CategoriesProduct Review Program Design

The Single Biggest Mistake Most People Make With Their Training Programs

Full Disclosure: Today is a repurposed post written last year and coincides with Eric Cressey placing his resource, High Performance Handbook, on sale this week for $30 off the regular price.

Sale notwithstanding, it’s still a good post. You should read it.

The Single Biggest Mistake People Make With Their Training Programs

I want to tell you about a friend of mine. Lets call him Matt Damon.

For the record, no, Matt Damon isn’t his real name. In fact this friend I’m referring to doesn’t even exist (or star in any Jason Bourne movies).

Rather, he serves as a metaphor for many of you reading this post.

You see Matt is like many of you who, unknowingly or not, repeats the same mistake time and time again when it comes to his (or her!) training.

To his credit, “Matt” makes it a point to ensure the bulk of his training revolves around the compound lifts.

Instead of an “arms and shoulders day, “ he performs a chin-up day; instead of a “hamstring and anterior tibialis day,” he performs a deadlift day; and well, you get the idea.

Likewise, while he generally prefers to lift weights 3-4 times per week, he’s not immune to stepping outside that bubble, understands that variety is the spice of life, and enjoys doing other things. Every now and then he’ll attend the Bikram yoga class or spin class or hell, he’s even been known to spend an afternoon hiking or playing Ultimate Frisbee.

At the end of the day, though, his heart and passion lies in the gym and tossing around some iron.

But here’s the thing: he loves to lift weights. That’s what he eats, drinks and breaths. He spends a lot of his free time reading fitness websites like T-Nation.com, Men’s Health, or various blogs (even this one!)1, and he’s been doing it for a few years now.

Yet, he’s never been really happy with his results.

Matt hasn’t sniffed a PR in months (if not longer), he always seems to have some kind of nagging injury – a tweaked shoulder here, a dinged up knee there – and he can’t remember the last time he looked in the mirror and thought to himself, “are those my pecs or a steel plate I have on my chest?”

He’s more or less spinning his wheels.

Does this sound vaguely familiar? Can you relate?  What the hell is he/you doing wrong?

It’s certainly not lack of effort or desire.

I’ll Tell You What’s Wrong

You know that popular saying, “The best program is the one you’re not doing?”

Well, I think a more cogent saying should be,

“The best program is the one you’re not doing, and the one you’ll actually follow for more than a week at a time.”

In other words: Far too many people tend to fall in the trap of program hopping.

One week Matt wants to focus on fat loss, only to do a complete 180 after reading an article the following week talking about a kick-ass Smolov squat cycle.

Then, inevitably, he’ll join his local CrossFit box and do that for a few weeks. That is, of course, until he’s done so many kipping pull-ups and burpees that he hates life or can’t feel the right side of his face.

Which ever comes first.

And then he’ll come across yet another program that promises to add four inches to his biceps, 50 lbs to his bench press, and help him speak fluent Mandarin in a month.

Oh, but wait – two weeks into that program he forgets he promised his girlfriend he’d train for a 5K with her scheduled later next month.

Shit. Goodbye gainz.

You get the point. And I have a fair assumption that, while the above example(s) are a bit exaggerated, many of you reading are sitting their with your tail between your legs.

Many begin an exercise program (whichever it may be), only to follow it for a week, or worse, days, and don’t get immediate results…then blame everything on the program.

Guilty as charged, right?

Program hopping can have a number of detrimental effects:

1.  You never give the body the chance to truly adapt to anything. While it’s a good thing to NOT perform the same things over and over again for months on end (which a lot of trainees make a mistake of doing); the same can be said for switching things up too often.

More to the point: There’s a distinct lack of skill development. You never get “good” or develop proficient at doing anything.

It’s a pendulum that’s swung either too far to the left (not changing anything) or too for to the right (program hopping), and what most people need is to swing it back to the middle.

2.  Moreover, with program hopping, it makes it much more of a challenge to gauge actual progress.

As noted above, if one week you’re performing a deadlift specialization program only to switch gears three weeks later to follow a bench press specialization program, how the heck do you expect to measure progress?

I don’t know if there’s such a thing as program hopping Adderall, but I will say that for most people, most of the time, what will help them most is a program that will give them structure.

Something that will lock them in and keep their focus for more than a week at a time.

A program that will give them purpose, a goal. Results!

Boom, Goes the Dynamite

A few years ago my good friend, business partner, and long-time training partner, Eric Cressey, released his flagship resource Show and Go.

To say it was a popular program and a huge success would be an understatement. It helped countless people nail personal records they never thought possible, take their physiques to another stratosphere, not to mention helped thousands to learn to move better and feel like a million bucks.

As much as the programming was top-notch, I think the biggest benefit was that it held people accountable and kept them on track for an extended period of time.

It gave them focus!

And like magic, people finally attained results.

A few years later Eric released his second digital training program, The High Performance Handbook.

It’s everything Show and Go was/is, but 10x better.

