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Yes, we have indeed finally put up an online store! It is quite modest, but the essentials are there: t-shirts, sweatshirts, SHOES, an awesome coffee mug, and even a tie designed to intimidate lesser colleagues when things get intense around the office. We'll be putting up fresh designs in the coming weeks and months, but in the meantime show your support of SAPT and rock some of our gear!
Women, the “Gym,” and Other Overheard Topics
Yesterday I had a meeting at Starbucks. I got there about an hour early to relax, think, and knock out a bit of work. I quickly was aware of two young women sitting at a table near mine who were home from college and spending time catching up with one another. Being “quickly aware” is my nice way of saying they were talking pretty loud and somehow interjecting “…like…” into every sentence. I tried my best to focus and ignore the chatter, but soon some things outside of the ordinary started popping through the filter:
- “…we broke up because he was psychologically abusive…”
- “…it’s [the gym] is like my refuge. Everyone knows that’s MY time…”
- “…I’ve lost like 20lbs since freshmen year… I was so obsessed with everything I ate…”
- “I have an app that’s like my best friend – it lets you put EVERYTHING in it… food, cardio…”
It was such a bizarre set of things to hear from two complete strangers. From the outside these girls looked like they had everything together. The typical trendy clothes, out of place (for December) tan, attractive, enjoying college, etc.… you get the idea. But, I found it pretty disturbing that they were dealing with non-typical issues like abuse, eating disorders, and generally struggling to figure out who they are as adults.
Eventually my meeting started and I forgot about the girls. Although they were still there talking after my 90-min meeting ended. I’m not sure what I feel about this, or even why I’m writing about this, but I guess I just always think it’s such a shame that so many women go through these types of struggles. I’m glad the pair enjoys training so much and have identified it as critical time for themselves. Time and time again addressing your health and fitness via strength and cardiovascular training gives amazing amounts of confidence to men and women of all ages.
Well, the whole issue of confidence reminded me of the “The Top 10 Reasons Heavy Weights Don’t Bulk Up the Female Athlete” that I helped out with when I was down at VCU:
- Women do not have nearly as much testosterone as men. In fact, according to Bill Kreamer in Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, women have about 15 to 20 times less testosterone than men. Testosterone is the reason men are men and women are women. After men hit puberty, they grow facial hair, their voice deepens, and they develop muscle mass. Because men have more testosterone, they are much more equipped to gain muscle. Because women do not have very much testosterone in their bodies, they will never be able to get as big as men.
- The perception that women will bulk up when they begin a strength training program comes from the chemically-altered women on the covers of bodybuilding magazines. These “grocery stand models” are most likely pumped full of some extra juice. This is why they look like men. If you take the missing link that separates men from women and add it back in, what do you have? A man!
- For women, toning is what happens when the muscle is developed through training. This is essentially bodybuilding without testosterone. Since the testosterone is not present in sufficient amounts, the muscle will develop, but it won’t gain a large amount of mass. The “toned” appearance comes from removing the fat that is covering a well-developed muscle.
- Muscle bulk comes from a high volume of work. The repetition range that most women would prefer to do (8–20 reps) promotes hypertrophy (muscle growth). For example, a bodybuilding program will have three exercises per body part. For the chest, they will do flat bench for three sets of 12, incline for three sets of 12, and decline bench for three sets of 12. This adds up to 108 total repetitions. A program geared towards strength will have one exercise for the chest—flat bench for six sets of three with progressively heavier weight. This equals 18 total repetitions. High volume (108 reps) causes considerable muscle damage, which in turn, results in hypertrophy. The considerably lower volume (18 reps) will build more strength and cause minimal bulking.
- Heavy weights will promote strength not size. This has been proven time and time again. When lifting weights over 85 percent, the primary stress imposed upon the body is placed on the nervous system, not on the muscles. Therefore, strength will improve by a neurological effect while not increasing the size of the muscles. And, according to Zatsiorsky and Kreamer in Science and Practice of Strength Training, women need to train with heavy weights not only to strengthen the muscles but also to cause positive adaptations in the bones and connective tissues.
6. Bulking up is not an overnight process. Many women think they will start lifting weights, wake up one morning, and say “Holy sh__! I’m huge!” This doesn’t happen. The men that you see who have more muscle than the average person have worked hard for a long time (years) to get that way. If you bulk up overnight, contact us because we want to do what you’re doing.
