A few months ago Dan John wrote a blog post (or maybe even an article) on his “batwing” principle, which is a subtle exercise tweak one can make to standard rowing variations that aids in “waking-up” the rhomboids and the upper back musculature as a whole.
It was a very simple idea – albeit brilliant, because I had never dawned on me before and it’s something that can easily be assimilated into most programs without much thought or coaching.
I mean, come on, it’s pretty self-explanatory!
After the fact my good buddy, Ben Bruno, went a head and shared with the world a few of his own variations that he implemented with his athletes. And, having been hit by the “Ah HA” fairy myself, I too came up with a cool variation: the Half Kneeling Cable Batwing/Pulldown.
It pretty much changed the world. True story.
Anyways, fast forward to the other day when I received an email from a former distance coaching client of mine , Tom.
We still keep in touch every now and then, and in this particular case he shared a batwing variation that he felt would be a nice fit to the Exercises You Should Be Doing series.
TRX Batwing
NOTE: Before we begin, I recognize that people hate (HATE!) vertical videos. In the ranking of things to hate, a list may look something like this:
1. Hitler.
2. Justin Beiber’s general level of douchebaggery.
3. Rocky V.
4. Vertical videos
5. Cold sores.
In the grande scheme of things you can blame me, because even though Tom sent me the video as is, it’s my fault for forgetting to film one myself when I tried the exercise out at the facility the other day.
My bad. But moving on…….
Who Did (We) Steal It From Him: I stole it from Tom, who stole it from both Dan John and Joe DeFranco.
What Does It Do: Lots and lots of stuff going on here. Tom mentioned that Joe DeFranco discussed a variation where you hold yourself in the push-up position on the TRX (with the arm locked out), and you grab either a kettlebell or dumbbell and perform a standard row. Perform “x” number of reps on one side, switch, and repeat on the other.
However, Tom really liked Dan John’s idea of “reawakening” the rhomboids and instead of performing standard reps up and down, you hold each rep for time.
I agree. Most people have woefully weak posterior chains (this includes the upper back) and IMO there’s really no such thing as too much horizontal rowing.
Too much Santa, yes. Too much horizontal rowing, no.
By that token, this variation provides an incredible anti-rotary component (and anti-extension), as well as rotator cuff activation (because you have to have a death grip on the TRX so that you don’t tip over), and of course, provides a light training effect for the upper back muscles.
You’re not going to be crushing any big weights or breaking any PRs with this exercise, but it’s a nice way to include some LIGHT horizontal pulling while simultaneously getting in some “core” work.
Key Coaching Cues: The most obvious: don’t fall over…..;o)
The wider the stance, the more stable you’re going to be, so depending on your ability level you’re going to have to make a judgement call here. Er on the side of caution, though and start with a slightly wider than hip width stance. Adjust from there.
Also, try to squeeze your glutes as if you’re trying to crack a walnut. The entire backside should be in a relative straight line, so if you’re hiking your hips up in the air, squeeze those bad boys!
Along the same lines, your lower back shouldn’t be dipping.
As I alluded to above, you have two options here:
1. You can perform “x” number of repetitions per side (8-12) using a kettlebell or dumbbell. I’m indifferent either way.
OR (my preference)
2. Hold each “rep” for an allotted time frame. I think a great starting point would be 5x5s holds PER ARM.
Focus on pulling the elbow towards the hip (but don’t go past the hip! You want to try to avoid too much glenohumeral extension), and pausing in the top position for FIVE SECOND count. Perform five reps per side.
Feel that? Yeah, those are your rhomboids working.
Today’s post comes from the one and only Bret Contreras. As he’ll note below, I received an email from a fan of my blog asking me for my opinion on some candid remarks she overheard one of the strength coaches at her university regurgitate to a few other students.
And by using the word regurgitate I’m being really nice.
To say I was shocked at this particular coach’s train of thought would be an understatement, and I had to pinch myself to make sure I didn’t somehow time travel back to 1986.
Which, actually, would be kinda sweet because tv back then was awesome, what with shows like Airwolf, The A-Team, and The Gummi Bears rocking the airwaves.
Nevertheless I was definitely taken for a loop when I read this coach’s comments, and I could think of no one else I’d rather see write an appropriate and thorough response than Bret.
Thankfully he came through with flying colors, and absolutely PWNED the guy. Enjoy!
A Critical Reply to an Uncritical Coach – Bret Contreras
Last month, an avid reader of this blog wrote to Tony requesting expertise. Tony sent it over to me for a good laugh. But I’m always up for a good grilling, so I asked Tony if he’d let me respond. In the past I’ve been disrespectful to those I grill, so I will try my best to remain professional here. The gist is that there’s some strength coach out there (we won’t mention his name) who is simply making a bunch of stuff up. This guy needs to be corrected so his athletes can receive proper training. Below are his comments. In gray is what the reader wrote to Tony, and my responses are in red:
Today I was eavesdropping on a conversation between the head S&C coach and a couple of his practicum students. They were talking about how he teaches the squat to his athletes. The coach said that because so many athletes are stronger in their posterior chain compared to their quads, he strongly discourages his athletes from “sitting back” or having any type of hip hinge movement while squatting to minimize glute and hamstring involvement and target the quads. He said the box squat or squat to a box was a pointless exercise due to the hip hinge requirement and the nearly vertical tibia – he wants his athletes squatting by dropping straight down, staying relatively upright and getting the knees a fair ways beyond the toes. He emphasizes developing quad strength over posterior chain strength in all of his young athletes. Also, he said that prevention of ACL injuries would be enhanced if there was less emphasis on hip hinging and more emphasis on quad strengthening, especially in female athletes.
I pretty much disagree with everything this coach said. I see this all the time, and it’s worth addressing.
Many coaches formulate their methods based on what they think happens and what seems rational in their minds. They don’t read research or utilize the scientific method, and prefer to rely on intuition. They may still achieve good results, as many avenues lead to success. For example, coaches who simply have their athletes full squat and sprint will see improvements in performance. But due to false assumptions and failure to take advantage of the thousands of available prior scientific studies conducted by hardworking sports scientists and strength coaches, their athletes will fail to achieve maximum results, which is unfortunate. At any rate, here is my retort
1. Athletes are supposed to be stronger in their posterior chains compared to their quads. Gluteus maximus plus hamstrings plus adductor magnus should slightly outperform the quadriceps in terms of total muscle force and extension-torque production. If this is the case with athletes (hip extensor dominance), you should be happy and should not try to change the ratio toward quad-dominance. Strong quads are indeed important in sports, but it’s ideal for the hips to stay stronger than the quads.
2. No squat variation is “pointless.” The box squat is a welcome variation as the vertical tibia increases the hip extension moment and decreases the knee extension moment. In other words, more torque is required out of the hips, and less torque is required out of the knees. This is highly beneficial for lifters ranging from newbies, to those prone to experiencing knee pain or injury, to powerlifters. The full squat with an upright stance is also a good variation, especially for Olympic lifters, but not everyone can handle the forces on the knee joint associated with this variation.
