Friday Musings: Mental Mondays, Zelda Symphony, Walking into Mordor, and Harry Potter
1. As Sarah mentioned earlier this week, starting on Mondays, we're going to have a pseudo-permanent guest blogger, Brian Levenson, do a "Mental Monday" piece each Monday. Check HERE for a bit more information. Brian's extremely skilled at what he does, and he and I are actually working together on an upcoming project which, to say the least, I'm quite excited about.
I know this means you won't be hearing from me on Mondays for a while, but hey, at least you'll be spared the continual nerd references I can't seem to stop myself from making, right?
2. Speaking of nerdy things. Any of you who have been reading my material on here for an extended period of time know that I have a borderline dangerous love of all things Zelda.
Well, last night, the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) was playing at Wolf Trap, which is America's National Park for the Performing Arts and also just happens to be 30 minutes from my house. And guess what the event was? The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddess. In which the NSO was performing a symphony based on the themes from the game, along with highlighting memorable moments from all the Zelda games on the big screen above the orchestra.
So of course I had to go. And it was amazing. The only thing that could have made it more enjoyable was consuming a Chipotle burrito during the show. Which I did, thank you very much, so it was as good as it gets.
The place was PACKED, with nerds and non-nerds alike, and heck, even if you have no interest in the Zelda series, you'd still enjoy the show as the symphonic movements the the orchestra played were spectacular.
Before the show started, I met the guy in the picture below, who, come to find out, owns the most valuable Link outfit currently on the internet. It's valued at over $2,100 and he fashioned it all by hand himself. He even has chainmail under the cloak....crazy!
3. Guess what fun fact I found out recently?
If you go into GoogleMaps, click on Walking directions, and type in "The Shire" as your origin, and "Mordor" as your destination, a little box pops up saying:
"Caution - One does not simply walk into Mordor"
Hahahaha. Enter #255 why Google is the coolest company ever. I'm sure the programmers over there have a boatload of fun messing around with stuff like that.
4. I recently began reading the Harry Potter series for some fun reading to do in my spare time, and I must say: I'm hooked, and I finally see what all the fuss is about. It makes for a fantastic "cooldown" session when I get home from work around 9pm, and am able to read it for two hours thirty minutes or so before plopping into bed.
I realize I'm - oh I don't know, maybe a decade or two behind on this one - but I can't recommend them highly enough for those of you who haven't read them. J.K. Rowling is obviously a brilliant writer, and I'm continually blown away by her sequencing of events, character development, and the themes she weaves throughout the series.
I honestly can never seem to extricate myself from the book once I get started, and it has become my latest Sunday afternoon pastime. I just began the fifth book (Order of the Phoenix) and I think the only thing I'm regretting about beginning these books is that they have to end at some point.
.....Well, that wraps it up for today. I do apologize for completely inundating today's post with all things dorky. I'll do my best to make it up next week by discussing manly things like chopping wood, blowing up stuff, sports, and lifting heavy things.
Squat Grip Revisited
I still feel people aren’t grasping the importance of a proper squat set up in regards to the upper body. The whole movement starts from the upper body so to have that first line of defense be lackluster will undoubtedly make the entire lift suffer. The goal of the upper body during the squat is to be as tight as possible; engaging every muscle from the scapular retractors all the way to the spinal erectors and everything in between. I will inform you now that using a grip with a “bent” or “lazy” wrist position will prevent your squat from being all that it could be. Failing to straighten the wrist during a squat will cause a failure to engage all necessary musculature equaling out to “force leaks” both in the eccentric and concentric portions of the lift. I have posted the video below before but I figured I would post it again to show people how to use a different type of squat grip in order to overcome mobility problems to achieve a straight writs position. Check it out again!
Some More Female Awesomeness: Achieving Her First Bodyweight Chinup
All of us coaches at SAPT always get fired up about females making awesome progress in the gym (see A Witness to Female Strength and Some Female Pushup Goodness for a couple examples). There's something ridiculously cool about them realizing just how much they can achieve in the weight room, and how empowering it is for them to continue to make progress in that sphere. A few months ago, we started working with a young woman, Meredith, who signed up for our Distance Coaching program. Upon asking her what a few of her specific goals were, she replied with:
"I feel like I could use some help in designing a program and also most importantly to make sure I'm doing everything correctly. I realize that now is the time to do this because its only going to get more difficult as we get older.
