CategoriesProduct Review Program Design Strength Training

Pimp Your Program Design

Today I have a killer guest post by strength coach, future Dr., good friend, and specializer in all things glutes, Bret Contreras.

Getting good (or even adequate) at designing effective training programs takes time. There are a lot of theories and opinions out there on the topic, and in today’s post Bret shares some insight on what he feels should be some common denominators.

There’s a TON of useful, easily actionable information involved (and I went a head and embedded numerous videos from Bret which could serve as excellent resource themselves).

Also, as an FYI, Bret released his new program yesterday called 2×4.

Bret was nice enough to send me an advance copy last week and I had the opportunity to read through it while I was stuck at O’Hare airport in Chicago over the weekend.

I liked it.  A lot.

Watered down to the essentials, the title 2×4 means 2 (big, compound, movements) performed 4 times per week.

It’s a 14-week program designed to get people STRONG (and gunny) by integrating strength work in conjunction with sub-maximal training and assistance work.

I think what I appreciate most is that it’s a no-frills program. You vs. the barbell.

While Bret suggests which exercises you should focus on, you do get the opportunity to choose which eight exercises you’d like to have as your “indicators” to gauge progress.

What’s more the program can be modified to fit your preferences (strength vs. hypertrophy), so it’s far from a one-size-fits all program.

He also includes a bunch of sweet bonuses, all of which only sweeten the pot.

In fact, as of today, I’m doing the program myself!  I can’t wait to see what kind of results I get.

For more information you can go HERE.

On that note, enjoy the article!

Pimp Your Program Design

Is your training still stuck in the 1990’s? If so, let me help you out with some common program design tips of highly effective trainers and lifters.

Necessary Components

First of all, your training will need to be comprehensive. While I personally prefer 4 full body training sessions per week, other training splits can certainly be effective too. Just make sure that every week (and preferably twice per week), you’re performing exercises from the following categories of movements:

1. Hip + Knee Extension Movement – these include bilateral and unilateral squatting exercises. Examples are goblet squats, back squats, front squats, Bulgarian split squats, walking lunges, and step ups.

2. Straight Leg Hip Extension Movement – these include bilateral and unilateral hip hinging movements. Examples are deadlifts, good mornings, horizontal back extensions, 45 degree hypers, reverse hypers, single leg RDLs, and kettlebell swings.

3. Bent Leg Hip Extension Movement – these include bilateral and unilateral bridging and thrusting movements. Examples are hip thrusts, barbell glute bridges, single leg hip thrusts, and cable pull-throughs.

4. Upper Body Pressing Movement – these include bilateral and unilateral vertical, 45 degree, and horizontal presses. Examples are barbell or dumbbell bench press, barbell or dumbbell incline press, and barbell or dumbbell overhead press.

5. Upper Body Pulling Movement – these include bilateral and unilateral vertical, 45 degree, and horizontal pulls. Examples are chins, pull-ups, seated rows, one arm rows, inverted rows, and bent over rows.

6. Core Stability Movement – these include anti-extension, anti-lateral flexion, and anti-rotation exercises. Examples are RKC planks, side planks, ab wheel rollouts, hollow body holds, suitcase holds, and Pallof presses.

Base your training around these exercises and you’re bound to succeed.

Balanced Hip Extension Exercise

Unless you’ve been hiding in a cave for the past 50 years, you’ve undoubtedly heard about the merits of hip extension exercise. Simply put, it’s the cat’s pajamas.

However, some hip extension exercises stress the flexed-range position, while others stress the extended-range position.

Flexed-Range Hip Extension Movements

Squats, front squats, conventional deadlifts, sumo deadlifts, good mornings, lunges, Bulgarian split squats, trap bar deadlifts.

 Note from TG: Who wants to bet that Bret’s not wearing any pants in this video?????

Extended Range Hip Extension Movements

Hip thrusts, barbell glute bridges, single leg hip thrusts, horizontal back extensions, cable pull-throughs.

The exercises in the former group are staples that have been popular for quite some time. The exercises in the latter group have recently emerged onto the scene and are very important for ensuring that full range hip extension strength and maximum glute development are realized. Every good program should include exercises from both groups.

Daily Rowing and Glute Work

Not all volume is created equal. Some exercises heavily tax the CNS, whereas others don’t tend to create much soreness or fatigue. Performing maximal deadlifts multiple times per week is usually a recipe for disaster, but the same cannot be said for rowing movements and most targeted glute exercises.

You may perform 2-3 sets of inverted rows, seated rows, one-arm rows, chest supported rows, or face pulls every training session.

You may also perform 2-3 sets of band seated hip abductions, monster walks, sumo walks, banded clams, band hip rotations, side lying hip raises, glute marches, or RKC planks every training session as well.

Sub-Maximal Training Methods

In the old days, we thought that we had to max out or take every set to failure in order to see results. These days, more and more coaches and lifters are realizing the benefits of sub-maximal training methods.

