Quick Tip to Improve Your Bench Press: The other 50%+ of the Equation
Note: I believe this is the first time in history that I've specifically addressed the bench press on SAPTstrength. Grab hold of your bootstraps, boys and girls, it's gonna be a weird, wild, and crazy ride. The other day I had an "ah-ha" moment as I was discussing the bench press with one of our clients. He was saying how one of the reasons it took so long for him to figure out (and apply) correct bench press technique was because he was only thinking about the press portion of the lift. This was not only compromising his form, but ultimately limiting how much weight he was able to handle.
See the video below regarding the most common flaw I see in amateur bench pressers, and pick up a quick tip that you can apply immediately to your benching in order help you receive more from the movement, keep your shoulders healthier, and move that weight around.
A Confidence Booster
I read a great article on EliteFTS the other day which you can find here… A Case for Bullying . I strongly advise you read it as it really struck a chord with me, although judging by the comments section some readers REALLY missed the point of the article. Anyways, it inspired my post for this week not really because I was bullied but because of what weight training and powerlifting has done for me and what I feel it can do for younger kids and adults alike. Throughout the entire time I was in school I always had a good bit of friends, I was never the kid who felt so pushed away by other people they had to go eat their lunch in the bathroom (although I can empathize with those kids). However, in elementary school I was a short fat kid who’s nickname amongst friends was Louie because I looked EXACTLY like the kid from the cartoon show Life with Louie. Again at no point were people outwardly mean to me about it but I was still really self-conscious about the way I looked.
Onto middle school, once I was here I had lost the fat but gained a crazy amount of acne…. It was gross. Again, I had a good bit of friends and no one really outwardly made fun of me about it (maybe it was my short temper who knows) but again I was really self-conscious about it.
Onto high school, now I’ve lost the fat, lost the acne, and started doing pull-ups, pushups, and bodyweight squats until it burned. Only problem was I never really hit that growth spurt I was looking for. I was standing at a whopping 5’7” on a good day (which I still am today). Again, nothing that I was teased about but I was really self-conscious about being relatively shorter than a lot of the people I hung out with.
My point is not for you to feel bad for me because I don’t want you too that would be ridiculous. My point is that all kids or adults no matter what circle of life they come from can feel bad about themselves or that they’ll never measure up to other people. However, there has to be an outlet for these kids to make them feel better about themselves and be able to gain self-confidence and a way for them to be able to say “I honestly don’t care what you think about me”. I feel like a lot of parents first instinct is sports which is great and works a great deal of the time. It gives them an outlet for their aggression, makes them feel part of a team, and teaches them that some days you lose and some days you win. What about the other kids? The other kids who end up not making the team and ultimately feel even more isolated. THEY NEED TO WEIGHT TRAIN!
When I got to college I read Arnold, the Education of a Bodybuilder and there it was the epiphany I was looking for my whole life. I read that book cover to cover in two days, I wrote down what he ate and how he trained and I did it. Somewhere along the line my confidence went through the roof, I got bigger and stronger and for the first time in my life I was able to truly not care what other people thought of me. The only thing I cared about was how to get bigger and stronger. I was no longer concerned with the people who didn’t matter in my life and their opinions of my clothes, hair, personality, job, etc.
Why did weight training work so well for me in that respect? Because unlike most things, weight training gives you tangible results all the time; every month I saw myself becoming bigger and stronger and I loved it. I played basketball my whole life and worked hard it but it was very hard for me to see gains because it was so hard to measure it against things. But, weight training is something I could track each and every week.
I know I’ve kind of rambled a bit but the whole point I’m driving at is more kids should weight train and by kids I’m talking about 10 year olds and up. Please don’t gasp, if you have a problem with 10 year olds weight training; then I have a bone to pick with you at a later date. Are you concerned with your kid’s well-being and self-esteem? For that matter are you concerned with your own well-being and self-esteem? If you are I STRONGLY suggest you start a resistance training program. I promise that you will be better off for it.
Since high school I knew that I wanted to work with kids in some fashion. I had a lot of great coaches and teachers that helped me become a better person. For me the best way to return the favor was by becoming a strength coach and showing kids how to become stronger. Part of my job is to help kids become stronger and better for their sport. Honestly though that is NOT my main priority. My main priority is to help every kid who walks in our doors to feel better about themselves physically, mentally, and emotionally and to truly not care about what someone says about them or thinks about them.
And in case anyone is wondering what i look like now...
Inspiration from Ross Enamait
I never get tired of watching videos of Ross training and getting after it. He merely trains in his garage or outdoors, and yet his strength, endurance, and power is unparalleled by countless individuals who have access to all the "fancy" equipment. Ross receives countless questions from internet warriors (both on his website and in the comments section of his videos), and he almost always responds to each and every inquiry. It cracks me up as he never tires of giving pretty much the same answer every time, when people ask him what motivates him, and how he has become as physically fit as he is.