For movie buffs out there reading, it’s like this: The Godfather was the shiz. But the Godfather II? Well, that mofo slapped you in the face and called you it’s daddy.

High Performance Handbook is The Godfather Part II (<– Eric, you have my permission to use that as a blurb).

It’s been a very popular program, one of the best selling programs on the internet since its initial release, and it’s currently on SALE at $30 off the regular price.

NOTE: I recognize everyone who’s anyone in the industry is highlighting the sale today (and all this week for that matter2.) on their respective blogs and websites.

And rightfully so…it’s an awesome program.

But unlike everyone else, I’ve actually seen the program performed in the flesh and KNOW how well it works.

1. First off, The High Performance Handbook allows anyone who purchases it to customize the program to fit their body-type. There’s a self-assessment component that no other training program has implemented before.

Rather than provide a cookie-cutter program – which, lets be honest, is how things have to be done over the internet when you have limited (if any) actual face time with people – Eric made it a priority that people would be able to modify the program based off their body type, exercise frequency, as well as equipment availability. So, in many ways, this is as NON-cookie cutter of an internet program as you can get.

2. This is about as close as anyone is going to get to training at Cressey Sports Performance without actually stepping foot in Cressey Sports Performance.  The templates used and the exercises provided have been tested (and proven to work) time and time again, and are the EXACT same protocols we use to turn people into tanks on a daily basis.

3. Speaking of exercises:  Eric filmed over 200+ videos for this product, including all the coaching cues and bullet points we use with our athletes and clients at the facility.  That’s over three hours of content on its own.

4. Lastly, there are some pretty sweet bonuses involved from fellow Cressey Sports Performance coaches Miguel Aragoncillo and Andrew Zomberg

In all,  you’ll have the option of purchasing the Gold Package (which includes the Nutrition Guide) for $30 off the regular price, or the Silver Package (no Nutrition Guide) for $30 off the regular price as well.

I tried convincing Eric into tossing in a 5×7 picture of me flexing to help sweeten the pot, but he didn’t bite. Pfffft, whatever.

Both options are a steal considering you’re getting 16 weeks of programming with Eric coaching you every step of the way.

The sale’s almost over. Act now. You won’t be sorry.

—-> The High Performance Handbook<—-

Categoriescoaching Exercise Technique

Layering the Kettlebell Swing

The kettlebell swing offers many benefits and can be utilized in many ways.

It’s a fantastic modality to train explosiveness and power (especially as a more “user friendly” alternative to Olympic lifting), it’s a back saver in that 1) when it’s performed correctly it helps to dissociate hip movement from lumbar movement (it’s all about the hinge baby) and 2) even Dr. Stuart McGill agrees that the KB swing is the bombdiggidy3, it serves as an excellent conditioning tool, and it’s one of those things that doesn’t take up too much gym space or equipment.

All you need is a body and a kettlebell.4

The thing is, the kettlebell swing isn’t as intuitive as it looks.

Frankly, more often than not, whenever I watch someone try it (or even coach it), it ends up looking like whateverthefuck dance Drake’s doing in his Hotline Bling video.

 

There’s a lot going on with a (good) swing, and it’s understandable why many mess it up on their first go. And second, and 7, 912th.

A lot of “things” need to happen and be in working order from a patterning standpoint to perform one competently. And it’s compounded further when we start to factor in load, not to mention the ballistic nature of the movement itself.

Whenever I begin to coach someone up who’s new to the movement (or even if I’m working with someone with a little more experience and have to iron out some technique kinks), I prefer to break things down into more manageable, bite-size chunks and attempt to “layer” the swing.

Layering the KB Swing

Technically, the first “layer” is slowing things down and allowing people to appreciate what the finished – standing tall – position should feel like.

Here is where abs should be engaged, knees are locked out (quads/knee caps flexed), spine is an anatomical neutral position, and one should be firing their glutes so hard that their butt cheeks could crush a Volvo.

I’m not kidding.

Here, too, is where I try to get someone to understand what it means to HINGE and not SQUAT the swing.

The KB should never dip below knee level – again, it’s a hip hinge not a squat – and there are a litany of cues I default towards to get this message across:

  • One I like a lot is one I stole from Dan John: “attack your zipper.”
  • Another one I like is to tell people to “play chicken with your (you know what).”

 

Essentially I need to get people to appreciate that they’re going to stay upright for as long as possible – till the very last split second – before they “break” and get out of the way.

From there I find time best spent working on the set-up.

A big mistake people make is to pick up the KB and then try to start the swing from a standing position. It’s awkward and vaguely resembles dry humping a tree. See? Awkward.

Teaching the HIKE POSITION is crucial, as it gets people in a more efficient starting position and helps to set the tone for the subsequent hip snap.

 

This in fact may be someone’s wheelhouse for a week, maybe longer. I’ll generally keep things in the 8-10 rep range and perform multiple sets as either part of an extended warm-up or as a stand alone exercise.

