Congratulations on (pick whichever pertains to you):
(A) Recently graduating college with a Health Science, Health & Wellness, Exercise Physiology, Kinesiology, or History in Shakespearian Literature degree.1
(B) Switching careers from accountant, computer programmer, or, I don’t know, professional mustache grower…to strength coach.2
(C) Passing your weekend personal trainers course.
You decided to enter the industry under the guise you’d get to wear sweatpants everyday (a definite perk) and make a boatload of money.
You’d put in your dues for a few months at a local commercial gym, build a client roster, charge anywhere from $60-$150/hour, and then graduate to doing stuff solely online and, fingers crossed, eventually reach the holy grail and become a social media influencer.
Some fuck-stick is all of a sudden an “influencer” because he has abs and posts shirtless pics of himself standing next to a Tesla?
How’d all that work out a few weeks ago when Facebook and Instagram went down for several hours and everyone’s influencing world came to a screeching halt?
Okay, I don’t mean to come across as a jaded, cantankerous curmudgeon. It’d be a bit hypocritical of me to poo-poo on the power of social media altogether.
I do owe much of my career to my website/blog/biceps.
That said, I’d be remiss not to offer a little dose of tough love and urge upcoming fitness professionals to heed the following piece of advice.
Social media is fleeting.
Think about: there’s nothing, nothing, preventing Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, hell, even MySpace (that still exists, right?) from pulling the plug tomorrow and reneging their platforms. I mean, granted, the likelihood of them abandoning billions of dollars in potential revenue is about as likely as me winning Kumite.
But still, it could happen.
And then what? The only thing you’re left influencing is a big fat NADA.
To be clear: I am not insinuating you should ignore the power of social media or not to use it to help grow your brand and/or business.
I am, however, in a not so subtle way, underlining the dangers of putting ALL YOUR EGGS into the social media basket.
What Will Separate You As a Fitness Professional From the Masses is to Not Be Like the Masses
I’m often asked by upcoming fitness professionals what they need to do to get to where I am in my career? What business books should they read? Marketing? Writing? No, wait, maybe they should invest in taking a course to optimize their SEO?
But I’d be lying if I said my mouth doesn’t usually end up agape, flabbergasted at the question.
I’ve been a coach for 17 years and feel I’ve only just now started to figure shit out. It’s so frustrating because we live in a society that feasts on entitlement; that if you just read “x” book or take “y” weekend course, the world owes you a six figure salary and a roster of professional athletes.
One piece of advice I always give, and it’s an unpopular one is this…
“Spend – at MINIMUM – a year working in a commercial gym.”
I did this for the first FIVE years of my career and wouldn’t change a thing. Eric Cressey did the same thing. Mike Robertson too. Cassandra Forsythe, Dean Somerset, Jon Goodman, heck, I even think Mike Boyle has reminisced over long, arduous years as a commercial gym trainer as the cornerstone of his prominent career as a trainer and coach.
Many of the top names in the industry share the same common denominator: (former) commercial gym trainer.
For me it was the only way to marinate myself in misery.
It was hard getting up at 3:45 in the morning twice a week to open the gym at 5 am.
It was hard working at such a low salary and to try to make ends meet.
It was hard working long hours, holidays, and weekends.
It was hard to learn how to “temper” my coaching style to meet the needs of my various clients.
It was hard dealing with different personalities and learning how to motivate people.
It was hard. All of it.
Misery is a strong word to use in this scenario (really, I was just aiming for a good alliteration). However, it seems appropriate.
Those initial years helped make me resilient and prove to myself that I could “make it.”
Coaching people, in person, provided me with so many (life) skills that helped shape my career. Possessing the ability to break down someone’s squat and honing my scapular upward rotation assessment skills have proved invaluable.
But equally as invaluable has been the ability to hold a conversation and partake in small talk.
“Oh my god, YOU like Balrogs too? Did we just become BFFs?.”
Shit, get back in task Tony.
Focus, focus.
What the hell am I trying to say?
Get off Instagram?
No.
I am not here to rag on your desire to grow a brand on social media or to build an online business. Go for it. But both have a higher degree of actually happening if you concentrate on doing one thing; the thing many upcoming fitness pros fail to understand and respect.
Today’s guest post comes courtesy of strength and conditioning coach Kevin Finn.
It’s a doozy with tons of information related to how to add slabs of muscle to your frame in the most time efficient and scientifically backed way possible.
So, pretty much everyone will be interested in reading it.
Step One: Optimize Your Training Split and Rep Ranges for Volume Accrual
First off, if you’re still doing a “bro split” and hitting your muscles once per week, you need to “get woke” as the kids say these days. It’s time to get out of the 90s and get that frequency up. Besides optimizing muscle protein synthesis rates over the course of the week, higher training frequencies allow you to accumulate more quality volume—both throughout the week and on a per session basis.
This is one of the reasons higher training frequencies are so beneficial. By upping your training frequency, you can still hit 10+ weekly sets per muscle while sidestepping that potential “per session cap” on volume.
With this in mind, utilize a split that allows you to hit each muscle a minimum of twice per week, and consider even higher frequencies for the upper body or for smaller muscle groups that recover well (calves, shoulders, arms).
Now that you’ve got your training frequency sorted out, you need to consider your rep ranges.
