Monday Musings: Captain America, Exercise Pairings, etc.
1. Lyme's. So I forgot to mention that - when I went on a backpacking trip a couple weeks ago to catch some breathtaking views of the Shenandoah Valley - I also went to, apparently, catch a nice dose of Lyme's disease. This bear is brutal (crazy how large a punch that little tick packs), and I don't wish it upon anyone. It completely wipes you out, and is extremely tough to diagnose (all my blood tests came back negative). When I was in the ER, they even shoved a needle into my spine to withdraw spinal fluid in order to search for an infection in the nervous system. (Doctors, I know you meant well, but I'd kinda like my spinal fluid back whenever you get a chance). Anyway, I'm extremely blessed to have access to medical aid, a family/fiancee that took incredible care of me, and awesome co-workers that were able to pick up the slack while I was out. Those 10 days were pretty grueling (lost about ten pounds, too), but I'm on the mend and fortunately they were able to catch it before it evolved into something much worse. And, yes, I realize you spell the fruit in the picture l-i-m-e, but give me a break! Just trying to keep some pictures in here for you all.
2. Captain America. I have to admit, I was very disappointed with this one (you let me down, RottenTomatoes!). As the worse of the Lyme's symptoms were dying down over the weekend, I decided the natural course of action for my first low-key outing would be to go see the latest Marvel character on the big screen. Even though I cringe when spending the outrageous fee that theaters are charging, I generally enjoy Super Hero movies (Batman, X-men, the first Spider Man, etc.), so I decided to take my chances with Captain America. Anyway, they pretty much blew it with this one. The plot was sub-par, and even the action just seemed a bit forced. Not to mention, whenever the bad guys would salute their leader, they'd throw up both arms and yell 'Hail, Hydra!'
Hail Hydra?! Really??? Is that the best you can do?
The only thing they did correctly with this movie was show Chris Evans with his shirt off intersperse a fair amount of humor throughout the film, which was actually pretty funny.
3. Quick Thoughts on a Common Exercise Pairing. Is a Chinup and Bench Press a *true* antagonistic pairing? Most lifters who’ve investigated training understand how important it is to balance one’s program. For example, you should “pull” just as much (if not more) as you “push” in order to promote structural integrity and keep shoulder health in check. In other words, if you perform 3 sets of a bench press, you should also be performing 3 sets of a row variation. Or, if you perform 4 sets of a military press, then you should perform 4 sets of a lat pulldown or pullup. Often these are performed as supersets, or “alternating sets” to save time and increase work density. One premise of this, in the context of shoulder health, is to include as much external rotation of the humerus (upper arm bone) as internal rotation.
HOWEVER, while it's a great place to start, it's not always just about 'pulling' and 'pushing.' Using just one example: It's very common to see a chinup and bench press pairing. What many don’t realize is that as you execute a chinup, you actually drive internal rotation of the shoulder joint. Guess what you’re also driving when you bench press? Internal rotation.
So, a chinup and bench press pairing, while it may look good on paper, isn’t a true antagonistic pairing. I’m not saying it’s a bad pairing and should never be used, but just trying to elucidate the point that it’s not always just about pushing and pulling, It’s important to understand what is occurring, mechanically, at each joint, if we’re seeking true balance in our programming.
4. The Bull Shark is the only shark that can live in both salt and freshwater. Just sayin.'
5. My Current Program. Well, more accurately, the program I'll be following once the Lyme's is out of me. Long story short, I'm pretty beat up. As I noted in a post a couple weeks back, my left shoulder is pretty angry, so not only is bench pressing going to be nixed for a lonnngg time, but unfortunately I need to cease back squatting, too (holding the bar in back squat places the shoulder joint in a position of pretty extreme horizontal abduction and external rotation, which can be pretty risky (depending), and I've experienced plenty of pain from it so it's out for now).
Also, I did something pretty stupid a couple months back (for the sake of brevity) and injured my left leg. I haven't figured out exactly what it is yet, but I do know that I experience a significant piercing sensation in my quad when I'm under load and undergo hip flexion greater than roughly 110 degrees. As such, unfortunately, I need to omit any exercises that exacerbate the symptoms (which, through experimentation, include most quad-dominant exercises such as front squats, forward lunges, and also pretty much any plyo drill involving significant deceleration).
As such, here's what the jist of my program is going to entail:
- Loads of horizontal pulling (can't really do enough of this)
- Pushup Variations (weighted, suspended, etc.)
- Hip-Dominant lower body exercises (namely, deadlifts and their variations)
- Sled work
- Lots of Pullups. I'm going to use this time to see what I can get up to in the pullup realm.
I'll be sure to keep everyone posted, and, hopefully, garner some solid results from the program in spite of the injuries.
That's it for today. Hopefully it was random enough for you all and that you learned some things (you'll thank me later for the Bull Shark trivia).
The Best Mobility Series You're Not (Yet) Doing
This series is from Grey Cook and I absolutely LOVE it. It's a staple mobility movement for all my teams at Mason, especially while they're in-season. The very first and very last portion that gets cut off is simply an overhead stretch (lift your chest and straighten out your arms).
The sequence is very time efficient and takes care of mobilizing everything you need to prior to a squat session like these NAAAASTY speed squats I did a couple years ago: ...I used to be able to move some weight.
This mobility series also works great at home should you find yourself monitoring a small child's breakfast and not actually eating yourself: Okay, I know that was a reach, but I really wanted to post an Arabella video - it's Friday, after all!!
Give the Squat Mobility Series a go - your entire posterior chain and your hips will thank you!
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
A Little of This, A Little of That
For anyone wondering, Steve is okay, but still pretty sick. So, it looks like he won't be making his next blog post until Monday at the earliest. In the meantime, I'm taking the path of least resistance and offering up some great reads from other sources:McDonald's Happy Meals get a makeover. I, personally, have an enormous problem with McDonald's and feel guilty anytime I stop there to get a black coffee (the ONLY thing I ever allow myself to consume from them). So, I don't know if this effort makes me feel better or worse about them... probably worse, when you consider "Take Home Point" #3. Here's another article from NY Times.
Wost Call Ever? I don't know about all that, but it's definitely a bad call:
Great article on how calorie counting is ineffective and outdated. Weight loss depends a great deal on QUALITY of food consumed - if you eat nothing but unprocessed, nutrient-dense food you can eat as much as you want and will look great - that's the approach I took to losing my "baby weight." But, on the other side, we currently have a client who has lost 38lbs by monitoring caloric intake. Alexander Ovechkin being himself, I suppose:
The Cost of NCAA DI Athletics
Unless you’ve been a college administrator or coach for many years, I think it can be hard to understand/appreciate how much athletics (and I’m only talking NCAA DI in this post) can cost from financial standpoint. On occasion, I’ll hear friends talking about how much money the big football schools “rake in” during the season. Yes, the big-time football schools (FBS) generate some impressive numbers, but what most people don’t realize is how much it costs to maintain these teams and keep them competing at the top of the nation. Here are some shocking numbers I attained from the NCAA's report on Revenues & Expenses for 2004-2010:
Net Operating Results – NCAA DI 2010 (Median Values)
| Football Bowl Subdivision: | |
| Total Generated Revenues | $35,336,000 |
| Total Expenses | $46,688,000 |
| Median Net Generated Revenue | ($9,446,000) |
| Division I without Football: | |
| Total Generated Revenues | $1,993,000 |
| Total Expenses | $11,562,000 |
| Median Net Generated Revenue | ($8,597,000) |
Total Revenues – NCAA DI 2010
| Football Bowl Subdivision: | |
| Largest Reported | $143,555,000 |
| Median | $48,298,000 |
| Division I without Football: | |
| Largest Reported | $32,098,000 |
| Median | $11,077,00 |
Additionally, there are an average of 333 athletes participating in athletics at FBS schools. At these institutions the median expense per male athlete is $61,000 per year. For females the expense is a paltry $29,000 per year.
In contrast, at D-I schools without football there are an average of 176 athletes participating in athletics with an average of $21,000/year spent on men and $20,000 spent on women.
