How to Get in a Good Lift on the Road
Coach Steve shares tips on how to get in a good training session while traveling.
I’ve noticed a common theme lately with people who have stepped outside the matrix and into a real training facility. It becomes harder to figure out what to do in the gym when they then have to step BACK into the matrix for a quick visit. Usually this occurs on a vacation/business trip and they have to train at an awful hotel gym or a piss-poor commercial gym for a short period of time. They are left dumbfounded as to what to do when all they find is a sea of useless machines and a bench press to squat rack ratio of 20:1. Don’t worry that’s why I’m here, to show you how you can make the best of a crappy situation. All in all it’s really not that difficult to get in a good workout at one of these places; we can take advantage of the machines, light dumbbells, and the absurd amount of benches. Below is a sample workout that I put together that someone could do when they find themselves in the predicament I just described.
A1) DB Bench Press
4x7/side
A2) Goblet Squat to Box
5x8
A3)* Lat Pulldowns
40 reps total
B1) Pushups
3xLeave 2 in the Tank
B2) 3 Point DB Row
4x10/side
B3) BSS
3x9/side
C1) Facepulls
2x20
C2) Plank
2X1 min.
*to be performed throughout entire session
There are three key factors in making this sample day a good off site workout…
A lot of volume is always fun when you are on vacation or even a business trip. Excuse my meat headedness but it’s an awesome feeling when you get done with a high volume workout and then proceed to get your George Jefferson walk going on with your shirt off at the beach. Since there probably won’t be that much weight to throw around in the weight room you’re at, take advantage, and get a high amount of volume in. You’re on vacation, have some fun and get your pump on (we all know that’s what your dying to do anyway).
Take this time to iron out the movement pattern. Moving heavy weight is the best thing in the world other than a Chipotle burrito. The only problem is as a movement becomes progressively more loaded overtime bad habits can form and technique can falter. So again take advantage of the lighter weight and higher volumes and use this as practice time; groove the pattern of the main lift (in this case a squat) so that when you come back to the real world you can get right back to throwing around weight
The third factor is keeping it simple and quick. Whether you are on vacation or a business trip it’s safe to say you don’t have a lot of time to spend in the weight room (unless your Stevo and Kelsey who choose to spend their vacations at a training facility). Don’t try and get too crazy with your workouts and spend all your time thinking about what machine will give you the greatest amount of glute med activation. Just stick with basic movements, get in and get out. This is not the time to program 20 different lifts either; again just stick to the basics.
I hope this helps everyone out who finds themselves in a similar situation. Whatever you do don’t use business or vacation as a reason not to train!
How to Make Your Own Suspension Trainer
(Note: Updates to the construction process can be found on the second half of this post.) Suspension trainers are a fantastic tool to add to your quiver of training options, especially during travel. They'll never replace the barbell for quality strength training, but they can certainly supplement your routine quite well by providing a myriad options for assistance work.
I've mentioned before how I love to pack a set in my bag, be it for travel or for outdoor workouts, as they take up roughly the same amount of luggage space as a pair of socks, and open up a number of exercise possibilities. However, the primary issue that most people have with them is they cost an outrageous amount of money to purchase from the commercial suppliers.
An easy option here is to simply make your own for a fraction of the cost and have it be just as effective. You can see my homemade model below:
Back in 2009, I filmed a quick video on how to make a great suspension trainer in a matter of minutes, and it didn't take long for it to become extremely popular.
It's actually kind of funny, as I had my sister film the video in my parents' backyard during Thanksgiving. My at-the-time girlfriend (now wife), Kelsey, was GA for a weight training course out in California; she was enrolled in a post-graduate Kinesiology program at the time, and a few of the kids in her weight lifting class wanted to know how I made my own set of suspension straps, as I had got together with a couple friends earlier that Fall to figure out how to build our own. So, I haphazardly threw together a video tutorial on how to make one for her students to watch.
With large thanks to Ross Enamait (of RossTraining.com), the video quickly went viral as he found my video and posted it on his website. You can see his post HERE, where he discusses his experience using my video to make his own, and some of the tweaks he has personally made to make it even more excellent.
If I knew how often it would be looked at (currently it has over 247,000 views), I probably would have spiced up the video a bit, maybe by wearing a Speedo or something. Who knows. Either way, I'm really glad so many people have been aided by it.
Anyway, I realized I've never shared it here on SAPTstrength, so I thought it may be handy for some of you reading that want one in your equipment stash but don't want to spend the money buying it from a commercial supplier.
Here it is, in all of it's low-quality and wildlife-sounds-in-the-background glory:
A Few (Updated) Notes on Equipment and the Construction Process:
1) I now use straps with metal buckles, as they provide a much greater break strength. I personally purchased mine at REI, but Ross gave the great option of purchasing them over at Strapworks.com as they deliver them to many parts of the world and you can easily adjust the length of the strap you want to purchase.
2) I no longer use ropes for the footstraps, but I use part of the actual utility strap to make the footloops; Ross had detailed this idea here. These are much more comfortable than rope for the feet, and also don't untie nearly as easily.
3) The video for how to tie the bowline knot can be found here: How to tie a Bowline Knot
4) Currently, my video has 792 "Likes" versus 11 "Dislikes." Evidently, eleven people in the world are incompetent when it comes to tying knots.
5) Be sure you sand down the edges of the PVC pipe, and/or place duct tape (or some sort of protective coating) over the edges as they (the PVC piping) will wear down the utility straps over time. You can kind of see how I did this in the picture below:
6) Ross has since added a few updates and suggestions on his website, which I think are brilliant and extremely helpful, HERE. He provides some other options for easy-to-make handles, on top of showing the difference between a single vs. double attachment model.
7) In case you don't know who Ross is, shame on you. Here's a fairly recent training compilation of his:
Hope the above tutorial was helpful!
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.
