BIG News: SAPT is Moving!...

...Just down the road!

This is another HAPPY 5th ANNIVERSARY effort I"ve made to say "thank you" to our loyal clientele and Team Fantastico (aka, the SAPT coaches).

While we"re only going about 1-mile from our current location, we"ll be taking a huge step forward in terms of improving working conditions for the SAPT coaches.

Don"t worry, the actual training floor will retain all the aspects that keep us out of the "commercial gym" category... you know the concrete floors, concrete block walls, high ceilings, and big bay door.

Where we"ll be getting "soft" (if you can call it that): We will FINALLY have a CLIMATE CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT!

The coaches will also have some pretty nice offices (check out the picts below).

I wish I could say this deal is 100% done and done. But, we will be having a public hearing to see if we get approved for the permit required for us to make this move on June 5th with Fairfax City"s Board of Zoning Appeals.

If you"re in the area or are a City resident, please consider coming out to the hearing to support us and our continued online casino occupation within Fairfax City! The meeting will be Tuesday, June 5th at 7pm at City Hall in the City Council chambers.

In the meantime, check out what we hope will soon be our new digs:

At this point you may be wondering about the exterior and how it compares to Pickett Road. While I don"t have any photos to share, I can say with full confidence, our clients and visitors will no longer get to enjoy the sights of "bombed-out" and abandoned vehicles in our parking lot.

25% Off Sale Ends Soon!

I'm in the middle of a bear of a day, so I just wanted to pop in and remind you all that the 25% off sale ends this Thursday, May 24th. See here for more information. This is the first time we've EVER done this in the five years we've been open, and I can guarantee you won't see anything similar again until the 10-year mark. Even if you can't begin right away, you can still make the purchase and cash-in once your back in town for the Summer or home from vacation.

Click HERE to sign up, OR email Kelsey directly at: kelsey@studentathletept.com

Be back soon for more training-related content!

The 10 Things Fitness Magazines Won't Tell You

I"m filling in for Kelsey this morning - teaching the women"s A.M. group class (these ladies are awesome!) - so I"m currently crunched for time in between two of the classes.

I thought I"d pass along a phenomenal short article I recently read by Adam Bornstein (former Fitness Editor for Men"s Health, and current Editorial Director for Livestrong.com):

The 10 Things Fitness Magazines Won"t Tell You

What? It takes online casino one hour to teach a great-looking fitness models to do a decent pushup? Muscle "Tone" is BS?

I found myself tipping my hat to Adam for stepping out on a limb (given that he"s the editor of a major magazine himself) and telling people the truth of what goes on behind the scenes of major fitness magazines. Give it a quick read, and share it with your friends.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

A Witness to Female Strength

Today’s post is in honor of “Female Strength”. I had the privilege of seeing two feats of strength this past week. The first was with three of our softball girls who train with us at SAPT. They had their senior night last Friday and it was pretty cool to watch them perform on the field. Not only did I get to see them beat the other team 11-0 but I got to watch Nancy lay out for a line drive up the middle. I’m pretty sure at one point she was parallel to the ground. Did I mention that their team has 3 captains and it just so happens that all 3 girls who train at SAPT fill those slots. Coincidence?

These girls can drive me crazy sometimes but their work ethic and general awesomeness makes me feel privileged that I get to coach them. Great job girls!

The second feat of female greatness comes from one of our adult clients, Lisa. For anyone who reads our blog I’m sure you already know the legend of Lisa. This woman refuses to be weak and proves it just about every 12 weeks. I got to watch Lisa retest her bench press and deadlift from 12 weeks ago this past Saturday. Check out the video below to see her 15lbs bench press PR and her 35lbs deadlift PR!

Q & A: What's Wrong with Sit-ups?

Q: "What's wrong with sit-ups? I've read SAPT rarely programs them.  I also read that doing lots of reps will not reduce belly fat.  My wife wants to argue with me about it!  Do they just plain not work?  Are the somewhat effective?  What makes the wrong?