One goal of mine is to master a pull-up. As a former dancer, my upper body strength my whole life has been pretty weak. I have tried using the assisted pull-up machine and have progressed to assistance of 20lbs but then when I try to use just the pull-up bar, I am nowhere near where I need to be. I think Ryan would be impressed if someday I could master a pull-up :) "
(Note: Ryan is her husband, an awesome dude whom I actually had the pleasure of meeting a few months ago.)
Given that one of Meredith's primary goals was to perform a complete, non-assisted chinup (she had never done it before), we embarked upon a program with a "chinup specialization" component in order to help her reach this goal.
Well, merely two months into the program, I received the video below of her performing not just one, but two bodyweight chinups, along with an email from Meredith:
"Steve -
Thank you so much for your help in achieving my first ever pull-up! Honestly when I signed up for the 3-month distance coaching program, I thought I would get stronger, but I never imagined being able to do not just one but two pullups within my first 2 months of training. I have really enjoyed the distance coaching and the programs you have created for me. I feel a sense of accountability to make sure I get all my workouts in each week and for once, I actually look forward to my workouts and seeing what I can accomplish each day. Thank you so much for all your help and I can't wait to see what the next 3 months holds for me!
- Meredith"
In a word: Awesome!!!
The point I want to derive from this is that Meredith's success is NOT primarily attributed to some magical program I wrote for her (while popular opinion may hold that SAPT performs magic, I, personally speaking at least, was never instructed by Dumbledore over at Hogwarts), but rather, her success stemmed from the fact that she attacked each and every training day with focus, determination, and confidence. Also, once a month, she showed up at SAPT to go over the proceeding month's programming, to ensure that her technique was sound that she was executing everything correctly.
And, not to mention, while she knocked her chinup goal out of the park, she's also well on the road of "Picking Up Heavy Things" by hitting a pretty impressive Trap Bar Deadlift PR, nailing 140lbs for six reps:
In exchanging a couple emails with her husband, Ryan, he told me, "Since she started with you guys she hasn't missed a single training day and has been completely dialed in when she gets to the gym. She's working extremely hard and is focused and believes in your program. As you can see, she's getting awesome results. Hopefully you can use her story to help others experience what she has achieved."
I hope this serves as some encouragement to you reading what can be accomplished when you set your sights on a goal (be it a heavy deadlift or squat attempt, fat loss goal, or simply being able to lift pain-free), and refuse to waver in your quest for that particular accomplishment.
Mental Mondays
Over the last year I've had my eyes opened to a new aspect of athletic performance preparation: the Mental Coach. I think all of us recognize that the "mental game" is pretty darn important to athletic success. After all, when it comes down to it, it's either your mind or body (or a combo of the two) that sinks or swims your efforts on the court, the field, on the mat, in the pool, on the track, out of the golf course, etc.
But, what I didn't realize is that there are professional Mental Coaches who specialize in finely tuning all things "mental" for athletes.
Recently, I've had the pleasure of getting to know Brian Levenson. His long list of overwhelming successes with the athletes he has assisted can not be denied! He's a rockstar on the rise!
Beginning next Monday*, Brian will become a regular fixture on this blog providing "Mental Monday" posts. Much like the information all of us at SAPT strive to provide, Brian will be providing totally FREE, extremely high-quality content that will include a variety of tips and strategies for picking up your mental game.
Please welcome Brian next week by offering up some comments on his first post!
*What about Stevo's Monday posts? Well, the poor man needs a break. He's been throwing up amazing posts 3x per week for almost 2-years straight. Now, he'll be down to two, but I totally expect the quality will somehow continue to rise. Hard to imagine, I know, but most of you don't see how this man works!
Coaching Tip: When NOT to Correct Someone's Form
This past Saturday while out on the coaching floor, I was explaining something to one of our interns, and, in the middle of our discussion, I realized it would make for excellent blog fodder, at least for the trainers and strength coaches in the crowd.
