CategoriesUncategorized

Train Like a Woman, Look Like a Woman

Back in 2002 I was contemplating becoming a teacher.  A health teacher to be more precise.  As an undergrad I was studying Health Education with a concentration in being awesome Health/Wellness Promotion, and as many of you can probably guess, a major part of the requirement for completion was to spend a semester student teaching at both a local middle and high school.

In my case “local” meant driving 50 miles (both ways) to Binghamton, NY.  And while I could easily sit here and bemoan some aspects of the experience – driving 50 miles through the lake effect snow capital of the world during the dead of winter comes to mind. As does teaching human sexuality to a bunch of 7th-graders. Hey, you try to explain “nocturnal emissions” WITH A STRAIGHT FACE – I have to say, all in all, it was an amazing few months.

I learned a lot about myself during that time (like, how to properly tie a tie), and it was a wonderful opportunity to, as Chip and Dan Heath describe in their book, Decisive, get an “ooch,” or “taste” as to whether or not teaching was the right fit for me.

 

Turns out it wasn’t.

When it came down to it:  I decided it was way cooler to spend my time hanging out in a gym making people stronger than it was hanging out in a classroom teaching kids what cell-mediated immunity was.

Still, I was reminiscing the other day about my student teaching experience and amid my thoughts of lecture plans, pop quizzes, and the differences between boy-down-there-parts and girl-down-there-parts (seriously, try to keep a straight face!), it brought me back to the day when I was asked by one of my students if I’d be willing to attend his poetry reading that he was organizing after school in the cafeteria.

While the Jaws theme music immediately started reverberating in my head as soon as the word “poetry” left his lips, being the good trooper and responsible teacher that I was, I gladly accepted.

Hopefully without sounding too mean, there’s Broadway, off-Broadway, off-off Broadway, the two homeless guys fighting over an empty Coke can in the park, and then there’s the poetry reading/one-man monologue/play that he put on in front of a group of 20 or so people.

I feel like a major a-hole for saying it (more than ten years later), but it was face palm bad.  But I survived.  And well, giving credit where it’s due:  it’s not like I’ve ever done anything remotely as ballsy as that.

And because I really don’t have any other way to segue into what I actually wanted to talk about today, want to know what else is face palm worthy?  The following story………..

It’s a Doozy

After linking on my site THIS post she wrote on why she doesn’t believe in barre classes anymore, last year my friend Emily Giza Socolinsky wrote a stellar guest post on this site titled A New and Better Butt? Why Not a Stronger Butt?

Note:  before you continue, I’d HIGHLY recommend you read the actual post(s) because what follows won’t be nearly as vomit in your mouthish if you don’t.

Finished?  Okay, good.

Great message, right?  I felt Emily hit the nail on the proverbial head with that one.  Any message which empowers and encourages women to not be afraid to lift appreciable weight, as well as any message which debunks the notion that lifting something heavier than a 3 lb dumbbell, bar, or purse will turn them into a Highland Games competitor overnight is alright in my book.

Apparently someone felt otherwise and took offense to Emily’s “tone.”  Well, to be more precise they originally took offense that, unbeknownst to Emily, the photo she used in her original post was of an actual owner and instructor of a Barre class (that she snaked off of Google Images).

Emily gladly took the photo down. But it was the snide comment that the owner left in the comments section of Emily’s post which really grinded her gears:

” You have used the photo of barre class with out permission … Please remove it. This is a photo of my instructors at a barre studio and myself.. It is not stock for public consumption.

Separately, you are completely wrong about barre class. I don’t know what kind of class you taught at your studio but our clients are much stronger, much more confident, ski better, play tennis better, etc and aren’t just there to tone their thighs. Perhaps they can not pull their husbands out if a burning building – not sure whose overall goal that would be anyway – but they are not looking to build enormous muscles and look like a man either.

Remove the photo immediately.

Thank you.”

OMFG – when will this ever end??????????????

Excuse me while I go face palm my face into a cement wall.

Emily responded like a champ:

“Thank you for your comment. I apologize for using your picture. I will remove this out of courtesy to you and your instructors.

However, what I cannot and will not do is apologize for my post. I am not completely wrong about barre classes and if you actually read my post, I am all for women doing what works for them and makes them happy. But I want to deliver to my female clients what I believe to be a better program for getting stronger and gaining confidence.

While I am sure that your clients have gotten stronger from your barre classes, I believe that my clients are served better by actually lifting weights that will challenge their bodies, minds and spirits. None of my ladies look like a man.

In fact, all of my women have dramatically changed their bodies into curvaceous, strong and fit women. Your comment implies that my goal is to make women look like men. Women can be strong, have muscle, lift heavy weight and still be women.

