize in ONE sport too soon. I encourage every young kid to play as many sports as possible throughout the year to ensure a more saturated motor learning environment. An environment where there’s no pattern overload and where they can explore new movements and stimuli.

I can see this mentality falling into the strength training side of things as well, but we have to be careful.

Here motor learning is still important and I want to ensure that the BASICS are stressed. Squat pattern, hip hinge, lunge, push-up, core stability, carry, crawl, etc. There’s variety, but it’s still manageable and not crazy. Beginners, for the most part, don’t necessarily need to be too concerned with high bar vs. low bar position on their squat, adding in chains and bands on their deadlifts, or performing board presses to help with their bench lockout.

The pyramid is a great starting point, but I do feel there’s an even better model to emulate, and what I feel is the key to better program design.

The Diamond

This is a concept I believe James “The Thinker” Smith first came up with, and something I heard Greg Robins discuss in the past.

Instead of a pyramid, think of program design as a diamond.

At the bottom are your beginners, and at the top are your advanced and high-level competitive clients/athletes. Neither need a ton of variety in their training.

Beginners need to learn and master the basics.

Advanced trainees/athletes need to be concerned their competitive lifts and/or because they’re so strong, don’t require a ton of variety (or stimulus) to maintain that strength.

In the middle, however, are the intermediates. Not coincidentally this is where most of us (even myself) reside.

It’s here where we can be a little more Willy Wonka(ish) and immerse ourselves in the crazy, zany world of variety.

In this stage we’re past being labelled a beginner – I can hip hinge like a boss, thank you very much – but we’re not where near the advanced level.

Here is where adding in some semblance of variety will come in handy and have more of a place. Here’s where maybe switching up from a low bar position to a high bar position on the squat – to help with staying more upright- can be beneficial. Or maybe adding in chains to work on bar speed?

Here’s where rotating through various deadlift iterations has a place. Maybe your hips come up too fast due to weak quads. If that’s the case, maybe performing some deficit deadlifts will help with that?

Maybe you’re weak off the chest on your bench press. If that’s the case, some dedicated speed/technique work using sub-maximal weight (55-70%) may be in order.

I don’t know: Maybe it’s Thursday and you just want to blast your biceps?

Whatever the case my be, it’s in the middle of the diamond – where intermediate lifters reside – where the concept of “exercise variety” has more applicability and more wiggle room.

Just something to think about.

CategoriesExercise Technique Program Design Strength Training

Pause Your Lifts For Better Performance

I was teaching a workshop not long ago, and the topic of corrective exercise came up.

It’s a term some fitness professionals live by, and often make their living bastardizing. It’s also a term that makes some fitness professionals – including myself – want to jump into a live volcano.

All you have to do is “Google” the term corrective exercise and you’re flooded with images of people squatting on BOSU balls and performing any number of circus-like feats on stability balls in the name of balance, proprioception, and [cue Jaws theme music]…core engagement.

There is a time and place for such things.

Corrective exercise almost always mirrors the rehab setting when injury and re-grooving motor control are reverberating themes; rarely is it used in the strength and conditioning setting.

When it does, however, corrective exercise simply means doing stuff right.

In other words: Correct movement is corrective.

It’s a running commentary whenever I speak to a group of trainers and coaches:

Q: “what’s the best way to get someone to squat correctly?”

A: “Squat!”

Tah-dah.

There you go. It’s science.

Rather than write the 7,893,904th  article on the internet on the finer points of the “Big 3” (squat, bench press, deadlift) and breaking down technique, I’d like to instead spend some time on the importance of accessory work and how we can manipulate it to correct our performance in those lifts.

What Is Accessory Work?

If you ask ten different coaches this question you’ll get ten different answers. But inevitably most (not all) will tip toe around one common theme: accessory work is used to make something harder.

Many will choose an accessory lift – and subsequently the set/rep scheme – based on how hard or challenging the exercise is. I call it the “will this make me shit a kidney” conundrum.

Making a particular exercise harder for the sake of making it harder isn’t a wrong approach, nor do I feel should it be avoided.

Lifting weights isn’t supposed to tickle, right?

