3 Cues for Cleaning Up The Deadlift

The deadlift is one of those lifts that you can do over and over and still continue to refine your technique. I console frustrated athletes with the fact that I, even after nearly 10 years of deadlifting, am still tweaking my technique and learning to to most efficiently hoist iron.

That said, here are three cues I use on myself and with my athletes that should speed up the refinement process. 

Cue: Hold pieces of paper under your arms. OR Squeeze oranges under your armpits. (Courtesy of Tony Gentilcore.) 

Fixes: loose upper back

As tight as a wet noodle.

Why do we want a tight upper back? A) by creating tension in the upper back and lats, which in conjunction with the anterior core, it creates a nice "belt" around the spine and protects the lower back; b) tension throughout the back transfers force from the hips to the arms and thus the bar moves. Without it, there's a much higher risk of injury- particularly to the lower back- and the movement deteriorates rapidly.

 "Squeezing oranges," which is a great external cue, cleans it right up! It's especially useful with newbie deadlifters as they may not have the body awareness to know what a tight upper back feels like yet. 

It's like magic!

Cue: Pull your chest (or sternum) to the back wall.

Fixes: Hips rising faster than the shoulders

If you or an athlete struggles with popping the hips up to soon- like the immortalized "Bend and Snap"

then this cue can help. By thinking about pulling the chest to the wall behind you, it shifts your focus from yanking your hips up to pulling your chest up, thus slowing down the hips ascent and, for most athletes I've seen, will synchronize the rise of the shoulder and chest so they move at the same rate. 

Hips popping up at the start.

Hips, above, are rising faster than the shoulders and it will quickly turn into an RDL. Below, the hips stay lower than the shoulders and the two move together.

Cue: Grab the floor with your toes

Fixs: flat feet, wiggly feet, loose feet

All of the above are unhelpful for deadlifting. Considering that the feet are the only body part in contact with the ground, wouldn't you want that contact to be stable? You can't produce maximal force while standing on an Airex Pad so why create one with your wobbly feet? Gripping the floor tightens up the foot and lower leg musculature which in turn, produces a rock solid foundation to push against. 

Another boon to the cue: it breaks the habit of "toes up." (Note: I'm not 100% oppposed to the "toes up" cue, particularly when I'm teaching someone how to posteriorly weight shift for the first time. But as an athlete progresses, we pull the toes back down and teach gripping. Jarrett did a fantastic job explaining why we do that in his article. If you want to increase your lifts by 1000%, read his article linked above. Seriously, you won't regret it.)

Give those a shot and I guarantee you'll feel fantastic!

All About The Hype

It’s generally thought that being more amped up, means more weight on the bar and a better lift. This is true, SOME OF THE TIME. With any seasoned lifter, it only seems advantageous to get hyped, pump yourself up and crush your workout. Heck, there are even powerlifting PR soundtracks packed full of heavy metal and Batman soundtracks to put you in that state of mind. There are then of course those who take this too far to the extreme…

Anyone who has trained individuals from the ground up knows that you can’t pump up the newbs for training the same way that you can veteran lifters. Well… you can, but it may look something like this:

Getting a newbie hyped will often times give them misconceptions about their own ability and cloud their judgement of what they should be doing. The internet is full of montages to prove this. It will also ensure that they just have a hard time learning the new movement in general, according to the Inverted U Theory.

The Inverted U Theory

Have you ever been looking for something when driving and instinctively turn the music down when you know you’re close, almost as if the loud noise would somehow hide what should be in plain sight? This seems pointless and silly, right? It also seems like that same idea would have nothing to do with getting better at lifting heavy things. Both are wrong. The reason for this, is you are adjusting your arousal level

I know hearing me talk about your arousal levels is kinda weird. But the definition for arousal is: “A general physiological and psychological activation of the organism that varies on a continuum of deep sleep to intense excitement.” To keep the rest of this blog from sounding morally questionable, I’ll be subbing arousal  out for other synonyms like excitement when I can.

The Inverted U Theory states that for every task, there is an optimal level of arousal. Meaning that if the individuals becomes too excited, it could potentially hinder their performance. Tasks that are heavily influenced by things like fine motor control, decision making, and attentional requirements generally require less excitement for optimum performance. Today, we’re going to be looking at it from a strength training point of view, but this can easily be used within any sport.

