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5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Write Your Own Program

Today’s guest post comes from fellow strength coach, Conor Nordengren.  Conor interned with us at Cressey Performance coming up on two years ago now, and since has gone on to establish himself as a reputable coach in the New England area.

His post today comes in a timely fashion since I, too, have recently been discussing the merits of “out sourcing” my own training regimen. Sometimes, we ALL suffer from analysis by paralysis and Conor helps shed some light on the topic.

Enjoy the post, and more importantly, enjoy the weekend!

“So…WTF should I do now?”

It was the week after my first-ever powerlifting meet this past December and this question was stewing in my brain. I had decided to take the week off from training to let my body and mind recover from months of heavy lifting in preparation for my meet.

My first meet had gone pretty well; I competed in all three lifts, only missing one PR attempt on the bench press, and walking away with PRs on the squat and deadlift. I was definitely happy and had a great experience, and it’d be fair to say that I caught the powerlifting “bug.”

I had my sights set on competing again this June and was determined to get stronger and improve upon my numbers. The primary goal of my training for my next meet would be very specific: I wanted to get my bench press to 300 lbs. or more. The bench press has never been a great lift for me and I knew I needed a smart, focused plan of attack to increase my max. While I had some ideas of my own on how to go about this, I felt it would be to my benefit to get some individualized programming from an experienced professional.

Yeah, this guy:

Up until this point in my training career, I’ve never had a program truly written and individualized for me.

I’ve followed some excellent programs, such as Eric Cressey’s Maximum Strength and Show & Go, Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1, and Dan John’s Mass Made Simple, and gotten wonderful results. Since I’d already done these programs and since I had a very specific goal in mind, I knew I needed a particularly targeted program.

The idea of sitting down and writing a program for myself didn’t last long; I immediately caught myself over thinking things and trying to write the perfect program, worrying about extremely minute details that probably didn’t matter too much at all. And I’d do this every four weeks? Yeah, I don’t think so.

Long story short, I enlisted Tony’s services and he has been programming for me for almost six months now in preparation for my meet in June. This has been a new experience for me and a great one at that.

 

As my meet draws near, I’ve been thinking about why it is beneficial for people to have someone else program for them. Here’s what I’ve come up with:

1. Accountability – Having someone else write your programs instills a sense of accountability in you. Many times, you are paying a coach to program for you, and you are much more likely to stick to your program and get all your workouts in if it’s something you’ve invested your hard-earned money in.

The person doing your programming has also put a degree of time, effort, and thought into your program. With this in mind, you’ll be letting your coach down if you skip a workout or don’t give every training session your all.

As an example, on one of the days when I train, I have to open the gym where I work at 4:45 a.m. When I get out of work, it’s sometimes tempting to take a long nap or postpone my workout to the next day so I can just “chill,” but I know that if I do this, I’ll be letting Tony down. That’s the last thing I want to happen, and if he ever were to find out, he’d probably Chuck Norris me in the face.

Note from TG:  Actually, no, Conor, that’s NOT what I’d do. I’d probably just slash your tires.

2. Identification of Weaknesses – Tony has mentioned this on his blog numerous times before and it always rings true: we like to do what we’re good at.

By nature, we don’t always gravitate towards areas where we’re particularly sucky, and this goes for our training and for life in general. Sometimes it takes another coach’s objective eye to identify your areas of weakness and their programming to improve in these areas to ensure that you make progress. I’m certain that had I not asked Tony to program for me, I would not be fully addressing my areas for improvement, which would be limiting my progress towards my goal.

3.  Motivation – Every four weeks, I receive a new program from Tony and it always gets me fired up to train. It’s almost like Christmas morning; I wake up, run downstairs and log in to my email account, and there it is: my new program!

“Hammer curls! Sweeeeet!!! Thanks, Tony!!! It’s just what I wanted! And…and…Prowler pushes? Oh…four of them? Gee, uh…thanks.”

Kidding aside, I’m always excited to train when I get a new program and am determined to crush whatever is thrown my way. Having someone program for you will keep you fresh and on your toes.

Going back to #1, knowing that someone has spent time writing a program for you will keep you motivated to get to the gym and get after it. Consistency is key to progress and getting your programs written for you will help to keep you honest.

4.  Time-saver – This is a benefit of having a coach that I just recently realized. By “outsourcing” your programming, you will have more time to devote to other important things.

As a strength and conditioning coach myself, this means that I can focus my free time on continuing education, programming for clients, my training, and any number of other things, whether they have to do with my job or not. This is huge for me, because as I alluded to earlier, it would probably take me hours to write myself a program. That’d be about as cool as a shart when you’re wearing white pants and it is time that I could spend doing other things of importance.

5.  Learning Experience – My time having Tony program for me has been a great learning experience. This isn’t exclusive to me just because I’m a strength and conditioning coach, but it goes for all fitness enthusiasts or anyone simply interested in strength training, too.

Having a coach will expose you to new exercises and methods that will increase your knowledge and, if you are a coach yourself, give you ideas that you may be able to implement with some of your clients.