3. Actually, quad-dominance increases the risk of ACL injuries, in addition to increasing the risk of hamstring and low back injuries. And actually, youngsters, females, and beginners typically exhibit quad-dominance due to high daily-activation in the quadriceps with concomitant low daily-activation in the glutes. For this reason, hip extension strength, particularly gluteal strength, should be emphasized with these athletes, along with just about every other athlete too.
But wait! There’s more. The reader later sent another email to Tony with more “gems”:
He pretty much had a hate-on for the hip hinge. He said that “vertical displacement” is the key in sprinting and jumping, not the horizontal displacement of the hips moving back and forth. Therefore, the hip hinge should not be emphasized and the quads should. He never tells his athletes to “sit back”. He said that if he had an athlete who was knee-dominant, he would not try to strengthen his/her hips “because then they’ll use their hips for everything.”
Vertical displacement is indeed the key for jumping, but not for sprinting. You do not want to be bouncing up and down excessively when sprinting. The key to sprinting is to produce just enough vertical force to raise the center of mass just enough to cycle the legs back around so they can reproduce horizontal force. Anything greater in terms of vertical force production is wasted energy and will result in slower speeds.
But now I need to address something very alarming.
Nothing we do in the weightroom completely mimics on the field performance.
If resistance training had to exactly mimic sport actions in order to transfer to performance, we would not be able to add resistance, since adding load in any form (bands, vests, sleds, free weights, etc.) immediately changes mechanics.
Squats, RDLs, split squats, hip thrusts, and back extensions would all screw up sprinting and jumping performance. Hell, squats would screw up RDLs and vice-versa, sprints would screw up jumps and vice-versa, etc.
However, we have tons of research showing improved performance and transfer of training from resistance training to sporting actions, from plyometrics to resistance training, and so on and so forth. There is a synergistic effect with the various types of hip extension exercises, and an athlete should be strong in all leg and hip muscles through a full range of motion. This requires multiple exercises.
Of course you don’t want athletes sitting back excessively when they jump, but they can differentiate RDL’s and box squats from jumping performance as they are separate motor qualities.
RDLs and box squats don’t automatically cause athletes to sit back too much when they jump, Oly squats and split squats don’t automatically cause athletes to stay too upright when they jump, and hip thrusts don’t automatically cause athletes to want to lie down on their backs in the middle of a game (note the heavy sarcasm).
As long as there exists a balance in programming, athletic form remains intact. In the weightroom, we strengthen muscles and movement patterns, and the athletes are able to blend the newfound neuromuscular improvements into their jumping and sprinting motor programs.
Last, research shows that the knee extension torque does not increase nearly as much as hip extension torque when transitioning from running to maximal sprinting, submaximal jumping to maximal jumping, and submaximal squats, lunges, and deadlifts to maximal squats, lunges and deadlifts. This is very important as it suggests that continual improvements are reliant upon strengthening the hips!
He thinks “glute activation” is complete BS because there’s no way to “prove” that it works (even using EMG). He said that the simple, low-load, isolated movements that are used to activate the glutes have no transfer to multi-joint movements like the squat or to the performance of the actual sport. I don’t think he believes that the glutes need to be activated in the first place.
There are many ways to show that glute activation works. We can obtain clues by examining the EMG activation, but at the end of the day we need training studies showing significant results. Glute activation is in its infancy in terms of the literature. However, in just the past couple of years, several important studies have emerged:
One showing actual EMG profiles of strongmen performing various strongman exercises. The better performers clearly used their glutes more so than the poorer performers.
One showing increased glute activation with simultaneous decreased hamstring activation during hip extension exercise
One showing increased hip extension strength, decreased hamstring activation during the support phase in running, and cured hamstring cramping in a triathlete
And one showing significantly improved power production during a vertical jump compared to controls and a whole-body vibration warm-up
Considering that many well-respected coaches and rehabilitation specialists such as Tony Gentilcore, Eric Cressey, Mark Verstegen, Michael Boyle, Pavel Tsatsouline, and Stuart McGill have seen good results with glute activation drills, it’s definitely worthy of incorporation until more research emerges. It’s worth mentioning that I am a huge fan of glute activation and believe that research will eventually show its value.
He thinks bracing the core (or whatever you want to call it) is stupid. He said “when would you ever do that when you’re playing your sport? You don’t have time to consciously think about activating your core.” He said that the core had much, much greater activation during the performance of big compound lifts.
I agree with the coach in this situation, aside from when an athlete is about to collide or be struck in the midsection. Sports are markedly different from resistance exercises, both in terms of timing and muscle activation requirements. When you put a heavy bar on your back or in your hands, you place considerably more bending torque on the spine, which requires a much greater amount of spinal stiffening compared to ballistic bodyweight movements.
He doesn’t really like single-leg training, but especially hates the single-leg squat because it “produces too much compensation.” He thinks that training the single-leg squat will only make the athlete better at single-leg squats and won’t transfer to the sport. I have seen him use split squats with his athletes, though.
I’m not sure what he means by “compensation,” but I suspect he’s referring to the oft-seen lumbar flexion and posterior pelvic tilt exhibited in the bottom range of motion during a pistol squat.
It’s worth mentioning that single leg box squats provide a solution for this issue. But the notion that they don’t transfer to performance is absurd.
Take a novice lifter who struggles with a bodyweight squat. Over the course of 12 weeks, utilize progressive overload and get him able to perform five full range pistol squats. Guess what? His barbell squat and vertical jump will have improved along with his pistol squat.
Sure you can argue that the pistol squat isn’t the safest or best way to load the lower body, but it definitely transfers to sport. Everything challenging compound lower body movement does, and the transfer is more pronounced with less experienced lifters.
That’s all for today! Hopefully sports science spreads and coaches are forced to step up their game or be replaced by those who have an appreciation for the scientific method and the literature.
I’ve got an interesting topic today that may or may not win me some friends. I’m guessing the latter, but that’s okay.
Below is an email I received a few weeks ago about kipping pull-ups (what are they, is there any efficacy behind them, would I ever program them? Short answer: Um, no.), and I’ve been sitting on it for a while now trying to think of a judicious, fair, and un-biased way to answer.
Most people who read this blog probably already know what I’m going to say, but at the same time I feel I’ve done a damn good job in my career keeping an open mind and not pigeon holing myself into one thought process or the other. So hopefully I won’t come across as stepping on too many toes. We can all get along, right? Right?
Okay, let the madness begin.
Q:Hoping that you might be able to help me out with this topic that has been coming up a lot lately in my area and facility. Could you give some detail on what a kipping pull-up is good for?
A lot of people having been asking about its advantages and disadvantages. Is there even a scenario where you would add these into a program? What are the major differences between a standard pull-up and a kipping pull-up?
Sorry, I don’t mean to throw a ton a questions at you but I am pretty lost on how to answer. People keep asking me saying, “they seem more functional as it incorporates a total body movement, and that it helps with muscle timing,” (WTF is that?).
