Program Design – Tony Gentilcore

Subtle Tricks to Increase Motivation With Personal Training Clients

Being married to a psychologist has it’s disadvantages:

I have to talk about my feelings.
All
of
the
time

There are some perks, however. Most of what “drains” me as a coach isn’t so much the x’s and o’s of writing programs or the ability to figure our what may be the root cause of someone’s shoulder pain. Those are pretty much second nature at this point in my career.

No, what drains me the most is figuring out people.

Specifically, what motivates one person to workout (and stick with it) as opposed to what makes the next person do the same?

It’s a quagmire to say the least, and often takes far too much mental gymnastics for my liking.

Copyright: seventyfour74 / 123RF Stock Photo

Autonomy = The “It” Factor to Getting Results

This is where my wife, Dr. Lisa Lewis, comes in.

Before we met, anytime I worked with someone who seemingly lacked discipline or “chutzpah” to get after it in the gym…I’d often resort to some tough love.

I’d assume (s)he didn’t want it enough and my default was to question their work ethic. I wouldn’t be a dick or anything, but I also didn’t go out of my way to demonstrate much compassion or empathy.

When my wife and I started dating I’d often bring up work with her and I’d attempt to commiserate on how this client wouldn’t work hard during their session or how that client just seemed to not care about getting results or how it just really, really sucked that I had to wear pants.

I’d be all like “what the hell!?!” and then throw a chair through a window or something, and then she’d be all like…

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and then say something like:

…“you know, maybe you just need to do a better job at learning about what actually motivates people?”

And this was when I was first introduced to the Self-Determination Theory.

There’s no need to go too far into the weeds. All you need to know about SDT is that it was popularized by psychologists Edward Deci & Richard Ryan and that it revolves around…

“a macro theory of human motivation and personality that concerns people’s inherent growth tendencies and innate psychological needs. It is concerned with the motivation behind choices people make without external influence and interference. SDT focuses on the degree to which an individual’s behavior is self-motivated and self-determined.”

The three main components are:

Competence
Autonomy
Relatedness

For the sake of brevity I’m going to hone in on autonomy or the power of choice.

In short, people don’t like to be told what to do.

In the fitness industry this comes across as bit absurd given that that’s exactly why most people hire us in the first place.

However, one of the biggest changes I’ve made in my coaching philosophy – in no small part due to my wife’s nudging through the years – is working on autonomy and offering clients more choice in their programming.

It’s not only made a profound difference in helping clients stay motivated to workout, but it’s also helped to expedite their results and progress.

Here’s a few suggestions and examples.

1. Allowing Them to Choose the Main Lift of the Day

I live in a bit of a strength & conditioning bubble. Most people who start to work with me already know what they’re getting themselves into.

They’re going to lift heavy things and they’re going to listen to some EDM while doing it.

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One “trick” I’ll use – especially with beginners – is to let them choose their main lift of the day. If performing some squats will fill their training love tank that day, that’s what we’ll do.

Likewise, if they want to deadlift, we’ll deadlift.

The only exercise I’ll say a hard no to is kipping pull-ups.

I’d rather them jump into a shark’s mouth.

But can you see the inherent advantage this approach provides? If you have a client who’s having a hard time with motivation or just can’t seem to get “jazzed-up” for a particular session, maybe all you need to do is give them a bit more choice.

Assuming, of course, you’re taking into consideration their goals, injury history, and ability level.

2. Choosing the Variation of a Particular Exercise

It’s squat day.

[Cue the cacophony of moans]

Admittedly, not many people – outside of the truly masochistic – draw a sense of butterfly kisses and rainbows from squat day.

That being said, another trick to employ is to allow clients to choose what variation of a particular exercise they’re going to perform that day.

Squat

Box Squat
Back Squat
Front Squat
Goblet Squat
Landmine Squat
2-KB Front Squat

There are many options; and we haven’t even discussed things like ladder sets, drop sets, rest/pause sets, or even tweaks that can be made with stance, tempo, or even utilizing speciality bars (SSB, Duffalo, Cambered, etc).

Giving clients some say on the variation they’re going to perform that day is a game changer in terms of creating more “buy in” in that session.

3. Free Time

Another tactic I use often to help increase motivation is to give clients a 5-10 minute “window” at the end of their session to do whatever they want.

Most of my male clients choose to do some additional arms or “Gun Show” work.

Most of my female clients choose to do some additional glute or “badonkadonk” work.

And, not coincidentally, most of the wizards I work with prefer to use their time pecifying their pecs.

Science.

#dumbledoreisswole

All told, this approach serves as a nice compromise. So long as the client completes what’s on their program – and does what I want them to do – I am more than happy to give him or her some free time and choose their fate at the end of the session.

If they leave with a bicep or glute pump, and are happy, I am down with that.

There’s obviously a lot more that can said here, but I’ll defer to the expert on motivation, my wife!, in this case. Her popular course, Psych Skills for Fitness Pros is now offering open enrollment at $60 off the regular price.

There’s a degree of bias here, so take this however you wish…

…but THIS is the shit most fitness pros need to be educating themselves on. Yes, it’s important to know anatomy, assessment, and the intricacies of effective program design. But what really separates the good from the great is understanding people and how to navigate the human psyche.

Click HERE, choose your preferred payment method, and enter the coupon code PSYCH24 to receive your discount.

April 2, 2024October 17, 2024 Tony

The Illusion of Infinite Progression: 3 Strategies to Evolve Without Increasing Weight

I have an excellent guest post for you today. I was recently invited back onto the More Train, Less Pain Podcast hosted by my good friends Dr. Michelle Boland and Dr. Tim Richardt.

This season on their show they’re focusing on training around injury. This is one of my wheel houses (alongside deadlifts, how to look jacked even while wearing sweatpants, and Ted Lasso), as I am always preaching the benefits of finding each client’s or athlete’s TRAINABLE MENU.

My episode – #13 – dropped today (links below), but in concert with that Tim was kind enough to write a little “companion piece” that ties in nicely with the overall theme of the show.

I hope you check both of them out.

3 Strategies to Evolve Without Increasing Weight

If you’re reading this blog, chances are you’re a big fan of lifting heavy things. On this we can agree, and be friends.

via GIPHY

Think back to the first time you consistently trained a squat- Linkin Park blaring, a thin haze of aerosolized pre-workout and chalk filling the air – and being able to add 5-10 pounds, like clockwork, week after week after week.

