I’m writing this from the beautiful city of Chicago.
I got here yesterday because I’m presenting at an Equinox today to a group of their trainers, talking shoulders and stuff.
Lisa and Julian are en route from Boston as I tap away on my keyboard, and it’s her first time flying solo with him.
Remember that scene from Taken when Liam Neeson’s character is talking to the dude who kidnapped his daughter on the telephone and after his epic “I will find you, and I will kill you” monologue, all the kidnapper says is “good luck” and then hangs up.
Remember that?
Well, “good luck” babe…;o)
Copyright: wamsler / 123RF Stock Photo
BUT FIRST…CHECK THIS STUFF OUT
1. Coaching Competency – Dublin, Ireland
This is happening Sunday, September 8, 2019 (save $100 using Early Bird rate)
So what happens when a room full of Irish(w0)men find out I’m not much of a drinker?…;o)
Whether you get paid to tell people to lift heavy things or you just like to lift heavy things yourself, in this 1-day workshop you’ll get the opportunity to listen to me talk about my how I approach assessment and gain a better understanding of how I “match” the exercises I prescribe to better fit the needs, ability level, and more importantly, the anatomy of each individual I work work.
In short, this workshop looks at the “umbrella theme” of my coaching philosophy.
For more information – including itinerary and how to register – go HERE.
3. Strategic Strength Workshop – London, England
This is happening the weekend of September 14-15th, 2019 (save £50, Early Bird rate ends THIS WEEKEND).
Luke Worthington and I have presented this workshop twice. Once in London last year and again this past June in Boston.
We’re bringing it back to London this Fall, my most favorite place in the world.
This two-day workshop is designed to arm fitness professionals with all the tools they’ll need to hone their assessment skills and to make their clients/athletes a bunch of bonafide, resilient, strength training Terminators.
Combined Luke and I have ~40 years of coaching experience (or one Dan John) and bring different perspectives and skill-sets to the table; Luke peels back the onion on PRI (Postural Restoration Institute) concepts and assessment, while I go into detail breaking down movement and how to better “match” the exercises we prescribe to our clients.
For more information – including itinerary and how to register – you can go HERE.
SOCIAL MEDIA SHENANIGANS
Twitter
Woke up to this morning to this message in my inbox:
“F*** you bro, deadlifts are way overrated keep f****** up, your spine I’ll enjoy life at 60 while your in a wheelchair and bedridden you rat.”
Grip (or lack of it) can often be a limiting factor when it comes to making progress in the weight room. Strength and conditioning coach, Jarrod Dyke, offers some simple and effective tips to help with that.
Being a business owner (and running a business) is always a delicate balance between setting rules and drawing a line in the sand and knowing when to pick your battles when someone “breaks” those rules.
Personally, whenever I have someone who’s a beginner (“newbie”) reach out asking me to write their programs online I’ll encourage them to seek out a personal trainer IN-PERSON to work with.
There are just too many other variables and nuances involved when working with beginners.
That said, if you ARE going to do it read this article.
Melbourne, Australia: July 19-21st and Melbourne Strength & Conditioning. (<— Includes bonus “Psych Skills for Fitness Pros” pre-workshop with Dr. Lisa Lewis).
This will be the only time Dr. Lisa Lewis and I will be presenting this workshop together in 2019. In previous years we’ve presented it in Boston, London, Toronto, Bonn (Germany), and Austin, TX.
This 1-day workshop is targeted towards fitness professionals and digs a little deeper into what really “bogs” them down and stresses them out….
…their clients!
Click THISlink for more details on topics covered as well as date/cost/location.
3. Talkin Entrepreneurial Shenanigans w/ Adam Rees
Adam Rees of GRIT Gym invited me onto his new “chat” and we covered things like my new gym venture, the industry in general, and, I don’t know, the fact I wasn’t wearing pants during this interview?
I used to think it was cool (and I was doing the industry a favor) being an uppity coach who said stuff like “walking is life, stop saying it’s exercise.”
….It’s the (Even More) Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint.
A bunch of wordsmiths we are.
With this iteration, though, we’ll be going a bit deeper into the coaching and programming side of things:
How to program around common injuries.
How to “connect” the appropriate exercises to the client/athlete.
How to squat and deadlift like a boss.
All registrants to this course (as well as future dates in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Los Angeles, Detroit, Philadelphia, Minas Tirith) will receive a free download of CSHB 1.0 so that you’re up-to-speed on the content Dean and I will be covering.
I’ve had to decline speaking at this event in the past due to prior engagements1, but I’m headed to San Jose this year baby.
And I…..am…..pumped.
I’ve never been to the Bay area so I’m excited for that. But I’m even more excited for the THREE days of melt your face knowledge that’ll be under one roof.
The line-up is spectacular and I’m honored to be included amongst such esteemed company – Pat Rigsby, Mark Fisher, Molly Galbraith, Kellie Hart, Craig Ballantyne, and Scott Rawcliffe, to name a few.
I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m sooooo pumped for The Punisher on Netflix. Now, I wouldn’t say I grew up a big Punisher fan growing up (remember that Thomas Jane movie back in the late 90’s early 2000’s?), but I am a big fan of Jon Bernthal and was intrigued by his playing of the character in season two of Daredevil.
Between that and Lisa’s birthday this weekend I’ll have a ton to keep me occupied.
Of, if you prefer the Cliff Notes version: if you’re a human being and looking to follow a 4-month program that’s designed to get you strong, maybe get you a better bicep peak, not kill you, and take into account you’re not 25 anymore (and written be two competent coaches) this program may be right up your alley.
It would be hard for me to think of one coach who has helped shape my career and way of thinking when it comes to training people more so than Mike Boyle.
I remember the first time I met him back in 2005 when Eric Cressey and I drove from Danbury, CT to meet up him, Alwyn Cosgrove, and Valerie Waters at some seedy Irish bar after the three of them had finished presenting somewhere.