However I’d argue it’s not something that’s going to help improve your numbers in the main lifts in the long term.

For me the main purpose or goal of accessory work should be to address a technique flaw or weakness in something. Put another way: there’s a purpose for the lift and a reason why it’s in a program.

It’s not there just to make you feel tired. That’s easy. Go push a Prowler for 30 minutes or attend a CrossFit class and perform 500 burpees…..on one leg. There you go, hard.

As noted above, correct movement is corrective. You’re not going to get better at squatting by riding a bike. You need to squat, and then squat some more. Squatting is the best accessory movement for squatting.

I know, weird.

The same can be said for deadlifting and bench pressing. As much as trainees hate to hear it, you don’t need as much variety as you think.

As a good friend of mine once said, “the hack for performance is mind-numbing monotony.”

Unfortunately boring isn’t sexy, and for many people they’re more concerned with being entertained with their exercise than to actually make progress.

“Look ma……chains on a barbell!”  Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Put a bar on the ground and lift it. Add weight next week, and lift it again. Repeat.

Repetition with less variety is the key to better performance (and strength) for most trainees.

Is Pausing the Key?

I’m a huge advocate of making people pause their lifts. This isn’t a new concept as competitive powerlifters and numerous strength and conditioning coaches (myself included) have been touting the benefits of paused training long before I wrote this.

The concept is simple: take the range of motion (ROM) where most people are weak or generally “miss” their lifts, and force them to spend more time in that ROM.

It’s not fun, it’s humbling for most trainees (many will have to check their ego at the door and reduce the weight significantly, and it works.

Lets take a look at some basic iterations.

Paused Bench Press

When it comes to complimenting the bench press, I mirror many of the same sentiments as fellow Cressey Sports Performance strength coach, Tony Bonevechio (AKA: the other Tony), in that board presses are an overrated accessory bench press movement for raw lifters.

Don’t get me wrong, I think board presses are an amazing exercise to build monster triceps (which may or may not be a limiting factor for some lifters) and to help supplement the bench press. But for raw lifters – I.e., those who do not use a bench shirt – they take a back seat to good ol’ fashioned paused bench presses.

For shirted lifters board presses make a lot of sense, as there’s a fair amount of technique involved in learning how to use the shirt. You have to actually “pull” the bar to the chest.

For raw lifters, though, using board presses to build the bench press can be a catch-22. They’re great in that they allow guys to “feel” heavy weight in their hands and to help conquer that “holy shit this is heavy” moment that we all go through.

But most tend to “relax” when they sink the bar into the boards. As Tony B notes, “I want guys to learn to maintain tension [in the lats] throughout the lift.”

This is hard(er) to do with board presses.

With board presses, the bar sinks into the boards and guys tend to lose tension because the boards aid with taking the brunt of the weight.

Take the boards out of the equation, and have guys bench to their chest (still using the lats to “pull” the bar down), and then force them to add a pause, and it’s much easier for guys to feel what it means to actually (attempt) to maintain tension.

For me, with the majority of athletes and clients I train (particularly the 99.7% that aren’t competitive powerlifters) this has much more of a carry over to bench press performance.

Here’s a nice video I came across of both Chad Wesley Smith and Brandon Lilly discussing some finer points on benching technique.

Paused Squats

In much the same way, paused squats – where you descend into the hole and pause for an allotted amount of time (anywhere from 1-5 seconds) – is an excellent way to get trainees to learn how to maintain tension throughout the entire lift.

You shouldn’t “relax” in the hole and “hang-out” on your tendons and ligaments. Rather, there should be a conscientious effort to stay tight, upright, and active in an effort to explode out of the hole.

For more on this topic, I’d encourage you to read Passive vs. Active Foot For Squatting Performance.

As an accessory lift, paused squats are an excellent way to improve your squatting. Most guys hate paused squats because they have to use less weight. But so what!?

Here, rather than adding more weight or sets/reps we can manipulate time under tension to address a technique flaw (almost always: falling over due to a shitty set-up and lack of tension) and help get trainees more comfortable where they’re weak or when they enter compromising positions; which for most is at the bottom of the lift.

