You see there’s a bit of a conundrum if you’re someone who’s an inexperienced lifter.
You have one of two choices:
1. Join your local big box Globo Gym and get lost in the vast abyss of exercise machines and classes that you have no idea does what. Oh, look, that thingamajig that works the whatchamacallit.
2. Join your local CrossFit box and and play Russian roulette as to whether or not you’ll be able lift your arms over head or feel the right side of your face after two weeks.
Going the commercial gym route runs the risk of feeling like nothing but a number and you’re kinda on your own to figure things out.
CrossFit is unparalleled for the camaraderie and community component, but for beginners is often (not always) a bit intimidating, not to mention advanced for someone who’s not familiar with the barbells lifts or eating coconut oil out of the can.
NOTE: Both scenarios are slight over-generalizations, but not too far off from the truth.1
There’s very little out there dedicated to the beginner lifter who IS interested in strength training, but finds many of the options available to him or her either too little or too much. I’d like to fix that.
COREssentials
Your 6-week introduction to everything bodacious and badass.
The Deets
1. The course will be six weeks, meeting 2x per week in a group setting at CORE (~2-4 people per class), where the objective is to learn and hammer the basics, enhance movement quality, instill a sense of accountability and intent with training, and set the framework to make you more autonomous.
Address: 250 Cypress St. Brookline, MA.
The main coach will be Jarrod Dyke, however I will be involved with programming and cameo coaching appearances.2
2. There will also be a nutrition and mindset component, where every other weekend the idea is to sit in on presentations and have questions answered from a Registered Dietician as well as an Exercise/Behavior Change Psychologist.
Shannon Wheel, RD, CPT will take the reigns on the nutrition side of things.
My wife, Dr. Lisa Lewis, will take the reigns on the mindset front.
3. It will serve as a wonderful opportunity to surround yourself with like-minded people and become a part of a community who’s sole purpose is to help increase your general level of badassery (and to not hip-hinge like a jack-ass).
4. Only 12 spots will be made available to start. And I’m not saying this to suggest a false sense of urgency or as a way to lure people in. I’m not kidding, only 12 spots will be made available.
5. Attendance subject to spontaneous rap battles.
The idea is to start around January 15, 2017. If you’re interested, please send me an email via the “Contact” tab (HERE) and I’ll put you on a list to get further information.
Okay, which one of you nerds went to go see Rogue One last night? Without giving away any spoilers, on a scale of 1-10 (1 = being forced to give Jabba the Hut a sponge bath and 10 = owning your own X-Wing), how good was it?
Lisa and I are set to see it Christmas Eve and I can’t wait. And since I haven’t see it (yet) there’s no point in dilli-dalli’ing around: lets get to this week’s stuff to read.
Some of you may recall me mentioning a 6-week program I was going to run out of my studio, CORE, this past fall. Long story short: I mentioned it and then asked people to contact me via email if they were interested.
Little did I know that my Contact Me function on my website was being an asshole at the time and it never relayed any of the messages people had sent. I figured no one liked me and that I should just pack up and move to Milwaukee. Because, you know, why not?
Fast forward a few weeks and I suddenly had an epiphany and realized there must have been a glitch. I went into my dashboard on WordPress and low & behold I had 150 or so unanswered emails that had been sent my way that I never responded to. 10-15 of them were from people asking about the 6-week program. FML
Oh, before I forget, I need to answer a few here:
Yes, Matt Damon, we can hang out.
I’d love to have you sponsor the website Audi. You can send the car over next week.
Infraspinatus.
Preheat oven at 425 degrees. Let settle for 20 minutes. Enjoy.
Okay, thanks for waiting. So, back to this 6-week program.
COREssentials
I’m going to be starting a new 6-week “beginner course” at CORE starting in mid-January of 2017.
The idea is to champion FOUR things:
1. Building Autonomy
2. Building Accountability
3. Building Competency
4. Building Community
5. BONUS: to build you into one sexy motherfucker.
Okay, that’s five things…but hopefully you get the idea. The program is going to target beginner levellifters who may either be lost in their training – just kind of haphazardly piecing together workouts with no rhyme or reason – or who may be intimidated altogether. The goal is to build all of the above in addition to focus and purpose with training.
The Deets
START DATE: Mid-January, 2017. Likely Monday, January 16th.
1. Groups will meet 2x per week at CORE (250 Cypress St, Brookline, MA) in predetermined AM and PM time slots.
2. Sessions will be 60-75 minutes in length and each one will be supervised by strength coach Jarrod Dyke (I’ll being making cameo appearances as well and will be involved with the programming). The course will stress the basics – teaching participants various bodyweight, kettlebell, and (sometimes) barbell based movements designed to set the stage for continued success and growth (you know, that autonomy thing mentioned above).
3. There will also be a nutrition/mindset component as well. Shannon Wheel, a Boston-based Registered Dietitian, will be holding a few sessions throughout the course of 6-weeks covering nutrition as well as helping participants develop behavioral-based habits to compliment the training.
Too, my wife, Dr. Lisa Lewis, a behavioral and exercise psychologist, will be offering a mindset component designed to augment the process. She’ll tackle what goes on in our heads, and how to best curtail the roadblocks and negative self-talk that often hampers progress.
4. Weekly “homework/reading” assignments will be part of the process, along with email correspondence from the coaches to help keep participants on task.
5. There will also be a lot of EDM and 90’s hip-hop played (if I’m coaching anyways), and the likelihood of spontaneous dance or rap battles breaking out will be very high.
If you’d like more information for you or someone who may know in Boston who may be a good candidate for this program please use the “Contact” function HERE. <— It works this time.
Was cool to be asked by Mike to contribute to this piece. Lots of very smart coaches detailing how they’re always still learning and trying to get better.
Been making my way through this product this week and it’s not surprising that I love it. Chris and Todd are two coaches I respect a ton and whom you should be listening to (if you aren’t already). There’s a reason why many coaches turn to THEM to make them better coaches.
Learn what it takes to become more efficient with writing effective training programs. Sale price ends this weekend. Go!
Social Media Highlights
Twitter
Assessment demonstrates dysfunction, sure, but the REAL power is showcasing what people CAN do and showing them success with training.
Admittedly today’s Exercise You Should Be Doing won’t win a “sexiness” award like, say, pretty much any deadlift variation would, or maybe a pistol squat3, or pillow-fighting. Truth be told it’s a relatively unexciting, mundane looking exercise, but whoa Nelly! does it humble even the meatiest of meatheads.
Don’t knock it: pillow fighting is an excellent way to address core stability, primitive patterns, appropriate scapular upward rotation, basic combat skills, (and every teenage boy’s fantasy).
Okay, in all seriousness…lets get to today’s exercise
Prone (Val Slide) Hip Flexion-Extension
Who Did I Steal It From: this exercise has its roots in many arenas, but the person I need to give the most credit to is strength coach Dan Hechler. I saw him use this exercise with a client of his a few weeks ago and really liked it.