It’s the honeymoon phase of strength training- nothing hurts and there’s seemingly no impediment to riding this sweet, sweet train of linear progression to, inevitably, being able to sit down and stand up with the weight of a Honda Fit on your back.

But, like all marriages, reality eventually has to settle in.

Over the years, aches, injuries, and movement limitations accumulate and the simple strategy of adding more pounds to the bar is suddenly not so viable.

What, then, is an iron warrior to do?

I host a podcast called More Train, Less Pain (on which the venerable Tony Gentilcore has guested twice), along with another contributor to Tony’s blog- Michelle Boland- where we dive deep on strategies to keep people training hard in the gym despite injuries and mobility restrictions.

The focus of our current season is on maintaining a strength training practice in the setting of persistent pain, something of personal obsession of mine as I’ve struggled with persistent hip pain due to congenital structural hip defects for virtually my entire adult life. Over the past dozen or so episodes, we’ve talked with some of the brightest minds in the industry (Mike Boyle, Bill Hartman, some schlub we’ll call “Tony G”) about this very problem, and one theme keeps re-emerging over and over. We can’t keep progressing load forever. Infinite progression, in the weight room or any other endeavor, is a myth.

NOTE From TG: You can listen to my most recent chat with Tim HERE – titled “Easy Training, Stoplights, and Making Bigger Cups.”

In order to stay in the strength training game and continue to build muscle, power, and movement quality, we need to find ways to evolve our exercise selection and programming strategies so that we can continue to train without creating undesirable tissue damage or reducing access to comfortable range of motion.

Below are three strategies to do just that, lifted directly from this season’s podcast guests and thoroughly vetted by my own personal and professional experience.

1. Timed Sets

In the most straightforward manner of progressing lifts, we add load to the bar every week, keeping the set/rep/rest scheme the same, essentially the missionary of the strength-training world.

Not THAT missionary. Head out of the gutter

As we stated – this works…until it doesn’t. What if, instead of increasing load, we simply increase time under tension? In fact, what if we throw away the conventional “rep” dosing structure and just endeavor to dose an exercise by time, increasing the time (under tension) over the course of a 6 week training block.

In practice, that progression might look something like this.

Exercise Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4

Foam Roller Wall Squat 3×1′ 4×1′ 4×90″ 4×2′

In this way, we can accumulate absurdly high amounts of workload (and stimulus) with reduced axial loading. If you struggle with SI joint pain every time you get under a bar loaded with over your bodyweight, give a single set of a 2’ timed Roller Wall Squat a try.

With only a fraction of the loading required for a conventionally-dosed barbell back squat, you’ll still feel every bit as fatigued, and continue to stay engaged with the training process as you build time under tension across a program.

This strategy works particularly well for exercises where increasing weight isn’t convenient due to the nature of the position or loading- think anything with a zercher or goblet hold OR a position that requires a more involved set up.

2. EMOM Supersets

People in our industry love talking s&^t about CrossFit, but they’ve popularized several things that have impacted the general fitness landscape for the better – gymnastics skills, concurrent training, snorting lines of grass fed whey protein isolate before a set of 30 hang snatches, and EMOM sets.

In an EMOM set, you’ll keep the load of an exercise the same but perform a certain number of reps every minute on the minute (EMOM).

In my own training, I’ve found it useful to combine two exercises into an EMOM superset – meaning that every minute we’ll do a predetermined number of reps for each exercise, rest for the remainder of that minute, and repeat. In practice, a 6 week progression might look like this:

Exercise Rest Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4

A1. Trap Bar DL 0′ 4×3 5×3 6×3 7×3

A2. Alt. 1-Arm DB Bench Remainder of 60″ 4×8 5×8 6×8 7×8

Trap Bar DL EMOM

1-Arm DB Bench Press EMOM

The cool thing about EMOM sets, especially for athletes making the switch from conventional, load-obsessed strength training, is that they possess an entirely novel strategy for dramatically ramping up total load in a program without increasing axial load for any one particular set.

Mathematically, we can contrast a session of EMOM deadlifts with a session of conventionally-progressed deadlifts, which would look something like this:

Exercise Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 4 Workload

TBDL 6×3 @ 225 8×3 @ 225 10×3 @ 225 12×3 @ 225 8,100 lbs

TBDL 6×3 @ 255 6×3 @ 275 6×3 @ 295 6×3 @ 305 5,490 lbs

Over time, this may represent a more sustainable long term strategy for continuing to progress workload when absolute loading on any given repetition can no longer be increased. Additionally, plugging a few EMOM supersets into your training each week can serve as a mild conditioning stimulus for those who struggle to fit in aerobic work.

3. Feel-Based Training

The previous two strategies have emphasized unconventional strategies for increasing the overall workload of a training session, but our final strategy is a different beast altogether.

We love to think about increasing an exercise’s output via weight on the bar or overall pounds lifted throughout working sets. But what if we got “stronger” simply by executing an exercise more efficiently, potentially using a larger range of motion, while making no changes to dosing or loading throughout a cycle?

Depending on a client’s goals and injury history, somewhere between 20%-50% of exercises I program will be progressed by “feel” alone. This means they’re not allowed to do anything “more” over their 4 week cycle. Not more load, not more reps, not faster reps, not even more cowbell.

via GIPHY

We’re deliberately freezing these variables to clear cognitive bandwidth for getting as close as possible to *flawless* execution of the drill.

In something like a FFESS, for example, I may stick to 4 sets of 8 reps per leg throughout the entire cycle, loaded with a #25 KB in a goblet hold, but endeavor to improve other aspects of performance. Can a client maintain foot contacts on both the front and rear foot? Does their pelvis stay fairly level in the frontal plane? Do they control the degree of anterior and posterior pelvic tilt at the top and bottom of the range of motion, respectively?

Can they get the back knee further down towards the ground? Are they able to push UP and BACK to take advantage of the retropropulsive, joint-opening qualities of this drill?

In some ways, this is the most boring option for “progression,” but if you can get it into your and your client’s respective heads that we can freeze dosing and simply work on movement integrity and fidelity, a myriad of other training options open.

And options, more than anything else, help folks train consistently for years to come.