The key, though, is to ensure an aggressive hike and that the hips don’t pop up too far.

Once we have that nailed down, it’s time for the next layer….

The Hike +1

Here is where we take the hike and start to incorporate an actual hip snap (swing)…albeit only ONE repetition.

The goal is to ensure quality reps.

 

I also want to ensure people learn to use their HIPS (and not “muscle” things with their arms). The hips more or less serve as a launching pad to “thrust/push” the arms out front.

Note: and since we built a little context beforehand and started everyone in the end position (standing tall) they should kinda-sorta know what it feels like, or what to expect. Basically, it’s not a foreign “thing” to them like a good episode of The Kardashians or, I don’t know, a leprechaun.

I’ll keep reps a little lower here, usually around FIVE, and utilize the same approach as above with the hike.

Moving Forward

Once those two things are dialed in, we can then experiment with an actual repetitive swing. However, I find many people will benefit more by not being too aggressive from the get go and veering too far away from the Hike and Hike + 1.

Some may pick things up quickly and be able to perform a swing within 10-30 minutes – Dean Somerset and I do it all the time at our workshops: TORONTO (3/19), SEATTLE (4/9) – and for others it may take a few sessions, if not a few weeks.

The important point to consider is to break the swing down into more manageable parts for people, and to not perform or coach an American Swing.…;o)

Categoriescoaching Female Training Strength Training

Find a Winning Community: Spandex Optional. Why More Woman Should Consider Strength Training

People tend to perform best and feel their best when they know they’re a part of a community.

This sentiment is true in almost any context whether referring to AA, drama club, team sports, galactic Empires, or hell, even one of those super secret societies, like in the movie Eyes Wide Shut. But it’s especially true within fitness circles.

It’s in fitness where people can commiserate in unison through a brutal squat session, conditioning circuit, or a random CrossFit WOD of muscles ups paired with running over your right arm with a Prowler for AMRAP.

In short: If you’re part of a (fitness) community you’re more likely to see things through, build an increased sense of perseverance and resiliency, and less likely to give up.

Too, you’re more likely to see the fruits of your labor; I.e., results!

I can attest to this phenomenon via my affiliation with Cressey Sports Performance for eight years, as well as my past experience training at South Side Barbell, a powerlifting gym formerly located in Stratford, CT.

When you train around like-minded individuals (or train with a purpose) great things happen.

CrossFit Gets All the Hype

There’s no denying the overwhelming sense of camaraderie and community that CrossFit has been able to establish amongst its fans and members in recent years. It’s something I commend with vigor.

Nothing has gotten the barbell in more people’s hands – especially women – than CrossFit.

However there’s another fitness “faction” that’s been doing the same thing for years, and one I feel is every bit as motivational and a champion of community as CrossFit.

Maybe even better in several ways.

And it’s a community I wish more people – especially women – would consider.

Drum roll please……..

Powerlifting (But Really, Strength Training In General)

Fear not ladies! I know the word “powerlifting” is often synonymous with “I’m not touching that with a ten foot pole.”

Besides, handstand push-ups and cartwheels look a helluva lot more fun than grinding out a heavy deadlift. I get it.

Plus, the word itself – powerlifting – reeks of intimidation and infers something only advanced lifters dabble in.

Relax. Deep breaths. There’s nothing advanced about it. At it’s base level..all powerlifting really means is strength training.

Besides, what follows assumes that you are equipped with some very basic tools: a working knowledge of gym lingo (you know the difference between a set and rep, can differentiate between a squat and a deadlift, and understand that the word “muscle confusion” is moronic). Also: if you recognize that this picture…..

…is of a dumbbell and not, say, a stapler…we’re good, and you can safely proceed knowing you’re not going to be over your head.

Why More Women Should Powerlift/Strength Train

Okay, I lied. There is a teeny tiny degree of intimidation tied to powerlifting. I mean, I felt it the first time I ever visited South Side Barbell with Eric Cressey back in 2006.

I had just moved to Connecticut (where Eric and I were working and living together) and I tagged along with Eric to South Side to get a lift in. Note: Eric was a competitive powerlifter at the time.

I remember walking through the doors the first time into a room full of 280+ lb giants warming up with my 1RM. Intimidation doesn’t begin to articulate what I was feeling. I was trying every trick in the book not to destroy the back of my pants.

Moreover, as the weeks passed, I had to “wear” the not-so-subtle ball-busting…you know, being the skinny, veiny guy and all. But it didn’t take long for me to be accepted and to feel as if I was part of the group; part of a team.

Likewise, it didn’t take long for me to understand that it was one of the most giving and educational experiences in my lifting career, despite not competing.

To reiterate, though, you don’t need to train AT a powerlifting gym in order to strength train. You can do it anywhere.

Also, on an aside: Spandex (those silly singlets) are only needed to compete.

1) Community

This is very much on par with CrossFit. The powerlifting community is a generous one, and one that will always give back (assuming you’re someone who will show up, do the work, and take a role as part of a team). Basically you need to give too, and not just take.