Thank you!!!"

A. I wouldn't go so far as to say that sit-ups are WRONG, per se. It's just that the majority of people's time would be better spent throwing themselves in front of a moving school bus, or traveling back to the 14th century to ensure a solid infusion of the Black Plague into their bloodstream. Either one, really.

All kidding aside (even though I wasn't really kidding), when it comes to performing sit-ups: there's a time and a place. When people tell me they they "need" to perform sit-ups, I usually ask them a very simple question:

"WHY do you feel the need to do sit-ups?"

To which they'll usually respond with one of four answers:

1. "I like feeling my abs burn. You know, because I enjoy that sort of thing." 2. "I want six-pack abs." 3. "I partake in activities that require repeated spinal flexion (ex. MMA or military training)." 4. "Now that you mention it, Steve, I actually do not know why. Please kick me in the balls, repeatedly, to remind me not to be so stupid."

Maybe #4 is made up, and maybe #4 only applies to males, but I digress. Let's briefly tackle responses #1-3.

1. "I like feeling my abs burn. You know, because I enjoy that sort of thing."

Sure, I get it....fair enough. Allow me to present you with a myriad "core" exercises that will allow you to satiate your palate craving for all things burning abs without putting your spine at risk.

According to Dr. Stuart McGill (professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo), when you perform a sit-up, it places roughly 3,300 N (or, 730lbs) of compressive force on the discs of the lumbar spine. In case you were wondering, that's not a good thing.

Given that 80%+ of Americans will experience significant back pain during their lives, why include something in your routine that will only make your odds even more unfavorable? Maybe, perhaps, if we still lived in hunter-gatherer societies, we could get away with them. Not so much anymore thanks to the invention of the computer, office work, and sitting 8+ hours a day.

And please, for the love, never perform something like this, let alone for a bazillion repetitions:

I'll still train the heck out of people's "core", and give them plenty of what they need to reach their desired goals, but I do my best to do it via methods that AVOID placing that kind of ridiculous compressive force on lumbar vertebrae.

Try a few sets of any of the following, and I guarantee that both you - and your low back - will thank me later.

Pot Stirrir Plank

Bodysaw Plank (performed by my beautiful wife) If you don't have sliders, you can use towels on a tiled floor.

TRX Jacknife with Neutral Spine

Plank with Band (or Cable) Row

Reverse Crunch (hold a towel - or a half foam roll - between your calves and hamstrings)

Landmine (again, performed by my better half)

Any of these:

Not to mention, I didn't even include any of the myriad chop, lift, and pallof press progressions. Be consistent with training spinal stability (ex. using variations similar to the above), for a few months, then get back to me and let me know if your midsection didn't become stronger.

You're welcome.

What it comes down to is that if someone is paying me to help them look, move, and feel better - oh, and not to mention virtually putting me in charge of a large portion of their spinal health - I'm not willing to roll the dice with sit-ups.

Could they get away with it? Maybe. But why not strengthen their core via safer, and more effective, means?

2. "I want six-pack abs."

I have a very simple answer to this one: Be less fat. And, maybe, choose a different set of parents.

Don't mistake my tone here...my aim is not to appear cold, aloof, and perhaps even narcissistic toward their situation. I'm simply trying to save them some time, give them some realistic expectations, and save their spine to boot.

Possessing visible abs is a function of two things, and two things only: Bodyfat %, and genetics. The former is pretty self-explanatory, and with regards to the latter - well, some people will "unveil" their abs at a higher bodyfat than others.  Also, typically, it's easier for people with longer torsos - relative to their legs - to see their abs sooner than those with shorter torsos. There are other forces at play, of course, but in general it is how it is.

Do you really think that performing sit-ups is the way to a shredded midsection? How about putting away the Oreos, and maybe saving dessert for weekends and special occasions? (Hint: getting home from work doesn't count as a special occasion.) Every one of us, as Homo sapiens, possesses a six-pack. Some are just more insulated than others.