UPDATE: Dan actually refers to this exercise as a glorified Mt. Climber. I need to figure out a catchy name for this one other than the one I gave it. I’m so lame.
Sliding Mt. Climber?
Mt. Climber McSuckington?
I don’t know, I’m lame.
What Does It Do: It’s challenging to pin-point what, exactly, I like most about this exercise. Of course most long-time readers know I’m a huge fan of push-ups. Yeah, yeah there’s that whole broken record diatribe on improving lumbo-pelvic-hip control and how I feel that’s one of the main advantages.
It still is.
However, what I also love about push-ups is their ability to allow people to reach. Meaning, pushing into the ground (reaching) to promote 1) better scapular movement and 2) more of a canister position so that the diaphragm and pelvic floor are more in line with one another. Promoting a position of alignment/stability is almost always going to allow people to express better movement and strength.
As you can see, we’re not performing a standard push-up with this exercise. Instead, there are a few other components at work.
1. We’re adding hip flexion-extension. The idea here is to work both hip flexion and extension simultaneously so that we can learn to dissociate hip movement from lumbar movement.
2. We’re adding in a full EXHALE. As a bring one leg into hip flexion I’m pushing/reaching into the floor as best I can while also performing a full exhale (which will help to maintain the canister position mentioned above).
Key Coaching Cues: Some cues I gave away above. Assume a strict push-up position with both feet on a pair of Val Slides or standard furniture gliders or even a slideboard. There should be no excessive forward head posture or lumbar extension (hips sagging). Inhale and as you bring one knee towards your chest, push into the ground with your hands and slowly exhale. The idea is to maintain a strict torso position and to limit any lumbar movement. Return back to starting position, again, controlled, and repeat.
I like to perform 3-4 reps per side.
This would be a fantastic progression for those clients with chronic low-back issues once they have conquered the plank. But I also like to use it with my “healthy” clients too as a way to make them hate life for a few seconds.
Today’s guest post comes courtesy of one of my favorite people in this world, Todd Bumgardner. Todd’s a straight-shooter (if you couldn’t tell from the title of this post) and a coach I respect a ton. He and Chris Merritt started The Strength Faction not too long and the premise is simple: it’s strength coaching for strength coaches.
As coaches we tend to put the health and well-being of our clients before our own. However, The Strength Faction helps to bring levity to the situation by fostering a unique environment where a support network is put in place coaches get coached by other coaches.
Basically, you’re amongst your people.
I’ve personally been involved with the Faction myself – I’ve been invited twice to speak and perform a Q&A with the group in an online forum – and it’s been wonderful to see its growth and how it’s helped a litany of coaches improve their assessment, program design, and coaching skills.
Todd and Chris just released their new resource The Strength Faction Super-Simple Guide to Writing Kick-Ass Training Programs so you could get a taste and closer look for the systems they’ve developed over the course of 10+ years in the industry which have allowed them to get to the point of writing hundreds of (individualized) programs monthly in an efficient manner without ever sacrificing quality.
I know every coach hits a boiling point where writing programs becomes a major chore and time-consuming endeavor. Wouldn’t it be great to learn a system to better streamline the process, make it less task-intensive, while at the same time allowing you to do what it is you do best?…coach.
Wouldn’t that be something?
How to Make Your Clients Super Fucking Strong (While Also Keeping Them Healthy)
Something crazy began to happen at the end of the last decade—getting strong was dubbed cool. And, as we approach the end of 2016, the coolness has gained popularity. Clients are approaching their coaches with objective, measurable strength goals instead of the traditional, I wanna lose fat from right here (points to body part), ambiguity.
Sure, we still get the body comp goals—as we should—and there are still a plethora of odd requests, but it sure is rad that people want to sling iron and kick ass.
In the spirit of helping other folks help other folks to hoist and reap the benefits, here are some tips to help you write training programs that kick ass, and make people fucking strong, while also keeping them in one piece.
Lower the Strength Volume
Holy simmering cat shit! We’re talking about strength and the first thing I’m telling you to do is keep the strength volume down? Yeah, baby, I am.
It doesn’t take grandiose training volume to make people strong—in fact many times we over do it in the name of strength volume while mistakenly sacrificing other qualities. I know because I made that mistake for years—hitting my own training ceilings far too quickly while also creating same, low plateau points for my clients. Reality is most normal folks don’t need a great deal of strength volume to get stronger.
On a three-day, concurrent training program, two strength-focused lifts, with eight to twenty-four total reps for each, are usually plenty. (I say usually because there are sometimes extenuating circumstances.) Precede the strength work with core and mobility work, and follow it with some energy systems development and you’ve given a lady or gent plenty of stimulus for strength, health, and positive change.
Use Concurrent Splits
While they may not have the same sexy appeal as advanced techniques like German Volume Training, or High-Frequency Strength splits, concurrent splits are the way to go when programming for general pop clients. Sure, super-specific training blocks may get our folks faster results, but their narrow focus doesn’t do our folks any favors in the long run.
Concurrent programming is more reflective of real life and helps folks accommodate stressors because none are toweringly more intense than the others. Making it more sustainable than block periodization. We can accentuate some qualities slightly more than others during training phases—and I bid everyone to do so—but maintaining all qualities throughout the training year does best to make our folks strong while also keeping them healthy.
During one phase per year, get a little strength heavy. During another bump up the conditioning volume and sacrifice the other variables. Use one training phase to include more load-free movement. But all the while train all of the qualities.
Educate Clients on Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE)
A lot of folks don’t have a good concept of how hard they’re working—and they’re often not sure how hard they should be working. RPE solves that problem.
The common interjection is, what about percentage based training? Well, percentage-based training hinges on a one-day snapshot of a person’s nervous system that is extrapolated to the entirety of their monthly program. That dog just won’t hunt. RPE gives the client, and the coach, the ability to auto-regulate programs on the daily to match current training status, feeling like a bag of smashed assholes, etc.
Have that smashed asshole feeling? That’s great, back the RPE down today, champ.
RPE is also more educating—it gives folks the opportunity to ascribe a number to their subjective feeling. But what if they aren’t in tune with how hard they’re really working? We have to give them something a little challenging for them to sharpen their perception. When we push them to that point, we draw attention to it so that they can comprehend and internalize that feeling so that future training efforts have context.
At our Strength Faction-sponsored gyms (BSP NOVA in Dulles, VA and Rebell Strength and Conditioning in Chicago), as well as with our Strength Faction members, we use a simple RPE system that we borrowed from powerlifting coach Mike Tuchscherer. Here it is:
@10: Maximal Effort. No reps left in the tank.
@9: Heavy Effort. Could have done one more rep.
@8: Could have done two or three more reps.