                                                                                        The Inverted U... Kinda looks like an n... Why didn't they call it the n theory?

To try to decipher the correct excitement level for a skill, you first need to consider the experience and ability of the individual.  If I have little Billy-Bob on his first day of learning how to squat, I’m going to prefer to not have him too amped up so that he can pay attention to my cues and focus on the movement. If he had too much Mountain Dew or his friends start hyping him up before his first set, you can bet that I’m going to have a heck of a time getting this kid to focus on the finer points dropping it low. This will be the case until he becomes autonomous and skilled with the movement, making it second nature for him. Once that occurs, little Billy-Bob can pump up the music, chug some Dew and get hyped to squat to his little heart’s content. In this way the apex for the individual on the inverted U is going to always change as they become more skilled. They will be ab able to get more pumped and use that extra energy correctly.

On the other side of the spectrum we’ve all dealt with the individuals that have the ability, but are lacking the drive. The notion of putting more weight on the bar does little to drive more effort in their session. These individuals may actually need a little more pep in their step to be performing optimally. Raising their arousal level will help with their workout and skill acquisition for the session.

The exercise being executed is important to note in regards to technicality. I’m going to psyche myself up way more for a heavy deadlift than I am a heavy Turkish Get Up. In fact, some days I’ve even had to bring myself down to better execute my TGUs. My current get-up PR of 130lbs actually came from a session of listening to Phantogram and doing breathing resets between sets.

With that being said, even some of the less technical lifts can be over-hyped in execution. This may not necessarily result in a poor lift, but it does result in wasted energy. The amount of mental effort that it can take to get yourself hyped for each set can take that much more out of you without adding anything to the workload.  It becomes a skill on how to identify the needed excitement level for each movement and is definitely something worth thinking about during your next training session.

Applying it in your own training:

Applying these ideas to your own training is actually easier said than done. I try to keep this in mind fairly often in my training and I have seen many benefits to it. Days that I have more skill-based movements, I generally have more breathing-based core work to help keep me from getting ahead of myself. I also make sure that these are the days I put on a more steady style music. This all helps me to maintain more internal focus and allows for me to more easily better my technique. It’s also a great model for active recovery days as the next day I feel great.

For days where it’s time to just rip heavy things off the floor I go with a different approach. I’ll blare some, “Rage Against The Machine” and go to town. I’ll occasionally talk to myself (shut up, it’s not weird) and I’ll hype myself up whenever I’m coming up to a challenging set. If I feel like something may be feeling off, I’ll grab another coach and have them watch the lift I’ll then calm myself down and focus on whatever advice they gave me for the remaining sets rather than keeping myself hyped and still pounding away. You are your own hardest person to pull back and I’ve learned the cost of not doing so at appropriate time. It’s hard to swerve back onto the road when you’re still flooring the gas pedal. So even if the training session is feeling great, if there’s a problem, pull yourself back and fix it.

Applying it in a Trainee’s Session

Knowing what level of excitement the trainee should have is one thing, getting them there is the other half to the puzzle. To amp them up, which is way easier in my opinion, you can do any of the following:

• Raise your voice and own level of intensity- First and Foremost

• Slap them on the back

• Blare some of THEIR music - I actually know a guy who gets pumped to lift with acoustic guitar solos

• Do your Ronnie Coleman impression and yell, “Yea-buddy” or, “Light weight!” - my personal fave

• Bet with them -yes I constantly lose bets with my clients.. it’s almost as if I knew they could do what I bet them they couldn’t….

Bringing them back down to work on skill development is a whole ‘nother beast. Once someone is pumped up, they seem to like to stay in the heightened state. This goes double for if you ever have the misfortune of getting a new client that’s already riding the pre-workout supplement train. It’s awesome to have clients that are raring to go, but if you can’t get them to respond to your cues try any of the following first:

• Breathing Drills - Yet again they answer another problem

• Calmer music - I usually go with Pink Floyd or Phantogam

• Temporarily distract them - I know this sounds like taboo for a training session, but if they don’t seem to be adhering to your cues and are just off, you probably need to pull them back. Ask about their family or something close to them to get them out of the intense state of mind. Then revisit the exercise.