As you attempt to push volume, an issue that will invariably crop up is time. As much as I’d love to stay in the gym for 2+ hours, as a working dad, it’s simply not going to happen.
Some days I’m lucky to get an hour.
So, if time is going to be an issue, you should strongly consider ditching most of your lower rep strength work. In fact, if you’re trying to build muscle as your number one goal, you don’t have any business doing much work below the 5 rep range.
What? Blasphemy you say?
Well, there’s a couple facts to keep in mind when it comes to rep ranges:
1) Utilizing higher rep ranges is a much more time efficient way to accumulate volume: Higher reps allow you to perform more total volume as they require shorter rest periods, less warm-up, and they don’t beat your joints up like heavy loading does.
If the goal is to build muscle and you’re seeking to push volume, stick to moderate and higher rep ranges. Keep the bulk of your training based around 6-15 reps, and don’t be afraid to play around with reps as high as 15-30 on some of your accessories.
As long as you come sufficiently close to failure, you’ll build just as much muscle and you’ll be able to accumulate a lot more volume in less time.
One more time-saving tip:
If you’re still having issues fitting in the amount of volume you need to progress, I suggest following a split that will allow for the pairing of antagonist muscle groups so you can perform antagonist paired sets (APS). By performing APS, you get the time saving benefits of supersetting without tanking your performance.
Here’s how they work:
Take two exercises that work opposing muscle groups—like a shoulder press and a pulldown.
Perform one set of shoulder presses, rest about a minute or so, and then do a set of pulldowns. Rest for another minute and then repeat until you’ve completed all your sets for both exercises.
If you typically rest 2-3 minutes between sets, this will save you quite a bit of time, since you will be utilizing a portion of your rest periods to perform another exercise.
And, unlike with supersets, your performance won’t suffer due to excessive fatigue; in fact, there’s even some research that suggests performance may be enhanced.
APS work best with movements that don’t inflict a lot of systemic fatigue, so don’t try these with squats or deadlifts.
Key Takeaways:
Use higher training frequencies (2-4 times per week) to facilitate higher training volumes and increase the average quality of your per session volume.
Do the majority of your work in the 6-30 rep range as this is the most efficient way to accumulate volume and is less likely to leave you beat up and burnt out.
If time becomes an issue limiting your total volume, consider using protocols such as APS to get in extra volume without tanking performance.
Step Two: Be Flexible with Exercise Selection
Listen, if it takes you 40 minutes of warm-up, mobility work, and movement prep in order to get to your first working set of squats, we need to talk…
And if deadlifts tire you out so much you need 5-10 minutes between sets to recover, perhaps you need to consider a different approach…
Because the truth is, unless you’re a powerlifter, there’s no need to stay married to the big three, especially if hypertrophy is your main goal.
I love squats and deadlifts as much as the next guy, but these movements tend to be uniquely time-intensive and fatiguing. If you’re not careful, they can “crowd out” other movements that may give you more bang for your buck in terms of volume. Furthermore, some of us are simply not well-suited to these specific exercises and would do better with other movements.
Maybe hitting some heavy leg presses first and following that with some front squats and Romanian deadlifts would allow you to accumulate a lot more volume in a lot less time while still maintaining those same basic movement patterns?
Key Takeaways:
Unless you’re a powerlifter, there’s no reason to stay married to the big 3.
Do a “cost benefit analysis” on movements that cause a lot of fatigue or eat up a lot of your training time.
When attempting to maximize volume and recovery, the key is to come close enough to failure to maximize muscle fiber recruitment and adaptations without actually hitting failure—all while maintaining good form.
In general, the higher the intensity (in terms of percentage 1RM), the farther you can be from failure while still maximizing muscle fiber recruitment. Conversely, the lower the intensity, the closer you must come to failure.
Here’s a general rule of thumb I like to follow regarding average RPE ratings:
<10 reps = RPE 6-8
10-15 reps = RPE 7-9
15-30+ reps = RPE 8-10
There will always be exceptions to the above of course, but this will get you in the right ballpark.
Key Takeaways:
You don’t have to train to complete failure to achieve full muscle fiber recruitment.
For lower rep sets you can leave quite a few reps left “in the tank” and still maximally recruit muscle fibers.
For higher rep sets, you should come a little closer to failure.
In managing your “per set fatigue” by avoiding failure, you will be able to perform more total volume in that session and throughout the week.
Step Four: Mitigate Muscle Damage
I came up as a young lifter thinking the goal of training was to tear down your muscles so they are rebuilt bigger and stronger than before (no pain, no gainz). This lead me to pursue protocols that focused disproportionately on muscle damage. I’d take pride in my levels of soreness and relish the pain–never mind the fact that my recovery and performance were compromised for the rest of the week and I was hobbling around like an old man…
As more research comes out, it seems of the three proposed mechanisms for muscle growth (mechanical tension, metabolic stress, and muscle damage), muscle damage is likely the least important factor.
So the key is to allow for some muscle damage as a natural consequence of training hard and progressing, but not so much that your total weekly volume is compromised by impaired recovery and/or performance.
How do we do that?
One way is by taking advantage of the repeated bout effect.
