Some Female Pushup Goodness

A misconception I would like to blow out of the water today is that women should only perform pushups from their knees.  It seems that when some fitness instructors are working with females, and realize they can't do "normal" pushups from the feet, they resort to placing their knees on the ground. Not that there is never a time or a place for this, but I feel it's a misguided mindset, for two reasons:

1. I've never seen a correlation between the number of pushups a woman can do from her knees versus the ability to perform a pushup from her feet (ex. even if a woman can do 25 pushups from the knees, she still may not be able to do a full pushup with the knees off the ground).  This is largely do to the heightened lumbo-pelvic stability suddenly required at the hips/torso when the knees are elevated.
2. While subtle, it continues to perpetuate the notion that women should train differently than men and are destined to be "inferior," if you will, in the weight room.  I think we should set women up for success, and show them what they actually cando with some perseverance and proper coaching.

If we're trying to, oh I don't know, actually improve female's movement quality and help them become stronger (not to mention boost their confidence), we need to stop perpetuating this notion that the majority of women are doomed to eternally fail at the full-range pushup.

Granted, nature hasn't necessarily set women up to learn the pushup as quickly as most men, due to biomechanical factors. For example, females tend to have a higher "lower body mass:upper body mass" ratio compared to men (think of having a weight placed over your hips versus your shoulders in a pushup, this would make it much more difficult).

However, with some careful coaching and persistent practice, almost any female can obtain this. We coach girls who can perform better pushups than most men I see in commercial gyms, and these same girls couldn't do a single perfect pushup when they first started training at SAPT.  My guess is that if we had just resorted to having them do "knee pushups," they'd still be unable to do a proper pushup (not to mention received FAR less improvement in their preparedness for sport).

Below are some videos of a couple of our female athletes performing pushups.  I'm sharing these for two reasons:

1. To show that it is definitely possible for a girl to do a full-range pushup after proper training (without them being eternally destined to do "knee pushups" as the media will often portray).
2. These pushups completely destroy 95% of the pushups I see performed by men across the country.  Boys: you really aren't that cool! Let's be real here and save the bench press for when we can perform at least 25 perfect pushups without any technical breakdown.

Below is one of our volleyball players (13-years old, mind you), Kenzie, performing five flawless pushups, and then topping them off with some sandbag walkovers:

Note: when Kenzie first came to us, she had to do pushups with her hands elevated on a high mat, so she has come a long way!

Next is Kaleigh (a track athlete), performing them with a 25lb plate on her back.

Thirdly, is a video of Kelsey performing some awesome TRX pushups, with her feet elevated.

And, last but not least, is Lisa banging out some single-leg, foot-elevated pushups. Strong!

Now, what to do if she can't yet perform a full-range pushup?  One option is to only perform the eccentric (the lowering or "yielding" portion of the movement) as Maggie is doing in the video below.  Focusing on the eccentric portion is actually a pretty key factor in rapid strength gains, especially in beginners.

Now, if someone can't do eccentric pushups them from the floor (as most people can't, initially), then you could simply have them elevate their hands on a mat or bench to make it easier.

You can even have them perform PUPPs, in order to acclimate to the feeling of supporting their bodyweight in full pushup position.

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There are many other tools you can use as well, but I trust this is enough to at least give the women in the crowd some motivation, and get you thinking about tools outside the knee pushup to work on your strength and movement quality.

Cheers!

What you’re not getting from your three easy payments of 19.99…

My main qualm with most “at-home-on-your-own” training protocols is that there really is no “quality control” component.  As you’ve heard us reference countless times on this site, the intended benefit of an exercise is only realized when execution is correct.  Improper execution of a movement will yield less than optimal results, and the potential for injury.  Check-out the two video clips below of one of our distance clients, Frank. 

You’ll notice in the first video he’s significantly more disjointed and off-balanced in comparison to the second (watch again).  Well there’s a reason.  After receiving the following feedback from me he was able to lock-in the form much better: 

“Watch your video closely and you’ll notice that every time your back knee touches the ground heavy, your lead leg (the knee) shifts inward slightly, meaning the glute med didn’t quite fire on time to absorb the force.  The reps that are beautiful, you’ll notice there wasn’t the slightest deviation of the knee. Think 'front-knee-out' every repetition.”

Watch the videos again, did you catch it?

Frank’s, reply:

Wow! I never would have seen that!  It seems so clear now!  I never understood why some reps seemed so hard…excellent feedback!