I want to deliver the best program to my women and for them and for me, this includes picking up weight that weighs more than 3 lbs. Sure, you can get stronger by doing anything….but in my world (and many others) building a stronger body means actually lifting weights.

And for me, I DO want to know that if I had to, I could pull my husband out of a burning building.”

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

 

The absolute best response I saw on Emily’s Facebook Page was this:

“Ski better, play tennis better” is the bougiest response to anything I’ve seen in a while. “

Our clients can handle many pottery barn shopping bags.” “She has the strength to open the hood of her own 3 series.” “Our clients look great in their cocktail dresses when they attend philanthropy luncheons.”

Well said by whoever said that!

I don’t feel I need to add any fuel to the fire here since most of you reading know my stance on this topic.  I just find it disheartening that this is still the pervasive attitude which dominates much (not all) of the female psyche.

For the love of all that’s holy can you blame some of them?

I have a female client who’s a personal trainer on the side and she mentioned how she wanted to ween herself out of the commercial gym setting, and start working with younger athletes (particularly female) at the local high school where her son goes.

As it happened, she sent out an email to all of the girls athletic coaches at the high school telling them that she’d be in the weight room this summer to help out, and she asked the coaches to encourage their athletes to come.

She heard back from TWO coaches, one of which is the female PE teacher who also coaches the field hockey team.

This is what the coach wrote back:

“One issue is the lack of user friendly equipment for the girls. They are not interested in the heavy lifting machines. I wrote a grant for strength training circuit machines and cardio machines, but it did not get funded.

Well no shit they’re not interested if this is the mentality that’s being engrained from the get go!

For the record:  my client noted that the “heavy lifting machines” this coach is referring to are the TEN squat racks in the weight room.

Since when do females need user friendly equipment?  Since when do they need to be pampered with cardio machines?

It’s all BS if you ask me.  Worse still, it’s a disgrace and woeful fail in judgement on the coaches’ parts.  Way to go!  You just pandered to the fears that every girl has towards lifting weights by telling her she needs to head to elliptical row!

 

If females are being “programmed” by their elders and coaches at such a young age to think that boys and girls need to train differently and that the squat rack isn’t “user friendly,” is it any wonder why this seems like a losing battle at times?

Why not, I don’t know, encourage young, impressionable women that the squat rack isn’t Mordor. That they don’t need to train any differently than the boys?  That lifting appreciable weight can be a key to unlocking a treasure trove of beauty, athleticism, and maybe even more importantly, confidence?

Can we turn the page sometime in the near future?  Please?

CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work Uncategorized

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: Happy 4th Everyone!

Happy day before 4th of July!  I might as well take the opportunity to wish everyone a happy 4th now (remember: firecrackers aren’t toys!), because the likelihood that I’ll even open up my laptop tomorrow is slim to none.  I believe the game plan for Lisa and I is to pack a cooler and head to the South Shore for a little beach action tomorrow.

Which means, of course, that I’ll be taking myself through a little “beach workout” today at the facility.  Sun’s out Guns out!

Don’t judge me!  You know you’re going to do the exact same thing today.

Anyhoo, here’s some stuff to read to keep you occupied until your boss leaves work early, and then you hightail it out there yourself.

Enjoy!

Book Review: Michael Moss’ Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us – Dr. Yoni Freedhoff

I recently read this book not too long ago- and subsequently made my girlfriend read it as well (who then recommended it to a few of her friends) – and thought it was an absurdly fascinating (and scary) look into the food industry.

Basically the food industry is hoodwinking us in more ways than one.

If you eat food – and I know you do – I can’t recommend this book enough.

Strong is the New Skinny – Sophieologie

I’m s sucker for any article which encourages women to think that lifting (appreciable) weights is a good thing.  So a hardy internet “slow clap” goes out to Sophia for writing this baller article.

What’s even more interesting than the article itself (and it IS a good one), is some of the commentary in the comments section. I often find it comical (and at the same time sad) that some women read a piece like this and act as if someone clubbed a baby seal.

Many will go off on some tired tirade on women’s rights, “HOW DARE YOU BASH SKINNY WOMEN!!!”, blah blah blah…….when that’s not even the point of the article in the first place.  Stop the freakin ballyhooing!

As Sophia noted is the endnotes: strong is not a body type, it’s an ability.

Want to Deadlift Everyday? – Todd Bumgardner

Uh, does a bear shit in the woods?  Does Dolly Parton sleep on her back?

Hell yeah I want to deadlift everyday!

CategoriesUncategorized

Pre or Post Workout Cardio: When Is It Ideal?