And like CrossFit, when you’re surrounded by like-minded individuals it’s pretty much impossible not to see results.

Cressey Sports Performance coach, Tony Bonvechio, started the CSP Women’s Powerlifting team a few months ago and when I was still there I saw firsthand how empowering and invigorating it was for the women who took part.

 

It was awesome to see them train as a team, and to watch them coach and cheer one another as they continued to hit PRs.

The “community” element can’t be understated, and I’d encourage anyone reading to seek out a facility or group to work with, even if it’s only 1x per week. It’s worth it.

2) Purpose

Admittedly, not everyone is going to have easy access to a facility or group of people who like to powerlift and/or strength train. But that doesn’t mean you still can’t reap the benefits.

Following a powerlifting/strength-centric program gives people PURPOSE in their training; a goal. It helps to take away the notion that progress (or results) is dictated by what the scale says or what the gossip magazines like to portray as the ideal body type.

Instead, powerlifting (like CrossFit) places higher credence on performance-based goals, which to me has a greater carryover to long-term, consistent progress than anything.

It’s funny: when things start to click and a woman latches on to strength as a positive thing – and not something to be condemned – many of the aesthetic markers she may have be working towards for years with little or no result begin to manifest.

It becomes less about “look at me, I’m hot. Do you think I’m hot? I’m hot, right?” and more about “look at me, and this deadlift PR I just smashed.”

3) Technique

By now some of you may be thinking:

“Well, it seems there’s not much difference between CrossFit and powerlifting in terms of advantages. So, why not just CrossFit?”

This third point is where I feel the two start to separate themselves.

Disclaimer: Yes, CrossFit, I know plenty of coaches and boxes you coach their athletes/clients up well, use intelligent programming, and take the time to properly ramp up or progress individuals based off ability level, goals, and limitations.

But lets be real: that’s the exception and not the rule. Because, CrossFit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opYj0XICHvQ

 

The overwhelming mentality is “lets do stuff because it looks cool and because it’s hard5” rather than “lets do stuff that will make people better, educate them, and allow them to build some semblance of fitness autonomy.”

As Dean Somerset noted recently:

“The benefits of learning technique for outweigh the benefits of simply doing an exercise. Using powerlifting principles to teach positioning, bracing, and organization to perform a lift helps to limit secondary movement from joints that shouldn’t be causing the movement, and helps reduce the likelihood of problems down the road.”

The principles of powerlifting help to build proficiency in the “big 3,” which makes the learning curve when introducing new movements much less of a barrier.

You learn to become your own coach.

Unapologetically Powerful

Jennifer Blake and Jen Sinkler have constructed a resource – Unapologetically Powerful – I feel will help a lot of women understand the power behind powerlifting. <— See what I just did there. Clever, right?

I mean, why should you have to “apologize” or feel ostracized because you’re strong or want to be strong?

They help to make powerlifting more accessible to women and less intimidating. Here’s what’s in the program

  • A comprehensive training manual that includes Beginner and Early Intermediate 12-week powerlifting programs with a detailed introduction to biofeedback training.
  • An extensive guide on how to compete for first-time powerlifters who want to step onto the platform.
  • A complete exercise glossary with clear-cut written coaching cues and images.
  • A MASSIVE video library of more than 140 exercise demonstration videos. Every movement in the program is in the video library, with detailed coaching cues to walk you through each exercise step by step.
  • A revamped version of Lift Weights Faster geared specifically toward powerlifters.

Unapologetically Powerful is on sale for HALF OFF now through midnight Friday, December 11. For more info, click HERE.

CategoriesProgram Design Strength Training

Exercise Variety Is Making You Weak

The term “muscle confusion” is, well, confusing to me. I understand in the most general of context it refers to muscle building and growth. Cool. Getting strong is part of building muscle as well, and I feel too much exercise variety is hurting everyone’s gains.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not adamantly against the idea of switching things up and implementing new exercises for the sake of variety. I mean, not everyone wants to eat vanilla ice-cream every day, right?6 It’s not a bad thing to spice things up and try new things. Oftentimes it helps keep people motivated to workout.

However, where it becomes problematic is when people start adding variety for the sake of adding variety – with no plan or intent to work on or improve something.

Like I said, exercise variety can be a good thing. But I find that many (not all) trainees view adding variety (or the idea of muscle confusion) as necessary for getting results in the gym. I’d argue the opposite to be true.

Less variety – and “owning” your exercises, is a major factor in long-term success. It’s not a idea cemented in stone, but just a conversation to consider.

In my latest article on T-Nation I explain my rationale.

Continue Reading….

CategoriesMotivational

Why Gym Culture Is So Important

You’ve heard me mention it before, but it bears repeating: what I feel separates a good gym from a great gym is the notion of CULTURE.

There are a thousand and one gyms out there who hire the best trainers/coaches, have access to every piece of training equipment you could ever ask for, offer competitive rates, and spice things up with various amenities such as juice bars, WiFi, cafe, group exercise classes, yoga, pool, massage therapy, and maybe even access to steam rooms.