I'm not going to elaborate on this point any further simply because I feel that the majority of you are able to put these puzzle pieces together for yourselves.

3. "I partake in activities that require repeated spinal flexion (ex. MMA or military "stuff")."

As deep-rooted as my vendetta is against sit-ups, I'd be foolish not to program them for this group. After all, there's a point where we have to respect specificity of training, and it's tough to get good at sit-ups without, well, TRAINING THEM to an extent.

With this group (fighters, military, along with some contact sport athletes), I will indeed intersperse sit-up variations into their training. Heck, we've even given the military guys timed BAND-RESISTED sit-ups in preparation for their testing. (Jason cursed us for this and continued to remind us of how much he hated them.)

Another favorite of mine is the Turtle Roll, which, IMO, looks like the easiest exercise in the world but yet will provide the most insane abdominal contraction of your life:

I've seen many well-conditioned athletes lie on the floor, gasping for breath after turtle rolling for just one set of twelve reps.

And there you have it. 

Basic Speed Development Program

The overwhelming request we get almost daily: Do you guys do speed training?

My answer: Hellz YES!

In an effort to compliment my running related warnings over at StrongGirlsWin.com from earlier today, I wanted to take this post to another level and get all geeked-out over some real-deal sprint training.You gotta present both sides of the coin, ya know?

While I've termed this post as "basic speed development," please DO NOT confuse that for BEGINNER speed development. There's a big difference. This sample program is for someone who has at least a year of regimented general training under their belt that is heavy on both sprint and weight training fundamentals.

Without further delay...

Basic Speed Development Program

• Day 1 - Starts, Speed, & Total Body Lift with Lower Body Emphasis
• Day 2 - Tempo Run
• Day 3 - Special endurance & Total Body Lift with Upper Body Emphasis
• Day 4 - Tempo Run
• Day 5 - Starts, Speed Endurance, Long jump/triple jump Technique (at high intensity and include as overall daily volume), & Total Body Lift (even split)
• Day 6 - Tempo Run
• Day 7 - Rest

Notes:

1. Keep your intensity above 90% or below 65%! The in-between work is trash for developing true speed and will only increase the likelihood for injury, while decreasing the chance for improvements.
2. Avoid the pitfalls of starting with high volume and low intensity. Rather begin with HIGH INTENSITY and LOW VOLUME. Then gradually increase volume while keeping the intensity high.

Sample Program Details:Monday - Speed Work: 2 x 3 x 20-30m accelerations (rest at least 4-minutes between reps); Med Ball Throws @ 6-10lbs: Squat to Overhead Push Throw x 6-8 + Keg Toss x 6-8 (at least 1-minute rest between each throw, we're after MAX EFFORT with every single toss/throw); Weights: Total body lift with lower body emphasis; Core: 100 reps (choose whatever floats your boat) Tuesday - Tempo Run: 8-12 x 100m (easy, basically a fast jog) + complete 10-20 V-Ups (or whatever core work you prefer) between each run - use the runs as the recovery between the V-ups Wednesday - Special Endurance: 2 x 150-300m with 20-25 min recovery; during the recovery (every 7-8 mins) do some light tempo runs, body weight calestenics, core, etc. the goal here is to simply stay warm during the break; Weights: Total body with upper body emphasis; Core: 200 reps (choose whatever floats your boat) Thursday - Tempo Run: Similar to Tuesday Friday - Speed Work: 2 x 3 x 20-30m accelerations (rest at least 4-minutes between reps); Med Ball Throws @ 6-10lbs: Squat to Slam x 6-8 + Falling Forward Chest Throw to Sprint x 6-8 (at least 1-minute rest between each throw, we're after MAX EFFORT with every single toss/throw); Weights: Total body lift (even split); Core: 100 reps (choose whatever floats your boat) ***After several weeks, longer sprints (50-60m) can be added to the speed workouts on Mondays and Fridays.

Good luck, may the Force be with you...

Get it? Force...

...I already said I was getting geeked-out over this one, so I think that was a pretty solid joke.