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What the Heck is Cybernetic Training?

When it comes to writing programs, and thus, preparing our athletes and clients for competion and/or everyday life, it’s not surprising to find out that many coaches and personal trainers often follow a set “scheme” or “system” to do so.

Some prefer to use more of a linear periodization approach where volume and intensity are closely monitored and specific “qualities” are blocked off in 2-8 week increments.  So, for example, when dealing with beginners, some coaches may elect to use an Accumulation Phase where intensity (as it relates to 1RM) is kept fairly low and the emphasis is more on technique and preparing the trainee for future (more intense) phases.

Likewise, as you can imagine, there are a million and one other periodization formats that can be utilized to get people from point A to point B.  Or, as Dave Tate prefers to say, take people from “shit” to “suck.”

Undulated Periodization

“Westside” Periodization

Russian Periodization

Concurrent Periodization

………And the list could go on forever; but honestly, I don’t want to bore you to tears, and there’s really only one system that I wanted to talk about exclusively today anyway.

Which is, of course, Cybernetic Training

Outside of sounding like something from one of those old 1980s Transformers cartoons (which were AWESOME by the way), cybernetic training actually gained popularity from Mel Siff when he first talked about this approach in his unparalled book, Supertraining.

Basically, in no uncertain terms (read:  this is my attempt at paraphrasing Mel Siff, this should be interesting), you can’t train like a rockstar everyday.  Kids are up sick all night, tests, boss keeps you late at work, traffic jams, girlfriend woes, tweaked shoulders, car won’t start, explosive diarrhea, you name it – life gets in the way.

When life happens, and you otherwise feel like you got run over by a mack truck, what good is it to head to the gym only to push through it?  Sometimes, rather than follow your program to a “t,” it’s more advantageous to just tone it down a bit, do some tweaking (that day), get in, get your work done, and get the hell out.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen an athlete walk into the facility looking like death, only to feel defeated right off the bat knowing that the squat rack is staring right at him.  As admirable as it is that he still may want to plow through and do the squats anyways, what’s the likelihood that he’ll reap any benefits what-so-ever?

More often than not, he’s just going to walk away frustrated and/or injured.

Instead, in this scenario, I might just go a head and have him perform a couple sets of glute ham raises, maybe some light Prowler pushes as well, follow that up with a few sets hip thrusters and Pallof Presses, throw in a Goose and Maverick high five, and call it a day.

Here, while we didn’t follow tha actual plan as written, we still did some work, got some semblance of a training effect, and didn’t run this athlete into the ground.

We programmed on the fly and still made his session worthwhile.

Conversely, we can look at the opposite end of the spectrum, too.  Using a cybernetic approach isn’t just about holding back when someone feels like poop.  Just last week actually, during his deadlifts, I had a client who was feeling like Superman.  While his program called for 4×3, he was just smoking his weight, so we decided to go for broke and attempt a PR (personal record).  In the end, he beat his previous best pull by 20 lbs.  And it wasn’t even planned!

Don’t get me wrong, I write every program with a set goal in mind, and I try my best to plan a head – I’d be remiss to do otherwise.  But rarely, if ever, is a program followed 100% all the way through without some “tweaking” involved.

I’m good, but I’m not that good.

While I feel it’s VERY important to have a preferred system in place – whatever you choose to use – when it comes to programming for your clients, don’t be afraid to embrace a more cybernetic/freestyle approach from time to time.  You’re not Nostradamus, right?

 

 

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Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work (or Waiting for a Hurricane)

Hurricane Irene is on a b-line headed straight for the East coast, apparently set to hit North Carolina in full force sometime Saturday, and we should be getting some pretty nasty weather here in Boston later Saturday evening.  The latest update has it downgraded to a Category 2 – and the reports here in Boston say at worst, it will be a tropical storm – but that’s not stopping everyone from stocking up on food and water here in the city.

I could attempt to try to be funny here, but honestly, I got nuthin.  To everyone who happens to be in the storm’s path: BE SAFE!!!!!

ALSO:  Today marks the last day you can purchase Muscle Imbalances Revealed – Upper Body and still get a “seat” for the exclusive Coaching Call with all of its creators (myself included) that will take place on Tuesday, August 30th at 9 PM EST.