Admittedly, at the time, I had zero idea who Mike was. But Eric quickly set me straight and told me he was a pretty big deal. I went home that night, purchased Functional Training For Sport and never looked back.
I’ve watched every iteration of Functional Strength Coach and I still think his book, Advances in Functional Training, is still one of the best books I’ve read in strength & conditioning and one that really “meshed” things together for me as a coach.
So needless to say, here we are with another fantastic Mike Boyle project…this time diving deep into his brain on the topic of core training.
It’s Mike Boyle. This is gooooooood.
And, unfortunately, you only have until the end of today (11/17) to purchase this at the sale price of $50 off regular price.
Very thorough and a very fair look into the Keto Diet.
Social Media Shenanigans
Twitter
Worry less about what correctives/activation/mobility drills you need to do to fix chronic injuries and more about taking a hard look at overall training volume. Maybe that’s the fix. You’re doing too much.
Ever wonder what some of the best coaches/trainers say their favorite mobility drills are? Squat regressions? Favorite exercise in general? No? Well, too bad.
Shane McLean asked some well-known coaches (John Rusin, Meghan Callaway, Meg Julian, Eric Bach, and myself) what some of their favorites are. Go learn something.
My favorite food is potatoes. I’ve never met a potato I didn’t like yet.
My favorite movie line is “I feel the need, the need for speed.” I’m pumped that Hollywood is making a sequel to Top Gun. I’m already counting down the days to its release next July.
I wonder if they’re going bring back Goose from the dead?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O1ZhHts8MI
Bring the subject back to exercise, my favorite move is deadlifts. If left to my own devices, I’d deadlift, do some curls, slam down some coffee and then go home. However, my coach makes me do a bunch of stuff I hate but really need.
That’s what great coaches do.
Great coaches also have their go to exercises that end up in most of the programs they write. Usually, you need to attend a seminar or deep dive the internet to find out what the smartest minds in the fitness industry are doing.
However, let me save you the trouble. I’ve asked some of the industry biggest names about their go to moves and exercises they never go without. Who knows, you might learn something.
Tony Gentilcore. <– That’s Me
1) Number One Foam Roll Drill. And Why?
My #1 foam rolling drill comes in the form of a brief rant. Now, mind you, understand I am a fan of foam rolling and do encourage my clients to partake prior to each training session. Or after, I don’t care.
This is my ” go to” series.
That being said I do feel many people place too much credence/emphasis on foam rolling. I can’t tell you how many people have come to me seeking advice on why this hurts and that hurts and why they can never stay healthy. Whenever this happens I’ll inevitably ask them to show me their warm-up.
Fast forward 30 minutes.
Yeah, that’s right….it’s not uncommon for some people to spend upwards of 30 minutes (sometimes more) foam rolling. Foam rolling. After that long even Sting, a proponent of something like 7-hour tantric sex sessions, would be like, “come on already, let’s get it over with.”
When this happens, I’ll come straight out and say it: “THAT’s why you’re always hurt.”
People need to get out of this delicate flower, corrective exercise bubble mentality. Sure, foam rolling helps…but not for the reasons most people think. Do it if it makes you feel better. But get the eff off and go TRAIN.
2) Number One Mobility/Flexibility Move. And Why?
My favorite move is the Yoga Push-Up Complex.
I like it because it’s ONE move that hits a lot of trouble areas for most people:
T-Spine Extension & Rotation
Hip Flexor Length
Glute Activation
Hamstring & Adductor Length
Scapular Protraction & Upward Rotation
About the only thing it doesn’t address is small biceps….;o)
3) Your Number One Squat Regression. And Why?
Slowing people down.
Lets discuss this under the guise of butt wink and squatting. It’s a thing.
Basically, it’s a less nerdy way of informing someone “dude(tte), you’re running out of hip flexion so you’re compensating with excessive lumbar motion.”1
Many think the culprit is tight hamstrings. Nope.
The hamstrings are bi-articular muscle crossing both the knee and hip joints. When we squat (go into deep(er) hip flexion) the hamstrings shorten at the knee and lengthen at the hip; there’s very little net increase in length.
When butt wink occurs it’s almost always a lack of tension issue. Meaning, often, there’s lack of pelvic control either due to one of two scenarios:
Lack of strength/stability.
Lack of motor control.
If your trainer tells you it’s because of tight hamstring he’s a dickwad.
In either case one of the best ways to address it is to slow down. You need to control slow before you can control fast. Coaching people up to adopt a better bracing strategy (core on, spread the floor with feet, PULL down into the squat in a controlled manner) will make a significant improvement for most.
On an aside: what may present as a mobility issue (unable to squat deep) may just be a stability issue. Adding a slight anterior load (plate or Goblet Squat) can fix things quickly.
4) One Exercise You Cannot Do Without. And Why?
I know most people who read my stuff think I’m going to say deadlifts here. But I’m not. I think the one exercise I do the most – and incorporate into my client’s programs the most – are carry variations.
What’s not to like about them? They work on core stability, hip stability, posture, grip, and take little to no coaching to perform them. And, they can be done with dumbbells, kettlebells, various barbells, people, you name it.
Just don’t make these common mistakes:
Trainer Meg J (I Guess It’s Like a Self-Titled Album)
Touch Down, or a wall slide, on a foam roller. Not an actual rolling drill, but a great chest opener and client favorite. Much of the general population (and even athletes), battle “Upper Crossed Syndrome“.
Due to how much time we spend behind computers, looking down at phones, or sitting behind a wheel or TV, our necks and shoulders begin to round down and in. This can be a factor in neck, back, and shoulder pain, as well as impact breathing. This drill allows gravity to help naturally open the tight chest area.
2) Number One Mobility/Flexibility Move. And Why?
