CategoriesAssessment

Do Assessments “Need” to Be New and Exciting?

I’ve been doing a lot more traveling this past year.  Some for pleasure, mostly for work, but sometimes I’m fortunate and get to combine the two which is always cool.

In the past two months alone I’ve been to Cortland, NY (which doesn’t really count since that’s basically my home town), Fargo, North Dakota, and Kansas City, Missouri….all of which were for speaking engagements

Next week I’m heading to Cancun, Mexico to spend 4th of July with Lisa and some of her family. In addition I’ll also take part in a 1-day “coaching the coaches” workshop at Warrior Fitness where I’ll have the opportunity to talk shop with a dozen or so local trainers and coaches, and possibly discuss my secret fascination with Lucha libre; or Mexico’s version of “free wrestling.”

In short, I have every intention of going all Nacho Libre on their asses!

But seriously, the game plan is to break down how to coach the squat, deadlift, bench press, Turkish get-up, and, oh who am I kidding…….the piledriver, too!

Later this summer I may be doing some staff in-services for SportsClub LA, which takes us into the fall where my schedule kicks into overdrive.

Dean Somerset and I will be in London (Sept) and Washington, DC (Oct) for our Excellent Workshop High Five, and we’re also looking at adding a date in  Los Angeles in November.

And, serving as a bit of a teaser, all signs point to me (and Lisa) heading to Australia in March 2015 for two separate, 2-day workshops in both Sydney and Ballina respectively. Nothing is set in stone yet, but the prospect of being able to put some of my Crocodile Dundee quotes to good use is making me pee my pants.

After all that, what’s left is trying to set-up dates in Hoth, Minas Tirith, and Cybertron. Fingers crossed.

My point to all of this is something that came up a week or so ago. Now that I’m “in demand” and traveling more for work, it’s always interesting some of the feedback I receive from my presentations.

As an example, my use of colorful language has come up. Whereas on the east coast, and Boston in particular, talking like a sailor and peppering a few f-bombs here in there is the norm, in the mid-West it may come across as bit more juvenile and un-professional. And that makes a lot of sense.

This is something I’ve had to learn and adapt to the more and more I’ve travelled to different places. But, in general, a good rule of thumb is to not be too gratuitous with language and make references to explosive diarrhea with a bunch of doctors in the audience.

Oops. My bad.

However, on a more relevant level I’ve noticed another “theme” that’s been present the more I’ve spoken. It’s nothing glaring and it’s more the minority mindset, but it’s been brought up a handful of times.

And it’s the notion that I don’t offer anything “new or exciting.”

To be more specific, I had someone comment that I offered “nothing new or exciting” with regards to shoulder assessment as part of a presenter evaluation for a recent speaking engagement.

I’m all for constructive criticism and I appreciated the feedback, but since when did assessment or screens need to be exciting or revolutionary?

Sometimes it comes down to doing the “boring stuff” correctly, no?

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m NOT a researcher, and the likelihood I’ll ever offer anything “revolutionary” is on par with Justin Bieber not coming across somewhat douchy.

This is also the same mentality I take with program design. Boring is generally what works best for most people in most situations. Focusing on the principles – whether it be assessment or program design or “insert whatever you want here” – is what many people overlook, and why most tend to miss the forest for the trees.

How am I supposed to make shoulder assessment more glamorous?  Do I need to add some pyrotechnics?  Have them juggle a pair of chainsaws? Please, tell me!

Walk into an assessment or screen at Cressey Performance and you’re bound to see things like:

1.  Looking at standing/static posture. Posteriorly, what’s the medial border of the scapulae tell you?  Is the inferior border closer to the spine than then superior border, as shown in the pic below (which is of me by the way, taken from Eric Cressey and Mike Reinold’s Functional Stability Training of the Upper Body).

If so, the scapulae are downwardly rotated and could be the root cause of someone’s shoulder pain.

How about anteriorly?  What about clavicular angle? Drawing a line from the medial border of the sternum along the clavicle, does one present with a more horizontal angle?

NOTE:  Abs alert!!

If so, that’s not ideal.  We’d like to see a 10-15 degree upslope of the clavicle.  Again, this translates to a “depressed” shoulder girdle  and downward rotation emphasis.

2.  If someone presents with a wonky static posture (<=== how’s that for a scientific term?), you can almost guarantee they’re going to present with aberrant movement patterns with regards to standing shoulder flexion or when testing scapulohumeral rhythm.

Then again, they could “fix” things once you start adding dynamic movement, but you’re never going to know unless you screen/assess for it.

Admittedly, these tests aren’t sexy or revolutionary….but they sure as hell get the job done. And, when done right, consistently, offer more than enough feedback and information to come up with an appropriate corrective strategy and training program.

Sans fireworks or anything “new and exciting.”

CategoriesAssessment Exercise Technique Strength Training

How Deep Should I Squat?

Perusing the internet can be comical.  LOLcats, Buzzfeed, and Star Wars parodies aside, where I find the most comedy (or to be more precise, the most chest thumping, blatant lies, and fibbing) are in various training websites and forums.

It seems everyone on the internet – at least in training circles – is either some kind of unknown world-record holder or anonymous StrongMan competitor that no one’s ever heard of.  Some of the numbers tossed out by the likes of PowerPlateJumboJim or DieselJackedGunz101 are astonishing.

Ever notice how many of them claim to bench press 400+ lbs (raw) or can pull 4x bodyweight (for reps) or boast how  “they could have won State if only their high school coach didn’t have it in for them”?

It’s uncanny and makes for some quality entertainment.

In that same vein, it’s also amazing how many people on the internet squat “ass-to-grass.”  For those unaware, the term “ass-to-grass” refers to one’s ability to squat deep or to the point where their butt touches their ankles. Or very close to it.

It’s often deemed the bro-tastic or “right” way to squat.  While admirable, and in some cases an acceptable approach, I don’t agree with this mentality as it flies in the face of every individual’s own goals, needs, abilities, experience, and freakin anatomy.

In my latest article for T-Nation, I discuss the whole notion of “deep squats” and why they may not be a great fit for a large number of the population.  Furthermore, I discuss the “butt wink,” what it is, what causes it (and what doesn’t), and how to resolve it.

It’s basically the greatest article ever written give or take a few billion.  Let me know what you think!

Continue Reading…….

CategoriesAssessment Corrective Exercise

Tendinitis vs. Tendinosis: Yes, There’s a Difference

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the filming of Eric Cressey and  Mike Reinold’s next phase in their Functional Stability Training series, Functional Stability Training – Upper Body.

As an FYI:  the first two modalities, Functional Stability Training – Core, and Functional Stability Training – Lower Body, can be accessed HERE.

Think of the whole shebang as on par with The Dark Knight trilogy.  All stand alone pieces are equally badass in their own right, but as a whole……can be considered mindblowing.

Yesterday entailed the filming of the “hands-on” or lab portion, and Cressnold (as I like to call them) took volunteers from the audience and placed them through a few shoulder screens/assessments to demonstrate that not all shoulders are created equal.

More importantly, they took it as an opportunity to demonstrate to everyone that how “we” approach treating and addressing certain dysfunctions can drastically change from one shoulder to the next.

And, as it happened, I ended up being one of their guinea pigs, as seen below in a “behind the scenes” shot.

Basically, it went down like this:

Mike:  would anyone be willing to take their shirt off?

[dead sprint from my seat]

Me:  Can The Rock smell what’s cookin?  Does a bear shit in the woods?  Does Dolly Parton sleep on her back?  YOU WANT MY PANTS OFF TOO????

I suspect that my 20 minute shirtless cameo will be a huge selling point for Eric and Mike when they finally release this module.

Learn the secrets behind an effective shoulder screen/assessment.  

Find out how both Mike and Eric choose what treatment and corrective exercise progressions come into play based off a thorough shoulder assessment.

Watch Tony squeeze his pecs and turn a piece of coal into a diamond!

Okay, all facetiousness aside, it was a FANTASTIC event and it should come as no surprise that Mike and Eric helped make a lot of people a heckuva lot smarter.

One key point that I want to discuss today which Mike hit on briefly during one of his talks, is the notion of tendinitis and tendinosis.

Many people think the two are one in the same and that both should be lumped together (like Star Wars and Star Trek.  You know, cause both take place in space) with regards to how we go about assessing and addressing each.

This is wrong, and here’s why.

– itis = is the Greek suffix for inflammation.

– osis = is the Greek suffix which denotes actions, conditions, or states. In the context of this conversation it refers to degeneration.

Someone with acute elbow pain or discomfort for example has tendinITIS.  You can palpate the area, the person will say “ow,” tell them to apply ice, take some ibuprofen for a few days, lay low on things that exacerbate symptoms, and they should be fine within a few weeks, if not days.

Conversely, someone with a more chronic, insidious condition has tendinOSIS.  You can palpate the area, the person will probably want to punch you in the face (but it could just as easily be more acute discomfort like the example above), but in this case, despite icing, popping NSAIDS, and rest, the condition, even after six months hasn’t gotten any better.

The problem here is actual degeneration of the joint, and it’s in this scenario we need to look more outside the box.

In keeping with the elbow example, someone with tendinitis will typically – not always – respond well with dedicated manual therapy on the problem area itself alongside your standard ice/rest protocol.

If the issue doesn’t resolve and it continues for months on end (tendinosis), and as Mike pointed out, sometimes you need to look elsewhere along the kinetic chain to see what’s the TRUE culprit.

It’s something he’s routinely referred to as The Kinetic Chain Ripple Effect.

When dealing with a more chronic issue, you still need to look at the affected area (in this case the elbow), but you also need to look at other factors elsewhere.

You can treat the elbow all you want with manual therapy and corrective exercise, but if someone has atrocious T-spine mobility, is overly kyphotic, and has forward head posture, wouldn’t it make sense to address those “red flags?”

Interestingly, Mike worked with someone yesterday during his presentation who had elbow pain, and one of the first things he did was test her grip strength bilaterally.  It should come as no surprise that she was weaker on the side which hurt to squeeze.

After coaching her on her posture – getting the shoulders back and posteriorly tilted, learning to brace the abs and posteriorly tilt the pelvis, and to tuck the chin – he retested her grip and she immediately saw a 16% increase (and it was less painful!).

And all he did was place her into better alignment!

There’s no doubt that she would still need soft tissue work to address her elbow, but many of her symptoms were corrected by taking a closer look at her shoulder and head position!

All of this to say:  if you’re a personal trainer or strength coach and have a client with a nagging injury that hasn’t gotten better with traditional ice, rest, and NSAIDS, it’s a safe bet that it’s not just a simple case of tendinitis, and you’re dealing with something more chronic like a tendinosis (or, actual degeneration of a joint).

Step one would be to refer out to your network and have him or her work with a manual therapist.

Step two, and something which you can take more of the reigns on, would be to keep an eye out for other factors such as posture or any movement dysfunctions who may notice.

More often than we think an “elbow issue” isn’t just something that’s wrong with the elbow. Likewise, a “knee issue” could be something fishy going on elsewhere. We can’t assume it’s solely the knee.

I like to put all the blame on CrossFit….;o)  Just kidding.  Kinda.

What are you thoughts?  Agree?  Disagree?  Tomato? Tomahto?  I’d like to hear everyone else’s thoughts on the matter.

CategoriesAssessment Corrective Exercise Exercise Technique Strength Training

Building a Superhuman Core

Nowadays you seemingly can’t walk more than 15 feet without crossing paths with a CrossFit gym.  Along those same lines, you can’t go more than five clicks (it’s like the internet’s version of the Kevin Bacon game!) before you view some iteration of a “core training” article espousing anything from six-minute abs to improved posture to bringing sexy back.

And guess what?  Today I’m sharing my own iteration of a core training article!!!

Except, you know, mine doesn’t suck.

Core training means different things to different people.

On one end of the spectrum you have those trainers and coaches who feel all you need is to deadlift and squat and you’ll cover all your core-training bases.  I feel this is a bit of a mis-guided POV.  Conversely, on the other end, you have those who will spend half a training session “activating” their TA .

The answer to the riddle, as always, usually lies somewhere in the middle of those two extremes.

I prefer to address core training in a multi-faceted manner where I take each and every individual who walks through our doors at the facility through a litany of assessment protocols to figure out what would be the best approach for him or her.

And it’s with this thought in my mind that I wanted to toss my name into the mix and finally write my treatise on the topic of core training.

It’s pretty good (I think).  You should check it out.

Click Me <—– Careful, I’m Ticklish

CategoriesExercises You Should Be Doing

Exercises You Should Be Doing: 1-Arm Kettlebell Front Squat

I had the opportunity of being invited to a local CrossFit affiliate here in Boston yesterday to spend an hour or so taking their staff – as well as a handful of other trainers from local commercial gyms – through an informal staff in-service on assessment.

I say “informal” because I wore jeans and a t-shirt and swore like a sailor. And I chewed gum the entire time.  I basically broke every rule there is when it comes to public speaking.  It was awesome.

While the main “theme” of the talk was shoulders, shoulder assessment, and how we can make things in CrossFit a bit more “shoulder friendly,” on more than one occasion I made the following point:

An assessment (or screen, which is a more appropriate term I feel) should serve a few functions:

1. To gather information and find out where a person’s Point A is.

2. Give them an opportunity to prove to YOU (the coach) that they can do “stuff.”

I’m a strength guy, and in my eyes everyone I work with is going to squat to some capacity, deadlift to some capacity, bench press to some capacity, and inevitably end up listening to Tiesto to some capacity.

Sorry, if you train under my roof, it’s my rules…..;o)

Where the assessment/screen comes in is to serve as a litmus test to tell me which VARIATION of the squat or deadlift or bench press or whatever the client will start with.

Not everyone can walk in on day one and conventional deadlift from the floor. Likewise, depending on one’s past or current injury history, training experience, goals, and postural imbalances (to name a few), maybe something as innocuous as a standard bench press will be too advanced for them.

With that in mind, today’s exercise you should be doing falls underneath this people-are-going-to-do-stuff-just-not-the-advanced-stuff-they-think-they-should-be-doing umbrella.

1-Arm Kettlebell Front Squat

Who Did I Steal It From:  I have no idea, so I’ll just say Professor Snape.

What Does It Do: This is a fantastic squat variation which, after mastering the Goblet Squat, still allows the trainee to groove their hip hinge pattern, engage the anterior core, but with an additional component:  ROTARY STABILITY.

By holding one KB to one side of the body, it forces the body to further stabilize itself and to resist the rotational forces placed on it.

Furthermore, this also serves as a nice variation which is a bit more shoulder friendly in its own right.  Back squats for example may be problematic for some due to the “at risk” position the shoulder joint is placed in (maximal abduction + external rotation) during its execution.

The easy fix would be to use specialty bars such as the Giant Cambered bar or Safety Squat bar – or to just front squat – but not many people have access to them.

Hence, why this is yet another viable option.

Key Coaching Cues: It sounds borderline trivial, but picking up the kettlebell correctly matters.  I see a lot of people just kind of haphazardly bend over and pick up the KB with a rounded back and this is something you don’t want to make a habit of doing.  For starters, a kitten dies every time it happens. Secondly, your spine will thank you in the long run.

I like to tell people to “straddle” the KB standing roughly an arms length away. Reach down with a neutral spine, and “set” the lats and then pretend as if you’re trying to “hike” the kettlebell through your legs.  Essentially you’re starting off the whole shebang by performing a 1-arm KB swing.

Clean the KB to one side of the body.  The KB itself should rest in the nook of your pec muscle and shoulder.

From there place your free hand out in front of the body to act as a counterbalance and make a fist.  Squeeze hard.  This will elicit much more tension in the body.

Now….squat.  All the same rules apply.  Initiate by pushing the hips back, pushing the knees out (I like to tell people keep the knee cap in line with their middle toe), and keeping the chest up.

I’ll typically shoot for 6-8 reps per side and then switch sides.  Give it a try today and let me know what you think.

CategoriesUncategorized

Edmonton Workshop: Dean and Tony’s Sequel (That Doesn’t Suck)

I hope everyone had a relaxing and well deserved Labor Day weekend.  The weather here in Boston was piss poor all weekend, so there wasn’t much that Lisa and I were able to do.  We did meet up with her old college volleyball team and ate dinner with her coach on Saturday night.  And some of you may recall on Facebook a few weekends ago I was asking for advice on bike buying tips.

Lisa’s new job is only 1.5 miles from our apartment, and it makes a lot of sense for her to start biking to and from work to help save time in the mornings.

We know as much about bikes as we both know about World of Warcraft.  If you ask me the only thing you need to know about buying a bike is which one makes you look the most jacked.  But needless to say there’s a bit more to it than that.

After test riding a few different brands, Lisa ended up really liking the Specialized Vita, and that’s exactly what she ended up getting.

This is her after I dropped her off at the bike store and she rode her brand spankin new bike home.

And as much as I’m sure everyone is thrilled to read about Lisa’s new bike – I mean come on, how good does she look? –  lets jump into more pertinent territory.

Namely:  Dean and Tony’s Traveling Fitness VooDoo Magic Time Roadshow

Or, to put it in non-five year old speak:  Dean Somerset and I doing a sequel to our Boston Workshop, but this time in his neck of the woods up in Edmonton.

AKA:  The Edmonton Workshop.

But unlike most sequels, which generally bite the big one (thanks Matrix Reloaded), this one won’t suck. I promise.

We’ll be covering the exact same material as we did in Boston; you know stuff on assessment, corrective exercise, breathing patterns, coaching the big lifts, and how to make an F-16 out of paper mache.  But I’m sure we’ll be adding a few smaller details to the mix.

For a full breakdown and tentative itinerary go HERE.

The Boston Workshop was a huge success (no one left early!), and many who attended were more than happy to offer their words of appreciation and praise:

“The workshop with Dean and Tony was fantastic. They mixed science with real life, in the gym, practical solutions. I feel like I’m better off after attending in all aspects of my ability to train others.”

– Ryan Andrews, Precision Nutrition Coach, author of Drop the Fact Act & Live Lean.

“This clinic was a home run!  I’m a trainer with a yearly budget for continuing ed. I’m glad I spent it here.  I signed up because I knew these guys would drop some knowledge bombs…. I wasn’t disappointed. Tony and Dean’s Excellent Workshop gave great insight on post-rehab exercise and how it can be used in conjunction with training, as well as hammering technique in the basic lifts. I’ll admit I went back to the drawing board to re-evaluate my training techniques.

These guys are tops in their field. I would recommend this seminar to any beginner level trainers /strength coaches, right on up to advanced.  It will separate you from the pack.

Thanks Guys!”

– Clark Evans, Boston based trainer.

“Dean and Tony are not only two of the brightest guys in the field, and they’re also two of the most entertaining.  Newer trainers will get brought up to speed on progressive training strategies and take away hands-on coaching techniques.  More experienced coaches will benefit from Tony and Dean’s refined understanding of more complicated concepts.  The only part that was weird was at the end when they made everyone do a group hug for 10 minutes, but after they explained it was really a “mind meld,” we all understood.  Don’t miss this seminar!”

– Mark Fisher, co-owner of Mark Fisher Fitness, NYC

We want this to be a one of a kind learning opportunity for those in attendance.We’ll do our best to cover the stuff YOU want to learn about, and want to spend less time talking and more time doing. As coaches ourselves, we both feel more comfortable on a training floor with people working their tails off. We want to give you that same kind of experience.

As such, we will also limit registrations to a max of 30 people in order to keep it as intimate and give you as much face time with Dean and Tony as possible. This will also allow us to give more individual instruction on coaching specific movements, spotting corrective strategies to implement, and answer questions efficiently.

The whole shindig is going down the weekend of October 19th and 20th at World Health City Centre in Edmonton.  It’s the weekend AFTER Canadian Thanksgiving, and the weekend before it starts getting cold as balls.

So you really have no excuse not to attend,

For more information and to sign up, please follow the link below:

—> Edmonton Workshop <—

CategoriesAssessment Corrective Exercise Exercise Technique

The Perfect Assessment Tool?

Lets be clear from the start: there’s really no such thing as a “perfect” assessment. I’ve seen coaches and trainers spend as little as ten minutes assessing their clients, as well as those who take roughly the same time it would take to read the Harry Potter series, and both have been equally as successful with getting results.

Although, in the case of the latter, I’d argue that some fitness professionals spend an inordinate amount of time assessing things that don’t really matter and/or are outside their scope of practice in the first place.  Big toe dorsiflexion?  Really?

The person standing in front of you is 25 lbs overweight and moves about as well as a one-legged pirate.  It’s not rocket science. Get them moving.  End of story.

Nevertheless when it comes to assessment I’ve always lived by the mantra of “different strokes for different folks.”  As an example, at Cressey Performance, we work with a metric boat load of baseball players which is a unique population with regards to the demands placed on their body.  Much of what we look at with them – comparing total glenohumeral ROM between dominant and non-dominant sides, for instance – may not be relevant to someone that walks into the facility who’s just looking to get a little stronger, fix their nagging lower back pain, or not be embarrassed to take their clothes off with the lights on.

That said, how we go about assessing our athletes and clients at Cressey Performance suits our needs, our facility layout, and our business model.

Put another way:  how we go about doing things isn’t to say that we’re right and everyone else is wrong; nor is it to imply that our way is the end-all-be-all of assessment; nor is it suggest that everyone should kneel before us General Zod style:

It all mounts down to what we’ve found works for us. It’s as simple as that.

However, I will say that I do (and always will) feel the push-up is an unsurpassed assessment tool that should be a staple in most assessment protocols.

Not many “tools” can give as much information and feedback to the fitness practitioner than the push-up, and it behooves anyone to dismiss it.

Did you hear me?  I said it behooves you!  I’m bringing back old-English people, so you know I mean business.  You’re just lucky I didn’t grab a white glove, slap you across the face, and challenge you to an old-fashioned bare knuckled boxing match.

Taking actual technique out of the equation (it amazes me how many guys come in to see us with cranky shoulders, only to have some of the worst push-up technique this side of Charlize Theron in the movie Prometheus), the push-up assessment parlays very well to a variety of populations.

With our baseball guys – and even our general population clientele – it gives a good scope to see how well their scapular stabilizers (particularly the lower traps and serratus anterior) are working – if one or both are weak, the scapulae will be more anteriorly tilted and abducted (not “hugged” against the rib cage) which can result in compromised stability.

Too, and an often overlooked component, is anterior humeral glide.  You can see this in someone’s standing posture very easily, but it also becomes very pronounced when you watch someone perform push-ups, or just hold the push-up position isometrically.

This can be detrimental in that if it’s not corrected or just left to it’s own vices can lead to increased anterior instability of the shoulder, which as we all know, not only kills baby seals, but also makes your shoulder hate you.

Using a more glaring and obvious anecdote, push-ups are also a fantastic assessment tool because they make it abundantly clear where someone’s weak points are.  And almost always, many are going have weak lumbo-pelvic-hip control – to the point where they’ll be hanging on their lumbar spine as well as rocking a nasty forward head posture.

On the flip-side many may also demonstrate a dominant rectus abdominus pattern, which typically means their external obliques are non-existent and they probably spend way too much time in front of a computer stalking people on Facebook.

Again, in both scenarios it’s just valuable feedback for you which will dictate that person’s programming moving forward.

Another dimension of the push-up assessment that I never really thought of before – and something I stole from Mike Robertson – is the concept of ‘core delay.’

In short, instead of starting someone in the standard push-up position – away from the floor with arms fully extended – you start from the floor.

In this way you can see whether or not someone has adequate stability or if there’s a delay in firing, and the hips come up first.

The key is to make sure that whoever it is you’re testing is completely relaxed on the floor, and then you just observe and make a judgement call from there.

The first rep would be considered a “passable” rep and shows that the person (me) has good core stability.  They (me) were able to keep the spine in a “neutral” position and everything seemed to fire simultaneously.

And, not to mention their (um, me) triceps were gunny as shit……;o)

With the second rep, though, there was a little wackiness, and you’ll notice how my hips shoot up first and my lumbar spine goes into immediate hyperextension.  This shows a ‘core delay,’ which is just a fancy way of saying “dude needs to work on getting his glutes to fire to posteriorily tilt the pelvis more, along with the external/internal obliques and RA.”

In the end I just feel utilizing the bottoms-up push-up is another great way to evaluate clients and to better ascertain where their weaknesses lie and how their programming may manifest moving forward.

Agree?  Disagree? Tell me more below.

CategoriesCorrective Exercise Strength Training

Recapping Dean and Tony’s Boston Workshop (Includes Best T-Shirt Ever Made)

Now that I’ve had a good 24-36 hours to decompress my brain, I wanted to take a few moments and share some of the shenanigans that went down last weekend at Cressey Performance.

As many of you know, my good friend and brotha from another motha, Dean Somerset, came to town for a few days along with roughly 20-25 personal trainers, strength coaches, chiropractors, and general fitness enthusiasts for our Boston Workshop that he and I hosted at Cressey Performance.

Stealing a line from Dean’s synopsis of the weekend over on his own blog, “it was without a doubt one of the best, most switched on groups I’ve ever had the chance to speak in front of, and everyone was really engaged, quick to volunteer, laugh, get their hands dirty, and make it a great experience for everyone.”

On Friday for all the attendees who came in a day early and had nothing better to do than sit at their hotel room watching re-runs of Games of Thrones on HBO we had the one and only Eric Cressey (THE Cressey behind Cressey Performance) come in and speak to the group on “Elbow Shizzle.”  His title not mine.

One of the main take home points was that when it comes to the elbow, especially with regards to the UCL, you have to take into consideration what’s going on up the kinetic chain – specifically the brachial plexus – in order to make any drastic progress with regards to tissue quality and eliminating pain.  The ulnar nerve starts up near C5-T1 and is often impinged in that area.

In many ways, an “elbow snafu” might not have anything to do with the elbow in the first place!  It’s imperative to look up (and down) the kinetic chain to rule other possibilities out.

Too, it’s important to take into consideration congenital laxity – especially in the baseball population – to dictate treatment and how one’s strength and conditioning program will flow.  The LAST thing you want to do is to excessively stretch someone who scores high on the Beighton Laxity score.

Afterwards, for those who wanted to stay, move around a bit, and play with all the toys in the facility, we had “open gym” where people could get a workout in and break a sweat. I may or may not have played Tiesto.

I played Tiesto.

Because I was at the facility playing host Lisa, my girlfriend, was kind enough to pick Dean up at the airport along with Guillermo who flew in all the way from Mexico to attend the event.  No sooner than everyone walked through the door and dropped their bags did we hightail out of there to walk down to my neighborhood bar and grill to get our grub on.

The best part of the night was that after the fact, when we left the restaurant, walked outside, and waited to cross the street, some dude drove by with all his windows rolled down BLARING the theme music from Star Wars.  It was pretty much the most baller thing I’ve ever witnessed, and I couldn’t help but think to myself, “that dude’s got his shit together.”

Dean and I were up early Saturday morning and I want to say that he pwned roughly 600 mg of caffeine before we even got to the facility.  A tip of the hat to you kind sir!

After a few house warming words and greetings, Dean started things off with discussing the big rocks of assessment. What an assessment actually means, what to look for, and what kind of assessment should be done.

Do we just stand there creepily like a Mr. Smithers and stare?  Is there any place for a movement based assessment?  Are all assessment created equal?

At the end of the day, it’s about gathering as much information as you can to better ascertain what YOU as the fitness professional will do to get your client the most efficient (and safest) results possible.

I followed suit by breaking down the CP assessment.  I was adamant that what we do at CP isn’t necessarily what I feel everyone should be doing, but that they kind of should (hint, hint).

I divided the assessment process into three parts:  static (posture, single vs, bilateral stance), isolative (hip ROM, shoulder ROM, Thomas Test, adductor length, 1,2,3,4 I challenge you to a thumb war, stuff like that), and integrated (movement based:  squat pattern, lunge pattern, push-up pattern, etc).

The entire afternoon was then spent going back and forth with the attendees demonstrating the different assessment that Dean and I utilize and then allowing them to practice on one another to get a better feel for everything.

And, I managed to do all of this without taking my shirt off, which is saying something.

Saturday night a bunch of us met up for an all-you-can-eat meat fest at Fire and Ice in downtown Boston.  Ben Bruno even made a cameo appearance!

Here’s a pic that I Tweeted as a frame of reference of how glorious this place is:

Sunday was lined up in much the same way at Saturday was.  Things kicked off relatively early – 9 AM – with me discussing “corrective exercise,” and what the even means.

I broke down the Law of Repetitive Motion and spoke to how that equation helps set the stage for how we can go about addressing any imbalances, weaknesses, and even pain.

The main point I hit home, however, and something I feel serves as the “umbrella” for ALL corrective exercise was this:

Correct movement is corrective!

Sure we can do the song and dance where we wrap eight different bands around someone, have them stand on a BOSU ball, and juggle a bunch of oranges………but what are we really accomplishing here?

And this isn’t to downplay things like spending time coaching people on how to engage their core or working on glute medius activation.  That stuff certainly needs to be addressed sometimes.

But while I’m admittedly biased – I am a strength coach – I think there’s a lot to be said about grooving more efficient patterns (squat, hip hinge, lunge, push-up) and getting people strong(er).

Getting people stronger can be corrective.

After a quick lunch break Dean took over with some brand spankin new material and covered a topic he titled VooDoo: Hacking Anatomy for Immediate Results.

Again, stealing for Dean’s own review of the weekend: “My talk came up at the end, all about how reactive core training can improve flexibility without taking joints through a range of motion (aptly titled “Voodoo”). We discussed the importance of breathing for upper body and lower body limitations, and went through how to get reactive stabilization from breathing drills and specific core training directives to help improve specific limitations.”

To cap things off we had an expert panel Q and A which, along with Dean and I, also included Ben Bruno, Jim “Smitty” Smith (of Diesel Strength), and Mark Fisher (of unicorns, ninjas, and Mark Fisher Fitness).

On Monday Dean and I took a few attendees through a small group training session that started with a “flow” warm-up, and then we proceeded to deadlift their faces with a bunch of angry my-mother-never-loved-me-and-I-punch-kittens-in-the-face-for fun music blaring in the background.

Three guys broke PRs HERE, HERE, and HERE (this one includes one of the best celebratory fist pumps ever).

Afterwards Dean hung out at CP to observe the madness and wore what’s arguably the most epic t-shirt ever made.

For those having a hard time seeing the fine print, here’s a screen shot:

And since that’s pretty much the most absurd and funniest note to end on, I’ll stop there.

It was an amazing weekend, filled with amazing people.  And I’m truly honored that so many people took time out of their busy schedules to come hang out and (hopefully) get better.

Dean and I will most likely be doing this shindig again.  Maybe we should do a worldwide tour!

CategoriesMotivational Program Design

So You Want To Be a Fitness Professional?

Greetings from Cortland, NY!

It’s freaking snowing (not that that’s any big surprise)!  That would be like saying,”the sky is blue,” or “water is wet,” or “Justin Beiber is a no-talent ass hat!”

I left Boston yesterday under blue skies and 60 degree weather (which feels like summer this time of year), only to arrive in central NY five hours later to overcast gloom and nothing but rain and snow.

Welcome home, Tony!

Despite the really crappy weather, it is nice to be “home.”  I placed home in quotations because the college is literally ten minutes from my home town, and part of the impetus for making the trip – other than the non-stop adulation, praise, and ticker tape parade that may or may not happen in my honor – was to be here for Easter and take advantage of Mama Gentilcore’s home cooking.

Which is to say:  I absolutely crushed some apple pie yesterday.

Nevertheless, to say it was an honor to be asked to come back and speak would be an understatement.

Note:  for those out of loop: I was invited back to my alma mater to speak to some of the Exercise Science, Kinesiology, and Fitness Development majors; as well as any graduate students or general public you didn’t want to watch Dancing With the Stars and come listen to me speak instead.

In fact, it’s been kind of a surreal experience.

I mean, back in the day, when I was an undergrad myself, I was about as nondescript of a student as they come.  And now, I’m expecting upwards of 50+ people to show up just to listen to me speak.  Unreal.

Everything started to kick into high-gear when, last week, THIS short write up popped up on the school’s homepage detailing (the Cliff Notes version anyways), what I’ve been up to in the year’s since I graduated, as well as giving people a sneak peak into the topic of my presentation, which I’ll be throwing down later today.

From there it’s been an avalanche of local media exposure.  I got a call from the school newspaper asking if we could set up a time for some photo ops, and then a local news talk radio station (in Ithaca) contacted me and wanted to do a 5-10 minute interview LIVE for their morning show.

And when I say live, I mean literally – LIVE.  I called in and the guy was like, “we’re on in 30 seconds!”  Thankfully everything went smoothy and I didn’t drop an f-bomb. Woo-hoo!

Afterwards I got in my car to make the quick trip to the main campus where the game plan was to speak to a Kinesiology class (the class of the professor who set this whole shindig up).  The vast majority of the kids in the class were aspiring personal trainers, coaches, and future business owners, so rather than stand there and bore them to tears talking about insertions and origins and blah blah blah, I wanted to take the time to impress upon them some of the traits and characteristics that I feel every fitness professional should strive for.

Namely, that success in this industry isn’t so much dictated by book smarts or just showing up to class – but rather, it’s about having an insatiable drive to always make yourself better, and that at the end of the day it’s important to understand that you’re not that big of a deal and that you need to put your work in just like everyone else.

Here are some of the main bullet points I hammered (within 50 minutes):

1.  Do you see this as a career or a hobby?  First and foremost you need to get comfortable feeling uncomfortable, because you’re not going to know the answer to everything.  But those who deem this more of a career, and something that they see as their future, will always try to find the answer and get better.

2.  Understand that you (probably) won’t make a lot of money right out of the gate. Visions of a six-figure salary and having a ton of disposable income is wishful thinking.  Statistically speaking most trainers burn out within two years, which isn’t surprising when you factor in 10-14 hour work day, 6-7 days per week.  Likewise, most trainers are NOT financially independent, work pay check to pay check, and often have to get a second job to make ends meet.

The point isn’t to be a Debbie Downer or to say that it isn’t possible to do very well for yourself.  But, if we’re going to be honest, and if we’re really going to prepare people for the “read world,” then this is the kind of stuff upcoming trainers and coaches need to hear.

3.  Don’t have more degrees than a thermometer.  HA – get it!?!?!?  Degrees?  Thermometer?  Okay, I’ll shut up.

An example would be Joe Schmo, MSc, CSCS, CPT, LMT, Who gives a s***.

Point blank, no one cares how many letters you have next to your name.  It doesn’t really mean anything.  Sure it looks cool and it will undoubtedly help open the doors to a few more opportunities, but it always comes down to a quote I’ve heard Mike Boyls state time and time again:

No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.

 

4.  I gave a quick quiz to the students, and asked how many could:

– Name all four muscles of the rotator cuff.  Which ones are external rotators?

– What’s the main function of the rotator cuff?

– Name 8 out of 17 muscles that attach to the scapulae?

– Name the only hip flexor which acts above 90 degrees of hip flexion?

– Explain the difference between a short and stiff muscle?

– Coach someone how to deadlift properly?

– Explain to a normal person why there’s no such thing as a “Fat Burning Zone?”

– Draw the Kreb’s Cycle. Blindfolded.

Okay, kidding on that last one.

But the point was – can they actually explain these basic things?  If not, well………..what does that say about this being a hobby or a career?

5.  Learn functional anatomy.  Not everyone is going to be an anatomy cyborg like Eric Cressey, Mike Robertson, or Bret Contreras. But it stands to reason that knowing your way around the human body is kind of an important trait to have as a fitness professional.

Admittedly, while I can get by and I can hold my own, anatomy is NOT one of my strong suits.  What’s important, and something I stressed to the students, is that it comes down to repeated exposures.  You’re not going to learn everything overnight, and if you hang out  around the likes of Bill Hartman you can’t help but feel stupid at times.

The omohyoid thingamjiggy does what now?

Read blogs, articles, and books.  Watch DVDs.  The more repeated exposures you give yourself to any given topic, the more likely, someday, the light bulb will go off.

Trust me:  it happens.

6. Be PROACTIVE as a coach!  Actually look like you give a shit!  Don’t just stand there and look like a zombie and count reps.  COACH your clients.

7.  But at the same time, don’t overcoach.  Someone’s squat may look like a train wreck waiting to happen and you may very well want to throw your face into a wall, but it’s important not to overwhelm someone and to learn to focus on 1-2 major things rathe than trying to perform a miracle.

8.  Try not to fall into being part of the status quo.  Don’t throw in all the “smoke and mirrors” into your programming for the sole purpose of looking different than everyone else.  Get people results, get them feeling better and moving more efficiently, and you’ll be doing your job.

9.  I feel EVERY upcoming trainer should spend at least 1-3 years working in a commercial gym setting.  Sure you’re going to have to fight the urge to pour battery acid in your eyes or to swallow live bees from all the asinine things you’ll see……but it’s one of the best ways to get better.  In what other setting will you have access to such a wide variety of clientele?  If you can teach a 45 year old CEO with the movement quality of an iceberg how to deadlift, you can teach anyone how to deadlift.

Sure you’re going to have life-sucking clients that will zap all your energy, but those are few and far between.  Having the opportunity to work with such a wide variety of backgrounds, goals, needs, injuries, etc will speak volumes as far as making you a better coach.

10.  Watch your social networking.  As a potential future employer, I can guarantee you that if you apply for an internship or job, we’re checking your Facebook and/or Twitter accounts.

You know all those pictures you have up from when you won that Beer Pong championship back in 2012?  Or all those posts where you called your ex-girlfriend every colorful name under the sun?  Yeah, you should probably take those down.

And those were just the tip of the iceberg.  I had a few other points that I made, but I feel like I’m just blabbering on now.

Anyhoo, the main show starts at 5 PM where I’m going to speak to a much larger crowd on things like assessment, program design, the season finale of The Walking Dead, and I’m sure I’ll go on a few rants or two.  Or three.

Until then I need to get rid of some pent up nervousness and go lift some heavy things.  Might as well go deadlift – of course!

Wish me luck……;o)

CategoriesUncategorized

Stuff To Read While You’re Pretending To Work: Core Strength, Should Trainers Assess, and Bench Press Voodoo

You know that feeling when you go on vacation and you come back and go to the gym for the first time and it’s readily apparent that you were on vacation?

Yeah, that was me yesterday after being away for over a week.

In my defense, while we were down in Florida Lisa and I did get plenty of activity in – we walked a TON around Miami and South Beach, made a few cameo appearances at a local commercial gym in her hometown (I was even recognized by a random woman training because I was wearing a Cressey Performance shirt!), and while Lisa went roller blading once or twice, I elected to head to the local park and do some bodyweight training and sprints for good measure.

But to say I did any hardcore training would be a big, fat, lie. Kind of like when someone on the internet claims he squats 500+ lbs for reps.  Ass to grass.  On one leg.

Although I did crush some pec deck chest flies at our friend’s condo gym right before heading out to South Beach, so that counts for something, right?

Nevertheless, it’s great to be back in Boston – despite the massive temperature drop, snow, traffic, complete lack of anything green, and general “Jonny Raincloud” attitude most people have around here this time of year.

Someone please explain to me why do I live in the Northeast again?

On a serious note, I am stoked to be back and I feel rested, relaxed, and ready to tackle a grizzly bear.

But I have an insane amount of work to catch up on – emails, programs, writing, as well as my presentations for next week’s appearance at my Alma Mater, SUNY Cortland.

That said, since I wrote a fairly epic post (in both content and length) on the plane back home yesterday, today I’m just going to offer some good stuff to read.

Enjoy.

Ask Dave: Why Is Core Strength So Important? – Dave Hedges

I felt this was an absolutely fantastic post by Dave on not only the significance of placing a premium on developing core strength, but what the actual FUNCTION of the core is in the first place!

Many people are under the assumption that the core only consists of those washboard abs you see on the cover of Men’s Health or Men’s Fitness every month.  While not entirely wrong, it’s not remotely close to the entire picture and is just the tip of the iceberg.

If nothing else, read this post for Dave’s genius water bottle analogy.  Awesome stuff.

Most Personal Trainers Shouldn’t Do Assessments (How to Collaborate) – Jon Goodman & Mike Reinold

This is a message that I, along with my fellow CP colleagues, are routinely hammering to the masses.  We live a unique bubble where we’re surrounded with a vast network of PTs, manual therapists, chiropractors, athletic trainers, the works.

While I like to think we’re smart dudes, we also understand (and RESPECT) the notion of scope of practice.

We do assessments at Cressey Performance, which is something I feel most (not all) trainers should be doing to some capacity. Whether it’s a the FMS, Assess and Correct, or playing musical chairs, some sort of movement screen or assessment should enter the equation when starting to work with a new client.

Doing so serves as the foundation so that you know what you need to do as a coach to address the needs/imbalances/weaknesses of your client.

The coup de gras, however, is understanding that our roles as personal trainers and strength coaches is not to DIAGNOSE anything. I don’t care how many books you read, how many DVDs you watch, or how many Holiday Inn commercials you watch (I’m not a doctor, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night), if you’re playing the role of physical therapist and you’re not a physical therapist, you’re setting a very dangerous precedent for yourself.

This is where going out of your way to establish a network of other fitness professionals that you can refer out to is crucial.

6 Stronger Bench Exercises – Todd Bumgardner

As someone who likes benching about as much as a Nicholas Sparks novel, I thought this article was bang on. I’m not built to be a good bencher, and I’ve (reluctantly) accepted that fact.  BUT, that doesn’t mean I’m forever going to cower in the corner in the fetal position and avoid benching altogether.

In this article, Todd offers some innovative and straightforward advice on how anyone can bust through their bench pressing rut.