A Little Sage Advice on Program Design: Is Exercise Selection Really the Most Important Programming Variable?

When most people think about designing training plans, they think of the process as nothing more than a matter of choosing which exercises they are going to do on a given day. This may work for a little while, but what happens when progress begins to slow, or if you"re working with an athlete or client that only has twelve weeks to maximize their physical preparation? Can you just slap a bunch of exercises down, hoping it will work?

Or, even if you"re just seeking to look better and move better, and you"re spending 3 hours a week in the gym, don"t you want to know that your time is being optimally invested, and not spent?

Treating exercise selection as the most important programming variable can be quite the imprudent approach, given that exercise selection is only ONE piece in the programming puzzle; and, in fact, is probably the last on the list.

Let"s look at the list of variables you have to "play with" when you sit down to create a program:

1. Training Type. Examples of training type would be jumping exercises, running exercises, change-of-direction work, resistance training, and skill work (ex. practicing your sport-specific drills, such as hitting a baseball, or drilling hip escapes and passing an open guard in Jiu-Jitsu). This must be decided first.
2. Intensity (neural, muscular, mental, and metabolic factors)
3. Volume
4. a. Number of Reps
5. b. Number of Sets
6. Tempo
7. Rest Periods
8. Exercise Selection

As you can see, exercise selection is last on the list! Not only that, but there are quite a number of critical factors before exercise selection.

Much more important than the exercises you choose is HOW you choose them to impose a specific demand to each of your body"s systems, creating the desired training effect.

To help make my point....what if I told you that the same exercise can be applied in completely different ways, thus developing diverse adaptations and ultimately leading to an entirely different result?

Take the squat, for example. By manipulating the loading, repetitions, sets, tempo, and rest periods for just that one exercise, we can create entirely different adaptations:

• Maximal Strength
• Alactic Power Output
• Aerobic Anaerobic Endurance
• Static Strength
• Explosive Endurance
• Aerobic Power Recovery Rate
• Lactic Capacity

And, because I"m cool like that and am feeling a tingling sensation within my "giving spirit" with the holiday season upon us, I"ve provided you a few video examples:

Maximal Strength

While there"s some wiggle room here, this method is used performing 1-5 reps with a heavy load; the purpose being to stimulate the nervous system to improve maximal muscle recruitment. Here is Ryan hitting a 375lb squat on Thanksgiving morning:

**Aerobic Anaerobic Endurance; Static Strength

With a tempo squat, you enhance the body"s ability to delay fatigue, maintain power output over an extended period of time, improve anaerobic endurance, and develop static strength. This would be important for endurance athletes, military personnel, fighters, and yes, even field athletes.

Here I am using a 2-0-2 tempo...two seconds down, no pause at the bottom, two seconds up, and no pause at the top (I am admittedly performing the concentric portion a bit too quickly in my demo). Constant tension and slow movement is key here:

**Aerobic Power

With a squat jump, and using the right work:rest ratio, you can augment the fast twitch fibers ability to produce maximal power over a longer period of time. You can also train them (the type II fibers) to recover casino online more quickly betwixt explosive bursts of high power output:

*Imperative Note: Do NOT even bother with squat jumps (let alone loaded squat jumps) until you can squat at least 1.5x your body weight with good form*

Lactic Capacity

With a static dynamic squat you you can help your body learn to delay fatigue by boosting the buffering mechanisms of the lactic energy system. Do two reps, then hold in the stretched position for ten seconds, then two more reps, then hold for ten seconds, etc. etc. etc. One set of these babies should last 3-5 minutes! (Hint: this equals MAJOR suckitude). Work your way up to 10 minutes with a light weight, then slightly increase the weight and go back to 3 minutes per set:

**With the tempo squats and squat jumps, it is of extreme importance you utilize the correct number of sets along with the proper work:rest ratio to elicit the correct adaptation. Don"t just go hog wild here. You must also be sure you place them in their proper context within the grand program design structure, and know how/when to use them;  however, I"m not going to delve into that now.

