CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work

Best Articles of 2018: Guest Posts

I’m very fortunate that number of quality coaches reach out and offer to submit articles for this site. Granted they have to promise to name their first born after me AND send me a bowl of yellow only M&Ms, but that’s a small price to pay for internet fame.

Thanks to everyone who pinch-wrote for me in 2018 and gave my fingers a brief reprieve.

I’m looking forward to seeing what’s sent my way in 2019….

Copyright: sirichai_123rf / 123RF Stock Photo

Best Articles of 2018: Guest Posts

My Top Shoulder Training Tips – Dr. Nicholas Licameli

This was a two-part article that Nicholas wrote back in January and it’s excellent.

Part I – HERE

Part II – HERE

5 Exercises to Help You Perform More Pull-Ups Without Doing Pull-Ups – Meghan Callaway

There aren’t many coaches I trust more to discuss anything pull-up related than Meghan.

8 Plank Variations That Don’t Suck – Michael Anderson

FYI: The plank pictured above sucks.

Tuning Tension: Getting the Most From Your Muscle – Noah Harrison

I listened to Noah speak in person on this topic and was transfixed by what he had to say. A conversation we had after the fact led to him writing this post for my site.

Ladies: Here’s Why You’re Not Getting Stronger – Lana Sova

LOVED this line from Lana: Less cardio and more Cardi B….;o)

CategoriesExercise Technique Program Design

8 Plank Variations That Don’t Suck

I know what you may be thinking.

“Really, Tony. An article covering planks? What’s next: Something on best exercises for a jacked Tibialis Anterior? Or, no, wait….NASCAR?”

I get it.

Planks aren’t the sexiest or most exciting topic on Earth. And they certainly aren’t an exercise that get people jazzed up to go to the gym and train.

Well, traditional planks aren’t anyway.

Today’s guest post by Cleveland based personal trainer, Michael Anderson, showcases some variations that may change your mind.

Copyright: dolgachov / 123RF Stock Photo

8 Plank Variations That Don’t Suck

The traditional front plank is one of the most well known and least useful exercises we have available to us.

There are various figures but the world record for a plank hovers between eight and ten hours. There are exactly zero useful strength exercises that you can do for eight hours.

The plank makes sense in theory: In that position you’re forcing your anterior core musculature to support your spine in a way it isn’t used to and will result in strength and stability increases.

Truthfully, it can be useful for this purpose, but it gets out of hand really quickly.

People always think that adding time to their plank is the right thing to do, but end up with some horrific Gollum-esque posture; neck cranked forward, low back sagging, butt up in the air just grimacing their way to an extra 5 seconds on their personal record.

I’m here to tell you that there are much better ways to train core stability (anti flexion / extension) than just hanging out watching the timer on your phone. In fact, I’ve got eight better planks you can try instead of the normal plank. I’ll even be a sweetheart and list them in what I believe is the easiest to hardest.

1. Foot March Plank

 

I like this as one of my first progressions from a static plank because it’s a very familiar position to most people.

Marching your feet just an inch or so off of the floor adds a substantial anti-rotation component to the exercise, and your client will recognize it very quickly.

2. Elbow Tap Plank

 

Like the foot march plank, this increases difficulty by taking away a point of contact but feels much more difficult than moving your feet.

I like to make my clients move through this very slowly and deliberately to help reduce the amount of hip swinging they get. I find it helps to keep your hands centered on your chest and adjust the width of your feet to increase or decrease difficulty.

3. Bent Knee Side plank with Clamshell

 

I actually think I dislike static side planks more than static front planks because people end up in really dog-shit positions really quickly.

A good “hack” to fix this is utilizing the bent knee side plank, which makes it easier to stay in a good position by shortening the length of the lever (your body).

To get even more out of this exercise, throw a band around your knees and hit a clamshell. You’ll be training anti-lateral flexion as well as a few aspects of your hips while you’re at it. I utilize these as both a core exercise and as a filler/activation exercise paired with squats or deadlifts.

4. Plate Drag Plank

 

This is very much a progression of the elbow touch plank and allows you to load it externally.

There are lots of other videos of people using kettlebells, sandbags and even heavy ropes to do these.

5. Side Plank with Wall Slide

 

The first time I did these was during Eric Cressey’s “Show and Go” program.

I saw them on the program for that day and watched his video and thought it would be no big deal.

Got set up for my first rep and as soon as I lifted my leg I folded like a chair.

My athletes have given this exercise various names like “The Devils Exercise” and “if I see this again next month I’m gonna punch you in the junk”.

But give them a shot, I swear you’ll like it…

6. Bench Plank with Row

 

This gets really brutal really fast.

I personally don’t really chase the weight of the row portion of the exercise as I prefer the plank to be the emphasis and to be controlled perfectly. It’s nice to get a little extra rowing in with this exercise, but always be in control of the dumbbell.

7. 8 Point Plank

 

I thought I’d throw a curveball at you by making the two most difficult variations here static planks!

I just learned this variation recently and it’s really pretty amazing.

I underestimated it at first and then found myself shaking like a leaf in a windstorm within five seconds of starting it.

Putting your knees on the ground and posteriorly tilting your pelvis will help to remove your quads and hip flexors from the equation and then moving your elbows out under your eyes lengthens the “bridge” a little more.

If it feels not so hard to you, then you really need to focus on that pelvic tilt!

8. RKC Plank

 

This is a static plank, but barely.

The technique described in the video is called the “Zip Up” technique and I like to go through those steps before every rep of this plank.

I typically ask my clients to do three, 10-second holds with a quick break in between each rep.

You end up with a 30 second plank, but the most intense 30 seconds possible. If you don’t say “holy shit” as soon as you finished, then you did it wrong.

Final Word

If you’re going to train your core, you might as well be doing something that’s legitimately effective and won’t take up 7 minutes per set.

Try these out and let me know how they go for you.

About the Author

Mike is a personal trainer and strength coach living in Cleveland with his fiance and adorable pit bull.

He is the owner of Anderson Strength and Fitness, the strength coach for Healthy Green Athlete and is an all around badass dude. You can follow him on Instagram HERE or shoot him an email at [email protected].

Categoriesfitness business personal training Uncategorized

The Importance of Client Retention

In today’s day and age being a personal trainer runs somewhere in the spectrum of one of the most rewarding careers out there and a dumpster fire.