I like to perform what I call super-strict reps, or dynamic-effort reps, or pause reps, each for around 3 sets of 1-5 reps. This allows for greater training frequency without compromising recovery, which leads to greater strength gains over time.

Personal Record (PR) Opportunities

Pick 5 of your favorite compound exercises. If you consider a 5RM, a 3RM, and a 1RM, that makes for 3 different “PR opportunities” per exercise.

If you perform 3 sets of 1, 3 sets of 3, or 3 sets of 5 reps, then this makes for 3 more “PR opportunities” per exercise. With 6 PR opportunities for 5 exercises, this equates to 30 different PR’s. Week in and week out, you should be setting PR’s.

Do you know what you can max close grip bench? Do you know what you can front squat for 3 set of 5? Do you know what your 3RM sumo deadlift is? If not, you should.

Deloading

I know you love training balls-to-the-wall (or ovaries-to-the-wall if you’re a female lifter), but you simply cannot train all-out 52 weeks out of the year.

I like to go hard for 6 weeks and then deload for a week. Some coaches prefer to deload every 3 or 4 weeks. It all depends on the lifter, but suffice to say, you need to plan built-in easy weeks that allow for proper recovery.

Conclusion

Hopefully these suggestions will revamp your training and help you reach new levels of strength and physique development. They’ve worked well for me and for my clients, so I think they’ll work for you too.

About the Author

Bret Contreras, MA, CSCS is currently studying to receive his PhD in sports science at AUT University. Find out more about him by visiting his blog at www.BretContreras.com.

 

CategoriesFemale Training

The “X-Factor” When It Comes to Convincing Women to Lift Weights?

What an awesome weekend.

Before I get into the meat and potatoes of this post, I first wanted to offer my gratitude to Randy Martin and his staff over at POWER Fargo for not only inviting me to speak but for being amazing hosts during the 3rd Annual Sanford POWER Strength and Conditioning Clinic.

Not only was it an eventful two days filled with top notch training and nutrition information catered towards fitness professionals (there were roughly 200 attendees, mostly strength coaches, personal trainers, physical therapists, with a spattering of Bert Blyleven fans* ), but – and I know this is a random point to bring up  – the food spreads were on point!

You know you’re at a strength and conditioning event when all-you-can-eat deviled eggs and chicken/pineapple skewers are part of the experience.  It was meathead heaven!

The only thing that would have made it more meat-headed was if they included creatine as a condiment or John Cena showed up and started a pig roast.

Note to any future seminar/conference planners:  this needs to happen.

Game time for me was all-day Saturday.  I spoke a total of six times – two presentation (one on squat assessment, and the other on shoulder “stuff”) and four, 30-minute long hands on sessions, where I discussed some of the shoulder care exercises we use at Cressey Performance with the bulk of our overhead athletes.

The latter of which you can learn in more detail HERE.

And by watching this video (my apologies for the lighting, it does get better as the video progresses):

Needless to say by the end of the day Saturday my brain was mush.  Annnnd I lost my voice.

Now I’m sitting here in the lounge area at my hotel Sunday morning writing this blog before I head to POWER to get a quick lift in with a few of the coaches there, and then it’s off to the airport.

So if you’re reading this post on Monday…….I MADE IT HOME!  YAY!!!

Also, as a quick aside:  Can I just take a second to say how lovely, in general, people here in the Mid-West are???

It’s been so refreshing to make eye contact with people, have them smile, and say “good morning.”

Sometimes I feel as if you can do the same thing in Boston (say hello to someone) and you’re more apt to be challenged to a knife fight than someone reciprocating.

Thanks Mid-West, for restoring my faith in humanity!!

The “X-Factor” When It Comes to Convincing Women to Lift Weights?

It’s no secret that I’ve encouraged and longed championed that women can and should lift (appreciable) weights.  I say “appreciable weights,” because pink dumbbells don’t count.  Those are paperweights. Doorstoppers. Bookshelf holders. The things that are relegated to the Tracy Anderson’s and Gwyneth Paltrow’s of the world (when she’s not dissing working moms of course) who are ignorant, prefer to placate into women’s fears about fitness,and/or want to sell DVDs.

NOTE: For those interested, HERE’s a link to a bunch of female-specific blog posts on my website. Stuff that’s actually useful, educational, empowering, and is gluten and botox free.

There’s no shortage of reasons why women should lift weights.  For all intents and purposes they’re the very same reasons why men lift weights:  to improve performance (whether in their respective sport(s), in daily life, or in the bed room.  BOM CHICKA BOM BOM), to improve health markers (increased lean body mass, improved bone density, offset metabolic disease, to name a few). to (hopefully) prevent injury, to look and feel like a million bucks, and/or, simply, because they like it or want to.

I recall several encounters my girlfriend, Lisa, has had at the commercial gym where she trains.  She’s a pretty serious lifter. She deadlifts, squats, performs hip thrusts, push-ups, can crush strict bodyweight chin-ups for reps, and on more than one occasion she’s been approached by both men and women who ask the inevitable question:

Are you, like, training for something?