Although, if I were you, I’d steer clear of them. Trust me.

Yet, many often fail or have a less than stellar retention rate because they lack any semblance or culture or community.

Places like Cressey Sports Performance, Mark Fisher Fitness (in NYC), IFAST (in Indianapolis), Tuff Girl Fitness (in New Haven, CT), Movement Minneapolis (in Minneapolis), Results Fitness (in Newhall, CA), and yes I’ll even toss CrossFit into the mix here, are a speck of dust in comparison to some of the monstrosities that take up a city block.

None offer fancy amenities, may or may not even offer a place to shower, and are often set at a much higher price point compared to their big-box gym counterparts.

Yet, they thrive and have the most loyal members you could ask for. As Simon Sinek noted in his outstanding book Start With Why:

“There’s a big difference between repeat business and loyalty. Repeat business is when people do business with you multiple times. Loyalty is when people are willing to turn down a better product or a better price to continue doing business with you.”

Why the Loyalty?

Because every single gym above, in their own unique way, has placed a premium on building a culture where people want to train, want to spend their time, and more importantly feel empowered and encouraged by the staff and other members.

Training around like-minded people has a palpable effect on not only performance but overall experience too.

Take what happened last Saturday at CSP.

To give a little backstory: I’ve long championed the mentality that women should focus more on performance based goals in the weight room rather than things like scale weight or emulating a celebrity look or listening to anything the mainstream media has to say on the topic of women and fitness.

Most of it is unrealistic, toxic, and sets back women’s fitness 20 years.

I 100% feel strength training is the key to pretty much anything, even for more aesthetic based goals.

What’s more, using the popular analogy, strength training is a glass. Most people’s glass (men included) is far too small and they have little room to “express” any other qualities such as sprinting, jumping, hitting a golf ball 250 yds, deadlifting a tank, farmer carrying bags of groceries from the store to your apartment, fighting crime, or doing anything remotely athletic.

Strength training makes your glass bigger so that you can put more “stuff” into it. It allows you the freedom to not pull a hamstring just thinking about chasing after a taxi.

It allows for stuff like this to happen:

 

This is a video I took this past Saturday of four random women who train at CSP (admittedly, the first one, Nancy, is a current intern), the youngest of which is 15.

For the hell of it I challenged one of them to see if she could do a one-arm chin-up, and before I knew it several was lining up to try.

How baller is that?

None of them walked in on day one and said, “you know what Tony? I’d like to be able to perform a one-arm chin-up.”

But because we’ve built a culture where people (men AND women) love to lift heavy things and get after it, and because all four embraced the importance of hard work and bought into our way of doing things, it has allowed them to do stuff like this.

Because, why not?

CategoriesProgram Design Strength Training

5 Reasons You’re Not Getting Stronger

Getting strong is easy. Focus on compound, multi-joint movements – preferably the squat, deadlift and bench press – and then try to move more weight in those lifts on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis.

Photo Credit: JD Hancock

Basically, lift heavy shit, a lot. Repeat. Forever.

So why do many people fail to make appreciable progress with their strength goals? In my latest article published on T-Nation.com today I delve into five mistakes you can fix:

Continue Reading…..

CategoriesMotivational Program Design Strength Training

How to Get Stronger

There are two types of people in the world: those who love Chipotle and those who hate it those who overanalyze E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G and those who don’t.

Photo Credit: Thomas Hawk

Take the philosophical question “what’s the meaning of life?” for example. Not to insinuate that this is a question that doesn’t deserve to be overanalyzed – admittedly it’s loaded and a question that’s pretty freakin deep – but it’s surprising how much of a dichotomy there is from person to person as to how it’s analyzed and thus answered.

Of course, the more introspective of us will dive into the existential components and gravitate towards a discourse of philosophy, religion, theology, science, the universe, as well as sub-components pertaining to one’s happiness (what makes someone “happy?”), spirituality (which may or may not include a God), social ties, morality, value, purpose, and a host of other equally important factors. Like kitten kisses and a Lord of the Rings marathon on TNT.

For the more critical and analytical in the crowd the meaning of life parallels that of Socrates where one should live a life of virtue and that which agrees with nature.

For someone else the meaning of life may revolve around the notion of “oneness” and developing a well-rounded relationship with oneself and with one’s surroundings (family, friends, environment, community, etc).

For the less analytical and for those people who tend to go with the flow, the meaning of life may be to make babies, have a lot of money, or, I don’t know, 2 for 1 pizza night at Papa Johns.

The point is: some people are deep thinkers (for better or worse), and some aren’t (for better or worse).

I’m not sure if the introduction above served as an appropriate segue (if you’re still reading I guess it did. I win!!!!), but when it comes to the topic of getting stronger I do feel many people fall into the trap of overanalyzing and making things more complicated than they need to be.