I have held out for a while, but the more people keep talking to me about it, the more I’m getting confused. Might not be the worst blog post, even though 99% of the people that read your site would just get a good laugh out of it.
Lets face it Crossfit isn’t going anywhere and I would like to be armed with some serious knowledge about how to answer. Thanks for the info that you consistently post on here. I enjoy reading your site on a daily basis.
Thanks
A: Okay, lets kick things off with the nicey nice stuff.
There are a fair number of CrossFit peeps and affiliates who routinely read my blog, support it, and go out of their way to link back and spread my message, and for that I am always appreciative.
I like to pride myself that I am a “middle of the road” kind of guy, and I’ve never gone out of my way to openly bash CrossFit or insult the people who enjoy it.
Contrary to belief I’m with you dear reader: I agree that CrossFit is here to stay and I’m perfectly fine with that. There are a lot of things about CrossFit that I really like and respect.
Case in point: I was walking in downtown Boston the other night in the pouring rain running some errands. It was miserable outside, the kind of weather where you think to yourself, “I can’t wait to just get inside, plop down on my couch, put on my Pjs, and watch The Notebook, Steel Magnolias, The Matrix,” when I happened to walk past the doors of CrossFit affiliate.
I peeked inside and saw that the place was filled to the brim with people getting after it. Granted I can’t say I approved of the exercises nor the technique involved, but it was impressive nonetheless.
I dig that! I dig that people are so excited and jazzed up to train that they’re willing to brave the elements and train no matter what.
Even more the point, CrossFit has done an outstanding job at building an overwhelming sense of passion, unity, and camaraderie amongst its members and it’s hard for me as a fitness professional to poo-poo on that aspect.
Moreover, you’d be hard pressed to find any population that works harder. Like I said, people GET AFTER IT, and I really like that CrossFit advocates people to incorporate compound movements and introduces people to a wide variety of training stimuli (and gets them off the elliptical machine!!!).
Additionally, I have some good friends and colleagues who are CrossFitters who speak very highly of it. One such person is Jen Sinkler, fitness editor of Experience Life Magazine and overall badass.
To her credit, she dabbles in everything (Olympic lifting, Parkour, yoga, every sport and hobby imaginable) and I can’t say for certain whether or not she still participates in CrossFit, but she did write an AWESOME article a few years ago titled Confession: I’m a CrossFitter which I felt shed positive light into the discussion.
Too, I also recognize that there are plenty of CrossFit affiliates out there who go out of their way to actually assess people, coach them up, and offer proper progressions and more importantly, regressions, depending on one’s ability level and injury history.
Unfortunately, at least in my eyes and experience, this is generally the exception and not the norm.
And frankly, if me stating that happens to offend you, and you’re going to get your panties all up in a bunch, then you’re probably one of those affiliates that does stuff like this.
I realize the above is a bit of an extreme example, but that kind of stuff happens in the CrossFit culture a lot, and to me doesn’t even come close to passing the eyeball test.
If it looks like shit, and smells like shit…… then it’s probably shit.
And let me just state before I move on: I also recognize that there are a lot of strength and conditioning facilities who do a crappy job too and don’t coach their athletes properly nor provide an iota of sound programming, so I’m not insinuating a “holier than thou” mentality here.
But I don’t want this post to turn into a walking ball of fail here, so lets get to the heart of the matter here.
Kipping Pull-Ups – The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
If asked what they are, I’d reply, with a straight face: it’s where someone looks like they’re having an epileptic seizure in order to cheat a pull-up.
Done.
Listen, I don’t doubt that there’s a certain technique to perform them properly, nor do I think it’s unimpressive that there are some people out there who can bust out 50+ reps and not blink an eye. But lets not delude ourselves into thinking that they’re something they’re not.
Funnily enough, I was having a similar discussion with Boston University head strength coach, Glenn Harris, earlier this week and he mentioned to me a conversation he had with a family friend of his.
When asked his thoughts on kipping pull-ups, he replied, “well, they’re a way to cheat.” To which she replied, “yeah but, they allow you do more!”
Uhhh, exactly!
Why do people cheat on tests? To theoretically get a higher score. Why do powerlifters use bench shirts? To theoretically bench press more weight. Why do people continue to buy Nickleback albums?
Seriously, why? I want to know!
And, taking it a step further, fellow CP strength coach, Greg Robins, noted to me that the above CrossFit video (the one where all those women are performing the clean and press) demonstrates how strongman competitors “cheat” the clean and press in order to do more reps.
Does this cheating apply to Strongman and CrossFit? Well, yeah, kinda. The objective is to do more reps for the sake of doing more reps.
Does this apply to general fitness? Hell no! Why would I want to coach someone how to cheat?
As I noted above, I don’t doubt that there’s a bit of “mastery” involved when it comes to performing a kipping pull-up properly. But that doesn’t mean they’re a good idea for about 99.5% of the population. I mean, I could make a case on how to perform a rounded back deadlift correctly (in order lift more weight), but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.
Lets look at a video I came across on Youtube:
Pretty innocuous video for the most part – nothing that made my eyes bleed or made me want to throw my face into a wall (that much).
In fact, the guy coaching seems like an awesome coach. His cues were spot on; he was concise; and I really liked how he broke everything down. He’s obviously someone who takes the time to properly coach his athletes. Weird how that works!
And on an aside: how cool is it that a husband and wife are at the gym together and enjoying themselves!?!
This is in stark contrast from many of those couples you see eating at a restaurant together not even acknowledging each other’s existence.
Nevertheless, why not just coach/teach someone on how to (eventually) perform a strict pull-up? What’s wrong with that?
Of course, I get it: not many programs (outside of CrossFit) call for 10-50 rep pull-ups, so it kind of makes sense why kipping pull-ups enter the picture. As well, I don’t know many people who could perform ten strict pull-ups, let alone anything higher than that.
So again, the whole “cheating” aspect enters the picture here. Don’t deny it. Don’t you do it!!!!
And this isn’t even taking into considering the joint distraction forces taking place.
Holy mother of god, I haven’t even touched on that yet.
In the context of the population that I work with (baseball players), kipping pull-ups would be an absolute nightmare.
Throwing a baseball is one of the more violent motions placed on the human body – in particular with regards to what’s going on in the shoulder and elbow.
Baseball pitching is the single-fastest motion in all of sports, as the humerus internally rotates at velocities in excess of 7,000°/second.
What’s more, if we look at the elbow, the amount of valgus stress placed on it is equivalent to if we hung a 40 lb dumbbell from the hand towards the ground.
It’s pretty significant stuff, and explains why we’re very, very careful with the type of exercises we place into our programs at Cressey Performance. Kipping pull-ups would be a disaster.
In fairness, most people don’t make a living staring down professional hitters and could care less about throwing a baseball 95 MPH, so what about them?
Well, the same thought process still applies. Most (not all) people have really poor tissue quality, move about as well as a pregnant turtle, have the joint integrity of a paper cloth, and can barely press a barbell over their head without some major compensatory patterns.