Paused squats help to hone technique (because it forces people to use sub-maximal weight) in addition to helping train power and explosiveness out of the hole.

After a few sets of heavy squats, I love following that with a few sets of paused squats (2-4 sets of 2-5 reps) using anywhere from 60-80% of 1RM. It’s important, however, to be honest with yourself and come to a complete PAUSE. And the pause can be anywhere, really.

In the hole, at parallel, during the descent, on the ascent (out of the hole, pause at parallel)…..back squat, front squat, pin squats, there are a litany of options.

Here’s a video of Greg Nuckols performing a pause front squat for 5s, because he’s a big jerk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzwAnDE0KoM

Paused Deadlifts

Admittedly less popular, but paused deaslifts are fantastic for those who tend to be slow(er) off the floor and tend to “grind” their pulls half-way up. Again, the key here is to maintain tension.

Pausing a few inches off the ground will:

  1. Increase time under tension in a ROM where you’re weak.
  2. Help you learn to explode through your sticking point (in this case, a few inches off the floor).
  3. Help you learn to engage your lats to a higher degree (not allowing the bar to get away from you), which is a huge component to pulling big weight and helps to better stabilize the spine.

This is NOT a deadlift variation where you’re going to use max effort weight, so you can relax “guy who is invariably going to scoff at this exercise because I’m going to tell you to use 50-70% of your 1RM.”

Remember: the objective of accessory work is to address a technique flaw (see points 1-3 above), which down the road will (hopefully) improve your 1RM.

To that end, I like using these after I pull heavy. I may work up to a few sets of heavy triples or if I’m feeling good, singles, and then follow those up with 4-6 sets of 4-6 reps in the 50-70% 1RM range.

Note: Yes, I’m wearing shoes in the video above. I know it’s borderline sacrilegious to deadlift with shoes on and that I should hand in my CSCS certification and banish myself to some remote island where people do nothing but squat in Smith Machines and watch Tracy Anderson DVDs.

I was just too lazy to take my shoes off during filming. Sorry.

To Summarize

–       Correct movement is corrective. If you want to improve your performance on any lift, you need to perform that lift.

Variety, in this instance, is not the spice of life.

–       Accessory movements should address a technique flaw or imbalance with a “main” lift. Their purpose is not to simply make stuff harder. There should be a purpose for choosing your accessory movements.

–       Pausing your (accessory) lifts can have a profound affect on increasing the overall poundage you can lift on the main lifts.

– Paused training is one component I utilize quite often with my Premium Workout Group on WeightTraining.com. I write the program, you follow it, and increase you general level of awesomeness. It’s that simple.

– Did you hear it was announced that Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass are going to make another Jason Bourne sequel? OMG – BEST DAY EVER!!!!!!

Categoriesspeed training Strength Training

Do Absolute Strength Athletes Need to Train For Power?

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of TG.com regular, Justin Kompf. This is Justin’s fourth or fifth article on this site, but admittedly it’s been awhile since he’s contributed because he’s gotten all fancy pants and has a job and website and stuff.

Today he tackles a “touchy” topic: speed/power training (what it means and how to apply it into programming).

Enjoy!

Also, before we get into the meat and potatoes of the post I wanted to remind everyone that Justin’s responsible for organizing the 2nd Annual SUNY Cortland Strength and Conditioning Symposium.

You can read all about HERE (<—- link to my site), or go directly to registration HERE.

For $60 you can attend an event where myself, Nick Tumminello, Mark Fisher, John Gaglione, and Joy Victoria will be speaking. That’s literally nothing for what mounts to a night at the movies.

No excuses young fitness professionals. Get it done. Come listen and learn from some of the best in the fitness industry.

Do Absolute Strength Athletes Need to Train For Power?

Powerlifters often incorporate speed training into their programming. This is called dynamic effort training. For example, they may train at high intensities for a few weeks or training cycles then add in some maximal speed training with sub-maximal load.

This protocol is great for developing force quickly but likely not nearly as effective at increasing absolute strength as training at high intensities are.

It takes about .4 seconds to develop maximal force. Therefore, if you lift at a high velocity, which is only possible with lighter weight, you cannot develop maximal force.

