A smorgasbord of SAPT goodness...

Big shout-out to all the SAPT volleyballers who dominated in their respective tryouts; especially to Kenzie and Alexis, who as freshman, made their varsity squads!  Checkout Kenzie's kill deep in her end of the court during her first varsity scrimmage...the "happy dance" that ensues is just priceless.

Here's Sterling SAPTee and softball player, Jena, testing her chinups.  Her first day she could do 1/2 a rep, now she can do 3...just sayin'.  And, it wasn't just from mindlessly tuggin' on a bar; appropriately progressing your vertical pull requires a lot of careful programming, and even more focused determined effort from the trainee.  We like to blend isometrics, eccentrics, and band assisted variations.

Another Sterling SAPTee and softball player, Meghan, demonstrates some pretty vicious medball slams...sounds like a friggin' firing range.

I stumbled upon this swarthy guys youtube channel the other day. My wife says I look like a blouted blowfish when I train...love you too sweety! 

So, I'm heading-up to Michigan this weekend to take part in a very special wedding.  For those who don't know, last summer my cousin Ryan suffered a serious spinal chord injury.  He was supposed to stand in my wedding, but the severity of his injury left him physically unable to.  Well, about a year later I'll be standing-up in his, and proudly watching him WALK down the aisle, something doctors told him likely wouldn't be able to do.  If you have a second, checkout his story by clicking HERE. 

Not because he thought he could, but because he knew he would,

Chris

To failure, or not to failure, is that even a question?

If am trying to gain some muscle mass should I always train to failure?  Thanks,

Billy

Hi Billy,

Thanks for the question.

As is my answer to most things in life, it depends, and even more so, it depends on who you ask.  But understand this; training to failure is not synonymous with muscle growth, and I personally I feel that it can be dangerous if utilized by the wrong populations, and can have an adverse training effect if used in the wrong situations. 

With no understanding of your weight training experience level, current and long term training approach, training frequency, biological age, short and long term training goals are etc., the best I can do provide you a fairly general answer.

First, let’s establish muscle growth contributors: hormones, food, training stimulus and ample recovery from those training sessions.  Lacking any of these four things will significantly limit muscle growth.  For instance, prepubescent populations shouldn’t concern themselves with muscle gain due to lack of hormone production, and should focus more on improving integrity of connective tissue, learning proper motor patters, and becoming more neurologically efficient.  Similarly, those who don’t eat enough, nor get adequate rest in between training sessions, are significantly limiting growth potential.  I’d closely investigate those two things as many looking to gain muscle are strikingly lacking in these two areas.  As I believe your question pertains more to finding the “magical” set and rep scheme, I can tell you there isn’t one, but staying within certain rep and total volume ranges will ensure high amounts of tissue disruption, without always needing to train to failure.  

If I, or any of my athletes are engaged in a hypertrophy focused training block, I always prefer training to positive failure for most sets, defined as when one can no longer complete another rep with good form.  This strategy mainly pertains to their accessory work which depending on the time of year, and programming intentions, will typically fall in the 7-15 rep/set range.  A variety of factors will determine how many total sets/sessions/frequency.  I’ll also shorten rest in between sets.  Sets will always stop feeling like they had another 2 reps “in the tank” during their main compound movement (ie. squat, deadlift, etc.) of the day.  That’s my strength coach-biased answer, and I’m sticking to it…for now. 

Below is a picture of “Big Joe;” he’s the dude in the blue singlet.

 “Big Joe” trained with us at SAPT to prep for his wrestling and baseball seasons.  “Big Joe” is now a Division 1 athlete at a big-time SEC school.  “Big Joe,” never trained to absolute failure with us at SAPT and “Big Joe” is…well…big.

If you’re looking to safely and intelligently put on some muscle, and improve function this offseason, you gotta get in touch with us by clicking HERE…

Neurological efficiency is where it’s at, though,

Chris

Are you a winter and/or spring sport athlete? You NEED to read this!!!