@7: Bar speed is “snappy” if maximal force is applied.
@6: Bar speed is “snappy” with moderate effort.
Most of our work is done in the @7 to @9 range, with most of the strength sets done around @8 and assistance training @7.
Progressions, Regressions, and the Best Positions Possible
Our first job as coaches is to use our best judgment to put a person in the best possible position to be successful. It’s our coaching motto at BSP NOVA, and it would a great oath if fitness coaches were sworn in as doctors and lawyers are. The best position possible is an ideal that encompasses programming variables, exercise selection, and coaching’s psychological positioning.
Let’s think in terms of exercise selection. Our job is to choose exercises that put people in the best position to display their strength. For many folks the strength is in there, they’ve simply never been put in the right position to demonstrate it. That’s why progression/regression systems are so important—and why the 4×4 matrix is such a useful tool in constructing them.
Courtesy of Dr. Greg Rose
The body must feel safe and stable in order to generate force. If it feels neither, it employs a heavy governor that seriously limits nervous system output. So, if we ask someone to generate force from a position that they don’t “own” we’re doing them a disservice—there’s no way that they can optimally demonstrate their ability. People are often stronger than they realize—they just have to be put in the right positions to display their strength.
How about a hypothetical? Let’s use the deadlift/hip hinge as an example.
You program deadlifting for a client only to find out that they can’t dissociate their hips from their spine and round the ever-living bejesus out of their spine just to grab the bar. So, you decide to cut the range and elevate the bar. Rack pulls are the answer! But you try rack pulls only to find a similar, yet less offensive, problem. So you’re like, ‘goddamn, what do I do now?’
Well, you realize that gravity and load each pose a threat to the nervous system, so you decide to reduce the effect of both—you put your client on their knees and have them perform a handcuffed hip hinge (they hold a kettlebell behind their back and hinge their butt into it). Voila! They’re successful.
Note from TG: Here’s a great video of the standing handcuffed hip hinge by CSP coach Tony Bonvechio
They’re able to hinge well—moving at the hips while maintaining a relatively still spine. You’ve found the move that allows them to demonstrate their strength. Will they keep this move forever? Hell no. But at this point in time it’s the best place for them to be—for them to learn how to strongly move. And with time, and your coaching, they’ll progress to a more challenging hinge that suits their frame.
This is drastic case, but it’s a useful illustration. Progression/regression systems give us a simple, efficient means to put people in the best positions to train safely and develop strength.
Coach Toward Mastery
I take every chance I get to quote Dan John. He’s a good man.
I hope throughout my life I can give the world a quarter of the value that he has. He makes the profound simple and never comes from a place of superiority—he only wishes to share his experience. As our first guest on the Strength Faction QnA, he did just that.
He told us a story about a client that he was working with whose results were diminishing. When they had a conversation about the problems, the client said to Dan that it seemed as though he was getting bored when he wrote his programs. He was making too many changes. The client remembered that when he was making the best progress, Dan was keeping things simple, not doing anything fancy. He was making the minor changes that need to be made to challenge the body without the façade of circus tricks.
Dan quickly righted the ship and got his client back on the bath to mastery. After telling the story Dan impressed upon us the importance of coaching toward mastery—of not getting bored as the coach. In fact, he said, “Don’t YOU get bored.”
If we want to make our people strong, we need to make them good at lifting. Rather than a constant rotation of exercises parading through their programs, keep the productive staples and figure out how to load them in novel ways. As your clients grow in skill, they’ll grow in strength.
Make People Fucking Strong
This advice is, of course, not all encompassing. It’s the best I could do with 1,500 words. But if you heed this advice, and use it to frame your programming mindset, you’ll be on the right track toward making your people super fucking strong.
Super-Simple Guide to Writing Kick-Ass Training Programs is available now. Check it.
Only seven more days until Rogue One opens. I’m not excited at all. Nope, not me. No excitement here.
I do have to admit something, though, and it’s not going to win me any nerd cred. In fact, I may lose some.
I’m not going to go see it opening weekend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ytCEuuW2_A
I know, I know…how can I call myself an avid Star Wars fan and not go see it opening weekend? What kind of nerd am I? What’s next? Saying The Hobbit trilogy is better than LoTR? That Pluto is, in fact, a planet? Or that I never thought about how could Superman possibly have sex with Lois Lane and not, you know, kill her?4
Here’s the deal: last year when The Force Awakens came out my wife and I practiced a degree of delayed gratification and held off seeing it until Christmas Eve. We treated it as an early Xmas gift to one another and then followed suit with an all-you-can-eat steak dinner at Fogo de Chao.
When you think about it that’s a pretty stellar evening, right? So when we knew Rogue One was coming out around the same time this year we decided it would be nice to repeat it. Because nothing says “Merry Christmas” more than X-Wing vs. AT-ACT Walker battles.
TODAY (12/9) is the last day to save $100 off this awesome product. There’s very little resources out there dedicated solely to developing the (complete) female athlete. Adam Feit and Bobby Smith (along with Mary Kate Feit and Dr. Sharon Wentworth) really do a superb job at breaking down everything from assessments and ACL prevention to developing linear/lateral speed to jump training to strength to power to E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G
It’s professionally filmed and there are also CEUs available to help add a little more value. But honestly, the resource itself is MORE than enough. You’d be crazy not to take advantage of this if you’re a coach who works with female athletes.
Lisa and I saw this last weekend and loved it. It’s heartbreaking, but the sprinkling of comedic relief (mostly via interactions between Casey Affleck’s character and his nephew) provide for a well-rounded experience. This is definitely in my top-5 so far this year, and I don’t really see it being nudged out in any way.
If you get the opportunity to see it, I’d highly recommend it.
And now, lets get to this week’s list of stuff to read.
This is a little bit of an older post (from this past June), but I came across it this past week and have been impressed with Julie’s work. I can appreciate her sense of humor and writing style.
Her info is spot on, but what’s even more impressive is her art-work. It’s amazing. The cool thing? If you join her newsletter you can get access to all of her prints. I’m going to print them all out, frame them, and put them up in my gym.
This was a very thorough breakdown of what can be an awkward or dicey situation for some trainers and coaches out there.
Note to my clients: the answer is yes. Yes, trainers should receive gifts. Especially in the form of beef jerky and/or all expenses paid trips to where ever….;o)
A few weeks ago I interviewed Pat Davidson during the re-release of his stellar training system, MASS. It’s one of the most effective (and brutal) training programs out there that makes people into beasts, and I have yet to come across anyone who hasn’t gotten amazing results if they happened to survive…;O)
Pat’s kinda intense. But also one of the smartest and most well-read coaches out there. When I asked him to do an interview originally I had an inkling he was going to go off, but had no idea he was going to go off as much as he did.
His interview included one of the best rants ever. It was also one of the most read interviews ever on this site. What can I say: people love rants. You can check it out HERE.