Note from TG: Theeeeeeey’re baaaaack.  The Dynamic Duo, Chris and Eric Martinez, strike again. And this time they’re setting their sites on the whole “should we or shouldn’t we perform cardio” around training time debate.

(For those out of the loop, HERE and HERE are two other previous guest posts by the Duo.)

As with everything the best answer is…..it depends.

Contrary to popular belief I’m not at all opposed to people tossing in some dedicated cardio into the mix. I recognize that it’s important, that it offers a ton of benefits, and that it serves as an ideal time to catch up on reruns of Judge Judy.

I keed, I keed.

In all seriousness, there’s a mountain of research backing up traditional cardio as a fantastic way to improve overall conditioning, heart health, hormonal profile, immune function, as well as stuff like reducing the risk of developing type II diabetes, to name a few.

My main beef is when people rely SOLELY on “cardio” to be the end-all-be-all panacea of health and performance.  As an example: If you’re trying to increase strength and are still running 20 miles per week, good luck with that.  

Alas, the point of this article isn’t to throw cardio under the bus.  Rather it’s to demonstrate that there’s a time and place for it given your goals and needs, and that WHERE you prioritize it can have a huge impact on long-term results.

Especially if you’re a performance athlete or someone who likes to lift heavy stuff.

Enjoy!

The lovely world of cardio, we have to love it right? Cardio has countless benefits for the human body, so it must be good for us, right? How else do you think all the celebrities stay so skinny and “toned?”

How many times have you seen people get to the gym and hop on a cardio machine and just gas themselves, and not to mention go do some resistance training right after. Or what about when someone gets done from an intense lifting session, then goes off and does an intense cardio session?

We know you’ve seen this before and we are not going to get into the psychology of why people do this because that could be a whole other article itself. We are more focused on is it optimal to perform cardio pre and post workout? With a specific focus on which cardio modality (type of cardio you do) is the best to perform to avoid the interference effect of strength, power, and hypertrophy gains?

But before we give you the answer, it’s vital that we always have to take people’s goals, activity level, overall health, and training experience into consideration before anything. So please read this with an open mind and a non-black and white answer, all or nothing approach.

What’s This Interference Effect Thing?

When we refer to the interference effect, we are talking about the interference of strength, power, and hypertrophy gains (muscle growth) when doing cardio pre or post workout. This topic of discussion has been floating around for quite some time now, whether concurrent training is optimal or not.

We all have our biased opinions, but what is the correct cardio modality to do pre and post workout and should we even be doing cardio pre or post workouts? That is the million dollar question that many of us would like to know.

Why continue to keep robbing your hard earned gains and progress if you don’t need to. Instead, why not continue to maximize your overall potential the correct way instead of shooting yourself in the foot? As always, we bring scientific based evidence to the table to get to the bottom of these popular topics, because the research doesn’t lie folks.

Before we delve into the research, we want to quote what Brad Schoenfeld said:

 “There is no one cookie-cutter recommendation I can provide that will be ideal for everyone. People have varying responses to exercise programs. Large inter-individual differences are seen in any research protocol. Thus, in giving advice on a topic such as this, I can only provide general recommendations that must be individualized based on a variety of genetic and environmental factors. This is the essence of evidence-based practice, which should form the basis of every fitness professional’s decision making process.” (1)

We can’t agree more with this statement and we truly feel this statement is a legitimate and valid way of viewing such a topic like this one.

Cardio Modalities

We are certain we can all agree that there are numerous different cardio modalities out there today. To name a few modalities that have more ground-reaction force with higher impact are:

    • Conventional sprints
    • Up-hill sprints
    • Resisted sprints
    • Car pushes

  • Prowler pushes
  • Sled pulls

Pretty much all the badass cardio workouts that we look forward to doing.

Cardio modalities that minimize ground-reaction forces are:

  • Cycling bikes

  • Treadmills
  • Ellipticals
  • Various machine based equipment

 The stuff we like to watch TV on or read magazines 😉

These are all great choices whether you use them in the form of HIIT or LISS, but which modality is more optimal to prevent the interference effect and when should you do these you ask? Let’s delve into some research shall we.

Should you do cardio pre or post workout?

Layne Norton and Jacob Wilson claim that when you choose a cardio modality such as running or sprinting after a resistance training bout, the ground-reaction force (think sprints) and distance causes more muscle damage as opposed to a modality with less impact such as cycling instead.

Cycling seems to be more similar to hip and knee flexion as opposed to running because it’s biomechanically interfering with squat and leg press patterns. This muscle damage seems to be coming from the eccentric components when running and sprinting (2).