Her answer:  “Yes, life.”

It’s in that light that I wholeheartedly LOVE it when women just train to train.

The question, though, is why do so many women refrain from hitting the weights in the first place despite knowing the gulf of benefits it provides?

Some of the the battle, I believe, is just getting through the intimidation factor.  I can understand why the bulk of women are reluctant to mosey on over to the free-weight area, what with all those guys grunting and groaning (it’s 40 lbs dude, relax), not to mention the redolent, gaseous, plume of Axe Body Spray one has to contend with.

It’s nasty.  I can’t say I blame them there.

A larger portion of the battle, and something many coaches don’t recognize, is the gender differences between men and women (Quick Refresher: boys have boy down there parts. Girls have girl down there parts.) and how they use the power of comparison, for better or for worse.

This is something that Registered Dietician and strength coach, Dave Ellis, touched on over the weekend during one of his talks at the POWER Fargo Strength Clinic.

He noted that one of the marked differences between men and women is that women are more societal comparitive, and men tend to be more temporal comparitive.

Put another way: women judge their current state against others (women), while men judge their current state to their own past current state.

If that still doesn’t make sense: women (not all) compare themselves to other women, while men (not all) compare themselves to themselves.

It’s uncanny how much this makes sense.

In the weight-room guys are always trying to lift more weight, competing against themselves, judging their progress by what they did in the days, weeks, months, or even years prior.

Conversely, women (again, not always) judge progress by comparing themselves to other women and it’s toxic at times.

I once had an older female client – in her 50s – who would regularly kick-ass in the gym – only to disregard her progress because she didn’t look like the 22 year-old former Division I athlete who trained at the same time as her.

And this was a woman who had a few years of good training under her belt and knew better.

What does this say for those women who have little to no training experience?

Maybe the initial intimidation factor, and what prevents some women from seeing progress, isn’t so much the dudes walking around with their tubs of protein and cut-off shirts, not to mention the learning curve and trying to figure out what the pulldown thingamajiggy does, but rather the notion that many are comparing themselves to other women; some of which are younger or just have more training experience?

It’s human nature to compare – that’s not the issue.  But when it serves as the main litmus test to gauge progress, and it’s done all….the…..time, it can become problematic.

I don’t know the exact answer to this conundrum – I’m a strength coach not a psychologist!! – but maybe if we (as fitness professionals) made a more concerted effort to tweak or “nudge” women’s mentality and to try to get them to compete against themselves, we’d see a bit more of paradigm shift?

It’s something I try to instill in my female clients from day one.  Rather than gauge progress by comparing themselves to what other women are doing or how they look, I try to get them to focus on THEMSELVES. Once they recognize, understand, and accept that any progress is progress, that’s a massive mountain that’s been conquered.

– Maybe they’re doing push-ups from the floor now, whereas four weeks ago they could barely eek out one from an elevated pin position. Win!

– Maybe they’re able to perform a clean looking squat pattern now, whereas before they could barely do it without falling over. You go girl!

– Maybe they added 20 lbs to their deadlift! Baller!

– Maybe they can fit into their favorite pair of jeans now. Holla!

– Maybe they can get through an entire training session without having to take a break, whereas before they had to stop every five minutes. Fantastic!

– Maybe they don’t call you an asshole as much during their training session.  Until you make them push the sled….;o)

All of those accomplishments should celebrated – regardless of how trivial they may seem – and should serve as a way to empower women to see that it isn’t about what other’s are doing and comparing everything to them, but how they’re making themselves better.

It’s about you.  Simple as that.

* For those who have no clue who Bert Blyleven is.  He’s only the Minnesota Twins’ all-time leader in pretty much every pitching category there is, including rocking the high stirrups.  

He was also inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011.

Since I was speaking in Minnesota I made sure to win the graces of the crowd by giving tribute to my Twins knowledge and not make too many references to the Red Sox.  I busted out a few Kirby Puckett, Gary Gaetti, Kent Hrbek, and Danny Gladden references.

And Tom Brunansky

And Jack Morris

I’ll keep going dammit……………

Chuck Knoblauch, Joe Mauer, Frank Viola, what!

CategoriesExercise Technique

Front Squat: Benefits and Technique

And we’re off!

First things first:  I’d like to thank everyone who chimed in to offer their support and words of encouragement with regards to the Premium Workout Group yesterday.

To say I’m really excited for this opportunity would be an understatement, and I can’t wait to see the results people will get following my programming.

Secondly, I want to extend a huge THANK YOU to those who jumped right in and actually signed up yesterday.  It’s my hope that this will be a positive experience for you and that the group will serve as a source of motivation and accountability to keep you on task with your training.

And, you know, to bring back a little sexy too.

While we had a fair number of people sign up I still have some suspicion that an equal number opted not to because they’re on the fence and not quite sure of the type of value that’s included.