The latter comes into play often, especially when you work in a large commercial gym where you’re one of dozens of trainers vying for everyone’s attention (and wallets). It’s seemingly become harder to separate yourself from the masses, and when you compound that with the long hours and the massive trepidation from many trainers to understand the business side of the equation, it’s no wonder the burnout rate is so high.

In today’s excellent guest post Michael Anderson he explains why keeping the clients you do have may be the “x” factor.

Copyright: dolgachov / 123RF Stock Photo

The Importance of Client Retention

This is sort of a weird post to write for me because I’m specifically speaking to the coaches and trainers that read Tony’s blog rather than the average Joe or Jane who just likes training and wants to be awesome.

It’s also weird because I don’t often talk about the business side of this industry…mainly because I’m a WAY better trainer than businessman.

Today’s lesson is one I learned probably 7-8 years ago and it should help anyone who heeds this advice make more money: retain your clients.

I don’t mean tie them up and keep them in the yoga studio, I mean make sure that once you get a client you’re keeping them for the long haul.

Many moons ago I was a personal trainer at a fairly upscale privately owned globo gym in Boston. Per the usual for a commercial gym like that they constantly pushed the trainers to sign new trainees up for sessions. The owners and manager went to great lengths to keep increasing new sign-ups. We offered two free sessions when you signed up for a year membership, several times a year we offered a special deal where you could buy three sessions for $99 and they started to give bonus incentives to trainers who signed up new clients for X amount of sessions.

The only problem was that this ultimately didn’t make anyone any money; neither the trainers nor the gym itself.

The two free sessions would work well if you had a really polished approach, but it took a long time to get comfortable with it. The sessions that we put on sale were a waste of time and effort; the “sales hunters” would wait until these were available and then buy a few of them with no intention of training beyond the length of those packages.

They’d do a few sessions and get some new ideas and then work out on their own until the sale became available again. As the trainer conducting these sessions, you were doomed to fail.

These people almost never wanted to continue as a regular client.

Providing a financial bonus to the trainers when you signed up a new client created a system where people were more interested in selling packages to get the extra money short-term than they were in building a solid long-term client base.

The result of this was that there were a lot of gym members who did a few sessions with trainers who were just trying to get paid vs enjoying quality sessions. Ultimately these people would now be harder to convince to use our training services again.

Why Long Term Is Better

As a personal trainer it is going to benefit you dramatically in the long term to have clients that come back to you month after month, year after year.

During my five year stint training at that gym, I had 8-10 clients who would train with me multiple times per week and that core group lasted for 2-5 years.

Most of these clients would purchase our largest package of sessions (52) which was sold as the “annual package” and resulted in the cheapest per session cost; my clients were going through 2-3 of them a year!

Out of about 35 available training hours per week, my schedule typically contained about 20-25 hours of long-term clients. The rest of my schedule was usually filled in with new members who were using their two free sessions. My conversion rate with these was pretty good, so my goal was to get them interested in training regularly and then I would pass them off to other trainers who had more availability or were just starting out.

I hate suggesting this, but its important thing to remember from time to time: your clients are your business and each one represents money to you.

In the grand scheme of things you will make more money having 3-5 people train 2-3 times a week each for multiple years than chasing new clients every month so you can get the bonus. 

I’ve heard a general rule when it comes to business marketing that it takes 5-10 times as much money to obtain a new customer as it does to retain an old one. In the personal trainer world this means it takes you more time talking to people on the gym floor, more time emailing and cold calling and more time doing intro sessions that I’ve always found to be much more draining and intensive than someone you’ve been working with for a while.

If you’ve ever had a day where you do 3-4 first time sessions with someone then you know what I’m talking about. Now, I’m not suggesting you should be opposed to doing all of those office-work things, but I feel like many of you would agree with me that it’s more fun to be in the gym coaching than it is to be sitting at a computer send out the same annoying email over and over.

via GIPHY

The other benefit is that when you work with someone for a long time and they really trust and appreciate you they will do the marketing for you.

These clients will tell other gym members and friends about how much they enjoy working with you. If you read Pete Dupuis’ blog (and you should) then you’d know that word of mouth advertising is the One Ring of fitness business advertising….it rules them all.

These referrals almost always produce a stronger client relationship than someone who just walks into the gym and says “yea I guess I’ll try a session with you”. If a person you’ve been working with for 18 months can produce one or two more people who will work with you for 18 months each, you’re doing really well.

But, How?

Unfortunately this is where I tell you that there is no secret formula to creating and retaining a good client base.

I think Tony’s blog in general is filled with great advice that will help you succeed in this regard; I know that it helped me tremendously back in the day when I was figuring this shit out (and still today). Other than that you just have to work hard and refine your technique.

It also really helps if people like you. No one likes working with a dick.

Make sure you take care of your current clients first.

Much like exercise, make sure you master the basics of good customer service first: be on time, don’t smell like hot ass, don’t let them see you pick a booger at the front desk, don’t complain about your personal problems during a session, don’t allow their time slot to get compromised because you’re a shitty scheduler, and ensure that you’re doing your part to help them meet their goals.

Personal training is both a soft science and an art form. You have to do what you know is right to help them achieve a goal, but you also have to relent a little on some stuff. If a client hates push-ups and you keep forcing push-ups on them, they will just say “F it” and not come back.

You’ve got to develop a broad enough range of methods and approaches that you can meet any client where they are and create an enjoyable training experience.

As a current small business owner, I’ve seen this scenario play out even more substantially than it did when I worked at a globo gym.

I don’t have the capital to spend on any advertising and showing up at high school sporting events to hand out business cards isn’t a great use of my time. It has become even more important that I focus on keeping the clients I have and slowly adding to my roster through word of mouth referrals.

While getting new clients in the door is important, I’d be a fool to not first take the best care of the people currently coming to train with me. Do right by those you train now and build on that slowly.

If you have any questions please feel free to reach out!

About the Author

Mike is a personal trainer and strength coach living in Cleveland with his fiance and adorable pit bull. He is the owner of Anderson Strength and Fitness, the strength coach for Healthy Green Athlete and is an all around badass dude. You can follow him on Instagram @AndersonStrengthFitness or shoot him an email at [email protected].

CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work Uncategorized

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 5/26/17

My cat is adorbs.

But lets get to this week’s stuff.

Copyright: urfingus / 123RF Stock Photo

 

Check This Stuff Out First

1. Updated Speaking Gigs – Bath, UK and Boston, MA

I’ll be in London in two weeks for the Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint with Dean Somerset. Unfortunately it’s a “closed” event for Third Space employees only.

However, I will be making a cameo appearance in Bath on Friday, June 9th at Lift the Bar to put on a quickie 4-hour lecture/hands-on workshop titled The Shoulder: From Assessment to Badass. If you happen to be located in that neck of the woods you can go HERE for more information.

ALSO.

My wife, Dr. Lisa Lewis, and I are excited to announce we’re putting on our Strong Body-Strong Mind Workshop in our home turf in Boston.

It will be a small, intimate affair, so spots are limited. No joke.1 Early bird price is now in effect ($199), and CEUs will be made available via the NSCA.

To purchase you can go HERE.

***As a reminder, Lisa and I will also be in Toronto, ON in three weeks for Strong Body-Strong  Mind, and early bird rate is still going on for Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint – Orlando in October. You can go HERE for more details on both.

2. Last Chance for Some Free Meat

The peeps over at ButcherBox are hooking my readers up.

I wrote about my experience with them earlier this week, but to summarize: they sent me some meat, I like meat, so now they want to send you some (free) meat too.

All this week readers of TonyGentilcore.com can get $10 off their initial order AND receive two additional, 10 oz. Ribeye steaks at no extra cost.

What’s not to love about that?

It’s a great service –  I mean, come on, meat, delivered to your door – and it’s soooooo good. The taste is readily apparent. Treat yourself. Go HERE and thank me later.

Stuff to Read

A Sound Mind in a Sound Body – Dr. Lisa Lewis

For some reason, especially in the fitness industry, people have this notion you have to persevere and “power through” when you’re feeling depressed or down.

If you hurt your knee or back when you train you attend to that right away

Your mental health is no different and is serious business. In her latest article for Girls Gone Strong, Dr. Lewis sheds some light on a very powerful topic.

3 Drills That Will Fix Your Power Clean – Michael Anderson

I don’t do a lot of OLY lifting, but when I do, I listen to Mike. He’s an excellent coach and this was an excellent article.

Understanding Pronation and Supination (and How it Relates to Overcoming Plantar Fasciitis – Rick Merriam

I thought this was a very interesting read and a nice reprieve from the “oh, your feet are fucked, might as well wear orthotics” diatribe.

Social Media Shenanigans

Twitter

Instagram

Here’s an example of how paying meticulous attention to details and using the right coaching cues can make the most seemingly simple looking exercise more effective. Last night I was guiding @therealalexandrashow through one of @bretcontreras1 booty circuits. We got to the Quadruped Band Glute Raise and I noticed Alexandra was getting a bit more movement though her lower back than I’d like (top video). This defeats the purpose of the exercise (which is to bootify the glutes. Kinda hard to do when someone sacrifices hip extension for excessive lumbar extension). I told Alexandra to engage her abs more and to ONLY get movement from the hip (bottom video). She immediately felt a difference and noticed waaaay more booty. Pay attention coaches. Even the most subtle tweaks can make a huge difference in how an exercise feels and where someone feels it.

A post shared by Tony Gentilcore (@tonygentilcore) on

CategoriesExercise Technique Program Design

One Drill to Build Athleticism?

Today’s guest post is not only the last guest post of 2014 (sad face), but comes from good friend and regular contributor, Michael Anderson.

Enjoy!

When you are in your first year of damn near any Exercise Science or Strength and Conditioning program in college, one of your professors will inevitably ask you to define “athleticism”.

One guy will always raise his hand and say “it’s being athletic” and you will laugh at him but really he’s sorta right. Having “athleticism” (to me) means that you contain and exhibit the traits of coordination/balance, power, strength and suppleness (the ability to absorb external forces and remain uninjured) as well as being able to tie those all together into the context of your sport.

As strength coaches, many of us are out there trying to figure out the best ways to improve and fine-tune the athleticism of our athletes. There are a ton of drills that you can use to try and do this, but my personal favorite is the medicine ball shot-put.

It, through several variations, can really do a lot in the way of increasing the way an athlete performs.

Note from TG: Not to take away from Michael’s thunder…..HERE’s a video I shot for Stack Magazine on how we coach some popular med ball rotational drills at Cressey Sports Performance.

Through the several variations I’m going to present, your athletes will be challenged in several ways.

– They will be required to exhibit a good base of balance in their lower body will producing a ton of force through their upper body.

– They will also be asked to demonstrate some coordination and proprioception while throwing the ball hard. If they are missing any of the “links” that connects their feet to the arm pushing the ball then they are going to get a pretty lame sound when the ball hits the wall. When an athlete is able to figure out how to connect each piece of the exercise they should get a really satisfying “pop” from the MB slamming against the wall.

On another note, I believe you should always err on the side of light when performing medicine ball work. I’m 6’1” and 210 pounds and in the following videos I’m using a 6# dynamax ball. Using a ball that is too heavy will result in the movement looking a helluva lot less crisp and explosive.

Half-Kneeling Shot Put


This variation is great for beginners because it takes the lower body totally out of the equation; the fewer things for a novice to think about, the better.

The half-kneeling position will allow the athlete to create a strong position to keep their hips stable while allowing for good torso rotation if you have the requisite mobility. Without the proper mobility, this drill won’t feel quite as powerful as it should and you’ll want to work a little more on your upper body and hip mobility. Athletes who have a tough time figuring out how to brace their lower body to create power will benefit from this drill as well.

Base Position Shot Put


This is the seated box jump variation of the shot puts. It requires the athlete to start in a complete stable base position and create forward propulsion of the ball without any countermovement whatsoever.

The big benefit I find with a static start like this is that athletes are forced to learn how to brace and fire muscles without just relying on momentum to get things going. Weaker athletes who tend to rely on their springs rather than muscles will find this drill awkward and will probably hate it a lot. This will also be a good opportunity for you to teach them how to drive off their back leg and snap their hip to create force from the ground up.

Rockback Shot Put


This is probably the first variation where your athletes are going to feel like they can produce some serious power. Start them in the base position and have them transfer their weight over their trail leg and load up their back hip.