Looking at the amount of “stuff” that takes place during a kipping pull-up (repetitive lumbar hyperextension, as well as the joint distraction forces mentioned above), it’s just something that’s not worth the risk or effort in my eyes. For many, they’re just not capable or “ready” to do such an advance movement without hurting themselves.
If that doesn’t apply to you, fantastic! I’m certainly not implying that these can’t be done safely and without incident.
Even still, I can think of a thousand and one different ways that my time would be of better use to my athletes and clients.
I’d much rather spend my time working on helping people move better, get them stronger, and, if it’s something they want, progress them to performing a STRICT pull-up.
So, to Recap
1. I’m not adamantly against CrossFit. I recognize that there are some redeeming qualities about it that I like and think are pretty cool.
2. Conversely, there are a lot of things about it that are less than to be desired.
3. Nickelback is just god-awful.
4. As with anything, it comes down to coaching. I’d much rather someone perform a crappy program really well – and get coached really well through it – than to just do “stuff” for the sake of wanting to feel like you’re going to shit your spleen or to feel tired.
5. I “get” why kipping pull-ups are a part of the CrossFit culture, and that’s not to belittle anything. It is what it is. How else is one supposed to perform 25 pull-ups after running two-miles (on your hands) after deadlifting a tank 47 times?
6. If you’re a CrossFitter and that’s your bag – cool, have at it. I respect you and the things that you can do, and I’m really happy you’ve found something you’re passionate about. But please don’t delude yourself (or others) into thinking that a kipping pull-up is some magical exercise that makes you better than everyone else.
You’re cheating – get over it.
NOTE: An important distinction that I should make (and something Alison commented on in the comments section which I should have hit on in the first place) is that CrossFit does differentiate between pull-ups and kipping pull-ups. Which is to say, they do actually program “regular” pull-ups as part of their programming.
UPDATE
It’s been two years since I wrote this article, and since it’s still one that gets a fair amount of traffic I wanted to update everyone on my thoughts.
Still not a fan of kipping-ups. But I DO recognize they’re their own “thing.” Comparing a kipping pull-up to a strict pull-up is like comparing a push press to a strict military press. They’re in the same ball park, but not quite the same.
Having said that, I still feel adamant that perfecting a STRICT pull-up should come first. What’s more, if someone can’t do a strict pull-up (preferably for reps), they really have no business doing a kipping pull-up.
For further reading I really like THISarticle written by Christian Thibaudeau which I feel is a fair and well-written expose on kipping pull-ups and where the fit into the equation.
I’ve been alluding to this “experiment” for quite some time now – and I wouldn’t be surprised given how long it’s taken me to actually hunker down and write about it, if some of you felt I was just making it up and blowing out a bunch of hot air.
It’s kind of like that one time your best friend said he’s dating a lingerie model that he met online.
Riiiiigggghhhhttttt.
And I actually spend my nights fighting crime as a ninja. No, really, I’m not kidding!
Anyhoo, for those who need a quick refresher: I’ve been experimenting with a high(er) frequency squatting protocol that’s been in the mix for the past 6-8 weeks. I love it, and feel it’s something I may implement long-term.
The article just went live today on T-Nation and you can read it HERE.
I’d be curious to hear your thoughts after you read it. Something you feel you’d try? Think it’s crap? Don’t worry, you can be honest. I won’t cry……….
I’ve told this story numerous times via email exchanges and presentations I’ve given, so please forgive me if you’ve heard this one before.
Awhile back I wrote an article on T-Nation titled My Shoulder Hurts: The Finest Whine, and in it I detailed, among other things, some of the more common reasons why someone’s shoulder may hate them in addition to outlining some strategies to help alleviate said shoulder from hating them.
I thought it was a pretty baller article, and it helped a lot of people. At one point I made mention that my best bench press is 315 lbs (raw, no gear) and that one of the reasons why I feel myself – as well as most of my athletes and clients I train – rarely suffer from shoulder pain is because I place a premium on balancing my pressing numbers with my pulling numbers.
Speaking more precisely, in an ideal world, I like to see a healthy “balance” between one’s 1RM bench press and his or her’s 3RM chin-up.
Using myself as an example, my best bench press is 315 lbs, and my best 3RM chin-up is 301 lbs. Not too shabby if I say so.
Almost predictably, some asshat made a comment in the LiveSpill that he stopped reading the article after he saw that I owned up to only bench pressing 315 lbs – insinuating that that was a piss-poor number and that I couldn’t possibly know what I was talking about.
I guess in order for it to count and for him to be impressed, I had to perform that for reps. With my feet in the air. And with Kate Beckinsale feeding me grapes.
Rather than get into some arcane pissing match with someone I didn’t even know (or had the inclination to use his real name), I made a snide comment back that: “yeah, well, my internet max is like 405 lbs, so that has to count for something.”
Suffice it to say, I recognize that a 315 lb bench press isn’t THAT big of a deal, and certainly doesn’t give me any bragging rights – especially considering some of the insane weights that guys like Vinny DiCenzo, Rock Lewis, and countless other raw and powerlifters put up on a regular basis.
That said, I still know how to COACH the bench press, and below is an article that I wrote last year that sorta got lost in the shuffle and never made it to print.
Lucky for you I happened to find it and decided I post up here. Enjoy!
Tips For a Badass Bench Press
In the realm of fitness, deadlifts and Shake Weights* aside, no other exercise exhibits as much machismo and general “badassery” as the bench press. Like a moth to a flame, it’s the first thing that most trainees (especially newbies) gravitate toward when they embark on a fitness routine, or, you know, if it’s Monday.
It’s no secret that attaining an impressive bench press – whatever that number may be – is kind of a big deal in fitness circles, allowing one a certain degree of bragging rights; it’s something that many trainees strive for on a weekly, sometimes yearly, basis.
However, not everyone makes significant progress with the bench press and even worse, many often end up hurt in the process — which is ironic, given its overwhelming popularity. It doesn’t have to be this way. A few simple tips can help your bench press soar.
But First, Lets Address the Stuff You’re Probably Going to Skip Anyways
While addressing posture may seem trivial and mundane, and yes, you may prefer to swallow a live grenade, it’s critical to discuss. So deal with it.
Let’s face it, there are a lot of people walking around with less than stellar posture. With many spending upwards of 8 to 12 hours per day sitting in front of a computer at work, not to mention the endless hours commuting, and/or hunching over their iPhone it’s no surprise.
Exhibiting a kyphotic posture – rounded shoulders and upper back, or what I like to call the Mr. Burns effect – will absolutely affect rotator cuff mobility, as well as general joint function, which in turn will affect overall performance and how much weight one will be able to bench press.
Interestingly, it’s often popular for fitness professionals to prescribe copious amounts of direct rotator cuff work to help fix one’s posture in addition to providing more “stability” to the joint – with the idea being that the more stable the joint is, the more proficient it will be at transferring force.