This is something that would have gone unnoticed by most, and certainly in a scenario where the only coaching feedback you receive is your dog incessantly barking at you while your knee slips into valgus…and the tape just keeps on rolling…

Start receiving the attention to detail you deserve by clicking HERE…

Chris

Peanut Butter and Accountability

Accountability. I can think of very few action steps that are more effective than this when it comes to inducing positive behavior change. Using myself as an example, I remember experiencing this first-hand back in 2008. I, believe it or not, took a trip over to the "dark side" and decided to compete in triathlon. I thought it would be a good challenge (I don't think I had ever run over 3 miles in my life at this point) and also give me a greater appreciation for the weekly stressors endurance athletes face in training. After all, it's difficult to really understand what it feels like to be in someone else's shoes unless you, well, step into their shoes.

The thing was, I hated the swim portion of training. I was in college at the time, and in order to have any hope of getting my own lane in the pool I had to be there at 7:00AM sharp when the pool opened. Given that, during college, I was less-than-responsible with getting to bed at a decent hour (curse you roommates!), and the fact I was a lousy swimmer to begin with (I think I've seen rocks swim better than I do), I was FAR from motivated to arrive for an hour of "controlled drowning" each morning.

swimtransition

Fortunately, I had a few friends who came right along my side and told me that they would meet me at 7:00AM sharp each morning for a swim. And I better show up, because they sacrificed sleep in order to meet me there. Needless to say, this allowed me to consistently complete my scheduled swim sessions each week, and avoid looking like a complete idiot during the open water swim on race day.

Ok, so what does this have to do with peanut butter? Well, I recently received an email from a good friend of mine that reminded me just how powerful accountability can really be.

You see, my friend (for sake of anonymity we'll call him Sam) has been fighting a pretty intense battle with food for the past few years. After dealing with a number of severe injuries, he began face these irresistible urges to feast. No matter how irrational he knew it was, he'd wake up in the middle of the night and be so hungry that he'd (nearly unconsciously) devour boxes of cereal or even an entire jar of peanut butter.

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Keep in mind: Sam is a very accomplished runner (holding a 6:39 mile split during a competition marathon...my legs/lungs hurt just thinking about that), so he's no stranger to perseverance, positive self talk, and working hard. However, upon sustaining injuries to the lower extremity - rendering him unable to run - it became near impossible for him to receive his "fix" each week through running. This is when the seemingly-impossible food battles began to really pick up and he gained roughly 30lbs. For an athlete and self-motivated individual, this was obviously devastating.

I did my best to support him, offer him strategies, give him recipes, have him over for dinner, etc. in order to help him through this tough time. I suggested he avoid buying ANY food that created an irresistible temptation, as I've found this strategy has worked for me personally as well as people I've coached.

After all, if it's not in your home, you can't eat it, right?

Here's where Sam actually became quite innovative. He took my advice and stopped buying cereal, peanut butter, and the other "problem foods." However, when he'd awake in the middle of the night, he would steal his roommates peanut butter and eat that! He'd then proceed to go out to the store the following morning and replace his roommate's jar. (Haha, even he laughs at this, so I know it's o.k. to share).

Making a long story short, nothing seemed to be working. Finally, and I have to give credit to Sam for this, he told me that he was going to email and text me every week to tell me what he ate, thus holding himself accountable. In fact, he would text me on Sunday, telling me that he would truthfully be able to write me "success" on Thursday, and this would push him throughout the week. This has been going on for a while now, and this is a recent email I received from him:

Again, the one day goal of texting you a success story worked again. I don't know what it is but even in my tired stupor I think "I have to tell Stevo that I did it because I told him I would and hes counting on me." I had only a cup of cottage cheese and some egg whites last night. (I am aware that a kitten dies every time a yolk is dumped in the sink, but had already had 6 whole eggs throughout the day). For the next week I'm going to allow myself the cottage cheese and an egg for compliance purposes. I did wake up at 4 and had a little bit of rice chex, but quickly stopped myself and had some pistachios before going back to bed.

I can't thank you enough. This is the furthest I've come since I can remember with my eating battles. I know that just one bite of peanut butter is a dangerous slippery slope. As good as it tastes (same with sugar) it's nowhere near worth how I have felt and the changes I've been able to see since I stopped it. I can think clearer, I feel more confident, and I don't feel a slave to food. Last time this happened I relapsed after about a week. I am now over 2 weeks without peanut butter and going for a month, and then on.

When I got this email, it literally made my day. I mean, it had been each and every day throughout a couple years that Sam had been battling this, and just making that step of accountability made all the difference. At this point in time, he has lost 25-30lbs (weighing the least he has in 2ish years, and near his ideal body weight) and is only continuing to improve.