If you liked the content in this article, I’d recommend checking out More Train, Less Pain; Engineering the Adaptable Athlete- S3E13 with Tony drops today.

Available on both Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

About the Author

Tim Richardt is a Colorado-based Doctor of Physical Therapy and Strength and Conditioning Coach. He works with runners, climbers, CrossFitters, and tactical/mountain athletes to better help them manage long standing injuries and reach higher levels of physical performance. He also mentors young clinicians and coaches to help them develop their own unique treatment/training model. You can find out more about him at TimRichardt.com or through his IG HERE.

December 4, 2023June 19, 2024 Tony

Program Design Strength Training

Getting Stronger is Corrective

Before you move on, I wanted to let you know that Dean Somerset and I have just put our flagship product, the Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint, on sale this week.

You can purchase both CSHB 1.0 and CSHB 2.0 separately this week at 30% off the regular price using the coupon code EVOLVE at checkout.

Or you can purchase the bundle pack HERE which gives you the greatest value.¹

WU-TANG!

Getting Strong(er) is Corrective

“Oh, I forgot to tell you…my previous trainer said I have a winged scapula, my left hip is a bit internally rotated, and that my posture isn’t great.”

This was less than five minutes into an initial assessment with a new client and it took everything I had to prevent my eyeballs from rolling out of their sockets. The snarky side of me wanted to say something like, “Oh my god, yes, I totally see it. Did (s)he also mention how your left ear is lower than the right? That’s messed up. We need to fix that.”

But I didn’t.

Nope, all I did was sit there, nod my head, listen intently, and kept repeating to myself “don’t stab yourself with this pen, don’t stab yourself with this pen, no, Tony, NO!”

People Think They’re Broken

It never ceases to amaze me how some people will harp on the most inane things when it comes to their body and performance and then regale me with stories of how their previous coach or trainer was a “corrective exercise specialist.”

I won’t invalidate their stories or experiences, of course, but it’s hard for me to listen to sometimes.

They’ll outline their “training” for the past few months (if not years), and it’s rife with positional breathing drills (which, for the record, I’m a fan of), postural stretches, and describe a foam rolling series that rivals the length of a Ken Burns’ documentary.

I’ll follow with “So, did you actually ever follow a strength training program consistently?”

“Yeah, sure, we did a bunch of corrective exercises and, after 19 weeks, we finally worked up to a bodyweight squat. I still have to work on my big toe dorsiflexion, though. Fingers crossed I can improve that by December.”

Me…

via GIPHY

As an industry – and I’ll call myself out on this too (particularly early in my career) – we’ve done a splendid job at helping people feel like a bunch of walking balls of fail:

Your shoulders and upper back are too rounded.
Yikes, your pelvis is anteriorly tilted.
Oh…my…god…we need to work on your scapular upward rotation.
Shit, your FABER screen tested positive. How are you able to walk?
Also, FYI: you have Chlamydia.

It doesn’t surprise me in the least why so many people walk around thinking they’re fragile snowflakes who need to correct or “fix” everything before they do any appreciable training.

It’s our fault.

Strength coaches, personal trainers, physical therapists, athletic trainers, sherpas, we’re all culpable.

We can and need to do better.

And it starts with re-acquainting ourselves with what our main role as fitness professionals actually is…

…to elicit a training effect with our clients/athletes.

Again…Getting Strong(er) is Corrective

I say this with a grain of salt because “strong” is subjective, and can mean different things to different people.

Being able to deadlift 2x bodyweight is strong.
Being able to perform 15 pull-ups is strong.
Walking from Trader Joe’s to your apartment without putting down the bags is strong.
The ability to pull off wearing white after Labor Day is strong.
Doing whatever it is Cirque du Soleil performers can do is strong.

However, since I’m a little biased “getting stronger” in this sense – and more cogent to the conversation – refers to TRAINING.

I.e., lifting heavy things.

Unfortunately, many people have been led to believe lifting weights is dangerous. It seems you can’t go more than three clicks on the internet (or investigate certain certifications available) before being told barbells, dumbbells, machines, kettlebells, squats, deadlifts, high-reps, low-reps, and/or kittens are dangerous.

Cute kitten paws and woman making christmas gingerbread cookies in scandinavian room — Who, me? Dangerous? Noooo. I mean, I’ll slit your fucking throat in your sleep if you don’t pay me any attention, but all in all….cuddles.

And just to set the record straight, and to push back with all my will to those people (worst of all, doctors, PT’s, etc) who keep spreading the message that strength training is dangerous (particularly when addressing a current injury)…

…I give you the LAWS of Loading:

Wolff’s Law – Bones will adapt to loads under which it is placed

Davis’s Law – Soft tissue will heal according to the manner which they are mechanically stressed.

For the “you only have one back” guy…is this then not why we train?² Squats and deadlifts, when properly loaded and progressed, will do far more good for someone’s recovery from injury than most alternatives.

I hate the “everything makes you dysfunctional or causes dysfunction” crowd.

To which I say…the fuck outta here.

My friend Bret Contreras has the perfect antithesis to this faulty mindset:

“If you think lifting weights is dangerous, try being weak. Being weak is dangerous.”

And this is why I’m a firm ambassador in encouraging people to get strong(er), or more to the point, helping them figure out their “trainable menu.”³

Rather than pointing out everything that’s wrong with someone, I’d rather use the initial assessment (and subsequent training sessions) to highlight what they can do.

Lets use the classic example of someone who has “computer guy” posture. I.e., rounded shoulders, forward head posture, an affinity for pens.

When someone walks in exhibiting this posture a lot of trainers will write down a laundry list of stretches, thoracic (mid-back) mobility drills, and other “corrective” exercises to do.

Well, first, some will go out of their way to make the person feel like Cersei Lannister during her walk of shame.

Shame, shame, shame….

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And then, you know…lets get corrective, son!

They’re not wrong to do so.

I’m not opposed to utilizing corrective modalities to address postural deficits or mobility restrictions.

But I find when these sort of things are accentuated and serve as the “meat-n-potatoes” of a training program, it often sets people up for failure; they become more fixated on perfection at the expense of progress.

And lets be honest: NO ONE gets jazzed-up at the gym to do more T-spine extension drills.

I don’t want my clients to feel like a perpetual patient.