Don’t worry my feelings weren’t hurt.  I mean, I only cried for like ten minutes. I’m over it now.

No, really, I just have a little something in my eye.  Is someone peeling an onion?

I keed, I keed.

I touched on it in yesterday’s post, but I wanted to reiterate that not only will I be providing top-notch, quality programming on a month-to-month basis, but I’ll also be providing unique content solely to the group in the form of tutorial videos covering everything from assessment to exercise technique.

Today I wanted to give everyone a little taste or sneak peek at what types of videos to expect:

Front Squat Benefits and Technique

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

For more information on the group you can check out yesterday’s post HERE. Or, you can go directly to the WeightTraining.com site HERE and register.

CategoriesMotivational Strength Training

Why It’s Not Always JUST About Strength

“One more!  Get it! Yeah!  All you, all you, all you. Just the pinkies.  JUST…….THE……PINKIES!!!”

We’ve all been there.  Rolling our eyes at the two meatheads who are screaming at one another and drawing attention to themselves as they eek out one more rep on the bench press, or squeeze out another rep in the squat rack, or, I don’t know, engage in an epic thumb war battle.  Who knows?

The point is, we’ve all seen it happen. Or, more to the point, have been there ourselves (don’t worry, I won’t judge).

While 95% of the time the guttural screams we hear at the gym are nothing more than some lame song and dance to garner attention or some alpha-male power play akin to a peacock spreading its feathers, sometimes, on rare occasions, it just comes down to someone working their tail off.

And that should be commended.  To an extent.

Let me expound a bit.

You see, deep down inside I’m a meathead at heart.  I’ve been lifting weights since I was 13, and can remember vividly the Christmas morning when I got my first weight training set from my parents (I mean Santa).  It was one of the best mornings of my life, and I can remember like it was yesterday how I instantly plopped down on the bench to bang out a few reps of bench presses.  All in the comfort of my He-Man pjs. It was awesome.

The next 10-15 years were filled with your prerequisite training career.  I can recall doing my fair share of bicep curls in front of the mirror just outside my bedroom door while my stereo cranked out the likes of Wu-Tang Clan and Stone Temple Pilots.

I can only imagine what was going through mama Gentilcore’s head as I was upstairs cranking out curls and push-ups as Wu-Tang Clan’s Ain’t Nuthin to F*** Wit was shaking the windows.

Ma!  The meatloaf!

It was business as usual all through high-school and college.  As my baseball career developed I spent more and more time in the weight room as a means to an end.  My goal was to play professional baseball (and to make out with Mariah Carey. It was the mid-90s, sue me!) and I’d spend much of my free time working out and doing what I needed to do to make myself better.

I won’t sugar-coat anything: While I had a few professional looks and tryouts, it didn’t pan out.

After I was done playing, my goals then turned to what else: getting jacked. While I was able to make some progress in the gym – it wasn’t until I started my first job in corporate fitness and started reading sites like T-Nation that I started to place a premium on STRENGTH!

It’s hard to believe, but I didn’t perform my first deadlift until 2003, when I was 25.

A funny (and looking back, a not so coincidental) thing happened once I started training for strength. I got results!  I went from 180 to 21o lbs in less than a year, and while all of that was cool……..I was no where near closer to making out with Mariah Carey.

For the record:  I’m still referring to mid-late 90s Mariah, not the hooched out diva, uppity bitch of today.  And yes, I realize that at this point in the story I’m past the 90s, and unless I have a flux capacitator in my back pocket the chronological order doesn’t jive. Whatever Einstein.  It’s my story, just roll with it.

Getting back on task – I’m a strength guy.  I wouldn’t call myself a strength coach if I wasn’t.  I feel strength and getting stronger should be the backbone of anyone’s program.  You can’t have things like power, agility, endurance, charm, and unwittingly good looks without first having a solid foundation of strength.

Likewise, there aren’t many guys (or girls) out there who have built impressive or admirable physiques who aren’t strong.

One of the best analogies I’ve ever come across about why strength is important is to think of it as a glass.

What kind of glass are we talking about here?  A standard 8 oz glass?  A wine glass?  An Optimus Prime collectors mug I got in a Happy Meal circa 1985?  This post is just chock full of nostalgia today!

Well, any glass really. The idea, though, is to make the glass bigger!

This is an analogy I first heard from Eric Cressey, and again later on from Master RKC instructor, Brett Jones.

Think of strength as a glass, and the water inside the glass as all the “qualities” we train for:  endurance, strength-endurance, power, agility, speed strength, strength speed, having the ability to somehow take F.O.R.E.V.E.R in the bathroom getting ready (ladies?), you know, those types of things.

The smaller your glass, the less “qualities” you’re able to express, let alone at a high level.  That said…..

Strength is the basis for everything. 

You can’t be “fast” without having some semblance of strength (or horsepower) in reserve.  You can’t improve your timed mile, or taking a bit further, your marathon time if you can’t generate more force into the ground to propel yourself forward.