What we can all learn from Sam is that if we're serious about obtaining a goal, we need to tell others about it. In fact, it'd be best if we have those close to us BADGER us about our goals; keeping us on track each and every day no matter what external circumstances appear to be dictating.

Need to lose weight? Hold yourself accountable.

Want to add some lean body mass? Tell your friends/spouse/co-workers how much you're going to put on over the next month. THEN we'll see how often you reach for the muffin instead of the egg omelet for breakfast.

Want to squat 405?  Tell people about it before it happens, and then see how frequently you skip your next lower body session. (Someone I know recently took this step...*coughcoughWayToGoRYANcough*).

Now go tell someone your next goal.

7 Days of Insanity

Over the past 7 days I’ve had multiple experiences every day that I think most Strength & Conditioning Coaches would kill to experience with NCAA Division 1 athletes. Last week was one of those special weeks when I’ve got a couple of my teams in-season, a couple teams in pre-season, and several teams just getting started for the semester with testing. The last week was extremely rich with everything from recovery sessions for soccer, 1RM squat testing, conditioning for two teams, and working out the details of a new research project. I even saw an ACL completely tear and another one we thought tore, but – thankfully – did not. My point in this post is to give you a weeklong peek into the life of a college strength coach… and let me tell you, it is WAY different than the private sector.

Tuesday, September 6:

• 8:30a – women’s soccer in weight room for a light total body lift, capped on either end of the session with active & static stretching and SMR (foam rolling).
• 10:30a – women’s basketball in weight room for an upper body lift. We then go over to the Patriot Center to begin conditioning by 11:15a. Post players ran routes on the court and guards ran stairs.
• 2:00p – on the field with women’s soccer to run their warm-up and conditioning routes.
• 3:30p – female sprinters and jumpers in weight room for power clean 1RM testing.
• 3:45p – throwers testing 3 vertical jump variations: counter-movement, static start, depth jump (from low box).
• 4:30p – male sprinters and jumpers in weight room for power clean 1RM testing.

BBallRoutes copy

Wednesday, September 7:

• 8:45a – women’s volleyball in weight room to lift. The start and finish of the lift involved active & static stretching and SMR.
• 2:00p – on the field to warm-up women’s soccer.
• 2:30p – women’s lacrosse testing on single leg broad jump, vertical jump, and 3RM front squat to BELOW parallel depth (we had a freshmen hit 170 x 3 – yikes!)
• 3:30p – female sprinters and jumpers in weight room to test 1RM bench press.
• 4:30p – male sprinters and jumpers in weight room to test 1RM bench press (one guy pressed 305lbs)

Thursday, September 8:

• 10:30a – women’s basketball in weight room for a lower body lift. We then go over to the Patriot Center to begin conditioning by 11:15a. Guards ran routes on the court and posts ran a low impact total body conditioning circuit.
• 2:00p – lead an on-field body weight only training session for women’s soccer (technically it wasn’t “on-field” due to the monsoon outside… we were in the Field House).
• 3:00p – rowing team in weight room for first day of training – big team with 15 new athletes means lots of instruction.
• 3:30p – female sprinters and jumpers in weight room to test ½ Squat 1RM
• 3:45p – throwers in weight room to test bench press 1RM and review lifts for following week.
• 4:30p – male sprinters and jumpers in weight room to test ½ Squat 1RM.

Friday, September 9:

• 10:30a - women’s basketball in weight room for an upper body lift. We then go over to the Patriot Center to begin conditioning by 11:15a. Post players ran routes on the court and guards ran stair sprints with full recovery.
• 2:30p – women’s lacrosse testing for seated MB Toss, Perfect Pushup Assessment for 1 set of 10, Yo-Yo Intermittent Beep test.
• 3:45p – throwers in weight room for 1RM back squat test with introduction of following week’s lower body lifts.

Saturday, September 10:

• 10:00a – on-field with women’s soccer for practice.

Sunday, September 11:

• 1:00p – women’s soccer game. Witnessed a member of the opposing team destroy her ACL during a contact situation. I’ve seen this before and I’ll see it again, many times I’m sure. It’s always terrible to see this type of season ending injury that, because of my background and experience, I know will affect her for the rest of her life.