Norton and Wilson make a valid point in the essence that if you are going to do cardio post workout, make sure you do it in the form of an opposing muscle group.

Let’s say you did a grueling lower body workout, you would then want to do cardio in the form of using your upper body, something like rope slams because otherwise if you go and run or do sprints you are going to get a complete interference effect and possibly get injured.

After resistance training you have mTOR (cell growth) being ramped up and protein synthesis (making of new proteins) being turned on and when you do cardio after resistance training you get such high drastic rises in AMP kinase (signaling cascade for ATP production) that it ends up shutting off protein synthesis.

In easier terms, cardio after weights interferes with the muscle growth phase and a good analogy is after training you turn the faucet on for muscle growth and when too much cardio is being done or after training, it shuts the faucet off.

As for pre workout cardio, this tends to be a little trickier than post workout cardio and we say this because it really depends on a lot of factors such as: What muscle groups are you training that day? What form of cardio are you doing pre workout (low, moderate, or high intensity)? What modality will you use? Are you in a low calorie and glycogen depleted state?

A Study in the Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise shows 30 minutes of jogging pre workout decreases volume of spinal discs and leads to a reduction in the amount of weight you can load on your back (3).

For example, if you did a moderate-high intensity cardio bout such as jogging before squats it’s probably not a good idea because it will lead to decrements in strength and negatively affect your squats. Jogging shows to have a lot of muscle damage in the quads, hams, and glutes, so this will definitely affect your squat game.

A 2012 study in the International Journal of Sports Nutrition showed extended periods of moderate volume concurrent strength, power, and endurance training interferes with explosive strength development (4). This is not something you want if you’re trying to increase your 1 rep max on squats and deadlifts.

The data is pretty clear that performing moderate-high intensity cardio pre workout will lead to decrements in strength and power with your resistance training. Perhaps doing cardio earlier in the day and performing resistance training later in the day will not have a negative impact on either the performance or the measured markers of the exercise induced growth stimulus the resistance training session will have.

However, we highly encourage doing resistance training and cardio on separate days as this would be the most optimal route to go.

Is there really an interference effect?

In a study by Wilson et al. a large body of research indicates that combining aerobic and resistance exercise (concurrent training) has a negative effect on gains in muscular strength and size (5).

There is credence to the underlying concept that catabolic processes predominate to a greater extent in aerobic training, and concurrent exercise therefore has the potential to impair muscular gains. There is even evidence that cardio can blunt the satellite cell response (helps with muscle growth) to a bout of resistance exercise and therefore potentially impair the protein-producing capacity of muscle (6).

With that said, why are people still considering doing cardio pre or post workout if clearly the evidence indicates that it can potentially inhibit muscular gains, strength, and power?

What if you could avoid the interference effect?

Burn more calories, increase muscle, and acutely increase your metabolic rate, sounds good, right?

This is where the famous HIIT cardio would come into play.

When you think of HIIT, high intensity and high stress should be taken into consideration. What we have to keep in mind is that stress has to be recovered from, just like the stress from weight training. Last time we checked HIIT cardio is done during the week along with resistance training. If you are still recovering from a HIIT cardio session to the point that it affects your ability to lift weights, then it can be detrimental to your gains.

If there is a significant eccentric component (sprinting and running), or high level of impact, HIIT can cause problems in your overall training and potentially lead to chronic overuse injuries. You have to be cautious and smart when incorporating HIIT into your training protocol because it seems that the work to rest ratios in HIIT intervals are very similar to resistance training sets and your number one focus should be on progressive resistance training.

Here are some ways to avoid the interference effect:

  • Schedule your cardio around your resistance training, especially HIIT cardio
  • If your number one priority is resistance training, then perform cardio modalities that minimize ground-reaction forces
  • Perform a cardio modality that is opposite of the muscle group your training. For example, if you do train legs then do an upper body dominate form of cardio and vice versa
  • If you absolutely have to do cardio the same day as your resistance training and you can’t find a cardio modality opposite of the body part you trained then make sure to keep the intensity to low-moderate.

Wrapping this up

We believe that the research is pretty clear here when it comes to this particular topic. Clearly there is no black and white answer, sorry to disappoint, but at least we have a great indication of what to do and when not to do it.

It’s tough to predict that anyone can avoid any interference effect when it comes to aerobic or anaerobic training. Just like anything else you have to compensate something. We are not all built like machines and able to handle the same workload as others.

Genetics always play a vital role in how someone responds to training. Other factors such as nutrition, stress, sleep, occupational activity, ect. All must be taken into account. Refer back to Brad Schoenfeld’s quote if needed, it pretty much tells you there are only general recommendations that can be given here. The best thing to do is choose the correct cardio modality that suits your training and goals. Always train hard, think logically, and but most importantly train smart.