The repeated bout effect is the phenomenon by which a single session, or bout, of a given exercise protects against muscle damage from future bouts. Put more simply, the more you perform an exercise, the more resistant to damage (and adaptation) the muscle becomes.
This is often viewed as a bad thing; after all, if the muscle becomes resistant to adaptation, doesn’t that make it harder to progress?
That may be true, but there’s another way to look at it…
Becoming more resistant to damage means your muscle are able to perform more volume with less damage per session. This is key because it can allow us to incrementally increase training volume to levels high enough to maximize hypertrophy while protecting against excessive muscle damage that will impair recovery and progress. One way I like to take advantage of this is by incorporating “intro weeks” into my training cycles.
When you first start a new training cycle, you’ve most likely changed quite a few variables—reps, progression schemes, exercises, etc.—and these changes will temporarily result in higher levels of muscle damage due to the novel stimuli.
By starting off with an intro week with slightly lower volume and intensity, you’ll still get a strong training effect and the easy dose of volume will inoculate you against the higher volumes and intensities coming down the line.
How low one should keep the training volume and intensity during an intro week will vary based on the individual, but I like to put the intro week somewhere in between a deload and an average “meat and potatoes” week of training. Think of it like a bridge between the two.
Another thing to consider in regard to mitigating muscle damage is exercise selection.
If deficit, stiff-legged deadlifts consistently leave you so sore you’re crippled for a week, you’re not doing yourself any favors by maxing out on them on the regular. Sure it feels like you’ve accomplished something (gotta sacrifice to win, brother), but it’s a short-sighted approach.
Don’t get me wrong, being sore is not a bad thing per se. And I think it’s good to include a few movements that load a muscle in a stretched position—especially if hypertrophy is the goal, but you need to do a cost-benefit analysis with these types of movements.
You may not need to give them up entirely, but tweaking the volume, rep range, and proximity to failure can help attenuate some of the excessive damage while still allowing for the positive aspects of the movement.
Key Takeaways:
Excessive muscle damage should not be the goal of training and may even negatively impact gains.
Take advantage of the repeated bout effect’s ability to protect against muscle damage by using intro weeks and gradually increasing volume and intensity as the mesocycle progresses.
Consider modifying the loading and progression schemes for particularly damaging exercises if excessive soreness is impairing recovery.
Step Five: Include Overreaching Weeks and Deloads
Just as you are most sensitive to volume at the beginning of a mesocycle, you are most resistant to volume toward the end. Thus, the natural counterpart to an intro-week at the beginning of your mesocycle, is an overreaching week to close it out.
An overreaching week is a week where you intentionally push volume a little higher than normal in an effort to maximize potential progress. When done in an intelligent manner, this can be an extremely productive and fun week of training. During this week you can go for slightly more damaging protocols, push a bit closer to failure, and/or up the volume to a level higher than you could normally sustain.
Immediately following an overreaching week, you should perform a deload week. The two go hand-in-hand.
A deload is more than just a preventative measure to protect against injury, it’s the second half of a “one-two punch” that allows you to expose your muscles to higher levels of volume by providing a window for recovery.
During a deload, you should reduce volume and both intensity of load and intensity of effort to allow for active recovery to occur. Without the recovery period, you would not be able to peak volume as high and your muscles would not have been exposed to those superlative levels of stress.
The higher the peaks, the lower the valleys.
Overreaching strategies:
While I consider deloads a mandatory part of a good training program, overreaching weeks are more of an optional piece. For some lifters (particularly those who tend to run themselves into the ground), any small benefits that may arise from the overreach could easily be outweighed by the increased risk of injury or burnout.
Thus, it’s important to remember an overreach is not an excuse to get sloppy with form or drastically change things up.
If hypertrophy is the main goal, you are primarily just looking to get some extra volume in and perhaps vary the training stimulus a bit. One method of doing this is to add a drop set or two to your last movement for a muscle group in a given session.
Thus, drop sets can add a nice little punch of volume without making your workout significantly longer, and we’re not so concerned with the fatigue because the deload in the following week will ensure recovery is adequate.
Key Takeaways:
Pushing a bit harder towards the end of a mesocycle can be a valuable strategy to potentially eke out some additional progress.
You must pair an overreach with a deload to allow the higher levels of fatigue to dissipate and any potential supercompensation to occur.
Regardless of whether you utilize overreaching strategies, regular deloads should be incorporated in your training.
Drop sets can be a very time efficient way to add some quality volume during an overreach.
Parting Thoughts and a Word to the Wise
You’ll note I didn’t include a sample training program with this article. This was intentional. I’ve instead chosen to outline some “broad strokes” concepts so that you can use these principles to improve on your programming now and for years to come.
By following the steps outlined above, you may find you now have the potential to double your training volume.
But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
Let’s say you’ve been doing around 10-12 sets per muscle group, per week on average. You’re training hard, eating well, and feel well-recovered between sessions, but you’ve hit a plateau. It’s very likely that you’ll benefit from bumping up your training volume. It’s the most logical next step. By using the strategies outlined above, you may find you are now able to fit in 20 quality sets per week.
Don’t jump straight to 20.
Just as you should progress incrementally when adding weight to the bar, you should view volume in the same way. So rather than doubling your volume right off the bat, simply add about 10% or so and see how you fare.
Did you progress? Was recovery okay?