There are a million and one articles and blog post out there delving into the nuts and bolts of what it takes to get stronger – and 90% of them say the same thing.  What do they say?

Lift heavy shit, a lot.  Repeat.

Note:  yes, there’s a typo.  But who cares!  This is hilarious.

The fact of the matter is this:  if you want to get stronger it’s standard procedure to focus on “the big 3” – squat, bench press, deadlift – and to make those lifts THE HEART of your training approach and philosophy.

These movements generally allow you to use the most weight and there’s a reason why they’re the staples of most – if not all – successful training programs geared towards making people into animals:

5/3/1 – Jim Wendler

The Cube Method – Brandon Lilly

Building the Big 3 – Greg Robins & Eric Cressey

2×4 – Bret Contreras

The Texas Method – Justin Lascek

All of the above programs (or to put it more accurately, SYSTEMS) stress barbell training and progressive overload. No fluff and no fillers.

The knock against them is that they’re boring. To which I respond, “suck it up buttercup. Boring is what works.”

There’s something to be said about building a relationship with the barbell and spending time underneath it, pushing it, pulling it, and hoisting it over your head.

I’d argue that if more people just performed TWO barbell movements per training session and worked on perfecting their technique, and poured their heart and soul into those two movements that day, they’d see tremendous results.

It’s not a sexy approach, but it works.

So to recap:  the universal prerequisites to getting stronger are to focus on compound, multi-joint movements (preferably the big 3) and to try to lift move more weight in those lifts on a weekly, monthly, yearly basis.

We’re all on the same page, right?  Mmmmkay.  Moving on.

95.65% of me would like to end this post now. I’m definitely in the latter camp from above and prefer not to over-think things.

Which reminds me of a funny story.  Forgive me for going off-topic for a second.

One day I was spotting a buddy of mine on the bench press.  He was gearing up to travel abroad to play some professional football (American football) and was training pretty hard. He had something like 335 lbs on the bench press – give or take 10 lbs – and missed the lift.

He racked the weight, turned around and looked at me, and asked “dude, was my bar path off? Did my elbows flare out? Leg drive?  What?” He wanted a complicated answer.  All I said was “nah, it was just too heavy.”

Hahahahahahahahaha.

Trust me it was funny.  You had to be there.

We probably could have made an argument for all the things he brought up, but the simple answer was that, like it or not, gravity won.

And it’s on that note I wanted to offer a bit more insight other than the cliched “just lift something heavy” mantra that’s regurgitated time and time again on the internet.

1. Aim for Small Gains

Every Thanksgiving I go home and inevitably I’ll pile on more food than I can handle onto my plate. It’s the epitome of having my eyes be larger than my stomach.

In that same vein, far too often I notice people making overly ambitious training goals.

Don’t get me wrong it’s great to have goals, and I wish more people would take the time to write them down. Doing so gives people purpose in their training!  However, saying that you’d like to squat 600 lbs by the end of the year when you can barely perform a squat now without looking like a newborn baby giraffe is a bit of a stretch.

It’s like some guy saying “I WANT TO MAKE OUT WITH SCARLET JOHANNSON,” when all he’s ever done is practice on his pillow.

Calm down big guy and lets be a bit more realistic.

Squatting 600 lbs is cool and all, but why not just make a goal of perfecting your technique first? Then we can graduate to loftier things like a 2x bodyweight squat and then some!

Think about it this way: If you break a max by 5 pounds a month, that’s 60 pounds a year. If you keep doing that, you’re going to make some fantastic progress.

As the godfather of badassery and getting strong, Louie Simmons, states: “Stay focused, stay strong, stay patient. You’ll get there.”

2. Restoration and Recovery Matter

It sounds borderline counterintuitive – but you DO NOT make gains in the weight room. Lifting weights breaks down muscle tissue – that’s the point! – and serves as the stimulus for the body to repair itself and come back stronger.

If you’re not getting ample sleep, hitting up the foam roller here the there and working on maintaining adequate tissue quality, and/or taking precautions to RECOVER from your training (like including scheduled deload weeks)….then it’s all for not.

As the saying goes, fatigue will mask your true fitness.. You can’t consistently beat your body to a pulp and expect to make continued, long-term gains/progress.

Try this:  take an off day.  And by “off day,” I don’t mean perform a strongman circuit or head to the track and perform a bunch of 400m tempo runs.  I mean exactly what it implies.

Relax. Chill out.  Stay at home, fire up Netflix, and watch some 24 re-runs.

If you’re one of those people who shits a stability ball if you’re not in the gym on any given day, maybe try an ACTIVE RECOVERY day – this THIS one – where the objective is to move around a little, get the blood pumping, and to break a small sweat.

You don’t need to be running on all cylinders 100% of the time to make progress.

3.  Make Your Foundation Wider In Order to Gain Higher Peaks

This is a profound point that fellow Cressey Sports Performance coach, Greg Robins, hit on yesterday during his “Optimizing the Big 3” workshop.