References:

(1)  Schoenfeld, AARR Research Review. Cardio Roundtable Discussion. February and March 2013.

(2)  Norton, L & Wilson J. Muscle college radio with Dr. Layne Norton & Dr. Jake Wilson. http://www.rxmuscle.com/2013-01-11-01-57-36/muscle-college/7694-muscle-college-3-12-13.html

(3)   Kingsley, MI., et al., Moderate-Intensity Running Causes Intervertebral Disc Compression in young adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc, 2012.

(4)  Mikkola, et al., Neuromuscular and cardiovascular adaptations during concurrent strength and endurance training in untrained men. Int J Sports Med. 2012.

(5)  Babcock, L, Escano, M, D’Lugos, A, Todd, K, Murach, K, and Luden, N. Concurrent aerobic exercise interferes with the satellite cell response to acute resistance exercise. Am. J. Physiol. Regul. Integr. Comp. Physiol. 302: 2012.

(6)  Wilson, J.M., et al., Concurrent Training: A Meta Analysis Examining Interference if Aerobic and Resistance Exercise. J Strength Cond Res, 2011.

About The Authors:

Chris and Eric Martinez, CISSN, CPT, BA, also known as the “Dynamic Duo” operate a world class personal training and online training business “Dynamic Duo Training,” They’re also fitness and nutrition writers, fitness models, and coaches that love helping people reach their goals. Their philosophy is “No excuses, only solutions.”

Visit them at:

Dynamic Duo Training

Blogsite

FaceBook Page

 

Twitter

YouTube Channel 

CategoriesUncategorized

Boston Workshop: Come Hang Out With Dean and Tony (Early Bird Special Ends)

I don’t think I’ve ever posted a blog post on a Sunday, so this must be for a good reason.  And it is.

It’s just a quick reminder that the EARLY BIRD special for mine and Dean Somerset’s Boston Workshop hosted at Cressey Performance the weekend of July 27th is ending on Monday, July 1st (whenever Dean wakes up from is beauty sleep).

We’re priming this whole shebang to be an epic weekend for sure. For starters we have a special guest speaker to kick things off Friday (the day prior) for all those people who arrive early and want something to do other than stare at their hotel walls or watch re-runs of Game of Thrones on HBO.

I don’t want to spoil anything but whoever this guest speaker is, I can tell you he deadlifts a metric shit ton of weight and he has an affinity for shoulder anatomy.  Oh, and his last name rhymes with Schmessey……;o)

Day numero uno is going to be all about assessment. We’ll go through the ins and outs and rationale for an assessment, but also include a large “hands on” portion as well. And, if we all play our cards right, Dean will use interpretive dance to demonstrate how to go about assessing one’s diaphragmatic breathing prowess.

Day two is going to be a hodgepodge of a number of things:  corrective exercise, programming considerations around hip, shoulder, knee, and core issues, and knowing how (and when) to regress or progress exercises.

In addition we’re going to cover coaching cues and technique when it comes to squats, deadlifts, and overhead dwarf throwing, to name a few.

It’s going to be an intimate affair since we’re capping the total number of seats available to 30. Our goal is to make this as dynamic and informative as possible, and we want to give people as much access to us as possible.

To help sweeten the pot, CEUs will be available through the NSCA and ACE. As well, I heard through the grapevine there may be some other “fitness celebrities” making the trip, so it’s looking like this is going to be a worthwhile networking opportunity as well.

Like I said, though, the early bird special ends on Monday (July 1st), and the price is going to increase significantly after that.

===> Come Hang Out With Dean and Tony <===

 

CategoriesUncategorized

Training Tails: Build the Body You Want, Save a Puppy

I’ve always been an animal lover.  Growing up as a kid I spent a lot of time with my dog, Daisy.  We did everything together.  She’d follow me back and forth in the side yard as I hit a baseball from one end to the other, we’d go fishing together, she’d even greet me everyday at the end of my driveway when the schoolbus would drop me off.

She was the best.

Wherever I was, chances are she’d be right by my side.

I have a lot of fond memories of various pets growing up, but Daisy and I definitely had a special bond and it’s something that I still cherish to this day.

It’s funny how we as humans connect with animals – man’s best friend in particular.  I mean, I still get teary eyed whenever I watch classics like Old Yeller or Where the Red Fern Grows, and my mom always loves re-hashing the story of when I was a youngin watching Lassie Come Home, and crying incessantly that Lassie would never make it back to her family.

SPOILER ALERT:  She did.  And I’m pretty sure I crushed some ice-cream after the fact.