However, some good things happen with speed training, namely athletic development or maintenance. Powerlifters may not want to become accustomed to only lifting heavy weight slow.

No one would argue that speed training is important for athletic development but how important it is for maximal strength is another story. There are a few equations and concepts that need to be understood to help elaborate on why lifting sub-maximal loads faster may not have an impact on strength.

These concepts include the relationship between force and velocity and the equation for force.

Force Velocity Relationships

According to the relationship between force and velocity, as the external load being moved increases the velocity at which it is being moved decreases. This means that as force increases velocity decreases. In fact you can produce more force in isometric conditions where the bar is not moving than in concentric conditions.

 

To give a practical example of this relationship think about it this way; it is possible for most resistance trained athletes to squat 135 at a high velocity. To ask them to squat 315 pounds at the same maximal velocity would not be possible.

Force

It is often argued that because force equals mass multiplied by acceleration, training acceleration with a constant load will increase force production. When the load increases and acceleration decreases force should still be high and when the load decreases and acceleration increases force should also still be high.

Unfortunately, this may be a misunderstanding of acceleration and the force equation.

Acceleration is the change in velocity over time, whereas velocity is the change in distance over time. Just because barbell speed is high, does not mean that acceleration is high if the speed remains constant.

Change the equation force = mass x acceleration to acceleration = force/mass (it’s still the same equation) and we see that the greater the force an athlete puts into a lift the greater the acceleration. Remember that force and velocity have an inverse relationship. High forces cannot be generated at high velocities. The goal of speed training is to lift the bar at high velocities.

Therefore, if velocity is low due to maximal weights being lifted then force is actually high. Another easy way to think about it is like this; if mass goes up and the load is moved force goes up. If mass goes up barbell velocity goes down. With high velocities maximal force cannot be trained. Lifters may have been misinterpreted acceleration with barbell velocity.

Practical Recommendations

In the book Science and Practice of Strength Training the authors states that….

“The method of dynamic effort is used not for increasing maximal strength but only to improve the rate of force development and explosive strength”.

This article is by no means advocating slow speed training. We know that doesn’t work for strength training. In fact loads have to be reduced by 30% to get the equivalent number of repetitions with intentionally slow speed training. The only real rationale for slow contractions would be a function of the load being moved, meaning if you’re lifting heavy weight the speed of contraction is going to be slow.

Training for power, which is (force x distance)/ time, is an important part of athletic development and should hold some place in every individual’s program. However, training for power which necessitates low loads, likely will not have a cross over effect to maximal strength. If you want to get strong you have to lift heavy weights and progressively increase the intensities you are training at.

For athletics, rate of force development, or the change in force over time is extremely important. As mentioned before, it takes about .4 seconds to build maximum force. However, sporting movements happen in shorter time periods than .4 seconds. Therefore, the ability to rapidly produce force is important. However, because speed is high and the time to produce force is low, force production will never be maximal.

Also, the intent to maximally accelerate a load, regardless of weight and subsequent bar velocity may be important in strength development.

One study examined 30 division one collegiate football players and put them into two groups. A control group, that continued training at regular bar velocities and an experimental group that was instructed to train at maximal velocities.

This protocol lasted for 14 weeks, during the upper body training days the athletes used the bench press, incline bench press, behind the neck press, and arm curls. They were pretested and post tested in the one repetition maximum bench press, seated medicine ball throw, and the plyometric pushup.

The experimental groups bench press went up by 8.6% compared with the controlled groups 3.8%. The authors concluded that…

“The intent to maximally accelerate concentrically with heavy weight may be better for improving strength and power than slower heavy strength training.”

This study was interesting because the control group performed the same program and continued to train at the exact velocity they had been training at.

Should You Throw Out Speed Training?

It is clear that as weight increases the potential barbell speed decreases. Because power is dependent upon speed and force is dependent on load, one cannot produce high rates of power and force at the same time.

If you want to specialize in being as strong as possible, focus your training on working with high training intensities.

Speed training certainly can and should have its place in programming.