It should make for an awesome event, so don’t hesitate and miss out an a pretty cool opportunity to talk some shop with some smart dudes.

Why Cressey Performance is Awesome – Will Davis

Will’s a bloke from England who’s in the US for the next few months getting his learnification on.  We had the pleasure of having him stop by the facility earlier this week to observe for a few days, and he wrote a really complimentary review of his experience above.

Some things he forgot to mention, though:

1.  Our conversation we had about hot British chicks: ie – Kate Beckinsale.  Specifically, how Kate Beckinsale is renewing her role in the next Underworld movie.  There is a god!!!!!!

2.  My affinity for Star Wars references.

Just sayin……

Show Me Your Guns – Christina from ilovefetacheese.com

First off, that’s an awesome name for a website because I freakin HEART feta cheese.  Secondly, this was a post that was forwarded to me by a frequent reader of my blog who felt I’d appreciate the overall message – which I did.  A lot.

Basically it’s this:  The author is just a normal 24ish year old, female PhD student with a passion for fitness.  She reached out to women who’s blogs she reads etc. to send her pictures of ‘their guns’.  The end result was a beautiful compilation of strong, fit females who all look completely different.

Nice job, ladies.

This Is Silly, An Outlook on Training – Matt Brown

This was actually one of the more refreshing articles I’ve read in a looooooong time.  I love “perspective” pieces, and this was just that.  Trust me, read it.  You won’t be sorry.

 

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Play-Doh Coaching

I’m sure for many reading, you’d be hard pressed not to think back to your childhood and not remember a time where you’d spend hours on end with a vat of Play-Doh making various shapes and figures that, despite knowing better, you’d eventually either stuff up your nose or try to eat.

Okay, maybe that was just me.  But suffice it to say, for many who reminisce about their childhood, Play-Doh was the shiznit back in the day.

Admittedly, it’s been YEARS since I’ve even touched a can of Play-Doh, but as I was coaching a new client through his deadlifts the other day, I couldn’t help but think that, in many ways, I play with Play-Doh everyday.

Hear me out for a second.  I promise, things won’t get weird.

As a strength coach, a fair potion of my job is, well, coaching.  As such, I’m not one of those coaches that just stands there, twiddling his thumbs, counting reps, and otherwise looking completely disinterested in his surroundings.  Walk into most commercial gyms and observe the personal trainers, and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

On the contrary, on an almost daily basis, when I’m on the gym floor, I’m constantly touching, adjusting, pushing, poking, pulling, and otherwise following a Play-Doh philosophy to coaching.

Using a real life example, just the other day I was working with a new client taking him through his first session of deadlifts.  Now, just to give a little backstory:  this guy is an ultra-runner; meaning, a “light” run to him is 20 miles.  Kind of bad ass, right?

Not surprisingly, he walked into the facility a little beat up.  And by a “little beat up,” I mean the guy was/is a walking ball of dysfunction.  Literally, you name a joint, and he could name the time, date, and race he hurt it.

Nevertheless, he’d finally seen the light and recognized that (proper) strength training could, in all likelihood, keep him from breaking down even further.  As we always say at CP:  strength training CAN be corrective in nature.

So, we walked over to the trap bar station and I said, “Let me see how you would set yourself up to pick that up off the ground.”

He walked over, bent down, and well, lets just say it didn’t look pretty.  In fact, I blacked out, it was that bad.

A few adjustments to the bar, however, along with several verbal cues, and we got it looking somewhat better.  It wasn’t until I actually started placing my hands on him – adjusting his neck, pushing his t-spine into position, tapping his chest with my finger to keep it tall – that we got it to look like an actual deadlift.

Likewise, I did the same thing when we moved over to perform some standard planks.  I literally stood over him and tapped his stomach to teach him to brace his core.  I tapped is tush (yes, I just said tush) to get him to learn to squeeze his glutes so that he would’t drop into lumbar extension.  Additionally, I adjusted his hips and neck to make sure that he stayed in proper position the entire time.

After the first set he noted: “Man, I never knew planks could be so hard!.”  Well they are when you actually do them correctly!

