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You Can Always Train Around an Injury

Last week, during our staff in-service training, I took it upon myself to discuss programming with our batch of new interns.  Specifically, my goal was to give them a hypothetical situation and see whether or not they could come up with an effective training strategy.

In doing so, my thought process was this:  While assessment, functional anatomy, and understanding movement is kind of a big deal; having the ability to effectively write a program based off of those findings is just as equally important.  Essentially, given “x” scenario and “y” limitations/goals/needs, can you come up with a “z” program that’s not only safe, but will get results?

You’d be surprised at how many trainers and coaches out there can crank up the geek factor and quote research verbatim, or brag about how many books they’ve read, or even how many followers they have on their Youtube page, but when push comes to shove – write really, really, really sub-par programs.  And I’m being really nice when I say that.

Moreover, as I noted with the guys – and as counterintuitve as it may sound – it’s rare when I write a program and it’s followed without any interruption, 100% through.  Stuff happens and life gets in the way sometimes: long work hours, cars break down, girlfriend’s break up with you (bitch!), kids are up all night, Little League games, paper is due, tweaked shoulders, lower back is pissed, explosive diarrhea, not enough sleep, so on and so forth.

At the expense of over-generalizing, the mark of a good coach and trainer is being able to program on the fly when the unexpected happens.  If your athlete or client walks in on any given day, and he or she twisted their ankle during practice yesterday; or, quite simply, they’re just out of juice, and it just so happens they have a heavy squat session that day, can you still give them a training effect even though you may have to change up the programming?

The answer, I hope, is a resounding yes.

Using an example from the in-service talk, how would you program for a 15 year-old pitcher who was just diagnosed with spondylolisthesis (and is in a back brace), but also has a “lax” (loose) shoulder on his throwing side?

Similarly, how would you program for a 40 year-old fat-loss client with a sports hernia?

[Cue Jeopardy theme music]

The point of this post isn’t to go into specific details on what those programs should entail (although I could do that in the future).  Rather, the point I’m trying to make is that you can always train around an injury……always.

And, for the record, hang-nails aren’t an injury.  Nor is a headache for that matter!

When writing programs for clients, try not to think about what they can’t do – but what they CAN do. 

Doing so will make writing programs infinitely easier and will undoubtedly make you a better coach.

Left arm is in a cast?  Well, thankfully, you still have a right arm you can train, not to mention an entire lower body.

Shoulder hurts?  Stop benching three times per week for the love of god!, incorporate more close-chain (push-ups) and horizontal rowing variations, hammer scapular stability/t-spine mobility, front squat instead of back squats, and pick up a foam roller every now and then.

Tweaked lower back?  Nix any axial loading for the near future, hammer single leg stuff and core stability, get some aggressive soft tissie work, and you’ll be back in no time.

Obviously, these are just simple examples and certainly not exhaustive, but I’m sure most get the idea.

And for those of you who have clients that bitch and whine no matter what you do with them, have them watch this video and see if they still can come up with excuses:

Outside of ebola, not training isn’t an option in my book.

CategoriesUncategorized

Sometimes You Just Gotta Let Someone Else Do the Thinking For You

I write a lot of programs.  It goes without saying that I write programs for many of the athletes and clients at Cressey Performance; I also write programs for various distance coaching clients I have around the world; I write my girlfriend’s programs; and I even write programs for family and friends, too.  Basically, I spend a lot of time writing programs.  Big surprise, I know.

And, to be perfectly frank, sometimes, the last person I want to program for is myself.

Typically what ends up happening is that I’ll write a program to get my swole on, and while I’ll start with good intentions and do every exercise prescribed to a “t” – for a few days, atleast (maybe even a week) – inevitably I’ll start to tweak things.

Before you know it, what started as program “A,” turns into program “whateverthe****,” where I just revert back to exercises I know I’m good at, or that I like to do (it’s okay to deadlift five times per week, right?). 

We all do it – and I’m no different.

So, when Mike Westerdal and Elliot Hulse contacted me a few weeks ago and asked whether or not I’d be interested in checking out their latest product, Lean Hybrid Muscle Reloaded, it couldn’t have come at a better time.

I needed a change, and as cliché as it sounds, it was exactly what I was looking for.

Sometimes, you just need someone else to do the thinking for you, and the fact that this program is written by two guys who are hella strong (and actually train people), only makes it more appealing to me.

So, that being said, what makes the program so great?  How is it different than any other program you can find on the interwebz?

1.    Concurrent Programming – in short, concurrent training refers to training multiple qualities simultaneously.  Unlike, say, linear periodization (which focuses on ONE quality in any given training cycle), concurrent training allows the trainee to focus on several qualities at once, which I feel has a lot more carry over to the world of athletics and leads to better results in general.

2.    “Hybrid” Training – as the name implies, this program takes bits and pieces from several modalities (powerlifting, bodybuilding, strongman, etc) and combine them into one balls-to-the-wall, no frills, kick-ass program. 

As noted by both Mike and Elliot:  what hybrid workouts do is take the best of everything, combine them into a single, cohesive strategy that gives us all the benefits, but leaves behind the drawbacks.  As a result, you’re able to build muscle and get lean at the same time.

In layman’s terms, you’ll basically turn into a sexual Tyrannosaurus.

3.    Miscellaneous Awesomeness – unlike some manuals you’ll come across with little to no detail on the programming side of things, Lean Hybrid Muscle comes with a pretty extensive video database which makes following the program that much easier. 

Moreover, it also includes the Hybrid Diet Nutrition Plan, which includes, among other things, detailed meal plans ranging from 1900-3000 kcals.

Simply put, Mike and Elliot cover all the bases and have gone out of their way to provide a quality product.

But I’ve done enough talking.  Head over to the Lean Hybrid Muscle Website and check it out for yourself!