Heck put on any movie or tv show or read THIS story where an animal gets killed or injured or lost and my heart breaks.

Throw on a zombie flick, however, and show a human-being getting ripped to shreds and I’m running around giving people high-fives.

FYI:  the clip above is from Dawn of the Dead (2004), arguably one of the best zombie movies ever made.  ZOMBIES!!!!!!

Anyways, back to animals.

Strength coach Chris Smith asked a bunch of us a while back if we’d be willing to write some unique content – an article, brief program, anything! – for a little project he had in mind to help benefit a local animal shelter in his neck of the woods in NY.

Having adopted a pet two years ago – our cat, Dagny, who can be seen HERE is all of her “cutest cat ever” cuteness – I was more than happy to contribute to such a great cause.

Chris ended up recruiting some other big whigs in the industry – John Romaniello, Joe Dowdell, Ben Bruno, Dean Somerset, Sean Hyson, David Dellanave, to name a few (and there are 20 programs or articles featured in all) – and ended up with a 150-page ebook of quality fitness and health content.

And the cool thing?  ALL (ie: every cent) of the proceeds go to the Tuff Tails Animal Rescue.

So not only do you get a compendium of top-notch fitness content, but you also save a puppy somewhere out there at the same time.

Come on: There’s no way you can resist that!

For those interested in more information about the book, please click the link below.  And thank for your consideration!  Really.

===> Save a Puppy, For the Love of God! <===

CategoriesUncategorized

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: FST is Back, Personal Training No-No’s, and Bruno’s Top Training Tips

Before we dive into this week’s stuff to read, I wanted to give a genteel reminder that we’re closing in on the final days to take advantage of the early bird special for mine and Dean Somerset’s Boston Workshop at Cressey Performance.

As it stands we’re a little over half-way to capacity (30 seats) and we’re expecting a major influx of signees as the end of June approaches.

Dean has updated the website to showcase the general itinerary for the weekend, as well as highlight that we have a special guest speaker lined up for that Friday evening for those who actually do arrive a day early.

No it’s not Optimus Prime.  And no, sorry, it’s not Macho Man Randy Savage.  But I promise it will be someone whom all of you know and will want to listen to…..;o)

Click HERE to view the updated details and to register.

Functional Stability Training for the Lower Body – Eric Cressey and Mike Reinold

And they’re back!!!

It’s hard not to get excited when these two collaborate, because when they do it’s a win-win for everyone.

It was roughly a year ago that Eric and Mike released Functional Stability Train for the Core which dived into the “umbrella topic” surrounding the interplay between the “core” and upper extremity function and performance.

Now, I know what some of you may be thinking:  the industry needs another “functional training” product like we need another Kardashian spin-off.  To that I say….fair enough!

But come on: these two aren’t your run-of-the-mill trainers here.  Combined they’ve worked with over a billion dollars worth of Major League arms, not to mention Eric’s pulled 660 lbs and Mike, well, he hasn’t pulled that much.  But regardless, these two not only talk the talk, but they walk it.

This time around they’re setting their sights on the lower body.  While covering all the topics would be impossible here, the main point to consider is that “by addressing alignment, strength, mobility, and dynamic motor control, you can maximize your rehabilitation and training programs to reach optimal performance.”

The whole series is more of “system” in the long run, and it’s a system that will undoubtedly help any trainer, strength coach, or manual therapist take his or her knowledge base to the next level.  This one definitely gets the TG thumbs up of approval.

For more information you can go HERE.

Sure Fire Ways to F*&k Up Your Personal Training Career – PJ Striet

I think the title pretty much says it all.  This is some sage advice from a good friend of mine who’s been in the industry for 18 years, twelve of which have been running his own facility.

Basically – he know’s what he’s talking about.

21 Practical Ways to Improve Your Training Today – Ben Bruno (<== not a link)

Ben’s a good friend of mine, and when he asked if I’d be willing to help spread the word on this awesome resource I didn’t even blink an eye before I said yes.

For everyone who goes to his site HERE and signs up for his newsletter, you’ll receive this FREE report which offers a gulf of insight/tips/opinions on how you can go about increasing your general level of awesomeness today.

And don’t worry:  Ben’s assured me that if you sign up for his newsletter he won’t use it to spam the shit out of you or do something lame like send “selfie” pictures of himself.  Except for on his birthdays, of course.

CategoriesUncategorized

1 Legged Hip Thrust: Cleaning Up Technique and Coaching Cues

Whether you refer to them as supine barbell bridges, barbell glute bridges, barbell hip thrusts, or what some of our pro-baseball guys like to call “slump busters” (give it a sec), there’s no mistaking that whatever your iteration, in recent years the exercise in question has grown in popularity and should be considered a staple in any well-designed strength training program.