The idea is this:  in order to hit higher peaks in strength, you HAVE to develop a wider base.

For beginner and intermediate trainees it makes little sense to spend time performing lifts in the 90% + range (of one’s one-rep max) and testing PRs when their PR isn’t that impressive in the first place.

Think of things in terms of a triangle:

To the right is someone who hasn’t spent a lot of time accumulating VOLUME in their training. Their base is fairly narrow, and hence their peak (I.e., strength) isn’t anything to brag about.

Conversely, to the left, is someone who’s spent a lot of time under the bar and has amassed more volume and frequency in their training.  As a result, their base is wider and peak is much higher.

Put another way:  how you get strong is by moving what you could originally do for 3 reps and perform it for 5.

What was originally your 92.5% 3RM is now 87.5%.

You can only do this by accumulating volume and by putting in the work. It’s not just going to happen.

4.  The Best Supplement?

What would a post on strength be without some sort of commentary on supplements!?

I had a high-school athlete walk up to me the other day asking me what I felt was the best supplement to take to get strong and to add on weight.

All I said was……….

CALORIES.

Calories is the best supplement.

He looked at me all perplexed. He was expecting me to go on some diatribe on creatine or protein powder or some Mass Gainer Hypertrophic Matrix 2000 Unicorn Antler Advanced Formula.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again:  supplements are progress ENHANCERS not progress STARTERS.

If your current diet and training plan isn’t getting the job done, then the “x-factor” isn’t what supplements you’re not taking.

Your training is suspect or you’re not ingesting enough calories. Most likely it’s both!

See!  It doesn’t have to be so complicated.

CategoriesExercise Technique Program Design Strength Training

How to Train For Power

First off: Like, WHOA!

It’s been bonkers on the site the past few days. Tuesday’s post, An Open Letter to Everyone Who Has Told a Women “Don’t Get Too Muscular,” pretty much won the internet for a 48 hour stretch and has been getting a ton of positive feedback and commentary.

It’s by far been the most successful post in the history of this site – to the tune of 13,000 (and counting) “Likes” – and has been making the rounds via various social media outlets. People are sharing it left and right, and I couldn’t be more ecstatic. I don’t think if I posted a video of me arm wrestling Tracy Anderson (in space!) that it would go more viral than this article has.

I guess the lesson to be learned is that, when an outspoken, articulate, and strong woman such as Sophia goes out of her way to relay such a profound & powerful (and slightly controversial) message, people will undoubtedly listen.

Thanks again to Sophia for her contribution. And thanks to everyone who went out of their way to help spread the message.

And now that I’ve increased me female readership by 1017%…..

….it only makes sense that I switch gears, possibly decrease my female readership by 1013%, and discuss the topic of POWER!!  More specifically how to train for power.

Mind you, this doesn’t imply that women aren’t interested. They can benefit just as much as guys when it comes to training for and hence improving power output. It’s just that, you know, is there any more of a “manly” topic than the topic of power?

Think about it. Guys are seemingly obsessed with power.

How many guys go out of their way to buy a Prius? Most lean towards the sports car.  Unless you’re me and you opt for an Elantra. With spoilers!  But I digress.

Likewise, when it comes to movies, there’s a reason why most dudes opt for testosterone infused eye candy like the Fast & Furious franchise or Transformers in lieu of anything starring Julia Roberts or adapted from a Nicholas Sparks novel.

We want tanks, explosions, the occasional zombie apocalypse, and more explosions.

Not sappy dialogue and clichéd boy-meets-girl-lets-make-out-in-the-rain storybook endings.

Although to be fair: The Gossinator (Ryan Gosling) is the man.

Hell, as far as guys are concerned, whether we’re referring to power tools or drugs that give us more powerful erections, power is all around us, seemingly marinating our every waking moment.

Not coincidentally this mindset has many of its own parallels in the strength and conditioning realm.

In my latest article on T-Nation, I discuss what power training is (and isn’t) and how one can go about training it more effectively using protocols and movements that can be applied TODAY!

CONTINUE READING………..

CategoriesProgram Design Strength Training

The Weakling’s Guide to Working Out

As you’ll undoubtedly see if you decide to read the entire article (and why wouldn’t you?), some trainees place the cart before the horse and make things more complicated than they have to be. Rocket science is hard. Long division is hard. Figuring out why women love Hugh Grant movies is hard. Lifting weights should not be hard.

I was asked by Stack Magazine to write an article aimed towards guys (but the message applies to women too!) who tend to have a hard time making progress with their exercise routine – namely their resistance training routine.

Or what I affectionally refer to as “lifting heavy stuff.”

To be candid, the message is nothing revolutionary and it’s probably one you’ve read or have been told time and time again. But it’s something that bears repeating, and frankly, despite how often it’s trumpeted, people somehow fail to allow the message to stick

Akin to how people continue to text while behind the wheel of a car or are constantly being told to put the toilet seat back down.

Yeah, kinda like that.