If you’ve never seen these numbers, I think it serves as a slap in the face by the reality that is the big business of college athletics.
It’s also pretty easy to see why it is so difficult for non-football schools to compete with the big boys on a national level in all the other sports.
In the end, the lack of money is why it is so impressive when a school like George Mason makes it to the top 25 national ranking for men’s basketball or when a school like VCU blows through the NCAA Tournament bracket. Ohio State (who, by the way, has the largest athletics budget in the country) should NEVER, EVER lose to a school like a Mason or a VCU whose budgets pale in comparison (we’re talking in the neighborhood of $120 MILLION less).
Fortunately, there is still a lot of heart and love in athletics and that can be worth more than money. So, while I LOVE my alma mater Virginia Tech, the longer I work with the other coaches and athletes at Mason, the more and more I appreciate the challenges and rewards that come from working with less and achieving more. Go Patriots!
Monday Guest Post
Stevo is still pretty under the weather. So, in his place on this fine Monday, Ryan Wood will make his blog post debut! Enjoy: I was recently talking to a friend of mine who is a former collegiate basketball player about strength and conditioning for basketball. Our conversation was centered on getting faster in the change of direction aspect of defensive slides. He asked me what he should do and I began thinking about what I used to do or what coaches would make me do in order to get better at this same exact thing. Endless amounts of wall sits, shuttles, and defensive slide drills flooded back into the forefront of my mind as well as stomach acid in my esophagus. After the thoughts and stomach acid dissipated I began thinking as a professional strength coach and not as a high school basketball player. Because of my troubles playing defense when I was younger I wanted to give him good sound advice.
I was always told when my man got by me that I had to be faster changing direction. Well 10 years later after no one was able to tell me exactly how to do that, I found out for myself. When a ball-handler decides to cross over with the basketball it is up to the defender to suddenly stop a full speed slide, plant, push off their outside foot to switch directions, and continue into another full speed slide. Sounds like a lot right? Now you can see why defenders get beat so much off the dribble and why things like help defense exist.
In the scenario I described what you see is the product of the defenders ability to start and stop. This may seem easy but it’s really quite hard, especially when you are not genetically gifted. In order for a defender to stop they have to be able to absorb the force of their own body against the floor while almost instantaneously using the same side of the body to produce force into the floor to start their movement again. Now if this still seems easy let me throw another wrench into the equation. Not only do you have to absorb and produce force in order to change directions you have to be able to do it fast (high velocity). If there lacks an ability to perform this change of direction quickly, then you just got beat by your man.
Can anyone pick out the two key words that are extremely important to this whole defense thing? If you guessed “wrench” or “easy” then take another guess. The two key words are force and velocity. And what do we get when we multiply force times velocity? POWER! Power is the key to being an excellent defender. Now I’m sure you’re asking how you can increase your power output in order to become a better defender. I could write something lengthy on this subject but I’ll just give you a couple key exercises to use. These exercises will help you produce more power and provide specificity to the change of direction aspect of defensive slides.
First, dynamic effort squats to depth. This type of squat is performed at maximal speeds with submaximal weight (50-65% of a 1RM). This type squat will allow you to switch from the eccentric to the concentric phase at high speeds not unlike the change of direction that occurs during a defensive slide. This exercise will call on the same main musculature that is required when playing defense (knee and hip extensors).
Second, lateral bounds and stick. This exercise is extremely important for players looking to better their man-to-man defense. The reason being is that it improves power output by working on your ability to absorb and produce force unilaterally (one side of the body). I would argue that during the change of direction phase of defense that it is predominantly a unilateral movement rather than bilateral. However, that whole argument is a different topic for a different day. This exercise will also help in ACL injury prevention by improving the musculature and connective tissue of the knee.
Third, banded monster walks. This exercise provides some great activation and strengthening of the glutes. Considering most people are very quad dominant, especially basketball players, the ability to properly activate your glutes is vital to being able to produce force at high velocities. Defense is as easy as Power = Force X Velocity. It’s a bad joke; but you’ll remember it.