"Real gains don't come in days or weeks. I've been training for 20+ years. Patience and consistency are perhaps the most important supplements to any routine.....There's nothing special about me. I've just been working hard for a long time." -Ross
People are always looking for the magic formula or silver bullet, be it the latest exercise program, nutrition "secret," or piece of specialty equipment.
Guess what? There isn't one. And I know few people that could prove this better than Ross.
Stick to the basics. Train smart. Work hard. Never back down. Be consistent. Repeat every day for thirty years.
Enjoy the training video above (I also LOVE all the quotes he interspersed throughout the video), and then apply these lessons.
Friday Musings: Butt Jump Roping, Pet Peeves, Star Wars A Cappella, Mentoring, etc.
1. The other day I had programmed some low volume jump roping for one of the girls, Paula, at SAPT. Upon watching her first session, it was quite evident that she was no foreigner to jump roping, so Coach Kelsey looks over at her in passing and and says, "You know, you're pretty good at those." To which Paula responds, "Well, I can also jump rope on my butt. So, using my feet isn't really that big a deal."
Obviously Kelsey and I had to see this stunt for ourselves, and asked her to perform a few reps. Needless to say, she knocked it out of the park, and it was the first time anyone in SAPT ever did anything like this:
2. Chris Romanow once told me, in a joking-but-not-really-joking tone, that the majority of people's goals (moving better, looking better, athletic performance, fat loss, remaining injury free, ruling the world, etc) could be solved by a healthy, regular dose of goblet squats and spidermans.
And the more I coach people and do these things myself, I'm right there with him. My personal contribution to the list would be loaded carries and kettlebell swings.
Do those four movements, multiple times a week and you're set.
3. These need to be posted at every youth sporting event. *Everywhere. I slow clap those that created and posted this sign:
4. A few of my pet peeves, in no particular order:
1. Morning People. More specifically, morning people who insist on talking to you within one hour of your morning awakening.
The morning should be used for three to four things: Enjoying a quality cup of coffee, spending some time on reflection (on what, that is up to you), reading, and perhaps pooping if that's what schedule you're on. Notice that talking is not on the list. Just because you are a morning person doesn't mean that the person that happens to be in the same bedroom/house as you likes to discuss the world's problems first thing in the A.M.
The only exceptions to this rule are A) If you're my wife (I love you, babe), and B) If I wake up past 10AM. People have every right to talk to me if I ever get out of bed that late.
2. When you're (manually) doing dishes and the cup/glass isn't large enough for your hand to reach all the way to the bottom, so you end up standing there, pinching your knuckles and skin into the glass, trying to stretch out your fingers with the sponge to barely reach the bottom.
3. When you're wearing socks and you step in something wet.
4a. People who don't turn right on red. More specifically, when you're driving down a two-lane road, and the person in front of you changes lanes into the right lane before the turn you need to make, but of course the light turns red so they end up blocking you for the next two minutes. Stay in the other lane and be considerate, dang it.
4b. Drivers who don't use their turn signal. I swear you could cut me off in traffic, but if you're using your signal, hey, you're good in my book.
4c. Those who won't get out of the left lane. I don't think I need to explain this any further, do I?
5. Extroverts. Why do you people always need to be around me and talking to me?!? Can't a man get some alone time around here? AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
6. People who squeeze the toothpaste tube in the wrong spot. You know who you are.
7. Overhead kettlebell swings. Wow....just, wow.....please stop.
8. Cracking knuckles. Makes me want to crawl into the fetal position each time I hear it. Never done it, don't plan on it any time soon.
9. When you're at a restaurant, and you finally achieved the perfect water temperate by getting the ice:water ratio just right, and the waiter comes along out of the blue, merrily filling up your glass without asking, completely screwing up everything you've worked so hard for.
10. Country music. 'Nuff said there.
5. I have no idea who this guy is, but can you say awesome? Here he does a a Star Wars themed, four-part a cappella musical tribute set to a few cinematic themes by composer John Williams.
Corey - If you live in the area, I'll give you a free assessment and coaching session for putting this together. Our address is 3831 Pickett Road, Fairfax, Va.
6. Read this article by Jim Wendler:
Here's a quick preview:
Towards the end of my senior year, I finally asked Darren why he never spoke to me during my first year in the weight room. And it was this lesson that I have taken with me in all areas of my life. His answer:
"Because you hadn't earned it. I've written hundreds of programs and helped so many kids and teachers with their training – and almost all of them quit after the first week. I had to see if you were going to stick with it. I had to see if you were serious. I'm not going to waste my time or my energy."
