One Exercise or Many Exercises? That is the Question.
Once or twice a week I lift in a small commercial gym. Some may ask why I would do this, given that I have free access to a state-of-the art facility, packed full of strength "toys" to use whenever we at SAPT aren't training athletes+clients. I mean, why would I want to ever avoid training in a place with prowlers, turf to sprint on, sandbags, no mirrors to throw me off, and plenty of free squat racks?
Not to mention, I have freedom to drop a ton of weight on the ground without worrying about the manager of the wine shop below coming up to yell at me. (Yes, the commercial facility I lift at is situated immediately ABOVE a wine shop...DON'T ASK. I was not the architect/urban planner for that one).
Well, for one thing, it does provide a change of scenery, and, thus, a bit of a "mental" break. It can actually be nice to lift under a different roof than that which I coach under all day, all week long. Second, the commercial gym just so happens to be right across the street from my favorite local coffee shop, so I can knock out both in a one-two punch.
Below is a picture I recently took at Caffe Amouri. In the middle is a cup filled with the best coffee your lips will ever touch. I'll even go so far as to state that their coffee is the best I've EVER had, and, when it flows over your tongue like velvet, the flavor hits you as would the sweet nectar of the gods. On the right is my awesome Lord of the Rings PEZ dispenser that Sarah gave me for Christmas.
Okay, actually that entire introduction was just a way for me validate showing you my sweet PEZ thingy, but I digress.
You are jealous though. Admit it.
Anyway, back to training at the commercial gym. One thing I consistently notice is that the majority of people in there bounce around from one exercise to the next, perhaps hitting upwards of 10-15 different exercises in their workout. You know....squat for a set of ten, do side bends for a set of ten, lunge, russian twist, cable row, pec deck, do some crunches, then leave. This got me thinking about something I've known for a while but apparently have taken for granted:
Your body will adapt to a given loading parameter (weight used, rep range, tempo, etc.) faster than it will an actual exercise.
As such, in order to get the most out of a resistance training program, it is better to manipulate the reps, sets, rest period, bar speed, etc. for one main lift than to consistently change what exercise you are doing.
Let me provide an example. Say I give you twenty-four weeks to get as strong, lean, and mean as possible. You have two choices:
1) You can only use the squat as your primary knee-dominant lift. However, I will give you a program that perfectly manipulates the loading, sets, reps, tempo, rest periods in order to minimize the risk of progress grinding to a halt.
2) Every few weeks you have free reign to cycle in whatever knee dominant lift you want (front squat, bulgarian split squat, single-leg squat, stepback lunge, split squat, forward lunge, walking lunge, skater squat, etc.). However, you must ALWAYS do three sets of ten reps with a :75 rest period for the entire duration of the twenty-four week program.
Which option would you choose?
I can guarantee you that option 1 will allow you to see better results across the board. Manipulating the bar speed, reps, sets, rest period and other variables using one good exercise is certainly going to allow you to see superior results compared to multiple exercises using the same parameters. The body will adapt to a given loading order far before it will adapt to a particular exercise.
As a disclaimer, I do realize (and I may get a lot of hate mail for this) there are schools of thought out there preaching the continual rotation of exercises on a weekly basis, but that's precisely my problem with using that style training for beginner and intermediate lifters (you can ignore this statement if you're squatting 600lbs+). It's simply too frequent of a shift to allow for continued adaptation, accommodation, and to see what is actually working.
So, when in doubt, stick to the same exercise, and milk it for all it's worth. You'll be far better off squatting (or deadlifting, or bulgarian split squatting, or whatever) and appropriately changing how you do the exercise rather than constantly rotating exercises.
The Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test
Whether you call it the Beep, Bleep, or Yo-Yo Test all the names are all essentially synonymous. Jens Bangsbo, a Danish soccer physiologist, developed the beep test in the early 90’s. It is wildly popular with soccer teams worldwide, but has applications for all sports of intermittent nature.
Who the Beep Test is for:
Well in this case I am referring to one specific variation of the beep test: the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test (Yo-Yo IR1 or 2). This assessment is fantastic for team sports of an intermittent nature (meaning there’s a lot of stop-and-go). I use it with my basketball, lacrosse, and soccer teams. It would also be appropriate for rugby.
***Disclaimer: This is a MAXIMAL effort test and should only be conducted with competitive athletes, not recreational athletes. There is a high level of fitness needed to successfully complete testing.
Why this test is so great:
- It is SUPER easy to implement in a team environment! You don’t need any special equipment; just some cones, measuring tape, whistle, and an app that plays the test version you want (the one I use cost about $3).
- It allows a coach to know an athlete’s VO2max for comparison and progress tracking purposes without having to use any fancy-schmancy equipment.