If so, run it again. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Milk as much progress as you can out of your current level of volume, but keep an eye towards progressively and incrementally adding volume—both to test your limits and to keep those adaptations rolling. Your ideal volume is a moving target, but if you are paying attention to your training, tracking variables, and keeping your eyes on the prize, it’s a target you should be able to hit fairly consistently.
It doesn’t have to be a bullseye.
About the Author
Kevin Finn is a strength and conditioning specialist, online trainer, and the owner and creator of FitnessWalkthrough.com.
As a coach with a master’s degree in education, he specializes in breaking down complex information and arming people with the knowledge and tools necessary to transform their physiques and take their performance to the next level.
He has created some of the most comprehensive guides available online for skinny guys and girls who struggle to build muscle. Visit http://fitnesswalkthrough.com/get-jacked.html to get a free copy and learn more.
With Avengers: End Game right around the corner it’s inevitable we’re going to be inundated with articles, interviews, and videos on how to get a Thor or Black Widow bod.
Follow “x” routine, and you too can look like a superhero.
To be fair: I have nothing against said routines. Pretty much anything will get someone lean(er) if they stay consistent and not eat like an asshole.
That said, I think one of the biggest mistakes people make when their goal is getting lean, is not placing a premium on strength.
What inevitably ends up happening is someone will crank up their training volume (lots of high-rep sets compounded with endless amounts of cardio) in addition to hopping onto the Keto train.
And while I’m not here to say that that approach is fruitless (<— ha, pun intended3, dumb, or won’t work – it probably will, for a stretch – I’m also a realist, and have seen with my own eyes the same thing happen time and time and time again.
Which is…(?)
A week, or two, or three (hell, maybe several) go by and you feel great. Your body fat is melting off, you can see some abs, and you can sense the inevitable influx of Tinder matches.
And then, you know, you don’t feel so hot.
You’re lethargic, you’re cold, you’re achy, and your motivation to train wanes.
The high volume of training tethered with a low-calorie/low carb diet begins to take its toll. You’re starting to think that the reason Wolverine is so angry all the time isn’t because he discovered some nefarious government conspiracy to turn him into a mutant and control his life.
No, rather, the reason he’s so angry all the time is – despite being ripped and the envy of fanboys everywhere – he’s sick and tired of all the EMOM sets of burpees and he just WANTS…SOME…FUCKING…CARBS.
Again, to reiterate, this is NOT to insinuate that all the popular programs people follow to lose fat and get lean are a waste of time.
However, what I am suggesting is a slight re-frame or paradigm shift.
What Makes Muscle, Keeps Muscle
Even if fat loss and getting lean is someone’s goal, if they hire me as their coach I’m still going to have them strength train.
Maybe it’s the dumb meathead strength coach in me talking, but I strongly feel the bulk of anyone’s fat loss is going to stem from making dietary/nutritional adjustments.
Namely: Figuring out what strategy or approach will elicit a caloric deficit.
This, of course, can be highly individual. Some people do well with Keto (although, I’d argue most people who think they’re doing Keto are really just following a low-carb diet), some do well with Paleo, some do well with Intermittent Fasting, some do well, with, I don’t know, pick something.
The point is, the main determining factor of whether or not a diet will actually “stick” is whether or not someone will follow through and stay consistent with it.
Not to mention it should fit their lifestyle and goal(s).
But I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole of clusterfuckery. Too many mental gymnastics for me to deal with at this stage in the day.
I do, however, want to pontificate and persuade you on the merits of STRENGTH TRAINING with regards to getting lean.
While dieting the idea of strength training isn’t so much to build strength as it is to MAINTAIN as much muscle as possible while in a caloric deficit. It’s important to give the body the stimulus it needs to hold onto as much of it as possible during this time.
What makes muscle, keeps muscle.
And what accomplishes that is low(er)-rep, strength training.
Again (again), I’m not saying incorporating things like density sets, finishers, circuits, HIIT style training, or anything in between doesn’t have its place or serve a purpose; they all, indeed, can help expedite the process.
[But this is also why I feel one’s nutrition is going to be the main determinant when it comes to fat loss].
All I’m saying is, from my vantage point, people tend to place too much emphasis on all of the above protocols and unwittingly end up losingmuscle rather than keeping it.
Many people (not all) end up becoming a smaller, weaker version of their original selves.
I do not want this to happen, and I feel there’s a simple way to prevent it.
It doesn’t have to be a complicated “thing” either. The obvious question, then, is how would I go about writing a program for someone in this situation?
Easy.
Have him or her hit a challenging set of 3-5 reps (maybe the occasional heavy single for more advanced lifters) a few times per week using the obvious exercises – think: deadlift, squat, bench press – and carry on with your traditional fat-loss programming self.
Example Muscle Maintaining Program (Not Fat Loss Program)
Day 1
A. Work up to a challenging set of FIVE on a Squat Variation (Front, Back, Zercher, Anderson, Safety Bar Squat)
B1. Same Squat Variation (same load you hit for 5 reps): 3×3
B2. DB Bench Press: 3×8
C1. DB Romanian Deadlift
C2. Push-Ups
C3. Gripless FacePulls
8-10 reps each, 10 Minute Density Circuit
D1. 1-Legged Hip Thrust
D2. DB Curls
10-15 reps each. 8 Minute Density Circuit
Day 2
A. Work up to a challenging set of FIVE on a Bench Variation (Regular, Close Grip, Decline, Incline, Larsen)
B1. Same Bench Variation (same load you hit for 5 reps): 3×3
B2. 1-Arm DB Row: 3×10/arm
C1. 2-Arm Landmine Press OR DB Push Press
C2. Bodyweight Step-Ups
10-15 reps each, 8 Minute Density Set
See?
