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Big (and early) day at Cressey Performance today: NESN (New England Sports Network) is coming in this morning with their cameras to film a story on how we train all of our pro-baseball guys. Should be pretty exciting and it’s going to be great exposure for us.

As such, going to keep it brief today and just use this as a miscellaneous post.

1. Our resident chiropractor/manual therapist, Nate Tiplady, sent me this pretty cool website detailing which supplements are worth while, and which ones are more along the lines of snake oil, foo-foo, bullshit.

Check it out HERE.

2. One of my clients posted this picture on my Facebook page, and I think it speaks volumes at the state of our society when 5XL t-shirts are sold out before larges.

Or, smediums in my case.

3. To me, one sign of a great movie, among other things,* is whether or not you’re still thinking about it hours after the fact. Yesterday, my girlfriend and I went and saw Black Swan (i.e., also known as the movie where Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis make-out), and I have to say, it was pretty, pretty, preeeeeeeeety messed up.

Afterwards, we went to dinner and couldn’t help but talk about certain parts. I can see how this is the type of movie that people either hate or love; but in my case, I absolutely loved it. Portman was stunning, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if she walks away with a Best Actress award this season. Likewise, the director, Darren Aronofsky, should get some recognition (finally) and get a few nominations as well.

4. Someone sent me THIS link to a NY Times article discussing how higher-end gyms such as Equinox are opening up bare-bones, low cost gyms that include no trainers, no classes, and apparently no regard what-so-ever on actually helping people get healthier.

I don’t know, I look at places like Planet Fitness which post signs reading “no deadlifts allowed,” and places like the one above, and can’t help but think how much of a disconnect there is in this industry.

5. And lastly, I just started reading a really cool book last week titled Physics of the Impossible.

In it, the author discusses whether or not things we see in the science fiction world (Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Fringe, etc) can actually be accomplished in today’s world. You know, things like teleportation, Death Stars, Light Sabers, psychokinesis, and whether or not Kevin Larrabee will ever bench 300 lbs.

It’s a really interesting read, and I highly suggest it for those who are uber geeks (like myself).

* Other Things: boobies, nunchucks, zombies, and of course, Matt Damon.

Interestingly, many trainees and coaches make the mistake that squat depth is solely about tissue length. In essence the thought process is such that one generally assumes the reason why someone can’t get to depth is because of poor tissue length and quality. While true much of the time, on occasion, it’s a bit more complicated than that.

Eric Cressey and I had a little “skull-session” on this not too long ago, and he happened to bring up a very valid point. Namely, if we know that tissue length requires an increase in the number of sarcomeres in a muscle; and we compound this with the fact that recent research has suggested that (typical) stretching basically does nothing more than increase our tolerance to it (Weppler and Magnusson 2010); and we know that the vast majority of people don’t stretch nearly enough in the first place, how is it that modalities such as PNF stretching work so well?

In other words, if it were only about tissue length, then why are modalities such as PNF techniques (which utilize active firing of a muscle against resistance for a short period of time, followed by a 5-10 second stretch) so affective?

Two words: Neural inhibition.

As renowned physical therapist, Gray Cook, has noted on numerous occasions, we need to start thinking more along the lines of movement patterns, and less on individual muscles. For instance, will spending 30 minutes of a training session doing nothing but activating the glute medius improve one’s squat; or will improving the squat pattern help turn on the glute medius?

More to the point, what’s often seen as a weak this or tight that, can often be the result of a faulty motor pattern that the body has lost the ability to perform.

Using a common example, the toe touch progression is a simple (albeit highly effective) exercise to improve body awareness (or sensory awareness) for deep squatting. While often overlooked, it simply teaches relaxation of the tension in the lower back and how to shift weight from the heels to the toes (and vice versa) in a smooth and consistent manner.

You can also think of it as teaching your body that it’s okay to enter into deep ranges of motion while simultaneously convincing it to “release the brakes.”

Lets be honest, if you have a major disconnect at something as simple as touching your toes, squatting, even if it looks good to the naked eye, might not be the best idea.

Ask anyone who can’t touch their toes what the main culprit is, and 9 out of 10 will say they have tight hamstrings. What’s surprising is that most do not have tight hammies! Instead, what’s happening is that they’re demonstrating a faulty movement pattern by firing a muscle that should be lengthening in an attempt to not fall backwards.

Note:we could also talk about “neural tightness” here, but my head already hurts from using too many big words.

Popularized by Gray Cook, the toe touch progression essentially fools the body into allowing some length at the hamstrings. I’ve seen it happen almost on a weekly basis: Joe Schmo walks into the facility and explains how he hasn’t been able to touch his toes since stone washed jeans got him laid back in 1986. While there’s bound to be a tissue quality issue, I can usually (not always) have him touching his toes in a matter of ten minutes. Here’s how:

Grab a 2×4 or anything similar and place it on the floor. With the first progression, you’ll place your toes on the board, and your heels on the ground, which throws the body into a posterior weight shift.

Place a ball, rolled-up towel, or foam roller between your legs and squeeze. This does two things: 1) it forces you into a short-foot posture (no longer pronating), and 2) it forces the adductors – which are hot-wired to the core – to fire, and provide more stability. Through a process called reciprocal inhibition, the lower back can now sit back and relax for a bit.

With your knees slightly bent, reach up into the air, bend over, and try to touch your toes. As you reach a sticking point, squeeze the ball/foam roller as hard as you can. With each rep, you should notice yourself inching closer and closer to your toes.

Rave music, glow sticks (and shirts**) are optional. Perform ten repetitions and proceed to the next variation, which is…..

The same exact sequence, except this time, you’ll place your toes on the floor and your heels will now be elevated. Using the same protocol as above, perform ten repetitions.

Jesus, that’s a good beat.

So, with a little diligence, you should see a marked improvement in the movement pattern within a few sessions, if not a few minutes. So, again, do you really have tight hamstrings? For a few, maybe. But more often than not, it comes down to a faulty movement pattern that just needs to be re-grooved.

** Naiiiiiiled it!

I had an interesting discussion with one of our new interns, Paul, the other day. As is stands, this is the first full week for our new interns, and to say that they were thrown into the gauntlet at the start of the week is an understatement. They went straight from orientation Monday morning, to coaching through our busiest day ever at Cressey Performance; where we broke the 100 session benchmark for the very first time. 117 to be exact.

We expect this time to be a transitional period for the first few weeks of their internship, and as such, we fully understand (and welcome) that there are going to be a lot of questions ranging anywhere from exercise technique, assessment protocol, programming strategies, to why is Tony coaching with his shirt off. Again.

Anyways, back to Paul. Yesterday, after watching one of our young(er) athletes perform a set of trap bar deadlifts, he walked up to me and asked:

Even if the set isn’t perfect, how strict do we want to be when coaching these kids?

Essentially what happened was that one of the kids performed his set, and while his lower back was fine, his upper back was rounding a bit. To his credit, Paul wasn’t sure whether or not we wanted to be that anal about things to point where we’re being borderline “nitpicky” about form.

Great question.

My answer was pretty standard. I want things to be perfect – especially when working with the younger, un-trained athletes. If you start letting things slide now, you’re setting a potentially dangerous precedent in the future when he or she starts throwing around heavier weight.

The more advanced a trainee is, the more you can let things go. There’s a pretty big difference between someone pulling 95 lbs off the floor and 500.

With the former, we’re still trying to engrain proper motor patterns and hammering technique. What’s more, beginners can still get a training effect with as little as 40% of their 1RM, so I’m not overly concerned with loading them too quickly. Again, technique is the name of the game here, and I want things to be flawless.

With the latter, however, we have a little more wiggle room to work with. That’s not to say that we aren’t still enforcing good technique (we are). Rather, it just brings to light the fact that when someone is advanced enough to be working with loads that are upwards of 90% + of their 1RM, they’ve more than likely built up enough kinesthetic awareness to keep their spine out of those last 2-3 degrees of end range motion.

I mean, are you going to tell Andy Bolton that those last few reps didn’t count because his upper back was little rounded? Good luck with that.

So, at the end of the day, with beginners – the idea is to help them master technique and set them up for success in the long-term. Be an a-hole if you have to. I’ve had kids get pissed at me more than once because I’ll tell them to take weight off the bar and do it right. It’s better for them to get mad at me than their parents.

With more advanced trainees, you can let things slide a bit more. If someone’s left knee caves in a little bit when squatting 450 lbs, it’s not going to be the end of the world. You still need to coach, but you definitely don’t have to be quite as militant.

You know, everyone thinks that Eric Cressey is like sooooo smart and serious all the time, and that he’s this world renowned strength coach that people look up to and all that jazz. That is, of course, until I’m filming a video for an online client (and this blog) and he comes flying out of no where like a bat out of hell and does something like this:

Jesus, Eric. I can’t take you anywhere!

For those curious, though, the above exercise is one that I got directly from Jim Smith and his Accelerated Muscular Development Manual. It’s a great progression for the supine bridge that includes a “reach” component which adds a little t-spine mobility into the mix.

Gonna have to keep this short today – I’m under a deadline. I was contacted by t-nation a few weeks ago asking me if I’d be interested in writing a monthly piece for them, and like an idiot, I wait until the last minute to do it. In any case, it should be a pretty sweet article when it’s done. In addition, the new interns start up at the facility today, and I have to head in early to help take them through their orientation. Guess who’s going to be cleaning my office??????

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* on the trap bar

Soooooo, assuming I could actually post a poll on here (which I can’t), does this mean I’ve fulfilled my New Year’s resolution to deadlift 600 lbs this year?

Vote No for “Nice try Tony, but the trap bar is to deadlifting as the Smith Machine is to squatting.”

OR

Vote Yes for “Tony, you’re a ninja.”

In an effort to spice things up a bit, Brian St. Pierre, Pete Dupuis, and myself have spent the last month following Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 program. As it is, while we were supposed to de-load this week, Pete and I decided to test our 1RM in the bench today instead. Some of you may remember Pete from a while back when, after deadlifting 88 lbs on his first day of training, pulled 400 lbs exactly a year later.

Not to be outdone, here’s a video of Pete hitting 305 today (a 20 lb PR no less), which, as we all know, equates to roughly 450 lbs if this were an internet forum. For reps.

Congrats Pete. PS, Kevin, you have some catching up to do.

NOTE #1: Yes, I realize that Pete’s butt comes off the bench slightly. So you can relax internet hero guy who’s inevitably going to be the one who says something.

NOTE #2: I’m sorry, but what the hell is up with the group’s reaction after Pete hit that lift? Dammit, I remember when we used to slam our heads through the cement wall when someone so much as grabbed a foam roller. Now look at us. All we can muster is a token golfer’s clap? I think Dave (the guy in the red hat) has softened us up a bit. He comes all the way from England to hang with us, and within a week, the bloody wanker has us watching Notting Hill and listening to the Spice Girls. What’s next, asking for spots of tea between sets of squats? I do say, Bollocks! Oooooh, is that pomegranate?

Q: Hey Tony-

As you know, I am a big fan of your writing (or maybe more accurately, your writing style). Good writers tend to be avid readers. Assuming that, I was wondering what some of your favorite books are; can you give me a top three, five, ten list? Spare me any pretension- keep it real (and if ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ is on your list, I might kill myself!). Whatever, if you have time, I’d be interested. By the way, the recommendations can be from any genre.

A: First and foremost, thank you for the kind words. It’s always humbling for me that so many people actually care what I have to say, and, more importantly, recognize that I don’t take myself too seriously with this blog. As I’ve stated in the past, t-muscle editor TC Luoma gave me a great piece of advice when I first started writing- the more pictures of half naked hot chicks, the better.

Okay, he really didn’t say that (yes, he did). In all seriousness, what he told me was that while people want content, and they want to learn, they also want to be entertained. Lets be honest, the Kreb’s Cycle is about as interesting as cancer. Likewise, do people really want to read an entire article on synergistic dominance or reciprocal inhibition without any jokes or side banter? Oh, you do? I, uh, hahahahahaha, you caught me off guard there. Right, well, um…….synergistic dominance refers to the concept where one or more synergists take over function for a prime mover. For instance, when the glutes are weak or inhibited, the hamstrings will generally “take over,” and more often than not, the end result is a hamstring strain.

Aw, come on! Are you sure you want me writing about this? lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala, I can’t hear you, lalalalalalalalalalalala. Can’t we talk about something more exciting? Like how Heidi Montag looks more and more like a mannequin each and every day. Except you know, without a soul.

Truth be told, I don’t consider myself a good writer by any stretch of the imagination. Adequate? Yes. Good? Eh, maybe. Although even that can be debated. As I’ve stated in the past, I really wasn’t that great at English in high school, my major in college was being awesome Health Education, and up until a few years ago, any reading I did started with Sports and ended with Illustrated.

Without getting into the nitty-gritty details, I once had a girlfriend (true story) who, for whatever reason (being an uppity, better-than-everyone super skank, perhaps?), broke up with me. As you might surmise, I was a little devastated. As luck would have it, to help pass the time of said devestation, I happened to come across the Modern Libarary’s Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century.

Not having anything else to do but watch old re-runs of 90210 and Peter Gabriel the shit out of my ex, I decided to spend that summer reading my ass off.

Remarkably, I read roughly 10-15 novels that summer. I remember walking into the library and taking out Catcher in the Rye, and never looked back. I followed that with all the other classics Grapes of Wrath, Lolita, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Everybody Poops, A Brave New World, Animal Farm, A Clockwork Orange, and just about everything Kurt Vonnegut wrote.

I still do a lot of reading today, but for obvious reasons- helping to run a business, training clients 8-10 hours per day, writing programs, flexing in the mirror, etc- my reading time is limited. That said, it goes without saying that I read a lot of material related to my profession. Note: check out the blogroll located on the home page, as well as my Recommended Resources page for an idea of what I like. Too, I also like to read stuff just for the heck of it.

As cheesy as it may sound, I find the most inane sentences/topics intoxicating. How authors like Malcolm Gladwell (one of my favorites) can take something like hair dye, for instance, and write an informative (and entertaining) piece of literature is amazing to me. As it is, it took me 37 minutes just to write this last paragraph. Not even kidding.

I don’t know, I just feel the more variety people add in what they read, the better. I love reading the classics, but I also like writers who don’t take themselves too seriously. I think there’s a lot to be said about someone who’s not scared to use self-deprecating humor, which is probably why I use a lot of it in my own writing.

That said, some of my favorite off-the-cuff books I generally recommend to people are:

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius– Dave Eggers

To Kill a Mockingbird– Harper Lee

Slaughterhouse Five, Cat’s Cradle, Breakfast of Champions– Kurt Vonnegut

Freakonomics and SUPERfreakonomics– Levitt and Dubner

Anything by Robert Ludlum

The Road– Cormac McCarthy

Twilight- Stephanie Meyer. Hahahaha, just kidding. I’d rather eat live bees.

And the Band Played On– Randy Shilts

I could easily go on and on, but to be honest, making all those links is exhausting. In any case, while it’s certainly not an extensive list, I think it gives you a fair indication of what I like to read.