I want them to train, because training tends to be more palatable than Scapular Wall Slides. It helps people stay on task and not bored to tears.

And on that note, wanna know an excellent drill that helps nudge people into a bit more thoracic extension?

~~Kipping pull-ups.~~

FRONT SQUATS.

As you descend closer to the ground you have to “fight” to keep from folding over. In many ways the proper execution of the exercise itself is self-coaching; or dare I say, corrective.

If you don’t maintain thoracic extension the barbell rolls off your shoulders.

I may come across as the cantankerous strength coach in saying this, but I find more value in having my clients train – in a way that emphatically demonstrates success to them (by matching the programming to their goals and ability level) – than to corrective exercise them to death.

Get your clients strong(er).

Show them what they can do.

And for the love of god get them training.

October 24, 2023 Tony

coaching Program Design rant

Fitness Industry Hyperbole is Exhausting

We all know hyperbole when we see it.

In general, it’s purposeful use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It’s often used in writing (and communication as a whole) to evoke strong feelings and reaction from the audience. These reactions can range from a chuckle and an “aww shucks” eye roll to someone getting punched in the throat.

Hyperbole is everywhere (politics, dating, sports, Thanksgiving dinner) – for better or for worse.

More innocuous and inane examples of hyperbole – the “aww shucks” variety – would be:

I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.
“So and so” is about as intelligent as a ham sandwich.
Attack of the Clones is a cinematic masterpiece.⁴

As a writer I love hyperbole because it can be a useful tool to add a bit of panache and entertainment value to a blog post or article in order to maintain people’s attention for more than 27 seconds.

Where I hate it is where this particular blog post comes into play.

Fitness Industry Hyperbole is Exhausting

A few weeks ago I was perusing Twitter when my feed fed me this piece of gargantuan eye wash (because, of course):

“STOP DOING BARBELL SQUATS!!! It’s a useless exercise that does way more harm than good to your body.”

This, my dear reader, is a choice example of the latter example of hyperbole mentioned above. You know, the kind that makes you want to wash your eyes with broken glass.

Now, I don’t know the person who wrote it (I’m choosing not to directly mention them here), and I have zero insights into why this person is so vehemently against barbell squats. What I do know – from checking out this person’s profile – is that they’re a Chiropractor, they seem to build a lot of their online persona around this idea that most people lack mental toughness, and that “bad posture” is the reason why most people are in pain.

Not for nothing, but…

…I’d make the case that the reason why a lot of people are in pain is because they’re chronically weak (muscularly), not because their TL junction needs adjusting every two weeks.

(Which, not ironically, can be improved, drastically – and long-term – with some properly progressed strength training.⁵ If you don’t force the body to adapt to load or stress, then how can you really expect meaningful change? If the only intervention is adjusting and cracking someone’s bones to fit some “textbook perfect posture” narrative, and it’s something that needs to be repeated over and over and over again, to me, this is akin to using nothing but a band-aid to address a knife wound).

But let’s move beyond that.

The thing that rubs me the wrong way with this person’s train of thought is that it’s so egregiously self-aggrandizing. One thing that I despise in this industry – and something that makes me lose a lot of respect for someone when they do it – is thinking that THEIR WAY is the ONLY way to do something.

The easy comparison here is Mike Boyle.

I was in the room when, back in 2005, while recording Functional Strength Coach, he revealed to the strength & conditioning world that he no longer included back squats in his athletes’ programs.

I’m pretty sure this was the collective mood in the room when he said it:

via GIPHY

He wasn’t tarred and feathered by the entirety of the profession, but in the years since he’s routinely received flak for his stance.

However, I’ve always respected his take and have never taken issue with it.

Why?

Because he’s never said:

“Stop doing barbell squats with YOUR athletes.”

He’s only said:

“I’ve stopped doing a barbell squats with MY athletes.”

Moreover, he’s always followed that up with a sound rationale & explanation of why he came to that decision in the first place. And whether or not you agree with him isn’t the point:

They’re HIS athletes.
My man is still producing bonafide beasts in the weight-room and on the playing field.
Hard to argue with results.

Bringing things back to our friend from above.

Where I take issue is the insinuation that barbell squats – of any kind, in any situation, with any person, at any moment in time, even if they’re YOUR client and not mine – is dangerous or turning everyone into spinal compression walking balls of dysfunction.

To steal a quote from strength coach Gerry DeFilippo on that matter:

“How about this. Do exercises that fit your anatomical parameters and needs. More information, less fear mongering/cancelling of exercises.”

No diggidy, no doubt.

March 27, 2023 Tony

Uncategorized

The One Thing Many Lifters Fail to Understand: Easy Training Is Good Training

Forget the more esoteric nuances of things like Heart Rate Variability, the efficacy of cold baths, or whether it’s better to follow a concurrent or linear periodization training program for best results.

For superior results in the weight-room I’d make the argument that the ONE thing many lifters fail to appreciate and understand is that easy training is good training.

Easy Training Is Good Training

This past weekend I had the lovely experience of p~~erforming a rap battle~~ presenting (alongside my wife) at the Raise the Bar Conference in Dallas, TX.

One of the key talking points I attempted to drive home during our talk was this idea that easy training is good training.

I love to explain it like this:

10% of your workouts you’re going to feel like Mick Jagger on cocaine. I.e., The weights will just fly up and you’ll make a run at a PR (or two).
10% of your workouts you’re going to feel like Mick Jagger the day after. I.e., You feel like you got run over by a Mack truck. I.e., warm-up weights feel like they’re cemented to the floor.
80% of your workouts are the ones where you go in and just do the work. You show up, get your reps in, and leave.

I’d argue for most people, most of the time, they should leave the gym wanting more. This is what 80% workouts are all about.

Don’t get me wrong: there’s a time and place for workouts and/or programs that exist solely to be ass-kickers and make you hate life:

Smolnov
German Volume Training
Sheiko
Anything involving a chain saw.

The thing to consider, though, and what many fail to recognize, is that programs like the ones mentioned above are designed to be done once a year (if that) and only for a fraction of time.

A small window of hell if you will.

They’re not designed to be done week in and week out for an extended length of time.

I mean heck, if you don’t believe me, take a deep dive into many of the most popular (strength) training programs of all-time (5/3/1, Juggernaut, Cube Method, any of Travis Mash’s programs). If you dissect any of them you’ll find the bulk of the work being done in those programs is in the 75-85% of 1RM territory.

