CategoriesExercises You Should Be Doing

Exercises You Should Be Doing: Prone Sphinx

If you were talking to twelve year old Tony, the Prone Sphinx sounds like some sweet WWF Wrestling move that Hulk Hogan or Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka would perform on one of their opponents during WrestleMania.

Alas, I’m not twelve, and don’t watch WrestleMania on Mondays anymore, so in this context it refers to the mythical creature that has the head of a human and the body of a lion. You know, real life.=

Kidding aside, the Prone Sphinx is the name of an exercise I feel has a lot of merit and usefulness.

Who Did I Steal It From: Dr. Mark Cheng in his Prehab=Rehab 101 DVD.

What Does It Do: It’s an awesome drill that helps to improve scapular stability in addition to core stability, and with certain progressions works on t-spine mobility and pectoral length.

Key Coaching Cues: Due to the position of the exercise you’d have to clear someone of extension-based back pain before implementing it, but assuming there’s no issues some things to consider:

1. It’s important to reset the scapulae prior to each rep. This ensures that no shrugging occurs and that the shoulders are packed.

2. The non-moving side must remain packed throughout!

3. Don’t rush through the progressions. This drill is a lot harder than it looks.

4. Probably best used as part of an extended warm-up or as a filler exercise for most people. But I could see this exercise being used as a “main movement” for some.

Prone Sphinx

 

CategoriesNutrition

How to Conquer Your Trigger Foods

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of Registered Dietician and nutrition coach, Georgie Fear. I first “met” Georgie a few years ago when she was a coach for Precision Nutrition, and immediately found her take and approach to nutrition as refreshing and non-dogmatic.

Her new book, Lean Habits For Lifelong Weight Loss, was just released today.

What is a trigger food?

Most people would say that “trigger foods” are foods that they have trouble eating a reasonable portion of. Most commonly, it’s sweets like cookies or chocolate, and sometimes salty, crunchy snacks like potato chips or tortilla chips. If you feel like you have ever lost control while eating and consumed an unreasonable amount, you’re not alone, and you’re not messed up. The unpleasant experience, however, would make any level-headed person think “Gosh, I don’t want to do that again” and look for a way to prevent it.

It’s common to label a food that was involved in an incident such as this as a trigger food, and to be wary of it. If you’ve been bitten by a dog, it’s also normal to be a bit tentative to pet dogs afterward!

When a client refers to something as a “trigger food”, I always want to hear more. Further discussion usually reveals not just one unpleasant interaction, but a rocky ongoing relationship, where the food is like an on-again-off-again romance. They love the taste of the food, but repeatedly buy it, overeat it, and swear it off for a while.

After a while, they inevitably buy it again (either hoping it will end differently this time, or already accepting that overeating it is the plan) and go through the cycle again.

Break The Cycle: 3 parts

Three things will help you turn a trigger food into just a food you like. First, let’s clarify who’s in charge here. You. Not the food.

Is it hard to stop eating that food after one serving? Heck yeah, I will never say it is or should be easy. But difficulty need not be confused with impossibility.

You may have felt like you lost control in the past, but that doesn’t mean you did. The food did not jump in your mouth. I realize it can be very difficult to manage strong impulses, but you are never without control. You always have the option to not take another bite. With help and practice, I know you can do this.

Second: Forbidding specific foods rigidly leads to increased cravings for that food1,2.

Most people who do find peace with all foods only are able to do it after they start eating previously-taboo food in a planned, enjoyed, and allowed way. Associating guilt with a particular food, on the other hand, has been found to predict continued weight gain and feelings of helplessness around that food item3.

That doesn’t mean you have to eat your most willpower-challenging dessert with every meal, or every day, but planning to eat it at least every now and then and enjoy it mindfully is important.

Note from TG: ice-cream (and carrot cake).

Sometimes, people wonder if they have a physical addiction to that particular food, food in general, or sugar. Most contemplate that maybe, like an alcoholic, they would be best off abstaining.

Rest assured, you have options besides a.) keep the cycle going and b.) kiss the food goodbye for good. Here’s how you can choose c.) turn it into just another food that you can choose to eat or not, in whatever portion you choose.

Third: Start collecting experiences where you successfully eat your former trigger foods in a way that leaves you feeling good. Every time you prove to yourself that eating this food does not automatically result in an overeating experience, you’ll gain more confidence.

I know it can be a daunting or even frightening task to deliberately eat a food you have previously struggled with managing, so here are tips on ensuring a good experience.

Remember that your eating behaviors are significantly impacted by your expectations, including how strongly you believe you will lose control when eating4.

If you expect to lose control and be unable to stop after one cookie, you are more likely to have that happen. If you expect that once you eat your chosen portion of frozen yogurt, you’ll head to the park with your spouse for a walk, you have a better chance of making that happen.

Instead, think in small steps, and realize that not every situation is equally triggering, so you can start with easier scenarios. The physical environment, company, time of day, even the brightness of the lighting and whether it’s the weekend or not can impact how much you eat5.

It’s not about the food itself.

Let’s say potato chips have been a “trigger food” for you before (see what I did there, past tense because you’re leaving it behind and not believing in trigger foods anymore). It’s incredibly tough to eat a single portion of chips if you are stuck in a car, as the passenger, on a 12 hour drive across the midwest with nothing to do and a 2 pounds bag of Lays in your lap. That’s a perfect storm of challenge-increasing factors.

But, let’s say it’s 5 am, and you stop at a convenience store, half asleep, on your way to work. You have a slightly queasy “got up too early” stomach, and someone offers you a bag of potato chips with your coffee. They aren’t your favorite flavor. And they’re expired. You might not want ANY chips in those circumstances, and if you did get a single serving bag and eat it, the odds of driving back to the store in a chip-possessed maniacal fashion to buy and eat more are (I’m guessing here) slim.

To use an even MORE over the top illustration, if you were eating the food you used to think of as trigger food and the phone rang and your mother was in the hospital and you needed to come right now, would you be able to stop eating the food?