Wall slides. Like the Touch Down on the foam roller drill, wall slides help opens the chest, engage the back muscles, and bring more blood flow to those areas.
3) Your Number One Squat Regression. And Why?
Goblet squat with raised heels. Goblet squats are excellent for building anterior core (abs) strength and maintaining balance while learning the movement pattern. If someone has tight calves, or several other potential lower body issues, adding plates under their heels allows them to move more smoothly.
4) One Exercise You Cannot Do Without. And Why?
While I’m tempted to pick the phenomenal, almost as good as bacon, exercise of the Deadlift, my final answer will the ASLR (Assisted Straight Leg Raise) with band. This exercise is incredible for building core strength, teaching tension, and getting the hips and abs to work in unison.
Meghan Callaway, Strength Coach
1) Number One Foam Roll Drill. And Why?
Truthfully, I don’t do much with the foam roller. In most cases, I find that when you prioritize stability, the need for foam rolling is much less. While rolling out your quads might feel good, I don’t think it will make or break your performance or overall health.
Many people expend too much of their time energy aimlessly using the foam roller, when their time would be better served focusing on improving other areas of their overall health and fitness.
Note From Tony:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAryFIuRxmQ
2) Number One Mobility/Flexibility Move. And Why?
I will occasionally use the foam roller to perform thoracic mobility drills, particularly flexion and extension. Of course, whether I use this drill will depend on the individual, and their unique needs.
I like to use the roller to perform band resisted hamstring curls, a single arm push-up/roll-out combo, or ab roll-outs, but obviously these are not flexibility/mobility drills.
3) Your Number One Squat Regression. And Why?
The goblet squat is one of my go-to squat regressions. This exercise helps people master the squatting movement and acquire the requisite levels of technique, strength, and controlled mobility so they can progress to performing more advanced squatting variations.
I also like the landmine squat for the same reasons. (Are Meghan and John Rusin related?)
Negative Goblet Squat
Negative 1.5 Rep Goblet Squat
4) One Exercise You Cannot Do Without. And Why?
I can’t pick one exercise, so I’ll choose two. I cannot go without trap bar deadlifts, and pull-ups, particularly some of my crazier ”play” variations.
It’s important to understand that just because you are utilizing the foam roller as a tool doesn’t necessarily mean that you are addressing soft-tissues. The foam roller can be a powerful manipulator of position in the spine, pelvis and extremities due to the acute force angle it has the ability to create.
So, do I view the thoracic spine foam rolling technique as a self-myofascial release technique? No. I view it as a corrective exercise that addresses the mobilization of the thoracic spine. Like this for example.
2) Number One Mobility/Flexibility Move. And Why?
Single Leg Adductor Rock Back with T-Spine Rotation
Most people have lost the ability to stabilize their pelvis and lumbar spine. This is a problem since the lower portion of the spine is anatomically designed to be stable; it functions best under low amounts of relative movement.
Creating super-stiffness at the pillar is nonnegotiable if you’re a lifter. It starts with positioning the pelvis and lumbar spine together synergistically. But achieving a position is vastly different than maintaining a position, especially when there’s a heavy barbell on your back.
That’s where this movement comes in. It’ll help you brace your core by creating tension in a controlled environment. You’ll relearn what stability should actually feel like.
3) Your Number One Squat Regression. And Why?
Landmine Goblet Squat
This variation provides the full body stability benefits of placing a load into the anteriorly loaded goblet position, but also aids in the balance and coordination requirements of the squat pattern by increasing the ground contact between the barbell and your hands.
Instead of just having your feet in contact with the ground, the barbell is in contact as well.
The unilateral position of the barbell also alters the strength curve, pushing you back into your hips further and further as you ascend deeper into the squat pattern. This characteristic is what makes this variation of the goblet squat the logical starting point for rebuilding the movement pattern from the ground up.
4) One Exercise You Cannot Do Without. And Why?
Trap Bar Farmers Carry.
For long-term orthopedic and functional success, you should be able to pick up a heavy object, stabilize, then walk with it. The inability to do so is a sign your grip is fragile and that you’re susceptible to chronic issues in places like the lower back, shoulders, and elbows.
Not many gyms have dumbbells that go up into the 200’s, so don’t think carries are limited to dumbbells. If you want to train grip with continuous progressive overload, the trap bar or farmers-carry handles, which can be loaded with weight plates, are your best bet.
Why: Chances are you’re spending hours each day in a crouched, internally rotated position which leaves you with poor posture and terrible thoracic mobility. And chances are you like to hoist heavy bench presses every Monday despite your shoulders screaming at you.
While I’m not going to tell you not to bench press, I will tell you to combat poor posture and battle back against achy shoulders with the side lying windmill on a daily basis. Posture takes time to improve. This simple drill attacks one of your biggest weak points to long-term, pain-free training.
2) Number One Mobility/Flexibility Move. And Why?
Groiner with T-Spine Rotation
Why: The groiner with the t-spine rotation attacks two common weak points: hip and thoracic mobility.
By killing two birds with one stone you’ll open up pain-free ranges of motion to improve both upper body and lower body training during a warm-up.
3) Your Number One Squat Regression. And Why?
To improve the squat patterns, I’ll move clients from a typical back squat all the way back to a bodyweight squat to a box.
Why such a regression?
It’s much easier to rebuild a movement from the beginning than taking a stab in the dark with other regression models. By doing a body weight squat to a box you’ll reinforce basic mechanics from holding an active foot position to properly shifting the hips back, pushing the knees out, and bracing the abdominals without weight.
Often, this simple regression will progress quickly through the following process: bodyweight squat to box>bodyweight squat>goblet squat to box>goblet squat> goblet squat with 5 second eccentric> barbell squat of your choice.
4) One Exercise You Cannot Do Without. And Why?
Front Squats.
For starters, front squats require hard work, which most gym goers avoided like the bubonic plague, opting to post every gym P.R. and dozens half-naked selfies on Instagram. Further, few exercises match the high-performance benefits of the front squat.
