Timeout Strategy

One of my favorite hand motions in basketball is the signal for a “20 second timeout”.  Coaches lift their arms, bend their elbows, and touch shoulders with their fingers to signal a stoppage in play.   It’s a technique that I often use with clients, family, and friends to pause discussions. While the 20 second timeout signal is universally known in the basketball world, the communication that occurs after the motion varies from coach to coach.  I have been fortunate to be part of many different teams, in many different sports, and often observe the strategies used in that brief, but important interaction.  Below is what I have found to be most effective.  If you aren’t a coach think about when you have to deliver information to people in a quick and concise manner.

Attention Getter:  Whether it’s clapping, demanding eye contact, or simply asking a question, it’s imperative that attention is gathered quickly.  Make sure to have an attention getter that gets your team focused.

Encourager:  Once you have their attention offer an encourager.  An encourager will keep their attention and let them know what they are doing well.  It will open their minds and foster opportunities for more feedback.

Information:  The meat of your timeout should occur after the attention getter and encourager.  This is a time to give feedback, negative or positive, which should be the most important point you are looking to provide.

Encourager:  After the information has been processed an encourager is recommended to send the team on their way.  It’s a great opportunity to build cohesion leaving a huddle and remind the players that you believe in them.

Hope you can find a way to use the attention getter, encourager, information, encourager method whenever you have a timeout today.

10 Reasons You Should Swing Heavy Bells

So, I forgot to post on Wednesday. Sorry folks! To make up for it, I present this: As the title states: Swing. Big. Bells.

Me and Natasha, just swinging around.

1. Glute strength- Do you want a strong butt? Of course you do, that's why you read this site. Swings are fantastic glute builders. The glutes are the most powerful hip extensors so it makes sense to perform exercises that force the glutes to extend the hips... hmmm, sounds like swings huh? The powerful snap of the swing carries over into other lifts such as the deadlift and squat. The glutes also play in vital role in sprinting and jumping. So if you want to be the Athlete-Of-Steel, you needs buns of steel. Swing it baby!

Gotta build the wheels if you want speed!

2. Upper back strength- During the swing, the upper back is essentially holding an isometric contraction to maintain the "chest up" postion throughout the swing. The lats are working hard to keep the bell close to the body (so it doesn't go flying away and pull you with it). The rhomboids and the teres major and minor are doing their duty of keeping the shoulder blades down and back and keeping the humerus in it's socket (kinda important). Guess what? Chin/Pull ups require those muscles too.

All my ButtKamp Ladies are swingers (the G-Rated kind, not the other kind) and ALL my ButtKamp Ladies' have improved in the pull up/chin up. We now have 2 women who are able to do a body weight chin up...(Suzanne, above, is one. The day after this, she nailed it!) pretty awesome! Personally, I've noticed an marked difference in my pull up strength, both my 1-rep max (weight on my waist) and my total rep max (how many I can do) have increased. With all the work the lats and upper back do in the swing, I don't think it's a cowinky-dink. Once again, the upper back strength also carries over to the big girl/boy lifts: squats and deads. Try performing either with a weak upper back and you'll find yourself stapled by the weight.

3. Injury prevention/rehab for lower backs- I professed my love and belief in swings for back rehab on Wednesday. The nature of swings, strengthening glutes, upper back, the spinal erectors, and core muscles, perfectly align with the needs of most back-pain sufferers. Most of us have, weak glutes, upper backs, cores, and spinal erectors. I know mine were (thus part of the reason I have injuries). While I can't claim that swings will heal any injury, they can at least prevent further injury (or injury if there isn't one present) and build up the muscles that protect the injury.

4. Grip strength- When your forced to grip a heavy weight while it's moving, you're going to build up some pretty strong hand and forearm muscles. One of my weak links in the deadlift (and pull ups) was my grip. I found this out pretty quickly once I started doing high rep, heavy swings. My forearms were on fire and my grip often gave out before the rest of me did. If you like picking up heavy things and walking around, swings will help build up an iron grip so you can pick up heavier things and walk around even more.

Keep on walkin'...

5. Cardiovascular and muscular endurance- Don't like running? Me neither. I do love to swing though. Swinging is excellent for building up cardiovascular endurance and muscular endurance (the ability for muscles to produce sub-max force over an extended period of time). Don't believe me? Try this: do a ladder of 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. Take a breath for every swing you do. How do you feel? Oh wait, I can't hear your over you pounding heart and labored breathing...

I see too many people talk while using this...

6. Core strength and function- During the swing, the midsection must remain tight not only to protect the spine, but also to transfer the force of the glute contractions into the bell to swing it. The core has to also be able to relax slightly so you can breathe throughout the workout (pretty important piece of exercise, that breathing. Generally, you inhale on the way down, brace on the way up, and breathe out forcefully at the apex of the swing.) and immediately brace for the next cycle of contraction as the bell swings forward. For those with back pain, sometimes the core muscles aren't firing in the right order. Swings help retrain the muscles in this sense.

7. Joint-Friendly conditioning- As mentioned, swings are pretty safe for those with back injuries (most of the time anyway). They're a perfect conditioning tool for those with cranky knees, ankles, and shoulders (mostly). They're also good introductory training for deconditioned individuals as they're scalable to individual strength and fitness levels. Unlike running, which essentially is thousands of one-legged hops, swings have very little negative joint impact (the elbows can take a beating if the upper back isn't doing it's job though so be prudent!) so it's less likely that you'll sustain an injury and want to quit exercising.

Done...

8. Leanness- This is more anecdotal than factual, but swinging promotes leanness better than any other form of conditioning I've run across (outside of regular sprint sessions, which can take their toll on the system physically as they're pretty stressful). Coach Dan John has spoken of the power of the swing to help athletes/trainees maintain a lower body fat percentage and I've noticed in myself as well. It's not going to be the magic bullet, but for those who train hard and eat pretty well, the addition of swings can help pull the body fat down a bit without too much stress to your system.

9. Overall strength- Swings involve the whole body, in case you couldn't tell from the above points. If you want to increase your strength, add some of these in and you'll be amazed at the carry over into the rest of your workouts/activities.

Hagrid-like strength in a little body

10. Self-Defense- If swings help build up the glutes and hamstrings, which are the primary movers and shakers of sprinting, should you be attacked by zombies or some other terrifying creature, you'll be able to scamper away pretty darn fast. Or, if you're brave, just swing your bell at them and let go. 60+ pounds to the face will mess any body up. Pretty sure Kathy could take down any foe.

If those didn't convince you then, well, I have no words.

When You're Feeling Beat Up

If you’ve been training for a while, you’ve surely had those days, maybe even weeks, where your joints are crankier than usual, your shoulders and back are sore, and you get out of bed to realize gravity turned it up a notch.

When you load the bar up with 70% as you work up you get confused because it’s heavier than it should be. Did you miscalculate? Is it the wrong bar? Wrong plates? Are you using 70% of your deadlift max for your single-arm bottoms-up kettlebell floor press?

When you rule out all other factors, you may come to the conclusion that you’re probably just beat up from the training you’ve accumulated. This is especially true if you’re an athlete. It’s important to train hard at practice and train hard in the weight room, but you also have to remember to take note of how your body is reacting to all of it. Here are some tips for those dark times when your body is beaten and walking up the stairs feels like max effort step-ups.

Deload

I don’t believe that everyone needs to schedule a strictly consistent deload in their programming (e.g. every 4th week) but they certainly have their place. I see more benefit in scheduling a deload with specific regards to competition. However, sometimes an unscheduled deload is necessary if you feel super banged up. Rather than stay at home drag yourself to the gym and hit a few movements with lighter weight, for a FEW sets of a FEW reps (50%-75% for 3-5 sets of 3-5). You don’t have to hit 10x10 just because you’re going light. Deload weight AND volume.

Cut Back on Assistance Work

Does your training log tell you to do 4x8 Bulgarian split squats after your back squats? Cut it to 2x8. Or 2x5. Or 0x0. Rest assured, your beloved assistance work isn’t going anywhere, so cut back on it for a session or two and hammer it hard when you come back fresh.

EAT

Eat.

Epsom Salt Bath/Contrast Shower

Try some new recovery techniques! The idea behind an Epsom salt bath (basically soaking in a tub of magnesium sulfate) is that magnesium will soak into your body through the skin, restoring a huge list of body cell functions in the muscles, nerves, and other soft tissues. Magnesium is also inhibitory to the muscle cells, which will help you relax.

Contrast showers are (in my opinion) not as relaxing. I think they are actually pretty brutal. Enjoy a few minutes of a nice warm shower, then quickly slam the dial from H to C and suffer through 30 seconds to a minute of an ice-cold blast. Repeat several times. It takes some discipline, but you will be rewarded with increased blood flow and recovery throughout your whole body.

Soft Tissue Work Whip out the foam rollers, PVC pipes, lacrosse balls, and go to town. Or pamper yourself with a visit to a reputable ART practitioner. Or do what I do and go to Brookstone to sit in one of those super massage chairs until somebody kicks you out.

With Spring sports starting up, all you athletes know what you're in for: Months of hard training, tough competition, lots of fun, and your body taking a pounding!  Just keep a handful of strategies to help you dust off your shoulders and get back in the game when you get beat down.   Those of you with try-outs this week, best of luck!

You're Doing It Wrong: Split Squats (lunges) and Knees Edition

I haven't done one of these posts in a while so I thought it was high time we had another "You're Doing It Wrong" post.

Diving right in, a common complaint we hear at SAPT is knee pain during split squat or lunge variations. Typically it's pain in the front of the knee, though sometimes it's on the sides as well.

*Disclaimer* Please remember that I'm not diagnosing anything and if these general fixes in this post don't help your knees feel better, I'd say there's probably an underlying issue that needs more digging either from a coach (for the easy, common problems like tight or weak glutes) or a therapist of some sort (assuming the coach refers you to someone if your pain is outside of their scope of practice).

Ok, so two of the most common errors we see during split squat/lunges are:

1. Pitching forward into the front knee with the shin angle less than 90 degrees to the floor. Typically, the front heel rises off the floor as well, thus limiting glute involvement in the movement (mostly of the front leg). Glutes don't like that; they like to be involved with exercise so don't leave them out!

2. Shifting too much of the body's weight to the back leg and crumpling into a ball of poo in the back. The front shin will often drift past 90. Again, this position takes out the glutes' involvement and puts too much emphasis in the quads. This causes more pressure to be exerted on the knee joint, which makes it cranky.

Here's a video to distinguish the two errors, followed by a correct split squat. Note that these form corrections carry over to the lunge variations as well.

So how do you do it right?

1. Keep a 70/30 weight distritbution of front to back leg.

2. Keep your front heel down and push through it (as if you were squishing a bug) as you straighten your legs.

3. Squeeze your butt and abs (hmmm.. that sounds familiar.)

4. Don't let your front knee stray over your toes. Your knees will be happier that way.

That's it! Follow those simple guidelines and split squats and your knees should work together like the Harry Potter Trio!

Lights Out

Lights Out As the lights went out in the 2nd half of the Super Bowl, many began asking how the players would maintain their focus. When uncontrollable distractions throw you off your game-plan what do you do? Do you start thinking about disadvantages? Do you start buying into the idea of momentum? Do you start thinking about the outcome rather than the process? Do you lose control of your energy?

The key is to make sure that you continue the same controlled routines that you use in any other breaks--pre-game, timeouts, halftime, etc. Routines help us direct our attention to a purposeful approach rather than useless distractions. Whether it's a 1 minute timeout or a 35 minute delay, go back to your routine so you are prepared for when the lights come back on.

Pullin' It Up

So, today I'll be spending the better part of the morning in the dentist chair... so fun right? Anyway, in an effort to NOT disappoint the faithful SAPT readers, I posted an old blog post of mine from Strong Girls Win. I wrote this last year around this time. Apparently there was an article in the Washington Post recently about how women can't do pull ups... to that I say, "Poop on you." Clearly, they've never been to SAPT or come to a Buttkamp class. ---------------------------------------------

**Before delving into the wonderful pull up let's make sure we're clear: chin up is when your palms face you and a pull up is when your palms are away.**

Pull ups! The nemesis of so many women but, hopefully, this post will help you get a hang of them and perhaps, even like them. I've grown to adore pull ups, mainly because I stopped thinking negatively about them ("I'll never be able to do them!" ... Stop it. Stop that thinking right now.) and approach them as a challenge I can, and will, conquer.

Don't let pull ups intimidate you.

Here is a quick overview of the muscles involved:

Latissimus Dorsi- aka, the Lats, yes I capitalize them because they are awesome enough to earn a capital "L." These are your money makers when it comes to pull ups. The Lats' are powerful shoulder adductors and extensors which is the exact movement the humerus (upper arm) goes through in a pull up. Adducting and extending the humerus =  pulling your elbows to your rib cage.

Biceps Brachii- aka, your "guns," flex the elbow (like when you do curls).

Rear Deltoids- their role is more stabilization so I'm going to leave it at that.

Unfortunately, and I include myself in this category, we tend to focus on the biceps doing all the work as we try to "curl" ourselves up to the bar.  Instead, we should be focusing on firing the lats, shoving our shoulder blades into our back pockets and pulling our elbows to our rib cage.  The lats are by FAR a more powerful muscle and can generate enough force to pull our chins over (yes, over) the bar. If we rely on the biceps we look like Demi Moore in GI Jane (before she figured out how to fire her lats):

look familiar, minus the shaved head?

So how do we go about unleashing the Pull Upping Power buried deep inside? Here's a couple methods I've tried and found them to be quite effective:

1. Banded pull ups- we do them here at SAPT.Find a band tension that will allow you to do 2-3 sets of 6 reps. Gradually decrease the tension as you get stronger.

2. Negatives- jump up and slowly lower yourself down in 5-6 seconds.  2-3 sets of 4-6 reps should be plenty.

3. Iso-holds - using a band or jumping up hold the top of the pull up (chin OVER the bar) hold for 4-6 seconds for 2-3 sets of 3 reps.

Choose one of these methods and stick with it for 4 weeks then try another for 4 weeks.  I recommend working on pull ups at least twice a week but no more than four times. Though if you're doing pull ups more than twice/week, choose 2 methods and alternate between the two.  I've found that females tend to respond well to higher frequency and volume when training the upper body.

Few quick pointers before wrapping it up:

In the above methods, really focus on pulling your elbow to your rib cage. Try to pull yourself through the bar.

Pavel Tsatsouline talks about "greasing the groove." Essentially, practice doesn't make perfect, it makes permanent. Therefore, practice perfectly. The more you train the movement, the more efficient your body becomes at producing that movement.

Don't grind your reps. Steve wrote an excellent post on this. Grinding only fries your nervous system and teaches you bad habits. Learn from my mistake!

DON'T GIVE UP!!! Strength gains take a while so be patient with yourself.

Go forth and CONQUER!!