Gosh I hope so.

Everyone is different, but in general, eating excessive portions is harder to resist if we are home, alone, emotional, have a large quantity of the food in front of us, it’s later in the day, it’s a weekend, we have nowhere to go, and are stressed or upset5–7.

Ladies, throw in PMS. When you are working on reclaiming control over a food, you want as few of these factors increasing the challenge as possible. Make it as easy as you can for yourself to succeed! That means you may want to have company, be outside the house, only have immediate access to a single serving, on a day you’re feeling pretty good, and know after you have your treat you’ll be doing something else.

Start at the maximally supported situation you can think of, and get a few exposures to that food with success. Prove to yourself it is possible.

A typical one my clients use is going out with a friend or significant other to buy one single portion of the food, and then having something else planned to do. Popping gum in your mouth can help even more to move on from the taste.

Then, consider if you want to move along the spectrum and open up the flexibility of your eating that food. There’s no end point you “have to” or “should” reach. If you find it’s easy to avoid overeating certain foods by not keeping them in your house, or by only buying single serve portions – great! Use that knowledge to help yourself succeed.

Many people find that they quickly build confidence and soon don’t need the company with them or can bring the food home and be totally fine with it. Awesome!!

It’s also okay to decide to not bring a food home for the long term if it’s too difficult. There is no “I can keep every junk food imaginable in my house and resist it” merit badge.

If you choose to make certain foods “out of the house” foods, it’s not because you “can’t” but because it’s easier to eat it in the manner you enjoy if you choose to have it in a different setting. That’s not making a rule, it’s making a wise choice.

My husband Roland and I don’t keep cookies at home, because if we want a cookie, it’s easiest for us to eat one cookie if we go buy one cookie. Having cookies around here just makes it an added willpower challenge to not eat them in excess. Not having them around makes it easy to not even think of them.

The relationship you have with a particular food, like so many other things in your life, is one you can choose and make reality. You might choose to set some boundaries, and reserve particular foods for certain circumstances, or eventually feel at ease having any food at any time in any scenario. There is no right or wrong. 

For more help in attaining a healthy relationship with food and reaching your leanness goals without ever dieting again, pick up my book Lean Habits for Lifelong Weight Loss and join my free Facebook Group for support. You can also find my latest articles over at AskGeorgie.com.

About the Author

Georgie Fear is a registered dietitian and professional nutrition coach and the author of Lean Habits for Lifelong Weight Loss.

One habit at a time, she teaches clients around the world how to get lean and live better lives through improving their food habits, without suffering or calorie counting.

In her coaching, Georgie draws from her research expertise in appetite regulation and human behavior change to ensure clients are not only well fed physically, but supported emotionally and given autonomy throughout their journey.

She adores teaching, has an analogy for almost everything, and loves to help her clients fall in love with themselves. While she has worked with NCAA teams and Olympic athletes, her favorite type of clients are normal everyday people who are sick of dieting and want to an enjoyable, healthy relationship with food.

Works Cited:

  1. Massey A, Hill AJ. Dieting and food craving. A descriptive, quasi-prospective study. Appetite. 2012;58(3):781-785. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2012.01.020.
  2. Meule A, Westenhöfer J, Kübler A. Food cravings mediate the relationship between rigid, but not flexible control of eating behavior and dieting success. Appetite. 2011;57(3):582-584. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2011.07.013.
  3. Kuijer RG, Boyce J a. Chocolate cake. Guilt or celebration? Associations with healthy eating attitudes, perceived behavioural control, intentions and weight-loss. Appetite. 2014;74:48-54. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2013.11.013.
  4. Fitzsimmons-Craft EE, Keatts DA, Bardone-Cone AM. Eating Expectancies in Relation to Eating Disorder Recovery. Cognit Ther Res. 2013;37(5):1041-1047. doi:10.1007/s10608-013-9522-7.
  5. Stroebele N, De Castro JM. Effect of ambience on food intake and food choice. Nutrition. 2004;20(9):821-838. doi:10.1016/j.nut.2004.05.012.
  6. Rolls BJ, Morris EL, Roe LS. Portion size of food affects energy intake in normal-weight and overweight men and women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2002;76(6):1207-1213. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/76/6/1207.short. Accessed April 4, 2015.
  7. Crowther JH, Sanftner J, Bonifazi DZ, Shepherd KL. The role of daily hassles in binge eating. Int J Eat Disord. 2001;29(4):449-454. doi:10.1002/eat.1041.
CategoriesMiscellaneous Miscellany

Miscellaneous Miscellany Monday: Books I’m Reading, Places I’m Speaking, and Stuff I’ve Gotten For Free (That I Like!)

No need to give a witty introduction or quip. The title of today’s post pretty much sums it up.

I’m a huge fan of Jon Ronson (^^ this guy, in case you’re wondering). I first heard of him a few years ago while watching The Daily Show as he was making the rounds promoting is then new book, The Psychopath Test.

It was an amazing book that I devoured within days of purchasing it. It helped that I started reading it the day Lisa and I moved in together and I was stuck in our apartment waiting for the cable company to show up. I had nothing to do but read.

In the few years since I’ve read most of his books, and I’m always anticipating the release of his next deluge into the abyss of human behavior and how messed up it can be.

His latest, released last week, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, is nothing short of extraordinary.

After experiencing a case of identity theft (on Twitter) and confronting the people who pretended to be him, out of curiosity Jon decided to invite the culprits to a friendly chat and film the interaction. In his mind, maybe he’d get an interesting story out of it.

He posted the video on YouTube and was surprised at the public reaction. Commentors were saying the most vulgar things possible towards the “fake Jon Ronson’s”, and some even went out of their way to make death threats.

The experience piqued Jon’s interests, and he decided to seek out other casualties of public shaming. People like Justine Sacco, that of the now infamous “AIDS Tweet”

This woman has been through HELL in the past two years. Losing her job, forced into exile, being called every name possible, putting up with death threats, stuff I can’t even begin to imagine….all because of a Tweet – which, admittedly, shows a drastic lack of social filter, joke or not – she sent within seconds before she hopped on a plane and went to sleep.

When she awoke, her life was forever changed.

Or Jonah Lehrer, a New York Times best-selling author who, a few years ago, was caught in the middle of a self-plagiarism scandal and has been struggling to recover ever since.

And many more examples.

It really is a thrilling read into human behavior and the “psyche” behind social media and how it’s altered the instantaneous stream of conscious landscape we all now live in.

Some Other Books to Check Out (Non-Fitness Related)

An Appetite for Wonder – Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins is no rookie when it comes to controversy – especially with regards to spiritualism, God, and the never ending debate over creationism vs. evolution.

He’s a scientist, and I respect that.

Five Came Back – Mark Harris

Written by one of my favorite entertainment/movie/tv columnists, Mark Harris, this book combines two of my favorite subjects to read about: movies and World War II.

The only way this book could have been more “Tony” is if he had included references to He-Man, GI Joe, and chocolate covered pretzels.

Hint: I love chocolate covered pretzels.

Other Books to Check Out (Fitness Related)

The Science of Lifting & The Art of Lifting – Greg Nuckols

All I have to say about these two books is: holy shit-balls.

I’m not getting ANY affiliate sales from saying this, so you can pipe down guy who’s gonna email me and say “you’re only saying what you’re saying because you’re getting a little kick-back.”

Nope.

I’m saying what I’m saying because 1) I think both of these books are game-changers 2) Greg Nuckols deserves all the kudos and accolades he’s been receiving for writing these bad boys and 3) he has an epic beard.

Stuff I’m Wearing (Cause I’m So Fancy)

One of the cool things about the continued growth of this website is the free stuff that’s often sent my way.

It’s not uncommon to receive several emails weekly from people asking me if I’d be interested in trying out their new product – usually a supplement or fitness gadget or some kind of apparel. I don’t always accept, but if something sounds up my alley I’ll bite.

Still waiting for Rolex to contact me, though.

Anyhoo, recently I’ve gotten a slew of new companies sending me their apparel to try and I wanted to share some of them with my readers because I know many of you reading are always looking for comfortable, stylish, and/or cool things to wear or workout in.

FYI: I am NOT receiving any kick-back or affiliate money for pointing you in the direction of the following companies.

Vuori Clothing

The people from Vuori contacted me asking if I’d like to peruse their line, and if there’s something that caught my eye if they could send it to me to try (and keep).

Sheepishly, I wrote back saying I really liked the look of their Movement Hoodie, and that I’d understand if they’d prefer not to send it to me since it was their highest priced item.

“What an a-hole this Gentilcore guy is” is what I assumed they were muttering to themselves back in their office. “This guy has a lot of nerve.”

To my surprise, they sent it. Sweet! Along with a few of their t-shirts (Crest Tee, and Tuvalu Tee).

I’ve been wearing the hoodie everyday since I got it, and everyone at the facility has been sweating it. Too, the t-shirts are super comfy and more importantly make my biceps looks extra bicepy.

You can tell they put a lot of pride in the material they choose to use, and all I have to say is everything feels great to wear.

Be sure to check them out

Gym Reapers

These shirts are badass. Nuff said.

Granted Lisa’s not a fan of the evil skull head, but I think it’s awesome.  While I can’t back it up, I’m pretty sure your squat will increase by at least 50 lbs if you wear this shirt during your next training session.

It’s science.

Upcoming Speaking Engagements

Mark Fisher Fitness Motivate and Movement Lab

I don’t which makes me more excited: the fact I was invited to go speak at Mark Fisher Fitness, or the fact that, if I wanted, I could wear a cape during my presentation while simultaneously speak into a microphone shaped like a dildo.

And no one would bat an eye.

The Fitness Summit

This is growing to be one of the “go to” fitness events every year. I was fortunate enough to be invited to speak last year, and had an amazing time. I wrote about my experience HERE.

The vibe is much more informal and intimate (<— in a non-creepy way) compared to other large fitness events, but that’s also what makes The Fitness Summit so unique.

I’ve been invited back again this year and the line-up looks sick. I know registration has officially been closed for a few weeks now, but there is an email address you can write to about any possible openings.

If you can make it, do it!

New England Health & Racquet Sports Club Association Spring Conference

This one isn’t until May 13th, but I was given the green light to help spread the word. I’m (again) very honored to have the opportunity to be chosen to speak at this year’s event.

This will be my first time attending this conference and I know it’s kind of a big deal. Which is to say I’ve been repeating to myself over and over and over again, “No Tony, it is not okay to swear. Even a little. No Tony, it is not okay to swear. Even a little. No Tony………”

CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: Second List This Week Because Why Not?

I know I posted one of these earlier this week, sorry. Fridays are the days I typically slap this stuff up on my site and I wanted to try to get back on track.

Plus, it’s my website. So there. Deal with it.  And, here’s a picture of a cute kitty.

Did You Hear High Performance Handbook Is On Sale? – Eric Cressey

;o)

Last chance to get HPH at $50 off the regular price. Sale ends Saturday (4/4)

I know the internet is tired of hearing from Eric Cressey this week, but there’s a reason why so many people have been singing his praises. He’s written a program that works.

It’s never a bad thing to have one of the best strength coaches around guiding you through four months programming – includes pre-assessment to cater the program to your needs and goals in addition to over 200+ video demonstrations with commentary (that’s like two hours of content right there).

Rep 29: Mark Rippetoe Asks “Are Physical Therapists Really Frauds?” – Scotty Butcher

About a year ago (maybe a tad longer), strength coach Mark Rippetoe wrote a scathing article on T-Nation bemoaning the efficacy of physical therapy. I can’t say I agreed 100% with his commentary, but I also can’t say I wasn’t nodding my head in agreement for most of it either.