Once they feel comfortable with their weight shift they can explode forward and pound the ball into the wall. This is my favorite drill to teach athletes how to drive off of their back leg to initiate the movement. This drill will allow for enough force production that they will start to need to bring their trail leg around for a little bit of a decelerative effect.

I like the rockback to be a controlled movement rather than just all-out ballistic. I feel that this allows the athlete to understand the movement that you’re looking for better than just trying to bounce off of their back leg to take advantage of the stretch-shortening cycle as much as possible.

Step-Behind Shot Put


All things considered, this is my favorite medicine ball drill. From the first time I learned it (from a CSP blog, surely) I knew it was a good way to produce a bunch of power. It took me a little longer to understand just how useful a drill it was to get athletes doing athletic things.

It’s a very complete drill: the footwork requires more coordination than you’d think, the forward momentum created plus the power from the throw requires the athlete to decelerate properly, and the lower body and upper body are doing two different things at the same time.

If the athlete is unable to link all of these pieces together they are going to end up performing a pretty flaccid medicine ball throw. Much like the rockback exercise, I think the step-behind portion of this is best performed with a measure of control rather than being completely explosive from the get-go.

Crow Hop Shot Put


This is the most technical medicine ball drill that I’ll give to most athletes; if they can’t perform the step-behind shot put without a high level of proficiency then asking them to perform this drill is going to be like watching a monkey hump a football.

The “crow hop” is a movement that baseball players use to gain some momentum in a short amount of time/space to create more power to deliver the ball further/harder.

We can use that same movement to our advantage to teach athletes how to create a bunch of power as soon as their feet hit the ground. This requires a high level of reactivity from the athlete, or else the movement will become awkward and cumbersome. Teaching an athlete how to transfer fluidly from one movement (in this case, a hop) into another one (a lateral push to throw the ball) will have a great carry over effect to their sport of choice.

Sport Specific?

I hate the phrase “sport specific” because it’s been so bastardized in the last few years, but these are some of the most sport specific drills that you can do in the weight room. Teaching athletes how to move laterally, create rotational force starting at the their feet and transferring it up into their torso and how to decelerate their body after force production will help just about any athlete in any sport.

Spend some time working these drills into your athletes programs over the next several months and take some measures to see how their performance increases. Have a great day and go lift some heavy shit!

Additional Commentary from TG

How we implement med ball work in our programming depends, in large part, on where we are in the year. In the very beginning stages of the off-season, our baseball guys are pretty banged up and the idea of throwing anything, much less a med ball, is about as enticing as a colonoscopy. That said we’ll still implement *some* med ball drills, albeit at a very low volume.  However, it’s not uncommon to OMIT then altogether depending on total innings pitched, etc.

Once we enter the meat and potatoes of the off-season we’ll hammer a TON of med ball drills. We’ll typically try to hit one rotational drill and one overhead drill (per training session) 2-3x per week. Although we’ll also divide it up like this:

Monday: Overhead Med Ball, Box Jumps, Lower Body strength training.

Tuesday: Rotational Med Ball, Upper Body strength training.

Wednesday: Movement (skipping, marches, linear sprint work)

Thursday: Overhead Med Ball, Box Jumps, Lower Body strength training.

Friday: Rotational Med Ball, Upper Body strength training.

Saturday: Movement (heidens, change of direction work)

Sunday: eat dead animal flesh.

As we inch closer to the competitive season and guys start throwing bullpens and preparing for Spring Training, we’ll tone down the med ball work and reduce volume significantly.

However, outside of rotational dominant sports (where it’s almost mandatory), placing med ball work into the mix regardless of what sport you play or if you don’t play a sport and you’re just Ron from Accounting or Hillary from Scottsdale, can be highly advantageous and fun!

What’s more, I’ve found that med ball training is about as close to a self-limiting modality as you can get. Meaning just about anyone, regardless of experience (and assuming there’s no contraindications), can implement it into their program without much of a learning curve and risk of injury. Granted you make look like you have two left feet out of the gate. But as with anything, with a little practice and consistency, you’ll look like an athlete before you know it!

Author’s Bio

Mike Anderson is a graduate of the UMass Boston Exercise Science program and spent a year interning with Boston University Strength and Conditioning. After spending five fun years physically developing absolutely savage doctors and teachers as a personal trainer in Brookline, MA he is now residing in sunny Cleveland, OH and works as a Performance Coach at Michael Johnson Performance at the Spire Institute in Geneva, OH. You can read his blog HERE or email him at [email protected] if you have any questions.
CategoriesMotivational personal training

Finding Your Niche as a Trainer or Coach

Not to rub it in or anything, but as I type these words I’m sitting poolside here in the Dominican Republic.

I’m on vacation!!!!

And while yes, I snaked away for a little bit to hop on the internet for a few minutes…….it’s all good, because Lisa is currently enjoying a cocktail…..;o)

We arrived here this past Saturday afternoon, and since then it’s been nothing but beach, pool, naps, and lots of delicious local delicacies (that is: if you consider an all-you-can-eat-ice-cream-buffet a delicacy.)  Holla!

It’s been an amazing trip so far. Every morning Lisa and I have been getting up early to move around a little – this morning it was sprints on the beach (the old men walking around in their Speedos were big fans of Lisa) – and the rest of our days are spent doing whatever the heck we want.  Hitting up the buffet, going for walks, reading on the beach or poolside, and people watching.  OMG – the people watching is EPIC.

Life is hard.

Nevertheless, I planned a head beforehand, and made sure I was still going to be able to provide some content while I was away.  Ie:  I bribed a few friends to fill in while I was away…..

Today I have a guest post Michael Anderson.

Enjoy!

I know that this post won’t apply to everyone who reads Tony’s blog, and that’s ok.

I know there are a TON of trainers and coaches (both new and seasoned) who read this blog for insight into training, exercise and maybe one of roughly seven million adorable picture of Dagny sleeping that Tony has saved on his computer.

Note from TG:  Well, since you asked……..

My topic today is going to be aimed at those new fitness professionals; I want to talk a little bit about how to “find your way” in this crazy world we call Fitness.

I found this industry a little bit late; I went back to school for Exercise and Health Science at 25 and just knew that I wanted to work with pro athletes.