Nothing hardcore or extreme to say the least.

It’s smart training, designed to ensure people feel fresh, recovered, and ready to attack every training session without, hopefully, all the bumps and bruises along the way.

In short: Focus on those 80% workouts. The ones you do on a random Thursday. Those are where you actually make progress over time.

Coming Soon – Strong Body, Strong Mind App

(The first app to combine BOTH strength training AND Mental Skills together from myself and Dr. Lisa Lewis)

Go HERE to learn more and be the first to know when it’s available.

March 1, 2023 Tony

Corrective Exercise Program Design Uncategorized

Programming Considerations: Shoulders

Fair warning: This will not be an all-encompassing post on how to train the shoulders or how to program around nagging shoulder injuries.

Frankly, I don’t think anyone wants to read a Dostoyevsky length diatribe on shoulder impingement or how improving scapular upward rotation leaves me sexually aroused.

Yep, I’m weird.

Instead I want to give a quick, bite-sized tidbit on programming for the shoulders that pretty much applies to everyone.⁶

Copyright: maxriesgo / 123RF Stock Photo

But Before I Continue…

Dean Somerset and I have put our flagship digital course, Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint AND (Even More) Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint – on sale this week at $50 off the regular price.

Why?

We moved both courses to a new platform which will make both the delivery and user experience more enjoyable and seamless.
Dean and I both have a bunch of new followers⁷ since we last put them on sale.
It’s a new year and as such a lot of fitness professionals will need to start thinking about ramping up their continuing education and getting their CEU requirements in order.
Last but not least, we’re awesome.

Go HERE to enroll in one (or both courses).

IMPORTANT: use the coupon code wutang50 to receive your $50 off credit at checkout.

Now to the Shoulder Stuff

We can easily make the case that the shoulders are the most annoying and often injured part of the body for many people, meatheads in particular. And, to be candid, there are any number of things to consider with regards to why:

Rotator cuff weakness
Poor scapular stability (<– better term would be Controlled Scapular Mobility)
Postural considerations
Acromion type
Scapular kinematics (inability to upwardly rotate, for example)
Poor programming choices
Poor technique
Losing an arm wrestling match to a Sasquatch.⁸
To name a few….

It’s weird, though, when it comes to programming for the shoulders there’s this dichotomous yin-yang approach we have to consider:

What’s best for optimal (shoulder) performance?

And.

What’s best for optimal (shoulder) health?

Shoulder Performance

I’m in the business of helping people get bigger, faster, stronger, and generally more dieselfied.

This usually (but not always) revolves around lifting objects of appreciable weight. Watch any strong person bench press, squat, or deadlift a lot of weight and there’s a common theme you’ll notice:

1. You’ll likely have to unclench your sphincter after watching someone do something you never thought humanly possible:

2. With regards to the shoulders – specifically the shoulder blades – there’s meticulous attention paid to their positioning.

Those bad boys are locked down. Retracted and depressed.

Or, in non-geek speak: They’re not moving.

Doing so provides an infinite more amount of stability to the joint and also provides a more stable base of support (particularly for the bench press) to push from. When it comes to the deadlift and/or squat it allows one to maintain a more “rigid” torso, stay tight, and decreases the chance of energy leaks.

Force is more efficiently transferred within the kinetic chain.

Also, in non-geek speak: Just fucking trust me.

I’m no Eric Spoto, but I know how to coach the bench press and what to consider when it comes to performing at a high(er) level and making it so your shoulders don’t hate you.

Bench Press Set-Up: Shoulders Together & Down

Shoulder Health

It’s funny, when Dean Somerset and I teach our Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint workshop I’ll spend half a day imploring attendees to adopt the strategies mentioned above.

“Lock them down.”

…is what I’ll tell them. Referring to the shoulder blades and how it’s crucial to recognize ideal placement for performance

Then, after the lunch break, I’ll do a complete 180 and spend the rest of the day saying something to the effect of:

“Let those fuckers move.”

The shoulder blades do a lot:

Retract and protract
Elevate and depress
Upwardly and downwardly rotate
Posteriorly and anteriorly tilt.

It’s imperative to have “access” to the full spectrum of scapular motion in order to obtain optimal shoulder health.

We spend so much time telling people to squeeze their shoulder blades together – which, all told, isn’t a bad cue in of itself, but can cause a whole host of shoulder ouchies; downward rotation syndrome for starters – that it’s no wonder I get a range of quizzical looks whenever I tell people to let them move.

Protraction (or reaching) is a game changer for many.

1-Arm Quadruped Protraction

Easy Scapular Winging “Fix”

To go a step further and outside the “corrective” realm, when I coach people through a push-up or any kind of row variation a common mistake I find people make is keeping their shoulder blades pinned or glued together.

With push-ups I try to tell my clients to push away or “finish” at the top.

I don’t want their shoulder blades making out the entire time.

And with rows…

This Makes Me Sad

You’ll notice my shoulder blade isn’t moving at all; it’s staying in the retracted position throughout the duration of the set. This often leads to bicep tendon issues and anterior shoulder instability, amongst other things.

Instead I try to tell people I want their scapulae to move around their rib cage. After all that’s what they’re meant to do.

That’s More Like It

It’s profound how much this seemingly minor tweak will help with a lot of shoulder woes.

That’s It

Pretty easy, right?

Short, precise, and won’t require a book report.

Making a concerted effort to recognize and address both ends of the shoulder performance-health spectrum can and will make a huge difference and help you write more effective programs.

January 23, 2023 Tony

Motivational personal training

The Most Important Metric of a Training Program Is…

[Cue EPIC drum roll here]

First…lets first delve into what’s not important:

Access to special, fancy schmancy equipment.⁹
Being anal about nutrient timing/intake.¹⁰
Posting a picture or video of every workout and every exercise you performed on Instagram.¹¹
Following the programs elite lifters do.¹²
The whole BS notion that muscle confusion is a “thing.”¹³

And Those Things That are Important. But Really Only Kinda-Sorta Important. Actually, We’re All Just a Bunch of A-Holes Who Like to Argue Over the Internet

Exercise selection
Exercise order
Exercise technique
Goal(s). Powerlifting vs. bodybuilding vs. OLY lifting vs. CrossFit vs. Fat Loss vs. Mechagodzilla
Training history/age
Past and current injury history
Ideal number of sets/reps
Time of day to workout
Length of workout
Best exercises to make your pecs cut diamonds

[EPIC drum roll is still cued]

Facetious tone aside, all of the things mentioned above are important and play an important role in program design.