As you can see, the basic squat can be used for a myriad training tools, and the demos I gave are just the tip of the iceberg. Nonetheless, I hope that this at least helped you understand that good program design is much more than slapping down exercises on paper. A squat performed with a particular load, tempo, number of reps, number of sets, tempo, and specific rest period will evoke an entirely different adaptation than doing a squat with a different all-of-those-things-I-just-listed.

When I write programs, the actual exercise is usually the LAST thing I put down on the paper; I decide how I"m going to manipulate the first five variables on the list above, THEN I put down the exercise I want to use to obtain the desired training effect; be it for someone training SAPT or in my own training.

Elbow Pain? I’ve Got Your Fix

Did you know that approximately 1/3 of all workday illnesses are the result of elbow/wrist/forearm injury? That’s 33.3% for those of you who prefer percentages. In fact, these injuries account for a greater loss in wages and productivity than ANY OTHER ANATOMIC REGION (i.e., the lower back that always gets so much attention)!

What’s the Function of the Elbow?

The true function of the elbow is to transfer energy from the shoulder to the hand. This transfer then allows for extremely precise and forceful movements to occur simultaneously. So, the elbow’s ability to function pain and restriction free is pretty darn important for daily living.

Risk Factors and Common Diagnoses

Most of the time there is some sort of tendon related issue causing the problem in the elbow, wrist, or forearm. The risk factors for all of these injuries are similar and include virtually any repetitive, hand-intensive, and forceful tasks. Some examples include electrical work (I know this first-hand as Ryan had an extremely painful bout with elbow pain about 7 years ago), barbell bench press, tennis, golf, rowing, baseball, softball, basketball, all throwing, construction work, gardening, etc, etc, etc.

The aim of injury prevention and treatment is to attempt to limit range of motion temporarily, limit the repetitive task causing the pain, to strengthen the area, and address muscle tissue and tendon quality in the immediate and surrounding areas.

Associated Muscles

Muscles about the elbow, forearm, and wrist can simply be divided into elbow flexors and extensors and wrist flexors and extensors. The key muscles involved are:

• Biceps brachii
• Triceps brachii
• Brachialis
• Brachioradialis
• Pronator quadratus
• Pronator teres
• Supinator
• Wrist flexors
• Wrist extensors

Elbowpain2

The Most Common Injuries

1. Tennis Elbow: the lateral epicondylitis becomes strained and inflamed
2. Golfers Elbow: the medial epicondyle becomes strained and inflamed
3. De Quervain Syndrome: an inflammation or a tendinosis of the sheath that surrounds the two tendons that control thumb movement.

Solving the Problem

No doubt a comprehensive and focused corrective exercise program is in order to address issues of the elbow/forearm/wrist. But, to arrive at a solution, a number of assessments should be conducted to uncover the root of the problem. Several common assessments include: Brachialis Limitation Assessment, Long Head of the Biceps Limitation Assessment, Active Wrist ROM Assessment, and a simple Wrist Limitation Assessment.

Once you have an idea where the problem lies. The targeted solution can be constructed. Generally, this will involve:

1. SMR to addres tender spots on the brachialis, biceps brachii, and wrist extensors or flexors
2. Static stretching for the biceps brachii and wrist flexors or extensors
3. Isolated strengthening for elbow flexion, elbow extension, wrist flexors or extensors, and wrist supination and pronation – these selected exercises should be heavy on tempo with great focus on the eccentric and isometric portions.
4. Integrated dynamic movements – these are basically more complex movements that, depending on severity of pain, may need to be worked into after addressing steps 1-3 over the course of several weeks.

As with all other portions of the body, dysfunction at one joint is often linked to dysfunction at other joints. In the case of elbow/forearm/wrist dysfunction, one should always look up the kinetic chain to the shoulder and check to find out if there is any impingement syndrome or instability, as these will often be found in conjunction with lower arm problems.

