I hope all of you have a safe and happy Holiday this weekend.
Stuff to Check Out Before You Read Stuff
1. COREssentials
Beginning in mid-January 2017 I’ll be offering a new 6-week “beginner course” at CORE, called COREessentials. Get it?
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 with the idea of strength training. The umbrella goal is to build 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, CSCS (I’ll be 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 or you know someone in Boston who may be a good candidate for this program please use the “Contact” function HERE.
This is the EXACT message I relay to people during this time of year. The fear mongering and demonizing involved with having the audacity to indulge in yummy food this time of year is absurd.
Awesome read from PJ. Loved how he broke down the “math” and explained things.
I had the opportunity to offer my opinion in this compilation article – also featuring Eric Cressey, Mike Boyle, Dan John, Bret Contreras, Alwyn Cosgrove, and many others – describing:
Scenarios where we felt a physical therapist dropped the ball on a client.
What we tend to look for in a quality physical therapist.
Looking for some new coaches/trainers to follow on Instagram, and not just those “fake” ones that have a 717:1 (Selfies:Actual Content) ratio? This was great list compiled my STACK.com and I was very honored be included. Kinda surprised, actually, considering all the cat pictures I post.
Social Media Highlights
Twitter
I’m always amazed at people who ask for FREE training to try out my services. Would they ask a dentist the same question?
The fitness industry gets the shaft sometimes. It endures godawful long hours, we work when others don’t, there’s rarely (if ever) paid vacation, and there’s almost zero barrier to entry which allows a bunch of numbskulls to mess things up for everyone else.1
I can’t think of any other industry or profession where, more times than not, the expectation is potential patrons get to “sample” the service before they decide to purchase. Okay, admittedly, that 100% describes the process of purchasing a car. However that scenario is a little different. A car is merchandise. The fitness industry is a service industry.
I’m always amazed at people who ask for FREE training to try out my services. Would they ask a dentist the same question?
I think it’s a fair question, and feel free to insert any other profession in place of dentist (it’s the first thing that came to my mind when I wrote the Tweet): lawyer, hair-stylist, plumber, tutor, financial advisor, professional Han Solo impersonator, anything.
I also think there’s no one correct answer and that whatever side of the fence you’re on – “yes, you should offer free consultations and services” or “hells-to-the-no you shouldn’t” – has it’s advantages and disadvantages. In fact, if there’s any question that deserves the canned “I don’t know” response it’s this one.
However, upon further reflection I think the more germane response is…
“It Depends”
I remember when I was working at Sports Club LA (now Equinox) here in Boston back in 2006-2007 every new member received two “free” sessions with a trainer. I say “free” because the sessions were complimentary to the members but I was still compensated for my time. Not every chain does that of course, but you can bet they all have people on staff who’s sole job it is to sell, sell, sell and/or direct people towards the trainers. In Boston, like any major city, there are several notable, big chain commercial gyms vying for people’s attention (and wallets):
Equinox
Boston Sports Club
HealthWorks
LifeTime Fitness
24 Hour Fitness
Golds
Planet Fitness
Beacon Hill Athletic Club
In addition there’s dozens of mid-level commercial gyms (not chains, but pretty big) peppered throughout the city, not mention a CrossFit box in every major neighborhood. That’s a lot of competition and it makes sense that many of them would offer a free consultation or discounted introductory rates on training to entice more people to join.
Cressey Sports Performance business director, Pete Dupuis, discussed this very topic in THIS blog post, and one stat he brought up was that roughly 30% of people who are offered free consultations actually end up taking advantage of them. As Pete mentions:
“This may be a solid conversation rate from the perspective of the commercial gym owner, but not for the independent contractor who doesn’t see a single penny of the monthly membership dues these potential leads are paying. A 30% conversion rate tells me that 7 out of 10 people decided that something for nothing was actually worth nothing.”
And that’s the thing: I don’t have the luxury of hundreds (if not thousands) of people paying a membership fee just to walk through the doors. Why would I offer my expertise and time for free when I have bills to pay?
Some people may counter with “well, if you offer free stuff it’s less intimidating and allows people to see whether or not you’re a good fit.”
There are a few points I’d like to offer here:
1. Again, try walking into a hair salon and asking someone for 30-60 minutes of their time in order to sample the goods and to see if “you’re a good fit.”
HAHAHAHAHAHA – no, seriously, do it.
2. This is my livelihood, not a garage sale.
3. Plus (and not that I would ever play this card), I’m Tony motherf****** Gentilcore. People, like, me. I’m cool as shit to hang out with. Deadlifts, EDM, and random 90’s Mariah Carey trivia? Who wouldn’t pay for that…;o)
4. When does it stop? You offer a friend a discount and then what? Discounts for life? The mailman trains for free?
Worse you offer one person a discount or free sessions and another client catches wind who didn’t receive the same discount and now things are going to get weird. It’s best to just draw the line in the sand and take pride in your rates.