And this, more often than not, is where I see many personal trainers (and coaches) miss the boat entirely.  Whether it’s due to inexperience (acceptable), insecurity (acceptable, kinda), or just sheer laziness (absolutely un-acceptable), many are scared to put their hands on clients.  Given we live in a very litigious society, I can’t say that I blame many for not wanting to be so “hands-on.”  But lets be real:  there’s a fine line between being a coach and Creepy McCreepypants about it.

Nevertheless, if there’s one thing I want you to take away from this post, it’s that you need to COACH!!!!!!  Standing there only to count reps and not correct form is just downright lazy.  Unfortunately many trainees lack the kinesthetic awareness to get themselves into proper position, and as such, you’re job is to help them do so by being a bit more hands-on.

Again, lets tone down the creep factor.  Slapping the glutes of a new female client without first building some sense of rapport probably isn’t the best approach.

To that end, try to take a more Play-Doh approach to coaching and learn to mold your clients into deadlifting and planking freaks!  Or, squatting and seated rowing freaks.  I don’t care – it’s all good.  The point is, be more proactive.  Not only will you become a FAR better coach, but your athletes and clients will benefit as well.

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Exercises You Should Be Doing: Band Hip Internal/External Rotation with Ankle Mobilization

I feel like I’ve been running around like a bat out of hell this week, and really wish there was someway to stretch 24 hours into 25. For starters, after hitting a few deadlines – and subsequently asking for an extension with my tail between my legs……twice – I finally submitted my next Livestrong.com article.  Internet high fives all around to Adam Bornstein for being a very, very, very, VERY understanding editor.

Similarily, I’ve been working on a few things for Men’s (and Women’s) Health which is always pretty cool.  And, of course, I’ll be starting my next T-nation.com article shortly.  I’m still kinda up in the air on what I want to write about, though.  I can either do something on squats and all the different variations we use at the facility (disuss their efficacy, what they target, who to use them with, how they make you a sexual tyrannosaurus, etc); or, I can write another rant type piece similar to THIS.

Decisions, decisions. 

Either way, my goal is to have that written in the next week or two (or three).  Likewise, I can’t discuss how busy I am without mentioning Cressey Performance.  It’s been an AWESOME summer to say the least.  All told, we had kids from all over the place (Hawaii, Colorado, Virginia, Florida, Middle Earth) come in and train with us all summer, and it’s been great to see everyone’s hard work pay off, and to watch many of them make profound progress in a few short months.

I’m not going to lie, though.  I’m definitely going to enjoy the down time at the facility for the next few weeks before all the pro guys start making their way back to Boston.

And if that wasn’t enough, Lisa has been jamming my weekends with things like Home Depot, Pottery Barn, and other things that are equally as likely to make me hate life. I can’t seem to catch a break.

Oh, hey babe.  I didn’t realize you were standing there.  Have I ever told you how much I love y…………..hey, what’s with the taser gun?  Why are you turning it on?  What tha…………..AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.  Okay, okay, lets go to Target!!!!!! 

Enough with the pity party, and lets get to today’s exercise you should be doing.

What Is It:  While I had every intention of calling this exercise “hip and ankle mobility thingamabobber,” the exercise below is actually called Band Hip Internal/External Rotation with Ankle Mobilization.

See?  Who wants to write that long of an exercise title in their programs?  Hip/Ankle Thingamabobber is just as baller.

Who Did I Steal It From:  strength coach, Joe Bonyai

What Does It Do:  For many trainees out there, hip AND ankle mobility is definitely an issue, and something that wrecks havoc up and down the entire kinetic chain.  While there are a plethora of dedicated hip and ankle mobility drills out there, I like this one because it kills two birds with one stone

Coaching Cues:  Using a mini-band, wrap one end around a power or squat rack (or any pole for that matter), and then wrap ther other end around your knee.  Making sure to keep tension in the band, simply, rotate THROUGH THE HIP into internal rotation, and then back with external rotation – making sure to resist the tension of the band throughout (hello glute medius!!!!. 

Once back at the starting position, push your knee forward over your middle toe to work in a little ankle dorsiflexion.  Repeat the same process for 8-10 repetitiions and then perform the same sequence on the opposite leg. 