Nothing crazy.
This doesn’t need to be more complicated than it has to be. We’re not doing long-division here.
Keep….it….simple.
Work your ass off. But keep it simple.
All these workouts can be completed in less than 60 minutes (including a warm-up).
It’s likely this approach is in stark contrast to what many are used to seeing when it comes to a fat-loss program; no tantric length, more is better, workout palooza.
Assuming one’s diet is in check, this approach is all that’s needed to help keep muscle…which should be the goal in the long-run anyway.
I have been woefully delinquent – bordering negligent – on providing my own content on the site of late.4 I’d like to sit here and say it’s because of a noble cause like spending my time reading scripture to orphaned kittens or, I don’t know, writing a screenplay.
But all I can chalk it up to is entrepreneurial shenanigans. I’m actually flirting with the idea of finding a larger space for CORE here in Boston which is equal parts exciting and sphincter clenching. I’ve been prospecting a few potential locations in addition to going back and forth with my realtor and accountant to make sure I’m not being an asshole. So, yeah, that’s been taking up a lot of my time in the past few weeks.5
While I haven’t been doing much writing, I have, however, been making the rounds on several popular podcasts. My most recent cameo was this past Friday on the Chalk Strength Podcast with Simon Bungate.
Simon is actually hosting Dean Somerset and myself this July at his Sydney, Australia based gym, Clean Shred, for our (Even More) Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint.
NOTE: Dean and I will also be in Melbourne, Australia (along with Dr. Lisa Lewis) the following weekend. Details for that are also in the link above.
I took a little time to discuss the workshop and what Dean and I will cover, but the bulk of mine and Simon’s conversation stemmed around business; Namely my time with Cressey Sports Performance, how there was a lot of “luck” on my end in terms of being involved with the it’s roots, and what spurned me leaving in 2015 to go off on my own.
We also riff on the fitness industry in general, which is always fun.
Luke and I did this workshop last summer in London and figured it’s only fair to bring it State side.
Combined we have 30+ years of coaching experience (I.e., one Mike Boyle or Dan John) and this workshop will be two days where we uncover every nook and cranny as it relates to how we assess our clients/athletes and how we best prepare them for the rigors of every day life/sport.
This will be a unique opportunity for people to learn from myself, but especially Luke, who is one of the best and brightest coaches I know.
For more information and to register you can go HERE.
SOCIAL MEDIA SHENANIGANS
Twitter
Bio hacks are garbage.
No one ever got strong/shredded/whatever jumping into a Cryo tank for 37 seconds 2-3x per week or eating acai berries that have been meticulously washed with unicorn tears.
No.
It happened b/c they trained CONSISTENTLY, hard, for YEARS.
All our cues we use ad nauseam to help prevent our client’s knees from buckling when performing squats. There’s actually a simpler way. It takes a degree of up-front coaching, but it’s time well spent.
You all know the stat: upwards of 80% of the population will experience some form of debilitating back pain – often times a disc herniation – in his or her’s lifetime.
It can strike with one dubious rep on a set of deadlifts, bending over to pick up a child, or, I don’t know, during a random after hours office Fight Club.
However (0r whenever) it happens, it sucks. But what also sucks is the often archaic advice many receive with regards to what to do when a disc herniation happens.
In today’s guest post by UK based physical therapist and strength coach Alex Kraszewski, he helps to set the record straight.
Why You Can and Should Lift Weights With a Herniated Disc
Just like Crossfitters, Vegans and Anti-Vaxxers6, if someone has back pain and they think it’s a disc herniation, it’s probably the first thing they’ll tell you.
There’s not many days that go by where I don’t see someone with back pain, and in more cases than I’d like – the opening conversation tends to go like this;
Me: “So what brings you in today and how can I help you?”
Client:“My doctor/chiro/shamanic healer said I’ve got a disc out, a trapped nerve and my MRI proves it. It hurts and I need you to put it back in.”
Me:
The intervertebral disc has become the scapegoat for a lot of back pain and disability. When the word ‘disc’ is used, it tends to create a cascade of fear, anxiety and worry for the future.
Do I need surgery? Am I going to have problems later in life? Can I still lift and get jacked? Will Dr. Dre ever release Detox?
I don’t know if we’ll ever hear Detox, but the answer to the other stuff is more promising.
I had a great follow-up question from my webinar on Flexion & Extension based back pain as part of The Complete Trainer’s Toolbox, and it gives us a great opportunity to discuss this and think critically about this topic:
“Do you consider exercises with reasonably high compressive and shear load to be risky for someone with disc herniations?”
Short Answer: No.
Long(er) Answer: It depends. We know that only Sith’s deal in absolutes – particularly on Tony’s site, because six other articles have made this gag. Lucky number seven for me.
Let’s break this question down into two smaller questions:
1) Are disc herniations always bad or problematic?