Monday, September 12:

• 8:45a – women’s volleyball in the weight room for lifting. The start and finish of the lift involved active & static stretching and SMR.
• 10:30a - women’s basketball in weight room for a lower body lift. We then go over to the Patriot Center to begin conditioning by 11:15a. Guards ran routes on the court and Posts ran stairs for speed work with full recovery.
• 1:30p – Single lacrosse player in to lift.
• 2:30p – women’s lacrosse in for first lifting session. Lots of teaching.
• 3:45p – throwers in for first lifting session. We did some serious volume with some serious low rest periods. No one threw-up, amazing! They must have been ready for it!
• 4:30p – female sprinters and jumpers in for first lifting session.
• 5:30p – male sprinters in for first lifting session.

Congratulations, you made it to the end of my 7 days!!! I don’t have the time or the patience to convey the details that were left out of this recap, but trust me when I tell you I think I garnered an additional year’s worth of experience in just 7 days.

As I’ve seen many very talented strength coaches completely leave the field over my 7-years of experience, I have learned that being a college strength coach is not everyone’s cup of tea. But for some sick reason it seems to be mine. I thrive on the stress and intensity. If you’re thinking of stepping into the college environment, reread my week above one more time and factor in having a life (and in my case a business, too) on top of all that – can you handle it?

3 Habits of Successful Gym Goers

Why is it that some people seem to never make progress in the gym, while others experience amazing transformations? Some people "exercise" for years, and yet really have no tangible measure of improvement when all is said and done at the end of the day.  Five years later, they still move and look the same as they did when they first began exercising.

So, what is it that sets the results-oriented people apart from the non-successful gym goers?  This may be with regards to movement quality, physical appearance, or variables related to biological health (cardiovascular efficiency, bone/tissue quality, blood profile, etc.)

What are the habits of those that receive the "Wow, what have YOU been doing?!" questions from friends who haven't seen them in a while?

I've found that - nearly without fail - the following habits are found within all results-oriented exercisers:

1.  They make it a lifelong pursuit. Obtaining, and subsequently maintaining, a healthy body is a life-long war, not a one-week battle.  (Note that there's a critical difference between obtaining and maintaining).

Unfortunately, there's a pervasive notion that one only needs to exercise in "bursts" in order to achieve results.  It seems that people only tend to crack down on their exercise and nutrition habits during the period leading up to their wedding, or a beach vacation, or a high school reunion.

Don't get me wrong: I think it's perfectly acceptable to set "deadlines" to push yourself to achieve a particular benchmark.  However, this should be executed within the context of a long-term plan, not a one-time event.

To set yourself up for success: you MUST realize that achieving the goals you've been looking for in the physical realm is a lifelong pursuit.  There is no way around this.  The obvious but often overlooked truth is that our bodies will degrade quickly in both function and appearance when we cease to exercise.

I can't tell you how many times I've been approached by someone asking for a "get ripped in twenty days" plan, or an "OMGI'mdressingupasKingLeonidasforHalloweeninfourweekssoIneedtoputon15lbsofmuscle" workout. Unfortunately, this mindset demonstrates that you simply don't "get it."

Look at some of the most successful business men/women. Do they ever just, stop? No! In fact, those who are most successful in the business realm are also the most driven (some may even say insane) when it comes down to continued education, personal development, and professional advancement.

As I noted in the Things I've Learned: Life Edition post, if you're not consistently moving forward with something, you're going to quickly slide backwards rather than maintaining status quo.

2.  They push through setbacks. 

Injuries and undesired life events outside our control are going to happen.  It's not about how many times you fall down, it's about how quickly you stand back up.  When crap hits the fan, I encourage you to get in the gym and train, instead of sulking in a corner complaining about how life isn't going your way.  I'm not denying that many of you have experienced some extremely difficult scenarios.  But stand back up as quickly as you can.

We have numerous clientele at SAPT who still show up to train even in spite of injury. We've worked with many people who are on crutches, and/or just coming out of surgery.

Below is a video of Conrad - a 61-Year Old with a torn rotator cuff - performing a Chinup (on a thick bar no less) with 110lbs added weight.  That's basically a middle-school child hanging from his waist. Sarah recently showed this video, but I think it bears repeating:

Conrad currently rehabbing from a knee-replacement surgery, and has been sure to email us on numerous occasions that he's going to be back in SAPT soon, if only perform some inverted rows and some low-intensity lower body exercises. The point is that he's ready to get right back after it, even though he's only a couple weeks out from a pretty invasive surgery!