I’d prefer to use this as part of a general warm-up, but certainly feel free to use this as a “filler” exercise between sets of heavy squats or deadlifts, too.

Okay, I’m done.  Continue on with your life and be awesome.

 

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Kefir: My New Obsession

Okay, today I’m sorta coming out of left field compared to what I usually do.  Namely, it’s because I have writing ADD and sometimes it’s just hard to come up with unique content on a daily basis.  Additionally, I wanted to challenge myself, and see if I could squeeze in a Jack Bauer joke somehow (keep reading, it’s coming). But most of all, I just wanted to quickly share with everyone my latest discovery:  kefir.

About two weeks ago, I was chatting with one of our clients at the facility, Roman.  I don’t know how we got on the topic, but we started discussing popular foods people use to try to put on weight.  Being from Russia, Roman immediately suggested kefir, which piqued my interest because I had never heard of it before.

Tony:  ka-fear, you said?

Roman:  No, no, no.  KEE-fur.

Tony:  Ohhhhh, you mean Kiefer.  As in Kiefer Sutherland.  As in Jack Bauer, the barrel chested freedom fighter from the show 24.

You ever watch it?

Roman:  No, not really.

Tony: Well, just so you know, Jack Bauer played Russian Roulette with a fully loaded gun……and won.

Roman:  Seriously, I don’t care.

Tony:  Or how about this:  1.5 billion Russians are angry with Jack Bauer.  Sounds like a fair fight.

Hahahahahahahaa.  Get it?  It’s like a play on all those Chuck Norris jokes people say, but using Jack Bauer instead.

[crickets chirping]

Roman (in an Ivan Drago voice):  I must break you.

 

Okay, that’s not quite how the conversation went, but needless to say, that was an awesome Jack Bauer reference!  And, I even threw in a Rocky IV reference, too!

So, what the heck is kefir anyways?  Essentially it’s fermented cow, goat, or sheep’s milk that’s been inoculated with kefir grains.  The grains themselves are a combination of bacteria and yeasts that form a complex and HIGHLY variable community that, when placed in milk and left for a day (or two), yields a slightly sour, carbonated beverage that resembles liquid yogurt.

Except here, instead of maybe one or two dominant strans of gut healthy bacteria that you’d normally find in a container of Greek yogurt, kefir has upwards of 10+ strains.  Plus, due to the fermentation process, much of the lactose is gone, so those who suffer from lactose intolerance may be able to use kefir without the nasty gas issues.

Luckily for me, there’s a legit Russian store right around the corner from my apartment, so I’ve been walking in and trying out different brands.  But, for those who don’t have access to a Russian store, you can easily find kefir in most mainstream stores like Trader Joe’s or Stop-n-Shop as well.

I’m not hardcore enough to drink it straight up – although it’s not THAT bad.  Rather, I’ve simply been adding it to my protein shakes throughout the day, which provides a nice creamy thickness to them.

Seriously, try it.  And, if you know of any other ways to use kefir, I’d be interested to hear about them below!

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Miscellaneous Miscellany Monday: MIRU Goes Viral, and Other Stuff

I just realized it’s been close to a month since I’ve done one of these posts, so I figured what better way to start the week than this?

<== and this (but more on her later)

1.  Muscle Imbalances Revealed – Upper Body:  as many of you know, MIRU was released two weeks ago, and so far the feedback has been amazing.  With the wide release set to go this week, I’ve been busy doing interviews and kissing babies (only slightly exaggerrating) trying my best to get the word out and otherwise telling people how much more awesome their lives would be if they purchased the product.

Thankfully I have a lot of smart friends in the industry who were more than willing to check the product out for themselves and offer their own review.

Kevin Neeld wrote a nice review HERE.

And, not to be outdone, my boy Mike Robertson gave a really thorough review HERE.

Also, HERE is an interview I did with my internet BFF, Nia Shanks.  Nia and I have done several interviews together in the past, and this was by far one of the funnest to do.

2.  And speaking of Nia, this past weekend she and several of her Beautiful Badass harem (Molly Galbraith, Jen Comas Keck, Marianne Kane, Sarah Martin, and Alli McKee) all travelled from various parts of the country to meet up and train under one roof, and otherwise increase male membership by 417% at whatever gym they were training at.

Anyone who’s read this blog for any length of time knows how much of a fan I am of women lifting heavy things, and these ladies definitely did not disappoint.  Me thinks they should go on some kind of national tour and train at various gyms across the country.  I’d pay to see that!

PS:  How sweet was it when Nia gave her headnod after pwning that 330 lb deadlift PR?

3.  Just a quick reminder to everyone that Alwyn Cosgrove will be hosting a FREE webinar tonight (Monday, August 22nd at 8 PM, EST) titled The Death of Personal Training.

Knowing Alwyn and how forthright he is, this is definitely something you won’t want to miss!

4.  I’m a movie nerd at heart.  I love going to movies.  I love talking about movies.  I love reading about movies.  And, as any fellow movie nerd knows, summers are generally the time of year when all the studios release their geektastic, popcorn movies.  Admittedly, I’ve been slacking on my movie watching prowess, and haven’t been going to the theater as much due to my busy work schedule (and because The Green Lantern just looked god-awful).

Last weekend, however, my girlfriend and I went to go see Captain America:  The First Avenger, and holy sheeeeeeeit was it sweet.

I totally thought it was going to be a cheese-fest, complete with ridiculous costumes, corny one-liners, and a plot that could have been wrtten in crayon by a 7-year old.  While it had a bit of each, I have to say that it was defnitely a step up from most superhero movies – great acting, superb directing (especially considering it was based in the 1940s during WWII), and lots of cool special effects.  In fact, Lisa said that it was her favorite superhero movie, like, ever.

I quickly told her that that was just blasphemy:  hello The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, the first Iron Man???

But, to be honest, I’d definitely place Captain America in my top 5.  And, lets just say that the lead female character, played by Hayley Atwell (pictured above, at the top of this post, as well as directly below), was definitely a highlight.

5.  People need to do more horizontal rowing.   I’m going to go into a bit more detail on this later in the week, but nevertheless, not only will it have a great benefit towards posture and preventing imbalances in general, but it will also translate well to the big movements like deadlifts and squats becaise of increased stiffness in the upper back.

In conjunction to the points above, to me, having a nice, thick, upper back speaks volumes to one’s overall look aesthetically (no homo).  Lets be honest, any joker can get a six pack – but it’s rare when you see an impressive upper back.  Like I said, I’m going to espound on this a bit further later in the week, but it stands to reason that you’re not getting nearly enough rowing in your programming.  Trust me.  I know everything.

 

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Squatmegeddon

I like to consider myself a pretty even keeled guy.  Outside of the occasional Tracy Anderson soundbite or random person who drives 20 MPH below the speed limit when I’m on my way to work, there’s not much that really gets my blood boiling.   Even when I was a pitcher back in my college days, my mound demeanor was fairly consistent.  I wasn’t one to yell at the umpire about balls and strikes, and I tried my best never to show much emotion, figuring it was best to show the other team that I was never rattled.

I remember one game my senior year where I gave up two base hits and a walk to start off the game.  My coach, the antithesis of calm and collected, called timeout and stormed out to the mound.

“Tony,” he said, about two inches from my grill and pointing his finger at me, “get your head in the game. You’re acting like you don’t even want to be here”  I replied, “I got it coach.”

I ended up pitching a complete game, winning 5-2.  Without throwing a temper-tantrum.

So, fast forward to two nights ago when I received the following text message from a friend of mine down in New York City:

Looking at gyms in NYC.  One gym is BANNING squat racks.  So, the opposite of the predator handshake.

No shit it’s the opposite of the Predator handshake (which, by the way, is the most awesome thing ever).  Banning squat racks is a complete and utter FAIL.

Being even termpered my ass:  I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to drop kick a puppy more in my life than after reading that message.  Really?  Banning squat racks?  What’s next – banning vegetables from grocery stores?

After a few more text exchanges, my buddy went on to say that he went to join “x” gym chain (name omitted for fear of riots that may ensue, but I’m sure you can figure it out), and neither affiliate he visited in the upper west side had a squat rack.  Apparently, according to the fitness managers of said establishments, too many people were getting injured, and that my buddy, assuredly, could garner the same benefit from using a Smith machine instead.

What the what!?!?!?!?!?!

Are they serious?

Firstly, lets just get one thing straight:  squats don’t hurt people.  What people THINK are squats hurt people.

Secondly, machines are never superior to free weights.  Ever.

Thirdly, and most importantly, I’d argue that the Smith machine is more dangerous.  The Smith machine locks you into a fixed plane of motion, which develops what is called ‘pattern overload syndrome’. This was coined by Paul Chek and is explained as:

People get a pattern overload from using the Smith machine. The more fixed the object, the more likely you are to develop a pattern overload. This is due to the fact that training in a fixed pathway repetitively loads the same muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints in the same pattern, encouraging micro-trauma that eventually leads to injury. If Johnny Lunchpail always uses a Smith machine for his bench presses, he ends up working the same fibers of the prime movers in the bench press all of the time: triceps brachii, pectoralis major, long-head of the biceps, anterior deltoids, and serratus anterior. But he can’t change the pathway, the bar will always be in the same position. This commonly leads to chronic injury over time. The weight is stabilized for you. However, the joints operate in multiple planes. Use of the Smith machine, greatly decreases stabilizer activity. That creates a problem when the trainee returns to free-weight training. When that happens, the trainee is exposed to the three-dimensional environment called real life.

If squatting in a SQUAT rack (what it’s actually designed for) is so dangerous and too many people are getting injured, why stop there?

Lets ban bench pressing because it can lead to shoulder impingement.

Lets ban pull-up bars because people may lose their grip and fall.

Lets ban deadlifting because we all know that it’s the deadlifts that are hurting people’s backs, and not the fact that they have hip flexors stiffer than a table and have the movement quality of a pregnant hippopotamus.

While we’re at it, lets also ban treadmills because they may lead to shin splints, and step-aerobic classes because we run the risk of people tripping over their pink dumbbells and pulling a groin (not to mention the risk we run of people’s ears bleeding from the cheesy 80’s music).

In fact, lets just get rid of dumbbells altogether because people may drop them on their toes!

In fact, it’s probably best to just shut down every gym in the country because people may actually sweat, and that’s just icky.

Needless to say, whomever they are, the fitness managers of the aforementioned establishments should be ashamed of themselves.  I’d be curious to hear everyone eles’s thoughts on this.  I have to assume you’re as fired up about it as I am.

 

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Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 8/16/2011

Whole Foods Debacle – Tyler Simmons

Last weekend CP intern, Tyler Simmons, posted his latest blog on my Facebook page describing a little run-in he had with a doctor while standing in line at Whole Foods, and I HAD to share it here.

Here’s the Cliff Notes version:  Tyler essentially had what mounted to a dead cow in his grocery cart, along with a few pounds of butter.  Never a fan of just standing there twiddling his thumbs, Tyler struck up a conversation with a random man standing in line a head of him – noticing the look of horror on the man’s face.

Seriously, you HAVE to read the story – it’s classic.  All I’ll say on the matter is Cholesterol: 1, Pompous Doctor:  FAIL!

The Cholesterol Farce – Guy Schenker, D.C, and Ronald Grisanti, D.C. MS

Subsequently, after I re-posted Tyler’s article on my Facebook page, there was a nice dialogue between several people and someone linked to the article above, which I thought was a fascinating read.

And while this particular article was written by two chiropractors – not that it matters, it’s a well researched and informative piece – it should be noted that most physicians receive (maybe) two days worth of course work in the realm of nutrition during med-school (give or take a few days).  And, while I wouldn’t recommend going against your physicians word, just be aware that just because someone’s a “doctor” doesn’t necessarily mean they know what they’re talking about.   Case in point: Dr. McDouchington from Whole Foods (from the first article above).

The 50 Commandments of Commercial Gym Etiquette – Bret Contreras

I can tell that Bret had a lot of fun writing this one!  I’m just trying to find out if there’s someway I can head down to Washington to lobby Congress to make it mandatory that commercial gyms posts this on their front doors.  I’ll even write it in crayon and glitter paint – you know, to make it official!

Well said Bret.  Well said!

 

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The Death of Personal Training – Alwyn Cosgrove

Today I want to let everyone know about a pretty kick-ass (read:  awesome) webinar that Alwyn Cosgrove is going to be hosting titled The Death of Personal Training.  Believe me, as someone who started out as a personal trainer – and admittedly struggled – it’s stuff like this that really I wish I had the opportunity to take advantage of back in the day.

Lets just say that when I first same into this industry my strongsuit wasn’t the part where I had to ask for money for my services.  It still isn’t to be honest.  In fact, if I had to describe it, whenever the topic of money came up I’d say it resembled one of those scenes in a cheesy PG-13 movie.  You know, where the shy guy stands there with his hands behind his back, looking down at the ground, shuffling the floor with his feet, while asking the hot girl out to prom?

Yeah, that was me.  Everytime I had to ask a client whether he or she wanted to re-up one of their packages it was just Awkwardsville, USA, complete with crickets chirpping, tumbleweeds blowing, and an otherwise uncomfortable silence.

Of course, over time, I got better – and less awkward (for the most part), but it sure would have been a tremendous help to have someone like Alwyn showing me the ropes back then.

What’s more, the industry itself is constantly changing.  Is one-on-one training the way to go or is semi-private training more advantageous?  What’s the best way to develop leads?  How about retaining clients?  Is it a good idea to discount your services?  And, what about referall bonuses – yay or nay?   As a personal trainer, YOU ARE a business (even if you work in a commercial gym), and if you’re not taking the proper steps to stay on top of things in terms of building your brand, sadly, it’s going to be an arduous climb to the top.

Nevertheless, I HIGHLY encourage you to sign-up for Alwyn’s (FREE) webinar, which is going down this Monday, August 22nd at 8 PM EST.  I’m not sure how many spots Alwyn has allotted for this event, so even if you have one inkling of interest, I’d jump on that train as soon as possible.   A word of caution, though: make sure to bring your umbrella, because it’s going to rain nothing but cold, hard truths spit your way.  In a Scottish accent no less!

Click HERE to learn more.

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Guest Post: Fat Loss Basics – Michael Gray

Today I have a guest post from personal trainer, Michael Gray.  Michael has been an avid supporter of this blog for quite some time, and he reached out to me several weeks ago asking if I’d be interested in letting him write up a little sumthin sumthin for the website.  I’m always getting emails from upcoming trainers in the industry asking me how they can go about getting their name out there more and how they can get their writing published.  And, more often than not, I always say the same thing:  write (a lot), and write for free.

This is something I’m going to touch on in a bit more detail in a future blog post, so stay tuned…..

 

Suffice it to say, this may come as a shock to some reading, but the likelihood of writing for publications such as Men’s Health or T-nation.com – at least right out of the gate – is somewhere between not a shot in hell and mud wrestling with Jamie Chung.

Note:  for those wondering who the heck Jamie Chung is.  Most recently, she was in the movie Sucker Punch.  You’re welcome.

All that said, Michael and I have been exchanging emails intermittently for about a year now, and in that time we’ve grown to have a professional repoire discussing everything from fat loss to functional anatomy.  And, of course, ripping on Tracy Anderson.

So when Michael contacted me to write a post, I gave him three stipulations:

1.  It has to be under 1000 words.

2.  It can’t suck.

3.  It has to include a reference to Saved by the Bell.

Okay, that last one wasn’t true, but he pulled it off nonetheless!  What’s more, he came up with a solid post that I think you’ll all enjoy.  So, I’ll shut up now and let Michael take over.

Fat Loss Basics

When Tony and I first talked about me writing up a guest post for his blog, we decided on a post that fell under the “fat loss” umbrella.  From there, the concept was totally up to me.

When you think about it, that’s a pretty broad umbrella.  There’s nutrition, programming, exercise pairings, recovery, off days, NEPA, as well as a few other topics that one could definitely write extensively on when discussing fat loss.

Being a regular visitor to Tony’s blog, I know that you all (his readers) are much more educated than the typical gym goer.  I wrestled with what exactly to cover, hoping that I wouldn’t post something that everyone simply nodded their heads in agreement with, but rather, cover a familiar topic in a way that brought about some new insight, or at least a fresh perspective.

I don’t consider myself a fat-loss expert, or an expert in anything really (except maybe Saved By The Bell trivia……Note from Tony:  ding ding ding.  He did it!!!!!), but if I’m honest, the majority of my clientele are looking to drop body fat.  And when you write program after program geared towards people getting their lean on, you start to notice trends.  Certain exercise modalities tend to get people leaner more quickly than others.  Others leave people so wiped out from their caloric deficit that they feel worse than a cheeseburger-eatin’ Hasselhoff.

Then of course there are modalities that are counter productive, (hello endless sets of high reps), as well as those that can just be flat out miserable. (Ever tried pulling heavy singles while in a caloric deficit?  Welcome to Suckville, USA.)

I’m of the belief that too often people try to accomplish too many things at once.  They try to drop 10 pounds of fat, put on 10 pounds of muscle, and add 50 pounds to their deadlift…all in the same month.  

While they can be lauded for their efforts, they’re most likely not going to have much to show for them.

So to be brief, if you’re trying to lose body fat, everything you do should be geared towards that goal while attempting to maintain other elements of your training (muscle mass, strength, mobility, etc.)

While some coaches will say that the only difference between a fat loss program and a mass building program is the amount of calories you take in, I think that’s a little over-simplistic.  I’ve had much greater success with fat loss when I tweak the elements and structure of my clients programs from what I would program for a typical strength client.

Below are a couple of examples of exercise pairings (or quadruplings) that are representative of one of the ways I program for fat loss.

Complete A1-A4, only resting long enough to move from one exercise to the next.

A1. Conventional Deadlift  4×3

A2. Med Ball Slams  4×12

A3. Spiderman Push Ups 4×6/side


A4. Jumping Jacks  4×50

Rest 60-90 seconds

Another grouping could look like this:

A1. Push Press  4×5

A2.  Kettlebell Swings  4×15

A3.  Reverse Lunge  4×8/side

A4.  Elbow Touches 4×12/side

Rest 60-90 seconds

THE SET UP

A1. I always, always, place the most technical and compound lifts first.  For obvious reasons, these need to be performed in the freshest state possible.  Remember, the goal of this type of programming is to maintain mass and strength, not increase it.  

You’re not looking to set a new PR.  If you shooting for sets of 3, it’s OK to work with a weight that you could pull 4-5 reps with.  It is important to work with a weight that you can safely lift, especially as fatigue sets in during consecutive sets.


A2. I like to follow A1 with something that still has a bit of a technical compenent to it, but isn’t terribly demanding from a strength stand point and does a decent job of keeping the heart rate jacked up.  The above examples are MB slams and kettle bell swings, but you could use other things like sledge hammer swings, moderately weighted sled pushes, rack carries, etc.

A3. This goes back to a more traditional compound, strength exercise, but again, it’s technical demand is much lower than A1’s considering fatigue is starting to settle in a bit.  Things like lunges, push ups, chins, rows are great here.

A4.  Bodyweight exercises that are low on a technical standpoint are perfect for the end of your set.  Things like planks (and all their variations), jumping jacks, jump rope, and high knees finish off the sets nicely.


THE RATIONAL

Transitioning back and forth between traditional strength based exercises and ones that are a little more explosive and cardiovascular based do something pretty cool.  They provide a constant elevation of your heart rate while giving you a chance to rest your muscular system from intense demand.  This allows you to get into your next strength exercise without letting you heart rate drop.  Or in other words, burn more calories.

I am not in any way opposed to the traditional way strength coaches design fat loss session, i.e. strength work kept separate from cardio/metabolic conditioning/energy systems work.  In fact, I often program for a lot of my fat loss clients that way.  But I have found it to be incredibly beneficial to them to have at least one day of their weekly training to be set up in a fashion similar to what is above.  

There are countless combinations that you could use, and there isn’t any reason that you have to pair four exercises together.  That’s just what I used for this example.  

Whether you choose to try these on yourself or on your fat loss clients (to be honest, you should always attempt something before you have your clients do it) I hope you find them to be another tool in your bag of tricks.  

I’d love to know how they work for you, so give them a shot and let me know what you think!

For more information on Michael, be sure to check out his website:  www.michaelgrayfitness.com, or check out his Facebook page HERE.