25lb Chinup PR and Newton's Second Law

When most people think about becoming stronger, the only variable often looked at is the weight on the bar, or the size of the dumbbell. After all, if you're squatting 225x5 on week 1, then 250x5 on week 3, you've gotten stronger, right? Of course...it's progressive overload at it's finest. However, what happens when adding weight to the bar simply doesn't cut it? If you bench press 200lbs for six reps one week, and then are unable to bench 200lbs for seven reps the following week....you've failed to get stronger, correct?

Not necessarily. In fact, your strength gains may have significantly increased, but you failed to realize it, and thus the fuming and fussing on the car ride home begins.

First, let me provide some video footage of my wife, Kelsey, hitting an impressive weighted chinup personal record. Here she is, on Thanksgiving morning, pulling her sternum to the bar with 45lbs dangling from her waist:

(Yes, women can do pullups. Boys, you have some work to do.)

For the longest time, Kelsey was stuck at +20lbs strapped to her waist. She couldn't seem to break that barrier. Then, in the course of only a few months, she added another 25lbs to her waist! How did she do this, you inquire? Whew, I thought you'd never ask....

She stopped grinding out her reps.

You know....the kind where you kick your feet around, pulling yourself up - or pressing the bar - slower than molasses running uphill in July.

Up until her recent training cycle (the one where she hit the chinup PR), she ALWAYS grinded out her reps. In her mind, if she wasn't adding more weight to her waist, then she wasn't getting stronger (she will admit this, too). This continued for months on end, her max chinup remaining right at a stubborn +20lbs. However, once she stopped worrying about the weight, and kept her reps clean and crisp, her chinup strength skyrocketed! She of course did this in conjunction with some intelligent programming, but that's not what I'm going to get into here.

The same thing can happen to you, whether it's your bench press, squat, deadlift, overhead press, or whatever. And you can thank Newton's Second Law for this phenomenon. For those of you who may forget high school physics, and/or are more visual learners, let me provide you a picture:

Looking at the equation, and using a bit of Algebra 1, it's easy to see that there are a few ways to increase F: one of these being increasing m while keeping a constant; the other being, increasing a while keeping m constant. If you don't know what F, m, and a stand for, then shame on you. I'll wait while you look it up.

I'm about to get my nerdification on a bit, so if you're uninterested in reading further, take home this: you can still get stronger by moving the same weight FASTER, rather than needing to add more weight to the bar. In fact, this is often the limiting factor in one's inability to continue to improve his or her strength.

Okay, for those of you that are still with me, we know that there are three primary factors that affect the phenotypic properties of muscle:

1. The Nervous System
2. Mechanical Loading
3. The Endocrine System

The nervous system is the driving force behind adaptation of our motor units (a motor unit being a motor neuron and all the muscle fibers it innervates). In fact, it is the nervous system that's responsible for determining whether your fibers are fast twitch or slow twitch.

Mechanical loading refers to moving a weight (as in a squat or bench press), and the endocrine system would be all those hormones running throughout your body.

Today, we're going to briefly glimpse at the first two on the list.

With the F=ma equation, the "F" would be the force your muscles produce, m would be the weight on the bar (or the mechanical loading), and a would be how fast you move it.

With regards to muscle fiber strength and size changes, a propelling force in inciting these desired adaptations is neural drive. The more neural drive you have to the muscle fibers, the more they develop in size and strength. Essentially, you're tapping into your high threshold motor units, the one's that have the greatest potential for size and strength.

What is one way to increase neural drive? Increase force production.You know, that big F in the equation.

Since we can't perpetually increase F by adding weight on the bar (if only, if only....), we can still cause F to go up by improving our a, the acceleration!

More acceleration = more force output = more neural drive to the muscles = more chances of the opposite sex wanting to hang out with you. Yes, that is scientific fact.

All this boils down to is that you need to measure improvement not only by the weight the bar, but also by how fast you move it.