The larger you make your glass, the more liquid you’re able to place inside said glass, and the likelihood your performance improves.  Whatever your endeavors may be.

That said, and going back to the example of the two meatheads above, as much as I LOVE strength and getting people stronger, and as much as I respect people who work hard and get “after it,” it does come at a price.

In other words:  you can’t ALWAYS grind out reps and beat your joints to a pulp, and a well-rounded program isn’t SOLEY about lifting as much weight as possible until your knees or shoulder or spine feels like tossing you the middle finger.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before………

Eric Cressey released a book this week!

You’ve no doubt been inundated with countless posts, tweets, and Facebook statuses from other fitness professionals about The High Performance Handbook this week.  And getting the obvious out of the way, this was a post “disguised,” in large part, to support Eric’s new book, to sell a few copies, and yes, to help fund my insatiable ice-cream habit…..;o)

Speaking truthfully, however, the main impetus was to help get a quality product into the hands of people who need it.

There are a boatload of people out there haphazardly going to the gym each and every day not making progress, and more often than not, causing more harm than good.

Sure many are lifting weights, but many are lifting weights poorly.  On top of that many don’t understand that a well-rounded program entails much more than just hoisting weights off the ground, and that if more people learned to tweak a program to fit their body-type, needs, and capabilities on top of addressing movement quality, that they would see profound differences in not only how they feel but how they look too.

And that’s the crux of The High Performance Handbook and what separates it from the masses.

Make no mistake:  you’re going to lift heavy things and hate life at certain points.

But it’s not just about lifting weights.

It’s also about moving well, and also understanding how to lift weights correctly.

I think most people reading this site knows my affiliation with Eric, and by extension Cressey Performance. This resource is about as close as you’re going to get to training at CP without actually being at CP, and it goes without saying that I feel the “system” works.

To that end, you only have until TONIGHT (SATURDAY, October 26th) at MIDNIGHT to take advantage of the introductory sale price.  After that the price goes up significantly.*

UPDATE:  it’s been brought to my attention that Eric’s extended the offer to come train at Cressey Performance. Anyone who purchases the book before the deadline, will be entered to win an all expenses paid trip to come train at Cressey Performance. We can totally like, hang out and stuff!

—-> The High Performance Handbook <—-

* = and a baby seal cries.

CategoriesStrength Training

The Secret to Training Gains: Less is More

It’s a tough sell for sure, and it’s borderline cliche to say, but the fact of the matter is:  when it comes to getting results in the gym, for 90% of people, 90% of the time – whether the goal is fat loss, hitting “x” number on the bench press, or I don’t know, trying not to projectile vomit when squatting – less is more.

Don’t get me wrong:  I respect and appreciate that there are many people out there who like going to the gym and prefer to spend their time on a deadlift platform or taking a group exercise class over staying at home watching Dancing With the Stars or playing Grand Theft Auto.

Even still, there are numerous people out there under the impression that they have to spend two, three, upwards of four hours per day in the gym in order to get results.

Unless your name is The Rock or you’re planning on competing in the next Olympics, chances are if you’re spending that much time in the gym you’re 1) wasting mucho time doing a lot of nothing and/or 2) don’t have a job.

This is something I have to go to battle on with a lot of the younger athletes I work with – and to a high degree, the older demographics too – because many want to do MORE when all they’re really doing is spinning their wheels.

In my latest article on Stack.com I discuss why doing LESS is oftentimes the better route to take.

Click Me (<—– That Tickles)

CategoriesUncategorized

How to “Stick” the Box Squat

Vacation is over.  Sad face.  Having spent the past three days in paradise (Captiva Island, Florida) soaking up some good ol’ vitamin D, relaxing, eating my fair share of insulin coma inducing foods, and even catching my very first glimpse of a manatee, it’s time to head back to good ol’ Boston, Massachusetts.  I just looked at the local weather there and it’s miserable, rainy, and cold.  Like really cold. Like I can’t feel the left side of my face cold.

Awesome!

In fact, as I type this Lisa and I are in the Ft. Myers airport waiting for our flight to depart.  Per usual, given my affinity for hating to fly, I’m fighting back the urge to hyperventilate into a brown paper bag, but since we have like an hour to kill before we start boarding, I figured I’d spend the time to my advantage and try to bang out a quick blog post.

I’m a ninja like that.

So as it happened, the resort we stayed at in Captiva Island – the SouthSeas Resort – had a fairly well equipped fitness center that we used each day we were there – except yesterday.  HA!

Two out of three days ain’t too shabby, though, right?

Anyways, I wasn’t expecting a Gold’s Gym or anything, but I braced myself for the worst.  Typically when a resort or hotel states that they have a “fitness center,” it generally consists of a treadmill (or two), an old school universal gym complete with an antiquated leg press and lat pulldown station, a few med balls (with no wall to throw them to), and if you’re lucky, a pair of matching dumbbells.