Speed training could be used to accumulate extra training volume for a movement. For example, on a heavy deadlift day using a submaximal squat weight for speed training can be programmed in after the deadlift. Speed training can also be used to focus on technique with lighter weight. Finally, speed training as previously mentioned is vital in athletic performance.

There is not a definitive answer out there saying speed training absolutely will not help you increase strength.

It is entirely possible that training with sub-max loads (think 70% or even heavier quick singles at 80% & not 40-50%) can help a lifter break the bar off the ground on the deadlift, come out of the hole quicker on the squat, or get the bar off their chest in the bench press.

Also if speed training helps a lifter build up momentum prior to their sticking point, it may help them surpass that region.

Finally, this is not an argument for lifting weights slow, as a matter of fact research supports maximally ‘intended’ concentric contractions for strength training. This means you should try to lift a weight fast regardless of the weight and regardless of how fast the bar is actually moving.

The point here is that training is specific.

If you want to train to be as muscular as possible, focus on training volume. If you want to be as fast as you can, focus on training speed, and if you desire to be as strong as possible the majority of your training should be focused on increasing training intensities.

There certainly can be a mixed approach for well-balanced training. Bodybuilders lift at high intensities in their training cycles so they can handle more load when they go back to training for volume and powerlifters may take on a bodybuilding training approach to increase lean body mass and thus produce more force.

There is nothing wrong with a powerlifter incorporating speed training into their routine as long as they realize that speed training alone probably is not going to have much of an impact on absolute strength.

Further Reading (a lot of the concepts were drawn from the following)

Hales, E.M.(2011). Evaluating common weight training concepts associated with developing muscular strength: Truths or myths? Strength and Conditioning Journal. 33: 91-95

Jones K., Hunter G., Fleisig G, Escamila R., Lemak L. (1999). The effects of compensatory acceleration on upper-body strength and power in collegiate football players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 13: 99-105.

About the Author

You can check out more of Justin’s stuff at his website HERE.

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CategoriesExercise Technique Program Design Strength Training

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Deadlifters – Part 2

In case you missed it, last week I shared a few thoughts on deadlifting. You can check out part one HERE.

In it, rather than regurgitate the same ol’ obvious things most people who write about deadlifts regurgitate (don’t round your back!, good deadlifters don’t “jerk” the bar off the ground, 2+2 = 4, water is wet, Kate Upton is hot, my cat is the cutest cat in the world) I opted to highlight a few things I feel most lifters overlook or aren’t aware of in the first place.

Things like:

– how the lats play a key role in pulling big weight off the floor.

– how to engage the lats more optimally.

– how paying closer attention to your setup may result in better performance.

– and what it really means to pull the slack out of the bar. I promise, despite the nefarious connotation, the explanation is completely PG rated.

– But seriously, my cat is off the charts cute.

Pretty much the best writing partner a person could ask for.

A photo posted by Tony Gentilcore (@tonygentilcore) on

As promised I wanted to continue my stream of thought and hit on a few more “habits” of highly effective deadlifters.

4. Think of 315 as 135.

Chad Wesley Smith of Juggernaut Strength hammered this point home a few weekends ago during a workshop he put on here in Boston at CrossFit Southie.

To paraphrase: You can’t be intimidated by the weight. You need to approach the bar on every set and show it who’s boss. Every time.

Like this monster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4jO21-a2W0

 

Setting a little expectation management, though, if you’re training in a commercial gym and acting like this before a set of 225, you’re an a-hole. Lets calm down a little bit and put down the ammonia packets mmmm kay?

Many trainees will attack a lighter load and then turn into Bambi once the barbell hits a certain weight or threshold. Lighter loads will generally go up faster than heavier loads…..duh, I get it. However, this point does speak to something larger, and something that’s a bit more psychological in nature.

If you approach the barbell with a defeatist attitude – oh shit, oh shit, oh shit – before you even attempt the lift, how will you ever expect to improve, much less lift appreciable loads?

If you watch good (effective) deadlifters you’ll notice that every set looks the same. Regardless of whether there’s 135 lbs on the bar, 315, or 600 lbs, everything from the set up to the execution of the lift is exactly the same.