I felt this article by Scotty Butcher was an excellent introspection.

You Don’t Have To Do This – Greg Robins

Nice to see Greg back to writing on his site. I hope he continues to do more of it.

There is no honor in nay-saying the person who chooses to run for exercise, or to play hoops, or to skip “leg-day”, just because you are “power-lifting” or identify with some other STRENGTH SPORT. In reality, these people are enjoying their training approach, they are reaching their goals, and in most scenarios they are happy, healthy and look great by the only measure that matters; their own. An EliteFTS t-shirt and a pair of Converse All-Stars doesn’t make you better than anyone. Doing deadlifts is in no way superior to other productive forms of resistance training if you aren’t invested in the growing pains of learning how to do it well.

CategoriesFemale Training Motivational

Female Fitness Marketing: Why Performance Matters

I like training women. I think it’s easier in many ways.

Women listen.1

Women tend to be more patient. In the gym that is. Lets not get carried away here….LOL.

They’re patient in that they’re less likely to add 50 lbs to the barbell when I’m not looking and performing a set with atrocious technique.

Women tend to take constructive criticism more lightly and won’t interpret it as me judging them.

And women tend to have less ego compared to their male counterparts.

And less BO.

These are all loose observations, of course, and by no means should be taken as concrete. Some of my best clients have been men; but I have found throughout the years, as a whole, women tend to be easier to coach.

I know many of my fellow Y-chromosome’d colleagues would agree – Bret Contreras, John Gaglione, Mike Robertson, to name a few.

I have to assume my female coaching friends will agree?

We’ve seen a shift in mindset with women within the last decade when it comes to lifting weights, and more to the point, strength training. I’d be remiss not to give a tip of the hat to CrossFit for leading the charge.

Nothing (so long as I can remember) can be attributed to the tsunami of interest and enthusiasm of people getting excited to lift weights than CrossFit – men and women both. But mostly women.

Tracy Anderson and the Thigh Master can suck it!

Before I get flak for going soft on CrossFit- there’s still much of it that drives me batshit crazy. Funnily enough, the quality of CrossFit is getting better. More and more boxes are recognizing the importance of assessments, ramping people properly (regressions and progressions), having some semblance of periodization/programming, and understanding that not everyone can walk in on Day #1 and perform 100 reps of wall balls, box jumps, and 400m sprints……on their hands.

What’s funny about it is I hear all these CrossFit coaches waxing poetic about how much better CrossFit is now, and how it’s “changing.”

Exactly!

Because most of the boxes who are quote on quote “doing it well” aren’t doing CrossFit anymore. They’re, you know, having their clients perform smart, progressive, sensible programming without all the high-rep/WOD bologna that makes a small part of my soul die.

But that’s neither here nor there, way off-topic, and something I don’t want to get into at this point. Besides, I’m hangry right now and feel like I may cut someone.

But even with the shift of more and more women turning their backs to the elliptical trainer and gravitating towards the iron, there’s still a massive gap to bridge between what the mainstream media is relaying to women and what people like myself are trying to do.

Not a week goes by where I don’t shake my head in disbelief or come close to punching a wall from something I read or watch from the mainstream media on the topic of women and fitness.

All I have to do is walk through my local CVS and be slapped in the face with magazine cover after magazine cover telling the reader how to “lose 10 lbs in 1 month,” or how to “tone this” get a “sleek that,” all while following a detox diet that has you drinking nothing but grapefruit juice and unicorn tears for 47 days.

Which is all BS because 1) everyone knows unicorn tears are only effective after 49 days and 2) each magazine cover is plastered with a celebrity who’s been photoshopped beyond recognition and to a point that’s unattainable or with a model or figure competitor who spent the last three months dieting and prepping to look that way for ONE day.

Check out THIS post by Kelsey Reed on more of the shadiness behind the scenes with fitness marketing towards women.

And none of this speaks to the eye wash that I constantly come across on shows like Dr. Oz, Ellen, and The Biggest Loser.

It’s frustrating at times, if not 100% nauseating.

Which is why I love working with women. I love “de-programming” them (for lack of a better term) and helping them to pull the blanket from over the eyes.

In a lot of ways it’s similar to that new show on Netflix, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

Kimmy’s been trapped in a Dooms-Day bunker for 15 years and is finally released into the “real world.” She’s been programmed to think one thing (many things, actually), only to find out that everything she knew was wrong. Or, slightly off.

She’s still living in the 90s with an out dated mentality about the world and how it now operates.

NOTE: the show is hilarious. Co-created by Tina Fey, so if you like that type of humor this show will be right up your alley.

I find that many (not all) women fall in line with Kimmy.

They’ve been told that lifting weights will make them bulky, that if they’re going to indulge, light weight (high reps) is the best way to go, and that to get toned and lean (buzz words!) they should perform copious amounts of cardio. And eat 1200 kcals per day.

I’m not going to begrudge someone’s goals. If “toned” and “lean” is what they’re after….cool. Lets do it!

But Lets Focus On Performance

Whenever I start working with a new female client – particularly if she’s not a competitive athlete – I always try to refrain from buzz words like toned, lean, etc.

I’ll let them use those words, and I’ll play along, but I’m almost always going to entice them to go down a path they thought they’d never go down. Similar to Alice going down the rabbit hole. Except with less opium involved.

Rather than have them focus on more superfluous goals like losing 10 lbs (it’s always 10 lbs) or more aesthetic goals like how their arms look in a certain dress….I’ll try to get them to buy into more of the performance side of things.

Things like:

1. Finally being able to perform an un-assisted, full ROM, chin-up.

2. Performing 10 clean push-ups. Not girl push-ups. I hate that term. Push-ups.

3. Deadlifting their bodyweight for reps. Deadlifting 1.5 bodyweight for reps. Hell, why not go for 2x bodyweight?

At first there may be a little push back. “Tony, I don’t care about my deadlift.” It’s to be expected. But I always say, “give me 60 days.”