However, there’s one metric that seems to always get overlooked.

And that is…..

Attendance

“The most important metric of a training program’s success is…attendance. People need to show up”

You can write the most baller scientifically-based program addressing all the criteria listed above that’s based off block periodization with meticulous percentages written in, laminated with Vladimir Zatsiorsky’s¹⁴ chest hair, and none of it will matter if people don’t show up.

Make no mistake…getting people to “show up” is a skill in of itself.

Of course, the monetary commitment to hire a personal trainer or coach is enough to motivate most people to “show up.” But even then it’s often a crap-shoot, let alone entices someone to invest their time (and in themselves) long-term.

There are numerous, outside-the-box factors that often come into play:

The ability to listen to and validate someone. Are you a trainer/coach who likes to “win” or prove to everyone how smart you are and how you’re always right? Better, less uppity communication skills can have a profound impact on your sales and retention as a trainer/fitness business.¹⁵
It’s not about you. It’s about THEM. Get your clients to talk about themselves.¹⁶
Take the time to introduce your clients to one another. Maybe you have two clients who really enjoy squatting or, I don’t know, old-school Jean-Claude Van Damme movies. Either way, introducing client A to client B often helps build camaraderie and community.
With regards to program design: It’s not necessarily about choosing the best exercise possible to entertain people. Rather, it’s about choosing the most appropriate exercise(s) to better set people up for immediate and long-term success. These are really boring.
“Think trainer, speak client.”¹⁷You in your head: “Dan is really crushing his posterior Mediastinum on those squats.” You to Dan: “don’t arch so much in your lower back.”
Design for your space. You don’t always need all the bells and whistles to impress people. Audit your equipment. Almost always, the less you have, the better your programs will be. Most people don’t need as much variety as they think they need anyways.
Strive to make your clients autonomous.
Play more Wu-Tang. Just, because.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I do feel serves as a delicious amuse bouche in helping fitness professionals understand that it’s not always about credentials, certifications, and deadlifts.

Getting people to show up via other means is often the key to effective program writing.

December 2, 2022 Tony

coaching

How to Guarantee Your Clients Will Have a Hard Time Actually Getting Results

If you train people for a living, read this.

Copyright: ruigsantos / 123RF Stock Photo

Don’t Guarantee Results

It’s seems counterintuitive, maybe even borderline asinine, not to guarantee your clients results, right? I mean, what the hell are they hiring you for?

HINT: It’s not to trade baseball cards or tickle fights.

I had a new client start with me recently and within ten minutes of her initial assessment she was relaying a story of her previous coach telling her she’d see results in “x” weeks.

Guaranteed.

Guess what didn’t happen?

via GIPHY

I don’t know about you, but I’d hate to set myself up for that kind of standard or expectation as a coach. Unless their goals are any of the following….

Cut diamonds with their pecs.
Build a deadlift that shakes the ground all the way down in Kentucky.
Become a world class hugger.

…I’m not guaranteeing anything, let alone within a specific window of time.

When a new person shows up to CORE I have zero insight into their work ethic, degree of compliance, or any other outside factors that may or may not come into play (family responsibilities, work schedule, Andor marathon watching schedule).

Don’t get me wrong: There should always be an open dialogue and some form of communication with regards to goal setting. But don’t set yourself (or your client) up for a trap by guaranteeing results.

So, Uh, Since We’re Talking About Goals

It behooves any coach to encourage their client to be more specific with their goal setting. Having realistic and tangible goals in sight helps nudge more intent and purpose.

It keeps people more invested in their training.

Just be careful of someone being too vague (“I want to lose weight”), unrealistic (“I want to add 100 lbs to my deadlift in two weeks”), or downright batshit crazy (“I want to pet a Unicorn”).

Lets us a too vague example.

Too Vague = “I want to lose weight” or “I want to get stronger.”

Neither is a bad goal. They’re just both vague as shit. It’s like me saying something to the effect of “I want food” when asked what I am in the mood for for dinner.

When someone suggests a vague goal like the ones above I’ll usually try to dig a bit deeper:

“Why do you want to lose weight/get stronger?”
“What’s prevented you from achieving those goals in the past?”
“How will attaining those goals make you feel once you hit them?”

Peeling back the onion with follow-up questions reveals quite a bit. The person soon understands they need to switch gears and latch onto something more concrete.

Which serves as a nice segue to…

Try to Encourage More Performance Based Goals

I’ve been a champion of this approach for a number of years now.

Setting performance-based goals is a game changer.

For example, with many of my female clients, instead of allowing them to default to the “I want to lose weight” trope, I’ll encourage them to pick a performance-based goal to train towards instead:

Perform their first strict, unassisted chin-up
Deadlift their bodyweight for five reps
Perform ten, strict pushups from the floor.
Beat Wonder Woman in a fist-fight.

Setting a performance-based goal makes things so much clearer from a programming standpoint. First off, it makes getting rid of the superfluous foo-foo bullshit easier. Secondly, and most important, is that it gives people purpose in their training.

There’s a WHY behind the madness.

Each exercise, exercise order, load, set/rep, and rest period is curated for the sole purpose of hitting that goal.

To steal a famous quote from strength coach, Dan John:

“The goal is to keep the goal, the goal.”

Either your training program is bringing you one step closer to hitting your goal, or…it’s not.

What I find, more often than not, is when I can get a client to marry him or herself to training for a performance-based goal, the work and effort involved often results in them hitting that aesthetic goal anyways.

It’s a win-win.

The dose of empowerment is priceless.

Set Up Process Goals

This is so simple it’s absurd.

Basically, process goals are smaller, more bite-sized, DAILY, goals people should try to hit that will compliment their ability to hit “big rock” training goals.

I mean, how “strong” is someone going to get if they’re routinely only getting 4-5 hours of sleep a night? What are the chances someone is going to “lose weight” if their idea of a veggie is a piece of lettuce on top of their double bacon cheeseburger?