Which is why, flipping the coin, we could also make the argument that 135 lbs should be treated like 315. Getting good at deadlifting requires attention to detail and treating every set the same. Even the lights ones.

5. Don’t Just Think “Up.” Think “Back.”

The deadlift is nothing more than bending over and picking up a barbell off the ground, right?

Well, yes….but it’s a bit more complicated than that.

Many will view the deadlift as a pure up and down movement. Meaning, the barbell itself will move in a path that’s literally straight up and down.

Ehhhhhhhhhhhh, wrong.

23.7% wrong, at any rate (<—- trust me it’s science).

The deadlift is actually much more of a horizontal movement than people give it credit for. To quote my good friend, Dean Somerset:

“Deadlift drive comes from the hips when you start in flexion and move into extension. In other words, deadlift drive comes through hip drive. Driving your hips forward, coupled with vertical shins and a stable core, causes the torso to stand up vertically, pulling the weight with it.”

When people get into the mindset that deadlifitng is more of vertical movement they’ll often resort to initiating and finishing the movement with their lower back rather than their hips. Which, as you can guess, leads to some wonky habits of the rounded back nature (which we’d like to avoid as much as possible).

A cue I like to use to help initiate more of a horizontal vector is to tell people to think about “driving their sternum to the back wall.”

When they initiate the pull, they shouldn’t think up but rather……..BACK!

It sounds weird, but I like to describe this phenomenon by telling people that if they do it right – and think about pulling their sternum back – that they’d fall backwards if they decided to let go of the bar.

6. Deadlifts Don’t ALWAYS Need to be Max Effort, I’m Going to Shit My Spleen, Heavy.

Yes, you’ll need to train with max effort loads in order to improve your deadlift. To quote Ronnie Coleman, you’ll need to “lift some heavy ass weight.”

That’s pretty much a given.

But you DO NOT need to do it all the freakin time.

This is another point that Chad Wesley Smith touched on a few weeks ago. To paraphrase him (again): “I could care less about gym PRs. I want to PR when it counts.”

Understandably, most of the people reading this post aren’t competitive powerlifters like Chad, so how he trains and prepares (and peaks for a meet) is going to be drastically different from most of us.

But the message still resonates and reigns true for most trainees. You don’t need to train balls to the wall 100% of the time.

This is a tough pill to swallow for many people, especially in the shadow of CrossFit where training all out, to the point of exhaustion is not only encouraged but accepted as normal.

 

Don’t get me wrong: I LOVE when people train hard, and I think CrossFit has done some good in terms of getting more people excited to not run a treadmill.

However it’s also set a dangerous precedent in brainwashing people into thinking that a workout or training session is pointless if you don’t set a PR or come close to passing out.

NOTE: this doesn’t apply to every box or every Crossfit coach. So relax guy who’s inevitably going to shoot me an email saying I’m nothing but a CrossFit hater.

1. I actually have written a fair amount praising CrossFit. Like HERE. 

2. I also workout at a CrossFit 1-2x per week – albeit during “off” hours when I have the place to myself along with the other coaches.

3. Shut up.

More often than you think, training with SUB-maximal weight (60-85%) is going to be the best approach for most people, most of the time. Not only does it allow for ample opportunity to focus on and work on technique, but it also allows people to train the deadlift more often.

The best way to get better at deadlifitng is to deadlift. A lot.

If you’re someone who constantly trains with max-effort loads this is going to be hard to do because 1) you’re going to beat up your joints 2) you’ll fry your CNS and 3) this requires more recovery time.

Not every training session requires you to hate life. This is especially true when it comes to improving your deadlift. QUALITY reps are the key. Oh, this is weird…..it just so happens I have a deadlift specialization program that follows this mantra to a “t.”

You should check it out.

Pick Things Up

7. Pull & Push

The deadlift is a pulling dominant movement. But it also involves a fair amount of pushing.

Yep you heard me right, pushing.

Think of it like this: in order to pull an ungodly amount of weight off the floor (or for those less interested in ungodly amounts, a boatload or shit-ton) you need to generate a lot of force into the ground and push yourself away.