This is true, to a degree.
However, rarely, if ever, is the rotator cuff the issue when referring to bench press performance. Rather, what you need to be more cognizant of is thoracic spine mobility and scapular stability.
As my good buddy, Dean Somerset, CSCS, notes, “while the rotator cuff’s function is undoubtedly one of providing stability to the glenohumeral joint and allowing it to have a pivot rotation versus a gliding within the capsule, it doesn’t need a lot of direct work when training for the bench press, even if the problem is a rotator cuff tear.”
In other words, if you’re walking around with a Quasimodo posture, all the rotator cuff work in the world isn’t going to improve your bench press.
Instead by addressing the real issues — improving t-spine mobility and targeting the scapular stabilizers like the serratus anterior and lower traps, which tend to be woefully weak in many trainees — you’ll improve overall shoulder function and help place the scapulae in an optimal position to transfer force.
Using a great analogy that pretty much everyone uses and I’m no different, it’s sort of like shooting a cannon from a canoe; it’s not necessarily a good idea, nor optimal. Shoot it from solid ground, however, and it’s a different result altogether.
For many trainees, they’re so unstable – due to poor positioning – that they never see any improvements in their bench press. Make the joint more stable – again, by improving t-spine mobility and scapular stability – and good things will happen.
While there are certain scenarios where dedicated rotator cuff work might be warranted – they’re few and far between. Instead, focus on thoracic mobility (rotation as well as extension) and improving scapular function, to set yourself up for success.
Here are a few drills that might help and provide some insight:
Quadruped Extension-Rotation
Bench T-Spine Mobilization
Forearm Wall Slides – 135 Degrees with OH Shrug & Lift Off
https://youtube.com/watch?v=7QVMrFDQ0FI
Side Lying Windmill
Those are just a few, of course, but should get the ball rolling in the right direction for most people reading.
For Those That Skipped the Nerdy Stuff, You Can Start Reading Here
It All Starts With the Set-Up: Part I
How you set up for the bench press can make or break your performance, and subsequently, long-term progress to boot. While conventional wisdom will dictate that the bench press is a fairly innocuous exercise that anyone can just show up and perform (kind of like pooping), it’s actually a bit more complicated.
Firstly, rule number one of bench pressing — especially if you’re looking to push some respectable weight – is to never, ever, under any circumstance bench press with your feet up in the air. Unless, of course, you’re actually trying to make people laugh at you and/or want to be weak.
If that’s the case – have at it!
Think about it: By placing your feet up in the air, you’re making yourself more unstable, and in turn, less capable of transferring force efficiently. Resultantly, this will affect how much weight you’re able to use, which defeats the purpose if you’re looking to improve your bench pressing “badasstitude.”
It also looks dumb — really dumb. And no one wants to look dumb.
With that out of way, you need to understand some very basic set-up parameters that will undoubtedly help clean up your bench technique and lead to more weight on the bar.
Step 1: Set your Feet. Dig your feet into the ground!
Don’t just haphazardly flop them out in front of you like a pair of dead fish. Literally, corkscrew those mofo’s into the ground – to the side and underneath you — and use them to push your back into the bench. This is called leg drive, and it’s a trick that many powerlifters utilize to help engage more of the entire body into the movement.
That’s because the bench press is more of a full-body movement than one might think, and by incorporating more leg drive, it’s not uncommon to see an instant increase in the amount of weight used.
Step 2: Grab the bar as if you want to choke it to death.
Too often, trainees gingerly grab the bar as if they’re scared they’re going to hurt it. Grab it and strangle it! By doing so, you’ll force the rotator cuff to fire and provide more stability throughout the shoulders.
Step 3: Place your shoulder blades in your back pocket.
As Mike Robertson, CSCS and co-owner of IFAST training facility located in Indianapolis, IN, notes, “The more stable you are through your upper back, the more strength you’ll be able to display and the less likely you are to strain a pec while benching.”
Grab the bar with your hands – remember, crush it! – lift yourself off the bench slightly and try to pinch your shoulder blades together and depress them by visualizing placing them in your back pocket.
For the visual learners in the crowd, you can always just watch this superb video by Dave Tate.
It All Starts with the Set-Up: Part II
In case you haven’t picked up on it yet, placing a little more of an emphasis on technique very well may be the missing ingredient to a badass bench.
Still reading? Well, you made it this far, you might as well keep going!
Step 4: It’s okay to arch your lower back.
There’s a major misconception in the fitness community that it’s somehow detrimental to arch one’s lumbar spine while benching. While this practice may be problematic for some individuals, it’s a bit remiss to make such broad generalizations.
For starters, the lumbar spine already has a natural lordotic arch to it anyway, so why would maintaining that arch be dangerous? In fact, increasing one’s arch is another useful trick many powerlifters advocate because it helps shorten the distance the bar has to travel.
Secondly, and more to the point, Craig Rasmussen, CSCS and one of the program designers at Results Fitness located in Santa Clarita, CA, says, “I believe that many people simply confuse the (correct) advice of keeping your butt on the bench with the bogus advice of keeping the lumbar spine on the bench. This will entail having a curve in your lumbar spine. You don’t need to press your lumbar spine into the bench as you perform a bench press, but you do need to keep your butt on the bench or you’re changing the movement into an unsupported decline bench press, which is not a good idea.”
Step 5: Get a hand-off.
It sounds borderline trivial, but it’s anything but. Getting a hand-off – as opposed to a “spot” – is an often overlooked component to the bench press.
Remember all that talk above about proper upper back positioning when you bench, and how, if it’s not optimal, it can drastically affect how much weight you’re actually able to lift?
No? What the F, dude? It was like 30 seconds ago! Go back and read it again!
Well, when you don’t ask for a proper hand-off, you’re essentially setting yourself up for failure. Think about what you have to do to unrack the bar on your own: “press” the bar by protracting your shoulders and allowing them to anteriorly tilt – losing any semblance of upper back tightness in the process.
Conversely, by getting a proper hand-off, you’re able to keep the upper back compact and “tight.”
In reality, a hand-off should assist you only in the sense of “gliding” the bar over the j-hooks – the hand-off(er) should not lift the bar out of the hooks for you.
Also, just to throw it out there: every time you yell out “it’s all you, it’s all you, it’s all you” when spotting, a dolphin gets punched in the face. Stop it!
Step 6: Keep your elbows from flaring out.
Watch any elite powerlifter bench and what do you see? Well for starters, you won’t see them with their feet in the air. Seriously, stop it! Secondly, you’ll probably notice how they tend to keep their elbows from flaring out. Why? Namely, it prevents your shoulders from hating you.
Allowing the elbows to flare out – while true, does place more emphasis on the pecs – places infinitely more stress on the shoulders, and you want to protect them as much as possible.
Instead, when lowering the bar, try to keep the elbows at a 45-degree angle from the torso. In other words, if taking a bird-eye view, your arms should make more of a “W” shape than a “T” throughout the duration of the movement
It may be awkward at first, and it will definitely take some practice, but it will keep your shoulders healthier in the long run. And that’s a huge step in the right direction for long-term bench pressing success.
