On My Mind
- One of SAPT’s long-term clients, Conrad, is having knee replacement surgery tomorrow morning. Through his dedication to total body strength training, Conrad has effectively managed to push this surgery off by at least 7-years beyond what his doctor originally predicted. That really goes to show you how important strength training is for the body in ways that extend well beyond superficial goals like looking good. There is no doubt in my mind that his recovery will be swift and smooth. Here is a video of 61-year old Conrad doing a 110-lb pull-up:
- I’ve been thinking a lot lately of the validity of a general dynamic warm-up prior to competition for certain sports. Think about it, the general dynamic warm-up is designed to 1. elevate the heart-rate, 2. address muscular imbalances, 3. improve ROM and flexibility, and 4. can be used as an opportunity to work on body weight strength exercises. I actually wrote a post touting the benefits of general dynamic warm-ups for practices a few weeks ago. But, why do athletes need to work on numbers 2-4 before a game or match? They don’t. Instead, I suggest a specific dynamic warm-up in which the goal would be to elevate the heart rate and thoroughly warm-up the entire body by gradually progressing the team through sport specific drills that still take the body through all three planes of motion and important ranges of motion.
- I achieved a bit of a personal milestone on Sunday. For the first time SAPT is able to act as a sponsor for George Mason University athletics. It was pretty cool listening to our promotional piece read over the loud speaker! Please consider supporting Mason athletics, too, this academic year. Our sponsorship money goes directly to the general athletic scholarship fund to directly help the hard-working student-athletes. SAPT signs and banners will be present all year long at: men’s and women’s basketball, women’s lacrosse, women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, and baseball.
- Fooducate Blog is one of my new “faves” check it out.
- Keep your eyes peeled for my two new articles out in the September issues of Experience Life magazine and Volleyball magazine.
Monday Musings 8/22/11: Pancakes, Crawls, Squatmageddon
1. For the past 2-3 years I've been enjoying better pancakes than anyone else on the planet. It's about time I share them with you, no? They are buckwheat pancakes, and, even thought they look like poop, they taste incredible and are extremely versatile. Buckwheat is impressive for many reasons: it's a complete protein, high in fiber, has a low impact on blood sugar, and is gluten-free. As such, you don't have to feel quite as guilty if you consume buckwheat pancakes compared to your usual buttermilk cakes.
To give you an idea of how excellent these things are, I first began eating them with a good buddy of mine in college. Due to our schedules, the best time to do this was at 6:30AM on Friday mornings. As more of our friends discovered this, our little duo on Friday mornings quickly morphed into an event that we (oh-so-cleverly) dubbed "Pancake Friday." On the average, we'd have 7-10 guys in attendance, with an upwards of 15-20 as it grew in popularity. We always ate outside (yes, even in December...I didn't say we were the smartest of human beings), on a large wooden picnic table we had in the yard.
The fact that 8-20 college guys would wake up before 6:30AM on Friday mornings to partake in the awesomeness of these pancakes is, I believe, quite a case for how good these things are.
My two favorite fillings to use are chocolate chips (Ghirardelli is where it's at), and blueberries. While chocolate chips are obviously the less-healthy option, I've found them perfect for a weekend treat, especially after lower body training on Sundays.
I particularly love them with a thin coat of Organic Valley pasture butter, along with peanut butter and Agave Nectar on top. If you're a "skinny-guy" looking to gain some weight, be very liberal with your use of peanut butter and number of pancakes you consume. If fat-loss is your goal, I'd stick with blueberries for the filling and eat just a few of the pancakes with a side of eggs and/or veggies. Either way they're freakin' amazing.
Oh. It's a MUST that you use the Bob's Red Mill Buckwheat mix. I've tried nearly every buckwheat mix on the block and I can say that Bob's Red Mill takes the cake on this one (pun intended).
2. I recently received an email from a female reader of our blog, Juliet. She keeps an GREAT blog over at HeyJoob, and I encourage everyone to check it out; especially the females in the audience.
Anyway, she wrote me to let me know that she was reading our website and stumbled across a post I wrote (Animal Crawl Variations), and was inspired to give them a shot for herself. She filmed the session and I thought it was incredible:
- She was training outside, and I've written about the superb benefits of training outside HERE.