If I could call out one of the greatest mistakes I see in the average gym goer, it is that they are constantly grinding out reps in their attempts to get their sexification on. And, even worse, they'll hit failure, missing reps and crashing the bar onto the safety pins. This will only fry your nervous system and make you weak. The strongest lifters in the world never miss reps. I think they must be on to something, no?

Stealing an example from Roger Lawson, continuing to grind out your reps (i.e. moving the bar slowww and coming close to failure) is akin to continually punching the accelerator and slamming the brakes at each traffic light. You know, like that hilarious scene from Meet the Parents.

If your body is the analogous to the car, and your nervous system is comparable to the engine, what do you think will happen to your performance in and out of the gym? Not positive things, that's for sure.

Going back to Kelsey's example, she spent a solid few months staying far away from failure, ensuring that her reps were always clean and crisp. By improving her acceleration, she was enhancing her nervous system via improved force production, staying fresh by avoiding slow reps, and eventually added 25lbs to her chinup. Easy peasy.

4 Things Currently Improving My Sleep Life, Part 2

In Part 1, I shared two nifty tricks I've been using to improve my sleep quality and wakefulness during the day. Here are the last two:

3. If I'm sleepy, I go to bed.

This may sound like a "Well, duh...." piece of advice but you'd be surprised how many times you continue to stay up even if you're tired. Especially with the time vacuums of TV and the internet, always having emails, text messages, and voicemails to answer, etc. it's very easy to begin staring at a screen and "forget" that you're tired.

If you're tired, go to freakin' bed!!

My wife is very good at this, and marrying her has definitely helped me in this department. Whereas before, it wasn't uncommon to find me staying up extra hour or two past the point of my body saying "Dude, you need to go to bed." But now, here's how a typical evening may go in my home:

Me: (In the living room, doing stuff on my computer)

Kelsey: (coming out of the kitchen) "Hi sweetie, I'm going to bed. Are you going to be out here for a while or coming to bed soon?"

Me: Okay honey, sounds great. Yeah, I think so. I just have a few more things I was going to.......

.........

Kelsey, why are you holding that chef's knife like that?

Kelsey: ........no reason......

Me: *slams laptop cover closed*

Okay, maybe it doesn't ALWAYS happen like that, but admittedly I used to be terrible at turning off the stupid and just going to bed if my body was trying to tell me it had enough for the day. And it's crazy how much more refreshed I feel after making a point to do this.

Now, at the same time, this isn't to say that if someone important to me needs to get together or talk late on a weekend evening I'm going to ignore them. Or, if some friends want to get together and the only possible time is 9-11pm on a Saturday, I'm not necessarily going to turn that down. But I hope you get the gist of what I'm saying.

4. Finding my 'money maker' sleep hours.

This will vary, depending on the person, as we all experience slightly different durations of the four stages of sleep (the fourth one being the REM cycle). Most people do well with 7-9 hours of sleep.

Most experts say that eight hours of sleep is ideal, but speaking for me personally, I feel like a big bag of poop if I sleep eight hours (on the dot). I've tried this many times, and, without fail, getting eight hours of sleep sets me up to be a walking pile of Fail in the mornings. Through experimentation, I've found that either 7.5 hours, or (even better) 9 hours, makes me feel amazing.

Nine hours can be tough to get, especially with a busy schedule (who isn't "busy" nowadays anyway?), but as long as I manage my time, get my tasks done in advance, and don't lollygag throughout the day, I can get it done. It's funny as it seems to be wearing a badge of honor if you're too busy to sleep; it's like you're seen as being lazy and unproductive if you're sleeping more than six hours.

Bullcrap.

Sleep is the most restorative activity you can partake in, and if you're only doing your body, and those you care about, a favor when you make a point to receive enough sleep. Get over yourself, as you're really not that busy; you simply have poor time management skills (I'm preaching to myself here as well).

5. Bonus: Sleep Aids

This is last on the list because you really should get everything else in check first.

The two I use, recommended to me by Tony Gentilcore while I was visiting him in Boston, are ZMA and Z12. ZMA you can get through a bunch of different companies, while you need to go through Biotest to get Z12.