It is what it is. When you take a trip to paradise, it only makes sense that they place more emphasis on the all-you-can-eat buffet rather than the the number of barbells available.

I have to say, though, that this particular fitness center served it’s purpose. It had dumbbells (albeit only up to 50 lbs), a full Life Fitness circuit, as well as a baller functional trainer.  And yes, they had more than enough cardio equipment.

But I have a confession to make.

*cue Darth Vader theme music*

I used a Smith Machine.  To squat in.  Ahhhhhhhhhh.

I know, I know.  It’s blasphemous – but it’s all I had available to me and I had no other choice than to MacGyver the shiznit out of my workouts.

I mean come on: Give me a Smith Machine, a roll of duct tape, a rubber ducky, and some jelly beans, and I can somehow conjure up a killer program.

Nevertheless, I felt kinda “dirty” afterwards, and to make up for it I felt compelled to write a quick post on box squats (as well as commit myself to 47 Hail Mary’s for committing such a sin).

How to “Stick” the Box Squat

I think the box squat is an invaluable tool.  Not only is it a superb way to groove rock-solid squatting technique, it also serves as an excellent exercise that adds unparalleled muscle mass (specifically to the posterior chain:  hamstrings, glutes, mid & upper back), not to mention helps get people uber strong.  If that’s your bag, which it should be.

Unfortunately a lot of things can go wrong when box squatting – knees caving in, upper back rounding, not maintaining more of a vertical shin angle, not sitting back (hip hinging) enough, poor lat (and subsequent thoraco-lumbar) activation, poor bracing, and you even run the risk of splitting your pants wide open in the middle of a set, which actually happened to one of my female clients a few years ago.

It was awesome.  It didn’t even phase her.  She finished the rest of her sets like a rock star.

Needless to say, there’s a lot to think about!

Squatting in general is a fairly technique heavy movement, and if someone isn’t careful to learn proper technique (or doesn’t take the time to properly progress), they run the risk of seriously hurting themselves.

I’m not going to go into too much depth on ALL the intricacies of the squat with this post, but I do want to hammer on one point that I feel doesn’t get enough recognition.

One common mistake I see a lot of people make when BOX squatting is how they “stick” the landing.  Many times it looks something like this:

As you can see in this example, there’s really nothing “technical” about it.  I just plop onto the box.

This is cringe-worthy for two reasons:

1.  You lose ALL tension on the box when doing this.  I’m not a huge fan of the “rocking” variation that some coaches like to teach off the box.  For more advanced lifters this may be appropriate (as they’ve accumulated enough time under the bar to stay out of  spinal end ranges of motion), but for the beginner or intermediate lifter, this could spell disaster.

I much prefer trainees to STICK the landing, pause for a second, and try to maintain as much tension as possible when sitting onto the box.

2.  The second and probably most pertinent point to the post: Your spine will hate you squatting in this manner.

To clarify – the spine can handle compressive loading pretty efficiently and can take care of itself, thank you very much.

I don’t want to cause mass hysteria here.

But when you just plop onto the box like a dead fish, you run the risk of increasing compressive loading twofold. Actually, a lot more than that, but who’s counting?  This becomes even more worrisome when you combine this with losing tension on the box, as one will definitely increase the risk of the spine buckling.

 

Instead, I like to coach people to “land softly” onto the box.  I want to see them initiate the descent by hip hinging like a bastard (read:  hip hinge correctly) while simultaneously pushing their knees out, and as they inch closer to the box, I want them to pretend as if they’re sitting on broken glass.  DO NOT PLOP onto the box.

It looks something like this:

God, that’s sexy.

Hopefully that helps shed some light on one of the lesser known intricacies of proper box squatting.  It’s a minor detail I know, but something I feel a lot of people dismiss.

Now if you excuse me, I have to board my flight.

*grabs blankie and half a gallon of Nyquil*

UPDATE:  I made it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

CategoriesUncategorized

Greatist Workout of the Day

Affectionately referred to as GWODs, these are workouts designed by both myself and strength coach Dan Trink that will give people a firsthand look as to what a well structured, properly progressed fitness routine should look like.

Taken from the Greatist.com website:

“….these are high-quality, comprehensive strength and conditioning programs anyone can use. GWODs were created after Greatist.com readers expressed their frustration at a lack of quality fitness programming accessible to the average gym goer — not just the most “elite” or “hardcore” individuals among us. So we partnered with some of the best minds in the health and fitness industry to create killer workouts we could give our readers — for free (we think you’ll agree that’s a good price).”

You read that correctly:  FREE.  As in F to the R.E.E.

A few things to note:

1. It’s purely coincidental that both Dan and I could pass for a Mr. Clean impersonator.

2. We recognize that there are limitations to this program.  I think I speak for both of us when I say nothing will trump working with a reputable trainer on a face-to-face basis. But that’s the thing: there are a lot of crap trainers out there writing crap programming which are woefully craptastic at best, and flat out dangerous at their worst.