Imagine for a second that it’s like 1801, and for some reason you irritated me – whether it was because you built a fence on my property, stole one of my cattle, didn’t tip your hat back at me when I said “good day,” or I just felt your mustache was way cooler than mine – what would be the standard protocol to resolving the issue?
I’d walk over to where you were standing and slap you square in the face with a pair of white gloves and say something like, “dude, WTF????” and then challenge you to a dual to the death.”
Or something like that.**
Either way, it would have been on like Donkey Kong.
Thankfully it’s not 1801 and we’re a little more civil today, so there won’t be any sword or gun fights in the public garden in the near future.
But I’m still challenging you to a battle.
A Deadlift Battle!!!!!!
……..not because anyone pissed me off or anything, but rather just because I can.
Everyone who reads this site knows I love me some deadlifts – so I’ve teamed up with the peeps over at WeightTraining.com and we’ve organized a fun week-long event where we’re going to see who can deadlift the most amount of weight in seven days.
Everybody likes a challenge, right? Well, this one is going to be a doozy.
The party starts THIS Monday, November 5th and will run all of next week.
As if participating in such a badass event wasn’t incentive enough, we’ll be giving away daily WT.com t-shirts and wrist bands, and we’ll also have a GRAND PRIZE giveaway that includes a Cressey Performance t-shirt, a free copy of Muscle Imbalances Revealed – Upper Body, one year of WeightTraining.com PRO, and steaks from US Wellness Meats.
That’s right: dead animal flesh for deadlifting heavy stuff. Seems appropriate.
And it’s all for FREE!
It’s my goal to get at least 100 people to participate, so please GO HERE to sign up and then do me a favor and spread the word on Facebook, Twitter, and every social media outlet you can think of.
Send invites to your friends, ex-girlfriends, parents, siblings, ex-Little League baseball coach, the cute Barista you have a crush on at Starbucks, everyone!!!!
This is going to be awesome – lets get it on!!!!!!!!
More specifically: what’s the single best thing you can do to get better results in the gym?
At the expense of making the most redundant statement ever, there’s a lot of information out there. We’re inundated with it. At no point in human history has information been more readily available and “in our face” than the here and now.
This is a blessing and a curse.
A blessing in that I can log onto Google right now and if I need to know the birthdate of Luke Skywalker, whether or not Alicia Keys is divorced yet, or say, the mating rituals of South African rhinoceroses, I can do it. And it’s awesome.
A curse in that, with so much information at our finger tips, people are often paralyzed into stagnancy.
This is never more apparent than in the health and fitness realm.
Take for example, food. One week we’re told that eggs are the most nutritious food known to man, and ten minutes later, a new story comes out detailing how eating an egg will spurn the Mayan Apocalypse.
People literally have no freakin idea what to eat that it’s gotten to the point where I have clients asking me if eating an apple is okay.
YES, it is, for the love of god!!!!!
And, for the record, Luke Skywalker was born in 19 BBY.
Switching gears to the fitness side of the equation, the waters are just as uncharted. Information is abundant, and if you were to type in bodybuilding, powerlifting, strength, or fat loss workouts into Google, you’d undoubtedly receive thousands of results for each.
There’s an endless cornucopia of websites, articles, and blog posts telling you the optimal set/rep scheme for this, the best weekly split for that, and any number of other factors you can think of.
As a result, for many people, the cycle is as follows:
One week the goal is to get jacked. The following you decide to start a fat loss phase. Oh snap, you just read an article that promises to increase you bench press 50 lbs in 13 minutes!!!!!!
Actually never mind, MMA sounds kind of cool.
No wait, GODDAMIT, those dudes in 300 were pretty ripped up, I think I changed my mind and want to get shredded again.
Before you know it, it’s been six months and you’ve made little (if any) progress in the gym
Sound familiar?
If it does, you’re what I call a flip-flopper, and it needs to stop.
Pick a goal, ANY goal, and stick with it for more than two minutes. Stealing a popular quote from Dan John, “your goal is to keep the goal, the goal.”
Expounding on things, and taking it even a step further, we could also make the case for exercise selection.
One popular (and valid) component of designing strength based programs – or any program for that matter – is the notion of “cycling” movements every 1-2 weeks.
So, for example, an elite powerlifter might choose to perform box squats one week for his main lower body exercise, and then switch to SUMO rack pulls the next.
The idea being that his CNS is so advanced and he’s developed such profound foundation of strength that in order to maintain a training effect (and make progress to boot) it’s advantageous to cycle though movements.
This issn’t always the case, of course, but it hopefully gets my point across.
Which is: most people aren’t elite nor are they advanced. And the notion of cycling through exercises is more harmful than good.
Not that I feel people are going to physically hurt themselves (although that’s certainly not out of the question), but rather, I think when people have an insatiable case of training ADD – where they’re switching training goals every week and not allowing themselves enough time to actually learn how to perform an exercise correctly – they hurt their progress.
I’m sorry but if you’re just learning how to deadlift – arguably one of the more technical exercises to learn – you don’t need to be worrying about whether or not you should add chains or perform them from a deficit in order to get all swole.
Funnily enough, if you were to look at the majority of programs I write, many may be surprised to find that I don’t go out of my way to add in a lot variety. It’s just not what most people need.
What they need is CONSISTENCY.
What they need is repetition and to learn how to squat properly by sitting back and pushing the knees out; to learn how to hip hinge properly when performing a deadlift; to not worry about making certain exercises more “McGyver(ish)” by adding bands, boards, weight releasers, a paper clip, and a rubber ducky.
Just stop.
Instead worry less about doing stuff that’s new and unique, and worry more about OWNING your training. Worry about perfecting technique and not switching your training emphasis every half hour, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll be surprised as to how much progress you can make.
I love Tuesdays. For me Tuesday is like everyone else’s Sunday because, as un-conventional as it is, it’s a regularly scheduled “day off” for me. I know, that was all sorts of confusing, so let me try to clarify.
I don’t have a standard weekend like most people. I work on Saturday (and sometimes even on Sunday depending on the time of year), and my “weekend’ is generally shortened to a 36 hour span from Saturday afternoon through Sunday that generally consists of what I like to call catching up on life.
Translation: a crap ton of laundry (which, for those curious, is a shade more than a shit ton), and other errands like grocery shopping, food prep, and being dragged , usually kicking and screaming, to Target.
Don’t get me wrong, my girlfriend and I do fun stuff, too. For instance, we have our “date night” on Saturdays where we pick a restaurant, get all jazzed up (her looking as bootylicious as always, and me trying to remember not to wear brown shoes with a black belt), and head out on the town.
We like to consider ourselves “foodies” and have a fun hobby where we collect cards from all the different places we eat in or around Boston and pin them up on, what else, our “Date Night” Board.
But in the grand scheme of things, my “weekend” is a blur, as it is for most people. Which is way I savor my Tuesdays.