7. What the personal trainer is prescribing is not working. Many female athletes come into a new program and say they want to do body weight step-ups, body weight lunges, and leg extensions because it’s what their personal trainer back home had them do. However, many of these girls need to look in a mirror and have a reality check because their trainer’s so-called magical toning exercises are not working. Trainers will hand out easy workouts and tell people they work because they know that if they make the program too hard the client will complain. And, if the client is complaining, there’s a good chance the trainer might lose that client (a client to a trainer equals money).
8. Bulking up is calorie dependant. This means if you eat more than you are burning, you will gain weight. If you eat less than you are burning, you will lose weight. Unfortunately, most female athletes perceive any weight gain as “bulking up” and do not give attention to the fact that they are simply getting fatter. As Todd Hamer, a strength and conditioning coach at George Mason University said, “Squats don’t bulk you up. It’s the ten beers a night that bulk you up.” This cannot be emphasized enough.
If you’re a female athlete and training with heavy weights (or not), you need to watch what you eat. Let’s be real—the main concern that female athletes have when coming to their coach about gaining weight is not their performance but aesthetics. If you choose to ignore this fact as a coach, you will lose your athletes!
9. The freshman 15 is not caused by strength training. It is physiologically impossible to gain 15 lbs of muscle in only a few weeks unless you are on performance enhancing drugs. Yes the freshman 15 can come on in only a few weeks. This becomes more complex when an athlete comes to a new school, starts a new training program, and also has a considerable change in her diet (i.e. only eating one or two times per day in addition to adding 6–8 beers per evening for 2–4 evenings per week). They gain fat weight, get slower, and then blame the strength program. Of course, strength training being the underlying cause is the only reasonable answer for weight gain. The fact that two meals per day has slowed the athlete’s metabolism down to almost zero and then the multiple beers added on top of that couldn’t have anything to do with weight gain...it must be the lifting.
10. Most of the so-called experts are only experts on how to sound like they know what they are talking about. The people who “educate” female athletes on training and nutrition have no idea what they’re talking about. Let’s face it—how many people do you know who claim to “know a thing or two about lifting and nutrition?” Now, how many people do you know who actually know what they’re talking about, have lived the life, dieted down to make a weight class requirement, or got on stage at single digit body fat? Invariably, these so-called experts are also the people who blame their gut on poor genetics.
Okay, okay... I know I've posted and re-posted this thing more than once in the past... but, it's important to keep passing this type of information along.
What tha... it's Monday already?!?
It literally just registered on my drive in this morning that Steve is officially out-of-town and I am officially in charge of all but the Thursday post. Yikes! Okay, here's what I've got for today and I promise I'll get myself together for the rest of the week: 1. We were out finishing our Christmas shopping yesterday and ventured into the American Girl store in Tysons. Our neices are into these dolls. Ummmm, so I'd heard about the long lines, the in-house cafe, the crazy expensive outfits, etc. What I had NOT heard about is this:
I feel like this could potentially be the picture that accompanies the definition of opulence. Well, I will not be surprised when Arabella requests an American Girl doll in the future, but I'll be damned if I pay a grown woman to style that doll's hair. I wasn't into dolls growing up (I know, shocker), but isn't learning how to dress and style your doll supposed to be part of the whole idea?
2. Teens, Sugary Drinks, and Exercise: Scare Tactic Works - This is an interesting post from Fooducate citing the behavorial changes that occur in teenagers while they considered which beverage to purchase.
3. An Ode to Training Partners - from Ryan Wood
I began powerlifting about a year ago and have been completely addicted ever since. People enjoy many things as hobbies; some knit, some read novels, some collect stamps, and some play in adult sports leagues. Me on the other hand; what do I do for fun? I pick up heavy things off the floor, I press heavy things off my chest, and I put heavy things on my back and squat them; all on a platform in front of people. Am I crazy? Most certainly. Luckily I have found people equally as crazy (maybe more so). These insane young men are my training partners and I wouldn’t have made near the gains that I have without them.
As far as I’m concerned training partners are almost a necessity unless you have a coach. I don’t care if you’re just training for the sake of training, training to be a strongman, for athletics, or for powerlifting; training partners and coaches should be with you. There’s no way you will make the same gains solo as you would with people training right alongside you. They will provide you with an array of ways to make improvements that you otherwise wouldn’t know. They will give you feedback and cues at every step of the way, they will be there as a support system on your good days and bad, and lastly they will be there to motivate you; inspiring and encouraging feats you didn’t think were possible.
If any of you have trained, and I mean seriously trained you know that you will have good days, bad days, and downright depressing days; it’s just the way it is. I’ll tell you one thing though, if I didn’t have my training partners as a support system my good days wouldn’t be nearly as good, my bad days would be worse, and my depressing days would probably have made me quit powerlifting by now. Finally, my training partners are my motivators. I have tried things because of them that have led me to succeed where I thought I would have failed; and I am very grateful and a lot stronger for that. On the other side of the coin, I have tried things because of them that have led me to fail BUT at least they encouraged me to do something I wouldn’t normally have had the guts to do and I am grateful for that as well.
To end this sappy rant about how awesome training partners are (hopefully my training partner’s heads’ aren’t too swelled after this), I’ll end with my boy Sean’s epic 500lbs rack pull that he wouldn’t even have tried by that point in his training without myself and John. NICE PULL HEALY!!!
Some Pre-Christmas Shenanigans: Guam, Some Big Brother Love, and "Neat" Video
Some of my ramblings as I head out for the holidays.... 1. This weekend I travel overseas (to Guam) to spend Christmas with my wife and her family. I'm your quintessential creature of habit, and have spent every Christmas thus far at my parents house in Vienna, Va, in temperatures typically surrounding the 15-35° mark. As such, I was initially a bit hesitant to break out of my "Christmas comfort zone."
You know, same Christmas Eve and Christmas morning routine, complete with the right music, the right food, and the right holiday cookies. And how can it be Christmas if it's not cold enough to snow?!
This budding uncertainty lasted about a total of 30 seconds however, as it quickly sunk in that I'd be a fool not to give up one year of my typical Holiday traditions in order to spend a week in December walking around shirtless in 85° weather on a Guam beach:
Yup. 'Nuff said.
Taking this trip also gave me a good article idea, given that I was recently planning my training for while I'm out of town. A lot of people seem to inquire about working out while traveling, so I'm thinking of writing an article on good ideas for traveling on the road, whether you have minimal equipment or access to a so-so hotel gym. Keep your eyes peeled!
I should note, too, that this trip also wouldn't be possible without an awesome boss and co-workers, who (for the life of me I don't know why) are letting me do this. So, to Sarah, Chris, Ryan, and Susan: THANK YOU!!
2. My "little" sister graduates from the Radford School of Nursing today, and I'm fortunate enough to be able to travel to Radford to attend her pinning ceremony before Kelsey and I fly out to Guam. She has worked her freaking butt off these past few years (I'm not sure how many realize just how demanding nursing school is), and I couldn't be more proud of her. I've seen her in action, and let me tell you, she rocks it hard as a nurse.
Congratulations Jenny!!! The medical world is now a better place because of you.
3. For those of you sitting at your desks on this particular Friday looking for something to occupy your time, see the video below:
Here Dr. Mike Evans contrives a REALLY cool presentation on "what is the single best thing we can do for our health?" Is it a simple message he delivers? Yes. But still something that many fail to grasp and will go a long way in saving our country's annual expenses related to health care. I can only imagine the the artist in this video was questioning her sanity by the end of this!
4. I hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas, or Hanukkah, or Holiday, etc., whatever you celebrate in particular. It's easily my most favorite time of the year, and I hope all of you have a fantastic time celebrating "the Season."
Have some fun while you're at it, too. While yes, I'll be sure to pick up some heavy things and get after it while I'm overseas, I'm still going to get in my share of relaxing and enjoying holiday treats. As they say: it's not that important how you eat and exercise between Christmas and New Year's, but it IS important how you eat and exercise between New Year's and Christmas!
Cheers Everyone. In the words of N Sync: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays! (Yes, I just did that)
Increasing thoracic mobility to improve pitching velocity…
While the majority of the adolescent pitching population is busy this offseason shortening their pec minors on the pec-deck, we’ve got our guys and gals performing thoracic mobility drills aimed at actually improving pitching performance and velocity. Besides just improving the overall functionality of the student-athlete, incorporating thoracic mobility drills (both extension and rotation) are going to improve their abilities in the “cocking” or “layback” phase of the wind-up.
Some indicators that suggest the pitcher in your life is in need of some thoracic mobility drills:
1) He or she spends the vast majority of their day slumped over a desk, then at home on the computer, and then on the couch in front of the TV creating a strikingly similar posture to this cute little fellow…
2) He or she has complained of, or have battled chronic, elbow, shoulder, and lower-back pain throughout their career.
3) His or her fastball couldn’t breakthrough a wet paper-bag.
Only about 10-weeks remain until high-school tryouts. Slowly step away from the bench press, and request a free consultation with the experts at SAPT, so we can “get you right.”