I’ve heard this best described as “trying to leave your heel print into the ground.”

It’s a subtle cue, but it works wonders and it’s something that effective deadlifters keep in the back of their mind all the time.

And there you have it. While not an exhaustive list of habits, I do feel the one’s highlighted in both parts of this article will help many of you reading dominate your deadlifts moving forward.

Got any of your own habits to share? Chime in below.

CategoriesExercise Technique Program Design Strength Training

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Deadlifters – Part 1

When I was a junior in college one of my professors had us read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.

Yeah, I didn’t read it.

But who actually reads in college anyways? I was too busy playing baseball, lifting weights, watching Party of Five, and not hanging out with girls because, well, I was watching Party of Five.

I mean, all I had to do was look at the title and I knew it was going to put me to sleep within five minutes of turning the cover. And besides, was this book going to add 5MPH to my fastball and get me drafted? Pffffft, I think not!

Fast forward five years.

Surprise! Nothing I read added 5MPH to my fastball. Professional baseball didn’t pan out and I was a year or two into my career as a personal trainer. I finally listened to my professor and read the book. And it was game changer.

I won’t bore you with the details – it’s a quick read – but The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People speaks to things like how to be more proactive, why it’s important to think about the future so that you can more concretely figure out what to make a reality, the value of the “win-win” mentality, seeking to understand shit before you open your mouth (<— that’s my own interpretation), and what it means to “sharpen the saw” (I.e., seek out activities like exercise, yoga, meditation, etc. to expedite mental focus), among a handful of others.

Needless to say it’s a book I recommend to a lot of people, and something who’s theme I’m going to rip off today.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Deadlifters

Being a massive human being helps (^^^^^^^^^), so I’ll just skip that one and try to focus on some less obvious points.

NOTE: What follows is more of a commentary on deadlift technique with the goal to lift a lot of weight. It’s not going to cater to CrossFit and more of the tap-n-go, bounce off the floor, (high) hinge deadlift.

NOTE II: Please don’t take this as a knock against CrossFit. It isn’t. I get that the tap-n-go approach is more relevant to the demands of a CrossFit class or competition, where high(er) reps are performed. I also recognize that there are some strong people who do CrossFit.

But if you’re a CrossFitter and you’re that easily butt-hurt over me poo-pooing a tap-n-go deadlift, I’ll ask you this: why is the exercise called a DEADlift?

NOTE III: Nothing I mention below is concrete and will apply to every lifter in every situation. While I feel much of what I have to say with resonate with a lot of people, I’m not that much of an egotistical asshat to think that it will apply to 100% of the lifting population. So take that for what it’s worth.

Anyways……..

1. Your Lats Are the Key (Point #1)

In order to move big weights (safely, and long-term) you need two things to happen: you need to place a premium on tension and alignment.

If either of the above are lacking you’re not going to be able to develop as much force.

To the former point (tension), the lats are kind of a big deal.

The latissismus dorsi (or “lats” in bro-talk) are a massive muscle, which, on top of playing a role in humeral extension, internal rotation, and adduction (blah, blah, blah), also has significant play in breathing patterns and more germane to this conversation spinal stability.

In short: get the lats to engage and garner TENSION during the setup of a deadlift, the more stable you’re going to be, and the less likely you’ll look like this:

To do this I like to use any one of the following cues:

1. Squeeze an orange in your armpits

2. Protect your armpits.

3. Phew…your armpits stink.

4. Put your shoulder blades in your back pocket.

All are fantastic external cues to help people get the lats to fire to provide more tension and thus, stability. Despite this, some people may still look at you as if you’re speaking Elvish when you tell then to “turn on” their lats.

Sometimes it’s beneficial to give them more tactile feedback or cues.

Band Lat Activation with Hip Hinge

Or what I like to call “TRICEPS”


Lat Activation (via Mike Robertson)

 

2. Your Lats Are the Key (Point #2)

Pigging back on the point above, your lats are what “connects” you to the bar. Yes, your hands are grabbing the bar, but it’s where your armpits (where the lats insert) are located – in relation to bar placement – that plays a huge role in deadlifting badassery.