Tuesday is effectively Tony Time, where I’m able to catch up on emails, writing, programming, various projects in the mix, and episodes of Deadliest Warrior.
In addition, Tuesday happens to be the day where I make the short walk over to Boston University to train with my friend, Dave Rak, at BU Strength and Conditioning which is essentially a candy store for meatheads.
We typically meet up around one in the afternoon, and I spend the majority of my morning salivating at the mouth because both Dave and I have dedicated that day to deadlifting our faces off (and doing our part in the fight against terrorism).
So, as is the case with every Tuesday, I was excited to train. That is until I actually showed up and realized I felt like I got run over by a mack truck.
Mentally I was just drained, and to top matters off, my back was a bit cranky from what I guess was sleeping on it wrong the night prior. In a nutshell, I was a walking bag of fail.
X Infinity
My plan was to head in and do some heavy mid-shin rack pull singles, but I scratched that idea once I started warming up and realized my back wasn’t feeling spectacular. I knew I could probably push through it, but I decided not to be an idiot and opted instead to switch things up.
Rather than pull heavy, I performed some light(er) back squats for sets of three, and then, still wanting to get some deadlifting in, set the bar up for some speed pulls.
315 felt like I was pulling the weight out of a tar pit. It felt sluggish, and by the third of fourth set I was starting to get an exertion headache, where I felt light-headed and a little nauseous.
Again, I cut everything short, and then moved on to my accessory work (barbell glute bridges with some one-arm DB rows).
In hindsight, I probably would have been better off NOT training in the first place.
In my defense, I wanted to move around a little a bit, and I was still able to get some semblance of a training effect in – so there’s something to be said for that.
But really, if I’m going to be honest with myself, it was a craptastic session and I really didn’t make myself any better.
Ironically enough, Dave Dellanave, one of the head trainers at Movement Minneapolis, posted this graphic on their fan page yesterday:
While I can pat myself on the back that I still “trained” yesterday, looking at this simple yet effective chart, I most likely would have been better off doing some foam rolling, dynamic mobility drills, maybe some light pull-throughs and sled work, and calling it a day.
Of course there are going to be the internet warriors and people who talk a big game who will say that this approach is for the weak minded or “gay” (someone actually said this on the Minneapolis Movement Facebook page).
I’d like to take the route that it’s smart, instinctive, self auto-regulating training.
As I’ve grown as a coach, and as someone who’s job it is to make people better, I’ve come to understand that trying to pound square pegs into round holes – while admirable t0 an extent (you can’t fault people for loving to train) and will undoubtedly win you some internet cred – is a poor choice to go about things 90% of the time.
It dumbfounds me that some people (some of whom are coaches) will take such a close-minded, and if I may be frank, pigheaded “all or nothing” view on training.
It’s unfortunate really. Go HERE to read the thread.
Reverting back to a phrase that both Eric Cressey and myself use regularly:
Fatigue will always mask your true fitness level.
While it would be wrong of me to state that one should never train while feeling fatigued or tired (that’s a little overboard, and not the lesson being conveyed anyways), I do feel there’s a valuable message being “sold” by the Movement Minneapolis camp.
Which is: it’s okay to take a day off, or to back off a little bit.
The world won’t come to end, and no one will think any less of you.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tweaked my programming, or that of my clients, if they’re not feeling up to snuff on certain days. While it’s rare that I’ll shut someone down completely, there is some credence behind knowing when to back off when the time is right. (<—-You should Tweet that).
What are you thoughts on the matter? I’d love to hear what others have to say on this topic. For me, there’s little (if any) advantage in plowing through a training session when it’s just not there.
More specifically, what does it say of me as a coach to take an athlete – or a general population client – and beat them to a pulp when they only had three hours of sleep the night prior; or just broke up with their significant other; or worse case scenario, has a raging case of explosive diarrhea?
Probably not going to do them any favors
That said, do me a favor and sound off. Seriously, I want to know your thoughts.
I have a special treat for everyone today. Anyone who’s read this blog for any length of time knows I have a special place in my heart for three things:
Beef jerky (or any form of dead animal flesh, really), Star Wars, and deadlifts.
Today I have a guest post by Adam T. Glass. Adam is currently the No. 2 grip athlete in the country, setting records left and right, and head trainer at Movement Minneapolis.
He can do all sorts of freaky-deaky things like lift a crap load of weight, bend horseshoes, and rip the space-time continuum in half with his bare hands (the natural progression after phonebooks).
Adam reached out and asked if he could write a guest post on how improving grip strength can correlate very well to improved numbers with the deadlift. Of course I said yes.
Enjoy!
Almost inevitably, when I reveal to fellow lifters that I am a grip sport specialist, I get asked how to improve grip strength for these two lifts: deadlifts and pull-ups. Many people have been told that training these movements is enough for strong hands — and they believe it. In a sense, they’re right, but not training them the way most people do.
The issue is the equipment. Specifically, barbells and dumbbells are shaped to place minimal stress on the hands when training. A one-inch barbell is designed to be as small as it can be without digging into the palm or fingers. Any bigger and it’s harder to hold onto. A public demand for comfort has led to a narrowing of handles over the years, but that, in turn, has led to a weakening of the hands.
So, it won’t be very useful for me to simply tell you to abandon lifting straps and gloves, or to hold the bar for a beat longer at the top. Instead, I am going to share a few new ways that will actually improve your hand and wrist strength. Work these exercises into your routine and you will find that no longer does your grip fail you on a big pull, and as an added bonus, it will translate to more usable strength outside the gym.
THUMBLESS MIXED-GRIP FAT-BAR PULLING
Eliminating the thumb and placing more stress on the fingers and wrist will translate directly to more hand strength. Deadlifting with this grip — called the “monkey grip” — will train the arms as much as the hips and back. You will need a thick bar or a pair of the ever-popular slip-on grips. (There are a number on the market; the most popular are Fatgripz, the Manus Grips, and the Iron Bull grips. It won’t really matter which you choose for this movement.)
Place your thumb on the side of your index finger, turning your hand in to a flipper. Now set up on the bar with one palm facing you and one facing out in a mixed grip. You will find you have greater bicep and forearm loading here, too.
This is not something I would recommend you attempt at your 1RM deadlift on day one.
This is a grip-specific accessory movement, so use it on your back-off sets with more modest poundage. As you get stronger, you can work up very high weights as your wrist and fingers develop. You will be surprised at the feeling you find in your arm from shoulder to wrist the next day.
THE FLAT PLATE LIFT
How often have you had to lift something off the floor that wasn’t analogous to the familiar height of 45’s on a bar? Most objects we have to pull off the floor have a lower center of mass and more awkward shape than an easy-to-grip barbell. Related to barbell deadlifting, this will be similar to pulling from a significant deficit.
You will need a loading pin and two very secure locking collars. Start with a small, thin plate or two and then load a few heavier plates on the loading pin, and finally lock down the apparatus with the collars on the top. Straddle the load, slide your fingers underneath both sides of the bottom plate, and lift it up a few inches. Be careful when you set it down to do it evenly so as to not crush your fingers.