- She has absolutely no shame in posting a video of herself doing something "abnormal."
- It's always refreshing to see a female that "gets it" and tries something besides the elliptical for a change. It was cool to see Juliet getting in an aerobic training session utilizing a slightly unconventional modality. And trust me, these things are way harder than they look.
You can see the video below:
3.Squatmageddon. Tony Gentilcore recently wrote an incredible (and entertaining) response to the fact that some gyms (that shall remain unnamed) up in NYC have BANNED squat racks in their facilities!! WHAT?!?!?!
It's a HUGE shame to see this, and is, unfortunately, an indicator of the current state and mindset a shockingly-large percent of the fitness industry. I highly encourage you to check it out, as I'm sure you'll find it entertaining as well.
You can read about it HERE.
What Are Your Weaknesses?
Superman --> Krytponite Wolverine --> Magnetic Powers
Batman --> Age
Achilles --> His Heel
The King Cobra Snake --> Honey Badger**
Men --> Attention to Detail
Weaknesses. No matter who you are, you've got at least one. The problem is, we rarely leverage these to help us improve.
I received an email the other day from John, a fellow strength coach, that got me REALLY fired up. He had trained at SAPT for a while in preparation for a military physical fitness test, and, in the course of exchanging emails with him post-training, he sent me this:
"In conjunction with our conversations about priorities and focus, I have a question for you. Based on your work with me as a client, what area(s) and/or weaknesses do you think I need to address in my own personal programming? I know that can be a difficult question, but I'd appreciate any feedback or insight you have."
AWESOME!!!! (John: If you're reading, I send you an internet high five). Man, if only more people, athletes and non-athletes alike, approached training this way.
The email got me thinking: in any facet of life, very very few us honestly want someone to bring our weaknesses to light, as it's obviously a blow to our ego. And the sphere of physical fitness is no different. However, recognizing, and then improving upon, our weaknesses is one of the largest steps we can take to reach our goal.
John "gets it." As soon as I received the email from him, I knew he was going to continue to make incredible progress because of his mindset. After all, the large majority of us gravitates toward partaking in the activities which amplify our strengths exclusively, but this ends up holding us back. If we fail to eliminate (or at least work on) our Achilles heel, we can only go so far. We're only as strong as our weakest link.
Let me use a quick example of something that happened to me in college....
I'm in the weight room one day and this guy approaches me. He was wearing an orange T-shirt, so we'll call him DIOTS (Dude In Orange T-Shirt). Here's how it goes down:
DIOTS: So, it seems like you kinda know what you're doing. Do you think you could help me with my bench press?
Me: Sure...what's up?
DIOTS: Well, you see, I haven't improved in the last few months. I've plateaued big time, and my shoulder really bothers me.
Me: Ok. Well, how do you typically train on a weekly basis?
DIOTS: I'll usually do bench press every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Then I'll follow it up with some dumbbell work....maybe some lat pulldowns and curls, too. It kinda depends.
Me: Hmmm...I see. When do you train lower body?
DIOTS: ................what?
Me: You know, like your legs.
DIOTS: Oh. No, I don't really do that.
Me: Squats or deadlifts? Single-leg work?
DIOTS: Well, I used to have to do them with my team in high school. But I don't do them anymore. They're just so hard, ya know?
Me: I know, I know...
DIOTS: Ok, well, anyway, what does lower body have to do with increasing my bench press?
Me: We'll get to that later. How about rowing variations...you doing any of those? Or taken any measures to work on that cranky shoulder?
DIOTS: No, not really.
Me: Ok, no biggie, we can do this....Take your benching down to one day per week, and begin to incorporate a lot more rowing variations and prehab work for your shoulders. Get in a squat or deadlift variation in each week, too. If you really want to, feel free to add in some curls but it won't make or break your routine.
DIOTS: Benching only once per week?! How is that going to help me?
Me: Just trust me. You sure you want to continue with this?
DIOTS: No, yeah, I mean I trust you man. I'll definitely take your word for it. It just seems so crazy and counterintuitive ya know?