2) Will exercising under high levels of shear or compression increase the risk of pain, injury or further problems?
Are Disc Herniations Always Bad or Problematic?
No.
Many of us jump to the conclusion that when told we have a bulging or herniated disc, we’re doomed.
It’s normal to worry – our back hurts and we’re told there might be a problem with it that could threaten what we enjoy doing and how we earn money.
Whilst disc herniations can contribute to back pain, it doesn’t mean they absolutely will contribute to back pain.
One of the best things here is to look at research investigating the low back in pain-free populations. This study from 2015 pooled over three thousand pain-free people, and at least 30% of people had either a disc bulge or protrusion with no pain.
Nada.
Zilch.
The other biggie here is a steady increase in pain-free findings as we age.
The older we get – the more likely it is to find ‘stuff’ on MRI, that doesn’t have to be a straight up cause of a client’s back pain.
So again, no, disc herniations are not a death sentence for your quest for jacktitude.
But
Pathology can still contribute to pain.
This research is great, but sometimes the pendulum swings a little too far, and these findings can be dismissed without proper assessment. Want to piss off your client who believes their back is due to a disc problem? Tell them outright it’s not a problem with no real justification other than ‘the research says MRI findings don’t matter’.
Rapport = gone.
But how do we know when to take notice of an MRI report or not?
Consider the concept of an active wound or healed scar to weigh up how relevant pathology is to pain. I picked these terms up from Dr. Stuart McGill, who knows a thing or two about spines.
He also knows a thing or two about awesome mustaches.
An active wound is where symptoms, assessment findings, and imaging reports all match up enough to connect the dots.
A healed scar is the presence of pathology on imaging, but without clear correlation to assessment findings. The dots are there, but not clearly connected at this point time.
Remember that an MRI is a single snapshot in time of your client laying on their back, doing nothing. It might look ‘bad’, but they might also be in no pain and crushing their training without fear or worrying about it.
How do you figure out whether you’re dealing with a wound or a scar?
Work with a healthcare professional who knows how to lift and help come to a clear understanding of your client’s back pain. Trainers are one million percent qualified to work with clients with back pain and disc herniations, when they have been screened and assessed properly.
Will Exercising Under High Levels of Shear or Compression Increase the Risk of Pain, Injury or Further Problems?
Short Answer: No.
Longer Answer: You need to ‘dose’ things appropriately.
As a quick refresher, spinal compression is the force that approximates each vertebrae. Spinal shear is the force that tries to pull one vertebrae forwards or backwards on another (at least in the sagittal plane).
Compression (image via Stronger by Science)
Shear (image via Stronger by Science)
The spine is designed to bear load, and the interactions of motions, loads and postures will load the spine in different ways.
What counts as ‘high’ levels of shear and compression?
If you’re a Sith dealing in absolutes:
High shear loads come from a more horizontal torso angle and increased spine flexion
High compressive loads come from greater loads lifted, more intense bracing strategies and a more extended spine position
If you’re a Jedi and want to consider context:
‘High’ for a super heavy powerlifter will be different to ‘high’ for a yoga instructor
‘High’ for your client who has never lifted a weight is different to ‘high’ for your seasoned lifter who has accumulated decades of time under the bar.
‘High’ for someone in pain is different to ‘high’ for someone who is pain-free.
‘High’ is the upper end of an individual’s tipping point to tolerate load at that moment in time
This is where the science & art of training and rehab meet.
Science tells us that a conventional deadlift and back squat can probably allow us to lift the most load, but knowing your client would benefit more from front squats and trap bar deadlifts whilst their back hurts or if they are learning the ropes of lifting, is the art.
Don’t be this guy.
So what happens if we apply the appropriate ‘high’ level of stress with a disc herniation?
Just like everything else – discs will adapt
The body is a wonderfully adaptive organism that will react to the stresses placed upon it. If you get the dose of ‘high’ in the right ball-park, you will create positive adaptation. We’ve known about this the 80’s,where this study found the intervertebral disc positively adapts compressive load, yet it’s often viewed as a fragile structure that, when injured, spells game over.
Seems not.
This can be incredibly empowering for the clients suffering from back pain, whether it’s a diagnosed disc pathology or otherwise, that things can get better. This case study showed a huge improvement in a patient with an L4/5 herniation in just 5 months:
Credit – New England Journal of Medicine
Not sure if this applies to lifters?
Check out Brian Carroll’s MRI before and after working with Stuart McGill.
He started being disabled by pain with a broken sacrum and pretty banged up lumbar spine, but returned to the Powerlifting platform to set new world records at a lower bodyweight.
Credit – Brian Carroll
For me – this is where we need load within a low back rehab program.
If back pain stops us exercising, we will lose some level of fitness and adaptation as a result, which means we need to find a way back to exercising, based on what we can currently manage. I think this is why a lot of rehab programs don’t do well – it’s either too much load too soon which lead to flare ups and setbacks, or not enough load over time which means symptoms linger for longer than necessary.
So if we can say with confidence that disc herniations are not permanent, can get better and need load to return to our meaningful activities, how do we decide how to push it, when to push it, and how far?
Let’s answer these too.
How Do We Push It?