• Make ‘em walk- If someone’s got too many ants in their pants, I’ll have them do a quick lap around the gym, then they’re usually at a more coachable level when they get back.

With all of this, everyone is going to have their own level at which they perform best. A good coach or trainer should be able to identify this and match their coaching to it. Doing so will only expedite their results and progress them quicker.

In summary

Having intensity in the weight room is a good thing, but being intense and amped without already having mastered the required skills is almost always a wasted effort. If you haven’t mastered the movement, you have not yet earned the right to slap yourself to get psyched and crush the bar. Even if you do have the movement down pat, if anything ever feels off, pull yourself back and spend a session or two greasing the groove at the appropriate level of excitement for skill-building. Manipulating the environment through your own presence and the music can have incredible results on the energy level of your trainees. In fact there are several studies out on the effects music can have on an individual for learning new skills. Just like everything else, it’s a tool in your toolbox to make yourself and others better.

Knowledge is Power: Part 4

Good Afternoon from SAPT!

The past few weeks have been incredibly awesome here at SAPT.  Our new (and vastly improved) website is up, Jarrett and Kelsey have been chosen for PTDC articles of the week over the past two weeks, our BRYC Volleyball teams have been on a rampage, and our athletes have been hitting PRs left and right!  Check out Caroline absolutely wo-manhandling her last set of deadlifts in the video below.

In case you haven't be aggressively scouring the internet for awesome strength and conditioning related articles, here a few that should quench that insatiable thirst of knowledge of yours.

- Is your grip strength holding you back?  Here's a fantastic article by Tyson Brown providing you with some exercise solutions: How to Improve Your Grip Strength.

- The habits you develop can either turn you into an efficient, time-saving machine, or a get you fired from your job because of your utter lack of productivity.  Here's A Complete Guide to Habit-Forming out of Strengtheory.com written by Henry Halse to help you identify and correct any bad habits you may have formed.

- We are all about proper diaphragmatic breathing here at SAPT.  We've seen the incredible benefits teaching someone how to breathe properly can have.  Check out this article on breathing techniques you can employ to improve your workout results.

- Want stable and sexy shoulders?  Look now further.... 3 Exercise for Stable & Sexy Shoulders

What's the Deal with Probiotics?

Bacteria, Bacteria Everywhere!

"Probiotics" is a current health buzzword. Probiotics specifically encompasses the bacteria found in our guts. Broken down to it's etymological components, pro- meaning "in favor of" and bios- meaning "life." So, probiotics are "life-favoring." That's pleasant, isn't it?

But what exactly are the little buggers? Why would you want to ingest billions of little bacteria? Is there any validity to taking probiotics or is just another fad?

Let's look at some stats and facts.

1. Scientists estimate that the amount of bacteria living in and on our bodies is roughly 10x the number of cells that compose our bodies. And if we're composed of billions of cells... well, that's a lot of bacteria.

2. The good guys in our gut perform a number of vital functions for us including:

• helping digest food ( you thought you did it all on your own didn't you?)
• enhance digestion and nutrient absorption
• synthesize vitamins B and K (both of which are involved in countless metabolic processes)
• enhance gastrointestinal motility  and function ( keeping everything moving, if you know what I mean)
• obstruct bad bacteria and other pathogen's growth
• produce coagulation and growth factors
• help regulates intestinal and mucus secretion and utilization
• Gut bacteria is also heavily involved in immune system function.

What can disrupt their cozy intestinal environment?

• Medications- particularly antibiotics (which will kill off the good and bad guys)
• Stress (lots of it)- stress hormones may encourage bad bacteria growth
• Crappy diet- one bereft of whole foods and laden with processed junk
• Poor gut motility- meaning stuff just sits around, a product of not enough fiber.

Symptoms such as abdominal pain, gas, bloating, diarrhea, reflux, allergies, and nausea are indicators that something might be wrong internally. Ingesting probiotics help nourish and replenish our infinitesimal friends and can relieve those symptoms (more on that later).