Me: Yup, I know.
I then proceeded to instruct DIOTS on proper bench form (his bench technique, or lack thereof, was an enormous culprit for his shoulder pain), as well as show him the basics of squatting/deadlifting, and gave him a few drills he could utilize for shoulder health. To his credit, he soaked it all in like a sponge and did exactly what I said.
I ran into him about eight weeks later and this is how the conversation went:
ME: Hey man, haven't seen you in a little while. How's it all be going?
DIOTS: I can't believe it! My bench press has gone up twenty pounds since we talked. Better yet, my shoulder pain has gone away.
Me: Wow, that's really awesome. Did you make those adjustments in your program?
DIOTS: Yeah, it was tough to make the change but man, it worked. I added in that shoulder stuff you gave me, and also did those rows each week. I also did that warm-up you suggested to me. The squats and deads were cool too, I actually began to enjoy them a bit. It doesn't make sense to me but I'm feeling way better and just seem to keep improving.
That last paragraph may sound a bit corny, but that's literally what he said (trust me, I'll never forget it as it was a ridiculous contrast from my first conversation with him).
The point of all that is this: DIOTS wasn't too arrogant to trust someone else with analyzing his weaknesses and making suggestions. As a result, he improved dramatically and blew away his expectations.
Weaknesses - which we can turn into strengths if we're smart about it - can come in many shapes and sizes:
- It could be a physical limitation with regards to glute function, scapular stability, hip flexor length, the upper back, ankle mobility, etc. (the list could go on and on...). A deficiency in any of these areas can (and most likely will) result in sub-par athletic performance, injury, and/or stalled progress in the big lifts.
- Your circle of influence can be holding you back. I see it time and time again: one's immediate support structure will, more times than not, make or break their progress in the gym.
- Nutrition. It never ceases to surprise people that you can do all you want in the gym, but will rarely see the desired result in the fat loss or muscle gain realm if you're all over the place in the kitchen.
- Poor mobility. Our sedentary lifestyle, along with the increased use of computers, time spent sitting, driving, etc. has left many of us with Tin Man-like mobility. If you're a runner, you can say goodbye to running economy (and faster times). If you're a lifter, you can bid farewell that oh-so-helpful positioning that enhances your mechanical advantage in the set-up and execution of the lift.
- Refusal to take time off. Yep, this can be a weakness, too. "Exercise-aholics" often reach the point where their progress stalls - or worse, they become injured - because they never give their bodies a break. Remember that you build muscle and/or lose fat as a result of recovering from training, not during the actual training session itself. And no, going on a five mile run is not an off day.
I've made plenty of mistakes along the way in this realm, which is why I'm so urgent about it now. For example, I've known for quite a while that I possess atrocious shoulder mobility and thoracic spine ROM, and that it is the worst on my left side. Is it any wonder that, after rarely addressing this issue, I developed persistent shoulder pain in my left shoulder? Had I only attacked this sooner (and perhaps held myself accountable to someone), I'd be in a much different situation.
How about you? Are you willing to have someone give you some honest feedback (as ego-shattering as it may be), and then take action, so you can succeed over the long-haul?
**Bet you didn't know that one! (look it up on Youtube, it's crazy).
To failure, or not to failure, is that even a question?
If am trying to gain some muscle mass should I always train to failure? Thanks,
Billy
Hi Billy,
Thanks for the question.
As is my answer to most things in life, it depends, and even more so, it depends on who you ask. But understand this; training to failure is not synonymous with muscle growth, and I personally I feel that it can be dangerous if utilized by the wrong populations, and can have an adverse training effect if used in the wrong situations.
With no understanding of your weight training experience level, current and long term training approach, training frequency, biological age, short and long term training goals are etc., the best I can do provide you a fairly general answer.