If you’re working with someone with back pain (or any pain really), your assessment should tell you this by answering this question;
“How much load can this client currently tolerate right now, and how can I best safely apply this?”
Don’t be afraid to use load in your assessments.
In fact, USE LOAD IN YOUR ASSESSMENTS.
A table and movement assessment is the starting point to see what the foundation is like, but how does what you see ‘at rest’ compare to when you’re at working weights?
Your client might have a perfect air squat, but if it resembles a melting handle at their working weight, you probably want to find that point where it looks good enough. Not perfect, not scratch-my-eyes-out terrible, just good enough.
Your 3/3 on the Overhead Squat won’t save you if you look like this under load.
If you start running into pain or problems under load, be comfortable enough to tweak the load, change the exercise variation, or coach it further. It’s OK if your assessment starts to resemble a training session, because it will give you way more information for your initial program with that client than relying on unloaded tests alone.
This is where you need the nuts and bolts of exercise progressions/regressions, coaching cues, and loading/tempo schemes to find the sweet spot for your client at that moment in time.
When Do We Push It?
Adaptation takes time, but it shouldn’t take forever. Your assessment gives you your starting point and how you feel during and after your lifting should guide how you progress. You don’t have to be pain-free, but you shouldn’t be pushing yourself through agony either. Here’s how I tend to work;
Pain settled within 2 days and below a 3-4/10? Carry on wayward son.
Pain longer than 2 days and/or above 5/10? Slow your roll.
Previous injury, pain, surgery or a lot of concern from your client will influence how quickly you choose to reapply the ‘stress’.
It’s ok to give it a little longer if needed, so know you can be flexible.
If things do go beyond what’s deemed acceptable, it doesn’t put us back to square one, but it might just require a little course-correction from time to time. No return from pain or injury ever moves in a nice linear, expected direction.
Credit – Sports Physio
As long as the loads, intensity and your client’s confidence and pain are steadily improving over time, you’re on the right track. Where ‘how’ is the science, ‘when’ is the art – know when to hit the gas, and when to pump the brakes, because it’s rarely a straightforward process.
How Far Do We Need to Push It?
What’s your client’s endgame?
The greater the demand of what your client is asking their body to deal with, the more time you’ll probably need. The new parent with a month or two of back pain wanting to pick up their kids without hurting and get 2-3 workouts in a week, will have a vastly different course to the powerlifter who’s been beaten up for years and wants to be out of pain and setting new world records.
Not everyone needs to hit soul-crushing, nose-bleeding levels of intensity, but if a client wants to work on their true maximum strength, you better be ready to take them back to working to 90% and above.
The goal of any rehab plan should be to build both physical and mental robustness that allows us to remain resilient to the stresses wewant to place on ourselves, and still have enough in the tank to deal with the stresses we have to put on ourselves. As much as we want ourselves and our clients to crush their training sessions, it shouldn’t come at the expense of living the rest of their life the way they want to.
Remember – Disc Diagnoses Aren’t Death Sentences
The biggest challenge when someone is in the depths of an episode of back pain that may or may not have involved the ‘D’ word, is that they have the opportunity to get better and it’s not game over.
If we can get past this barrier, it becomes a matter of ‘when’ will they get better, not ‘if’. The intricacies of getting can be incredibly individual, but with the right approach, there’s no reason why you and your clients can’t get back to crushing it.
If you want to take a deeper dive on this – check out the Complete Trainer’s Toolbox, where I spend nearly three hours talking through what influences spinal loading during exercise, and how to plan a way back to beast-mode if back pain is a problem.
Ps – disc’s don’t ‘slip’ (courtesy of The Honest Physio).
About the Author
Alex works as a Physiotherapist in Essex, United Kingdom, with a special interest in working with those involved in strength and barbell sports.
Alex holds a triple bodyweight deadlift, and regularly publishes content through Rehab to Robust on Facebook & Instagram.
My good friend and fellow Massachusetts based strength & conditioning coach, Matthew Ibrahim, comes through today with the final installment is in “Complete Warm-Up” series.
The shoulder is a complex area that deserves the finest attention to detail when it comes down to a proper warm-up, especially when discussing the overhead shoulder press. The goal here is to prepare the shoulders to perform well in the overhead press pattern for long-term health, function and durability.
One of the key areas to focus on first will be to spend quality time training trunk stability, which acts as a STRONG base of support from which to press upon. Consider the trunk and associated core musculature as your anchor. You need a STRONG anchor for a STRONG overhead press.
Next up will be to work on shoulder mobility and overhead range of motion. The way to achieve this will be through tackling shoulder joint mobility, thoracic (t-spine) extension and flexibility in your lat muscles.
Once all of that is taken care of, be sure to then focus on rotator cuff activation for general shoulder health and robustness, in addition to stability and motor control in your shoulders during the overhead press pattern.
Check out the list of eight overhead shoulder press warm-up exercises below, which have been delicately organized in a progressive manner to help your shoulders feel healthy and strong.
1) Mini-Band Tall Plank w/ Alternating Lateral Tap – x8 each side
2) Yoga Pike w/ Alternating Toe Tap – x3
3) PVC Bench Tall Kneel Rockback – x8
4) Mini-Band Standing Long Pull-Apart – x8
5) Mini-Band Standing Front Lift – x8
6) Mini-Band Standing Overhead Press – x8
7) KB Half Kneel Bottoms-Up 1-Arm Press – x5 each side
8) DB Z-Press – x8
About the Author
Matthew Ibrahim is the Co-Owner & Lead Performance Coach of TD Athletes Edge in Salem, MA.
He has been an invited guest speaker nationally in over 10 U.S. states, which was highlighted by his presentations at Google Headquarters and Stanford University, in addition to guest speaking internationally in Milan, Italy.
His work has been featured in Men’s Fitness, STACK Media and The PTDC.
Currently, he is completing his masters degree at Rocky Mountain University with a direct track into their PhD program. He is a big fan of interacting on Instagram and regularly posts about training, performance and recovery.
Luke and I did this workshop last summer in London and figured it’s only fair to bring it State side.
Combined we have 30+ years of coaching experience (I.e., one Mike Boyle or Dan John) and this workshop will be two days where we uncover every nook and cranny as it relates to how we assess our clients/athletes and how we best prepare them for the rigors of every day life/sport.
This will be a unique opportunity for people to learn from myself, but especially Luke, who, along with traveling over from the UK, is one of the best and brightest coaches I know.
For more information and to register you can goHERE.
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We’ll be spending two days covering everything from upper/lower extremity assessment, program design, corrective exercise, how to coach up things like deadlifts, squats, and not kipping pull-ups, in addition to trying not to swoon too much over Luke’s British accent.
Who This Workshop is For: Personal trainers, strength coaches, physical therapists, athletic trainers, people who like to lift heavy things, people who would like to lift heavy things someday, people who would like to lift heavy things the right way, and Jason Bourne.
Who This Workshop is Not For: Dementors, ghosts, Balrogs, and Virgos.
Tentative Itinerary
Day 1
8.30 – Registration – Tea / Coffee / Tickle Fights with Tony
Cost:$299 Early Bird (until April 30th), $399 Regular (after April 30th).
Other Pertinent Tidbits
This event will be approved for 1.4 CEUs via the NSCA.
Luke’s the shit and this will be the first time he’s presenting in North America. This is a great opportunity to learn from one of the smartest coaches I know.
Okay, whatever, I’ll say it: I have a man-crush on Luke.8
I mean, it pales in comparison to a Wingardium Leviosa spell – or even bacon wrapped dates (magic in my mouth) – but if you’re looking for a drill to add to your squat/deadlift warm-up, or to help with a pair of cranky hips, continue reading.
Giving credit where it’s due, I first learned of this exercise – well, technically, an iteration of it – via Dr. Stuart McGill while attending one of his workshops years ago.
He included it as a form of progression with regards to low back rehabilitation and performance. In his version, you don’t use anything as support and you then hold your arms out to your sides (like an airplane) and perform the drill.
I’m half convinced the only people who can do it well on the first try are 1) Dr. McGill and 2) Cirque du Soleil performers.
Nevertheless it’s a fantastic drill that stresses a “rigid” (or stable) spine while also performing a CLOSED-CHAIN exercise where the acetabulum – hip socket – moves along a fixed femur.
As much as I’m a fan, however, it’s also a fairly advanced drill and often cumbersome to master for many individuals.
Try this instead.
Supported Hip Airplane
Who Did I Steal It From?: My wife was actually given this exercise by Dr. Sarah Duvall a few weeks ago to help her with some annoying hip “stuff” she’s been dealing with for the past few years.
Within days of implementing this drill my wife saw a massive reduction in her symptoms and was also quoted as saying…
“Hip internal rotation is fucking magic.”
More on this in a bit, because it’s not technically working hip IR.
What Does It Do?: As noted above it’s primarily a closed-chain exercise (weeeeeeee) which allows for the more proximal joint (in this case the hip) to move across a fixed femur (the distal joint, the foot, is cemented to the ground).
When I posted this exercise up on my IG account I had several people keep me in check (and rightfully so) when I had mentioned this exercise helps encourage more hip internal rotation.
“It’s actually a discussion of motion vs position. At the top of the airplane the hip is externally rotatED. Then as you return back to neutral, you are technically going through internal rotation but you are still in a position of external rotation. I would actually encourage you to go beyond neutral to get into an internally rotated position.”
So, yeah, do that…;o)
Suffice to say:
1. I like this drill because it hammers home the point of rigid/stable spine while moving through the hip.
2. DON’T EVER SHOW ME UP LIKE THAT AGAIN MOVEMENTS 4 LIFE. I’LL CUT YOU.9
Key Coaching Cues: I cue up a “soft” knee on whatever leg someone stands on. The idea is to extend the inside leg so that the backside is long. If someone is unable to own that position, I’d encourage them to bend the leg at the knee to reduce the lever length.
Rotate up via the hip making sure to minimize motion from the spine. When in the maximally externally rotated position one can control, reverse the action by thinking about driving the top portion of the hip towards the opposite knee.
And, as noted above, don’t be scared to go past neutral and get into more hip internal rotation (that’s what the support is there for).
To progress, let go of the support.
I’ve been including this drill as part my my lower body warm-up for squats and deadlifts and my hips/glutes are thankful.
Matthew Ibrahim is the Co-Owner & Lead Performance Coach of TD Athletes Edge in Salem, MA.