- The Intermittent Beep Test is a fairly sport-specific test for the team sports I listed above. It accounts for the frequent sprints, cuts, and walking associated with such sports and allows us coaches to apply a structure for analysis. This test goes light-years beyond simply running the mile in terms of the relevance of information that can be extracted.
Setup & Protocol:
- Create lanes for each athlete to run within – a lane is comprised of 3 cones. From where you place cone 1, measure out 5 meters and drop the second cone, from cone 2, measure out 20 meters and drop the third cone. Repeat this process for the number of lanes you need.
- Be certain to go over the rules of the Beep Test thoroughly with the athletes ahead of time. The speed increases as the test progresses and sometimes that’s hard for them to grasp. I usually let the group do a few passes as practice to remember what the test feels and sounds like.
- Start the test! If you are using this with a large team, you’ll want to divide the group in half and run it in two flights. This way, the athletes can partner up and the non-running athlete can count the total number of sprints for the runner.
- Two “misses” end the test. Record the total number of sprints.
***The purpose of reviewing test structure is simply to give you an idea of how the Beep Test is conducted. Consult formal instructions that come with the recording/app for more detailed information.
Interpretation:
Once you’ve recorded the results, now you want to know what it means! Simply plug your results into one of these two formulas to get the VO2max estimation:
Yo-Yo IR1 test:VO2max (mL/min/kg) = IR1 distance (m) × 0.0084 + 36.4
Yo-Yo IR2 test: VO2max (mL/min/kg) = IR2 distance (m) × 0.0136 + 45.3
Now that you know where your athletes' VO2max scores fall, you can begin to track and compare across other sporting platforms and look vertically within your sport at different levels to see where your athletes fall.
As a side note, I think this is the first post I've gotten up on-time in about a month (10am is the soft-deadline). I've already patted myself on the back.
A Small Favor to Ask
Not gonna lie, I'm fairly swamped this morning. With 19 training programs to whip up, along with responding to the usual bank of emails and attending to operational needs - on top of ensuring I make it into the gym in time to keep Ryan from hurting himself - I'm in a bit of a time crunch. That being said, I have time for just a small favor to ask. Can you all please, pretty please (with a cherry on top), "Like" SAPT on Facebook?
Click Me ==> "Like" SAPT <== Click Me
If you enjoy reading the information we put out, and/or have benefited in any way from our posts, we would really appreciate it. We really do put a lot of time and effort into handing out quality stuff to our readers, and this way we can help you stay in the loop of when we put new stuff out there; not just blog posts, but free distance training offers, clothing give-aways, and the like.
I'll be honest, I used to think the whole "Like-ing" thing was ridiculous. Heck, I'm embarrassed to admit it but only six months ago I didn't even know what the term "social media" referred to when Ryan first threw that strange word at me. Yeah, I'm that hip. That "with" the current trends, if you will.
However, I've realized that, for me personally, it has given me a method of supporting - at least in a small way - groups that I've learned something and/or bettered myself from. Given that I've never pushed SAPT's social media on here before (we're new to it as a business ourselves), I thought it'd be worth a shot with you all.
Soooo, please click HERE to give us some lovin'! All the cool kids are doin' it.
5 Quick & Random Training Tips
1. How and when you do your abdominal training in a given week is actually fairly important. For example, if you decide to do standing rollouts 24-48 hours before a heavy deadlift session, chances are your deadlifts are going to suffer greatly, and perhaps even be risky to attempt (it will be much more difficult to stabilize your lumbar spine).
This is because rollout variations place incredible eccentric stress on the anterior core, inducing large amounts of soreness and requiring a longer recovery period. The only caveat to this rule would be if your name is Ross Enamait.
Other abdominal programming faux pas I can think of would be pairing an anterior loaded barbell variation (i.e. front squat or zercher grips) with an ab exercise, and/or placing a hanging leg raise before or alongside a farmers walk. The former is a blunder because anteriorly loaded barbell movements already place considerable demands on the core musculature; the latter isn't the greatest idea because your grip endurance is going to become an issue. Spread them apart to receive the maximum benefit of each.
2. If squatting is problematic for you, you don't need to force it. At least not initially. While the squat is a phenomenal movement and undoubtedly should be a staple in one's strength and conditioning program, I'm finding that more and more people need to earn the right to back squat safely, much like the overhead press. This may be due to structural changes (i.e. femoroacetabular impingement) or immobility (i.e. poor hip flexion ROM or awful glenohumeral external rotation and abduction).
If this is the case, simply performing a heavy single-leg movement as the first exercise in the session will work perfectly. You can use anything from forward lunges to bulgarian split squats, but my favorite is probably the barbell stepback lunge with a front squat grip.
You're still receiving the benefits of axial loading due to the bar position, you can still receive a healthy dose of compressive stress in your weekly training (if you're deadlifting), and yes, you'll still be exerting yourself. I recommend performing these in the 3-6 rep range to allow for appreciable loads.