I couldn’t see myself doing anything besides working with the Celtics and training Paul Pierce. Then, I moved on to thinking that the University setting was where I wanted to be; there’d be nothing cooler than being in a college weight room all day.

I’ve worked with athletes at every level (Olympic -> little kids) as well as every variety of general population client in multiple settings (even a gasp CrossFit gym), so I think I’ve developed some insights that will help you out.

Professional Sports

This is where everyone thinks they want to go, which is why it kind of sucks. You’ve got a thousand people applying for the same assistant strength coach job with a pro team, so they will take whoever is willing to work for the least amount of money.

 

If you’re actually able to get that job, you’re following whatever program the head coach is writing or you’re over-seeing the veterans while they do what they “know” is best for them after years of weight training.

Head coach jobs don’t open up very often, so you end up being an assistant or associate coach for a long time.

On the awesome side, you’re working with the best of the best. You get to see how elite athletes train and how they move on a daily basis. Watching this sort of thing gives you an amazing insight into what great movement looks like and what sort of training works with athletes of this caliber.

I’ve been consistently surprised at what athletes of this caliber are actually doing (right or wrong) in the weight room.

College Athletics

I spent a year at Boston University Strength and Conditioning, and loved it.

I got to be around high level athletes on a daily basis and worked with a really strong group of coaches. The athletes we had there didn’t have the entitled sense of “I’ve made it”, even the Olympians we had in the gym.

These are athletes who come in to work hard and understand what strength and conditioning can bring them.

You also have a ton of “touches” with athletes so you have space to experiment and see what works with different athletes at different times of the year; some of the coolest new research comes from college strength and conditioning.

The downside is the amount of red tape you deal with in the college setting (rules, regulations, sport coaches, sports med, blah blah) and the limited amount of time you actually end up seeing these athletes in the weight room.  Like pro sports, the money isn’t fantastic because everyone wants to work there, and the room for growth can be limited because people don’t vacate their jobs very often.

High School Sports

This can be a really cool position to hold, but tough to find.

There’s not a ton of money in most high schools, so you have to tailor your search. A lot of high schools don’t even have real weight rooms, so finding a job is tough. The ones that do, though, can be really rewarding and fun places to work.

My buddy went to a local private school with one of the best-equipped weight rooms anyone has ever seen, with a powerlifting team and a coach who uses the Westside Barbell system with fantastic success.

For most people this wouldn’t constitute a full-time job, but would make a great addition another coaching/training position. One of the downsides is that you get high school athletes and end up spending a lot of time teaching the basics over and over, and all the athletes end up leaving you before you get to see them at their best.

Private Facility

I currently work in a private training facility (THIS ONE) and it’s pretty cool.

We work primarily with post grad (prep year) and high school athletes and see a lot of regional kids after school.

Being in a private facility allows you to do whatever kind of training you want with the athletes and you don’t have to adhere to the rules/regulations of a college or a pro team. It also allows you to reach a broader range of people then you do in any other setting; you can get pro athletes, semi-pro, recreational, high school and just normal general population people all training together under one roof.

The downside, as the CP guys would attest to, is that it is a business at the end of the day.

You have to be sure enough that you’re as good as you say you are and then worry about where to get the clients from.

To open a private facility takes time, patience and money. Getting a job in one means you have to be really good. These places run off of their reputation and tend to hire very carefully. If you get to work at a good one, chances are high that you’ll get to see/work with some pretty high level athletes.

CrossFit Gym

Yeah, I’m including this too. Deal with it.

One of my best friends runs a CrossFit gym and I’ve coached some classes for him and loved it.

I wrote a blog post (HERE) on my own site about the direction that I feel CrossFit is headed.

While there are still very “CrossFit-y” gyms out there, there are quite a few headed in a much more traditional strength and conditioning direction.

Working in the right CrossFit gym is sort of a “best of both worlds” scenario: you get access to all of the fun toys that hardcore strength gyms have, but you get to work with gen pop clients that will be really grateful for the help you’re giving them.

When you’re doing this day in and day out for years, you come to really appreciate what it means to change someone’s life and have them be grateful for it. One of the other good things is that CF gyms tend to pay full-time coaches a little bit better than other gyms do.

The downside is that the market is so saturated that it’s tough to separate yourself from the herd; which is something I think will change soon. You also can’t stray too far from the CrossFit brand because that is what will bring people into the door in the first place. But if you know a CrossFit gym with good programming and coaches that you trust, it’s a pretty cool place to work.

Commercial Gyms

We have all done it.

Regular ol’ gyms are where you need to cut your teeth a little bit in this industry.

I personally learned a TON about myself, my style of training and how to get people to understand what they need to do to achieve their goals.

You can talk at someone till Tony pulls 600, but if you can’t make them understand then it’s not worth squat.

It can either suck or be awesome, depending on the gym that you’re in. It’s become more and more common to have big commercial gyms that have a room full of fun toys, but still have stairmasters and arc trainers out front.

In a facility like this, I could have a solid little career.

In a place where you’re not allowed to deadlift or make noise or have fun, it’s a little bit tougher.

At the end of the day, being in a place like this comes down to who your co-workers are and whom you’re training. I was lucky during my commercial gym career: I had some amazing co-workers and I trained some really fantastic people with whom I had great success. Don’t count out commercial gyms, there are some good ones out there.

Conclusion

There’s no perfect situation for anybody, that’s why we have all these options. In my humble opinion, I’d say that the most important factors you should consider when finding your place in this industry is your co-workers and clients.

Don’t ever catch yourself thinking that you’re “too good” to work with normal Joes or that it’s beneath you or you’ll spend a lot of time trying to get somewhere that you might not even like.

Have a great day and go lift some heavy shit!

Author’s Bio

I was an asshat and forgot to ask Mike to send his updated bio.  Until he does you can reach him with any questions, comments or notes of affection at [email protected]. You can also visit his website:  http://commercialgymtrainer.blogspot.com/

CategoriesExercise Technique Program Design Strength Training

Weightlifting For Everyone: How Anyone Can (Kinda) Olympic Lift and (Probably) Not Suck at It

Today is my girlfriend’s birthday.  And anyone who knows Lisa knows she looooooooves her birthday – to the point where it shouldn’t even be considered a birthDAY, but a birthWEEK.