Z12 is my favorite, as it REALLY enhances the quality of your sleep and makes you feel like a new man (or woman) upon waking. It's essentially a magic potion wrapped up in a pill, containing a naturally occurring amino acid called 5-hydroxytryptophan, which is a precursor to the neurotransmitter serotonin, (is implicated in sleep and general "well-being" sensations). I'll use Z12 on one of two occasions:

1. When I'm only going to get less sleep than normal, and need to make sure I'm refreshed in the morning.

2. (My preferred) On a weekend evening when I know I'm really going to get a chance to get some quality sleep time in the next morning. Works like a charm.

That's all.....these are the the things that have worked for me personally. Feel free to chime in below if you've found other tactics aid you in getting that "perfect night's sleep."

-Stevo

I said, FREE TRAINING...and some pre-meet inspiration...

I wasn't sure if last Thursday peoples fingers were too slippery to type from all the turkey grease, or maybe it was the crippling effects of the tryptophan, but in case you missed it, we are offering some FREE TRAINING; to learn howyou can garner some free SAPT goodness, click HERE!!! Last, the video montage below of Chuck Vogelpohl is aimed at inspiring former SAPT interns John and Shawn, who'll be competing in their second powerlifting meet this weekend.  This video is also applicable to anyone who needs a swift kick in the backside this Thursday morning.

Chuck Norris ain't got nothin' on Chuck Vogelpohl,

Chris

4 Things Currently Improving My Sleep Life

Ahhhh, yes....sleep. What better way to keep hormonal balance in check, raise testosterone, improve insulin sensitivity, lower cortisol (stress hormone), keep body fat at bay, along with restoring and improving cognitive function? After all, in the hit series Dexter, when Lt. Maria LaGuerta asks Dexter how he's so smart and figures things out all the time, Dexter simply replies with (cue slow, monotonous Dexter voice.....): "Hmm...lots of sleep."

Sleep and I have an interesting relationship. She reels me in very quickly, but, when I want to leave, she doesn't let me go. In other words, for those of you who may not be getting it, I can fall asleep very quickly (and I mean VERY quickly), but have a terrible time getting out of bed in the morning.

For example, let me explain how easy it is for me to fall asleep, as it often leads to my own demise. Here's a truncated list of movies I've fallen asleep during, IN THEATERS mind you. And, keep in mind, I'm not just talking about a few minutes, but I literally missed the last three-fourths of all of each of the below:

• The Bourne Ultimatum

• Black Hawk Down. Twice. Yes, twice.

• The Departed. Again, twice.

• American Gangster

As you can see, I might as well have slept through an active mine field explosion during World War II. I've wasted over $150.00 by spending money on evening showings of top rated movies, only end up frustrated by having my sleep interrupted by constant gun fire, bomb detonations, and an uncomfortable theater seat. Not to mention, missing a good movie.

Not to mention the man-card I had to hand in by failing to see those movies (I still have yet to see the entirety of them...). There are many more I missed in the theaters, copious rental movies I conked out during, and don't even get me started on the fire alarms in college I slept completely through. Don't worry though, I'll spare you the prolixity.

Moving onward, getting out of bed is an entirely different bear. While sleep will take me within 3o seconds of hitting the pillow (not kidding), she is entirely recalcitrant when it comes to letting me put my feet on the floor in the mornings.

No, I am not a morning person, but it's beyond that. Call me weak-minded, unmotivated, whatever...but you know something is wrong with me when I'm pointing the TV remote at the toaster oven to make breakfast and wondering why it's not turning on.

In fact, things got so bad with my sleeping through fire alarms and alarm clocks that my mom actually ordered me a Sonic Boom alarm clock in college, when I was completing Clinical Exercise Physiology course that required me to be there at 5:00AM in the morning (we were working with cardiac rehab patients).