Given how involved our microscopic friends are to our overall health and function, we would do well to keep them happy and robust. For example, research found probiotics to help restore the protective lining of the intestines (which may help reduce symptoms of IBS and IBD). So, probiotics are not just a fad. 

It's also easy to see how having a happy gut leads to better performance- be it athletic or otherwise. 

Where to Find Probiotics

Typically, fermentation provides a home for all these little guys so food sources such as yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, and tempe contain probiotics.  (Just make sure the yogurt label says “contains live cultures”  or “active cultures” for maximal benefit.) The current recommendation for healthy individuals is to eat 2-3 servings of fermented food per day. 

But if that's not feasible, for whatever reason, supplements are perfectly ok too (as long as it's from a reputable company). Most supplements contain bacteria from two families: lactobacillus and bifidobacterium. For example, bifidobacterium bifidum (Bb-02). The first name is the genus, the second is the species, and the parenthetical are the strain of that particular species.

A reasonable starting dose is 3-5 billion-- yes, billions of those little guys. 

On a personal note- since I'm undergoing treatment for Lyme disease and the primary modality is antibiotics, my doctor has me taking a plethora of probiotics to attenuate any negative effects in my gut. The same should apply for anyone taking a course (or two) of antibiotics. Those meds don't distinguish between the good and bad guys; taking probiotics will help replenish the lost bacteria.

Here is a list of reputable brands of probiotics to try.

The Pallof Press

In case anyone was wondering, the Washington Capitals have been on an absolute tear lately.  They took it to the New York Rangers last night with 2-1 thumping to go up 3 games to 1 in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.  Andre Burakovsky netted both goals, so let's take a look at his 2013-2014 highlight film before we dive into today's post. 

Last week we discussed the Deadbug exercise.  We're going to continue the series by exploring another core exercise you may not have heard of; the Pallof Press.

The Pallof Press

This exercise can be performed in every conceivable position; supine, half-kneeling, tall-kneeling, standing, split-stance, even on one leg.  I typically recommend people begin with the standing version, and move to supine if they feel themselves compensating in some way, shape, or form.  Tall-kneeling is another excellent choice, as it takes the quads out of it and really forces stabilization using the glutes.  Remember that this exercise should be done in a low-threshold state, holding a steady breathing pattern throughout the entirety of the exercise.

The Pallof Press is an anti-rotation exercise.  The band (or cable) causes a rotary force that forces you to stabilize and resist the motion, and will do wonders in developing your internal and external obliques, as well as your transverse abdominus. These are typically the core muscles most misunderstood by the general public and, as such, you should make deadbugs and pallof presses a staple in your program!

A good starting point would be to perform 3 sets of 5 presses per side, pausing for 2 sec at the outstretched position.  You can add a rep each week, until you get to about 8-10, then adjust the difficult by standing further away from the point of attachment, using a stronger band, holding the pauses for a longer period of time, or choosing a more difficult position.  Below are two videos, the first showing the correct way to perform a pallof press, and the second showing the incorrect way.

Pallof Press - Correct

Pallof Press - Incorrect

Percolating Lies- Why I Hate Nutrition Sensationalism

I've got a super busy day ahead of me, full of meetings and programs, but I didn't want to leave SAPT blog fans bereft of information. Here's a post a wrote about a year ago referencing the science teacher, John Cisna, who lost weight eating only McDonald's (link to the original article below). I abhor sensational headlines, particularly when they short outrageous nutritional claims.

It's Monday. We all need to be reminded to head into the week with a heavy dose of critical thinking.

--------------------------------

This is why America has no idea what to eat. This is why our collective relationship with food is so darn complicated. The following is akin to the constant stream of media articles that claim a food is horrible one week and a wonder food the next. (We all know how  frustrating and confusing that is!)

Time ran an article about an Iowan science teacher, John Cisna, who ate nothing but McDonald's for three meals a day for 90 days and lost weight. It's also HERE entitled: "Man Loses Nearly 40lbs Eating Only McDonald's."

That's an extremely misleading title! While I can't blame the new sites for wanting catchy titles to reel in readers, the articles don't expound too much on Cisna's diet (or what the nutritional composition of those meals were) and they down play the plethora of other factors within his self-experiment.