And, keep in mind, when I said "if squatting is problematic" at the beginning of point #2, I was referring to structural, mobility, and/or stability abnormalities that may make it unsafe for you to squat for the time being. I wasn't, of course, implying that if it's "just too hard" that you shouldn't do it. There's a pretty thick line between one being contraindicated for an exercise and someone who's simply unwilling to to do a lift because it takes mental+physical exertion.
3. If your wrists bother you while doing pushups, try holding on to dumbbells. It will take your wrist out of an extended position into more of a neutral one, greatly reducing the stress on that joint.
I also like holding on to dumbbells because they allow you to use a "neutral grip," thus externally rotating the humerus, giving your shoulder more room to breathe.
4. Think twice before consuming dairy as your pre-workout fuel. This may seem obvious, but frankly I still talk to people who consume cereal before a morning workout, or down milk shortly before an evening training session. Your stomach isn't going to like this while doing chest-supported T-Bar rows, anti-extension core variations, or anything for that matter.
Another tip: don't shove a bunch of doughnuts down your pie hole before training. I thought this one would be no-brainer, but I actually had a kid vomit after pushing the prowler at a sub-maximal intensity. Upon asking him what he ate beforehand, he said, "Umm, well nothing all day, and then I ate a bunch of doughnuts before coming here." Fail.
5. Figure out for yourself what training split is best for you personally. For example, I feel that training upper body the day before lower body affects me (negatively) more than if I do it the other way around. However, I know others who feel the exact opposite. Also, for those of you who utilize a bodypart split, and train deadlifts on "back day," be sure to take into consideration when and how you'll do squats on "leg day," due to the beating your spine will receive from both exercises.
New Website, New Coach - New Ideas All Around!
I've got a couple awesome announcements:
- For awhile now I've wanted to have a sister website to SAPTstrength.com. Over the years, I've noticed all the quality training related sites tend to be male-centric. Even at SAPTstrength.com, our readership is vastly male. For the few sites dedicated to females, I feel there is something left to be desired. There seem to be two camps of female driven training sites - the ones that are used as personal diaries of sorts and the ones that... how can I say this delicately... end up being male-centric due to the nature of some of the posts. Now there is nothing wrong with putting up a personal diary of your accomplishments and struggles. In fact, I think this is fantastic and will provide motivation to numerous individuals who can relate. There's also nothing wrong with "strutting your stuff" via photo or video, but let's face it... that doesn't exactly scream PROFESSIONALISM, does it? So, my goal with this sister site: StrongGirlsWin.com is to provide quality information by professional strength coaches presented in a professional manner for the female training population. Please check us out and spread the word to your daughters, wives, girlfriends, and awesome females of all walks of life via Facebook, Twitter, email, text, or messenger pigeon. I appreciate our readership's support every single day and know you'll support us in the effort to enhance the female training conversation!
- What's the tipping point on getting this new site up and running? Well, it just happens to be SAPT has now been fortified with another crazy strong, crazy awesome female coach. Her name is Kelsey Reed and, yes, she does happen to be recently married to the famous Stevo Reed. Check out her bio and be sure to check out her upcoming blog entries for both StrongGirlsWin.com and SAPTstrength.com!
Which mass-gaining method is "best"?
After dragging my brain through 41 pages of research on "The Influence of Frequency, Intensity, Volume and Mode of Strength Training on Whole Muscle Cross-Sectional Area in Humans" guess what the conclusion was on an extensive study designed to figure out the best way/combination of ways to increase muscle mass? Essentially, that all variables are valuable and there is NO ONE SINGLE MAGIC BULLET.
Sometimes - okay, a lot of times - research totally cracks me up. I think I've stated this before. This paper was about 10x longer than most with extreme detail and for what... to confirm something that any experienced strength coach knows:
Regarding progression, we recommend low volumes (e.g. 1–2 sets) in the initial stages of training, when performing eccentric-muscle actions, because low volumes have been shown to be sufficient to induce hypertrophy in the early stages of training and because exercise adherence may be improved if the workout is relatively brief. Also, avoiding unnecessary damage may allow hypertrophy to take place earlier. As the individual adapts to the stimulus of strength training, the overall volume and/or intensity may have to be gradually increased to result in continued physiological adaptations and other strategies (e.g, periodisation) can also be introduced if even further progress is desired.
So, through actual published research (and not the usual anecdotal evidence), it is confirmed that the best policy when progressing an individual for anything - in this case hypertrophy - is always found in moderation.
The next time you're considering ordering any number of TV products promising to solve all your problems or thinking about signing your kid up for training that "guarantees" quick results, I ask that you keep in mind some solid research and accept that anything worthwhile in life takes time, hard work, and guidance.