“Do what I tell you to do for 60 days, and we’ll re-assess things.”

It’s amazing what happens after only a handful of weeks.

More often than not they find they’re doing things they never thought they’d be able to do. What was a challenging weight two weeks ago is now easy. Okay Tony, deadlifts aren’t so bad after all.

“OMG, I can do a chin-up!”

 

Something clicks or switches on, and many become addicted to pushing themselves in the gym. There’s a fire that’s ignited.

What’s more, many find that those goals they’ve been working so hard to achieve – toned arms, losing that 10 lbs – just kinda, happen. On it’s own.

It’s magical. Sans the Unicorns.

Women can lift weights. They should lift weights. And while many people are under the assumption that Eric Cressey’s High Performance Handbook is geared toward athletes or only men…they couldn’t be more wrong.

I’ve seen many women follow this program at Cressey Sports Performance with amazing results. And for those who feel a bit skeptical about following a program completely off the internet, check out these results from Stacey R, 38 (she said I could use her age!) from New Jersey.

Stacey Before

Stacey After

Stacey came to SUNY Cortland last weekend to listen to me speak. A day later she sent me an email thanking me not only for the workshop, but for being someone who tries to empower and encourage women to lift weights.

She mentioned that she had always been into fitness but had never focused on a structured strength training program. She decided to give Eric’s HPH a try because she wanted to get stronger, and to help with her recreational volleyball.

It’s obvious Stacey was in good shape prior to starting the program. But you can clearly see she made some amazing progress. She noted that, despite putting on 8-10 lbs, she was still able to maintain the same level of body-fat.

She also added…

My overall game, vertical and responsiveness have improved, I’ve found an absolute passion that’s helped me through some difficult personal stuff in recent years, and I’m challenging myself to go completely out of my comfort zone by shooting for a figure competition in June…which is conceptually ridiculous for me on multiple levels, but is proving to be a great focal point.

Now, this certainly doesn’t mean everyone will get the same results as Stacey. But if someone with Stacey’s background and experience can make this much of an improvement….imagine what YOU could do.

All she did was follow the program, focused on strength and performance for a change, and stayed consistent with it.

And good things happened.

It’s magical. Sans the Unicorns.

High Performance Handbook is on sale this week at $50 OFF the regular price. It’s not just a program for men.

CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 3/30/15

Just a brief word expressing my gratitude and thanks to everyone who attended the 2nd Annual Strength and Conditioning Symposium at SUNY Cortland this past weekend in Cortland, NY.

It was a stellar line-up of presenters including myself, Nick Tumminello, Mark Fisher, John Gaglione, and Joy Victoria.

In freakin Cortland, NY.

Don’t know where that is? Here’s a map to help out.

Hook a left at middle-of-nowhere, make a u-turn at the 7347th corn field you pass (if you miss it, just use the lights emanating from the North Star Wal-Mart to guide you), and you should see it on your right.  Nope, crap, you missed it. Turn back. There. See the cow? Dammit, you missed it again.

Yeah, yeah….the NY Jets have had their pre-season camp there for the past five years or so, which is a big deal and brings a lot of excitement to the community. But this is the second year in a row that Justin Kompf has wrangled together some impressive coaches and speakers to come speak, which is a big deal in of itself.

The re-acquisition of Darrelle Revis by the Jets will undoubtedly bring some buzz to Cortland this summer; but with Mark discussing how to build a gym culture, Nick sharing his thoughts and insights on single leg training, John breaking down the deadlift, Joy discussing female specific program design, and my biceps with me offering my own thoughts on program design, the buzz that was felt this past weekend was pretty epic too.

Keep you eyes peeled and mark your calendars for next year!

Here’s some stuff to read…..

Cressey Sports Performance Roundtable: Carving Your Path As a Strength Coach – Tony Bonvechio

It happens all the time. An athlete comes to train at CSP and gets the “bug” to become a strength coach, personal trainer, or something along those lines.

In fact, we’ve had several former athletes of ours pursue this path once completing their collegiate or professional careers, oftentimes returning as an intern. And I can’t begin to tell you how many high-school athletes of ours have gone on to higher education to pursue becoming a strength coach, physical therapist, or athletic trainer.

It’s awesome, and we take a lot of pride knowing we’ve had a say in helping to mold young adult’s passion and career path.

Some (not all), however, to no fault of their own, feel all they need to do is study for an exam, pass a test, and BAM, they’re well on their way to training professional athletes. It’s not quite that simple, and we as a coaching staff took it upon ourselves to offer our own insight and experiences on the topic.

Settling the Great Grain Debate – Brian St. Pierre

 

There are two types of people in this world: those who eat grains, and those who feel you’re the Spawn of Satan if you do and are condemned to a life of on-going health issues, never getting below 10% body fat, and explosive diarrhea.

Facetiousness aside, the “grain debate” is a real one and one that’s making people choose sides. Often with major biases, faulty logic, and misinformation.

This was an excellent piece by Brian I feel was a fair and level headed answer to the debate.

How to Be a Popular & Successful Fitness Authority – Bret Contreras

This was a very fitting post by Bret, because it was a topic that was discussed extensively this past weekend in Cortland (see above).

I agree with Bret that the words “popular and successful” are a bit ambiguous and don’t speak to the anything concrete or relevant to the topic.

Some will define popular and success by how many Twitter followers they have. Some will define it by their back account. It’s up to the individual to figure that out on his or her own.

That said, Bret nails it on the head with this post. I’d also add TALENT to the mix. At the end of the day, you still need to convey some semblance of talent – in multiple facets: coaching, continuing education, program design, getting results, and not being an uppity, entitled, doucher of a douchebag).

Well said Bret. Thank you for writing this.

CategoriesExercise Technique

Cleaning Up the Turkish Get-Up: Stuff People Gloss Over Because They’re Too Cool

“What does this THING even do anyways?!”

That’s pretty much the standard reaction/question I receive every time I have a client or athlete perform a Turkish get-up.