Setting up 2-3 process goals – getting at least seven hours of sleep a night, shooting for 3-4 servings of vegetables per day, eating out less – for people to strive for every day is a great way to not only keep them on task, but provide an unparalleled sense of accomplishment as well.

As they check off hitting each goal per day, they gain more and more confidence and sense of “holy shit, I can do this.”

Build Autonomy, Competency, and Relatedness

These are just fancy-schmancy ways of saying people want to have a sense of freedom/choice in their training, they want to feel like they can do shit, and they want to be part of a community.¹⁸

Autonomy: People don’t like to be told what to do. When someone is told what to do or not to do, the human response is something called reactance.

They revolt. Go against the grain. Tell you to go fuck yourself.

Basically, they do whatever it is you told them not to do anyway.

Admittedly, when someone is paying you to be their coach, there’s a degree of “do what I tell you to do” that comes with territory.

However, I’d encourage any coach or trainer to build a level of CHOICE into their programming.

Maybe your client gets to choose what variation of deadlift they perform that day.
Maybe you let them choose if they want to use dumbbells or kettlebells for certain movements.
Maybe you give them a 5-10 minute window at the end of their session to do some additional glute training.

That sense of freedom/autonomy will undoubtedly build a greater degree of compliance.

Competency: This is easy. People don’t like to fail. I’d argue failing is good and part of the growing process, but that’s besides the point.

People want to feel like they can DO stuff. For example, if someone has little experience strength training, what’s the likelihood they’re going to feel great about barbell back squatting on Day #1.

Now, I’m not saying a good coach can’t teach someone how to back squat in a matter of minutes.

It’s very doable.

However, what I am saying is don’t be a dickhead. It can be intimidating for some people to place a barbell on their back, and you’re not doing them any favors by force-feeding it.

I feel the squat is a valuable pattern everyone should become competent with. That doesn’t mean everyone has to start with a barbell on their back.

Goblet squats are a splendid starting point for many people. Once they’re comfortable with that, we can progress accordingly.

Relatedness: Keeping this one brief, going out of your way to build a culture where people are surrounded by like-minded individuals and they can be themselves is paramount.

Don’t Be Scared to Dish Out Some Tough Love

Bringing this whole discussion full-circle: Remember that new client I mentioned above, the one who told me her previous trainer guaranteed her results?

She asked me an obvious question:

“When do you think I will see results?”

My response:

“If you kinda-sorta train, you’ll get kinda-sorta results.”

This was a (maybe not so subtle) hint that it’s up to HER.

You get out of training what you put into it.

As someone’s coach I’ll be there to support them and help augment their training experience. However, it’s also important to relay the message that part of the onus on them, too.

They have to take ownership and responsibility.

November 22, 2022 Tony

Program Design

How to Write Effective Training Programs: Foul Shots and Whiteboards

I’ve had a rash of fitness professionals reaching out of late asking the same question in varying iterations…

…a question, mind you, that I think every fitness professional ponders at some point:

When the hell is someone going to green-light a sequel to Over the Top?¹⁹

Okay, in all seriousness: the real question revolves around writing training programs. Specifically the process and how to do it(?).

Ready?

Here goes…

Writing training programs is a lot like foul shots.

You Do It, Then Do It Again, and Then Again

If you want to get better at hitting more foul shots in the 4th quarter…you practice taking foul shots.

Likewise:

If you want to get better at chess you play more chess.
If you want to get better playing a guitar you play more guitar.
If you want to get better at nunchuck skills you practice nunchucking.
If you want to get better at not getting laid you join a Lord of the Rings reenactment society.²⁰

I know people reading want me to drum up some esoteric explanation of how to write programs, but really…

…that’s the secret.

You just do it.

And over time, by the mere math of it all, and the repeated exposure to the act, you have no other option but to get comfortable, better, and more competent with the process.

I mean, I can click on the folder affectionately titled “Making People Diesel” (<– I.e., the programs I write for my clients) and peruse thousands of programs.

This isn’t to say there hasn’t been a metric shit-ton of reading, studying, and watching a lot of really smart people talk about program design behind my madness.

There’s inevitably a “backbone” of knowledge that’s (constantly) being updated, expounded upon, experimented with, and altogether reconsidered from my vantage point.

That said, when it comes to writing effective training programs there’s nothing more poignant for me to offer other than to say…

“Write them…that’s how you get better at it.”

Moreover, I’ll be the first to admit I have never written a perfect program. I am constantly x’ing stuff out, changing this to that, and/or doing my best not to be an abject failure.

Stop thinking you HAVE to be perfect (<— which is a barrier I feel intimidates a lot of fit pros).

Have a plan, yes.

But be prepared to change something 100% of the time.

Let that sink in.

Coaching people is about adaptability. I am ALL for having a plan and some semblance of “order” to help someone from Point A to Point B.

However, life has an uncanny way, almost comedically so, of peppering us with monkey-wrenches, curveballs, and tomfoolery that can detail the best of plans.

Work happens. Lack of sleep happens. Shitty bosses who keep you late happen. Holidays happen. Kid’s explosive diarrhea happens.

Life happens.

And that often means switching gears.

Speaking personally, and given I work with predominately general pop clients – who’s schedules tend to be a bit more chaotic and unpredictable than that of a professional athlete – I’ll go off script often.

via GIPHY

Whiteboard Workouts

Every one of my clients gets an individualized program written for them based off their goals, injury/health history, and ability level.

I pride myself on that.

However, sometimes a client will show up late, or maybe will have a sore shoulder, or worse maybe feel like they crossed paths with a Targaryen when they arrive for their training session.

via GIPHY

Plans change.

I’m not doing them any service by forcing them to hit that heavy deadlift triple because the program calls for it. As my colleague, Zach Even-Esh notes:

“Coaches get too caught up in the ‘We HAVE to do it, it’s on the program!’ Autoregulate. Adjust & adapt.”

In this scenario I’ll do what I like to call a WHITEBOARD WORKOUT.

Nothing fancy here.

I’ll just forego their actual program and write something up on the whiteboard instead.

I know in some circles I should spend a life sentence in Azkaban for doing something so blasphemous. I’d argue I’m being a good coach.

And since this is my website (and my blog) I’m totally right….;O)

And That’s That

I had someone chime in with following comment on Twitter:

“How do you silence the voice that says “if you keep changing things your clients will think you’ve no idea what you’re doing!”