I’m a fairly decent deadlifter. I’ve pulled 3x bodyweight….570 lbs at a bodyweight of 190. I’m no Andy Bolton, but not many people are.

For years I’ve set up with my shins as close to the bar as possible, and while it led to some success it also led to some pesky back issues.

Why?

When setting up as close as possible to the bar, think about what’s happening.

1. My shins are more vertical.

2. And because my shins are more vertical, my armpits are in front of the bar, creating an awkward line of pull I have to overcome.

This not only puts me in a mechanical disadvantage, but over time is going to make my lower back flip me the middle finger. And it has, many times.

In the past few months I’ve had to overhaul my setup so I’m a little further away from the bar in that my shins can translate forward a bit, which then allows me to get my armpits directly over the bar, which in turn puts me in a more mechanical ADvantage (which helps me garner more tension), which in turn makes my lower back happy.

FYI: the picture below doesn’t show that right before I pull, I’ll push my hips back a smidge

And no, I’m not squatting the deadlift…….;o)

3. Pulling Slack Out of the Bar

Running with the tension theme, another habit of highly effective deadlifters is learning how to take the slack out of the bar.

It’s important to leverage yourself against the weight when you’re setting up. Another way to think about it is to act as if you’re “pulling” yourself (against the bar) into proper position.

This is what it means to get the slack out of the bar or what I like to say instead “bending the bar before you pull it.”

NOTE: I was in the middle of filming a video of this last night when my camera puttered out. Damn you Droid!

Luckily CSP coach, Greg Robins, filmed a video not too long ago on this very concept:

That’s it for today. I’ll be posting part II of this article sometime soon. But in the meantime I want you to recognize the key theme of all the points listed above:

That the setup is very, very, VERY important.

Like almost as important as Bilbo giving Frodo Baggins the blade Sting when leaving Rivendell on his way to Mordor.

95% of the time any mistake or snafu in technique with the deadlift can be attributed to how someone sets up in the first place. Far too often trainees fail to put much thought into it and just haphazardly bend over and pick up the bar. And far too often people end up getting hurt and/or never making any progress.

Place more precedence on getting tension and watch your deadlift take off.

CategoriesExercise Technique Strength Training

Bench Press Tip: Let the Bar “Settle”

I’ve been working my way back from a pesky back injury for the past few months, and while I’ve made some awesome progress as of late (back to full squatting 315 for reps, and just started incorporating some heavy(ish) pulling into the mix), the guy who writes my programs – Greg Robins – has been making me bench press like no one’s business.

This isn’t to imply that “bench pressing like no one’s business” means I’ve been putting up some impressive numbers. To that I say:

“hahahahahahahahamsadasggwe**#1mwhupsas11hahahahhaa”

1. I’ve never been shy to say how much I hate bench press pressing.

2. And the reason for that is because I’ve never been good at it.

3. I hate bench pressing.

Giving myself some credit – my best performance on the bench press (raw, at a bodyweight of 200) is 315 lbs. Albeit it never would have seen a white light in any powerlifting federation, unless the name of it was the NBOTB (National Butt Off the Bench) Federation.

A 315 lb bench press for a raw lifter at 200 lbs isn’t too shabby, but it’s certainly nothing to brag about. However, truth be told the bench press is a lift I’ve never placed a high priority on. And it shows.

So as it happens, “bench pressing like no one’s business” means I’ve been benching a lot lately, which has been both good and bad. Good in the sense that I’m starting to see my numbers creep up to non-abysmal territory again. Bad in that I still hate bench pressing. But like a bro, I need to persevere!

Which brings me to the topic of today’s post. A common mistake I see a lot of people make when benching is rushing into the press itself and NOT allowing the bar to settle after a hand-off. Watch this video to understand more of what I mean.

Let the Bar “Settle” Before You Press

Yes, all the same rules apply to the set up: Shoulders together and down, chest up, slight arch, drive feet into the ground, don’t destroy the back of your pants.

NOTE: Read HERE why getting a hand-off is so crucial.

But learning to settle the bar is something that’s universally glossed over by a lot of trainees.

Hope that cue helps.

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.