What’s the big deal anyways, right? You take a cannonball looking thingamajig, hold it in your hand, and stand up with it.

La-dee-freakin-da.

 

There was a time, not long ago (<– I’m trying really hard to refrain from a Star Wars reference here), where I mirrored some of the same sentiments.

I attended a Perform Better conference where one of the presenters took the attendees through some basic kettlebell exercises – namely the swing and get-up – and I thought to myself, “This is so lame. It’s a fad. Can we please go do something cool like deadlift or play Laser Tag or something?”

Then I started seeing the same exercises pop up on various fitness websites – Men’s Health, Women’s Health, even T-Nation. No! Not T-Nation. Dammit!

Additionally I started listening to guys like Gray Cook, Pavel (no surprise there, since he’s essentially the guy recognized as popularizing kettlebell training in the States), Dan John, and many other reputable coaches start to speak to the benefits of kettlebell training, in particular the get-up.

To be honest, Eric (Cressey) and myself held off for as long as we could before we accepted that kettlebells were here to stay. Guess it wasn’t a fad after-all. And it wasn’t until a few years ago when we started making a concerted effort to implement them into our programming for our clients and athletes.

Lets bring this back to the original question: “what does this thing (meaning get-ups) even do anyways?”

Here’s the answer:

What DOESN’T It Do?

 

I’ve heard Gray Cook refer to the get-up as loaded yoga. He didn’t stand there or drop the mic or anything, but he should have. That’s an excellent explanation.

Think about it: what other exercise combines the interplay between mobility/stability while simultaneously having people incorporate the lying down, rolling, half-kneeling, and standing positions…..and then reversing those actions?

And this doesn’t speak to its versatility. I’ve used get-ups as part of an extended warm-up, as a corrective exercise, as a strength exercise, as part of a circuit or finisher (shown in the video above), and if I had a kid, I’d use the get-up as punishment for not eating all their vegetables.

In addition, it’s not uncommon to see a correlation between improved get-up performance and improved performance on the sexier lifts like squats and deadlifts.

And it’s here where I wanted to take a few moments to hammer a few bullet points on the get-up. Not so much a “how to” post – there are plenty of those on the internet, and I’d encourage you to seek out all the people mentioned above along with Brett Jones, Steve Cotter, Dr. Mark Cheng, Neghar Fonooni, and Artemis Scantalides – but rather just something to speak to the finer points of the movement that many people tend to gloss over.

1. Grease the Groove

I like Dr. Mark Cheng’s approach to the get-up.

He’s a boss.

There’s a time and place to push the envelop with the get-up, but realistically, it should rarely be a max effort endeavor. I.e., it shouldn’t look as if you’re passing a kidney stone during every transition on every rep.

Dr. Cheng is a guy who could easily use the Beast on his get-ups, but he rarely does. He likes to stick with a weight between 20-24 kg and focus on the QUALITY of the movement rather than making it hard for the sake of making it hard.

I get that sometimes we want to impress our friends or Twitter followers with feat of strength, and I’ve seen many gleaming examples of impressive get-ups. However, I’d encourage most people to err on the side of conservative and use a light(er) KB than they think 95% of the time. It’s only then you’ll learn and (soon) master the movement.

Which serves as a nice segue into my next point.

2. Slow Down, Buttercup

Pigging back off of Dr. Cheng’s sentiments above, the get-up is like a pot roast. Much like we allow the meat, broth, and vegetables to marinate over time; we also need to marinate the get-up.

The objective is NOT to rush2. It’s imperative to OWN every transition and stage of the movement. A common mistake many trainees make is they try to speed up the get-up. Sometimes it’s due to boredom (more on this in a bit) and they just want to get the set over with for….the….love….GOD!!!

Almost always it’s because many lack the stability to do the get-up right. This can be a bodily issue or weakness or, most commonly, they’re flat out going too heavy.

A proper get-up should take a good 45-60s/PER SIDE to complete. This is where those who have exercise ADD may get bored. Sorry, it’s just the way it is.

This is why I tend to program 1-2 reps per side on any given set. Anything more than that and people start to lose focus and/or start getting sloppy with technique.

Slow down. Own every position.

3. Wrist Position

The Turkish get-up is all about stacked joints and locked out joints.

I see it all the time: someone performs their get-up and their supporting shoulder is “shrugging” their bodyweight, the knee on their extended leg isn’t fully locked out, or they’re not getting full hip extension on their high-bridge (more on this below).

All are wrong, and all promote energy leaks which is only going to make the exercise harder to perform,

Another common snafu for a lot people is wrist position. Many will allow their wrist to extend back too far, like this:

1. Ouch

2. That’s a massive energy leak that’s going to make it much harder to control the bell throughout the rest of the repetition.

Instead I like to tell people to point their knuckles to the ceiling at all times. Like this:

1. Way sexier.

2. Less energy leaks.

3. Correct.

4. Don’t argue with me.

Not that I need to say it, but just to cover my bases: this rule applies THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE MOVEMENT.

4. High Bridge vs. Sweep the Leg

You might have noticed I mentioned the high-bridge above. This is something I believe Dr. Mark Cheng introduced a few years ago, and something that himself and Gray Cook looked to as a way to “clear” someone of hip extension/hip flexor mobility.

 

We don’t have to be Nazis about it. It’s not right or wrong to include the high-bridge or not as a transition point. It comes down to personal preference. Really, it’s okay.

Although, anytime I can reference The Karate Kid – “sweep the leg!” – I’m all for it.

I will, however, caution fitness professionals to be leery of including this step with anyone who doesn’t have the prerequisite hip mobility to perform it.

5. Transitioning From Half-Kneeling to Standing

Last but not least, in the past I had always coached the “windshield wiper” as the best way to transition from the half-kneeling position to standing.

It works.

A few weeks ago, though, Artemis Scantalides and Eric Gahan of Iron Body Studios (located in Needham, MA), came to Cressey Sports Performance and showed us some cool hacks for the get-up. One of which I really liked and thought was brilliant.