I wasn’t able to squeeze all of what Pat had to say into one piece, so I decided to omit a section to keep in my back pocket for a later date.5
Enjoy!
TG: If people couldn’t tell already, you’re a straight shooter, so I’m gonna ask your thoughts on 1) CrossFit, 2) Overtraining (is it a thing?), 3) People who claim “cardio” is a waste of time, and 4) the movie Creed.
CrossFit
PD: Oh fuck me, you brought up the C word. CrossFit is everything and it is nothing. It’s smart and completely moronic. It’s a testing ground and it’s wasting our time because some things are already known. It’s impressive and it’s a disgrace. It’s a bunch of athletes on drugs who don’t like to address that issue. It’s the best community creating concept that the world of fitness has ever seen. It’s amorphous and evolving constantly.
CrossFit is cool and actually does change people’s bodies because people work hard. CrossFit injures the shit out of people. CrossFit is the most brilliant business cult of all time. CrossFitters are comic and tragic figures who try to pretend that they’re somehow different from all others who exercise.
Elite CrossFitters are unbelievably impressive…fucking freaks…can’t even imagine being able to do what they can do. CrossFit is a great outlet for competitive athletes, military personnel, and other people accustomed to using their body extensively when they transition into regular American society.
CrossFit is a terrible idea for competitive athletes to use as their offseason training regime. Some CrossFit workouts are incredibly challenging, satisfying, and artistically put together…I love the Murph Workout.
CrossFit gyms are loaded up with people who definitely lie about how many reps they did, use shitty technique, go through minimal range of motion when they can get away with it, just so they can post a time that looks incredible. CrossFit has managed to convince the women who do it that it’s okay to lift heavy…for that they should get the Nobel Prize of something or other.
CrossFit has also created a culture where the women show up to workout in high socks, booty shorts, and sports bras…thank you CrossFit, high fucking five for that one.
Fuck you for bringing up CrossFit. It’s impossible to answer that question.
TG: Quite possibly the second most epic rant on this site of all-time. 2 for 2 Pat. Well done!
Overtraining
Overtraining is a thing for sure. You can have the best biomechanics, lifestyle, nutrition, and genetics, etc and you can still train yourself into the ground. Most people will bury themselves more with lifestyle, sleep, stress, and shitty food compared to excess mechanical work though.
The best way to become overtrained is to drastically alter your current physical activity levels. The guy who I still base more of my training on than anyone else is Charlie Francis through his writing.
That was a huge thing he emphasized, was not switching anything up too drastically at any point in time. Novelty and drastic volume changes are incredibly disruptive to the organism. You need smooth transitions between blocks that are almost completely imperceptible to the athlete. This is where I think people jack themselves up.
You need to be on a smart long-term program, and that program needs to be consistent, and use things like progressive overload and other shit that makes sense and has been around forever. The closest thing we can say overtraining probably is, is a chronically elevated glucocorticoid level in the athlete, which is indicative of excess stress.
Read Sapolsky for all the reasons why this might happen, but unpredictability is enormous for that. People need rhythms in their life. People are capable of handling enormous volumes of exercise, but they need to build up to it gradually, it needs to have become habitual in the life, and it needs to be fairly regular and predictable.
Cardio
People who don’t like cardio are usually fat lifters or psychotic aesthetic athletes. In both cases they’re stupid, and aggravating, and un-athletic. In both cases they also like wearing t-shirts with sarcastic anti-cardio memes printed on them that 0.5% of the general public understands.
You can get stupid lean and look amazing and do no cardio…plenty of people have done that…it’s all diet and loading.
Cardio will keep you healthy and be a huge key in injury prevention for the long term. Cardio will also keep you feeling good. Aerobic fitness is so good for you brain, and your mood. Some people seem to get off on being miserable. I think I’ve been that way before, but there’s no prizes for walking around being a martyr all the time. People always miss the point of things and this is a topic that is classic for that.
Rocky Franchise
Note: Pat is a HUGE Rocky fan, and if you pick up MASS you’ll totally get it.
For some reason, I have the voices from the, “Men on Film” In Living Color skit in my head right now…Creed…hated it.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say I hated Creed, but it did nothing for me. It was a sort of recycled Rocky one remix plot line. The love interest added nothing to the movie and took away from some of the early momentum that the beginning of the movie was generating.
If Rocky actually did have cancer, his whole body would have spontaneously exploded from the enormousness of the tumors that would have been growing from the 40 years of extreme anabolics abuse and pasta consumption. I was rooting for Creed to lose simply because he was using the altitude mask in his training…come on, train low, live high…old news…and you look like a moron.6
Overall in the Rocky movie power index, it goes like this…
Rocky
Rocky III
Rocky IV
Rocky II
Rocky V (I’m like the one person on Earth who actually like this one apparently)
Rocky Balboa
Creed
TG: Okay, lets nerd it up a bit. I know you’re a big PRI advocate (as am I). Can you explain to the readers reading what PRI is all about? I like to simplify and say “it’s about getting people into better positions,” but I know you know MUCH more than I. What’s the deal?
PD: PRI is all about measuring the range of motion of the joints, asking people what muscles they feel working in specific movement tests, and then using logical detective work to figure out what the rate limiting factor is for the person being unable to do certain movements, experiencing chronic pain, or repeating injuries to a part of their body.
Within this design, objective tests are used as frequently as possible, and results often times fit into stereotypical predictable patterns. There is an appreciation for the fundamental and inherent asymmetries present within the human organism at the neurological, respiratory, cardiovascular, vestibular, and many other organ system level of the body. Without these asymmetries we are unable to function as creatures on this planet; however, with these asymmetries, particularly within the frameworks of the lifestyles and behaviors of modern society, we often times rely on existing in certain positions excessively as we fail to shift, move, and move with sufficient variability in our day to day lives.
When people become excessively patterned, overpoweringly creatures of habitual behavior that lacks differentiation, they’re going to need help in many parts of their life, including the biomechanical sphere.
In such cases, the practitioner begins unraveling that person’s life and beginning the process of making that person become aware of their incompetencies. Perhaps you start with the fact that the left hamstring is incompetent in sagittal components of typical stance phase mechanics within the gait cycle; however, this is typically just scratching the surface. As a professional who resides on the movement and fitness side of things, you try to stick to realms purely related to the unconscious incompetencies associated with biomechanics, but with a lot of people, you quickly see that it is the psychology, life decisions, and stressors that are the driver of their pattern, position, and problems.
You stay within your scope of practice as a professional, and you make the person aware of the fewest number of their unconscious incompetencies possible, because the human brain is only capable of processing so much as a certain point in time. You attempt to help that person develop awareness of their unconscious incompetencies, do drills that transition them to conscious competencies, test them to see if the drills are resulting in neuroplastic modification of their nervous system, and hope that you can transition the person to unconscious competency for the area that you have chosen to intervene on.
PRI is an integrated discipline that blends the mechanical findings of podiatry, dentistry, optometry, audiology, and physical therapy into a holistic approach. Within the frameworks of Ron Hruska’s brain child, appreciation is given to behavioral psychology, anthropology, philosophy, and sociology as well, because everything matters, and the truth is often layered, complex, mysterious, shrouded in shadows, and not for the faint of heart who only skims the surface of things.
There are a lot of moving parts to performing each lift safely and at a high level; much more so than compared to upper body counterparts such as the bench press or chin-up/pull-up.
This is not to say upper body movements don’t require warming up or attention to detail, they do. However, when all else is equal I find upper body movements lend themselves to a little more of a lackadaisical approach compared to lower body movements. Admittedly, it’s 100% anecdotal on my end, but it’s more common to see people walk into a gym, mosey on over to the bench press area without much of a song and dance with a warm-up, and pretty much get right into the nuts and bolts of their workout than it is to see the same person walk in, start deadlifting, and not be leaving five minutes later because their spine just flipped them the middle finger.
Plus, lets be honest: if there’s ONE thing you’re going to omit from your training session for the day when you’re in a rush (or because it’s a Wednesday) it’s your warm-up. You skip it, I skip it, your friends skip it, there’s no point in pretending we’re all warming up 100% of the time. Heck, I’d be surprised if most people did it 50% of the time.
As a fitness professional the warm-up is a bit of a catch-22. On one hand I can’t deny it’s importance. People are too tight, too stiff, too loose, or 2 legit 2 quit.7 The warm-up serves as a fantastic way to hone in on any “correctives” that any one person may need to address whether it’s any of the above or inhibited glutes, immobile hips and t-spine, and/or general movement malaise. Moreover, the warm-up serves as a way to increase body temperature, joint lubrication, and CNS up-regulation.
It’s here, during the warm-up, we can attack movement dysfunction and better set people up for a productive training session.
On the other hand, people can be handicapped by the warm-up. As in…the warm-up becomes this drawn out, overly dramatic “thing” to the point where some people spend 45 minutes on a foam roller hitting every inch of their body and/or performing an inordinate amount of mundane correctives before they even touch a dumbbell or barbell. To which I am always quick to say:
“Get off the f***ing foam roller. That’s why you’re always hurt.”
Nevertheless, I tend to fall on the “better to do it than skip it” side of the fence. Albeit something I have been toying with of late with my own training and that of my clients is using more combo or “hybrid” drills to help expedite the process.
Take a lower body day for example where squats or deadlifts are on the agenda.
Glute Bridge w/ Rotation
Key Notes
Addresses both glute activation and t-spine rotation/mobility
Careful not to go into excessive lumbar extension at the top. “Feel” your glutes fire and then make sure when you rotate to one side you move everything as one unit.
You should feel a nice anterior hip stretch on the contralateral side (if you rotate towards the right, you’ll feel a slight stretch on the front side of the left hip).
1-Legged RDL to Cossack Squat
This is climbing the ladder as one of my “go to” hybrid drills as it accomplishes a lot.
Key Notes
Try to get the backside as long as you can – reach both forward with your arms and back with the moving leg.
Try to prevent any hip rotation – toe of moving leg should point towards the floor and to the midline.
“Soft” knee on standing/supporting leg.
Idea of Cossack squat is to sit BACK into the hips. ROM will be limited in some people, so don’t worry if you cannot get to the ground at first; use what ROM you do have available.
Heel should be down and it’s okay to point the toes of the straightened leg up towards the ceiling.
If you have to use your hands as support for the first rep or two or for the entire set, that’s fine. Eventually, the idea is to be able to perform with using your hands.
Bear Squat
Key Notes
Start in a “deep squat” position. Push knees out with elbows to help get more hip abduction and make sure chest is UP or “tall.” T-spine extension is important.
Walk out making sure not to “collapse” the shoulder blades. Try to push away from the floor. This will help with a little serratus activation.
The walk out also helps with anterior core engagement (never a bad thing), and at the same time you’re also getting a fair bit of ankle (and big toe) dorsiflexion into the mix as well.
Try not to allow your lower back to sag or torso to teeter-totter. Pretend as if there’s a bottle of water (or battery acid) on your back and you don’t want it to spill. Ouch.
You can also up the ante by adding an overhead reach component before you “bear crawl” out, like so:
Just a Taste
There’s obviously an endless parade of exercises I could showcase here. But hopefully these give you a little taste of a few you can implement prior to a lower body session that’ll help speed up your warm-up yet target many of the problematic areas most people need to hit prior to hitting squats or deadlifts hard.
We’re smack dab in the middle of the time of year where most of the studios release their “Oscar bait” movies, and there’s still a ton of them I need to see. My current “to see” list includes:
Manchester By the Sea
Moonlight
Denial
Jackie
Allied
Sharknado 17
Elle
Fences
Anyone reading see anything listed? Thoughts? I was reflecting, though, on what have been my favorite movies I’ve seen so far this year?
In no particular order:Hell or High Water, Arrival, Green Room, Jason Bourne, Morris From America, Sully, Don’t Breath, The Invitation, and, while I haven’t seen it yet, do you really think I’m not going to put Rogue One on this list?8
What are some of your favorites you’ve seen in 2016? Looking forward to anything in particular?
Stuff to Check Out Before You Read Stuff
1. I’ve been really enjoying the Complete Guide to Training the Female Athlete. As noted in yesterday’s interview with one of the coaches involved, Adam Feit, there aren’t many resources out there dedicated to the female athlete, so it’s been refreshing (and, admittedly, eye opening: there’s a lot of cool stuff in there) to dive in.
If you’re someone who works with female athletes you’d be crazy not to give this resource your attention. It’s currently on sale for $100 off the regular price. Check it out HERE.
2. I’m attempting to start the process of planning my 2017 travel schedule. I’ve had a few people reach out expressing interest in inviting me to their location to put on a workshop. There’s a slight monkey-wrench coming to fruition this coming January with a baby on the way, but I still have every intention of traveling if or when the opportunity presents itself.
So, whether you’re looking for a Tony G show, a Tony + Dean (Somerset) event, or even a Tony + Lisa shindig (Strong Body-Strong Mind), please shoot me an email.
3. I wrote what I think is a pretty good article for Men’s Health recently on mistakes a lot of people make with fat-loss programs.
In short: they should be called MUSCLE-RETENTION programs. You can check that out HERE.
4. Anthony Renna invited me onto his new Stop and Give Me 20 Podcast. Short and sweet (and awesome).
A sorta “PSA” geared towards parents who are on the fence about their young daughters lifting weights or doing anything in the gym that doesn’t involve an elliptical machine.
I gain a lot of satisfaction training females and I have long championed the approach that, contrary to much of the mainstream, they can (and should) “train like the boys.” You know, in the gym, using barbells and stuff.
In my eights years as a coach at Cressey Sports Performance (and now, at CORE in Boston) I work with female athletes and non-athletes alike on a weekly basis and try my best to encourage them to push the barrier, focus on performance-based goals, and aim higher. I don’t treat them like delicate flowers and I don’t make it a “thing” that they don’t have an Y-chromosome.
Training is training regardless of sex.
With regards to training female athletes, though, it’s surprising how barren the resource-scape is. There aren’t many options out there. Which is why I am elated that Adam Feit was willing to discuss his new resource Complete Guide to Training the Female Athlete.
I’m starting to make my way through it now, and it’s excellent so far. I’ve already filled several pages of notes in my notebook, and my female clients are totally going to hate me (more) soon.
Enjoy the interview.
Tony Gentilcore (TG): I find one of the more common mistakes coaches make with training female athletes is assuming that because they’re a female that they HAVE to train differently then men. I find this to be unfortunate. I feel it sets a bad connotation from the get go and sets the standard that “girls don’t train like boys.”
Do you agree?
Adam Feit (AF): 100%. In fact, that’s why we created the Complete Guide to Training the Female Athlete. Coaches will realize “Hey! That doesn’t look so far off with what I do with ALL my athletes.”
Every athlete needs to squat, bend, push, pull, plant, pivot, rotate and turn. Squats are squats and deadlifts are deadlifts. (And you love deadlifts, don’t you Tony?)
Everyone needs to apply force quickly, stay healthy and sustain their performance over a period of time.
When we first started RYPT almost five years ago, we thought we were going to be “lights out” with football players. Just like how every aspiring fitness professional is going to ONLY work with professional athletes, amirite?
Bobby and I were both All-Americans in football (<—Note From TG: yeah, well, I once held my high-school record for most innings pitched and shut-outs in a season) and I had spent my entire career with football strength and conditioning.
But guess what? The football players trained at school with their position coaches. They weren’t ALLOWED to actually train with someone who knew what they were doing.
But you know who was? Females.
I have coached in NINE different states in my 10 years of coaching. I have never lived in an area (Monmouth County, NJ) where female athletes dominate their sport and get as many college scholarships as they do here.
And with that, comes the increased risk of injury and our role as performance coaches to prevent those injuries from happening or transition them back on the field again.
But what we’re most proud of at RYPT is how we’ve created a community for female athletes to come in, train hard and FEEL the results. 80% of our clients these past five years have been female. Is it the training? Maybe. But I think it’s more.
It’s about improving their self esteem, mental strength and developing them into physical monsters.
TG: I couldn’t agree more on that last point. The empowerment and “freedom” that develops in female athletes when they’re coached well (and not treated like delicate snowflakes) is amazing.
All that said, we’d be remiss not to recognize that women don’t need to train differently then men (but sometimes they should). What ARE some of the particular things to take into consideration when training female athletes?
AF: With 3500 youth female athletes trained at RYPT thus far, the biggest things we have noticed have been loading progressions, emphasis on the posterior chain, and prioritizing the single leg.
What I quickly noticed was that our female athletes simply didn’t handle the traditional model of progressive overload as well as my male athletes. Forget percentages, readiness questionnaires and velocity tracking. They couldn’t increase their training load week to week and maintain form, speed and most of all, confidence.
Was another 5-10 lbs worth it on our last set, gambling on them failing and shattering their confidence as they began weight training?
Many times I have seen an athlete crush a set at a particular weight only to not hit a single rep with five additional pounds added on the following set. Instead of pushing more weight each and every set, we have adapted our training cycles to work on increasing volume throughout the set cycle. This form of volume accumulation allows us to still overload the athlete but in a safer manner.
Note From TG:that last point by Adam is what I mean when I talk about building a wider base (of volume) to reach a higher peak. I explain HERE.
So rather than simply going up every set, we’ve learned to keep the working weight stable for a few weeks at a time and crank up the volume through increased reps and or sets to build that confidence and get some serious work done.
Second major point is the cold hard truth of a few things that female athletes have to deal with that their male counterparts don’t have to worry so much about.
You know–just your typical quadriceps dominance, anterior pelvic tilt, more lax ligaments, and wider Q angles…
Oh, and up to 9x more likely of tearing an ACL.
Because of this, we’ve hammered the posterior chain into our warm-ups, activations and strength training work each and everyday to balance out the compensations and establish proper movement patterns needed for deceleration, re-acceleration, strength development and injury prevention.
Everyday at RYPT, we’re working a variation of a leg curl, hip lift or RDL exercise to ensure our females can recruit the right musculature to stop, slow down and speed up.
Lastly, we can’t forget the importance of the single leg.
Think of almost every jump, step, run, and swing. It almost always happens on one leg.
At RYPT, we use a variety of linear, lateral and rotational split squats and lunges in the warm-up to prepare for loaded movements later in the program. Like our double leg training, we attend to each variety of movement pattern, hip and knee dominant, as well as pushing and pulling exercises. The variety of exercise selection exposes athletes to moving in a variety of planes and through a number of different motions that also improve their awareness of their body in space. That understanding of how the body moves is helpful when the athlete is faced with a decision or a situation in a game or contest.
On Day 1: we focus on progressing our athletes into single-legged RDL variations, focusing on their proprioception and force production. This comes towards the end of the workout after we have already performed our major double leg push for the day, which is usually some sort of squat variation.
On Day 2: we focus on an auxiliary single leg push movements with variations of split squats, rear foot elevated split squats, lunges and step-ups.
On Day 3: depending on the level of the athlete and season of the year, we will perform either another double or single leg push exercise as a primary strength movement. For most beginner athletes, we start off with the hex bar deadlift and transition into a loaded barbell split squat or lunge as they get close to their competitive season.
TG: I love it. Not many things jazz me up more than seeing young female athletes breaking barriers and not relenting to lame societal norms.
I love all my athletes, but I do find training female athletes to be easier at times. They often seem more “coachable.” Can you shed some light on this phenomenon if you agree? And if you don’t I’ll just shut up…..;o)
AF: Female athletes flat out care. I worked four years in college football and one year in the NFL. I can count on one hand how many thank you cards I got from all the schools I worked with and the players I helped develop.
I’ve lost track of the amount of gifts, thank you’s and emails I’ve gotten from working with our females here at RYPT. Going from nothing to all of this really made me believe that I was making a difference in their lives.
But besides caring, female athletes are in fact more coachable. Because of their limited experience in the weight room, they have no bad habits to break. You’re not fighting the hip thrusting bench press bro or the wicked high squat sorriness like you do with most youth male athletes. I almost NEVER have to tell a female athlete that the weight is too heavy and she needs to go down. Female athletes WANT to get better and they WANT to do it right. They actively seek out our coaching and want to make the most out of their opportunity with us while they can.
TG: Okay, cliche time…but it’s needs to be asked: What are the most common mistakes or “myths” you come across when the topic of training female athletes arises?
I’m going to repurpose a great article my wife Mary Kate wrote for us last year here talking about these very issues:
I’ve got the best spouse in the world. Not only was she a Division I soccer player and former college strength coach, the woman is STRONG and gets pissed when she doesn’t set a PR or gain muscle. She is the epitome of “female” strength and someone that our staff, as well as all our kids at RYPT, look up to (especially our own two little ones at home).
Remember, as coaches, we have not just the ability, but the responsibility to educate and empower our clients to become better people. Dispelling myths, trends and fads are only a few of the battles we face when working with today’s female athlete.
More than ever, female athletes are playing sports and striving to win a scholarship.
They’re sacrificing quality training time with sports performance coaches like us to play another season of AAU basketball, club soccer and showcase softball.
So we’ve got to do OUR part and educate and empower coaches and parents alike to not only help athletes reach their potential, but also prevent them from LIMITING their potential due to injury. While we cannot prevent all injuries, experience and education have shown us we can certainly have a major hand in preventing many of them due to inadequate strength and body control.
If you’re looking for a complete system for training today’s female athlete, we hope you’ll consider the work we’ve done, the programs we’ve developed and the female athletes we have helped–3500 and counting.
Complete Guide To Training the Female Athlete is on sale NOW for $100 off the regular price. Go HERE and get better as a coach and to better serve your athletes.
On this day back in 1976 Megatron and Optimus Prime collided and the energy from that impact formed into a solid state mass who liked deadlifts, EDM, original 90210 episodes, and would grow into someone with an uncanny ability to never be able to tie a tie correctly. I don’t even know if that description is scientifically correct, but I don’t care. It sounds awesome, so lets roll with it.
Admittedly I’ve never been a big Birthday person. Throughout my life I’ve seen it as “just another day” and no big deal. I’m definitely not someone who takes the mentality that their b-day serves as an open invitation to be a Johnny Raincloud. “Aww, poor me, I’m one year older, feed me a quesadilla with extra guacamole and depression.”
On the flip side, nor am I someone who feels the need to profess this day to the world. I mean, granted, my day of birth ranks right up there with the most important days in human history:
The day Aristotle suggested the Earth was round and not flat after seeing the circular shadow it made on the moon. #mindfuck.
D-Day.
Man walking on the moon.
Martin Luther King’s famous “I have a dream” speech.
The episode of Party of Five where Bailey was given an intervention for drinking too much.
However in the grand scheme of things, millions of other people celebrate their Birthday today too. I’m talking to you Bo Jackson.
All that said, today I wanted to have a little fun with my blog and jot down a few random facts (about me of course), insights, words of advice (life, fitness, business), and tidbits of tomfoolery. 40 of them in fact.
Enjoy.
1. My Fitness Inspiration Wasn’t Arnold.
Most guys my age will point towards Arnold Schwarzenegger (and roughly 212 viewings, each, of Predator, Commando, and Conan the Barbarian) as their initial foray into fitness.
Not me.
Mine was watching Mark McGwire of the Oakland Athletics on television. Whenever he and Jose Canseco would bash forearms after hitting a home-run, I’d be in awe at the sheer size of both of them.
Pharmaceutical discussions notwithstanding, I remember reading that the two of them owed much of their success to lifting weights.
2. Speaking of Baseball
Growing up my dream was to be a professional baseball player. Actually, first, I
wanted to be Han Solo, but baseball player was a close second.
I think I lived half my childhood in my side yard hitting baseballs back and forth with my dog, Daisy, following me every step of the way.
One of the scariest days of my life was when I accidentally hit a baseball right through the back window of the car my parents were trying to sell. My house is located on a fairly busy road, so it made sense to park the car out on the yard to get people’s attention.
OMG, I just about packed up all my He-Man and GI Joe figures and left home for good.
3. I Turned Down a Division I Scholarship
Kids (and parents) today are too caught up in numbers, especially the lure of a Division I scholarship. Unfortunately, much of their self-worth is set on the prestige of playing at the Division I level.
Eric Cressey posted a viral Tweet a while back saying something to the effect of “don’t get too caught up the D1 love affair. There are plenty of D2/D3 players who get drafted and who make it to the Big Leagues. Go where you’ll play and develop.
I turned down a Division I scholarship. You can read about the entire story HERE.
4. I Still Hate Bench Pressing
There, I said it.
5. 90s Hip-Hop is Still King
A small piece of my soul dies every time I play A Tribe Called Quest and a young athlete is like “who’s this?”
6. Did Someone Say the 90s?
Who’s planning an epic 90s themed party this weekend?
A photo posted by Tony Gentilcore (@tonygentilcore) on
7. #1 Mistake I See Trainers/Coaches Make?
Placing too much credence on posture.
“Posture is irrelevant unless you take into consideration movement.”
8. #2-Infinity Mistake(s) I See Trainers/Coaches Make?
Falling prey to the mindset that textbook technique exists. It doesn’t. No one has to squat with a certain foot position or with a certain bar position. No has to deadlift from the floor or with a straight bar.
Stop taking yourself so seriously. You’re not above calling your mom, telling your wife or kid(s) you love them, picking up a piece of trash on the sidewalk and putting it where it belongs, or staying after hours to mop floors or clean the bathroom of your facility.
It’s the small stuff that matters most and helps to nudge the attributes I feel are grossly deficient in today’s society: empathy, accountability, and integrity.
Oh, and eating a massive bowl of HoneyNut Cheerios. You’re never above that…;o)
14. Shut up and be a student.
Nothing is worse than that guy (or girl) who asks redundant questions at a conference or workshop to showcase how smart they are and that they know big words. Likewise, a close second are those people who question everything or “shut down” because what’s being presented goes against their way of doing things.
Shut up and be a student for a day. You don’t have to agree with everything, of course, and it behooves the industry to ask questions. But, come on…just shut up. You may learn something.
15. I think all new trainers should spend a minimum of 1-3 years working in a commercial gym.
16. Why?
It helps build character, resiliency, and business savvy. The only way you’re going to succeed is by scaring the shit out of yourself. Working in a commercial setting forces you to be your own best advocate, and no where else will you have as much access to such a diverse clientele. You’re primed to grow as a professional and do well if you put in the effort.
17. Um, have you checked out Complete Shoulder and Hip Blueprint yet?
18. <– The number I wore all through high-school and college.
19. I failed my drivers test not once, but twice.
Once because I forgot to put the car back into drive (from reverse) when performing a three-point turn; and once because, apparently, it’s not in good taste to drive over the speed limit.
20. Whatever, don’t judge me.
21. I was never an avid reader.
That is until my ex, ex, ex girlfriend broke up with me (don’t worry, I’m over it). In an effort to get my mind off of things (and to stop watching endless Julia Roberts movies), when I randomly came across the Modern Library’s list of Top 100 Novels I decided to take that summer (2002) and tackle as many on the list as possible.
I started with Catcher in the Rye, and haven’t looked back since.
22. Tip for aspiring writers
Becoming an avid reader – of all genres – begets good writing.
It’s only here, marinating in other’s prose, where you’ll learn a better appreciation of developing style, writing cadence/flow, story telling, and when not to use adverbs.
23. Social media tip
Don’t always make it about you.
Share, share, share.
At least once a day share an article, blog, or I don’t know, a recipe for Vegan carrot cake sprinkled with sawdust.
Provide more value to people and your numbers will grow.
24. Deadlift tip
People seem to think scraping their shins is a bad thing. It’s good! That means you’re keeping the bar close to the body (and your axis of rotation; hips)
Stealing a nice analogy from CSP coach, Nancy Newell, try to “shave your legs with the barbell” as you perform each rep.
25. Squat tip
As noted above, I try to follow the mantra that everyone is different and then try to cater each lift to their unique ability level, anatomy, and goal(s). To that end, I am not married to the back squat, nor do I feel a coach loses demerit points for not back squatting their athletes/clients. I still use it often.
However, one variation I feel has carryover to pretty much everyone is the Double Anterior Loaded or 2 KB Front Squat
The anterior core engagement often helps people get into better position to squat deeper (and to keep a more upright torso).
NOTE: I am NOT saying one has to squat with an upright torso. A forward lean is always going to be part of the equation. However, I find many trainees lean too much to the point where their weight shifts into their toes and they often “fall” forward. This variation helps to build more context with executing a more upright posture.
26. Trainable Menus
This is a term I recently stole from Atlanta Hawks strength coach, Chris Chase, after listening to him on Mike Robertson’s Physical Preparation Podcast.
It’s imperative as coaches to differentiate between a trainable exercise and an athlete’s ability to demonstrate the ability to perform a task. We’re often in awe of people’s feats of strength and athleticism (think: 50″ box jumps). But just because someone can demonstrate a task, doesn’t mean it’s trainable (or should be trained).
27. Favorite movie of all-time?
28. Another writing tip.
Read what you write out loud. If it sounds wonky or “off” out loud, it likely comes across as way worse on the screen or page.
29. Signs that you’re (probably) an a-hole
You honk your horn 0.03 seconds after a light turns green.
You text while you drive.
You order a steak well-done.
You assume that because a woman is squatting or deadlifting or working remotely hard that she’s automatically training for something.
You don’t like Jason Bourne.
You spot someone at the elbows during DB presses.
You charge people money to come observe you shadow you.10
A photo posted by Tony Gentilcore (@tonygentilcore) on
30. Don’t succumb to societal norms
Example.
My wife and I were together for five years before I asked her to marry me. We were both in our mid to late 30s before we tied the knot. Ancient by some standards.
We waited on purpose. We didn’t rush into things. We had to make sure our shit was on the same page, and that took a lot of work and talking about feelings and stuff. And it was for the best. We’re a little over a year and a half in and crushing married life.
And now….
31. We’re expecting in January 2017
Help, please. Any advice?
32. Think: Simpler
Writing training programs isn’t rocket science, although we often treat it that way. When in doubt, make it simpler. People need consistency with the basics more than squats vs. chains with a 313 tempo, on one leg, blindfolded. For AMRAP.
33. “Dangerous” Exercises
There’s always going to be an inherent risk to lifting weights. I’d argue that the only way to make progress is to play with fire and to teeter on the “holy shit something bad may happen if I perform this rep” threshold.
Of course we need to stress good and “safe” technique. However, we can’t always baby people. Allowing people to get into precarious situations and positions is often the only way they’re going to learn to avoid them in the long-run.
So, yes, it is okay on occasion to allow the back to round a little on a deadlift or for the knees to cave in a little on a set of heavy squats. Deep breaths. The world will continue to spin.
And lets be honest: those who tend to label “x” exercise “dangerous” are generally the ones who have little experience or don’t know how to coach them correctly in the first place.
34. 3×52
That’s the best “set/rep scheme” for results. Get your clients to show up 3x per week for 52 weeks and lovely things will happen.
35. Best resources
People are always asking me what are my favorite health/fitness products? Luckily I keep a running “tab” of my favs on my resources page HERE.
36. Never underestimate the power…
…of a “thank you” note. A hand-written thank you note. If there’s one thing I’ve learned as a gym/small business owner it’s that the small details matter.
Send notes to clients on their b-day, on their one-year anniversary of training with you, when they hit a PR, or when they finally watch House of Cards because you’ve been nagging them to do so F.O.R.E.V.E.R.
It’s amazing what such a small gesture will do towards maintaining customer loyalty.11
37. I swear when I write
I know it turns some people off. I’m sorry for that. I had a gentleman write me a rather condescending email not to long ago telling me how my judicious use of certain four-letter words makes it so my stuff is “unsharable.” At least within his social circles.
I can respect that, and I was apologetic to him. An egregious (or even strategically placed) f-bomb isn’t for everyone. However part of me wants to say:
“If my use of choice words somehow cancels out the bigger picture or message of what I’m saying, that’s on you not me. Grow up.”
Maybe I’m naive, I don’t know. I try not to go overboard with language, and do understand that it doesn’t always improve one’s writing. Maybe I do need to re-assess.
Anyone else have thought on this?
38. Hey, I have something planned for 2017
Another colleague of mine (Bryan Krahn) and I are planning on writing a training program/manual for the 35-40+ lifter. I feel it’s a demographic that’s underserved in the industry and does require a bit of TLC with regards to program design.
You want to get after it and train hard, but you’re also not 25 anymore.
I’d be curious how much interest there would be in doing a BETA or “guinea pig” group? Basically we’d be looking for people to give the program a try and to offer insights on what worked well, what didn’t, and how we can improve.
There would be a small fee involved and we’d ask for guys (and girls) who are relatively healthy to participate. I.e., no major injuries to work around. Interested? Good idea? Yes, no, maybe so?
39. Still one of the best quotes ever.
Courtesy of Eric Schoenberg:
“When you only throw with your arm then we’ll worry about “arm care” exercises.”
40. You’re the best
If you actually made it this far, you’ve earned yourself a gold sticker for today. I should get a gold sticker for coming up with this many things to write about – that was a lot harder than expected.
the strength volume down? Yeah, baby, I am.
While they may not have the same sexy appeal as advanced techniques like German Volume Training, or High-Frequency Strength splits, concurrent splits are the way to go when programming for general pop clients. Sure, super-specific training blocks may get our folks faster results, but their narrow focus doesn’t do our folks any favors in the long run.
