Anyone who’s read mine or Eric’s articles will know how much we preach the importance of training environment as it relates to success in the gym. Simply put, it’s kinda hard to get fired up for max effort bench when you’re surrounded by housewives waving around their pink dumbbells and Celine Dion is blaring over the radio. Too, I think it’s pretty much scientific fact that your testosterone levels drop 47.49875% every time you witness someone curling in the squat rack.

That said, we like to think that CP has become a place where like minded individuals can come together, lift heavy things off the ground, listen to a lot of “my mother never loved me” music, and make fun of Kevin Larrabee every time he gets stapled while attempting a 300 lb bench press. Likewise, we also recognize (and embrace) the overwhelming sense of camaraderie that develops amongst our athletes and clients. This has never been more apparent that this week, with the new Harry Potter movie coming out.

That’s Stanford University right-handed pitcher, Will Krasne performing a set of trap bar deadlifts with the Sorting Hat on. If you listen really close, you’ll hear him shout GRYFINNDOR on his last rep. Personally, I think Will’s more of a Hufflepuff- but I digress.

Not to be out done, here’s CP’s longest tenured client (and fellow Harry Potter fanatic) Steph H-B, performing overhead squats with her Nimbus 2000 broomstick.

As you can see, we take ourselves pretty seriously at CP. Just wait till The Hobbit comes out. I’m totally going to bust out my Gollum outfit. One ring to rule them all…….

Q: Long-time listener, first-time caller. You probably get a ton of emails, and I don’t want to take up too much of your time, so I’ll keep this short.

A few weeks ago, I suffered what the doctor called a moderate/severe high-ankle sprain playing basketball. He put me on crutches for weeks, and I’m in a walking boot/brace for at least another few weeks.

I read your article on training while injured, but it doesn’t seem to cover my case- a pretty severe injury that greatly limits my training options. I can’t do anything standing up (like squats and deads) and anything one-legged I can only do one side. Can you suggest a decent routine I can use until I can get back into my usual program? I don’t want to spend the next month doing just upper body if there’s something better for me to be doing.

(I’m 30, an intermediate lifter, with no other injuries).

I interrupt the scheduled knowledge bomb that’s going to follow to post a picture of Olivia Wilde:

Fun fact about Olivia Wilde- she eloped with her husband, who is an Italian prince, when she was 18. Pfffffft, whatever. That doesn’t impress me. Fun fact about Tony Gentilcore- eating at The Olive Garden is considered fine dining. Which is it ladies- being showered with extravagant jewelery and taken to exotic places all around the world, OR, all you can eat bread sticks? I think the choice is clear. SALAD BOWL!!!!!!!! Who says romance is dead?

A: Thanks for contacting me. I can definitely relate and know how frustrating it can be to not be able to train they way you’d like. The fact of the matter is, anyone who’s been training for any length of time will get hurt at some point. The question is: will you be the type of person who throws up the proverbial “white flag,” and spends the duration of your injury sitting at home watching The Price is Right and eating everything in sight? Or, are you the type of person who’s going to put away the Vagisil, and find a way to make lemonade out of lemons? Unfortunately, most people would fall into the former category- and I applaud you for not being so lame.

A few thoughts:

1. Stop wearing high top shoes and/or Nice Shox and/or whatever it is that you’re wearing on a daily basis that’s limiting your gross ankle mobility. Providing “false” stability to a joint that normally wants to be mobile, is a recipe for disaster. In this case, said disaster is a high ankle sprain. Coincidentally, high ankle sprains were pretty much non-existent 20-25 years ago. Today, it seems you can’t go one week without hearing some story on SportsCenter about an NBA or college player going down with a high ankle sprain.

Conversely, look at soccer players. Very rarely do you see high ankle sprains in that athletic population despite the fact they don’t tape their ankles or wear “supportive” shoes. If you can, try to get some Nike Frees to wear for general purposes, and train barefoot as often as possible. Seriously, every time someone wears Nike Shox, God kills a baby seal. True story.

2. We’ve had quite a few athletes come to us with a similar situation such as yourself, and while you’re likely just going to have to accept the fact that you’re injured, and your training options are limited for the next few weeks- it’s certainly not the end of the world. Too, it’s a safe bet that you’ll still be able to elicit a training effect.

Lower Body Stuff

Obviously you won’t be able to squat with a boot on your ankle. Ironically, we had an athlete come to us a few weeks ago wearing an ankle boot who’s therapist told him he could squat. Lets think about this for a second: he’s wearing a boot that will undoubtedly limit his dorsiflexion in that joint. Given the fact that the ankle needs approximately 15-20 degrees of dorsiflexion to squat- that doesn’t make a lot of sense. In fact, it’s downright stupid. I guess they don’t teach that there book learnin in some therapy schools.

That said, I think you “may” be able to perform rack pulls for the time being. Granted you do have to stand, but there won’t be a lot of dorsiflexion involved, and it will be a great way to still train your posterior chain during this time. Of course this is going to be contingent on your comfort level. Other options: pull throughs, reverse hypers (body-weight only), 45 degree back extension, etc.

As well- you noted that you have one good leg. Train it! There’s actually quite a bit of research showing that training the healthy limb will carry over to the injured limb- helping to improve recovery. As such, exercises such as one-legged squats and/or band assisted pistol squats would bode in your favor.

Upper Body Stuff:

Have at it. Pulverize the pecs, blast the biceps, whatever. You name it, go for it. If your chin-ups suck, take this time to really hammer away at those. You stink at push-ups? All the more reason to include more push-ups into your routine. Heck, take this time to get your bench numbers up. Again, make lemonade out of lemons. Moreover, I’ve never come across an athlete/client who didn’t need to work on their core stability/strength. The point is, you still have a lot of options and you can undoubtedly maintain a training effect during this time.

Good luck and keep me posted!

I’m not going to lie, we’ve had a miserable summer up here in New England. I think there were three days in all of June where it wasn’t cloudy and/or didn’t rain. Similarly, July hasn’t been that much better- although this past weekend we had two straight days of sun. Woo hoo! Needless to say, it’s a beautiful day outside, I’m as white as a ghost, and I’m sitting here in front of my laptop writing a blog post. Read: this one will be quick.

1. Julianne Hough, of Dancing With the Stars fame (no I don’t watch it- okay maybe once) is apparently releasing a workout video where she does and entire workout in high heeled shoes. GWLLLLWPEHGHFSSFDSGOAHSAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Sorry, that was just me swallowing my tongue.

Seriously, watch the video and tell me you don’t want to cringe. $20 says she’ll have the back of a 50 year old by the time she’s 30.

2. I’m starting to become a big fan of including more supplemental (body-weight) lifts in during the week. Specifically, these lifts are added in to help promote blood flow as well as force people to work on movement patterns that they typically ignore. On an aside, they’re also a superb for improving one’s conditioning levels, as displayed by my shirt the other day.

3. Whenever I go into a commercial gym, it’s really hard for me to turn the coach in me off. I’m constantly observing people and what they’re doing. And, as you might expect, I’m constantly resisting the urge to walk up to people and offer tips and/or pointers. I mean, I spend eight to ten hours a day coaching people at CP- I’m programmed to coach. That said, I’ve somehow learned to filter out the stupid when I train at commercial gyms, and just mind my own business. Besides, no one wants to be bothered while they’re training (I know I don’t)-especially by some complete stranger with Wu-Tang blaring out of his iPod.

Be that as it may, yesterday I saw some dude squatting with a decent amount of weight on the bar (to depth no less!). Moreover, a few minutes later I saw the same guy doing Pallof Presses– and I just about shit myself. I literally wanted to go over to him and give him a high five for being awesome. We made eye contact (no homo), and ended up chatting for a bit. Come to find out he’s interning over at Mike Boyle’s place for the summer, and has been planning on coming out to CP one of these weekends to observe. Small world.

4. I wanted to give a quick shout out to CP client Chris Perry who while over in France, sent us a picture of himself wearing his CP shirt next to Jim Morrison’s grave site. This just goes to show that CP is taking over the world. More importantly, I can now check that one off the Places People Need to Take a Picture of Themselves Wearing a CP Shirt list. Still have a few more to go though- namely:

• The Space Station
• Next to Biggie’s gravesite
• Inside a live volcano (how badass would that be?)
• Cybertron
• Castle Greyskull
• Kate Beckinsale’s front yard. Or poolside, doesn’t matter.

Get it done people!

5. The new Harry Potter movie opens in three days. Just sayin…..

During my down times at CP, I can be found doing one of several things:

1. Writing programs

2. Eating and/or thinking about dead furry animals

3. Walking around the facility re-enacting the “I will find you, and I will kill you” monologue from Taken.

4. Seeing how long I can go playing techno over the stereo before Eric (or worse, Michelle) give me the look of death. And just for the record, I’m slowly converting more and more people to the awesomeness of Tiesto, Louie DeVito, David Waxman, etc.

Don’t act like you weren’t just bobbing your head when the beat kicked in. Bleep bloop bleep bleep bloop blipp. That’s called music people. JAZZ HANDS!!!!!!!

5. Conjuring up new exercises to try with my clients, which they’ll inevitably hate me for. My latest, and admittedly not that exciting creation- the Barbell Roll-Out w/Push-Up.

Lately I’ve been a big fan of combining exercises- albeit, I still like to keep things simple. Which is to say, I don’t find much value in trying to make things more complicated than they have to be. Sure you want to challenge your athletes/clients with new (and fun) exercises that will elicit a training effect; however you also need to have a “trainer filter” and recognize that most trainees don’t need fancy set-ups and gadgets. I mean, lets be honest- how many times have you walked into a commercial gym and witnessed someone squatting, and thought to yourself, “wow, that’s a really good lookin squat?” For most, I’m willing to bet it’s less than five.

Suffice it to say, I think if more trainees spent time nailing down the basics (squats, deadlifts, chin-ups, push-ups, etc), rather than making asses out of themselves trying to perform a push-press on a BOSU ball, they’d be surprised at the results.

End Rant

That said, back to the point of this post. As I stated earlier, I do like combining exercises- particularly with my fat loss clients.

What Is It: Barbell Roll-Outs w/Push-Up

Who Did I Steal It From: I have no idea, I’m sure someone thought of this one before me. But who cares- hot girls squatting are hot. I’m re-posting that picture again because I can:

What Does It Do: I love roll-out variations for two reasons, 1. trains core stability in an anterior/posterior fashion, and 2. resists trunk extension, as Mike Robertson noted in a recent newsletter. Additionally, by including the push-up, you’re also getting a great closed-chain movement for scapular health, as well as proprioceptive feedback in the shoulder joint due to the slight instability involved.

Key Coaching Cues: Because roll-outs force you to engage the “core” musculature in an anterior/posterior fashion, you know you’re doing it wrong if the hips tend to sag down as you descent towards the floor. Similarly, the hips shouldn’t “hike” up in the air either. You want to try to maintain as much of a neutral spine as possible throughout the duration of the movement. Keeping the abs tight (brace) and firing the glutes will help in this regard.

Additionally, during the push-up portion, you want to keep the elbows tucked in, and “pull” yourself down to the bar, touching your chest with each repetition. I like to do this for 3-4 sets of 8-10 reps, but you could also do this for time if you’re really mean.

In light of the fact that no one is at work today reading this blog, I’m going to keep this one short, and just wish everyone a happy 4th! I’m actually hanging with my business partner and girlfriend (three cheers for the third wheel) this weekend, at her family’s lake house in New Hampshire.

Itinerary includes:

1. Eating copious amounts of dead animal flesh

2. Not training

It’s going to be glorious.

See you next week!

The title speaks for itself. It sounds so much better than just saying “Women’s Training Group” doesn’t it? And lets be honest, we all know I get a sense of gratification anytime I can poke fun at Botox McMakeShitUp Tracy Anderson. Nevertheless, I’d like to take this opportunity to let everyone know about a new training group at Cressey Performance.

What Is It: CP Women’s Training Group.

Program Details:

• Individualized programming provided following a brief evaluation to ascertain specific training needs.

• Two training sessions per week (~75 minutes) with an emphasis on injury prevention, fat-loss, weight management, strength training, improving overall fitness levels, and debunking every fitness myth that Oprah blabbers on about- such as lifting appreciable weight will make you big-n-bulky, eating past 6 PM will make you fat, light weights “tone” muscle, and why in the hell is the Queen of yo-yo dieting an authority on diet and fitness in the first place?

Moreover, just as an FYI, the following topics are strictly forbidden from being discussed during any given training session:

The Guiding Light, Gwenyth Paltrow, John Stamos’ hair, The Breakfast Club, McDreamy, Brad Pitt’s abs in Fight Club, The Jonas Brothers (accept Nick), the ending to PS, I Love You (I still get choked up), 100 calorie snack packs, and last but not least, Kate Gosselin (AKA: Hitler’s Ghost incarnate).

Essentially I want to make this as much of a learning experience as possible. Unfortunately, many women have been programmed to believe that they’re these delicate creatures who shouldn’t lift weights, and are doomed to endless hours on the treadmill (or worse, endless hours of yoga/pilates) in order to get results.