We all have someone like Darren in our lives. Unfortunately, few people are receptive to it or exhibit the will, heart, and resolve to show them that they deserve their attention.
I know because I see it around me daily. I see kids and lifters that ask questions and think they want to be great and strong, but always fall short of the small amount of commitment it takes to prove themselves. Everyone wants a handout rather than earn it. - Jim Wendler
Such awesome words of truth spoken by Jim Wendler here. I'm not sure if it's just me but it seems that the most recent generation seems to feel, for some odd reason, that they're the center of the universe, and that nothing can ever be their fault. If they didn't accomplish something or if they messed something up, there's an obvious excuse, right?
On top of that, I seem to experience more and more conversations with individuals who do wayyy too much talking, and too little listening.Well spoken, Jim.
7. This article is very cool, and definitely worth scrolling through all the pictures.
21 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith In Humanity
I first learned about "The Bystander Effect" in a sociology course in college, and Tony Gentilcore actually wrote a great, quick piece about it HERE. Learning about such incidents always make my heart drop a bit, and question the general tendency that humans learn toward at times.
Scrolling through the pictures in the linked article definitely helped temper the "cynicism" of humanity that occasionally shrouds my thought processes. Ah, there is hope in the world!
That's all for now, have a great weekend everyone.
*Except for the sporting events of my future kids. **They're obviously the exception and need to open up a big can of you-know-what on their opponents.
**That's a joke***.
***Maybe.
Box Squatting is the Greatest
In efforts to conquer my fear of speaking in front of a camera I decided to make today's entry a video post. We all need to work on our weaknesses and mine happens to be public speaking and speaking on camera; it’s like kryptonite to being able to organize my thoughts. Anyway, practice makes perfect so the following video is talking about why I prefer to use the box squat (as opposed to a squat to box) as my preferred method when teaching proper back squat mechanics. I hope the audio is loud enough; just in case the two main reasons I go into as to why I prefer box squatting is safety and posterior chain strength development. Enjoy…
Patterning for Improved Skill Acquisition
A few thoughts I've jotted down in my journal over the past few months that I thought I'd share here...
All of the athletes (yes, all) that walk in our doors at SAPT become, nearly instantaneously, better at their sport simply from performing a correct goblet squat for the first time in their lives. Yes, the loaded carries and hip hinges certainly aid in this phenomenon as well, but for now I'm just talking about squatting.
We personally recommend the majority of the young athletes (ages 13-18) entering SAPT for the first time to begin with just a 2x/week training regimen, and then, if needed and appropriate, they can increase the frequency. But you'd be surprised at how much you can accomplish in just two sessions a week with someone who's brand new to virtuous training methodology.
In the past, Day 1 has been a "squat emphasis" day, where the first main movement they do is a goblet squat. Day 2 will be a "deadlift emphasis" day, where we help them pattern the hip hinge and learn to deadlift with a kettlebell, keeping a neutral spine and using their posterior chain. After they groove the squat or deadlift (depending on the day), they'll then move on to their unilateral work, pushes, pulls, loaded carries, direct glute work, and all that good stuff.
Now there is nothing wrong with this layout, as, after all, it has worked for a myriad individuals and allowed them to become stronger, less prone to injury, and become more of a beast on the playing field.
The thing that had been troubling me though was I felt that, simply put, they weren't squatting enough under our watch. Given the fact that despite the thousands of team conditioning sessions, commercial gym group workouts, and exercise DVD routines they'd undergone, their squats resembled something along the lines of a baby giraffe learning to walk for the first time. I guess their previous instructors were either too ignorant or lazy to teach them good squatting mechanics, but who am I to judge?
And it can take a long time to "undo" the habits developed from thousands of bad squats performed in a life time. And while 1x/week of squatting twenty-five TOTAL reps can certainly do the trick, I've found it even more time-efficient to squat everyone during every single session.
So, if they're training 2x/week, they squat every session, toward the beginning of their workout while they're fresh. If they're training 3x/week, then yep, they squat 3x/week. Patterning it every day until it becomes second nature.
This means that the unilateral work and direct glute training take the back burner, at least until they can execute perfect squats every single time. Good squats will lay the foundation down for everything else in subsequent training cycles.
While squatting 1x/week will work for a 400lbs squatter, everything changes when someone can't hold a 25lb kettlebell and sit back without everything turning very ugly very fast.
I guess all I am saying is that, in order to "reprogram" someone's nervous system and motor control, they need to practice this motor control training frequently and correctly. Nothing too new or revolutionary, but something to consider when you have limited time to work with a young, developing organism.