But what do we know…
Chris
Pushup/Inverted Row Test + Feedback
My internet buddy, Ben Bruno, recently asked me if I could test out the push/pull experiment he's conducting. You can read about it HERE in case you haven't already. Essentially, what you have to do is test your max reps on inverted rows and pushups, in order to gather a rough feel of how your pushing strength compares to your pulling strength on fairly comparable exercises. I was happy to help him out, and I was also curious where I stood personally. Here were the ground rules for the test:
- Hands MUST touch your chest on each rep of the inverted rows.
- Full range of motion on the pushups.
- Feet have to be elevated for both the rows and the pushups. (This makes the exercises significantly harder FYI, thanks to physics).
- The strap height for the rows should be set so that your upper back is only a couple inches from the floor upon extending the arms.
- Don't flounder around like a fish out of water. (All too frequently I hear people touting their ability to do 100 pushups in a row, and upon watching them demonstrate I see them doing something like THIS that quickly makes my eyes bleed).
I wanted to film myself completing this experiment, given that tests such as these with a large sample size can quickly lead to skewed results due to the proclivity of humans to fabricate their results, especially with regards to something like a physical test.
Case in point: peruse any exercise-related internet forum or youtube page and you'll quickly find various cyber warriors writing about how they can bench 405 for reps. Sure you can. In related news - I once took out Mike Tyson in a sparring match.
Anyway, here is my test below:
A few notes:
- I certainly do not think my results are close to impressive. On the contrary, I consider my results to be "eh, that was okay" at best. This is not surprising, considering the last time I trained muscular endurance occurred right around the same time the US government was debt-free. (**ba-DUM-ching!!**)
- Following the point above, it should be obvious that this is really a test of muscular endurance as opposed to muscular strength. After all, once (or if) you get past the 10-12 rep mark you're, in essence, testing your musculoskeletal system's ability to delay fatigue as opposed to it's capability to produce maximal force. Ben did note this in his test, but due to the fact that not many people have weight vests or other means of loading these movement, the current protocol seemed to be the one that will work for the largest number of people.
- As I was performing the inverted rows it became quickly evident that my grip and biceps (specifically, the brachioradialis, due to the neutral grip wrist position) were on fire, and thus limiting the my ability to continue to row all the way up. I see this two ways:
- I was not using my upper back correctly, hence my lower arm musculature giving out before my back (or at least feeling like it). This could very well be true, telling me I still have some much needed work to do in the upper back department.
- If we're really seeking a true measure of upper back strength, and upper back strength alone, perhaps this test could be used in conjunction with something else that doesn't allow your body to cheat as much (ex. a chest-supported row), or an exercise in general that doesn't require you to hang from an apparatus the entire time, thus causing your grip to give way.
- During the test, I did my best to keep my reps controlled, while at the time time not executing the movements as I would in a normal training session. This was a test, after all, so I needed to break a couple rules. For instance, during a typical "rowing" movement, I like to squeeze at the top for a solid second to ensure I'm actually using my back and not cheating.
However, I still kept my elbows in on the pushups, chin tucked, core locked in, all that good stuff in an attempt to emulate a perfect pushup as much as possible. I stopped the test (especially on the rows) when I felt I was jerking too much instead of actually doing the movement correctly.
- I DO find it interesting that even though I rarely perform higher than ten reps in training, I was still able to hit 47 pushups and 28 rows. No, not impressive, but I think it still supports the efficacy of strength training even in something like improving muscular endurance. In fact, the Journal of Strength and Conditioning research published a study confirming the very fact that improving one's maximal strength will aid in a muscular endurance. To the distance runners and "feel the burn" fanatics out there: yes, this applies to you. So, even though I normally perform my pushups weighted and keep them at eight reps and below, the fact that may "1RM" pushup was improved helped me to score higher on an endurance test than I normally would have.
- Yes, my number of pushups did significantly outweigh the number of rows I got, but this is to be expected on a test like this. I was at least glad that my personal ratio wasn't quite at a 2:1 (push:pull), and it was indicative to me that I need to continue to prioritize my pulling in my programs (which I'm already doing). Good to know things are moving in the right direction, as I'm sure my push:pull ratio would have been MUCH worse had I done this test six months ago.
- A lot of people view inverted rows as an elementary movement, but I think many would be surprised how tough they are when performed correctly. I think Ben made a wise move in subbing out the chinup as the standard measure of push-to-pull comparisons, given that it's much easier to cheat on chinups. I did laugh to myself after doing this test, as my max chinups and inverted rows are very similar. Guess I've got some more work to do in the rowing department, no?
That's all for now. It was definitely a fun test and I look forward to the conclusions Ben draws from this particular study. I encourage you to try it out for yourself, and then send your results over to him on his page HERE.