Anterior bar placement keeps the torso vertical, preventing the hips from going into an excessive anterior pelvic tilt, and requiring incredible core strength to prevent flexing forward.
Anterior bar placement forces lifters to attain an upright posture, decreasing shear stress on the spine, a bonus for minimizing back pain.
Front squats require scapula and clavicle elevation and upward rotation to keep the elbows up and the bar in proper position. This requires the traps, serratus anterior, levator scapulae, rhomboids, and lats to work in conjunction to hold position and prevent you from dumping the bar forward.
This gets you yoked and prevents you from developing smeagol like posture.
Wrapping Up
I hope you take this new-found knowledge and apply it to your own or client programs. These exercises will have you and your clients moving and feeling better and crushing life.
And it didn’t cost you a dime.
About the Author
Shane “The Balance Guy” McLean, is an A.C.E Certified Personal Trainer working deep in the heart of Texas. Shane believes in balancing exercise with life while putting the fun back into both.
Note from TG: be sure to scroll all the way down for some bonus material.
Wow – it’s September already. It’s Labor Day weekend here in the States, which means summer is more or less over, and so is any chance of me getting a sick tan this year. Noooo.
There’s no sense whining about it. It is what it is. Lets jump right into this week’s list of stuff to read.
A quick reminder that Dean Somerset and I will be hosting our last LIVE event together of 2016 next month (weekend of October 15th) in Minneapolis, MN.
The stellar folks at Movement Minneapolis were kind enough to offer their four walls to host our Complete Shoulder & Hip Workshop. You can check out all the details along with sign-up information HERE.
Also, speaking of the workshop, Dean and I filmed it last Spring over in Norway and are planning on releasing it as an 11+ hour digital product titled the Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint in the next coming weeks. Catchy title, right?1
We’d still highly recommend attending a live event if you ever get the chance to do so; each one is always a little different and nuanced. However, the likelihood Dean and I will ever travel to North Platte, Nebraska or, I don’t know, the country of Moldova is slim. No offense North Platteians, I’m sure it’s a lovely place to visit.
Filming the event and making it into a digital product is going to get our information into more hands, which is kind of the point: we want to help more fitness professionals do a better job at assessment and writing effective programs, as well as helping non-fitness professionals better understand anatomy and exercise technique.
I love, love, LOVE that this kind of information is starting to “bleed” into the mainstream media. I also love that names like Brett Bartholomew and Vern Gambetta – two highly respected strength coaches used in this story – are the go to sources.
Next time someone tells you how they need to “mix things up in the gym to keep the body guessing”…
Roll your eyes
Tell them the reason why nothing never works for them is because 1) they’re probably not working nearly as hard enough as they think they’re working and 2) adherence (and allowing enough time for something to stick) is going to trump any “muscle confusion” protocol.
I really liked this article by Dr. Berardi, and not for the reasons you might suspect. It DOES NOT shit on Dr. Oz (which, frankly, is easy to do).
Rather, it’s about learning how to better coach your clients, and how to best set them up for success and weed through the crowded fad diet bonanza.
BONUS
My good friend Mike Robertson invited me onto his phenomenal Physical Preparation Podcastearlier this week. Mike’s a big deal and one of the coaches I look up to most. His podcast is also one of the most informative ones out there and I never miss listening to it myself.
I was honored to be invited on, especially considering the caliber of coaches who have appeared prior to myself. I mean, who the eff am I?
We had a blast catching up and discussing everything from assessment, a typical training session, CORE, and of course, my cat.
I am not a perfect coach. While I feel I’m above average in my abilities, I’ll be the first to admit I have many “gaps” in my knowledge-base.
Some things I’m good at: coaching the barbell lifts, assessment, hand-to-hand combat vs. zombies.
Some things, not so much: Olympic lifting, speed and jump training.
I’ve written about my thoughts on Olympic lifting in the past, and it’s been within recent months that I’ve decided to take a more proactive approach to addressing my gap in speed & jump training.
I’ve been devouring resources from Lee Taft and Adam Feit on the topic.
To that end, today’s EPIC post, written by strength coach Eric Bach, continues said gap narrowing.
FTY: his new resource, The Power Primer 2.0, just went on sale this week at 50% off the regular price. It jumps (<– HA, get it?) into jump training; and why, even if you’re not an athlete, is something you should be incorporating into your training program(s) to become a lean, mean, machine.
Enjoy. It’s a VERY thorough and informative post.
Jump Your Way to Power Development
Here’s a new twist that answers an old question: how can you bridge the gap between performance-oriented training and physique training?
Can you really look great and improve athletic performance, no matter who you are?
Put more bluntly, can you really have it all?
And does it matter where you train?
The surprising answer has more than a little to do with jumping, of all things.
WTF?
But let me back up to set the stage.
A few months ago, I moved from a sports performance facility to an independent facility. I work with fewer athletes and more people who just want to look great naked and stay healthy.
Note from TG: Hey! Just like me!
Most trainers try to move in the opposite direction. They train general population clients, but really want to train athletes.
It’s been quite a transition. But I noticed something interesting. None of my clients – old or new, in-person or online, athlete or ordinary Joe — JUST have physique goals or JUST have performance goals. Everyone wants the total package.
And why not?
Everyone wants to be confident struttin’ down the beach to jump into a Volleyball game, whether they are 26 year-old ex-athletes or 50-year-old executives.
Here’s the secret: explosive intent is everything. This blog post will explain how you can jump your way to success.
For every high-performance gym with turf and bumper plates, there are 30 “regular” gyms packed with machines and dudes reading the newspaper on a preacher curl.
Being jacked, tan, and strong is nice. But it’s best to top off your physique with real-world athleticism.
Jumps improve performance for recreational athletes.
Jumps build stronger, more powerful legs.