A quick run-down on the facts expressed in the articles (in case you don't want to read them). With the help of his class, John Cisna:

1. Constructed 3 meals based on a 2,000 calorie diet and the recommended intakes for protein, carbohydrates, and fat by the USDA (which I think are bunk, but that's a whole 'nother ball game).

2. Walked 45 minutes per day (when previously, he was doing no extra physical activity)

3. Resulted in a 37 lb weight loss and a drop in cholesterol from 249 (dangerously high) to 170 (decent level). His LDL dropped from 173 to 113. (also insanely high to an ok-level).

I'll state the glaringly obvious that, any a man who was quite overweight to begin with (280lbs) performing NO extra physical activity, and was probably over-eating anyway, WILL lose weight with calorie reduction and added physical activity. That's just physiology. At this point, ANYTHING he does towards reducing his calories and increasing his exercise will produce weight loss. Also, the cholesterol reduction is a result in the weight loss, not necessarily the food he ate. Can you start to see why this title is misleading?

To quote the man himself, "The point behind this documentary is, Hey, it's (a) choice. We all have choices. It's our choices that make us fat, not McDonald's." source

On one hand, I agree with Cisna; we are not victims of our environment, we do have the option to choose healthier foods when out to eat. No one forces us to purchase a Big Mac over a salad. It is imperative that we be wary consumers when fast food is involved (the food companies strive to make their food palatable, cheap, and addictive) and Cisna proved that when one digs a bit and is aware of the caloric values of food, that empowers us to make smarter food choices.

On the other hand, the real message is convoluted and lost amid that headline. It presents the situation as a justification for choosing McDonald's instead of  a home cooked meal. Or instead of a meal composed of WHOLE, minimally-processed foods ('cause I guarantee that McDonald's has very few whole foods on the menu.). Conveniently, you can read along with this handy ingredient guide. You'll want to refer to this as we move on.

Cisna admitted to having double cheeseburgers and a Big Macs throughout the experiment. Hmmm... Big Macs have roughly  29 grams of fat (and not the good kind check out the "Big Mac sauce"), 46 g of carbohydrates (definitely not the minimally processed kinds, look at the guide under "regular bun"), and 25 g of protein (but, really, where does that meat COME FROM?)

"Yeah Kelsey," you say, " we already KNOW that's not a 'healthy' choice." Fair enough, let's take a gander, shall we, at the yogurt parfait he ate regularly:

2 g of fat, 30 g carbohydrates, and 4 g of protein. Once again, I question the quality of the source of the fat and protein (from the milk). I can't imagine that the milk used in that is really that great. However, that is overshadowed by that 30 grams of carbs, that is, SUGAR. Highly processed, sugar (though there's a smidge of natural sugar in the milk and fruits, but it's NOT 30 grams worth). Don't believe me? Look up yogurt and granola in that handy guide. Ick. Sugar has, time and time again, been shown to be a culprit in increasing inflammation in the body and creating insulin resistance (to keep the list short), both of which are risk factors for Type 2 diabetes. The same criticism rings true for the maple oatmeal he ate, except that little bugger has some light cream in it... yum!

At first glance, the Eggwhite Delights that Cisna consumed seem like a good idea, only 250 calories each, oh but wait, check out the "whole" grain muffin and egg white and margarine ingredients. Super appealing right?

I could continue in this vein for a while, but I'll cease my tirade and allow my point to actually surface: 240 calories of crap is still crap. The composition of food absolutely matters. The message, as it stands on the surface, is still, "reach for processed foods over whole foods." How much BETTER do you think Cisna would feel if he had chosen whole, minimally processed foods?

I applaud Cisna for sticking with his endeavor, to keep walking even when he didn't want to, and to making conscientious food choices. I'm so glad he lost weight, is healthier than before, and has learned the value in monitoring caloric intake. This is a great stepping stone on his path to a healthier lifestyle. I hope very much that he will be able to continue without the help of McDonald's.

I think the true message of this experiment is food quantity and quality matter, along with regular exercise. Unfortunately, the second half, food quality, is buried under the lie that choosing "healthy" options at McDonald's is a viable way to improve health. Again, crap is still crap. Don't let the media's sensationalism divert you from the truth of eating real foods.

real food gas