With yet another successful summer coming to a close, SAPT is gearing-up for a fall and winter full of unprecedented physical achievements! If your primary competitive season takes place in the winter, or spring, the time is NOW(!) to begin your performance training at SAPT! As our “cook’em slow” mantra suggests, physical adaptation and subsequent performance improvement doesn’t happen overnight, rather accrued through consistent hard-work over the course of a comfortable window of preparation. Don’t be left “cramming before the final,” contact us now to get a head start on your competition!

Contact us now so you may begin experiencing:

-Soft tissue techniques, activation, mobility and flexibility drills aimed at reducing mechanical asymmetries in the body, improve tissue quality and recovery rate, and reduce risk of injury.

-An accumulation block of preparation where training volume will be high to improve work capacities and allow for growth and development to occur.

-A more concentrated block of training where intensities peak and volume settles, aimed at improving maximal strength, power output, lateral agility, linear speed and acceleration.

-Tapering intensities as the competitive season draws near to allow for the acquisition of sport specific skill to become the primary focus during this time.

Want to see these methodologies in motion? Checkout our student-athletes in action by clicking HERE…

Convinced SAPT is the right fit for you? Or, maybe you’d prefer to participate in a FREE trial session first? Contacting us is as easy as clicking HERE!

You won’t be disappointed…

Chris

Taking “at home/on your own” training programs a step…more like a giant leap, further…

Now I’m not gonna sit here on my soap box and pretend that some of the “at home/on your own” programs and gadgets (both past and present…I won’t mention any names…ha-ha-ha-choooo-p90xgazellefreestylerinsanitybuttmasterorwasitthighmaster?totalgymchucknorrisissweetthough, pardon me, just allergies) haven’t “worked” for some people (define worked…), but what I’ll also say is that for every one “success story” there’s probably another five epic fails following close behind. Epic fails include: -Those three easy payments collecting dust in your video library or home gym.

-A visit to the orthopedic with a bum back or knee because what you didn’t know was that performing a-bajillion “plyometric movements” (it’s in quotes because, well, you really weren’t doing plyometrics in their true context…sorry) in a single training session isn’t a sound protocol for a freakin’ Olympic Triple Jumper, nor is it the proper prescription for you.

-Or, how about this, your preexisting knee condition has gotten worse because maybe attempting to execute an absorbitant amount of single leg broad jumps in one training session is, well, just silly. Or, maybe because the program overlooked the progressive overload of resistance that’s required to increase joint strength and integrity. Or, maybe it was because you were never provided any coaching or feedback, or heck, maybe you weren’t even shown proper form in the first place. The total acquired benefit from performing all those squats incorrectly…nada. To top it off, it sucks you’ll have to sit-out the father-son scrimmage, and the company golf outing again this year, huh?

-Finally, you haven’t gotten an ounce stronger, increased your lean body mass by a negligible amount, and subsequently are still holding on to that spare tire.

Well here’s the deal people, you’ve invested more money than you might like to admit in great marketing campaigns, now it’s time to stand-up against QVC and take a chance on SAPT’s Distance Coaching Training Programs. Well, that’s unless you feel training programs that include and deliver the following isn’t your cup of tea:

-Consideration of your current level of physical preparedness, medical history, and goals, FIRST, and construction of an appropriate training protocol SECOND…you know, so that you don’t quit on the program because the one size fits all shoe is a little too large for your size 8.5’s.

-Weekly correspondence with a real freakin’ certified performance coach who can quickly troubleshoot any questions or issues you may have encountered with your individualized training program.

-Video analysis of your movements to ensure you’re not just lunging just for the sake of lunging, rather trying to a-c-c-o-m-p-l-i-s-h something with each repetition.

-Mobile phone accessible, exercise demonstrations (coaching cues included!), performed by a certified performance coach (with his, or her, shirt on(!), imagine that…Steve, keep your shirt on…) so you know exactly how the movement is supposed to be executed.

- Did you know there is a 10% decrease in total number of muscle fibers per decade after the age of 50? Our distance coaching training programs safely implement multi-joint movements, and progressively increase resistance, to improve power output and elicit the physiological responses necessary to ward off muscular atrophy, and the increased disposition to store fat, that occurs as one ages. Check-out distance coaching client, Frank. Dude could barely hip hinge properly when he first started working with SAPT (come’on Frank, admit it). Now he’s safely smashing front squat to a box a bit below parallel…on his time, in the comfort of his garage gym!

Oh, and my Mom wanted me to note that her bone density readings have been much improved since she’s begun her distance coaching protocol. How many post menopausal, or soon to be, women do you know who need this? Mom also wanted me to note that she appreciates the positive change in my Dad’s mood since he’s begun his distance coaching protocol; she also appreciates the gluteal hypertrophy…gross.

To contact us and get more details regarding our Distance Coaching Training Programs, click HERE.

We look forward to helping you.

Chris

Sometimes I squat...and sometimes I should think before I squat...

I'm void of any kind of informative strength-coach banter this week. So, here's a clip of me squatting on Monday...for those keeping score, thats 355,000lbs x 15. While I know it's not Stevo pushing 1000lbs on the prowler, or doing single-arm pushups with 200lbs extra load, hopefully it'll satisfy those of you that come to our site looking for tantilizing exploits of strength-endurance. I'm off to scower craigslist for good deals on "Hoverounds..." this DOMS is no fun.

CuZ StEvO made me...

Chris

Auditory cuing, switch words, and a 14 year-old girl who can probably do more chin-ups than you…

I’ve had the privilege and pleasure of coordinating and teaching some strength and conditioning drills at the George Mason University Baseball and Softball summer camps throughout the week.  It’s been a welcomed challenge attempting to coordinate 60-70 baseball and softball players through 45 minutes of drills in about 100 degree heat.  As with any coaching scenario I immerse myself in, it is always my goal to elicit a positive response in the athlete that I’m coaching; in short, when they leave my guidance I want them to have learned something, and I want them to have gotten better, no matter the circumstances. Now, 100 degree heat, 7-7min stations of 10, 8-12 year-olds, may not be the most conducive situation, or my most comfortable setting, for eliciting the responses I’ve mentioned above.  However, that just meant I had to get a little more creative, concise, and entertaining with my delivery.  What I found to be most helpful was the usage of auditory cuing and switch words (I learned these techniques from Brian Grasso, so there, I’m not passing these ideas off as my own). 

Auditory cuing is helpful for many reasons.  One, it forces everyone in the group to be quite and attentive as they listen for the cue (a moment of solace amongst a pack of 10 year old girls is hard to come by).  Two, it excites the athlete as it becomes a game to see who can react to the cue the fastest, thus yielding a more focused athlete.

Switch words come in handy as you try to elicit the effort in which you want the drill executed.  Remember, 100 degree heat…who really wants to jump high or run fast.  Switch words, and I’ll quote Brian Grasso, “are one-word declarations that enable the subconscious minds to literally “flip a switch’ thereby causing a particular behavior pattern or thought process to ensue.” 

Below is how I ran a drill the other afternoon, auditory cues and switch words are labeled:

“Ladies, good afternoon, when I clap twice, I need you to clap twice and give me your attention.  (Practice the clap response, and BAM you have their undivided attention).

Our first drill will begin on our stomach, when I say ‘ready’ (cue/switch) we’ll get to the half-kneeling position as fast as we can.  When I say ‘hit’ (switch) you’ll run as fast as you can through me (repeat ‘hit’ loudly as they run to elicit the effort you want).  Let me hear you clap twice if you understand the drill.”

These simple little techniques will allow your message to be less muddled and better received amongst your younger athletes.  Being creative, but concise, with your instructions will make a world of difference.

And now, I give you a 14 year old girl that’s probably stronger than you…she could barely do one of these when she first started with us about 19-weeks ago…

When you see the word "click," the next time in this sentence, click it and you'll be on your way to getting stronger...clap twice if you hear me.

Romo