Jumping requires explosive hip and knee extension. It’s the same movement needed to accelerate in sprinting, crush a heavy squat, and to a lesser degree, get you from your Lazy Boy to grab leftover pizza.
Key Point: Jumps Increase Your Athleticism
You need to generate strength quickly to generate force that propels your body (or an object) through space.
That’s where jumps come in. Incorporating jumps into your training bridges the gap between the strength you have and the speed you need.
Get Powerful with a Minimal Learning Curve
Just load up and jump, right?
It’s not quite that simple, of course. But it’s a lot simpler than learning how to clean and snatch.
Jumps work the same athleticism-developing movement pattern as most Olympic lifts, squats, and deadlifts: explosive hip extension, sans the technicalities and steep learning curve.
Compared to mastering the Olympic movements, jumps provide the best bang for your buck to add an explosive component to your training in any gym environment.
Boost your Deadlift and Squat Numbers
Let’s get all rigorous and sciencey and stick to the irrefutable facts, backed up by the finest peer-reviewed literature. We know with certainty that:
Tony likes Star Wars and deadlifts (P.S: Imagine if they did deadlifts in Star Wars?)
Donald Trump’s mullet is the same color as mustard.
Strength serves as the foundation that allows you to improve every other quality in the gym.
Digging into my third point, maximum strength is vital. But lifters would benefit from an occasional change.
They should add explosive training to further improve their strength gains. Even the strongest lifters will derive huge benefits to adding jumps to their training.
The reason is improved nervous system efficiency. In both the deadlift and the squat, extending the hips and knees with power is key to performance. The same holds true for crushing jumps.
Adding jumps to your training grooves the same hip and knee extension movement with lighter weights and more explosiveness.
This is huge for two reasons: Intramuscular and intermuscular coordination.
Don’t let these complicated terms intimidate you. I’ll break it down:
Intramuscular Coordination is the ability of individual muscle fibers (say your quads in a jump) to fire and generate force together.
Intermuscular Coordination is firing of muscle groups to work together in a movement pattern, such as your quads, hamstrings, and glutes contracting and relaxing during the jump.
By training similar movement patterns with various loads, like a heavy squat and a jump squat, you’ll teach your nervous system to recruit more muscle fibers to fire faster. And you’ll groove agonist and antagonist muscles to produce smoother movement.
Training with explosive movements improves your muscles ability to work individually and concurrently with other muscles, producing stronger and more explosive movements.
This is important for a few reasons:
Lighter, more explosive exercises are less stressful than always lifting heavy ass weights.
Lifting heavy weights is still important to build strength, but for most lifters less Central System and joint stress is a good thing.
Replacing a heavy strength session with explosive, sub-maximal exercises opens the door for multiple training improvements.
Because stress is lower, you’re capable of practicing a movement pattern more often for faster improvements in technique.
By and large, less stress allows you to train with more volume. This sets the table for progressive overload and muscle growth.
Keep doing heavy strength work. But consider making it less frequent. Use explosive jumps or sub-maximal speed squats as an alternative.
Jump to Prevent Injuries
We all know someone who’s played flag football or pick-up basketball, only to land awkwardly and shred a knee.
Sometimes, these are the guys that look like they’re in the best shape.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t always matter how strong and athletic you are. If your mechanics stink, your injury risk will skyrocket.
If you’re not performing an exercise right or landing correctly, you’re grooving a technique that’s dangerous and inefficient, whether it’s a squat or a jump.
When you get out the gym and onto the field, fatigue can set in and form can go out the window, leading to injury
In the interest of not winding up thigh deep in a leg brace, it’s best to groove optimal mechanics every time you jump. Here are some guidelines:
1) Your feet should be flat, rather than in an anterior weight displacement on the toes. If you’re landing on your toes, you’re not getting full hip extension and limiting power. And you’re placing more stress on the knee joint due to greater shear stress.
2) Knees should be neutral, rather than in valgus or varus (knees diving in or diving out, respectively).
3) Abs braced: any rounding of the back and trunk shows a power leak that will cascade down the kinetic chain and place stress on the hips, knees, ankles, and feet. Keep the abs engaged so you can absorb force and transfer power.
4) Eyes ahead, chest up: Stand up, keep your head down, and walk ten stops. Starting to trip over your toes yet?
Wherever your head goes, your body will follow. Keep your head neutral and eyes ahead, otherwise the rest of your mechanics will go out the window.
Activate More Muscle Fibers For Growth
You can’t build muscle fibers that aren’t activated. That means step one to building muscle is activating a greater number of muscle fibers.
That happens in two ways:
First, Lift heavy weights. By being a dedicated reader to this blog I’d assume you already are. Just sayin’…
Second, lift lighter weights (or your bodyweight) faster, which…this case means jumping. TADA!
Now, you could argue that except for beginners, neither lifting explosively nor heavier weights directly builds muscle. What they do-do (Yay, a poop joke) is increase neural drive to your muscles, activate dormant fibers, and crank up the efficiency of your central nervous system.
Take it a step further. If you only lift heavy and moderate intensity weights, adding in lighter more explosive exercises improves muscle unit recruitment. You’ll be throwing a figurative lightening bolt to your nervous system.
This is where it gets cool! You’ve activated more muscle fibers and your strength should increase.
By being stronger, you’ll be able to lift more weight for more reps with more muscle fibers. This gets you progressive overload: the driving force for all progress in the gym.
Getting more explosive provides another tool to turn on muscle fibers. This allows you to more aggressively train the muscle building mechanisms needed to get jacked, tan, swole, and sexy.
This is all fine and dandy, so what the hell are we supposed to do…Jump Volume Training?
Not quite. We can’t jump to conclusions. First, lets cover different types of jumps and why each variety is important.
Static Versus Countermovement Jumps
Static jumps and countermovement jumps look similar, but there are distinct differences in how they train your body.