When I look through my program, I always try to identify the purpose of any given exercise. For example, right now I’m doing reverse crunches twice-a-week and I have two left-hip internal rotation drills in my dynamic warm-up. Why? After thinking about it, the twice-a-week reverse crunches are to help keep me out of anterior pelvic tilt. The two left-hip internal rotation drills are to improve upon my left-hip internal rotation, which isn’t great, and is typically lacking in most men compared to right-hip internal rotation for that matter. We can all learn something from someone and getting your programs written for you is a “sly” way to do so.

The End

I’ve really enjoyed having Tony program for me and have seen the benefits of having someone else write your programs for you. Are there any other benefits to having a coach that I left out? If so, I’d love to hear them in the comments section!

Author Bio

Conor Nordengren is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) accredited by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). He is a graduate of Stonehill College, where he majored in Health Sciences with a minor in Business Administration. At Stonehill, Conor was a two-year member of the men’s basketball team. He completed internships in physical therapy and also worked as a physical therapist aide. Upon graduation, Conor interned at Cressey Performance in Hudson, Massachusetts, under widely recognized strength coaches Eric Cressey and Tony Gentilcore. During his time at Cressey Performance, he had the opportunity to work with a variety of clients including athletes at the professional, college, high school, and junior high school levels. Conor is now a strength and conditioning coach at Dynamic Strength and Conditioning in Nashua, New Hampshire where he is dedicated to helping people of all ages and ability levels achieve their fitness goals. You can read his blog at www.conornordengren.com and contact him at [email protected].

 

 

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Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 5/10/12

Several month’s ago Adam Bornstein (yes, THAT Adam Bornstein) contacted me and asked if I’d be interested in submitting an ab routine for his upcoming book, The Women’s Health Big Book of Abs. Without blinking an eye I said yes, sent a little sumthin sumthin Adam’s way, and then completely forgot about it.

Just the other day he messages me and says, “dude, it’s available.  Thanks for the help.”

And here you go……

Women’s Health Big Book of Abs – Adam Bornstein

As the title suggests, the book covers all the essential diet and fitness information one would need to get rid of that muffin top and attain lean, sexy abs. Cooler still is that the book contains contributions from a bunch of other peeps in the health and fitness world you may be familiar with:  Bret Contreras, Jim Smith, PJ Striet, and God……so you know it’s legit.

Glute-Licious: Maybe You’re Just Not Ready for This Jelly – Kellie Davis

Still a tad skeptical behind the power of the hip (or glute) barbell thrust? Still think it’s just a gimmicky exercise that has no merit? Well, in this post Kellie demonstrates that not only are you wrong, but that you’re missing out on some serious glute-licious development.  Indeed!

One Squat to Rule Them All – Ben Coker

It’s after reading articles like this that I REALLY wish I was somewhat (even remotely) proficient with PhotoShop.  Not to diminish the actual content, Ben’s introductory title – The Lord of the Squats – was priceless!

Speaking of the content, this was an EXCELLENT article on the benefits of box squats.  I’ve been a hyyyyyoge advocate of box squats for years, and it’s nice to see other coaches out there spreading the love, too.

Much like Ben, I feel box squats are a superb way to teach someone the proper hip hinge pattern as well as target an area that tends to be woefully weak for most individuals – the posterior chain.  Additionally, box squats offer unique advantages for those with banged up knees (utilizes more of a vertical shin angle) and back (reduced spinal loading on L5-S1).

In short, they’re the bees knees and you should be doing them.

One last thing…………………

Muscle Imbalances Revealed 3.0 (Lower Body Edition)

This is the product that initially launched the Muscle Imbalances Revealed series (I was involved with the Upper Body edition), and it’s recently been upgraded with a ton of great additions:

  • Corrective Exercises for Performance
  • DB Mobility Workout
  • Strategies for Hip and Ankle Mobility
  • Injury of the Month – Rick Kaselj’s fantastic monthly resource for fitness professionals

Lets say you bought the upper body edition (thank you by the way), and you loved it.  It changed your life. Yet, you don’t have the lower body edition to compliment it.  That’s like owning The Godfather Part II and not The Godfather (lets just pretend Part III didn’t happen).  It’s a sin!

Lucky for you, MIRL is now on sale – for 31% off the original price – from now until the end of week. Holla!

 

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Exercises You Should Be Doing: Tall Kneeling Landmine

You may be wondering why I’ve been out of commission since like the middle of the last week. For starters, Joe’s post – Just Because a Doctor Said It: A Response – was such a huge hit, and got such a great response, that I wanted to keep it up for a few days to maximize the total number of people who would read it.

Secondly, my girlfriend was out of town for a day and half and I took every opportunity to catch up on some of the manly things I never have a chance to take part it.  You know stuff like growing a beard, staying up past midnight, and chopping down trees just for the hell of it.

Of course I didn’t do ANY of those things. Instead, all I did was use the time to be as productive as possible and spent my entire Friday afternoon (and night) catching up on programs that needed to be written, doing some (pleasure) reading, and then hanging out at Panera where I put the finishing touches on another article that I just submitted to T-Nation.  Oh, and I ate a lot of bacon.

And, just like the rest of the free world (or at least the parts that have an IMAX), I also went to see The Avengers. All I have to say is holy epicness.

What’s more, did you happen to see how much freakin money that thing made this past weekend?  It SHATTERED the previous opening weekend record – previously held by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.  I think it made something like a kazillion bajallion dollars.*  Crazy.