That said, everyone is unique with their own set of weaknesses, strengths, imbalances, injuries, and experience level and I’d be remiss not to recognize that following a program written for the masses will address every issue for every person in every circumstance.

It ain’t gonna happen.

You’re your own unique flower, and we understand (and appreciate) that.

However, we feel confident that the programming we’ve outlined will be a welcome breath of fresh air for the Greatist community (and the rest of the interwebz for that matter).

3. We’ve covered all the bases from the warm-up (it’s a lot more than just doing some cute arm circles and hopping on the elliptical for five minutes) to laying out, set by set, rep by rep, a well organized, structured, and progressive workout plan (2x, 3x, and 4x per week) that will help people move better, get stronger, and feel like a million bucks.

4. We’re not saying it’s perfect, and we’ll be the first to say that it’s still a work in progress.  We’re still very much  at the “grassroots” level with this shindig, and we’ll undoubtedly have a few kinks to iron out as the upcoming weeks/months progress.

But we’re really excited that we have the opportunity to help a lot of people and hopefully assist them (and more importantly, YOU) take their fitness and well-being to the next level.

So what are you waiting for?  Check it out HERE.

Enjoy the ride!  It’s going to be awesome.

 

CategoriesStrength Training

The Reasons You’re Not Getting Stronger

Today I’d like to share a guest post I wrote for a really cool website….Greatist.com. As the name suggests, it’s a site dedicated to helping people become “great” by providing some of the best health and fitness information on the internet.  I was contacted by one of their higher ups a few weeks ago asking if I’d be interested in writing a little sumthin sumthin, and this is what I came up with. 

It was an absolute honor and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

NOTE:  I’d love to show the peeps at Greatist.com that my army of Gentilcorians is a loyal bunch.  Once you visit the site and read the actual article, please, please, please share it with your friends by clicking the “Share” button or re-Tweeting it.  I’ll love you, like forever if you do.

If I had to make a list of things that really annoy me, it would be as follows:

1. “Twilight.”
2. People who don’t turn right on red.
3. People who don’t prioritize getting stronger.

As a strength coach this last one is what really gets me irritated, and for good reason. To be blunt: Strength is kind of a big deal. It’s what allows us to pick up that bag of groceries off the floor without blowing our back out; it’s what keeps us from getting injured on the playing field (whether a professional athlete or weekend warrior); and it’s undoubtedly the foundation behind many of the “qualities” we’re chasing in the weight room (be it speed, agility, power, or just looking good with our clothes off).

Unfortunately for some, despite knowing better, and despite their best efforts, they’re just not getting stronger. No matter what routine they follow or how many days per week they hit the iron, they’re just not getting any results — frustrated they’re still using the same weight now as they were weeks (if not months) prior.

Click to continue reading……

CategoriesUncategorized

Basics: Get Some

As you might surmise, as a strength and conditioning coach (and personal trainer), I’m a huge fan of teaching people the basics.  Really, though, when you think about it, the basics are a great place to start when learning just about anything.

A common theme is that you need to learn how to walk before you can run. This makes perfect sense and it’s something that everyone can vouch for because, well, we’ve all done it. Likewise, when learning to ride a bike, the general progression is to slap on a pair of training wheels, and once you’re comfortable with that, you take them off, fall a few hundred times, and before long you’re jumping puddles like a champ.

I could sit here and come up with a dozen scenarios: learning a new language, how to hit a baseball 400 feet, how to make a meatloaf that doesn’t taste like death, building an atomic bomb, or even learning how to unclasp your first bra (which, as a dude, is arguably the hardest thing ever…..DAMMIT, it won’t come off!!!  Ahhhhhhhh!!!)

The point is: whether it’s something as trivial as learning your multiplication tables or something as complex as figuring out which fork you’re supposed to use to eat your salad at a fancy restaurant, you have to start somewhere.  You have to learn the basics first.  You have to learn to walk before you can run.

The thing is, when it comes to our health and well-being, most people don’t want to learn how to walk.  They want to sprint on day one.

Take for example a recent email I received from a new distance coaching client of mine asking me about intermittent fasting (IF).

Back tracking a little bit: this is a client who’s admittedly told me that he eats like sh*t, and that he’s tried just about every diet out there with little to no results to show for it. H

Given the high popularity of IF at the moment, he was curious. Now, I have nothing against intermittent fasting – it’s something I’ve experimented with myself and there’s obviously a lot of sound science and research backing its efficacy.

But, again, it’s analogous to sprinting. My man is CRUSHING Pop-Tarts every afternoon as a snack. Looking at this from my perspective, he’s not even walking yet….he’s still learning how to crawl. Why the hell are we even talking about intermittent fasting?

I understand that we live in a “I want it NOW” society, and that we’re obsessed with quick fixes…but why is it so hard for people to step away from the stupid?