On static jumps you start loaded, just like the bottom of a squat before jumping. In this position you negate the storage of elastic energy, making the static squat jump a great way to build static strength and explosiveness. Further, because there’s no countermovement, these jumps are less complex and generally safer for most lifters.
Static Jump:
Countermovement jumps differ because you start tall, using a downward arm swing while dropping into a squat. Then, from the bottom of your squat you rapidly extend and jump.
This countermovement makes the jump more complex, adding a full eccentric motion (dropping into a squat) before rapidly transitioning to your concentric (going up).
Note: I’m using dumbbells in this case, hence no countermovement with the arms, but there is still a countermovement in the lower body.
Countermovement:
I’d recommend starting with static jumps for at least 4-6 weeks to groove proper take off and landing technique. Then, as dictated by technique, incorporate countermovement jumps for more complexity.
Single Versus Multiple Jumps
As you guessed, single jumps are done as individual jumps within a set, with a re-set between each rep.
Most of the time, these are a better option to groove technique and train explosive power.
Multiple Jumps are a set of jumps performed in rapid succession. In this case, a set of 3 jumps would be 3 squat jumps performed with a consistent range of motion without spending too long in transition.
This transition time, known as the amortization phase, should be kept to a minimum. Otherwise, energy stored during the eccentric of each jump dissipates.
Bring in multiple jump sets gradually, grooving proper landing and takeoff mechanics before going all-out with multiple jumps.
Types of Jumps
If you haven’t squatted in years it would be a bad idea to load the bar with near-maximum weights and giver’ hell, right?
Right?
Well, the same thing applies to jumps.
Jumps are stressful, especially if you haven’t done explosive training or played sports in years. So ease into jumps, starting with jumping rope, building up to box jumps, squat jumps, and then broad jumps (if appropriate.) You’ll groove technique while conditioning the tissues in your lower body for the impact of jumps.
Jumping Rope:
Jumping rope is an exceptional tool to build foot speed, athleticism, and coordination with little space or equipment. Start by adding three to five minutes before and after your training. A huge benefit of jumping rope is it’s a rate limiting activity. The exercise ends when your technique breaks down, making it damn near impossible to jack yourself up.
Box Jumps
Box jumps, when done for power rather than a conditioning exercise, are a great tool to building explosiveness. Box jumps are an ideal candidate if you’re working on technique because they allow you to groove takeoff and landing technique while reducing joint stress on impact.
On each jump make sure you’re emphasizing hip extension—not testing hip mobility. Pause at the top of each rep to reinforce landing technique. Use another box to step down onto. Jumping off backwards defeats the purpose of focusing on technique and decreasing joint stress.
Squat Jumps
Squat jumps are an explosive lower body exercise with a short learning curve, making them perfect for most non-athletes. Start jump squats as static, single jumps before moving on to weighted or multi-rep jump sets.
Broad Jumps
Broad jumps are awesome for developing explosive hip extension in a more hip dominant manor than squat jumps. This may lead to more carryover on hip dominant exercises like deadlifts…along with activities that require horizontal power development, like sprinting.
But with a horizontal trajectory comes a caveat: increased shear stress on the knee, making broad jumps tougher on the joints.
To minimize joint stress, perform broad jumps for lower reps and focus on jumping up and out to reduce shear stress on your knees.
Adding Jumps into your Routine
Squat jumps are an explosive exercise ideally programmed after a dynamic warm-up and before lifting.
To increase your hops and potentiate your body pick one type of jumps once or twice per week.
Focus on technique and explosive intent, not high volume. Try 2-4 sets of 3-6 reps on lower-body training days.
1) Workout A: Lower Body, Squat Dominant
Full Dynamic Warm-Up
1a. Static Squat Jump 3×5 Rest 60 seconds
1b. Plank 3×45-60 seconds rest 60 seconds
2. Front Squat 4×6, 6,4,4 Rest 120-150 seconds
3a. Dumbbell Walking Lunge 3×8/each rest 60
3b. Half kneeling pallof Press 3×8 each rest 60
4. Dumbbell RDL 3×12 rest 90 seconds
2) Workout B: Upper Body
3) Workout C: Lower Body, Hinge Dominant
Full Dynamic Warm-Up
1a. Broad Jump 3×3, rest 90 seconds
1b. Single arm farmers walk 3×30 steps, rest 60-90 seconds
2. Deadlift 4×4, 4,2,2 Rest 120-150 seconds
3a. Barbell Single Leg RDL 3×5/side rest 30 between sides, 60 after set
3b. RKC Plank 3×20 seconds, rest 60 seconds
4. Goblet Bulgarian Split Squat 3×8 each, rest 30 between sides, 60 after set
Height isn’t the most important factor, form is.After all, there’s no point in building power on top of a faulty foundation. Keep your focus on full hip extension and sound landing mechanics.
Then, once you’ve nailed your technique, progress to dumbbell and/or multi-response jumps.
A progression of exercises would be:
Bodyweight single response –> bodyweight multi-response –> dumbbell/vest single response –> dumbbell/vest multi-response.
Next Steps: Power Up Your Training Today
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Help me, help you. You deserve a plan that gets you the best results.
I’m heading back to my old stomping grounds this weekend in Upstate NY.
Tomorrow I’ll appear at my alma mater – SUNY Cortland – along with Mark Fisher, Dr. Cassandra Forsythe, Dr. Spencer Nadolsky, and Dr. John Brand for the SUNY Cortland Personal Training Conference.
[If you’re in the area – Syracuse, Rochester, Ithaca, Hoth – you should totally stop by. Day of registration is super affordable.1]
And then on Sunday I’ll head down to Elmira, NY to hang with my boy Jim “Smitty” Smith for a 1-day workshop I’ll be doing at New York Sport & Fitness.