5. As my boy Dean Somerset has noted: free stuff isn’t the same thing as free training. I have over 1,900 blog posts on this site that are free and will help point people in the right direction in terms of training advice. Please, peruse away. That takes zero of my time.
However, time = money. If you want that it’s only fair to be compensated for it.
6. With regards to free consultations specifically, here’s the deal: that’s my assessment. I’m not taking 60 minutes just to show someone how to put the pins into the machines or to gossip about who’s banging who on WestWorld.
I’m taking that time to dive deep into someone’s unique injury history, discuss goals, using screens to assess movement quality, and taking the opportunity to see how much (if anything) I need to clean up with regards to exercise technique. All of that is information I use to write an individualized program. There’s value in that, not to mention a college degree, a CSCS certification I need to work at to maintain, and years of continuing education. If there’s any time left over, cool, lets discuss robots banging each other. I’m down.
Other Miscellaneous Things I Want to Say, But Have No Idea How to Put Them In Coherent Order.
I’d be remiss not to say this: Have a filter. Experience matters in this context. If you are in fact a new coach/trainer there is going to be a degree of doing stuff you’d rather not do. The entitlement that permeates with new trainers entering this industry is dumbfounding. There will be times you may have to offer your time for free or offer discounts in order to get more eyes in front of you. It’s not beneath you to do so. Moreover, you may end up working for a year (or longer) earning “beginner” wages. It’s part of the gig. Suck it up.
What about online stuff and emails? I take a lot of pride in that I try to answer every email sent my way. I think there’s huge value with interacting with your audience and not being an uppity dick. I’m not that much of an a-hole that I can’t take a few minutes to answer someone’s question. Where it becomes absurd is when one question turns into 17, or someone sends an email that would rival War and Peace in length. I ain’t got time for that.
I feel strongly there needs to be some form of “buy in” for the person to take things seriously in the first place. If the session(s) are free and there’s no penalty (loss of $$) on their end to 1) show up and/or 2) be accountable there’s less likelihood they’re going to be invested in the process.
This is NOT to say I don’t feel there’s value in offering discounted training/rates sometimes. The peeps over at Mark Fisher Fitness are huge proponents of offering special one-time only offers of 20-25% off packages when people attend a special bootcamp or class. I like this idea! If you’re already making the time to be at a certain place at a certain time, go for it. Offer free shit. Make it a special charity bootcamp or, I don’t know, just because it’s Thursday. MFF’s rule is run the class, get people’s names, offer the offer, stalk them for 30 days with emails and phone calls, but after that stop.
Understandably, there are some commercial gym trainers who are stuck between a rock and hard-place who receive minimal help from management in terms of client referrals. In this scenario I sense some value in offering free classes or sessions. If it’s a matter of getting more eyes in front of you I’d suggest offering 15-30 minute workshops or hands-on sessions during your floor hours where you go over core training, fat-loss strategies, or maybe offer exercise technique tutorials. Here people can get a flavor for how you roll and decide if you’re a good match or not. You totally are by the way.
Have some of your own advice to offer? Please chime in below or on the Facebook feed. I know many people have different perspectives and ideas on this topic and I have no doubts others can and will benefit from your experiences.
UPDATE
I should address a common theme I see popping up from people who oppose my view point. And that is: “I want my plumber to come and fix the toilet and that’s it. There’s more to the conversation when you factor in client-trainer relationships and the importance of rapport.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Which is why I refrain from pressuring people into purchasing large blocks of training up front. You want to talk intimidating? That’s intimidating.
“Hi, we just met and I spent 30 minutes gently tapping your glutes, want to hang out more? That’ll be $1200 for 30 sessions mmmmkay?”
Stealing another train of thought from Pete Dupuis, I’d rather earn my client’s business month to month. I only offer monthly plans. That’s a more palatable pill to swallow for most people. And, on the off-chance someone doesn’t like my glowing personality (and sweet He-Man references) or feels we’re not a long-term match, I am totally cool refunding their unused sessions. That’s just Business 101. And not sucking as a human being.
Today’s guest post comes courtesy of Texas-based personal trainer Shane McLean. Shane’s a regular contributor on this site so you know his stuff is top-notch and will be applicable to many of you reading.
When you were a baby (a long time ago for some) you loved lying on the floor and staring up at the world above.
If you wanted to go anywhere or were hungry, all you needed to do was cry and wail until your slaves came running to meet your every need. Life was so much simpler back then.
However, getting back on the floor and lifting, no matter how old you are, can spark new gains, work around niggling injuries and work muscles that you never knew existed.
Because lifting is not all about standing in front of the mirror to curl and grunt to your heart’s content. Yes, that means you excessive gym-grunter guy.
Let’s cover exercising from supine, tall kneeling and half kneeling positions and how lifting from those could be the missing link that’s needed to spark new gains.