With money like that, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear about Joss Whedon – the director – taking a martini bath every two hours.**

Anyways, it’s a gorgeous day here in Boston and we haven’t seen the sun in like a week.  Coincidentally, both Lisa and I have the day off and we’re going to take full advantage of it and walk around and enjoy the sites.  But, before I leave, here’s an exercise you should be doing.

Tall Kneeling Landmine

Who Did I Steal It From:  No one, technically.  But I know it’s been made popular by the likes of Mike Boyle and Gray Cook.

What Does It Do:  Since “core” training is all the rage just about everywhere you turn, it’s important to train it in a manner that it’s designed for. While there are several applicable “actions” of the core, this exercise specifically targets both rotatary stability and anti-extension.

  • Rotatary Stability:  Essentially this is akin to preventing unwanted motion – especially in the lumbo-pelvic-hip area. With this exercise it’s important to lock the center in place and to have as little motion as possible in that area.  Of note, when done correctly, this exercise also HAMMERS the external obliques.
  • Anti-Extension:  Again, while locking oneself into position, another key component of this exercise is to resist extension.

Key Coaching Cues:  One of (if the THE most) benefits of this movement is that it can be done anywhere, at any gym.  There’s no special equipment necessary. All you need is a barbell and a corner.  While you can’t see it in the video above, all the setup requires is placing the opposite end of the barbell in a corner so that it doesn’t slide around.

In terms of execution, the main point to consider is to emphasize a LONG-lever. In other words, try to keep your arms as straight as possible (maybe a very slight elbow bend) and focus on making as large of an arc as possible WITHOUT compensating.  Trust me, it’s much harder than it looks, and you won’t need a lot of weight to feel the effectiveness.

Furthermore, I like to tell people to dig their toes into the ground (more dorsiflexion) and to squeeze their glutes as hard as they possibly can.

I tend to shoot for anywhere between 5-8 repetitions per side, usually using the lower end with newbies and those who are generally weak.

Try it out today and let me know what you think!

* = rounded up.

** = you know, because that’s what rich people do. Right?

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Just Because A Doctor Said It – A Response

About a week and a half ago I posted a Facebook status which read, “I’m sorry, but just because ‘your doctor said so’ doesn’t mean you’re right.”

It was in response to an article that Adam Bornstein wrote on Livestrong.com titled The Most Dangerous Diets Ever, where a handful of readers were up in arms that he dissed the HCG Diet.

For those unaware, the HCG Diet is where one injects hormones (derived from the human placenta) into their while following a 500-800 kcal per day diet for “x” number of days…..

……under a doctor’s supervision, of course.

I’ve made it known in the past how I’m not a fan of this “diet”, and that I find it absurd that anyone would think injecting themselves with (EXPENSIVE) hormones while following such a pitifully low caloric intake for an extended period of time is a healthy endeavor.

More to the point, I find it downright appalling that any physician would endorse such a plan and then recommend to his or her client(s) to try it.

Makes me wonder whether they went to an actual medical school or Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  Hahahahahaha. See what I just did there?  Zing!

That notwithstanding, the main argument for those who defend the diet is “well, my doctor said it was safe.”

Riiiiigggggghhhhhtttt.  Lets not forget that there was a time when doctor’s recommended that people smoke for its health benefits.

To reiterate what I said earlier in the week:

I’m not saying that ALL fall under this umbrella – there are undoubtedly many superb primary care personnel out there – but I find it hard to believe that any doctor would advocate this diet without some monetary kickback or incentive to do so.

It’s a lot easier to tell someone to drop $1500 on hormone injections than teach them proper eating and lifestyle habits, I suppose.

Then again, doctors don’t necessarily practice health and wellness, they practice medicine. If you present with a symptom, they’re going to treat that symptom with medicine. So, I guess I can’t fault those who do advocate this diet. Most get two weeks of course work in nutrition – max – during medical school.  Many think apple juice is the same thing as an apple!

To that end, today I’d like to share a guest post from Joe Lightfoot who, as a current medical student AND strength coach, has a unique perspective on the topic.

Enjoy!

Just Because a Doctor Said It – A Response

Tony’s recent Facebook status update (and blog post) regarding doctors created quite a lot of debate, and a lot of interesting thoughts were expressed. However, I felt the overriding response was one of negativity towards doctors.

It inspired me to write the following blog post. So how come I feel strongly enough about the issues to write about it?

My Story

Well, I’m about to graduate medical school this July and I’m also a coach (currently I work as the S&C coach to the England Under 19 Lacrosse team and I also work with non-athletes too). As I’ve seen it from both sides, I hope I can add a new perspective to the debate.

First off, I agree 100% with Tony’s statement. Just because a doctor does say something it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true.

But you shouldn’t be surprised or offended when a client has the point of view. Doctors have held, and will continue to hold a position in society whereby the public trusts them (whether rightly or wrongly in certain situations).

Why? I feel it’s due to the differing barriers of entry for both professions. To become a coach or trainer is relatively easy, however to become a doctor you have to complete either five years of medical school in the UK, or a total of eight years in the US counting undergraduate studies and then medical school.

Now the length of formal schooling is not a sure fire test of how correct someone is, but if you were a member of the public with no prior knowledge, who would you trust?