So, on Saturday morning, I was helping one of our *quasi-distance coaching clients, Rob, during his deadlifts. As he moved through the sets, he worked up to 335lbs for a set of 3, which was a personal best for him (cue fist bump).
However, during the first rep of this 335x3 set, his form broke down a bit. His hips were "prematurely" extending, or, in other words, he was throwing them forward a bit too early. Here's an example of what it looked like (although, to his credit, it wasn't quite this extreme):
I waited until he finished the set, had him drop the bar weight down to 135lbs, and then I showed up what he was doing (video above), and then demoed what he needed to be doing, such as in the video below. Notice how the hips and shoulders rise at the same rate, and then the hips extend ("hump the bar") to finish the lift.
He practiced the correct technique a few times with 135, gave me "ah hah, that makes sense!" expression, and moved on. Smooth as puddin'.
Yet this begs the question, WHY did I not immediately correct him during the heavy set, when his form was a bit off? Why did I let him finish the set without saying anything?
Quite simply, his form wasn't quite bad enough to risk injury, and the cue I was about to give him was one that we, Rob and I, hadn't discussed before. Which leads me to my main point:
Avoid giving coaching cues that the athlete or client hasn't heard before while they're in the middle of their set. ESPECIALLY when maximal weights are being used.
Yelling a cue or instruction at an athlete while they're in the middle of a maximal working set will most likely do one of two things: A) Utterly befuddle them, or B) Injure them. I think it goes without saying that both these scenarios are unfavorable.
So, if you notice they're doing something wrong, you typically have one of two options:
1) If their form is so bad, and/or they are breaking down so much that it looks like they're going to get hurt, STOP the set there. I don't care if they were supposed to do five reps and only got through one before everything fell apart.
Reduce the weight on the bar, describe what they are doing vs. what they need to be doing, and then have another go.
2) If their form isn't perfect, but it doesn't look bad enough to risk injury (ex. their elbows flaring too much on the bench press), allow them to finish the set, and then discuss what needs to be happening, and lower the weight if needed. Sometimes it's just a matter of them knowing what needs to be done, and other times the weight is simply too heavy.
Bret Contreras did an excellent job discussing this very topic in his post, The Three Most Idiotic Things I've Done as a Personal Trainer:
One of my best female clients was performing heavy high box squats (15? height). I had her squatting with 155 lbs on the bar and during the set I felt that she wasn’t arching hard enough at the bottom of the lift. I noticed that she’d relax a bit and fail to keep a rigid lumbar extension moment while she was seated on the box. During her set I instructed for her to “arch the low back.” Unfortunately, she wasn’t thinking clearly and she confused “arch” with “flex” and rounded her low back. Heavy axial loading + rounded lumbar spine to end-range flexion = herniated disc. She couldn’t train for over a month.....
.....As a personal trainer, you review proper form prior to the lift, you have them practice perfectly with lighter loads, you use simple phrases such as “chest up” so the advice cannot be misconstrued, and you make sure they know what “arch” means prior to having heavy loads on their back. “Arching” in the direction of lumbar extension results in a successful lift, while “arching” in the direction of lumbar flexion will likely have drastic consequences, so a good personal trainer doesn’t leave the client’s interpretation up to chance.
Couldn't have put it any better myself!
It can be sooo tempting, as a coach who wants to see things done correctly, to shout corrections during someone's lift if you see something out of whack. Just be sure that it's the right time and place. Sometimes you need to keep your mouth shut and wait until after the set to go over things with them.
*Quasi-distance clients refer to the "SAPTers" that train with us 1-4x/month in-house, and perform the other sessions in their program outside of SAPT. This works quite well for those that travel frequently throughout the week (such as Rob from the example above), and/or have geographical/scheduling/financial constraints that don't make it practical for them to train at SAPT multiple times each week.
Dark Knight Rises
Last night I went out to catch the opening night showing of The Dark Knight Rises (hey, even strength coaches gotta live a little, right?), so needless to say I slept in later than usual today. I'm about to head in to the facility, but all I have to say for now is, I highly recommend it.
Have a great weekend everyone!