The Weakling’s Guide to Workout Out

NOTE:  as a small favor, if you liked the article on Stack, PLEASE share it through your social media outlets. If you didn’t like it, pffft, whatever….;o)

CategoriesProgram Design Strength Training

The Rule of 90%: 2.0

The rule of 90% can be applied to almost anything.

One of the best examples, with special emphasis to health and wellness, stems from Dr. John Berardi and the crew over at Precision Nutrition.

Simply stated, if you eat “clean” or follow the rules 90% of the time, good things tend to happen.

By focusing the bulk of your diet or nutrition plan on things like lean meats, vegetables, fruits, “healthy” fat, whole, minimally processed foods, going “off the grid” 10% of the time, and eating foods you enjoy – hello mint cookies-n-cream ice cream! – won’t really make that big of a difference in the grand scheme of things.

Life will go on, you’ll stay more consistent with your plan (and you’ll keep your sanity).

The Rule of 90% can also be applied to co-habitation (put the toilet seat down 90% of the time, and your girlfriend won’t strangle you) strength and conditioning, albeit in a different context.

I wrote an article on T-Nation.com what seems like eons ago (2006!) titled, coincidentally enough, The Rule of 90%.  Catchy, right?

In it I discuss how, if your goal is to improve maximal strength, it’s important to incorporate lifts at or above 90% of your 1-rep max.

Cliff Notes Version:  lifting maximal weight (90%+) has a number of effects:

1. Maximal number of motor units are recruited.

2. Fastest MU’s are activated (high-threshold motor units).

3. The discharge frequency (rate coding) is increased.

4. Activity is synchronous.

5. Potential for future hypertrophy gains (especially when you revert back to a “hypertrophy” specific training phase).

6.  While some argue whether or not the research is efficacious – it goes both ways – lifting heavy things helps to increase serum Testosterone levels.

7.  Girls will want to hang out with you (<=== it’s science).

How It’s Applied (Watered Down, Like A Lot)

Lets say someone’s bench press max is 275 lbs, and the goal for a particular training session is to hit 4 singles at or above 90%.  It may look something like this:

Bar x whatever

95 x 8

135 x 5

185 x 3

225 x 3

250 x 1

265 x 1 (feel good! Eff it, lets go for a PR).

280 x 1 (it was a grinder, but you got it).

From here, it’s important to note that ANY lift at 90% or above (275 lbs), counts.  Doing the math, that means any lift which was heavier than 247.5 lbs.

So now we have ONE more single left.  I’d opt for a clean rep with good bar speed.

260 x 1 (Nailed it! Lets go pound a protein shake).

The Rule of 90%: 2.0

Hitting lifts that are 90% or above one’s 1RM isn’t something I’d recommend for beginner or even most intermediate lifters.  It takes a lot of experience and “time under the bar” to get to the point where handling that much weight is safe.

To that end, this approach IS NOT something I advocate for those with little training experience (lets say less than a year of consistent, no BS training).

However, that doesn’t mean we can’t still apply the principles to great affect.

Something we implement a lot at Cressey Performance (because we don’t go out of our way to test 1RM right off the bat) is the idea of ramping up to a 3 RM (rep max) – for that day – and then using the same approach as above, hitting a certain number of sets at or around 90%.

There’s a fair bit of autoregulation and “feel” involved, and results will vary depending on one’s status for that day, but it gets the job done.

I’ll simply have someone work up to a challenging triple (set of 3) for that day, and then once they hit it, aim for “x” number of sets at or slightly above 90% of THAT number.

Lets stick with the bench press. Goal is to hit 4 sets at or above 90% of 3RM.

Bar x whatever

95 x 5

135 x 5

185 x 3

225 x 3 (bar speed is still good)

245 x 3 (starting to slow up, but still passable)

265 x 3 (last rep was a bit of a grinder. We’ll use this as our marker or “top set” for the day).

Doing the math, 90% of 265 is 238.5.  So, any lift above that counts (245 and 265, respectively).

As always, I’d opt for clean, fast reps from here and would encourage someone to stick in the 245-255 range for their last two sets.

And That’s, That

Hopefully that makes some sense, and, of course, this is a strategy that could be applied to all the “big lifts” (squat, deadlift, bench press, chin-up, rows).  Tricep kickbacks are off the list.

Too, I’d be conservative with how often it’s applied.  1-2 sessions per week would suffice (maybe use it for one lower body movement, and one upper body movement), but once a week would be a nice option for most.

Week 1: ramp up to a 3RM deadlift, hit 3-5 sets at 90%+
Week 2: ramp up to a 3RM bench press, hit 3-5 sets at 90%+
Week 3: ramp up to a 3RM squat, hit 3-5 sets at 90%+

Week 4: ramp up to a 3RM deadlift (try to beat your previous number), hit 3-5 sets at 90%+

So on and so forth.

All in all, I find this is a much more “user friendly” way to implement the Rule of 90% and something that most trainees could easily implement into their training.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes!