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When Bad Things Happen to Good People Who Know Better

Note from TG:  A little head’s up before we begin:  The question below is long, but I wanted to include it in its’ entirety because, well, just read it.  Lets just say that if, by the end of the question, you’re not facepalming to some capacity, you’re a better human being than myself.

Q:  I’ve been a trainer for about 3 years, but have been out of work for the past couple months.  I just got turned down for a training position here at the [TG:  I went a head and deleted the actual name of the university] recreational facility.

The person I interviewed with is actually my boss who I teach a TRX class for and she told me a few things that came up during my on floor practical interview.  My ‘client’ was training for a triathlon and was currently biking/swimming/running 3x a week each, and had zero weight room time.  So I figured this guy needed a little strength training.

All necessary other steps were taken before hitting the floor:  intake, assessment etc.  I took the client through a movement prep/dynamic warm-up session, and did some rotary stability drills as he tested weakest for those in the assessment.  Then I took him through alternating sets for goblet squats/OH presses, RDLs/pull ups and reverse lunges/standing 1 arm cable rows for three sets or 10 -12 reps each.

My reasoning here is that he hasn’t been weight training recently and I wanted to cover as many movements as possible to supplement the huge amount of volume he was doing with his biking, swimming and running.  My boss saw a problem with the amount of reps I was using, thinking they were too low, and would have liked to see me do some exercises simulating a bike swim or run movement.

My argument was that he was getting enough repetition doing those activities and just needed to get stronger, period.  I used the bigger motor in a car analogy, but maybe it didn’t take the way it was supposed to.

I understand there are probably a few tweaks as far as exercise selection and such go, but is there a completely different approach I should have taken in this situation from a theory standpoint?

Summarizing, I felt like this interview process had nothing to do with any of those things as it came down to more of a different view in philosophies.  Of course there probably were other factors that existed, but this seemed to be the biggest hang-up.

Is it as simple as this maybe wasn’t the right place for me, or are there other things I should be doing to ensure that setbacks are kept to a minimum?

Thanks, Chris

A:  Chris, wow, I don’t even know where to begin with this.  First off, I’m sorry that things didn’t work out for you, and that you had to go through that experience.  It’s a shame that this woman is in a position where she’s able to make snap judgements on one’s ability and expertise, when she’s clearly out of the loop with current research, woefully misinformed, and obviously an uppity bitch.

From a theoretical standpoint, you’re rationale on why this gentleman should have included more strength training was/is spot on.  As I’ve noted on numerous occasions here on this blog endurance athletes would be well served to drop some of the crazy volume they put themselves through, and instead, replace it with traditional strength training to not only improve performance, but to also offset many of the structural imbalances that they accumulate along the way.

If I had to bulletpoint my thoughts on this, it may look something like this:

  • In THIS study, the intervention group all had increases in strength, without adding any mass (body-weight). This is an important distinction and something that endurance athletes need to hear. Getting stronger, doesn’t necessarily mean getting bigger.
  • Furthermore, outside of the obvious (improved performance), increasing strength also has an often overlooked side benefit. As muscles (active restraints) get stronger, it’s less perceived stress by the passive restraints (bone, ligaments, etc). This goes a long ways as far as keeping you healthy and preventing all of those nagging injuries in the first place.
  • Increases in force development will undoubtedly equate to improvement in performance. The more force an athlete can generate into the ground (or pedal, or water), the more force said athlete will generate to propel him/her forward. To do this, one needs to lift heavy stuff.  Last time I checked, the objective of a race is to see who can finish the fastest, not who can go the longest.
  • And, as the study linked above notes, the intervention group improved their running economy by 5%. To put this into perspective, that’s roughly twelve minutes shaved off of a four-hour marathon; all of this without having to log more mileage. 
  • And, to drive the point home even further, it’s been well documented in the research that the biggest indicator of whether or not someone will get injured (whether we’re talking shin splints, plantar fasciitis, stress fractures, you name it) is the total mileage he or she accumulates.  Put another way, the more you run/bike/swim, the more likely you are to break down.  Not always, of course – but a lot.

If you need more of a real-world example read THIS.

Moving on, your boss’ assertion that you should have mimicked more biking, running, or swimming movements into the routine is borderline asinine.  Why?  So he can just feed into the numerous postural imbalances and weaknesses he already has?

Using this logic, I guess the only way to train MMA fighters is by nixing the squats and opting for more swift roundhouse kicks to the head.  That’s specific!  Or, we should include more of these into our programming for baseball players:

Listen, people get enough “sport specific training” by simply playing their respective sports.  We don’t need to include more of these movements in the weightroom.

In the end, I have to say she was wrong….by a landslide.  Based off what you described, you handled this particular client about as well as you could have.  You assessed, saw some glaring issues, recognized that he was weak and didn’t move well, and addressed them.  You had his best interests in mind.  Apparently, she did not.  FAIL!

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Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: Back to Reality Edition

So, I’m back in Boston as I type this.  No less than three hours ago, I was in 80 degree weather with the sun beating down on me and not a cloud in the sky.  Now, I’m looking out the window at nothing but gray skies and rain.  And a homeless person collecting cans.  Great.

Alas, it’s back to reality.  We had an amazing time in Florida, and I can see why so many people decide to set up shop there when it’s time to retire.  Beautiful weather, beaches, golf, bikini’s, gator meat – what’s not to love?   Of course, having no state income tax doesn’t hurt either.

Nonetheless, I’m not gonna sit here and pretend that I’m not kinda, sorta still in vacation mode. The idea of writing a well thought out blog post right now is the furthest thing from my mind – especially considering I have yet to un-pack, I have a pile a mile high of laundry to do, and I still need to hit off the store to get some groceries.  The only thing in my fridge at this moment is some marinated chicken I made last week, and I’m pretty sure that would taste like cardboard and farts right now.

To that end, today’s post is going to be cut and dry.  I was able to catch up on a lot of reading while I was away, and below are some gems that I felt were pretty good.

Drugs, Brown Fat, and Weight Loss – Mark Young

Mark has an uncanny ability to filter out the stupid, and this post is no different.

The Shoulder W Exercise – Mike Reinold

I remember Mike talking about this exercise exclusively last year during the Optimal Shoulder Performance seminar.  Here, he gives a little background on why he feels it’s such a valuable exercise, and I tend to agree!

Why Go Organic? – Jamie Hale

Steady State Cardio vs. Intervals, High Reps vs. Low Reps, Jamie Eason vs. Jelena Abbou – there are a myriad of controversies in the fitness industry that either one of us can make legitimate cases for or against.  None, however, are more controversial than the whole Conventional Food vs. Organic debate.

Personally, I tend to veer more towards the organic side of things – as I feel that the costs and high(er) prices of buying organic far outweigh the costs of the ever increasing ramifications that our food industry has on health care; not to mention sustainable agriculture

That said, I like to consider myself an open-minded guy, and this article by Jamie Hale does make some great arguments on why organic might not be all it’s cracked up to be.

Even still, at the end of the day, for my own peace of mind, I’m still leaning more towards organic.

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18 Minutes to a Leaner (and Healthier) You

Note from TG:  Today, I’ve got a guest blog from current Cressey Performance intern (and Precision Nutrition Lean Eating coach), Jason Bonn.  Jason, as you might expect, is a very knowledgeable coach and recognizes that – almost always – the battle of the bulge, is often won and lost in the kitchen.

Read on, you might learn a thing or two.

18 Minutes to a Leaner (and Healthier) You

Sounds like some infomercial, doesn’t it? It’s not. It’s real—and I have video to prove it.

First, the quick introduction. I’m Jay Bonn. I’m a Lean Eating Coach for Precision Nutrition (PN) and I’m interning at Cressey Performance.

When Don Gentilcore of the CP Crime Family lets you guest blog, you know you’re on your way to becoming a made man. And hey, who knows? Perhaps I’ll one day be rubbing elbows with him and Capo Cressey.

Kidding aside. Given his own work and credentials as well as his ‘guest author’ list, it is an honor to have Tony let me write for his blog…while he’s away…in a warm climate…kickin’ it on the beach. (I think that S.O.B. duped me).

Note from TG:  Just to rub it in, as I post this blog, I’m about 35 seconds away from stepping into the hot tub after spending the entire day out on the water on a boat.  Yeah, life doesn’t suck.

With the great content that comes up here, I knew I had to try to come up with something significant.  Something that would stand out among the quality content he puts up.  What I came up with was a video, but not a training related one.  A food related one.

As a Lean Eating Coach for Precision Nutrition, I work with people in many situations (jobs, lifestyle, etc…), from all over the world, ranging from teenagers to those closer to the century mark. Vegetarians? Yes. Omnivores? Yes. On a box, with a fox, eating lox? Yes, yes and yes (even on bagels).

Yet, with all the diversity I work with, I still see commonly cited reasons why people say they’re having a difficult time getting to the goals they want.  Regardless of whether their goal is health, body composition and/or performance related, I’m often hearing about lack of time and/or money.

Ryan Andrews, my friend and colleague at PN, has written many articles and posts talking about these two excuses. In addition, a certain someone you all know and love has covered this topic as well.  Therefore, I won’t restate already good content.  Instead, I’ll show you a video of just how little time it actually takes to prepare multiple days worth of food.

A few notes before viewing:

  • This is completely unrehearsed. I’m not lying here either. In fact, I was going to speak for a few minutes as a test to check the sound, but decided to just go with it.

  • On the topic of me speaking, I currently have a bastardized accent. I’ve lived in NY, Chicago, as well as just outside Boston. While I mostly speak in my true accent (NY), I do flip around a bit.
  • I apparently have a serious warped sense of time. I keep saying everything is going to take a few minutes and it ends up running eight minutes longer than I thought. However, in the grand scheme of things, eight extra minutes isn’t that much. (Plus, as you’ll see, that’s not the main point of this blog.)
  • Be sure to watch the entire thing—unless you want to risk missing an event involving an open flame, a Dustbuster vacuum and a penguin.

So without further ado, your feature presentation:

As you can see, it really doesn’t take much time at all.  So there goes that excuse.  The truth is though, it’s never really about “time”, “money”, or a similar excuse.  In general, I think people are quick to look outside themselves for reasons why they’re not achieving the goals they want.  What I believe it comes down to is the intersection of your behaviors and values.

Me? I value my health and body.  Since I value that, my actions will reflect that.  I’ll consistently eat quality food, exercise, take some ‘me’ time to relax, etc… Eighteen minutes is a relatively minor amount of time.  I can make eighteen minutes available.  Then again, even if it took 180 minutes to prep food, I’d make it available—my values mean that much to me.

Before I move on, I know what some of you are thinking. You’re thinking,  

“But Jay, I don’t have those incredible knife wielding skills like you. It’ll take me much longer.  So I really, really, really, honestly don’t have the time.  Even though I value my health and body, I guess I’m doomed to never reach and/or maintain my goals, huh?”

To that I say, “Au contraire mon ami”.  There’s more than one way to skin a cat.  No two situations are alike so we all have to find different paths. This may include:

  • Buying pre-cut, pre-washed veggies at the store. (After all, shopping only takes a short time)
  • Buying pre-cooked proteins (rotisserie chicken, canned beans/lentils, canned tuna/salmon, etc…).
  • Swiping some leftovers from the family dinner on Sunday.
  • Hiring someone to do it for you. (Note: Unless you’re Mila Kunis, I’m booked through June.)
  • Switching the loaded baked potato for some grilled veggies.
  • Heck, even switching from a triple whopper to a double would be a step in the right direction.

There’s always a way to live closer to what you value. Find it.

My health and body are definitely not the only things I value, but they’re high up there on my priority list.  Sure that may sound a bit selfish—because it is.  And I think it’s okay to be selfish in this regard.  I need to take time for myself and I fully understand when others need to do the same.  My belief is that if you can’t take care of yourself, you’ll have a much more difficult time taking care of others.

The question you should ask yourself is: Does what you truly value match your daily behaviors?

 

Are you actually DOING the things that are in line with what you feel to be most important?  If you value your health, body and/or performance, are you doing the things like consistently eating well and exercising?  Are you making good choices in general?

If you value your family, are you spending quality time with your wife, playing with your children, visiting/calling your parents, etc…?

Rather than finding the time for these behaviors/actions, make the time.  You have the ability to adjust your daily schedule any way you see fit.  Cut/reduce the non-essentials first.  Things like surfing the internet and TV you can probably do without.  If you’re not sure, try going for a week without or reducing time spent on something.  Should you survive, you know it’s not a necessity.

“18 minutes to a leaner and healthier you”. That was just a tagline. Something to reel you in to ask you the REAL questions: Are you making time for what you value?  Do your actions match your values?

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Bulletproof Your Body: Assessments for the Hardcore Lifter

I know, I know – I’m lame for posting while on vacation.  But, if it’s any consolation the picture above gives you a little taste of what I’ve been up to. 

I hear it’s snowing up in Boston today.  Muhahahahahahahahahaahahahahahaha.**

Anyways, I had another article go up on t-nation earlier this week, so for those who haven’t checked it out yet, enjoy!

You lift heavy things. You believe there’s no illness that heavy squats can’t cure. Heck, you’re so hardcore you consider creatine a garnish.

But let your health slip and it’s bye-bye big muscles and new PRs. To prevent the slip, you may need a few physical assessments. 

When it comes to assessments, there are a few schools of thought. On one end of the spectrum you’ve got trainers who spend two days assessing someone, taking meticulous notes on everything from how much someone’s left big toe pronates to rectal temperature.

At the other end, you’ve trainers who don’t know their ass from their acetabulum, and so long as their client can stand on two legs they’re good to go, oftentimes leading to disastrous results.

As always, the best approach lies somewhere in the middle.

CONTINUE READING………

** Hahahahaha- muhahhahahahahahahahaa.  LOL.  ROTFLMAO. 

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Exercises You Should Be Doing: Lateral Sled Drags

Going to keep this one brief today, because………..

I’m going on vacation. 

Well, that, and my girlfriend is going to kill me when she calls me in a few minutes to check in and realizes I have yet to pack even though our plane leaves in like four hours.  But, really, all I need to do is throw some shorts, sandles, and sunscreen into my bag and I’m good to go.  I travel light.

And, while I won’t actually be on a boat; where I’m going (Florida), I’ll definitely see one – so this video is dedicated to everyone who won’t be going with me.

Okay, so, today’s exercise is one that I feel gives trainees a lot for their training buck.  In addition, assuming you train at a gyn that doesn’t suck (Read:  has a sled) you should be able to implement this one into your programming right away.  If you pay $10 per month to workout at Planet Fitness, sorry – you’re out of luck. 

What Is It:  Lateral Sled Drags

What Does It Do:  The obvious advantage to this exercise is the fact that it trains lateral movement.  Generally speaking, we’re a very linear society, so this exercise provides a nice change of pace and allows us to train single leg strength – albeit in a more lateral fashion, which changes things dramatically.

What’s more, there’s also a huge hip internal/external rotation component, as well as grip strength, conditionng, and overall badassnesses.  Seriosuly, this is a waaaaaay cooler than puttering around on an elliptical machine.

Key Coaching Cues:  Frist off, you want to make sure you grip the handle has hard as you can, which in turn (through a process called irradiation) will force the rotator cuff to fire and pack the shoulder back (providing more stability to the joint.  If you’re not careful, you can really crank on your shoulder and piss it off – so grip tha handle HARD!

Too, you want to think about staying low and stepping across the midline of your body, “pushing” yourself away from the floor.  Effectively, you want to drive yourself away from the floor, not just “side shuffle” across like Goldilocks.

You can either go for a set distance or a certain # of repeitions per leg.  Just make sure that you face the same direction in both directions so you train both legs equally.

Okay, I’m out.  I’ll be updating the blog while I’m away, but probably won’t be participating too much.  Toodles!

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Progression <------> Regression

As trainers and coaches, I think we often get too carried away with our programming to the point where we’re more concerned with impressing our clients with bells and whistles than actually getting them healthier.

I was at a commercial gym not too long ago, and I watched – in horror – a trainer take his female client through a session that included alternating BOSU ball jumps (jumping from one BOSU to another), pretty much the worst kettlebell swings this side of a Jillian Michaels video, TRX stuff (that admittedly wasn’t that bad), and some kind of hybrid push-up/monkey humping a football thingamajig that I have no clue what to call it.

All told, I’d say that probably 90% of the program was far too advanced for that particular client.  If she were my client, I would have regressed every single exercise.

And there’s no shame in that.

Not surprisingly, we’re so adamant on progressing clients – making them feel like they’re working hard, about to pass out in a pool of their own sweat – that we often fail to realize that regressing IS progressing.

To no fault of our own, we attend seminars, watch dvds, read books and manuals, spend hours on youtube, and it stands to reason that we want to try new things with our clients.  Why wouldn’t we?  But I think many (not all) trainers and coaches would be wise to take a step back, and recognize that not everyone can (or should) be performing kettlebell cleans and snatches on day one.

Obviously, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t make certain exercises harder or more challenging – that’s just crazy talk.  What I am saying, however, is that we shouldn’t get into the mindset that we HAVE to make exercises harder or more challenging just for the hell of it.

Without question, we want to be cognizant of progressive overload and what have you, but if you have a client that looks like Quasimodo when he or she performs a conventional deadlift, it’s generally a sign that you need to take a step (or two) back.  Not add more weight.

Regressing them to say, a trap bar deadlift, where they’re center of gravity shifts more to the center and they’re able to maintain proper thoracic extension would be much more beneficial to them than trying to pound a square peg into a round hole.   It’s about setting them up for success, not beating them to a pulp.

Similarly, if someone has a bum shoulder and benching with a full ROM aggravates it, regressing him or her to a board press or maybe something like a loaded push-up variation would be the way to go.

Again, there’s no shame in REGRESSING clients.  If anything, it shows you have their best interests in mind.   As a matter fact, and using myself as an example, I’d be willing to bet that I end up tweaking 10% of the programs I write at some point or another.  Things happen – but most often, I’ll miss the mark or just simply over-estimate someone’s capabilities, and as a result I’ll have to re-asses and make some changes to the program.

I mean, it could be something as simple as takng some weight off the bar.

I can’t tell you how many times I watch someone warm-up, only to turn around and then turn back again to see them with 300 lbs on their back looking like they’re going to break in half.

In the end, if something looks like crap, or worse, causes pain – it only makes sense to use common sense and regress.  In a way:  regression IS progression.

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Miscellaneous Miscellany Monday: 3/28/2011

1.   For those of you who missed it, I HIGHLY suggest you click HERE and get caught up on all the shenanigans that took place over the weekend.

———> WATCH THIS <———-

Go a head, I’ll wait

So, about five weeks ago, Stevo contacted us at Cressey Performance saying how he and his girlfriend (Kelsey) were planning on making a trip to Boston sometime this fall, and that they would love to stop by the facility to check things out, talk some shop, and maybe get a lift in.  Cool – no biggie.

However, Stevo also mentioned that both he ad Kelsey were hoping to be married this fall and that he had yet to propose to her, and he was wondering if either myself or Eric would get involved.

I called dibs, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Steve and I exchanged several e-mails throughout the whole process, and talked on the phone last week to finalize everything and come up with a sweet game plan.  All I had to do was write the blog post, and post it by 8:15 Saturday morning.

I wrote the e-mail Friday night and pressed save like 49 times.    Come Saturday morning, I was one nervous wreck (I can’t imagine what Stevo was going through) – I woke up at 5 AM and all I could think about was what could go wrong:

  • Will my computer crash?
  • What happens if the internet isn’t working?
  • What if I’m abducted by aliens and can’t post the blog in time?
  • What if she says no?
  • Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Suffice it to say, everything went exactly according to plan.  She arrived for her Saturday morning workout, when one of the other coaches at Stevo’s gym said “hey Kelsey, you HAVE to check out Tony’s blog today……….

Long story short, she said yes, and I couldn’t be happier for the two of them.

Here’s a shot of when Stevo actually proposed

And here’s a picture of the couple later that day prior to dinner:

See you both in the Fall!!!

2.  In keeping with the good news vibe, a HUGE congratulations goes out to CP client, Tim Collins, who was officially named to the Opening Day roster for the Kansas City Royals yesterday.

Tim walked through the doors of Cressey Performance back in the fall of 2007 as an un-drafted, 138 lb, left-handed relief pitcher out of high school.  He worked his butt off, did his thing, and now, three and a half years later he’s a big leauger.  I couldn’t be happier for him, and I can’t wait to give him a man hug when I see him at Fenway.

3.  I was talking with one of our clients the other day (who happens to be a board certified Chiropractic Neurologist), and he mentioned in passing that he recently read a study that eating a 1/4 cup of broccoli everyday reduced one’s risk of diabtetes by something like 14%.  To put that into perspective, 1/4 cup is like two small spears.  That’s it.  It just goes to show that if you put forth just liiiiiiiiiiiitle bit of effort, and put down the Snickers bar, you can make drastic changes to your health.

4.  HA!  Someone sent me this link on Facebook with the title:  Does anybody else see a problem here (as in – WTF what this guy thinking)?

i don’t know which is funnier:  the fact that the guy who actually posted this video thought this was impeccable form, or the guy in the background around the 1:20 mark who deemed this bad-ass enough to film on his iPhone.

5.  So yesterday I’m sitting on the couch reading my Robet Ludlum book when my girlfriend, Lisa, says “you ready to go get something to eat?”  “Does Dolly Parton sleep on her back?  Of course, I’m ready to go eat,” I reply.

“Okay, cool.  All I need is like five minutes to finish my lecture for class, and we’ll go.”

And then it happened……….

While looking for a ying/yang picture for her lecture, she ended up clicking on a link that contained a virus (System Defender to be exact) and all hell broke loose.

Roughly four hours later, we managed to finally contain it and “fingers crossed” get rid of it.  But it got me thinking  [EAR MUFFS ALERT]

Who ever designed that virus is a goat-fucking, piece of shit, assbag.  There, I feel better now.

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Special Weekend Post: Good, Bad, and Great News

You’re probably wondering what’s with the post on a Saturday – I mean, in the four or so plus years I’ve been blogging, I don’t think I’ve ever posted on a weekend.  What gives?

Well, truth be told, I have an ulterior motive that, if all goes according to plan, will undoubtedly go down as one of the coolest things to ever happen on this blog – if not the history of the interwebz (but more on that below).

But before I get to that, I’m sitting here in a Starbucks on a Friday night as I type this (yep, I’m that cool), and wanted to pass on a few tidbits of information to update people on what’s going on the life of TG.

The Good News

Things have really been amping up this year on the writing side of things.

  • One you may already know about.  T-nation.com has asked me to contribute more content on a monthly basis, which is of course, an honor.  As many of you know, I’ve been writing for t-nation.com sporadically since 2006, and it’s definitely opened up a lot of doors for me in terms of getting my name out there in the fitness community.  Entrepreneurship, unfortunately, threw a monkey wrench into things, and as a result, my article-writing prowess has suffered as of late.  So, when they asked me if I’d be willing to be one of their Featured Authors, I of course jumped at the opportunity.   You’ve already seen a few pieces HERE, HERE, and HERE, and you can expect even more in the near future.

 

  • Secondly, and something that I’m really excited about, is for another online site that is one of the most popular sites in the world (according to alexa.com, it’s ranked close to top 1,000!).  I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag just yet cause we’re still in the early stages, but needless to say I’m humbled that they would even think to ask me to be a part of their team.  More on this soon.

Basically, this year is turning into a really big year for me thus far.  With Cressey Performance growing, the new site growing, and my ego growing, I fully expect world domination by September.

The Bad News

As a precursor to what you’ll read more about below (OMG, I’m going to pee my pants!!!!!), the game plan was to nail a new deadlift PR of 585 lbs this past Thursday and use that as a decoy, or segue if you will.  Alas, I suck at life, and only got it like an inch off the ground.

In my own defense, though, it was one of those “hey, sounds like something fun to do” type of things and I didn’t necessarily train for it in any way.  If I had, hell, I might have gotten it two inches off the ground.

Nevertheless, since not hitting the lift ruined my thunder, I needed something in the pinch to pick up the slack.  So, I decided to do what any man in my situation would do when lacking a serious dose of manliness – and post the trailer of Over the Top instead:

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure Chuck Norris was conceived through the making of that trailer.

Okay, okay enough of the rambling….lets cut to the chase and get with the GREAT news already.

Hello Kelsey Doucette, in case you’re watching – which I know you are because I was informed you read my site daily.

I wanted to let you know that someone by the name of Stevo contacted me, whom you may know as your boyfriend.  He told me that the two of you hope to get married this Fall and would like to visit Cressey Performance for your Honeymoon.

However, I hear that the two of you aren’t engaged yet, which makes it difficult to fully plan a wedding and subsequent honeymoon.  So, Stevo told me that he didn’t think he’d have that great a chance of marrying you unless I was involved, as I’m uncannily witty and could also give you a run for your money in a “Lord of the Rings” trivia death match.

If you could please watch the following video, I would love to personally invite you to Cressey Performance for your honeymoon, pending your response to the video below:

UPDATE:  She said yes!!!!

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Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 3/25/11

T-minus FOUR days, 17 hours, 32 minutes, and 23 seconds and I’m outta here on a much needed vacation (but who’s counting).  My girlfriend and I are heading down to her homestate of Florida next week, where I plan on doing nothing but being horizontal (get your mind out of the gutter) and soaking up vasts amounts of vitamin D.

We’re going to be in Jensen Beach as a matter of fact; which, coincidentally, is the pineapple capital of the world!

It’s going to be glorious.  I’m contemplating possibly taking the entire week off from training – I honestly can’t remember the last time I did that, but seems how Lisa’s mom got us a week’s pass to the local gym, that’s highly unlikely.  I say I’m going to take time off, but then after like two days, I go through withdrawls and have to lift something heavy off the floor.  It’s like a tick.

Anyways, Ihave the ladies showing up for the women’s group in like fifteen minutes, so I’m just going to leave you this week with a few things to keep you from doing your work:

Success Tips from Cressey Perfomance – Jason Bonn

Jason is one of the team members of Precision Nutrition, and is also currently interning at CP.  Here, Jason sheds some light on his experience at CP and does an excellent job at helping people realize that it sometimes makes more sense to focus on the “common threads” in life.

What Women Should Never do (but often do) While Trying to Get In Shape – Juliet Deane

This was/is a fantasic article that pretty much lays the smack-down on every myth, fallacy, and idiocracy that saturates the fitness industry with regards to training women.  Huge props goes out to Juliet for writing such a thorough and well written article – and, this is only PART 1

13 Tips for Anyone Who Wants to Improve Performance and Look Better Naked Part I – Training – Molly Galbraith

And, not to be outdone, Molly (who rocks a 341 lb deadlift, with movie star good looks to boot) provides all sorts of sound, practical advice that can (and should) be followed by anyone – whether you have a boy part or girl part.

That’s it for this week!  Have a great weekend everyone.

CategoriesUncategorized

Deadlift Dissection

Q:  I dunno if this is something you’ve done before.  I figured since you piss excellence that you would be a good person to go to for a deadlift dissection.  I am currently in week 3 of phase 2 of Show and Go, and just pulled some sumo deadlift singles. It felt good; looks okay; I know there is always room for improvement.  Any suggestions, other than “eat more kale”?

A:  First off, well played on the kale reference!  For those not in the loop – THIS may help explain things.

Secondly, when puling with close to max effort weight, the rules almost always go out the window.  I don’t care who you are, if you’re able to keep impeccable form during a max effort lift, you’re not pulling nearly heavy enough.  That being said, your technique, while not remotely horrible, does warrant some comments.

  • You’re spending far too long setting up.  By my count, roughly twelve seconds passed from the time you grabbed the bar until you actually exerted effort and pulled.  You’re not doing long division here.  Get your air, grip the bar, and rip it!  There’s something to be said about utilizing the stretch shortening cycle (elastic energy of the muscles), and the longer you spend contemplating, the less likely you’ll be able to take advantage of it.
  • Although, in truth, I’m kinda in a similar boat as yourself.  I too tend to do that whole “hip bobbing” routine before I pull.  But, in your case, I think you’re taking a lot away from your lift by taking foooooooorever getting ready.  Speed it up a bit.  I’m willing to bet you’ll notice a vast improvement.
  • Moving forward, iF you pause the video at the 35- second mark, you notice almost immediately that your hips come up first.  It’s subtle, but it’s there.  When this happens, I Iike to tell people to try to get their ass into it more.  Meaning, stiffen up your upper back, really (and I mean REALLY) push your hips back and sit down into the stretch until you feel significant tension in your glutes/hammies.  From there, “press or push” yourself away from the floor through your heels.  Doing so will undoubtedly get the posterior chain (namely, your ass) involved more – which is what you want.
  • Lastly, I could be overly nitpicky here and say that you could get your hips through sooner, but I’d just be clutching at straws at this point.  All in all it was a fantastic pull, and I think 405 is right around the corner.

UPDATE:  Whoa whoa, whoa, and whoa – I just watched the video with the sound turned on and noticed a serious lack of Wu-Tang Clan or Godsmack playing in the background.  Listen, just like everyone else out there, I think JT is one talanted bastard.  But lets be clear:  He in no way should be playing over the stereo during a max effort lift.  Jesus, I think my sperm count just went down by 47%.  Come on man, lets get with the program here!