In any case we have a jam packed day today – a late breakfast, a tandem workout “date,” and then we’re heading to a fancy schmancy spa for the afternoon.  Holla!  Followed by a decadent dinner of chicken wings and pizza.

Yeah, it’s going to be an awesome day.

Thankfully my good friend, Michael Anderson, who’s written several guest posts on this site before, came through in a pinch and sent along this gem.

Enjoy!

The topic of weightlifting  (when used as one word it references the sport of Olympic Style weightlifting) has become a hot topic lately and is polarizing in many ways.  Some coaches live and die by it and still other coaches won’t touch it with a 7-foot barbell. As usual, the answer lies somewhere comfortably in the middle.

Note from TG:  I wrote a post not too long ago on Why I Don’t Use the Olympic Lifts (<—-maybe you should check it out. It’s not as polarizing as the title makes it seem.  Promise).

With the popularity of CrossFit rising at a rapid rate, the sport of weightlifting has finally become something that the masses are aware of. For many years it has been the “other” iron sport; hidden behind the behemoths of powerlifting, the veiny striations and posing briefs of bodybuilding and the ESPN coverage of strongman. I myself have been training as a weightlifter with Coach Ivan Rojas of Risto Sports since last April and had been “training” (i.e. dicking around) for another six months prior to that.

The polarizing topic for many coaches is not whether or not weightlifting is beneficial for athletes, but whether or not it is beneficial enough to employ in their programming.

Some coaches, like Wil Fleming  have great success with it, while others find it cumbersome to teach and can do a host of other things in the time it would take to make someone proficient in the competition lifts (snatch, clean and jerk).

Note from TG:  speaking of Wil Fleming, for anyone interested in learning more about Olympic lifting I can’t recommend his resource Complete Olympic Lifting enough. While I don’t go out of my way to coach the OLY lifts, I still do own this DVD and think it’s fantastic.

I agree with both sides.

For some populations it’s just not worth teaching them all of the steps to have a decent looking snatch, or the stress that the clean and jerk can put on your wrists. Too, some athletes just shouldn’t have a loaded barbell overhead, and to do so would be irresponsible of the coach.

But that doesn’t mean they can’t benefit from some variations of the classic lifts that are both easy to teach and will produce some of the great benefits that you can get from the full variations. One of the marks of a great athlete is the ability to contract, relax and contract explosively all at the exact right moments; this skill is exactly what weightlifting is all about.

NOTE: these are NOT necessarily weightlifting-specific exercises, but variations that are applicable and beneficial to a certain population.

Also, know your population. If you are working with athletes with particular contraindications then don’t force them into an exercise they shouldn’t be doing. There are no contraindicated exercises, just contraindicated lifters (thanks Tony and Eric!).

Note II: I am not a professional weightlifter, I’m quite aware that my form is not perfect. If you have some constructive criticism please let me know, but don’t just remind me that I am painfully slow.

Power Clean

In terms of weightlifting variations that can help create better athletes, the power clean is at the top of the list. There’s not much that I could say about the power clean that hasn’t been said already (and said better than I’m able to), but it fits this list of variations very well.

You produce power, move big weights, get stronger and then dominate the world.

The biggest limiting factor would be the athlete’s mobility to pull off the floor or their ability to get their elbows around to catch the bar in the correct rack position. If your athlete can’t get down to the bar in a good position, then start them from a hang position or from blocks. If they can’t rack the bar due to mobility restrictions, then take some time and work on it; it’s not a particularly complex position and your athlete would benefit from the mobility required to do it.

(For the most in-depth look possible at this exercise, please refer to THIS post by Wil Fleming.

Snatch Pulls

Let me start by saying that I despise snatch pulls.

With Coach Rojas we finish almost every training session with a few sets of snatch pulls; it’s the dingleberry on the ass of a long, hard workout when all you want to do is shower and eat.

However, they are an exceptionally simple and beneficial exercise and are a staple in the program of nearly every weightlifter on the planet.

The snatch pull is the first half (give or take) of the full snatch and ends at complete triple-extension of the hips, knees and ankles. Complete a big shrug and use your hips to absorb the weight when it comes back down. If your athletes don’t have the mobility to get down to the floor with a snatch-grip, you can pull from blocks or from the hang position.

You can also try adding in a pause at the knees to help reinforce this position. This is a great way to develop a strong hinge pattern that transfers into powerful hip extension. It also does a great job of building the entire posterior chain.

Note: I don’t personally find snatch high pulls  to be a great lift to teach athletes. If you don’t fully understand how it carries over to the classic snatch then it’s too easy to form  deteriorate while they just try and muscle the weight up as high as they can. 

Jerk Behind The Neck

The jerk is the most violent and explosive movement in weightlifting and, arguably, in all of sports.

In competition jerks are done from a front rack position, but for training purposes jerks from behind the neck work because they don’t put nearly as much strain on your wrists and elbows.

The pre-requisite for this exercise is being able to support a loaded barbell overhead without putting yourself at any risk for injury. Assuming that, this exercise is a fantastic way to develop leg drive, uni-/bi-lateral lower body stability and a ton of core stability. You can use either a power-jerk (bi-lateral) or a split-jerk (uni-lateral) to complete the lift, and you can either eccentrically lower the barbell to your shoulders or you can use jerk boxes and just drop it to avoid any eccentric stress at all.

That’s It, Yo

At least one of these three variations should fit into nearly any training program for any athlete. The amount of time it takes to coach them is pretty minimal and the benefits that your athletes will be able to see are significant.

Add them into your program as your first exercise after your warm-up and, generally speaking, do 4-6 sets of 2-3 reps.

Do not use weights that require any sort of grind. The name of the game is power production (aka how fast can you be strong); so make sure the barbells are always moving at top speed.

Add these into your programs for a little while and see what kinds of benefits you can get. Have a great day and go lift some heavy shit!

About the Author

Mike is a Boston area personal trainer and also completed a successful stint interning with Boston University Strength and Conditioning.

Mike is also finishing his degree in Exercise and Health Science at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He loves bacon, beer and his 7 year old pit bull Lexi. You can reach him with any questions, comments or notes of affection at [email protected]. You can also visit his website HERE.