This is the ever-feared combination of round-back lifting with bent arms that will supposedly destroy your spine faster than a side collision…and it’s also the exact same lift you are doing every time you lift a box off the floor. Let’s face it, lifting a 500-pound barbell off the floor is way easier than a 120-pound 36” X 36” box. The leverages are very different, so the joint positions are very different as well.
The plate lift gives you a similar starting position as stone lifting. Most people do not have access to stones, which is a shame, so try this one out instead.
Stay with relatively light weight, but you can expect to move some big weights sooner than later. You can become very strong in this position with some practice. For perspective, several (normal sized!) men in my facility can lift a 400+lb stack of plates.
THE LIFTING STRAP HOIST
It’s en vogue these days to bash lifting straps and people who use them, but that’s nonsense. Straps have their place. Even if you don’t use them, I will share with you an excellent lift that gives you a reason to keep a pair tucked in your gym bag.
Note from TG: I concur on the straps comment. They do have a time and place. I discuss that HERE (scroll to tip #5).
Load some weight on a bar and choke the straps onto the spots where you typically grab it. Position yourself as in a deadlift and grab the straps. This will put you in a neutral grip, with a very tight fist. From here simply hold on and stand up. How simple it that?
This type of lift will train your hand in the fully closed position, which is deceptively challenging. Most people have not trained any of their pulling motions with that tight of a grip.
So How Will This Help With My Deadlift?
A fair question. Slip these movements in to your training for a few weeks and you will find your fingers, wrist, and hand will get stronger fast.
One side effect of adding these in is a far greater volume of pulling weight off the floor, and that is likely a good thing for you. If you are not accustomed to using several types of pulls, it maybe best for you work in just one extra movement per week. For those who are used to doing work, throw them all in and use your better judgment for load and volume.
I will leave you with one specific tip with regard to your normal deadlifting practice. You may have already heard this, but if not it will be more valuable than anything more complicated: Start out your deadlift days with a double overhand grip.
Continue using that until you have to go to a mixed grip. Over the months and years — in addition to a few simple grip drills — you will develop an industrial strength grip.
Author Bio
Adam T. Glass is a world-class grip athlete and heads training at The Movement Minneapolis. He keeps a blog and training log at http://www.adamtglass.com/ and recently released a comprehensive grip training DVD titled Industrial Strength Grip.
Regardless of the guru, my answer’s always the same, “It doesn’t need to be so complicated” I’ll tell them.
That’s a quote from one of my favorite bloggers, Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, who always seems to have a knack for keeping it real and telling it like it is.
Even though the good doc specializes and resides more on the nutritional side of things, fighting the good fight against obesity (and many of the asinine policies surrounding the food industry), he’s someone whose insight I respect a ton and it’s not uncommon for me to see value in his message and how it permeates into the strength and conditioning community.
Take this shining example taking from a blog post of his not too long ago:
Even if the nutritional gurus and zealots were absolutely, 100%, scientifically bang-on with their edicts and commandments, I’d still stick with that message.
Not because I necessarily know better about nutrition, but rather because I work with actual people, real life folks who go to work, who worry about their finances, who shuttle their kids back and forth to hockey, who are trying to do their best. And while there’s no doubt that it’s possible one of these nutrition gurus will actually, indisputably, get it right, it won’t change the fact that real people need to like the lives they’re living, even if they’re not nutritionally perfect.
Real life folks? Here are my recommendations:
Cook more.
Use whole ingredients.
Eat out less frequently.
Cook together as a family.
Eat together around a table.
And while those instructions may not satisfy the gurus and zealots who demand perfection, I’m guessing they’ll take you a very long way health wise.
It doesn’t need to be so complicated.
How many times as trainers and coaches have we worked with a client or athlete who refuses to accept the notion that they’re completely average and that the basics don’t apply to them?
Unless there’s some fancy algorithm involved or some Russian’s name attached to it, they can’t be bothered.
What do you mean just squats? My last trainer had me doing cluster sets of band resisted squats vs. chains off a BOSU ball using a 5114 tempo with exactly 88 seconds of rest in between each set. On one leg.
Please, I know how to squat.
And then your eyes start bleeding because their squat is just god awful, and you have to break it to them – tactfully, of course – that, “no, your knees aren’t supposed to cave in on the descent.” And, “no, 225 lbs isn’t really all that impressive.” And, “um, yeah, are you going to finish the rest of those reps later, or are you actually going to squat to depth?”
I’m guessing many of you reading who are trainers and coaches are nodding your heads in agreement as you read this.
It’s frustrating to say the least when you have to remind people that there’s nothing wrong with mastering the basics. That they’re not above paying their dues. In fact, 99% of the time if one masters the basics and stops making things so overly complicated, they’ll probably see infinitely better results – regardless of whether their goals are strength and performance based or fat loss.
So, in keeping with the doc’s theme above, for REAL people, here are my recommendations:
– Focus on compound movements that force you to integrate the entire body: squat, deadlift, chin-ups, bench press, military press, lunge variation, row, etc.
– For the love of god, step away from the Smith machine.
– And would it kill you to wash your gyms shorts on occasion?
– Stress QUALITY over quantity. I’d rather someone go to the gym and perform 5×5 deadlifts (making sure technique is solid on each rep) than spend an hour doing god-knows-what.
– 3x per week, full-body, is a solid approach for most people.
– Throw in a day (or two) of interval based training and you’re golden.
– Please don’t skip your soft tissue or mobility work.
– Walking shouldn’t be considered exercise. It’s called life.
– How much weight should you use? If you can easily hit all your reps, bump the weight up 5-10 lbs. It’s not rocket science. And no, you won’t get big a bulky. Stop thinking you’re going to turn into Arnold Schwarzenegger in a week.
– Just to mix it up a bit, save “bench day” for any day other than Monday. Trust me, the world won’t end.
– Training sessions should be no longer than 45-60 minutes (75 minutes, tops if you include SportsCenter highlight breaks).
– The bulk of your exercises should be barbell and dumbbell based.
– If you can’t perform at least five bodyweight chin-ups (man or woman), you have no business performing 46 sets of bicep curls.
– Do some push-ups (or TRX rows) instead.
– Find a good training partner. It makes all the difference in the world.
– Less is more. Try to limit yourself to 3-5 exercises per session.
– Don’t be intimidated to ask for help or to be coached. Even the best in the business ask for help from time to time.
Obviously some of these are said tongue-in-cheek, and in no way exemplifies a complete list. But in the grand scheme of things, it’s no coincidence that none of the above are earth shattering or new or are going to start a fitness revolution. That’s the point.
thin plate or two and then load a few heavier plates on the loading pin, and finally lock down the apparatus with the collars on the top. Straddle the load, slide your fingers underneath both sides of the bottom plate, and lift it up a few inches. Be careful when you set it down to do it evenly so as to not crush your fingers.