Easy.

I turn my hat backwards and tell it to STFU. I change things under the guise I have their best interests in mind, and not my ego.

via GIPHY

October 27, 2022 Tony

sport training Strength Training

Why College Athletes Should Not Include Olympic Lifting In Their Programs

It’s not lost on me that the title of this particular blog post may ruffle a few feathers out there. There are many coaches and facilities in the world who implement the OLY lifts with their athletes and find great success with this approach.

Conversely, there are also many coaches and facilities in the world who d0 not use the OLY lifts²¹ and ~~as a result have been blacklisted from S&C Twitter~~ get resounding results as well.

What follows is one coach’s (Syracuse, NY based strength & conditioning coach Ricky Kompf) opinion with a solid rationale for why he falls into the latter category above.

I hope you give it a read.

Why College Athletes Shouldn’t Use Olympic Lifts

First off I want to start this article off by saying Olympic lifts can be a great way to develop power.

(step away from the pitchforks, please)

This is in no way shape or form is a diatribe trying to bash Olympic lifts as a group of exercises. They are a tool and just like any tool in the weight room, they have their time and place.

And that time and place should not be in the college weight room as a main means of training power in their respective sport.

via GIPHY

I see it every year, athletes who we have been working with for years in high school finally gain some respectable competency in the weight-room and reach the point where they can play their sport at the next level.

Their collegiate strength coach sends them their summer training program and there it is:

Hang cleans
Snatches
Power cleans
6 AM lifts

A little piece of me dies inside and I have to fight the urge not to go how and yell at my cats.

How can you except an athlete who you have never trained with or seen workout in person to execute the Olympic lifts correctly and effectively without your watchful eye? It then becomes our job to teach these lifts to the athletes which I’m happy to do, but it undoubtably takes away from the training due to the time and energy restraints it puts on our training.

To make things worse, when these athlete head off to college, train with these exercises as their key performance indicators and main source of power training, 9 times out of 10 they come back to our gym the next year weaker and many times slower.

I cannot fully contribute these exercises to the outcome, this is simply an observation I’ve noticed for years.

Here’s why I believe these lifts should not be apart of a college athlete’s training program and are actually causing a decrease in performance.

1. Competing Demands

The Olympic lifts are highly technical.

College athletes are arguably at the peak for their sport’s performance (or at least very close to it). That means the demand of skill in their sport takes up a large portion of their training…

…and rightfully so.

They are trying to reach mastery in their craft.

They are not Olympic weight lifters. They are team sport athletes and should be treated as such.

Learning and training with the Olympic lifts takes a high level of skill, skill that is learned through years and years of training and working at it. By spending the time required to be proficient at these exercises you will be taking away from the motor learning time and energy that could be used in their sport.

You can only master so much at one time from a motor learning perspective and choosing a highly technical form of exercise during collegiate years will only take away from this mastery.

2. They Won’t Be Good Enough For It To Be Effective

The Olympic lifts do a great job of enhancing powerful triple extension, but you don’t reach peak power until you reach about 80% of you max in an Olympic lift.

For the bulk of collegiate aged athletes who have little experience training with the OLY lifts, they likely won’t truly reach this level for a number of years because of how long it takes to master the skill.

(ideally, one would have started at the age of twelve with a PVC stick and ample time…not at 18 with USC at home next week).

I’d rather utilize an exercise like the Trap Bar Jump, which has a much lower learning curve yet yields comparable peak power production in a matter of minutes (not years).

This way I can develop strength, power and speed with as little amount of time as possible. As a result, the athlete can spend more energy on their sport while still experiencing the benefits of a strength & conditioning program.

An argument can be made that you could, over the course of the four years, systematically teach a college athlete how to perfect the Olympic lifts in order to reap their benefit.

However, in my experience most (not all) collegiate strength coaches incorporate these lifts using max loads and testing them as a key performance indicator right away.

This is not ideal if you ask me.

Some strength coaches do a great job and implement the OLY lifts responsibly, but I’d still argue that teaching these lifts over the course of four years is a drain on athletes’ time, energy and resources.

I’d Recommend the Following Exercises Instead:

Trap Bar Jumps

Trap Bar High Pulls

Trap Bar Speed Pulls

Sumo Speed Pulls

Band Resisted Speed Pulls

Dynamic Effort Box Squats

3. Power Is Plane Specific

Team sport is rarely played in the same plane of motion as the Olympic lifts.

When developing power that transfers over to your sport it’s better to do it in the same or similar planes of movement and joint angles that you’ll see in your sport to have the most transfer.

Using sprints, jumps and throws are great ways to bridge the gap and usually are better options than the Olympic lifts.

Here’s some exercises that can train speed and power with great transfer to sport:

10 Yard Sprints

Max Velocity Sprints

Partner Chase Drills

Rotational Med Ball Toss

Skater Variations

Broad Jump Variations

Overhead Med Ball Throws

Box Jumps

4. Other Variations & Methods

Other variations and methods that have a great effect on power training and can be taught quickly include the use of accommodating resistance with bands and chains as well as contrast training.

Accommodating resistance allows you to accelerate through a full range of motion because the resistance increases as you get into joint angles that can handle greater loads. This allows you to train power at all joint angles in a lift.

In addition to that the use of bands provides a unique training stimulus in which the eccentric portion of the lift is accelerated forcing a great amount deceleration training as well as a high-level reversal strength by using the stretch shortening cycle.

There’re a couple examples of this is the exercises listed above.

Contrast training is a method to peak speed and power production in which you use a heavy compound movement like a squat or deadlift and go right into an explosive expression of speed and power like a sprint, jump or throw.

Note from TG: I posted about contrast sets recently HERE.

The heavy lift provides an activation of higher threshold motor units that will transfer into a more explosive athletic movement.

Here’s some examples of contrast training.

Pre-Season Football Contrast Set

Back Squat —-> Box Jump

Banded Bulgarian Split Squat —-> Half Kneeling Sprint

About the Author

Ricky Kompf is the owner of Kompf Training Systems located in Syracuse New York. His facility provides semi-private training for predominantly high-school and college level athletes with individualized programming.

You can find Ricky on Instagram HERE.

October 19, 2022 Tony