Championed by strength coach Bret Contreras, and later highlighted in his book Strong Curves which he co-authored alongside the lovely Kellie Davis, the hip thrust has become a mainstay and often very popular exercise at Cressey Performance – and for good reason.

You’d be hard pressed to find any other exercise which targets the gluteal muscles, not to mention trains them in the often neglected anteroposterior load vector than the hip thrust/bridge.

Thing is:  a lot of people tend to butcher technique, akin to watching Jillian Michaels attempt to coach someone through a proper KB swing.  Which is to say – she’s not even close.

As much as I love the barbell hip thrust/bridge, I still have to be cognizant of implementing proper progressions when working with certain athletes and clients.  For many, throwing them in the gauntlet and forcing them to place a loaded barbell over their pelvis and asking them to thrust up may be a bit aggressive and altogether a raging catastrophe.

In the end, without taking someone through the proper progressions, I may be doing them a huge disservice.  Which is why I generally like to start people off with your garden variety 1-legged hip thrust .

While some will scoff at the notion (dude, I squat 300 lbs, eat beef jerky for breakfast, can grow a beard in three days, and drive a Chevy, trust me, I don’t need to do these! ), I’ve seen my fair share of strong peeps have to take a larger than expected piece of humble pie after trying these for the first time.

That said, I don’t want to sit here and discuss the benefits. For that you can head on over to Bret’s blog.  Rather I want to discuss some common mistakes people make when trying to execute the exercise.

In the brief video below I give a handful of coaching cues that I’ve found very useful in helping to clean up exercise technique.  I hope you find them useful!

CategoriesUncategorized

A Quick Update (Tony G Fan Page???)

It’s been an unexpected busy week on my end so I wasn’t able to write as many posts as I wanted (only two: HERE and HERE), which always kind of bums me out because I feel out of whack or that I somehow failed if I don’t write something each morning for all “my peeps” to check out.

It’s funny:  on a few occasions in the past if I somehow skipped a day or two of blog posts I’ve had several I’ll people reach out to me asking if everything’s alright?

Part of me sometimes wants to mess with them and say something along the lines of, “actually, no, I just finished Twilight and can’t believe that Bella chose Edward over Jacob!  AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” [Slams door].

That’s just mean, though, and worse, I don’t want people thinking I spend my free time watching Twilight.

But if it’s any consolation, despite the lack of blogging prowess this week I did submit my presentation for the IYCA East Coast Conference I’ll be speaking at next Friday, as well as submit a new T-Nation article on overhead pressing which should go up soon.  BAM!

That said I don’t really have anything in particular to share other than a quick bit of cool news:

I guess I’m kind of a big deal.  Well, according to the interwebz I am anyways.

I’ve somehow managed to accumulate the maximum number of Facebook “friends” – although I’m still waiting for a request from Matt Damon – and have set up a separate “fan page” that people can join which allows everyone to keep up to date with all things Tony G.

You know, stuff like how deadlifts are awesome, ninjas rule, Paleo people need to take a chill pill sometimes (we get it: you don’t like gluten), and how I’m more likely to jump in front of a moving mack truck than ever listen to one word that comes out of Tracy Anderson’s mouth.

To that end, I’m humbled that so many people would even want to be a part of my “crew,” and are always so willing to read my stuff and support it. As always thank you, truly, and here’s the link to the new page for those interested:

CLICK ME, CLICK ME, CLICK ME!!!!

CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work Uncategorized

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: Best Diet?, Dieting Gurus, and Tips to be a Better Person

It  finally feels like summer here in Boston.  Last week at this time it was 50 degrees outside, and I was wearing sweatpants to work. It could have been worse, though. On Memorial Day – which was earlier this week – there were people up in Vermont and in the Adirondack region in Upstate NY digging out of two-feet of snow.  A week before June!  Crazy.

I’ll take 50 degrees over two feet of snow any day.

Nonetheless, yesterday was the first 90+ degree day in Boston and it was glorious. I happened to have the day off from work so I was able kick back a bit and enjoy it putting in some quality time reading outside and rocking the early stages of a farmer’s tan.

Today is a bit hectic only in the sense that Lisa and I are hosting a girl from Colombia for the next three weeks, so I was placed on apartment cleaning duties for most of the morning.  And let me just say I can Swiffer like no one’s business!

To give a bit of the back story: Around two years ago Lisa made the trek to Colombia as part of a youth sports development initiative through one of the higher academic institutions here in Boston.  She stayed with a host family for ten days in Medellin and was immersed in their culture while visiting various sport/club groups and institutions in and around the city to see if she could offer any feedback as to how to make things run more smoothly.