Introducing new exercises to people is all about building context. This was a brilliant idea from Harold on how to use a hamstring bridge to better build context for the bent-over row.
I’m taking the day off from training clients tomorrow to head to Ranfone Training Systems (CT) to listen to Dan John speak.
My wife had to re-schedule a glass blowing class she had signed us up for months ago, because I was like “babe, it’s Dan John. Come on.”
And I totally got out of it. Thanks Dan John!
1) A quick reminder that I will be in Frisco, TX on Sunday, December 27th doing a 1-day workshop on “The Athletic Shoulder” at Full Throttle Athletics. I’ll discuss things like upper extremity assessment (static and dynamic), why the term “shoulder impingement” is garbage, how to write effective programs around certain shoulder pathologies, coach up a few exercises, and probably talk about Star Wars. Because, Star Wars.
2) Here’s your “Save the Date” for the next Motivation and Movement Lab hosted by Mark Fisher Fitness in NYC: Feb 20-21st.
I had a blast earlier this year speaking at this event, and am so honored I was invited back for 2016’s iteration (also featuring Pete Dupuis, of Cressey Sports Performance, Artemis Scantalides of Iron Body Studios, and Steven Ledbetter of Habitry.com)
Cressey Sports Performance pitching coordinator, Matt Blake, attended last weekend’s Pitch-a-Palooza down in Nashville, TN and shared some things he learned while down there.
TODAY (12/11) is the last day to take advantage of the generous discount (half-off) of “the Jens” thorough strength training program.
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So whether you’re looking for a little direction yourself or maybe have someone else in mind who might benefit, take advantage now because UP goes up in price at midnight tonight.
Today’s guest post comes courtesy of strength coach and writer Eric Bach. Eric’s a coach I respect a lot and someone who’s consistently pumping out quality content.
– Lift heavy and lift fast to maximize muscle unit recruitment
– Incorporate bodyweight and explosive, submaximal work.
– You’ll bridge the gap between strength and speed to become a beast!
Here’s the deal:
Most lifters mistakenly think their goal should be getting as strong as humanly possible. Not so. They should focus instead on improving power. This article explains why.
Sure, maximum strength is important. It builds a foundation to train other physical qualities. But there is an added dimension that separates the okay form the elite: Power: or the ability to generate force rapidly.
Athletes in sports other than powerlifting run into time constraints when applying as much force as possible. This results in strength plateaus and poor carryover into sport-specific tasks.
Neglecting power leaves huge performance gaps. It results in athletes who are unable to translate their strength into success on the field.
This Power Primer will show you how to:
* Unlock a nervous system that fires faster
* Create greater levels of useful strength
* Create greater levels of strength
* Improve your ability to generate force
* Rapidly improve your athleticism
Understanding the Force-Velocity Curve (and Pie)
When looking at the force velocity curve I think of pie (Mmm…pie!)
Maximal strength provides the essential crust. It’s the foundation for a great pie. But you also need finger lickin’ filling, toppings and spices. Think of the fillings, toppings and spices as the ingredients that make the pie unique.
Without the foundational crust a delectable pie isn’t possible. It’s purely mush, much like training for speed and power without a base of strength.
Without careful attention to the other ingredients, there is nothing special about the pie. This is akin to having a base of strength, yet never refining the basic product for maximum performance.
Which brings us to the force velocity curve. It provides a continuum of training for performances and actions that require different speeds against a variety of loads. These could include:
propelling your body though space
throwing an opponent to the ground
engaging in a free for all light-saber battle over that piece of pie
There’s an inverse relationship between load and velocity. The heavier the weight, the slower it moves and the lighter the resistance the faster the speed.
These qualities make up opposite sides of the spectrum, with speed-strength, strength-speed, and power making up the middle of the curve.
Building Explosive Power
Training with a combination of loads improves all-around explosive power, assuming there is a foundational crust of maximal strength.
Unfortunately, most lifters and coaches love hammering huge weights (nuttin’ wrong with that) to the detriment of higher speed movement (something wrong with that.).
This adds adding cheap, canned fillings, toppings, and spices to the pie to an awesome pie crust. Worse still is adding nothing at all. You just end up with the crust.
Stop chasing absolute strength. Most athletes and lifters would derive immediate benefits from lighter, more explosive training that bridges the gap between strength and speed.
Train the factors along the force velocity curve you’ve been neglecting. You will become a more powerful athlete.
That said, you must have a base of maximal strength to develop power.
To maximize power, focus on maximum bar speed with various loads. You will develop strength and speed along the force velocity curve. You will improve your power and your rate of force development. Use heavy weights with fast bursts, such as 3×3 at 90% 1-RM two times per with maximal muscular (2).
Improve Intramuscular and Intermuscular Coordination
Intramuscular coordination is the secret sauce that separates smooth, explosive athletes from rigid, uncoordinated ones. Intramuscular coordination is the coordinated firing of motor units within a single movement.
There are three main components when looking at when looking at improved intramuscular coordination:
Rate Coding: The capacity to increase firing rate (motor unit discharge rate) in order to express more strength.
Recruitment: Recruiting more motor units simultaneously when performing a muscular action.
Synchronization: The ability of muscle units to contract nearly simultaneously, with very minimal delay.
Through using multiple loads across the force velocity curve we’re able to improve intramuscular coordination. In time, this teaches the nervous system to recruit fewer motor units for the same relative intensity.
More motor units are available for activation for higher intensity exercise. That could translate into more weight on the bar or a faster sprinting speed.
How to Generate Maximum Force When Lifting
Few things, except coming home with the pie you’ve been eyeballing all night, are as fun as lifting maximal weights.
That said, too much pie (and maximal weights) isn’t good either.