Supine
This is lying on your back while facing upwards, like when you were a baby. We often lie supine after collapsing after a hard set or when you see someone on the floor crunching like a bat out of hell.
Please leave the crunching to the monkeys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tBOcFT1oTQ
However, lying and lifting from the floor can be a great core and upper builder as evidenced by the single arm floor press.
Single Arm Floor Press
This pressing variation will turn on your core and shoulder stabilizers due to the offset load that gets neglected during bilateral bench/overhead pressing. It’s also a shoulder saver because it eliminates the lower half of the press where the shoulder is externally rotated and where nasty things like shoulder impingements can happen.
If you want to take this up a notch and improve your numbers on the barbell bench press, try the barbell floor press. This improves your lockout strength as you receive no help from the bench or your lower body while pressing from the floor.
Barbell Floor Press
Let’s not forget about the back and shoulders which also play a part in pulling heavy from the floor, pushing heavy off the chest and giving you a great looking back that your friends will envy.
Check out this cool variation from Jordan Syatt that does all of this and more.
Pullover with Reactive Floor Press
Work your legs while you’re down there with the stability ball hip extension/hamstring curl. This exercise trains the hamstrings as a hip extensor and a knee flexor, which are its two major functions.
You’ll get more bang for your hamstring buck and they will love you for it afterwards, trust me. J
Stability Ball Hip Ext. /Hamstring Curl
This is great exercise for runners because the instability of the ball during the curl portion mimics the unevenness of the road while running, proving the stability ball is not a completely useless piece of equipment.
Tall Kneeling
The tall kneeling position looks like this.
Photo courtesy of FunctionalMovement.com
The toes on the ground, knees underneath hips and the core, pelvis and glutes all turned on. This is the position that babies step up to after crawling on all fours to determine whether they have the balance to start standing up.
For the rest of us, the tall kneeling position will help with posture and balance because if anything is not working as it should, our pretty face will head towards the floor and none of us want that.
You should use this position if you lack glute strength or have poor posture or non-existent balance. If you cannot do an exercise in the tall kneeling position, chances are you won’t be able to do it standing without some sort of compensation.
If that sounds like you or you need a new lifting challenge, consider taking these exercises out for a test run. Your glutes will be pleased.
Bench Kneeling Overhead Press
If anything is off with your overhead pressing mechanics, this exercise will pick it up, if somewhat brutally.
You can regress this exercise by kneeling on the floor and using dumbbells because an appearance on America’s Funniest Home Video show can wait.
Tall Kneeling Lat Pulldown
This pulling variation is great for developing core stability and training the entire backside of the body. This is exercise is outstanding for people who are yet to do their first chin up as it simulates the core strength necessary to pull yourself up over the bar without any extra compensation.
Sorry CrossFit, this is a no kipping zone. Please don’t sue me.
He will be missed
Tall Kneeling Pallof Press
Pallof press is a great stand-alone exercise but adding some tall kneeling into the equation takes a great lateral core stability, anti-rotation exercise to the next level. You’ll be a core badass.
Half Kneeling
The half kneeling hip flexor stretch is usually the go-to stretch to open up our hip flexors which are always tight but that’s an article in itself, so let’s leave that alone and lift from here instead.
Lifting in the half kneeling position has many benefits. By lowering our center of mass we can move our hips and shoulders without too much compensation from the pelvis/lower back, which is godsend if you’re a suffer of low back pain.
With the narrower base of support, you’ll receive extra core stability and glute activation benefits, too. So doesn’t it make perfect sense to lift from this position? I knew you would see it my way. J
So kneel, lift and be great with these half kneeling exercise variations.
Half Kneeling Lat Pulldown
The 45-degree angle of this variation makes it more shoulder friendly than other vertical pulling exercises, so if shoulder mobility is a problem for you this exercise is perfect.
Half Kneeling KB Bottoms Up Press
Holding the Kettlebell bottoms up creates more tension in the arm through a process called irradiation. This gives you more strength and stability in the shoulder region which makes this a great exercise for people with shoulder issues or for those who want a break from barbell/dumbbell overhead presses.
Half-Kneeling Med Ball Rotational Throw
A common error with med ball throwing is gym goers using other parts of their body like the low back to create extra power, which is a big no-no. However, throwing in half kneeling position reduces this compensation and increases the reliance of the hips and core, which are the muscles needed for rotational power.
Wrapping Up
Whether you’re returning from long layoff, working around niggling injuries or you’re wanting to spice things up to spark your gains, getting back on the floor could be just what you need.
However, please don’t cry. You’re an adult now.
About the Author
Shane “The Balance Guy” McLean, is an A.C.E Certified Personal Trainer working deep in the heart of Texas. Shane believes in balancing exercise with life while putting the fun back into both.
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.2
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.3
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 squat4, 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?5
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.6
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.7
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.8 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.
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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.