In light of this, and despite the groaning, I’m taking a “learn the basics” approach with him. I’m demonstrating to him that drinking more water is kind of important, and that it’s okay to eat the yolk of an egg. In addition, he’s learning to make protein shakes with fruit as an afternoon snack (in place of the Pop-Tarts), and that kale is the shiznit.

Equally as important, with his training, we’ve had to take a step (or two) back.  We’ve had to overhaul his squatting pattern, teach him how to perform a push-up correctly, and we’ve also introduced him to the wonderful world of foam rolling.  He hates it, of course, but whatever….he needs to learn the basics.

It’s not sexy by any means, and it’s certainly not exciting. But, stroking my ego a little bit, I can almost guarantee that he’s going to see marked progress in the upcoming weeks and months.

Start with the basics.  Master them.  And good things will happen.

CategoriesUncategorized

Exercises You Should Be Doing: Zercher Goodmornings

Normally with this segment I gravitate towards exercises that fall under one of the three categories:

1.  Those exercises I see most people perform poorly (seated rows, push-up variations, single leg variations, etc).

2.  Those that are new to me, and thus, new to the reader, but can be performed by most everyone without running the risk of poking their eye out (band overhead shrugs, innovative pallof press variations, etc).

3. Those that, you know, activate or mobilize “stuff.”  As an example, HERE.

Today, however, we’re going to kick it up a notch or two (or ten thousand) and enter beast mode territory.  Because, well, why not?

I heart goodmornings.  But I also understand that they’re a fairly advanced exercise (okay, uber advanced exercise) that I feel only those with a solid 1-2 years of “real” strength training should utilize.

With that said, here’s some criteria before moving on:

  • As noted above:  it’s preferred that one has at least 1-2 years of solid training experience under his or her belt before attempting this exercise.
  • This isn’t an exercise that I’m just going to haphazardly throw into the mix unless I feel completely confident that someone knows what they’re doing.
  • You must have a SOLID foundation of squatting and deadlifting technique.  If at any point someone makes the this face (——>) while you’re performing either of the two, you definitely should not be performing goodmornings.
  • Why?  It’s pretty well known that the spine can handle compressive loading like a G6, and as such, we can sometimes get away with less than stellar technique. When it comes to shear loading, though, the water gets a little murkier and having a client perform goodmornings (which is shear loading central) when they’re not prepared for it, is a recipe for disaster.

Still, I do find that goodmornings are an excellent strength training exercise that, when performed correctly, has it’s advantages.

For starters, it’s an awesome movement that hammers the posterior chain and serves as a key accessory movement to the deadlift (which is probably why I like them so much).

Secondly, and pigging back on the point above, due to the anterior bar placement and subsequent control of shear loading, it forces people to get into more t-spine extension.

Note: This is, of course, assuming that they’re able to do it in the first place. If one has questionable t-spine mobility (particularly in extension), I’d probably pass on this exercise and opt for safer, more manageable alternatives.

And lastly, speaking from a personal perspective, goodmornings serve as an  “indicator movement,” which helps me better gauge my progress with the deadlift (and squat for that matter).  Because the goodmorning so closely strengthens the same muscle groups, whenever I see improvements in its performance, I can almost guarantee my deadlift and squat numbers improve as well.

There is a caveat.  Outside of someone’s preparedness to do them, goodmornings can be problematic for those with a history of cranky shoulders.  Due to the bar placement, which places the shoulders in the “at risk” position for impingement (abduction and external rotation), unless one has access to specialty bars such as a Giant Cambered Bar or Safety Squat Bar, traditional goodmornings probably are not the best option.

…which is where Zerchers come in.

Key Coaching Cues:  set the bar at or around chest height so that it’s easier to place it in the crook of your elbows.  It’s going to take some experimentation, and yes it’s about as comfortable as washing your face with broken glass, but deal with it.  Worse case, if you find it’s excruciating, you CAN place a towel between the bar and your elbows.  Don’t worry, I won’t judge.

“Hug” the bar close to your chest and keep the chin tucked throughout the set. Un-rack the weight, take two steps back and get your air.  I like to tell people to make themselves look fat and fill their belly with air – doing so increases intra-abdominal pressure and improves spinal stability.

Too, you need to make sure to arch like a bastard – particularly when pushing your hips back.  When doing so, you feel a significant “stretch” in the hamstrings.

If you can visualize it:  the bottom position of the goodmorning (in terms of feet/hip/back placement) should be about the same as your starting position for the deadlift.  The back should not be rounded in any way.

From there, you’ll reverse the direction making sure to finish “tall.”  Both your hips and knees should lock out and you should squeeze your glutes hard at the top.

I prefer not to go crazy with the reps here, and tend to keep these in the 4-6 rep range. Since it’s such a technique heavy movement, and requires Jedi-like precision, using high(er) rep schemes which induce more fatigue isn’t wise.

Like I said, this is a little bit of a break from the norm in terms of exercises I normally cover in this series, but if you’re looking to kick it up a notch and add a certain level of badassesery to your training, these may fit the bill.

Let me know what you think!