Except for the rare genetic elite, your nervous system, joints, and tissues will scream at you before too long. Luckily, there are two ways to maximize force when lifting:
Lift heavier weights
Lift lighter weights (or your body) faster
Lift compound movements like squats and deadlifts as fast as possible, while still controlling each rep during the eccentric. By moving weights as fast and as hard as possible, you’ll recruit a greater number of muscle fibers for more muscle growth. You’ll also maximize nervous system recruitment for greater performance.
Submaximal Weight Training
Speed-Strength exercises, like sub-maximal lifting, result in high power outputs.
They produce super-high power outputs compared to longer duration, lower velocity max strength exercises.
Compare a tractor-trailer and a Ferrari. It’s great to have a ton of horsepower, but for high-performance it’s best to generate horsepower rapidly.
Power= Work/Time
In this case, explosive exercises are best using loads between 20%-85% for multiple low-rep sets is best (1). If I were a betting man, I’d wager you’re already using a sub-maximal squat day plus multiple warm-up sets between 50-80% 1-rm.
If you’re warming up like a good lad, you’re already getting some volume within the strength-speed realm.
Here’s the Kicker:
The missing piece is lighter, more explosive work.
Speed-strength movements will address this with high-velocity movements movement against a small external load. Exercises like the jump squat, back toss, and overhead slam train an explosive transition from eccentric-to concentric against a light load.
For the athlete or lifter, this requires practicing a specific movement (intermuscular coordination) patterns for optimal transfer.
For example:
Athlete Movement: Triple Extension in sprinting
Training Movements: Resisted sprinting, clean, squat jump
Or…
Athlete movement: Powerlifting Squat
Training movement: Barbell jump squat
To maximize the benefits of intramuscular coordination, exercises of mechanical demands should be practiced with various loads to improve the efficiency of the nervous system.
In time, this teaches the nervous system to recruit fewer motor units for the same relative intensity.
How to Immediately Improve Your Power
Provided you already have your foundation of strength, you can rapidly improve your power with a few tweaks to your training.
First, you need to continue training with heavy, multi-joint exercises and explosive intent on reach rep. This maximizes motor unit recruitment, improving RFD.
Second, when warming up accelerate every rep to the best of your ability. This trains in the strength-speed and speed-strength portion of the force velocity curve, specifically with loads between 20-80%.
Third, incorporate light speed, and speed-strength training methods with low-movement load (0-20%) and high-speeds. This comes in the form of jumps, sprints, throws, and other upper/lower body plyometrics.
Fourth, match the explosive movement patterns used to the movements you’re looking to improve using post-activation potentiation (PAP).
PAP, although an advanced method, uses the biomechanically similar exercises to groove explosive movement patterns after a heavy strength exercise.
For Geeks Only: How Does it Work? (Pie-Loving Regular People Can Feel Free To Skip this Section)
According to Hamada et. el (2000), there is an increased phosphorylation of myosin regulatory light chains during a maximum voluntary contraction (MVC). This allows the actin and myosin binding (for muscle contraction) to react to the increased calcium release. This reaction triggers a cascade of events leading to enhanced force muscle production at the structural level of muscle (Horwath & Kravitz ).
Thus, increased muscle activation yields a greater duration of calcium ions in the muscle cell environment, yielding a greater phosphorylation of the myosin light chain protein (Rixon et al. 2007).
The second theory is based on the H-reflex, an excitation of a spinal reflex elicited by afferent muscle nerves. It is theorized that the PAP intervention enhances the H-reflex, thus increasing the efficiency and rate of the nerve impulses to the muscle (Hodgson, Docherty, Robbins, 2005). Your nervous system get’s jacked up full-go.
When a jump is performed, your body is prepared to fire on all cylinders. So when only your body weight is used, the over-stimulated nervous system and muscles will be primed to the max for a higher jump.
Here are some Common Pairings:
Main Exercise: Explosive Movement:
Bench Press Clap Push Up, bench plyo push up
Shoulder Press Overhead medicine ball slam/ throw
Squat Jump squat, vertical jump, box jump
Deadlift Broad jump, kettlebell swing
What to do: Pick an explosive exercise that matches the movement pattern of your main lift and perform 3-5 reps immediately after your pure strength movement. Rest 2-3 minutes between sets to achieve a PAP effect
Wrap Up
Most lifters plateau in the gym and stay mediocre because they continue doing what they’ve always done in the past. They lift only heavy and focus only on the weight or muscle. They neglect rep quality and explosiveness. This mistaken approach is not performance training.
A solid strength foundation remains essential. Build on that foundation to focus on:
* quality explosive reps to improve neuromuscular performance
* rep speed
* movement quality over quantity
Now, It’s Time to Put the Plan to Action:
If you’re looking for a short-term plan of attack to improve your strength and athletic performance, then check my resource the Four Week Power Primer. It’s a four-week plan to increase your power for bigger numbers in the gym, and better performance on the playing field.
If you’re a coach, you should absolutely own this to understand the science of power, as it’s loaded with the science behind improving performance.
If you’re a meathead just looking to add some strength to the bar, then great: This could be the missing component holding you back from smashing a new PR.
Seriously, don’t wait, because the chance won’t be available for long.
Grab the Power Primer during the limited time sale, and leave Eric any questions you have below.
Horwath, R., & Kravitz , L. (n.d.). postactivation potentiation: A brief review. Informally published manuscript, Exercise Science , Retrieved from http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article folder/postactivationUNM.html
Rixon KP, Lamont HS, Bemben M. Influence of type of muscle contraction, gender, and lifting experience on postactivation potentiation performance. J Strength Cond Res. 2007; 21: 500–505.
Robbins, D.W. Postactivation potentiation and its practical applicability: a brief review. J Strength Cond Res. 2005, 19(2): 453-458.
change.
By training similar movement patterns with various loads, like a heavy squat and a jump squat, you’ll teach your nervous system to recruit more muscle fibers to fire faster. And you’ll groove agonist and antagonist muscles to produce smoother movement.
There are three main components when looking at when looking at improved intramuscular coordination:
