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?1
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.3
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.4
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.
No big surprise as I am sure many of you reading are in the same boat, but I am in rough shape today. Lisa and I are heading to the gym at some point so we can work off some of the excess calories from yesterday. I’m pretty sure I’ll be sweating pumpkin roll.
I’m going to get right to the point today. Here’s this week’s list to stuff to read…
It’s Black Friday and this is the first time in my life I actually have something to offer for it. It’s cliche, I know. But you better be sure as shit I’m going to take advantage. I have a baby on the way after all…;o)
Complete Shoulder and Hip Blueprint is on sale for $30 off the regular price today through this weekend. It would be awesome if you’d check it out.
This whole article is very quotable, but one of my favs:
“On a completely unrelated note, I’ve noticed that the people who often spend the most time bickering on social media aren’t simultaneously the ones with the most impressive physiques, lifting numbers, or industry accomplishments.”
As this post goes live my wife and I are en route (5.5 hours in the car) back to central NY to spend Thanksgiving with my family. Or, depending on what time it is and when you read this, I may be three slices into my mom’s homemade apple pie. Who knows?
It’s my sincerest hope that everyone reading is enjoying the day with family and eating the most un-Paleo friendly meal possible. And if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving: sorry. Happy Thursday then? Or, better yet: Happy “six days until my birthday?”
HINT: my Birthday is six days away. The big 4-0. Like, whaaaaaaaaaaaat.
Basically it’s been described as the Hamilton of fitness products. Except, you know, without any dancing or rapping Presidents.
If you were someone who missed out on the sale price during the original release, what the heck? What’s next? Telling me you’ve never watched House of Cards or GoodFellas?
On the off-chance that the former happened, you’re in luck. Dean and I are putting it back on sale at $30 off the original price starting today through this weekend.
Fitness Professionals: If you’re looking for a product that covers anything and everything as it relates to shoulder and hip assessment, addressing common movement dysfunctions, and a resource that helps connect the dots towards improved results and performance with your athletes/clients this will do the trick.
Non-Fitness Professionals: If you’re someone who likes stay in at home on a Friday night and nerd out over this stuff and/or are looking for tips on improving exercise technique with common lifts such as squats, deadlifts, and chin-ups (among others) this will be very helpful to you as well. What’s more there’s TONS of exercise regressions, progressions, and lateralizations to consider based off varying goals, anatomical factors and injury history.
You get 11+ hours of both lecture and hands-on material in addition to some epic LOLcat and Star Wars references (if that’s your thing).5And to top things off CEUs are available.
There you go. Do you need more incentive? Maybe if I included a steak dinner in there? You only have a few days to act.
First things first: Lets address the obvious. If there were a contest for best blog title of 11/22/16 featuring a kick-ass alliteration starring the letter “D,” I’d totally win it today.
I got the idea the other day after listening to a popular segment on EW Radio called Diva Deep Dive.6
It’s a killer idea and I am woefully unoriginal, so I took it upon myself to steal it and replace the word “Diva” with “Deadlift.” Because deadlift.
The deficit deadlift is a variation where the trainee stands on an elevated surface – a plate or some form of platform such as an aerobic stepper or stacked rubber mats – and tries not to shit their spleen lifts a barbell off the ground.
Photo Courtesy of BodyBuilding.com
It’s viewed as more of an accessory movement to the deadlift and is often utilized to address issues with the initial pull off the ground. The idea being the increased ROM (Range of Motion) will make the lift harder and help those who are “slow” off the ground.
Some coaches love it and feel it’s a valuable asset to anyone’s training repertoire, while others hate it and view any of the following…
Jumping into a live volcano.
Swallowing a cyanide pill.
Juggling chainsaws.
Watching an episode of Downton Abbey.
…as a more valuable use of one’s time.
As with most debates in the health/fitness world the answer always lies somewhere in the middle. So lets break things down shall we?
Origins
I’m pretty sure this particular variation was invented by Ernest Hemingway, but I could be making that up.7 Unlike, say, the Jefferson Deadlift (named after old-time strongman Charles Jefferson) or the Romanian Deadlift (invented by someone from Romania?), no one really knows where the deficit deadlift came from. Besides, who cares, right? The name itself implies what it is.
Unless, and this will blow my effing mind if this is the case, the deficit deadlift IS actually named after someone with the last name Deficit. Man, how ironic would that be?
Addressing the Elephant in the Room
Most of the naysayers of the deficit deadlift will usually chime in with something like “it’s dangerous.” To which I counter…..
There’s no better way for me to chime in on this matter than with this quote from strength coach Andrew Sacks taken from an article he wrote titled Defending the Deficit Deadlift:
“The main argument for dropping the deficit deadlift is that it’s dangerous, and by setting the bar at a height slightly below a traditional deadlift we’re turning a strength-training staple into a lower-back horror movie.
Consider that when we deadlift, the height of the bar is totally arbitrary. Nobody hired scientists to figure out the “ideal” diameter for 45-pound plates. Everybody just agreed that they all should be roughly 17.5 to 18 inches.
So if the diameter of the plates – and therefore the height of the bar – is arbitrary, does it matter where we pull from as long as we maintain form? The short answer is no.”
To that end, I don’t agree that the deficit deadlift is dangerous or that it should be contraindicated altogether. I do agree, however, there are contraindicated lifters, and that a lot of people – due to poor movement quality, anatomical factors, skill level, past or current injury history, and yes, their own stubborn stupidity – are unable to perform this variation with appropriate technique and therefore should avoid it.
^^^ That Stuff I Just Mentioned, Lets Talk About Em
Movement Quality: It’s a rare event when someone walks in on Day #1 and can perform a deficit deadlift flawlessly. I’d argue it’s rare someone can walk in on Day #1 and perform a conventional deadlift flawlessly. It’s human nature to think we’re all better than the average cat. Everyone thinks they’re a better driver than everyone else. It’s likely you’re just as horrendous at parallel parking as the next person.
This sentiment spills over into fitness too. Many people think they’re more advanced than they really are and like to skip over the seemingly “easy” stuff (Kettlebell Deadlift) and catapult themselves into expert level territory (Deficit Deadlift)…despite having the movement quality of a pregnant turtle.
By today’s standards, many people don’t move well and lack the mobility requirements to perform a standard deadlift, let alone one performed from a deficit. Getting down to the barbell requires a fair amount of hip flexion. And if someone lacks it (which is often), the end result is a compromised spinal position into lumbar flexion.
This is where good coaching comes into play. I’d caution people to jump to conclusions too quickly. It is possible to take someone in the picture above and cue them into a better position. However, taking that out of the equation, if it’s already a challenge for someone to bend over towards the bar and not look like their spine is going to break in half, why add more ROM?
Anatomical Factors: pigging back off the above, we can’t dismiss the idea that everyone is different. There are variations in torso lengths, femur lengths, arm lengths, not to mention bony structure considerations in the hip itself (hip width, acetabulum retroversion/anteversion, how the femoral head sits within the acetabulum (retroversion/anteversion), variations in femoral neck lengths, etc) that make the deficit deadlift a good fit for some people, and not so much for many, many others.
Respecting individual differences is key to long-term success and it’s something you can read more about HERE.
Some people simply won’t have access to the requisite hip flexion necessary to, you know, get into aggressive hip flexion. Unfortunately, none of us are Superman and have X-ray vision…but we can perform a simple Rock-back Screen to ascertain one’s available ROM.
Kneeling Rockback – WIN
Notice I am able to maintain a good spinal position throughout the full-ROM (there’s no “falling” into spinal flexion).
Kneeling Rockback – FAIL
Now we’re in trouble. For someone like this – where losing spinal position happens quickly – it’s likely that going into anything that requires deep(er) hip flexion will be a bad idea.
Again, this doesn’t mean we always have be a Johnny Raincloud. It may be a matter of cueing someone to adopt a better bracing strategy in order to maintain position. If they can do so passively (on the floor) and can then emulate the same ownership actively (standing)…then we know they can access the ROM, we just have to be really diligent with technique and progressing appropriately.
If they can access passively but not actively, it’s likely a motor control issue or the exercise itself is too much of a novelty.
If they can’t access it passively, nor can they perform it well actively…we’re likely looking at a structural issue and we need to be more judicious with exercise recommendations.
To the last point, again, adding in more ROM (deficit deadlift) won’t be a good idea.
Skill Level: Call me crazy, but the Deficit Deadlift is an advanced variation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2kL-7IpYz0
I’d have to be very comfortable with someone’s skill-set and ability before I dumped it into their program. And while it can be viewed as a bit generalist, my “flow” of deadlift progressions are as follows.
Meaning, when starting with a new trainee, here’s how I progress them:
1) Understand that the deadlift = hip hinge. Deadlift doesn’t mean “heavy” or that it has to be loaded at all times or that it has to be done with a barbell.
3) Trap Bar Deadlift – first with high-setting, then with low setting. Center of Mass is INSIDE the barbell which makes this a much more lower back and user friendly variations
4) Rack Pulls or Block Pulls
5) Sumo or Modified Sumo Deadlift.
6) Conventional Deadlift
7) Deadlift Whateverthefuck – Deficit Deadlift, Snatch-Grip Deadlift, etc.
Benefits of the Deficit Deadlift
Assuming this variation is “safe,” or a viable options what are the benefits?
1) I’ll concede that the increased ROM has merit, but it’s overplayed. More time under tension is rarely a bad thing, and considering many are weak in their posterior chain, the deficit deadlift is a good fit here.
BUILD THAT BOOTY!
2) I guess it can be argued that the deficit deadlift helps with the initial pull (with regards to the increased ROM). The idea being: make the lift harder and when one reverts back to “normal” ROM things will feel easier.
I’m not opposed to this train of thought. I get it. But to me, if I’m writing a program I want all accessory lifts to address a technique flaw or weakness in one of the big 3 (squat, deadlift, bench press). Making something harder for the sake of making harder won’t necessarily address anything.
Which leads to #3.
3) Being slow or weak off the floor with the deadlift is a thing. However, I find when this is indeed the culprit, utilizing the deficit deadlift here isn’t necessarily all about increasing the ROM as it is about better quadricep recruitment.
We’ve become so posterior chain-centric in the past decade or so that I find a lot of trainees have neglected their quads. And the quads DO play a role in the deadlift; especially with the initial pull (putting force into the ground). This, to me, is the main benefit.
Yes, smarty pants, squatting will help build the quadriceps. But the rule of specificity still reigns supreme. If I want someone to get better at deadlifitng, I’d rather they deadlift (and tweak it accordingly).
Some Closing Thoughts
As far as how much of a deficit to use: this can be individual, but I find 1-3 inches is more than enough for most trainees. So long as spinal position is maintained.
I’ll use sub-maximal weight on these (60-75%) for 4-8 reps.
Deficit deadlifts are aggressive – even for advanced lifters – so I’d caution anyone to use them for more than a few weeks or one training cycle (a month?)
If know someone with the last name Deficit, please tell me.
You don’t need to be be doing core stability exercises or core strengthening exercises. You NEED to be doing BOTH!
What is Core Stability?
Core stability is the ability of the musculature of the trunk aka the “core” to be able to maintain a certain position. It involves musculature contractions typically 20-25% of MVIC (Maximal Voluntary Isometric Contraction). Another way to think of it is that these exercises require precision and control of movement rather than brute strength.
An example of a “core stability” exercise would be the Bird Dog.
The Bird Dog movement requires the participant to maintain a neutral spine position while moving an arm and leg. This does not require a maximal contraction of the abdominal musculature. It requires a low-level, precise contraction of certain musculature to maintain a neutral spine. There are NOT large amount of forces being exuded to cause the person to have to exhibit brute strength to have to perform.
Other examples of “Core Stability” exercises are:
½ Kneeling Chops
½ Kneeling Lifts
Dead Bug
Segmental Rolling
Prone Superman’s
The exercises mentioned above are all movements that can be made more difficult by adding weight or resistance. The purpose of these “easy” movements are to improve the timing and sequencing of the core musculature. Performance of these exercises are to be performed with precision and control.
What is Core Strength?
Core Strength is the ability of the core musculature to maintain or control a certain position against increased forces of gravity, resistance, or weight. Exercises or movements that would be considered core strength are:
Swiss Ball Rollouts
RKC Plank
Stir the Pot
Sledgehammer Hits
Anti-Rotation (Pallof) Press
All the movement mentioned above are using some form of external force. Whether it be gravity, weight, etc., the core musculature has to exhibit a much greater force to resist moving through the spine.
Why Do WE Need BOTH?
Well, you can have great core stability and be weaker than a baby kitten in a wet paper bag or you can have the strongest core in the world and can have poor core stability.
How is that so?
For example, maybe you can hold a plank with proper form for an inordinate amount of time, ie. 5 minutes. I would say that you have great core strength. But we can’t say that you have great core stability.
Here are a few quick tests to determine how someone’s core stability is functioning:
Segmental Rolling
Key Points:
Attempt to roll from your back to your stomach using one arm and no legs.
You may lift your head and reach with one arm.
Bird Dog
Key Points:
Can you maintain a neutral spine while alternating arms/legs?
Does the pelvis remain level while performing?
If so, then you passed. If not, then barring any type of decreased hip extension, thoracic spine extension, or upper extremity flexion mobility, your core stability may be impaired.
½ Kneeling
Key Points:
Bring front foot so that it is in line with down leg.
You should be able to maintain your balance without shaking or using your arms for balance.
Typically, one side is more difficult than the other. There may be a core stability issue if you cannot maintain an upright posture in tandem ½ Kneeling.
If you can perform the ½ Kneeling Test and both sides feel relatively equal, then you passed. If not, then barring any type of decreased hip extension, ankle, or thoracic spine mobility limitations, this could be indicative of a core stability issue.
I don’t think I need to go into as much detail for core strength, but the importance of maintaining a certain position when deadlifting, squatting, lunging, etc. is hugely important to decrease risk of injury and to improve performance.
We needcore stability because throughout the spine there are tiny stabilizing muscles that go from spine segment to spinal segment.
If you present with an imbalance during the Bird Dog, try performing with a towel roll on your low back and widen your base of support so that the movement is challenging but you can perform it with good form.
If the ½ Kneeling Test has imbalances present, try performing ½ Kneeling Chops with a band around the lower legs to improve core musculature recruitment.
The responsibility of these muscles is to stabilize from one spinal segment to another or stabilize a few spinal segments that they may cross over. If these tiny muscles don’t do their job and stabilize like during a bird dog, ½ Kneeling position, or during segmental rolling, compensation will occur.
Instead of those aforementioned muscles working, the work will be placed upon the larger muscles such as the paraspinals, etc.
Who Cares?
Well, if the small, stabilizer muscles aren’t stabilizing effectively and the larger muscles are working harder than they need to, then this can cause movement compensations over time and in turn place you at risk for injury or decrease performance.
If you present with an imbalance during segmental rolling and either can’t do a certain direction or one direction is harder than the other, perform it with some assistance.
If all else fails, see a licensed medical provider with a background in the Selective Functional Movement Assessment here (http://www.functionalmovement.com/site/aboutsfma)
With that said, we need BOTH. Performing core stability exercises as mentioned above during a dynamic warm-up or super-setted in a workout AND doing core strengthening super-setted during a workout.
Run yourself or your client through some of these tests and see what you can do to help improve their movement quality through core stability and core strengthening.
About the Author
Andrew Millett is a Metro-West (Boston) based physical therapist.
1. Hey, hey, hey…it’s my wife’s Birthday tomorrow. Anyone who knows Lisa well knows how much she loves b-days.
Year 36 was a huge year for her. It was her first FULL year of life being married, which was excellent of course. She traveled with me to Europe, twice. Also excellent. And she’s currently busy building a human being inside her. Like, whoa.
In addition, she started to make some waves within the fitness industry this past year. She’s made numerous appearances on several health/fitness podcasts, our Strong Body-Strong Mind workshop we do together became a thing (NOTE: we’re taking requests for 2017), and she and Artemis Scantalides are building something special with their I Am Not Afraid to Lift workshops.
In fact, the two of them (along with Julia Ladewski) are putting on a stellar retreat in Arizona next year.
It’s designed by women for women.
If you’re a woman and interested in being surrounded by other like-minded women in learning anything and everything with regards to kettlebell training, the barbell lifts, nutrition, and mindset strategies…this event is going to be right up your alley.
And finally……LISA JOINED FACEBOOK in 2016! You can go HERE and “friend” her if you want. I’m sure she’d love a b-day shout out.
2. I also wanted to take the opportunity to remind people about the Pedestal Footwear Kickstarter that’s currently underway. I’m a big fan and fully support their product and mission.
They’re only three-days in and 80% towards their goal. Amazing stuff.
Take a look….
3. One more day down until the premier of Rogue One. Not that I’m excited or anything.
Despite my cheeky, juvenile tone…this is actually a very serious topic and wonderful article explaining what it means when your poop looks a certain way. It actually tells you a lot.
I’m a sucker for energy drinks, Star Wars references (obviously), deadlift videos, and articles about writing.8
I found this article to be brilliant in its simplicity.
No other way to summarize than to quote Erica directly from an exchange we had the other day when I said how much I enjoyed this article:
“No easy answer but just to write, screw up, and get better!”
BTW: About the only other way the picture above could be more staged (perfect posture, smiling, cup of coffee within arms reach) is if Erica had a copy of Stephen King’s “On Writing” underneath the cup of coffee. Pffft, amateur….;o)
Social Media Highlights
Twitter
General rule to deadlift setup that applies to most: shoulders above hips and hips above knees. You do that, you’re doing a pretty good job.
A common fallacy in the fitness industry is that if you don’t own a gym you don’t have to worry about “business stuff.”
Another common fallacy are those who open a gym and automatically consider themselves businessmen (or women). The idea being because they open an impressive looking gym filled with all the bells and whistles, that all they have to do is turn on the lights and people will show up.
Copyright: yuryimaging / 123RF Stock Photo
Ryan Ketchum chimes in today with an excellent article on the “fitness business” and how to build a successful one at that. I chime in too with some “TG Tidbits.”
His insanely reasonably priced resource The Academy is on sale now with tons of free bonuses.
Enjoy!
The Perfect Business Growth Plan
You didn’t go to business school and most the trainers I talk to don’t really have a passion for the business side of things. You’re in it to help people and create an impact.
Unfortunately there aren’t a lot of career options for trainers. You can work at a big box gym, maybe you get lucky and get a job working at a facility that provides you opportunities or you head out on your own.
So it’s no wonder that many great trainers end up frustrated with their business, struggling to get by or worse…
You can’t SOLELY rely on your skills as a trainer to build your business. If you choose to start your own business you’re going to have to learn how to market, sell, and manage your business.
Fortunately there are 5 keys to ending your frustration and finding the success you want.
Step 1: Start With The End In Mind
If you don’t know why you’re doing something, the purpose behind it, it’s nearly impossible to get there.
Having a long term vision for your business helps you create a short term action plan that gives you purpose. When you have purpose you’re more motivated to take action.
Start by describing what you want your business to look like three years from now. Imagine writing an article about your business that’s going to be featured in your local paper or even something like Inc.
Tell the story of your business. How many clients do you have? How many team members? Locations? What are your values? What impact do you have the community? How are you innovating?
You don’t have to figure out how you’ll get there just yet. But, you need a clear picture of what it looks like when you arrive.
TG Tidbit: I remember when Eric, Pete, and I were drawing up the “plans” for Cressey Sports Performance back in 2007. The three of us huddled up at a table in a local Applebees and tried not to destroy the back of our pants drew up a business plan and mission statement.
I want to say the business plan was “don’t suck” and the mission statement was “make people into deadlifting X-Men,” but of course we were a bit more thorough than that. The point being: this had to be done. How else to draw a line from Point A (gym owner rookies) to Point B (WHOA – people are paying us)?
We had to write down our WHY and then how we were going to achieve it.
If you accomplished 2-3 key projects or initiatives each quarter you’d have made progress in 8-12 areas of your business through the year! That’s huge progress, but you have to take it one quarter at a time.
TG Tidbit:When I opened CORE in 2015 this was something I admittedly struggled with. I still do. I’ve never been one to write down lists and then attack them. However, now that I’m starting a family it’s become more imperative I plan a head and recognize what needs to be done to best set myself and my family up long-term “success.”
Accountant? Check.
Financial Advisor? Check
Signing up for Jason Bourne hand-to-hand combat classes, which has nothing to do with nothing? Check
Finally understanding the power of list making and crossing things off? CHECK.
Step 3: Develop Your Marketing Strategy
If you’re going to grow to six figures and beyond you’ll need a strategy to acquire new clients.
Here’s where a lot of business owners go wrong! They deploy tactics with no consideration of an overall strategy.
Tactics are things like referrals, bring a friend days, FB marketing and joint ventures.They all work, but you need to know what you’re trying to accomplish and have a clear plan of attack before implementing these tactics.
A good business owner will understand their strategy and be great at implementing the right tactical methods to get them to their goals.
To start with your strategy let’s look at what you need to define:
Your Core Offer – what are you building your business around?
Your Ideal Client – who are you building around?
Your Local Market Positioning™ – why they should choose you?
Once you have this the next step is to figure out what you’re trying to accomplish with your marketing. Defining the objectives of a marketing plan will help you create the right tactical plan to get the results you want.
Did you know that only about 3% of customers are ready to buy right now?
That means that for every 100 people who see your ads, fliers, social media posts and hear about you from your clients only 3 are ready to buy from you today.
But, what if you could educate and persuade those others?
Here are some sample objectives you can accomplish:
Get people to trust you and your business
Build credibility within the community
Educate the market why they need to work with us
Refer new business
Gain respect
Overcome price objections
Gain influence
Build urgency
Once you’ve created at least 3-5 objectives for your marketing plan it’s time to develop it.
Most fit pros get a majority of their leads from word of mouth marketing or referrals. And while you need that in your arsenal of marketing tactics it’s way too passive to grow an easy to run and fun business.
Because you’ll constantly be worried about getting referrals 🙂
If you choose to use an education based marketing approach you’ll be creating content that you can use to educate your target market that simultaneously sells your services.
TG Tidbit:Here’s where I lucked out. I started blogging in 2005-2006, when there weren’t that many people writing fitness blogs. As of today I have 1,875 posts on this site. That’s a metric shit ton9 of content.
Moral of the story: what are you waiting for? Stop procrastinating. WRITE! Building a brand isn’t going to build itself.
On an aside, I also think one of the often overlooked “keys” to marketing is to not look like you’re trying to market. There’s a lot to be said about authenticity and being genuine.
Determine what the biggest pain points are for your target market (this is why you need an Ideal Client profile) and create articles, videos and workshops covering these topics.
For most many trainers the primary goal for your clients is weight loss. Knowing that, what are the biggest concerns for someone that’s trying to lose weight but hasn’t had success?
Here’s a few ideas for content:
How to eat if you want to lose 20lbs without following a strict diet
How to get results with 30 minute workouts
Eating Habits For a Lean Body
Quick Tip: You can get some really cool ideas from this Headline Generator.
Creating education based marketing on these topics will not only attract the other 97% (remember only 3% are ready to buy now) but it will also position you as the expert.
Once you’ve completed your education based marketing you can offer a solution for the biggest problem that your audience is facing. This is where you try to move a lead into your intro program.
Taking an education based marketing approach allows you to accomplish your primary marketing objectives.
If you’re stuck on tactical methods to get this strategy out to your audience here’s a quick list:
Free e-books
Workshops
Seminars
Lunch and Learns
Videos
Blog Posts
Email Marketing
Public Speaking
Joint Ventures
FB Marketing (ads to your videos/workshops/etc)
Networking
Plus, when you educate your clients in your marketing they are more likely to refer their friends. And because you’ve educated them they know exactly what to say.
TG Tidbit:I had this conversation with a friend of mine the other day who started working in a commercial gym recently and has been having difficulty finding clients. I told her “why not set aside 30-60 minutes during your floor hours and provide a free “clinic” to members on topics you’re passionate about and will resonate? Topics like “Better Exercises Than Crunches to Build Your Core,” or “Fat Loss Myths,” or maybe provide a squat or Turkish get-up tutorial.
Get yourself in front of more people’s eyes, provide education (value), show them you’re an “expert,” and it’s likely someone interests will be piqued.
Step 4: Create Simple Systems
An easy and fun business doesn’t require you to do every single task. That actually sounds like a hard, lame business to run.
If you’re just starting out there’s going to be a short period where you’ll have to do it all. As long as the goal is to get non-revenue producing tasks off your plate as quickly as you can afford to that’s okay.
You need to create systems for the following:
Lead Generation (marketing) Systems
Conversion (sales) Systems
Training Systems
Customer Service Systems
Billing Systems
Accounting Systems
Human Resources Systems
Facility Management Systems
When creating your systems make sure you keep the 80/20 rule in mind. Knowing that 20% of your activities will produce 80% of your results will keep you focused on documenting the most important activities in your systems.
The rest can be up to the person completing the system. If you get all your systems to 80% and you hire the right people they can take it the rest of the way.
TG Tidbit:I’ll tell you right now, Pete Dupuis not only handled all the “business stuff” for CSP in the early days, but he also handled the calls, billing, scheduling, payments, and also helped handle cleaning duties (with everyone else). His life changed dramatically, though, the day we hired an office manager (see Step 5). However that wasn’t until three or four years into our business. The systems he developed prior were what helped him not go insane.
Step 5: Hire the Right People
Now that you’ve got your systems in place it’s time to look at hiring or outsourcing some of your tasks.
The first hires in your business should be a great accountant, a solid bookkeeper and a superstar admin.
Stacie Leary, the “face” of Cressey Sports Performance and who really runs the show…;o)
Unless you love staying up to date with tax code and spending countless hours getting your P&L ready a great accountant will save you tons of time and lots of money.
You want your accountant to do more than end of year tax prep. You want them doing your monthly P&L, cash flow statements and balance sheets. It’s also critical as your grow to have them help with tax planning so you don’t get behind or surprised with a huge tax bill on April 15th.
A bookkeeper will help you manage your expenses and work with your accountant to make sure everything is tracked correctly. My bookkeeper provided me with an accounts receivable and accounts payable report each week and I’d tell them what to pay and what to hold off on for our bills based on due dates and the cash we had available.
Hiring a bookkeeper saved me at least two hours a week doing stuff I hated!
Next you can look at hiring an admin to take on some of the work you’re doing that’s not revenue producing. Training, marketing and sales can stay on your plate for now but everything else if fair game to delegate to an admin.
Hiring trainers is a great idea once you have these other areas covered. That’s a tougher position to fill and requires more training on your part, which is why you do it after the other three.
Having an accountant, bookkeeper and admin frees up your time to train your trainer on your systems.
TG Tidbit:Having an accountant is HUGE. Especially one who’s familiar with the fitness industry and tax code (knowing what you can and cannot write off).
Also, in terms of hiring in general for your business….Hire PEOPLE not resumes.
Step 6: Know Your Numbers
Successful businesses don’t guess. They use data and information to make educated decisions.
That’s why you need to know your numbers. Tracking and reviewing a few numbers in your business will help you identify issues before they become a problem and help you make key decisions.
You need to be tracking the following weekly:
Leads
New Front End Offer Clients (people on your low barrier to entry offer)
New Core Offer Clients (those signed up for your membership)
Retention Rate
The following need to be tracked monthly:
Operating Margin
Autopay to Expense Ratio
Closing Rate
Growth Rate
If you can get this info you’ll be able to manage the health of your business and make better decisions on a weekly basis.
It’s not always fun setting things up so that you can get these numbers but it’s well worth it once you have it.
Wrap Up
You’ll be able to create a six figure strategy for your business by getting this in place. Don’t worry if you don’t have it all right now, or even if you don’t have any of it.
Start by making one of these a priority to get in place this month and then add a new one each month until they are all in place.
Not only will you be able to grow your business to six or multiple six figures quickly, but your business will be more fun and a lot easier to run.
You can get access to all the resources and training you need to build your own six figure personal training business in The Academy.
Give it a test drive and watch your business grow.
Most people who have been following me know that when I left Cressey Sports Performance back in 2015 and started my own gym I was quick to affiliate myself with a small Boston-based company called Pedestal Footwear.
Granted one of the co-owners – Brendan McKee – was a long-time CSP friend, but when he reached out to me to introduce me to his business partner, Mike Lyon, to set up a meeting for Mike and I to meet, it didn’t take more than ten seconds for me to appreciate that what they were trying to accomplish and the message they were trying to convey was something I could get on board with.
Mike and I met, we discussed what Pedestal Footwear was all about, we deadlifted, and it was a match made in heaven.
In the year since that first meeting I have been using Pedestal Footwear exclusively in my training.
A video posted by Tony Gentilcore (@tonygentilcore) on
I’ve also been recommending them to all of my athletes and clients. In fact, each person that starts training at CORE receives a complimentary pair.10
In fact, it’s not uncommon for everyone on the gym floor to be rocking their Pedestals during training, which, now that I think of it, definitely calls for a new hashtag.
#PedestalParty
Why Pedestal?
1) We don’t wear gloves when we type on a laptop, so why do we feel it’s necessary to wear shoes at all times, especially when we train?
When standing your feet are the one part of your body that’s in constant contact with the floor providing sensory input with regards to spacial awareness and balance. There’s a time and place for shoes, but when you’re inside, in a controlled environment, the capacity to actually use the small intrinsic muscles at the bottom of your feet can enhance training.
2) On that last point, many nagging injuries such as Plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinopathy, and many other injuries up and down the kinetic chain (knee pain, low back pain) have their roots at the feet. Due to wearing cement blocks for shoes at all times many (not all) people have lost the ability to use their feet because the feet are weak, and in turn, compromises the ankles and all the other joints up the chain.
3) More specifically, Pedestal Footwear aren’t just socks. They’re engineered and designed to enhance your training.
Their Base Grip makes it so that your feet stayed glued to the floor and don’t slip. Perfect for performing things like squats and deadlifts. What’s more, you can wear them in shoes – and many do – to help keep the feet more stable inside.
The Ped-Tex Blend makes them almost indestructible. Batman gives them a thumbs-up.
The Woven Saddle, which utilizes the Silver Weave, makes it so the socks themselves won’t become a HAZMAT hazard. They stay odor and bacteria free.
4) They’re manufactured in the USA, if that’s something that’s important to you.
5) And it’s not just me that’s been singing their praises. Other well-known coaches and health/fitness industry professionals have hopped on board: Bret Contreras, Nick Tumminello, Dr. Emily Splichal, Jen Sinkler, BJ Gaddour, and Bill Parisi are just few.
6) In addition reputable fitness publications such a Men’s Health Magazine, The FitCast, BodyBuilding.com, and STACK have all endorsed Pedestal Footwear.
Support and Find Out More
I don’t receive one nickel for any of this. I’m helping out because, yes, Brendan and Mike are two friends of mine, but also because they’re two guys who are the epitome of integrity and are doing the fitness industry a favor by attempting to bring Pedestal Footwear to the masses.
They’ve just started a KickStarter Campaign TODAY (<— CLICK)highlighting the new 2.0 versions. It would be a huge favor to me if you’d take the time to watch the video below and possibly consider helping out their cause.