CategoriesExercise Technique Program Design

Med Ball Training Do’s and Don’ts

Today’s guest post comes to you from Michael Anderson, Boston based strength coach and personal trainer.  Mike has contributed a handful of posts on this site, and this one is yet another fantastic piece.

Enjoy!

The medicine ball is often seen as an archaic tool because they’ve been around for so long. Sand filled balls were used as training tools for wrestlers 3000 years ago in Persia and Greece. Savages who were preparing to do hand to hand battle were using these, and now they’ve been relegated to this; being used by dorky personal trainers to load their weak clients in a crappy exercise.

<=== Ahhhhhhh, My eyes. MY EYES!!!!!!!

Frankly, this is B to the S. This makes me as mad as seeing people using kettlebells instead of dumbbells for regular exercises like biceps curls or triceps extensions. The 18-pound kettlebell you’re curling with shouldn’t even be considered a real kettlebell! But I digress; that’s a topic for a different day.

Medicine balls can, and should, be used to make you explosive as hell. Notice that I used the word “explosive” and not “strong”. Medicine balls should be used in a forceful fashion; save the nice controlled tempo for barbells and dumbbells.

Note from TG:  although, to be fair (and I think Mike will agree), I’ll always encourage people to be “explosive” with their DB and BB exercises as well – particularly on the concentric or overcoming portion of the lift.

It’s just that with med ball training, the objective – ALWAYS – is to be explosive and to help develop power.

These things are strong (or should be). They are made to be tough, rugged and to take a beating. Unless you’re a medicine ball that is unlucky enough to be destined for Cressey Performance.

Note from TG (again): There’s no question that we absolutely crush med ball at Cressey Performance.  We used to use First Place med balls exclusively (pictured above), and had great success with them, but at some point they changed rubber manufacturers and their durability went down the tubes.

What once took a few weeks (if not months) to eventually break, turned into days…..sometime hours.

Now we use DynaMax med balls and love them.

Here are some of the most common medicine ball mistakes that I have seen during my time in both commercial gyms and strength facilities:

Not throwing the damned ball.

More often than not, when I see someone doing a medicine ball drill, they are simply completing the exercise in a fashion that could most aptly be described as “flaccid”.

Moving a MB with a submaximal force does nothing besides make you look like a turd. When you step up to do a drill, you should be prepared to produce the maximal amount of force that you can for the given exercise. This is not the time to be gentle: act like you are trying to kill something with the ball. Anything less and you won’t be getting the right training effect.

Hey there!  It’s me again, TG: Two great cues we like to use at CP when people are quote on quote “being turds” while throwing the med ball are:

1.  “It’s a ball, not an egg – THROW IT!”

2.  “Try to break the ball.  If you do, here’s a $20 bill with your name written all over it.”  Note:  you should actually have a $20 bill….;o)

Here is an example of how different they will look: one is powerful and awesome. One is lazy and foolish.

Using a ball that is too heavy.

A ball that is too heavy is going to limit the amount of velocity (v=d/t…check me out with the equation!) that you can produce.

The name of the game when throwing a medicine ball is to move it as quickly as violently as possible. Yes, you can argue, that throwing a heavier ball will result in the produce of more force (f=m*a).  This is true in theory, but not in practice.

Using a heavy ball will simply make you move slowly, and you want to move fast. If it doesn’t look fast, it’s not fast. Mike Boyle used to tell people to “make it look athletic”. Clumsily throwing a ball thats too heavy certainly doesn’t look athletic.

Using the bounce

This is a personal preference, to be honest. I find that it’s analogous to jumping back down after completing a box jump. I want each rep to be a separate entity so that you are only concerned about being able to produce as much force as possible for each rep.

Using the bounce of the ball allows you to move faster through the exercise, but not produce more force. While there is nothing wrong with the other way, I simply think too many people rely on it. There may be instances when you want your athletes to learn to quickly receive the ball and return it forcefully, but it’s a more advanced variation that has a more limited application.

Using them to mimic sporting movements

This is one that falls on the coach specifically. If any coach or trainer starts telling you, as an athlete, that they will be utilizing medicine balls/loaded balls to strengthen your sporting motion, tell them to sit on a blender. Throwing or shooting a weighted ball will do nothing but murder your mechanics and probably inflict some serious injury to your joints. A baseball weighs 5 oz and a basketball weighs 20 oz, performing your mechanics with a ball that is twice the weight will simply butcher anything you go do on the court afterwards.

Note from TG:  We do implement SOME weighted ball drills with SOME of our pitchers – typically at the end of their throwing session at a distance of 10 or so feet into the matting. But as a whole, they encompass a fraction (10-15 throws total) of their total throwing volume.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=JQWyRk0n1MM

Thanks for reading today! I hope you enjoyed it, and if you get a chance please go check this out (http://operationrun365.blogspot.com/) and help a great cause. Have a great day and go lift something heavy!

CategoriesMotivational

Can’t or Won’t

Today I have another guest post from personal trainer Mike Anderson.  He did such a good job with his last installment, that I invited him back for round two.

This time around, he’s kinda angry (and I like it!)

We’ve all heard it a million times; hell, most of us have said it that many times. I just can’t do that!

As a trainer, I hear this way more than I’d like to admit to.

 I just can’t do another rep!

 A 7 a.m. session? I can’t wake up that early!

 Stop eating muffins and eat more meat?? I just can’t!

The more I hear it, the more I want to drop a kettlebell on my own balls. Is it really something you can’t do? Or is it something that you’re not willing to do?

This is really frustrating to hear because people come to me to get results. Nobody pays a trainer to stay exactly the same; everybody wants to improve something. Whether it’s to get rid of their low back pain, get stronger or get abZ you can bounce a quarter off, of people want results.

Why, then, are you not willing to do what it takes to get those results?

Get your ass out of bed and go to the gym. Go for a walk – do something!  I don’t care. The extra hour of sleep in the morning isn’t going to make a difference anyway; if you’re that tired, go to bed earlier.

Dan John always says that the hours of sleep you get before midnight are more important than the ones after midnight. (There’s no science to that, but if Coach John says it, it’s got to be true.)

Note(s) from TG:

1.  For those who aren’t familiar with Dan John (shame on you), HERE’s a post I wrote a while back highlighting some of his more memorable quotes from his book Never Let Go – which is required reading for ANY fitness professional (or anyone remotely interested in fitness for that matter).