This alarm clock is the loudest, most obstreperous** thing you will ever experience in your life. It can actually be used for deaf people, as it comes with a vibrating "bed shaker" (you can see it in the picture) that you place under your pillow to literally convulse you into awakening. The noise also goes up to 113 decibels; the equivalent of someone walking into your room and revving up a freaking chainsaw!!

Needless to say, I couldn't use it for long as I'd wake up 5-6 times each night stressed out of my mind because I didn't want the actual sonic boom to wake me up. It was that bad...the first time it happened I fell out of my bed thinking that I was under attack by the entire cast of The Expendebles.

expendables3

Okay, so I think I've proved the point that it's extremely easy for me to fall asleep (and stay asleep), but very difficult for me to wake up in the mornings, at least without feeling extremely groggy.

Never to fear! You can learn from my many mistakes and losses in my relationship with sleep. Here are four things I've found that have dramatically improved my sleep life, and subsequently, wakefulness during the day:

1. Using a Dawn Simulator Alarm Clock

You can find countless articles on tips for falling asleep, but very few on how to wake up. Given that waking up was one of my greatest pitfalls, I needed work in this department. Enter the dawn simulator alarm clock.

Getting one of the these things was the best thing that happened to me since discovering good coffee. Kelsey and I actually put it on our wedding registry, and, let me tell you, it has made my morning wake-ups SO MUCH BETTER. Here is a picture of mine below:

DCIM100SPORT

What does this little gem do? It slowly emits light throughout the thirty minute period leading up to your wake-up time. Then, when the clock strikes the hour you want to wake, an alarm goes off (with mine you can choose from various sounds from nature noises, the radio, soft beeping, etc.).

This way, it helps your body arise from sleep the way it was originally designed to: without the glaring jolt of a boisterous alarm clock.

I can't tell you how much easier I wake up now. I will often wake before the clock even goes off (even during the week when my clock is set for 530-6AM), and I feel incredibly more refreshed than I did in the past when using a traditional alarm clock.

I personally use the one by Philips, and I highly recommend it.

2. Avoiding TV and Computers Before Bed

Some of you may struggle with wasting time on both of these, for others of you it may be one or the other. For me personally, TV has never really been an issue. In fact, my wife and I don't even subscribe to basic cable, given that we feel it's an incredible waste of money and time. This being the case, we won't find anything more than black and white static even if we wanted to. Sarah recently alluded to the utter death valley of television, as well, in her 30 Things I Want to Share post last week.

However, what did used to be an issue for me was spending time on my computer upon getting home from work. I usually get home between 830-9PM, and, upon sitting down, I would frequently flip it open my laptop to read articles, check email, peruse Facebook, you know the drill....

To make matters worse, sometimes I would even take my laptop into bed with me to watch AnimeBand of Brothers episodes before going to sleep.

However, what this was doing was not only stimulating my brain (instead of causing it to slow down, which would the obvious winning option for sleeping well), but also altering my body's circadian rhythm and delaying/lowering melatonin production.

This is a clear no-no for experiencing sound, quality sleep.

To give credit where credit is due: I can primarily thank my wife for helping me break free of this habit, as, once we got married and moved in together, she wouldn't have been too happy with me watching war movies in bed as she's trying to fall asleep.

So, what to do instead of watching TV or using your laptop?

1. Take the TV and/or computer out of your room. In fact, I now leave my cellphone out of the room, as well. The bedroom should only be used for two things anyway, sleeping being one of them.

2. Try reading a non-fiction book. Some light reading that won't get your brain going too much. I used to do this all the time in high school (The Lord of the Rings and Ender's Game series being some of the most notable ones ), but kinda got out of the habit during college and beyond. Currently I'm reading The Hunger Games, and it is awesome.

That's it for today. I'll be back on Friday for the remaining two tips on improving one's sleep life. Enjoy.

(Update: Part 2 is Here)

**It's a cool word I learned over Thanksgiving and wanted to share it with you all. Can be used to mean "noisy and clamorous" or "unruly; stubbornly defiant."  You're welcome.