Similarly, try looking Zach Moore (shown in the video below) in the face and tell him that you can't train today because you're tired, or because you're upset at something your boyfriend/girlfriend did earlier today. I don't think there's any denying Zach has persevered through some pretty serious situations in order to get where he is in the weight room:

Now, at the same time, I'm not saying to be stupid.  If an exercise hurts (this includes running), don't do it.  Fix the problem first, or find a substitute.  For example, if you have chronic back pain, it's probably best to avoid bilateral lifts such as squatting and deadlifting and perform more single-leg work instead.  Or -  at least - keep the load light and only go through a pain-free range of motion.

3.  They Train, not "workout." If you're going to take the time to exercise, then at least make sure it's worthwhile.  Two people doing the exact same program for an hour will have two completely different results from that training session based on how it is executed.

Train with purpose.  Train with intensity.  Train with focus.  These will be the difference makers in your routine.

Ditch your cell phone, too.  Don't worry, those people anxiously awaiting your text message response will still be there when you're finished your training session.

It amazes me how many people have their cell phones out at the gym.  And they wonder why they move and look no differently a year later after "exercising" consistently.  Seriously, for that hour you're in the gym: lose the distractions, forget about the world outside you, and "leave it all at the front door."  Life's baggage will be waiting for you when you're done training.

We are a society plagued with ADD.  We can't seem to leave our cell phones or computers for an instant without the world ending (even as I type this I'm sitting at my computer...how ironic).

When you train, give it everything you have, every time.  You'll be amazed at what happens when you do this consistently.

This means ignoring what others around you are thinking, and ignoring the world outside of you.

Train as if you're life depends upon it.  Because many times, it actually does.

Fall Your Way to Faster Sprint Times: The Falling Start

Who doesn't want to sprint faster? Whether you're a competitive athlete, a weekend warrior, or simply someone who wants to win the next random "tough guy" challenge at a BBQ, the ability to sprint quickly certainly can't be a negative addition to your toolbox.

It's tough to find a better means of true plyometric training than sprinting, and, on top of that, there are few human movements that simply feel more "freeing" than sprinting. There's no denying that it's just plain fun.

However, most of us find ourselves in a devilish conundrum here: Sprinting faster - and safely - isn't just about going out and sprinting. Why, you ask?

1. Most people simply lack the strength to efficiently decelerate (and subsequently accelerate) during each stride. The remedy to this lies in ensuring your involvement in a sound strength training regimen. I discussed the "why" behind the importance of strength for increased speed in the Improving My Son's 60-Yard Dash Q & A I wrote last year (see the third point), so I'm not going to bore you here.
2. The majority of us move like crap. As such, heading out to the track for 100yd repeats for our first "sprint" session is a recipe for pulled adductors, hamstrings, and hip flexors (admittedly, this happened to me in college so I'm allowed to make fun of those that currently do it). Given that most people sit the majority of the day, possess glaring flexibility deficits, and haven't sprinted in a while, going balls-to-the-wall right off the bat is about as intelligent as thinking you can win a cage match against Wolverine.**

This being said, I prefer to ease people into sprinting, utilizing short bouts of 80% intensity to begin with. These will typically be completed at 20-yards OR LESS. This way, the person won't be able to reach full acceleration and reduce the risk of incurring an "ouchie." Not to mention, nearly everyone's sprint times can be lower by working on the first ten yards alone, due to the fact that the start of the sprint is where you lose most of your time.

Here's a drill I like to use to ease into sprinting, on top of helping teach someone how to produce large amounts of force into the ground:

Falling Start

Some of the key points:

• Fall. Seriously, fall forward as far as possible. You want to lean so far that you would literally fall on your face if your feet don't catch up to you. This is critical to creating the momentum we're looking for in acceleration, as well as nearly (but not completely) approximating the body angle required for acceleration one would experience out of the blocks. This is where Matthew (the one demonstrating) is better at this drill than the majority of people I've seen do it, as most tend to think they've leaned further forward than they actually have.
• As you lean forward onto the balls of your feet, be sure to keep the hips forward (i.e. body should be stiff as board, like you're a falling plank...no bending at the waist).
• As you drive out of the fall, maintain that forward lean and be vigorous with your arm action. Drive those elbows "front to back" and keep the palms open/relaxed (again, Matthew does a pretty good job with this).
• Try your best to keep the chin tucked throughout the acceleration, too. The only main critique I have for Matthew's demo is that he looked up - hyperextending his neck - as he drove out of the start.
• Keep your sprint distance to 10-20 yards, especially in the early stages of training. In the video, Matthew only accelerates through the eight yard mark before slowing down.

There you have it. While there are countless drills you can use to "improve that first step," I really like this one for people just starting out with their sprint work, as well as mixing in the programs of those toward the "advanced" side of the spectrum, too.

**unless your name is Magneto.