2.  There actually is some solid research backing the whole notion of getting more sleep BEFORE the hours of midnight as opposed to after.  While I don’t have any studies to link to offhand, myself, Eric Cressey, Dan John, and a host of other coaches often state to our athletes and clients that one hour of sleep before midnight is worth two hours after.

Of course this isn’t to say that this applies to everyone, and maybe even more pertinent to the conversation is that it’s more important to go to bed and wake at the same time each and every day depending on body’s “internal clock.”

They say that variety is spice of life.  If you’re taking cooking classes or practicing the Kama Sutra, this is true.  BOM CHICKA BOM BOM.  Sooooooooooo, true.

With regards to sleep, however, you’re much better off staying the course and being consistent with your sleep patterns than to throw your body a curveball and head to bed and wake up at different hours throughout the week. 

Okay, enough with me, lets get back to Mike’s epic rant.

Just work hard! Your trainer should know your limits and the right way to push you; if he or she doesn’t get a new trainer.

Another option would be to find a good training partner, because, you know, training on your own kind of sucks.

A good training partner can make a world of difference in the way you work out.

Stop eating like a child – eat like a grown up! Seriously, if there’s anything that makes me want to jump off a cliff more it’s when I hear a client say this:  “I just don’t have the time to cook”

This a total bullshit excuse. Everybody is busy (yet we somehow manage to find an average of 4.5 hours PER DAY to sit in front of the television). Everyone has friends, family and a career to deal with. If your goal is to lose weight or gain muscle, you must find the time to spend in the kitchen cooking your meals. You don’t have to be Julia Childs either; every meal doesn’t have to be five courses. Make something simple that tastes good and fuels your body.

Try. Just try! The worst is when someone says “I can’t do that” without even trying. How do you know what you can or cannot do? The limits to what you can do are set only by your mind; if you just try I bet you’ll surprise yourself with what you’re actually capable of.

Have a great day, and go lift something heavy!

Author Bio:  Mike is a Boston area personal trainer and currently interning with Boston University Strength and Conditioning. Mike is also finishing his degree in Exercise and Health Science at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He loves bacon, beer and his 7 year old pit bull Lexi. You can reach him with any questions, comments or notes of affection at [email protected]. You can also visit his website:  http://commercialgymtrainer.blogspot.com/

 

CategoriesUncategorized

Every Choice Counts

Today’s post comes to you from personal trainer, Michael Anderson*. I first met Mike a little over a year ago when, after exchanging a number of emails back and forth, he reached out and invited me to train at the gym where he works which happened to be in the same neighborhood where I had just moved.  

So, in a way, he was stalking me…..;o) 

Okay, not really. But in the year or so since, he and I have developed a friendship and he’s definitely someone whom I feel “gets it.”  He loves to help people, is constantly learning and trying to make himself better, and he loves to lift heavy stuff.  

He’s good people in my book.  In this post he delves into what choices we make and how they dictate our results.

Enjoy!

As a personal trainer almost every client I see is trying to make a change in his or her life. Whether that change is more exercise, nutritional changes or how to incorporate more Jay-Z lyrics into their daily life, everybody has changes to make.

Dealing with these changes is a tricky issue. After all, in a commercial gym setting I’m dealing with adults with careers and families. It’s not always as easy as saying “get over it and do it”, unfortunately.

One approach that I like to take with my clients is an idea I got from Jim Wendler. I want my clients to “win every play”.  You make a ton of decisions over the course of the day, just like there are a ton of plays within a football game. If you focus on winning every play instead of the game, the end result will be a victory. If you focus on making every choice a good choice over the course of the day, you’ll end up with a pretty good day.

With that being said, if you focus on having more good days than bad days, you’ll have a good week. More good weeks than bad weeks, and you’ll have a good month. Can you smell what I’m cooking here?

Your choices start first thing in the morning. The first choice you’re faced with is if you should wake up on time or hit snooze for another 25 minutes. That right there sets up the tone for the rest of your day.

If you sleep later than you’re supposed to, you won’t have time to make your breakfast. That means you’re either going to skip it or get some crappy breakfast sandwich at Dunk’s or Starbucks.  This sets you up to continue making poor choices throughout the day.

You’d be more likely to eat pizza for lunch, skip the gym and go to happy hour after work where you will probably get drunk and cheat on your significant other your co-worker. Don’t be that person!

If you woke up on time, though, you would have time to make your bacon and eggs breakfast. You’d get to work early and your boss would notice.

They would take you out for lunch and offer you a promotion. Then you’d go to the gym, deadlift 500 pounds and go home where your significant other would be waiting with a grass-fed sirloin, The Shawshank Redemption on TV, and some naked-time. Boom goes the dynamite!

Don’t get caught up in how “good” your day was (in terms of nutrition and exercise), just consider how good each play is.

Those of us who aren’t elite athletes or celebrities have real lives and real problems. No matter how good your intentions are things are going to come up. You will have to go to a business lunch sometimes; if your breakfast and dinner are on point then you can get away with one “not great” meal.

Your significant other may want a date night when you had a workout planned; if you made sure all your other workouts were on point then you can miss one without any real consequences (just don’t make it a habit).

To sum it up, I want you all to remember that each decision you make throughout the day counts. Whatever your best option is, choose it. It may not always be the best choice in the world, but it’s the best choice you can make at the time. If you get stuck going to the business lunch, make sure that whatever you order off of that menu is the best choice possible. Don’t say “screw it, I’m going to have the pasta with alfredo sauce” just because you can’t eat your normal lunchtime meal.  On the contrary, if you do make a bad decision, remember that it doesn’t ruin your whole day or week. Make sure your next choice is the right one.

Have a great day and go lift something heavy!

Author Bio:  Mike is a Boston area personal trainer and currently interning with Boston University Strength and Conditioning. Mike is also finishing his degree in Exercise and Health Science at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He loves bacon, beer and his 7 year old pit bull Lexi. You can reach him with any questions, comments or notes of affection at [email protected]. You can also visit his website:  http://commercialgymtrainer.blogspot.com/

* Anderson =  For full effect you need to say Anderson in a slow, drawn out tone, like “Mr. Annnnderson.”  You know, like Agent Smith in The Matrix when he walks up to Neo.