Lisa fell in love with her host family, and likewise them with her. They’ve corresponded throughout the years and their oldest daughter, Christina, who’s expressed an interest in journalism, is coming to Boston for three weeks to stay with us as she completes a pseudo “internship” at a local latino based publication in the downtown area.

Lisa jokingly mentioned to me yesterday that “I’m so excited, we’re going to have a teenager for three weeks!”  To which I replied, “no boys”

Totally kidding.

But I’m not.

Anyways, I need to get back to cleaning.  So, here’s some stuff I think you should check out:

What’s the Best Diet? – Dr. John Berardi & Company

Paleo? Vegan? Low Carb? High Carb? Intermittent Fasting? The Unicorn Tears Diet?  Which is best?  Which is a fad?

There’s no shortage of diet “groups” out there, and likewise, there’s no shortage of people walking around wondering what the hell it is they’re supposed to eat.  One week eggs are the bees knees.  The next, they’re worse than Hitler.

In this excellent article by Dr. Berardi and the peeps over at Precision Nutrition, they lay it down like this:

I don’t believe there’s a single, absolutely, positively, without-a-doubt best diet for every person to follow, always, and forever.

How Your Diet Coach Is Ruining Your Metabolism – Jen Comas Keck

Running with the same theme as above, in this article Jen discussing an alarming, often popular tactic used by many online “diet gurus” that’s just flat out asinine.

That’s all I’m going to give you.  You’ll just have to click on the article to find out.

45 Things I Have Learned in 45 Years – Dr. Perry Nickelston

Some of you may remember an interview I did around this time last year on Dr. Nickelston’s popular Podcast Stop Chasing Pain.

You can listen to it HERE.

For those who aren’t familiar with the good Doc, he’s easily one of the most passionate people I’ve ever met and he’s someone whom I respect a lot.

He’s obviously learned a lot throughout the years, and this article, while not completely fitness related, offers a gulf of sage advice that will just make you a better human being in general.

CategoriesUncategorized

Gentilcore/Somerset Boston Workshop

When asked to name popular dynamic duos many people will inevitably toss out examples such as Batman and Robin, The British Bulldogs, Thelma and Louis, peanut butter & jelly, and while many non-nerdy types will gloss over this last one, even Optimus Prime and Megatron were once BFFs and “brothers-in-arms” while on their home planet of Cybertron.  That is, of course, until their friendship turned into an episode of Gossip Girl.

You see Optimus was given the title of Prime by the Council of Cybertron, a title that Megatron felt was rightfully his. Megatron called Optimus a big, fat meanie head.  Optimus was like, “oh no you didn’t!”  And then all hell broke loose, and the two brought their little disagreement to Earth.

And while I’d love to sit here and discuss Transformer mythology with you until the cows come home, I know that’s not necessarily the reason you log onto this site on a daily basis. Besides, I have some pretty BIG news and more important matters address.

Speaking of dynamic duos, both Dean Somerset and myself are going to be putting on a two-day workshop here in the greater Boston area the weekend of July 27th.  Saturday July 27th and Sunday July 28th to be exact.

Dean and Tony’s Excellent Workshop High Five

While we’re half jokingly using that as the title, anyone who reads our respective blogs understands that even though Dean and I like to NOT take ourselves too seriously, we also pride ourselves on providing top-notch information and doing our part(s) in trying to make the industry better.

This workshop is going to be our attempt at doing just that.

Our goal is to cover a litany of topics ranging from assessment to corrective exercise to exercise technique to how long it takes before I start saying “eh” every other sentence from hanging out with Dean for an entire weekend.

Pssst:  Dean’s Canadian…..;o)

In all seriousness we’re really excited about this opportunity, and while the goal is to target personal trainers and coaches, anyone who has an interest in fitness and making people better would gain a lot from attending this workshop.  As Dean put it:

You’ll be able to follow along even if you’ve never taken an exercise physiology course or worked as a trainer before. If you know the difference between your diaphragm and your knee, you should do alright.

The workshop itself will be held on my home-turf, Cressey Performance, and for those curious CEUs will be provided!

Also of note: our goal is to keep this fairly “intimate” and small(ish) in size, as we’d really like to give people the opportunity to interact as much as possible with myself and Dean. To that end, we’re capping the number to 30 attendees.

Space is expected to go quickly, so if you’re teetering on whether or not you should come (and you totally should!), you’ll want to take advantage of the early bird special as soon as you can.

For more information – including topics covered, dates, cost, hotel info, etc, please follow the link below. Really hope to see you there!

====> You Should Come to Boston! <====