The client doesn’t know that you’re a hotshot trainer or coach who’s well read, takes care of continuing education, and has a wealth of experience. You could be someone who did one certification and professes to know everything.

Furthermore getting a client or athlete to trust you is your job. So whilst it’s damn annoying when someone believes something incorrect just due to someone’s perceived authority, attacking that said person won’t help the matter.

I think by demonstrating credentials, building trust and offering evidence to back up your advice is the best way to have an impact on your clients.

As a coach, I think a doctor’s position of trust is something you should use, not try and dispute. Rather than someone to fight against, that doctor could become one of your best allies in promoting healthy behaviours. I think it all begins with reaching out to the doctors of your clients and forming a partnership, and even offering education on the area of your expertise.

Doctor’s Knowledge Of Lifestyle

So do doctors know about lifestyle advice? The short answer is no. You’d be mortified if I told you how much education and training I’ve had regarding exercise and nutrition.

If I had to sum up my experience at medical school in one sentence, I’d do so like this: I have learned about disease, but I haven’t learned about health.

Doctors need more education on everything to do with lifestyle advice, particularly exercise and nutrition. That is indisputable.

But it isn’t all bad news. I’m currently visiting the US and shadowing a number of doctors in Boston. I recently met one doctor who is currently studying for the CSCS. Her reason? Exercise is one of the most important things her patients can do.

This isn’t a lone example. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Why All The Negativity?

Like any profession there are good and bad people. Medicine, like coaching, is no exception.

To say all doctors are egotistical, cheat on the wives, don’t practice continuing education or think critically is wrong, and frankly offensive.

Whilst some are motivated by money and titles, the vast majority of people became doctors because they want to help their patients.

If you took just a snap shot, you could quite easily come to the conclusion that all trainers are just out to sell the latest gadget to make money, and coaches all shout and scream at athletes until they collapse. In fact, the opposite is true, and the industry is full of awesome people who know their stuff and make a major positive impact on people’s lives.

The Future

Mike Boyle has said it; I think I’ve heard Dan John say it: Coaches and trainers are a front line defense against disease and illness, and we’re some of the few professionals practicing proactive healthcare and preventative medicine.

Doctors should welcome coaches and trainers support, guidance and help. Medicine is becoming increasingly multi-disciplinary and I hope to shortly see the day when patients are referred to strength & conditioning coaches.

So what can we do? It all starts with education. I’ve made it a life goal to bring the medical profession up to speed on lifestyle advice, and create a true health service with the Move Eat Treat campaign.

This campaign aims to educate health care professionals on lifestyle advice, including nutrition and exercise. Coaches and trainers have a wealth of information, which doctors need to embrace and understand.

Final Thoughts

Someone once told me that to change a health care philosophy would take 50 years. So I figured we best get started. A major step is getting doctors and coaches to work together, and it starts with mutual respect of each other skills.

Who’s up for creating a proactive health service? I’d love your support for the campaign HERE.

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The (Not So) Obvious Causes of Low Back Pain

Back pain is a bitch.  There’s really no other way to describe it. It’s been said that 80% of Americans will experience it at one point or another, which, when you run the numbers, is like four out of five people.  Yep, that’s what I like to call math.

Needless to say, back pain bites the big one and it’s easily the #1 cause for things like days missed from work, training days lost, not to mention the burden it places on health care costs.

The mechanisms for back pain are many, but can really be categorized into two camps:

1.  One, massive, blunt force trauma:  car accident, falling off a ladder, getting Terry Tated in your office for not refilling the coffee pot.

2. Repeated, low-grade, aberrant motor patterns which inevitably lead to something bad happening.  Sitting at a desk all day comes to mind. In addition, we all know of someone who either bent over to tie his or her shoe or simply to pick up a pencil who ended up blowing out their back. The body is going to use the path of least resistance to get the job done, and unfortunately, because most people have the movement quality of a ham sandwich (poor hip mobility, poor t-spine mobility, etc), the lumbar spine, literally, gets eaten up.

While it’s a bit overkill, our spines can be thought of as a credit card.  Bend it back and forth enough times, and eventually, it will break.

As a coach who works with elite athletes as well as people in the general population, I’ve seen my fair share of back issues, and I wholeheartedly feel that a structured strength training regimen geared towards improving movement quality, addressing any postural imbalances/dysfunctions, as well as “cementing” proper motor patterns is one of the best defenses in preventing low back pain in the first place.

Coaching someone how to achieve and maintain a neutral spine (something I wrote about HERE and HERE) would be high on the priority list.

Coaching someone how to properly perform a hip hinge or helping them clean up their squat pattern – utilizing the appropriate progressions (and regressions) – would also be kind of important.

And, of course, we can’t neglect staples like encouraging spinal endurance (planks), as well as placing a premium on proper lumbo-pelvic-hip control (core stability exercises like chops/lifts, Pallof Presses, and the like).

All of these things are great, and certainly will set people up for success, but there are many (MANY) less obvious components that often get over-looked.

Stealing an analogy from the great Dr. McGill – it’s the hammer and thumb paradox.  Lightly tap your thumb with a hammer and not much will happen.  No big deal, right?  After a few thousand taps, however, you’ll be singing a different story.

Keeping this theme in mind, lets take the birddog exercise.  Simple exercise, that many fitness professionals use with their clients to help improve dissociation of the lumber spine from the hips, and to teach co-contraction of the anterior core and erectors with little to no spinal loading.

Simple exercise, for sure, but not quite so simple in it’s execution.  If you glance at the picture to the left, you’ll notice the concave shape of the back and see that she’s just hanging on her lumbar spine.  Not exactly ideal execution.

If this were someone suffering from low back pain, would this alleviate their symptoms or make them worse?  My guess would be the latter.

Taking it a step further, have you ever watched people foam roll?  There’s no questioning it’s efficacy towards helping to improve tissue quality, and we have every one of our clients do it prior to their training session.

The thing to consider, though, is that when you’re dealing with someone with a history of low back pain – whether they’re currently symptomatic or not – you need to stay on top of them so that they’re not making the same mistake as above and hanging on their lumbar spine; essentially living in a constant state of extension.

Rather, what should happen is that they “brace” their core and maintain more of a neutral spinal position as they roll around (reference the fine looking gentleman to the right).

It’s borderline OCD, I know……..but I can’t stress enough how important it is to make the small things matter.

Take away the hammer.

Using an example that’s a bit more exciting, lets take the overhead press and break that down.  Now, I have nothing against the overhead press – far from it.  But when you actually watch a vast majority of people perform it, don’t be surprised if your eyes start bleeding.  With a keen eye, what you’ll almost always witness is someone substituting excessive lumbar extension for shoulder flexion. But damn, it can look gooooooooooood at times.

When this happens, it’s usually beneficial to regress the exercise a bit and take some of the joints out of the equation, ALA the Gray Cook approach.

In the half kneeling position, I’m essentially taking my lower half out of the equation where I can now focus on pressing the weight over my head WITHOUT compensating with the lumber spine.  The key here is to “dig” the rear toes into the ground and to squeeze the glute of the trailing leg, hard!  As I press, I’m thinking “elbow to ear.”

Moving to a standing position, strength coach Dave Rak (he’s single, ladies) demonstrates a variation he showed me with one hip flexed:

Here, we’re still able to “lock” the lumbar spine in place and alleviate as much body english as possible.  What’s more, there’s an awesome glute activation component in the trailing leg.  Yes, I understand you won’t be able to use as much weight, but that’s not the point (yet). Once we can perfect the movement pattern, and take some of the burden off the lumbar spine, then we can load it and satiate our inner meathead.

Belly Breathing – The Right Way

One last point to consider, and this is something that I never even thought of until Bill Hartman pulled a Bill Hartman and made me realize how stupid I am, is the idea of belly breathing into the belt.

I’ve stated my opinion on weight belts in the past, and have always been told to PUSH OUT in order to increase intra-abdominal pressure (and thus, spinal stability).

As Bill demonstrates in this video, that’s not necessarily correct:

And there you have it:  just a few more things to consider when discussing the topic of low back pain.  Sometimes it’s not the quite so obvious things that are causing the issue(s).

Have your own ideas to share?  I’d love to hear them below.

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Miscellaneous Miscellany Monday: The New Rules of Lifting for Life, Bully, Are (Some) Doctors Shady?

1.  A few weeks ago while Lisa and I were doing out grocery shopping in Trader Joe’s, one of their employees – a cool dude – approached me and asked a few questions on working out. It was a small chat, really, but at the same time he was genuinely interested to hear what it is that I do to look the way I do.

Note:  I’m not saying this to sound conceited, so hope it doesn’t come across as such.  My GF will the first one to tell you that I’m always embarrassed whenever this happens, and that I’m probably the worst person when it comes to accepting compliments.

“I’ve been working out for a while, but I’m just not seeing the results I want,” he noted.

“Well, what do you do?” I replied.

“You know, I run a little, do some yoga, and I have a few dumbbells at home I use throughout the week.”

“Do you lift anything heavy?” I said.

“I read Men’s Health, and I do a few of their ab routines.”

“Okay cool, but do you lift anything heavy?”

[Crickets Chirping]

This is where I want take the time to thank both Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove and possibly name my first born after them, because their New Rules of Lifting series has literally saved me countless hours of talking over people’s heads.

New Rules of Lifting

New Rules of Lifting for Women

New Rules of Lifting for Abs

Rather than stand there and try to explain to people why performing endless hours of steady state cardio may be making them fatter, I can just tell them to go buy the book.

Don’t believe me that crunches are probably the least effective ab exercise?  Go buy the book.

Still think you’re going to get big and bulky if you lift anything over 10 lbs?  Get the book.

You’re lost when it comes to setting up a beginner workout routine?  Get the book.

Need a can opener in a pinch?  Get the book!

These books have done more for fitness and have helped improve the quality of information available to the lay public more than anything I can think of at the moment.

And with that, in case you missed it last week, their new book in the series, The New Rules of Lifting for Life is now available, and it’s awesome.

THANK YOU LOU AND ALWYN!!!

2.  I’m a huge fan of documentaries.  Recently, I’ve been streaming The War, Ken Burn’s opus to the greatest generation, on Netflix, and it’s absolutely fascinating.  My grandfather – who sadly died when I was young – was at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed back in 1941.  I remember my mother showing me old pictures of him in uniform, and just being in awe that someone who played a role in making me was involved in such an historic event, and was a hero.

I’ve always been drawn to WWII.  In fact, I was a history major at one point in college and took classes like Hitler and Nazi Germany. Totally not kidding.  As you can imagine, I was a major hit with the ladies. Don’t even ask me what would happen when I started talking about the Maginot Line.

Anyways, I’m getting off track. Suffice it to say, I like documentaries because I feel it’s an opportunity to learn something I otherwise never would have in the first place.

I mean, who knew penguins marched!?!

Recently I’ve been reading a lot about the documentary, Bully –

I have to say, this one really hit home for me.  Not that I was bullied back in the day or anything, but it definitely resonated with me in the sense that it was heart wrenching to watch. If it were up to me, Bully would be required viewing for any kid in middle and high school.  Do yourself a favor and go see it.

3.  My buddy Sirena Birnal – a fantastic personal trainer here in Boston – recently wrote about the merits of sprinting and badonkadonk shaping (my words, not hers). Check it out HERE.

Feeling motivated after reading it, Lisa and I returned to our hold stomping grounds – Harvard stadium – to do some sprinting ourselves.  We kept it simple yesterday, only performing 10 total sprints with about 60 seconds rest in between, but it was awesome to get outside and move around a little.

I’ve been feeling pretty frustrated with my training as of late, and I chalk it up to the fact that I’m just not moving as much as I used to.  Sure, I’m still training upwards of four times per week, and I’m on my feet most days coaching clients, but I’m definitely not as active as I used to be, which is completely my fault

It’s something I want to discuss more down the road – even I’m not impervious to getting into a training rut – but for now, it’s a great feeling to have a fire under my ass again.  Literally and figuratively.

4.  A few weeks ago, Adam Bornstein wrote an eye-opener titled The Most Dangerous Diets Ever.  Predictably, it caused quite a stir and some people went out of their way to defend specific ones that he threw under the bus. One diet in particular – the HCG Diet – was of particular interest and seemed to get the most play.

Now, I’ve noted in the past how I’m not a fan of this diet.  Call me crazy, but I find it ludicrous that anyone would think that injecting themselves with hormones (very expensive hormones, no less) while following a 500-800 kcal per day regimen – even if it’s under the supervision of a physician – is a “healthy” endeavor.

What I found interesting was that there were several people who claimed it was perfectly healthy because their doctor said it was.

This prompted me to post a Tweet where I said, “I’m sorry, but just because ‘your doctor said so’ doesn’t mean you’re right.”

I mean, there was a time where doctors advocated that people smoke for the health benefits.  True story.

I’m not saying that ALL fall under this umbrella – there are undoubtedly many superb primary care personnel out there – but I find it hard to believe that any doctor would advocate this diet without some monetary kickback or incentive.  It’s a lot easier to tell someone to drop $1500 on hormone injections than teach them proper eating and lifestyle habits, I suppose.

Then again, doctors don’t necessarily practice health and wellness, they practice medicine. If you present with a symptom, they’re going to treat that symptom with medicine. So, I guess I can’t fault those who do advocate this diet. Most get two weeks of course work in nutrition – max – during medical school.  Many think apple juice is the same thing as an apple!

So, just to throw a “feeler” out there: what does everyone else think on this matter?  Am I off base?

Waits for the hate mail……..

CategoriesUncategorized

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 4/27/12

The Pitfalls of Progressive Overload – Bret Contreras

I love articles that are straight to the point and offer personal perspective from the author. This was a fantastic article by Bret showcasing that you don’t HAVE to go on the “all you can eat” diet in order to get stronger.

“Pick your ideal weight and try to be as strong as possible at that weight”

Words of wisdom from my boy Bret.

If nothing else, read the article to see a picture of Bret when he was fat. Classic (and an awesome way to make a point).

Q and A: How to Write Resistance Training Programs, Part 2: Coaching – Steve Reed

The key word in that title?  COACHING!!!!!!

The only way to get good at something – anything! – is to actually do it. A lot.

Like, all the time.

I’m reading a fantastic book right now called Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success, which, much like it’s predecessors Outliers and Talent is Overrated, hammers the point that PURPOSEFUL practice (10,000 + hours to be exact) is the key to success.

The Beatles didn’t become THE Beatles overnight.  Likewise, Bill Gates certainly didn’t become a kazillion-bajillionaire in a week.  In both scenarios, it came down to unique circumstances, and PRACTICE!

More to the point, in this post Steve notes that the reason he’s able to write such effective programs is because he’s failed numerous times in the past, but consistently continued to PRACTICE writing more of them and then applying them to real people.  In a sense:  he’s learned to coach his ass off, which is something I wish more trainers and coaches would learn to grasp.

Why Women SHOULD Lift Like a Man: Part I – Al Painter

As the titles implies, ladies:  there’s no reason why you can’t train “like a man.”  Here Al does a fantastic job dispelling some of the common myths that women tend to fall prey to:

– You have to do more cardio to burn fat

– Crunches flatten the abs

– You can spot reduce

– It’s impossible to spend less than 30 minutes in the bathroom when getting ready for A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G

Okay, that last one was an LOL added in by me. But nonetheless, the overall message is something that I feel is important to highlight, and needs to spread like wildfire.

Ladies:  it’s okay to lift (heavy) weights and to step away from the Pilates class/not buy those pair of shoes that you can’t afford even though they’re on sale.

CategoriesUncategorized

Lessons From Mike Boyle

I remember when I first met Mike Boyle back in the fall of 2005.  Eric Cressey and I drove to New Haven, CT to meet up with Alwyn Cosgrove who was in town speaking at some conference that weekend. Having been following Alwyn for a few years up to that point, I was pretty excited to finally meet him in person, shake his hand, and introduce myself.

Funnily enough, I had just started getting my name out there with a few articles I had written (I think I had like three or four making their way around the internet.  Don’t look for them.  They suck.), and as it happened, during that time I was OBSESSED with the show Alias, and subsequently it’s star, Jennifer Garner.

One of my “trademarks” with every article I wrote back then was to somehow incorporate a picture of Jennifer\ Garner in all of her Jennifer Garnerness.

Yeah, I was cool like that.

Keep that in your back pocket.  It will all make sense in a minute.

Anyways, Eric and I walk into the pub (I know weird:  Alwyn Cosgrove in a pub of all places) to meet up with the man himself. Now, mind you, I had never met Alwyn in person and he was kind of a big deal, even back then. I was just a teeny, tiny bit nervous.

We walk in and Alwyn was standing there with two other people.  One a strikingly attractive blonde woman, and the other, some bald dude with glasses.

I shook Alwyn’s hand and introduced myself as Tony Gentilcore.

Alwyn looked at me inquisitively, like he recognized my name, tilted his head and said, “aren’t you the guy who’s like obsessed with Jennifer Garner?”

My first thought was, “holy shit, Alwyn Cosgrove has read some of my articles!!!!!”

He then pointed to the blonde woman and said, “this is Valerie Waters, Jennifer’s trainer.”  My jaw dropped.

Alwyn then turned to me, right in front of Valerie, and said: “just an FYI:, you’ll never, ever, ever, never, ever have a shot in hell with Jennifer Garner.”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

And that’s how I met Alwyn Cosgrove.

Oh, and about that other guy who was standing there. The bald guy with glasses?  That was Mike Boyle.

I’m embarrassed to say that at the time, I had no idea who he was.  Epic fail on my part, I know.  What can I say?  I was wet underneath the ears, and didn’t know any better.

On the way home, Eric quickly pointed out that Mike was also kind of a big deal. Suffice it to say, later on, I looked him up, ordered his book Functional Training for Sport…………..and the rest, as they say, is history.

In the years since, like many other fitness professionals out there, Mike has been a huge influence on me as a coach (and as a person). I’ve read just about everything he’s ever written, watched every DVD he’s produced, and I’ve listened to him speak countless times.  And no matter what:  I ALWAYS learn something that makes me better.

That said, with the release of Functional Strength Coach 4.0, I thought I’d pay homage to someone who’s undoubtedly been a huge mentor to me. Of course, trying to narrow this list down to a select few nuggets of awesome is like trying to narrow down all the reasons why I love Star Wars, boxed cereal, or even the smell of gasoline (don’t judge).

Regardless, I’m going to give it a go anyways.

No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care

Coach Boyle is the king of one-liner knowledge bombs, and this one pretty much takes the cake.

When I first started out this industry, I made it my mission to demonstrate to potential clients how smart I was.  To do so, my objective was to prove to each and every one of them why what they were doing was completely wrong, and why I was right.

Me, me, me, and me.  You’re wrong, I’m right.  End of story.

I’d go into detail on why scapulohumeral rhythm was effecting their shoulder; why preventing shear load on the spine was important; and maybe even go as far as to say how lack of pinky-toe dorsiflexion was effecting their gait.

Wanna know what happened?  I lost clients.  They didn’t give a rats ass how much I knew, because I didn’t make a concerted effort to LISTEN TO THEM and to show them that I actually cared about them as a human being.

Ask your clients how their day was. Ask then how their kids are doing in their respective sports.  Send them articles you read that you feel applies to them and their specific needs (this is huge!), send them a “Happy B-day” message on Facebook, send them an email to touch base when they haven’t been in to train in a while.

Once you demonstrate that you actually care, you’ll have clients for life.

That Joint by Joint “Thing”

I’d argue that no one concept as infiltrated the industry – and revolutionized it –  more so in the past 5-10 years than the Joint-by-Joint Approach to Training popularized by both Coach Boyle and Gray Cook.

Stated simply: some joints generally need to be trained with stability in mind (knee, lumbar spine, etc), while conversely some joints generally need to be trained with mobility in mind (ankle, hips, t-spine, etc).

While straightforward in nature – that the body is just a stack of joints – it’s important because it feeds very well into many of the imbalances and dysfunctions that we see in our athletes and clients and how we’ll go about addressing (and correcting) those issues.

As Boyle notes himself:  “I think the injuries we see and technical problems we encounter with many lifters relate closely to proper joint function or more appropriately to joint dysfunction.”

Take the knee for example.  Almost always, whenever someone walks in with a history of chronic knee pain, I will undoubtedly look at both the ankle and hip region first.  When we lack ankle dorsiflexion, and likewise, have hips that require a crowbar to un-glue – both joints that require mobility – the knee(s) are going to be like “WTF.” Definitely not an ideal scenario for a joint that wants to be stable.