 

And there you have it. Just a few things to consider to help clean up your get-up technique.

Categoriespersonal training Program Design Strength Training

The Key to Program Design. Diamonds?

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

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

A wide spectrum to say the least!

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

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

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

And what am I going to discuss?

Plot details of Star Wars VII

How to Prepare For the Zombie Apocalypse

My Man Crush on Mark Fisher

Program Design

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

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

Why?

Because none of it matters.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Puh-lease.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Diamond

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

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

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

Beginners need to learn and master the basics.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just something to think about.

CategoriesExercise Technique Program Design Strength Training

Pause Your Lifts For Better Performance

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

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

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

There is a time and place for such things.

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

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

In other words: Correct movement is corrective.

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

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

A: “Squat!”

Tah-dah.

There you go. It’s science.

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

What Is Accessory Work?

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

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

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

Lifting weights isn’t supposed to tickle, right?

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

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

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

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

I know, weird.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Is Pausing the Key?

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

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

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

Lets take a look at some basic iterations.

Paused Bench Press

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Paused Squats

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Paused Deadlifts

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

Pausing a few inches off the ground will:

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

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

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

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

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

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

To Summarize

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

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

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

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

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

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

CategoriesMedia

Affiliate Marketing: Worse Than Ebola, Hitler and Gluten Combined

Let first state for the record that:

1. I generally avoid confrontation. In fact I hate it.

2. I’ve long ago accepted that no one can make everyone happy, and that by choosing to make myself more of a public figure with my writing and speaking, that it opens up the flood gates to (more) people being candid with their opinions and criticism (both negative and constructive) with my work.

When I first started writing – especially when my prose (if you want to call it that?) started to appear in more mainstream outlets – it was hard for me to pull a Jay-Z and wipe the dirt negative comments off my shoulder.

In time I learned to do just that. I either ignored said comments and moved on with my life, or I played along with them.

Like the one time I caught flak for writing an article on bench pressing and a reader commented that he stopped reading after the first paragraph because I had noted my best lift was 315 lbs.

I replied, “yeah but my internet max is 405 lbs, so we’re all good.”

I’ve just learned not to let certain comments bother me, that many people just things (and themselves) way too seriously, and that some people will suck at life no matter you say or don’t say.

As the saying goes, hates gonna hate.

But then every so often someone chimes in with a comment that, like an unexpected case of explosive diarrhea, makes your day pretty shitty.

Pun intended I suppose.

A few days ago I wrote a blog post titled The Forgotten Quality of the Fitness Industry. In it I discussed the virtue of integrity and how, like any profession, there seems to be a lack of it in the fitness industry.

It’s grown to be an industry that predicates itself on quick fixes and individuals who prey on other individuals in order to charge their credit card $49.99 for some detox elixir that contains goji berries, flax seeds, and grass fed dark chocolate mixed in Unicorn tears.

Moreover, it seems anyone with an Instagram account and has an ass, and is willing to showcase it 24/7, can become an authority on fitness. Credentials, education, and actual experience be damned.

At the end of the post I made a soft pitch/endorsement towards Examine.com, a nutrition and supplementation website that’s dedicated to providing factual, peer-reviewed, UNBIASED information to the masses. A site I feel epitomizes integrity.

Apparently I lack integrity for doing so.

The following is a comment I received yesterday:

Wouldn’t lack of integrity also be the affiliate market which you are such a huge part of?

I mean promoting a product in 99% of your posts that I can bet the majority you haven’t tried personally or used with clients falls into lack of integrity as well.

Just because another coach is in your affiliate circle doesn’t mean you should pimp out their products as the next greatest thing.

There is a difference between recommending something you have actually used, but pimping out a product just because of someone’s name or reputation without testing it on yourself and/or your clients is just as bad and misleading as your claims on this post.

For the record: I don’t feel the commenter was being a “troll,” and giving credit where it’s due: he didn’t resort to ad hominem attacks and he even used his real name. But I do feel his “attack” was unwarranted.

Against better judgement (and the advice of friends and colleagues who told me it was a waste of time to do so anyways), I decided to comment on his comment.

Yes I realize it’s (probably) going to fall on deaf ears. And yes, I realize that by responding to someone who’s not in my “Tribe” in the first place, is more than likely never going to sign up for my newslettter, purchase anything from me, much less vote for me for Class President, can be seen as a waste of time.

However, his commentary and tone is something that needs to be addressed, because it’s a theme that constantly pops up.

That, and My Integrity is Something I Take Very Seriously.

For starters lets address the comment: “I mean promoting a product in 99% of your posts that I can bet the majority you haven’t tried personally or used with clients falls into lack of integrity as well.”

This. Is. False.

This comment is crazy.

Since it was directed towards Examine.com in the first place, let me say this. It’s a good product, and one I think will help people. Does my soft pitch at the end of the post in question help move some units? I sure hope so.

But consider this:

In the back end of my blog, my metrics indicate that, including this one, I have now published 1514 posts. Of those, if I had to take an educated guess, less than 100 have mentioned or “promoted” some type of program or product.

Less than 100.

That comes out to about 7%. And I think 100 is an aggressive number. In addition that isn’t counting any of my articles published elsewhere, which, like my blog, are a FREE resource.

So, really: it’s mathematically unarguable that I only “promote” stuff I believe in. Programs and products that I really and truly think will add value to my readers or the fitness community and industry over all.  It’s my intention, always, to direct people towards products I feel will educate the.

But for shits and giggles, lets take a look at the last five products I’ve helped pimp (and as a result, sold my soul) endorse3.

Examine.com – As noted above, a nutrition and supplement website that prides itself on using peer-reviewed, factual information to educate the public. It doesn’t sell supplements.

Yes, I use it. I’d be a fool not to!

Lift Weights Faster 2.0 – Developed by Jen Sinkler who, admittedly, is a friend of mine, but a stellar coach nonetheless and someone I have a ton of respect for. She’s an accomplished editor, writer, and someone who has never pigeon holed herself into any one specific training modality or approach. She’s literally done everything.

Oh, and she was a former member of the National USA Women’s Rugby team. So, yeah, I’d trust her training advice.

And yes, I routinely used LWF (1.0) when programming conditioning workouts for myself and my clients.

Complete Speed Training  – Developed by renowned speed coach, Lee Taft. Someone who has worked with a litany of professional athletes and teams, and has coached countless athletes all over the USA and world at every level.

Yes (again). Many of the things Lee discusses in this product are principles we use at Cressey Sports Performance.

Ultimate Athleticism – Developed by Max Shank, a guy who’s about as diverse and open minded as they come. Here’s a guy who can not only deadlift 500+ lbs, but can also perform amazing feats with his own bodyweight. Handstands, flips, you name it…he can do it.

You may have me here. While it’s unlikely that I’ll ever do a walking handstand (or have any interest in doing so), I did read the manual and felt it was a nice fit for my audience. Especially those looking to challenge their bodies in different ways.

Plus Max is an accomplished coach who knows what he’s doing. I loved the progressions he used.

Core Training Facts & Fallacies and Top Techniques – Developed by Nick Tumminello who’s one of the most respected fitness educators on the planet, and someone who’s about as evidence based as they come.

Yes (again) – many of the things he discusses are things I’ve used with my own clients.

All of this to say…..

Geez, I’m such an asshole.

I feel it shows more integrity to point people in the direction of coaches who actually know what they’re talking about and do good for the industry than to link to any number of things that make my corneas perpetually bleed on the internet.

Now lets discuss this whole concept of an “Affiliate Circle.”

Or circle jerk as it’s more affectionately known as.

Apparently whenever someone is set to release a product, all any of us “affiliate circle” coaches do is fellate one another while sitting in our evil volcanic lairs as we refresh our Clickbank pages every five minutes.

Note: this is NOT my Clickbank page. If it were I wouldn’t be driving an Elantra and I’d most definitely have my own evil volcanic lair built.

It has nothing to do with supporting one another and relaying SOLID information ti people. Nope, never.

People fail to realize how small this industry is.

On top of that there’s only so many trainers and coaches who consistently put out fantastic content and are the ones that many of us (Us = the fitness industry) recognize as the cream of the crop. I’ve been fortunate enough within my career to work with, interact, and become friends with many of them.

They say you’re the equivalent of the five people you surround yourself with the most.

I feel this has merit in the professional setting as well.

Coaches like Dan John, Mike Boyle, Eric Cressey, John Romaniello, Nia Shanks, Molly Galbraith, Mike Robertson, Mike Reinold, Neghar Fonooni, Dean Somerset, Bret Contreras, and many, many others, are all friends of mine. They’re also colleagues that I’d defy ANYONE to say don’t go out of their way to educate people and put out damn good products.

Am I an individual who lacks integrity because I help to promote their products? Products I know work and that don’t pretend to be something they’re not?

And honestly, how is it I lack integrity because I make money from affiliate income?

1. None of this conversation takes into consideration the metric shit-ton of shit that gets sent my way on a weekly basis.

People whom I have NO idea who they are, have never met in person, much less interacted with in any fashion, are always asking me to “pimp” their products.

Why? Because of point #2.

2. I matter.

I’ve worked my tail off to make this site into something that, not only serves as a labor of love and something I thoroughly enjoy, but has also granted me the opportunity to use it as a source to supplement my income.

You know, make a living.

Plus, I’ve taken pride that people trust me enough to trust my opinion. I think my track record speaks to and shows that I don’t go out of my way to be shady with what I endorse.

I don’t say this lightly, because I’ve never been someone who pounds my chest and uses bravado to get my point across. If you ask most people who know me well, they’ll back me up when I say that I’m a very humble person.

I don’t walk around bragging about how many Twitter followers I have or how many “Likes” any particular article accumulates. In fact, I took that function OFF my site when I updated it.

However, I’d be remiss not to recognize I’ve been able to build this site into one of the most visited fitness sites on the internet. I’m proud of that. I’ve worked my ass off for that. Why wouldn’t I try to monetize it (or my time)?

And at the expense of blowing sunshine up my own ass, I feel I’ve done so in a very non-pushy, non-invasive, non-douchey way. I don’t have any paid advertisements on my site. I don’t have any (direct) affiliate banners on my site. And much to the chagrin of several of my colleagues, I’m not even super aggressive with collecting emails for my newsletter.

(This isn’t to suggest that people who DO take that approach are wrong. They’re not! It’s just an avenue I choose not to walk down).

Since We’re On the Topic of This Site

It’s a FREE site (for you).

But guess what?

It’s NOT free to maintain.

Here’s a little transparency for everyone. When I decided I had reached the point where getting a professionally built/custom site made sense (back in 2010) – I had used free templates up until that point – it cost me $5000 to hire someone to develop and another $1000 to add updates and aesthetic changes.

(Shout out to Copter Labs for the phenomenal job they do).

And this doesn’t take into account hosting fees, etc.

The site re-design (this past September) costs me another $6000. And with the site growing (thank you, everyone!), even higher hosting fees.

But in the end that’s a good problem to have. I’m not complaining.

Does it show lack of integrity to try to offset those costs? Does it show lack of integrity to take advantage of free enterprise?

In the End

Do I help promote products I like? Yep. Do I know a lot of smart and well intentioned coaches who have REAL WORLD experience, actually coach people, and use research and science to back their claims up? Yep.

Do I have ANY reservations in helping to spread their message? Nope.

I can live with that.

UPDATE: my good friend, Adam Bornstein, wrote a rebuttal post (of sorts) about this post that I think would serve as a nice follow-up.

The gist: why what I did was a waste of time. Check it out HERE.

Bornstein: 1

Gentilcore: 0