Obviously (well it should be obvious), this couldn’t be further from the truth. As such, I’ve made it my personal mission to make this the most well-informed, albeit fun, training environment for women in the Metro-West area. Which is to say, I’m willing to compromise and blast as much Justin Timberlake, or I don’t know, ABBA as you’d like while we train. It’s a win-win.

If you’re still skeptical, just listen to some current female clients of CP:

“I have trained with the CP team for almost two years now, and I can honestly say they are my favorite people to be around and train with. They are all well educated in their fields of training, diet, and nutrition. I travel over 45 minutes to Hudson to every Saturday to get my dose of informed training, humor, and camaraderie. It’s a bit of a drive for me, but I do it because these guys are special. I have never regretted the day I walked into CP and started lifting. I would encourage any women out there, at any age, to do the same.”

Deb DiRocco, 50- Reading, MA

“When I began training at Cressey Performance my ultimate goal to was to “fit into my jeans.” A year and a half later I have not only surpassed my goal, but have also discovered a newfound appreciation for weight training. The staff at CP are always positive, energetic, and patient with every one of their clients (take my word for it!). “

Michelle Elwell, 32-Cambridge, MA

For more information, contact Pete at 978-212-2688, or e-mail at [email protected]

if you’ve been reading my blog for any length time, you’ll know that there are a few on-going “themes” or ideas that I tend to address:

1. Hot girls are hot

2. Leg curls suck (sorry, you will never convince me otherwise)

3. Kim Kardashian’s badonkadonk should have its’ own zip code.

4. People have a hard time stepping outside their comfort zones

While you can look at any given aspect of our lives and apply the last point; perhaps there is no other place that we fail to step outside our comfort zones than in the gym. I mean, you can walk into any fitness club in America and find the same people doing the same routine day in and day out. Similarly, how many people do you know who perform 500 sit-ups per day, yet still don’t have a six pack? Or what about the guy who does leg extensions instead of squats and wonders why his legs haven’t grown? Better yet, how many women do you know who take three yoga classes per week, and are still dumbfounded why they haven’t lost any weight?

What’s more, I’m always getting e-mails from people asking any number of questions pertaining to strength training, program design, supplements, nutrition, etc. Not too long ago, I received an e-mail from this guy who explained to me how he just wasn’t getting stronger, and asked me if I had any advice. I replied back with an e-mail with a few follow-up questions, one of them being “What does your weekly split look like?” He replied back with this long e-mail on how he would like to increase his pulling strength and broke down all these set/rep schemes, and then dropped the bomb: Day 1: chest/back, Day 2: legs/abs,accessory work like serratus/SITS, Day 3 or 4: Shoulders, arms.

After pouring battery acid into my eyes, I responded back with one sentence: “stop doing body part splits.” Haven’t heard back from him yet. But I’m hoping I had some sort of influence.

Another example:

JackedGunz22: “Yo Tony, love the blog. I recently read something you wrote about single leg work and how important it is for overall strength. Thing is, I suck at them and don’t know how to get better. Any suggestions?”

Me: How is not doing single leg work going to help you get better at them? Here’s a novel idea: make it a point to implement some form of single leg work in every training session. The only way you’re going to not suck at them, is by doing them.

As human beings we tend to be creatures of habit, and as such, always revert back to what’s familiar and/or easy. I’m certainly no exception to the rule. For years I’ve avoided the Olympic lifts like the plague. Not because I have anything against them or don’t believe in their efficacy; rather, I’m just not used to them. In other words, I suck.

I’ve been reading Dan John’s new book Never Let Go, and while there are an infinite number of knowledge bombs contained in it, one of the main points I have picked up thus far is: “if it’s important, do it every day.” As such, I’ve made it a priority to include more overhead squats into my daily warm-up (with nothing but a PVC pipe). Likewise, I’ve also started to incorporate a specific day towards nothing but working on some variation of the olympic lifts. Last weekend, I took a simple workout suggested in Dan’s book and did the following:

Clean snatches 3×8, 60 seconds rest

Whip snatches, 3×8, 60 seconds rest

I only used 65 lbs (don’t laugh), and to be honest, my traps haven’t been that sore in a looooooong time.

The point of all this? Step outside your comfort zone. Whether it’s ditching the body part splits and following more of a full-body routine focusing on the compound lifts, making it a point to work on your weakness (every day), or I don’t know, taking some intiative and cleaning the dishes in the sink to appease your girlfriend- I think you’ll be surprised at the results.