First, let’s establish muscle growth contributors: hormones, food, training stimulus and ample recovery from those training sessions. Lacking any of these four things will significantly limit muscle growth. For instance, prepubescent populations shouldn’t concern themselves with muscle gain due to lack of hormone production, and should focus more on improving integrity of connective tissue, learning proper motor patters, and becoming more neurologically efficient. Similarly, those who don’t eat enough, nor get adequate rest in between training sessions, are significantly limiting growth potential. I’d closely investigate those two things as many looking to gain muscle are strikingly lacking in these two areas. As I believe your question pertains more to finding the “magical” set and rep scheme, I can tell you there isn’t one, but staying within certain rep and total volume ranges will ensure high amounts of tissue disruption, without always needing to train to failure.
If I, or any of my athletes are engaged in a hypertrophy focused training block, I always prefer training to positive failure for most sets, defined as when one can no longer complete another rep with good form. This strategy mainly pertains to their accessory work which depending on the time of year, and programming intentions, will typically fall in the 7-15 rep/set range. A variety of factors will determine how many total sets/sessions/frequency. I’ll also shorten rest in between sets. Sets will always stop feeling like they had another 2 reps “in the tank” during their main compound movement (ie. squat, deadlift, etc.) of the day. That’s my strength coach-biased answer, and I’m sticking to it…for now.
Below is a picture of “Big Joe;” he’s the dude in the blue singlet.
“Big Joe” trained with us at SAPT to prep for his wrestling and baseball seasons. “Big Joe” is now a Division 1 athlete at a big-time SEC school. “Big Joe,” never trained to absolute failure with us at SAPT and “Big Joe” is…well…big.
If you’re looking to safely and intelligently put on some muscle, and improve function this offseason, you gotta get in touch with us by clicking HERE…
Neurological efficiency is where it’s at, though,
Chris
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The first thing I noticed when I walked into SAPT for my initial interview was that all of the athletes seemed to have a towel in hand. Looping them through kettlebells, wrapping them around barbells, hanging them over pullup bars, you name it, the towels were being used for it. As I walked through the facility, a high school guy nearly ran me over as he scurried across the room holding a towel looped through few kettlebells.
Didn’t take me long before I looked at the President of SAPT and asked her:
“So, uh, what’s with all the towels?”
Continue Reading....
(The link above takes you to my most recent OneResult article)
Cross-Training by Lifting Weights...?!?
Cross-Training by Lifting Weights – that’s the title of a New York Times article I found online. I like to peruse the Health section of the NY Times in an attempt to stay abreast of what mainstream people are reading regarding the health/fitness industry. Why the NY Times? They present researched information and, it seems, are genuinely interested in helping those attempting to navigate through all things Health related (not trick them into buying products or creating anxiety by twisting facts).
You may want to know if I read “muscle magazines” too – I do not… generally speaking, they’re all full of absolute nonsense.
Here’s an excerpt from the article:
“A more recent study of experienced runners by a group of Norwegian researchers confirmed that weight lifting could increase performance. One group did half squats with heavy weights three times a week while continuing a running program. The other group just ran. Those who did the squats improved their running efficiency and improved the length of time they could run before exhaustion set in…
… It is not known why weight lifting would improve performance, but investigators speculate that it may train supporting muscle fibers in the legs, allowing runners or cyclists to use them to augment muscles that get tired.”
Did you read the bolded portions?... I’ll wait while you read it again and let it sink in a bit…
1. It IS known why weight lifting improves performance even in “experienced” (code for endurance) runners: strength training improves endurance by improving the mechanisms responsible for improving running economy. Things like posture, leg turnover, reducing perceived effort, reducing injuries, improving speed (especially up hills and on uneven terrain) are all the amazing and, apparently, “not known” by-products of a strength training program.
2. Can you imagine the improvements that would have been recorded by having this group use a program that involved more than just 3x/week of half-squats? Well, I can! If this programming were in the hands of an experienced professional strength coach, this group of test subjects could look forward to getting way more bang-for-their-buck. A periodized plan containing unilateral (see example video below) and other accessory movements plus special physical preparation exercises would no doubt blow the control group out of the water!
The NY Times makes a great effort to present unbiased information, but I would love to see more depth in their fitness articles. The research already exists and their readers can handle it!
If you’re ready to join the mighty training ranks of SAPT and be guided by a group of coaches that is not the least bit surprised by the above findings, then don't wait one more second and contact us here!
