Should Beginners Perform High Reps?
The other day, one of our interns, Jarrett, approached me shaking his head and wearing a tetchy expression on his face. I asked him what was up, and he proceeded to tell me about an incident that took place while he was out on the floor of a local gym (in which he works as a trainer).
Apparently, he witnessed a basketball coach instructing two girls on the bench press, and it was evident it was the girls' first time learning the movement. The coach had the girls banging out sets of 15 reps at a time, all the while their elbows flaring out to the sides and their bodies writhing and wiggling as they struggled to press the bar back up.
Jarrett's defensive instincts kicked in, and he quickly approached the coach to try and spare the poor girls' bodies and souls from being crushed to death. The conversation went something like this:
Jarrett: "Um, sorry for interrupting, but I don't personally recommend that you have the girls pressing the bar like that, with their elbows flared and all. It's pretty dangerous for the shoulder joint, and not to mention they'll be able to generate a lot more power by tucking the elbows slightly. I'd also recommend having them practice benching with much fewer than 15 reps at a time, as you can see their form quickly breaks down with the high reps and it's tough to learn a new movement that way."
Coach(looking clearly but briefly bemused before shrugging off what was said): "Uh, ok yeah, well, these girls aren't ready for that stuff yet. It's best to keep their elbows out for now and stick with the high reps since they're just beginners."
Jarrett: "Oh, okay I got it. So what you're saying is that the girls aren't ready for healthy shoulders, ingraining sound motor skills and enhancing their overall movement quality, since they're just beginners?"*
*He didn't actually say that (although a small part of me wishes he did), but fortunately was kind enough not to pick a fight and he just walked away. As the he was walking away, however, he heard the coach lower his voice and say (I kid you not) to the two girls, "You hear everything that guy just said? Yeah, he has no idea what he's talking about. Just ignore him"
Which brings me to the central point of this post:
Stop Programming High Reps For Beginners, FOR THE LOVE!!!!!
One of my biggest pet peeves (outside of stepping in something wet when in socks) has to be witnessing a lifting instructor take someone who's new to the weight room, and making them perform sets of 10-15 reps for everything they're learning.
Now, before I proceed any further, let me give full disclosure: I used to do the same thing when I first started out as a trainer. There, I said it. I, Steve Reed, have given high reps to beginners in an attempt to teach them various lifts.
And yes, if I could go back in time to when I worked with my first client, I'd give myself a hadoken straight to the face.
After all, it's the common (albeit unfortunate) practice taught by the majority of certification courses and exercise texts. Yet, as usual, there often exists a large gap between textbook theory and real-world application, and it's sad that it has taken this long (and still has a ways to go) for more "sound" teaching practices to permeate the educational sphere of trainers, strength coaches, and/or anyone simply walking someone through basic lifting instruction.
When the average person seeks out advice/information on how to "break in" to lifting weights, usually the first article or person they come across will tell them to do anywhere from ten to twenty reps on e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. Squats, machine presses, deadlifts, bench press, banging head into wall. Fifteen reps for all.
It's sad, but true.
When teaching someone how to properly execute a complex lift - primarily the deadlift, squat, bench press, and I'll even throw the pushup into the mix - keep the reps AND the load low.
It's so much easier for someone to focus on correct technique when they only have to worry about 2-5 reps, as opposed to 10-20 reps, ESPECIALLY in something like a deadlift where there are so many "moving parts" for them to think about . Either they'll become too fatigued physically, or they'll simply lose attention mentally. It's unfair for a coach to ask them to do otherwise, to be honest.
For example, if the goal is to hit 30 total reps of a lift, I would recommend shying away from the common 3x10 protocol you'll see in virtually every beginner program. I'd rather have someone execute 10 sets of 3 reps, ensuring that each and every rep is perfect (or at least as perfect as it can be, considering they're learning something new), in order to reach the 30 total reps for that day.
Not to mention, they'll have a much greater frequency of exposure to the process of setting up and finishing the lift, practicing it ten separate times in one session as opposed to three.
On a side note: if you're worried about the fact that the load should still remain low even with lower reps, take heart in that a beginner will get stronger using a load as low as 30-40% of their one-repetition maximum. There's no need to rush things in that department.
And just to be clear, it's a bit of a different story if we're talking about accessory exercises like rows, split squats, or pulldowns. I think it'd be perfectly fine to accumulate more volume with these lifts, as the risk of injury is much lower, and it's typically easier to learn these movements more quickly.
Not to mention, you can easily do high reps with prowler/sled work, which is essentially a unilateral exercise for the legs, or even farmer carries for that matter, which are a "high rep" exercise for the core and shoulder girdle (keeping the midsection braced/stable, and the scapulae in a slightly upwardly rotated, adducted, and posteriorly tilted position).
Once a beginner can demonstrate proficiency with the movement pattern in question, then they have the green light to up the reps slightly, or (perhaps which I'd prefer) continue to keep the reps down on the compound lifts, but progress via a gradual increase in weight used.
How to Fix Anterior Humeral Glide During Horizontal Pressing
One of the first articles I wrote was on Anterior Humeral Glide during horizontal rowing which you can find here. I won’t spend a great deal of time going over what AHG is as that would just be overkill and I’ll leave the area of redundancy up to the creators of American Idol.
In the following video I’ll take you through how to prevent AHG during horizontal pressing, namely during the bench press and pushup. Thanks to our intern Jarrett for volunteering for the video even though I kinda through him under the bus; sorry man! Also for another great cue to boost your bench and to stay out of AHG check out Stevo’s article, Quick Tip to Improve Your Bench Press: The other 50%+ of the Equation
Squat Grip Revisited
I still feel people aren’t grasping the importance of a proper squat set up in regards to the upper body. The whole movement starts from the upper body so to have that first line of defense be lackluster will undoubtedly make the entire lift suffer. The goal of the upper body during the squat is to be as tight as possible; engaging every muscle from the scapular retractors all the way to the spinal erectors and everything in between. I will inform you now that using a grip with a “bent” or “lazy” wrist position will prevent your squat from being all that it could be. Failing to straighten the wrist during a squat will cause a failure to engage all necessary musculature equaling out to “force leaks” both in the eccentric and concentric portions of the lift. I have posted the video below before but I figured I would post it again to show people how to use a different type of squat grip in order to overcome mobility problems to achieve a straight writs position. Check it out again!
Coaching Tip: When NOT to Correct Someone's Form
This past Saturday while out on the coaching floor, I was explaining something to one of our interns, and, in the middle of our discussion, I realized it would make for excellent blog fodder, at least for the trainers and strength coaches in the crowd.
So, on Saturday morning, I was helping one of our *quasi-distance coaching clients, Rob, during his deadlifts. As he moved through the sets, he worked up to 335lbs for a set of 3, which was a personal best for him (cue fist bump).
However, during the first rep of this 335x3 set, his form broke down a bit. His hips were "prematurely" extending, or, in other words, he was throwing them forward a bit too early. Here's an example of what it looked like (although, to his credit, it wasn't quite this extreme):
I waited until he finished the set, had him drop the bar weight down to 135lbs, and then I showed up what he was doing (video above), and then demoed what he needed to be doing, such as in the video below. Notice how the hips and shoulders rise at the same rate, and then the hips extend ("hump the bar") to finish the lift.
He practiced the correct technique a few times with 135, gave me "ah hah, that makes sense!" expression, and moved on. Smooth as puddin'.
Yet this begs the question, WHY did I not immediately correct him during the heavy set, when his form was a bit off? Why did I let him finish the set without saying anything?
Quite simply, his form wasn't quite bad enough to risk injury, and the cue I was about to give him was one that we, Rob and I, hadn't discussed before. Which leads me to my main point:
Avoid giving coaching cues that the athlete or client hasn't heard before while they're in the middle of their set. ESPECIALLY when maximal weights are being used.
Yelling a cue or instruction at an athlete while they're in the middle of a maximal working set will most likely do one of two things: A) Utterly befuddle them, or B) Injure them. I think it goes without saying that both these scenarios are unfavorable.
So, if you notice they're doing something wrong, you typically have one of two options:
1) If their form is so bad, and/or they are breaking down so much that it looks like they're going to get hurt, STOP the set there. I don't care if they were supposed to do five reps and only got through one before everything fell apart.
Reduce the weight on the bar, describe what they are doing vs. what they need to be doing, and then have another go.
2) If their form isn't perfect, but it doesn't look bad enough to risk injury (ex. their elbows flaring too much on the bench press), allow them to finish the set, and then discuss what needs to be happening, and lower the weight if needed. Sometimes it's just a matter of them knowing what needs to be done, and other times the weight is simply too heavy.
Bret Contreras did an excellent job discussing this very topic in his post, The Three Most Idiotic Things I've Done as a Personal Trainer:
One of my best female clients was performing heavy high box squats (15? height). I had her squatting with 155 lbs on the bar and during the set I felt that she wasn’t arching hard enough at the bottom of the lift. I noticed that she’d relax a bit and fail to keep a rigid lumbar extension moment while she was seated on the box. During her set I instructed for her to “arch the low back.” Unfortunately, she wasn’t thinking clearly and she confused “arch” with “flex” and rounded her low back. Heavy axial loading + rounded lumbar spine to end-range flexion = herniated disc. She couldn’t train for over a month.....
.....As a personal trainer, you review proper form prior to the lift, you have them practice perfectly with lighter loads, you use simple phrases such as “chest up” so the advice cannot be misconstrued, and you make sure they know what “arch” means prior to having heavy loads on their back. “Arching” in the direction of lumbar extension results in a successful lift, while “arching” in the direction of lumbar flexion will likely have drastic consequences, so a good personal trainer doesn’t leave the client’s interpretation up to chance.
Couldn't have put it any better myself!
It can be sooo tempting, as a coach who wants to see things done correctly, to shout corrections during someone's lift if you see something out of whack. Just be sure that it's the right time and place. Sometimes you need to keep your mouth shut and wait until after the set to go over things with them.
*Quasi-distance clients refer to the "SAPTers" that train with us 1-4x/month in-house, and perform the other sessions in their program outside of SAPT. This works quite well for those that travel frequently throughout the week (such as Rob from the example above), and/or have geographical/scheduling/financial constraints that don't make it practical for them to train at SAPT multiple times each week.
The Art of Coaching vs. The Science of Programming: Which is More Important?
A few years ago I traveled up to New Jersey to attend a fitness+business seminar. At one point, the speaker of the main event got on the topic of program design vs. coaching. In other words, the act of sitting down and writing a program specific to an individual signing up at the gym, versus the act of running the person through said program on the gym floor. The speaker paused in the middle of his power point, and commanded everyone in the room to perform a quick scenario:
"Everyone turn and look at the person seated next to you. Now, say to them, 'Put your left hand in the air. Good. Hold it there for a count of one one thousand. Put your hand back down now.'
Congratulations, you just ran a training session! Yes, it may have been only one rep of one exercise, but see how easy that was to tell them what to do and have it perform it? The reality is, the most valuable part of the whole training process is the program design, not the actual training. It takes much more expertise to be able to construct a program rather than watch over someone as they perform sets and reps."
He then went on to say that the highest-level, expert trainers in his gym are the ones writing the programs, and the "lower-level" trainers are the ones who actually run the clients through the programs.
Fast forward a bit, I was having a conversation with Chris, one of the old SAPT coaches, about this very occurrence/speech that took place at the seminar. He and I came to the simple conclusion that the aforementioned speaker's thought process (program design being vastly more important/valuable than coaching) is egregiously wrong*.
Sure, it's one thing to tell someone to lift their hand up in the air and put it back down. But are we joking ourselves by using that as an example of the average motor skill a new client has to learn?
What good is it if you write a "perfect" program, with a flawless progression of intensities, volume, loading, and exercise selection if the trainer responsible for administering the program can't properly teach the movement patterns? You can do a "pushup," sure. But then you can do a pushup, and receive infinitely more value from the exercise by actually doing it correctly. This goes for everything ranging from squats and deadlifts to chinups, spidermans, and planks.
Is the trainer's job really that "easy," to simply count reps for someone as they do an exercise, providing no other feedback other than when to start and stop?
Yeah, it is that easy I suppose......If you don't care at all about the safety of the client, and could care less whether he or she receives the most out of the time, effort and money they are investing.
Coaching and guiding a person through correct technique takes time, patience, discernment, and tact on the part of the coach. Some people respond best to touch. Others are audible learners. Others visual. And others are kinesthetic learners.
And unless you live in some sort of magical Wonderland, the technique of someone learning a new exercise is going to be far from pretty. Heck it will probably take days for them to get it right. And of course it will. They are learning something new. It's up to the coach to guide them through this process.
Not to mention, I can't tell you how many times an athlete or an adult client walks in the door (right after I wrote them their next month of programming, of course), only to say any of the following:
-I sprained my MCL two days ago, so I can't do anything on that leg today. -I just found out from the doctor I have spondylolisthesis, can you modify my program for me so I can still train today? -My shoulder has been bothering me from pitching too much, what can I do to help it today? -I just had an AWFUL day at the office, I was stuck in traffic for over two hours, my back hurts, and am having a family crisis at home, can we modify things a bit?
In each of the scenarios above, the coach can and should be able to modify the program on the fly, providing the person with a solid training effect but yet remaining prudent with regards to the red flag(s) at hand.
Is the ability to write a good resistance training program a unique skillset, requiring due diligence and an astute mind on the part of the program writer, and thousands of hours to master? Absolutely. But so does coaching. The two go hand in hand. They must.
I guess I get pretty fired up about this because there are so many coaches and trainers out there who can practically recite an exercise physiology textbook, or Vladimir Issurin's Block Periodization, and yet cannot teach someone how to do a proper lunge, deadlift, or row. Or maybe it's just that they get too impatient when someone doesn't pick up on a new motor pattern right away, or they're lazy, or simply don't even care. I'm not really sure.
Heck, just last week I was lifting at the local commercial gym (sometimes I go for a change of scenery), and I'm not kidding you when I say that a trainer was having her client do over a hundred sit-ups, all the while while slouching against the back extension machine, typing on her phone!
AAARRRGGGGHHHH!
But yeah, I guess all that matters is program writing.....
In fact, just the other day I was speaking with one of our interns and I asked him what he felt were a few things (good or bad) he had received from his experience at SAPT so far. He quickly responded with,
"Definitely one of the most valuable things has been seeing how you all coach people. The cues you utilize, and how you prod them into correct positioning. That's just not something I've learned from all the textbooks I've studied."
To conclude, I'm certainly not saying that program design should be thrown by the wayside. On the contrary, there are many people out there with training certifications that, as my wife recently put it, "Couldn't program their way out of a wet paper bag." But try not to get so obsessed with the "science" side of the equation that you completely miss the reason you wrote the program in the first place.
*In case some of you reading know who this anonymous speaker is - after all, he is quite popular - know that my intent is not to bash him. I actually have the highest respect for him and he has influenced (for the better) many of the things I do today at SAPT. I was simply using this story as a segue into the post. And hey, it's O.K. to disagree with others in the industry**
**Unless it's me.
A Tip for Reducing Back Pain During the Deadlift
See the video below for a “trick” I like to use to help reduce the risk of back pain during the deadlift, after the individual has had enough practice with the basic structural set-up and execution of the deadlift.
Many people are great when it comes to finishing the deadlift with the glutes (“humping the bar”), but I’ve found that few people think about creating tension in the glutes before the genesis of the pull.
I've found this really helps people who complain of "feeling it all in their back" (even after achieving a neutral spine and good set-up) when they pull, and also helps them prevent from "hitching" at their lumbar spine.