In short:  when we lack gross mobility in one particular area, the body is going to seek it elsewhere – oftentimes resulting in an ouchie.

Moreover, it forces people to think of the body as more of a kinetic component, rather than JUST individual “muscles.”

The Joint-by-Joint approach – while not absolute – has definitely help pave the way for how we as professionals approach program design, as well as address many postural issues and asymmetries.

I know it’s helped me tremendously.

Integrity

I had the opportunity to hear Martin Rooney speak a few years ago. He talked briefly about integrity, and how many of us in the fitness industry have no clue what that entails.

To prove his point, he told a quick story involving a wise man, a little boy, and his mother. (Stick with me here, I promise this isn’t some cheesy joke.)

“I can’t get my little boy to stop eating sugar,” the mother said to the wise man. “Please help me.”

“Come back and see me in two weeks,” the wise man said.

With a quizzical look on her face, the mother reluctantly walked away. Two weeks later, she brought her son to see the wise man.

“Stop eating sugar,” he said to the little boy.

“Why did we have to wait two weeks for that?”

“Because,” the wise man said, “I myself had to stop eating sugar.”

That’s integrity. You can’t ask your clients to follow your advice if you don’t follow it yourself.

A few years ago Mike made a splash in the industry when he noted that he no longer includes (bilateral) squats in his programming.

I was there, in the flesh, while he was filming Functional Strength Coach 3.0, when he said that he was contemplating omitting squats, entirely, from his programs.  All I could think about when he said that was……..Oh no he didn’t!?!?!

The seemingly apocalyptic tenor that followed, from strength coaches, personal trainers, and various other fitness professionals alike was almost deafening.

How could Mike state something so ludicrous!  So insane!  No squats? Like, ever?  What’s next…….kicking a baby seal in the face?

The thing is:  he backed it up with a clear, concise, and rationale explanation as to why he was doing it.  What’s more, his athletes still got bigger, faster, and stronger……with minimal games missed due to injury.

You can’t really argue with that.

Did I agree about the whole not squatting thing?  Not necessarily.  But I have to respect his integrity and the fact that he stuck to his guns and proved many naysayers wrong.

I know a lot of professionals who write e-books, yet don’t even follow their own advice. Heck, I know some trainers who train people but don’t even workout themselves! Some don’t even have any clients!

I can’t fault anyone for wanting to make money, but when one’s integrity is compromised, is it really worth it?

While I could sit here and come up with 101 more ways why Mike Boyle has been such an influence on me, I think those are three that stand out the most.

If you’ve never read or watched anything from Mike – or even if you have – I’d highly recommend checking out Functional Strength Coach 4.0, which is Mike’s latest installment in his on-going FSC series.  It’s over TEN hours of his most recent thoughts and opinions on programming, facility design, and professional development, to name a few.

In all, it’s an inside look at what he’s doing – TODAY – with his own athletes and clients.  If you’re a personal trainer or strength coach, or just someone who likes to lift heavy things, this would be an excellent addition to your S&C library.

NOTE:  Coach Boyle has offered to host a live online ‘no holds barred’ Q&A for *everyone*
who purchases FSC4 by Friday April 27. If you’re the kind of coach who is always learning then you probably don’t need the extra motivation, but it’s still a nice addition to an excellent program!

—-> Functional Strength Coach 4.0 <—-

CategoriesStrength Training

Big Without Strong is Nothing

In keeping with the “back to basics” theme from yesterday, here’s my latest article published on T-nation.com which served as more of “rant” piece than anything else.

It’s pretty awesome.  You should check it out.

I’m a strength coach. I spend much of my day making people bigger, faster, and stronger – with a heavy emphasis on the latter.

I love the effect something as simple as getting stronger has on the human body. Performance improves while imbalances fade, and with time a slow, brittle physique is replaced by something stronger, faster, more athletic, and seemingly forged from titanium alloy.

Not to mention, more muscular – which is why a small piece of my soul dies every time I hear something like, “Getting strong isn’t really important to me, I’d rather just look strong.”

I understand the aesthetic bias we have as a society, and that having a six-pack is higher on many trainee’s priority list than how much weight they can deadlift.

But one of the things I take pride in as a coach is my ability to keep things simple, so for all you lifters with iPhones filled with shirtless bathroom pictures, let me state this as simply as I can:

It’s imperative to build a solid base of strength in order to build mass. And if you train for strength – and don’t eat like a moron – the aesthetics you crave will undoubtedly follow.

I doubt you’ve seen many guys who bench 405 or squat 500 that are small. On the other hand, walk into just about any commercial gym and you’ll see loads of 150-pound dudes running the rack on curls and performing drop sets of triceps pushdowns.

What good is a six-pack and veiny 14-inch arms if you can’t deadlift your way out of a wet paper bag and your waif-like body resembles something that would get crushed against the wall by a surging crowd of angst-filled teenaged girls at an Avril Lavigne mall appearance?

If you’re a newbie (or even someone who’s been training for a few years and just not happy with the end results), this article will serve as a reminder to focus on the basics, get strong, and steal a page from Ms. Lavigne and stop making things so complicated!

Continue Reading….. (<—– 8/10 dentist recommend it)

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……