Friday Musings: TRX Pullup Progressions, Ninja Blenders, a Letter To Men on How To Treat Their Wives, etc.
1. The TRX Pullup Progression is quickly becoming my favorite way of helping women: A) Achieve their first-ever bodyweight pullup B) Groove good pullup technique, as this is difficult to do while hanging from a pullup bar C) Be more awesome in general, and wreak pWnage upon the arrogant-yet-ironically-weak male gym population D) Develop the musculature of the back and arms in the context of a pullup, and receive a decent core stability challenge to boot.
Here is my beautiful wife, Kelsey, demonstrating the movement:
A few things to think about:
i) Careful of slipping into crazy anterior pelvic tilt (butt "sticking out") toward the top. This is actually the most common mistake I see with these, as this exercise creates a surprisingly difficult challenge for the anterior core (depending on how vertical your torso angle is), and those with low back issues will quickly experience pain if they don't brace properly. Tilt your tailbone down toward your ankles, keep the glutes squeezed tight, and brace your abs.
ii) Drive your feet "into the ground" to help propel yourself upward. Do this more than you think you need to in the beginning to help you groove good technique, and as you become stronger, lessen the amount of assistance you draw from your legs.
iii) Be sure to think "shoulders away from your ears" as you pull up to the top, so that you're not shrugging, enforcing aberrant movement patterns, and defeating the entire purpose of the exercise.
iv) Hold at the top for a bit, squeezing your shoulders "back and down" as much as possible.
v) If you tend to really struggle in the pullup department, begin slowly, starting with just 1-3 sets of 4-5 reps. As you get stronger and become more acclimated to the movement, feel free to do as many as 8 sets of 5-8 reps, spread throughout your workout. I've had numerous women do this, with great results to show for it.
Giving credit where credit is due: I did not invent this exercise. I first saw them on Tony Gentilcore's website, in which he gave credit to strength coach Elsbeth Vaino for being the first to share them HERE.
2. Just putting it out there: I love smoothies. I consume anywhere from three to four every day. One of our 11-year-old "Ankle Biter" athletes actually just told me the other day that he has a sneaking suspicion my blood is made out of smoothie from drinking so many of them.
Well, anyway, the other week, my beloved Magic Bullet met his maker. I don't know whether it was poor manufacturing, or the fact that I tested the limits of its lifespan, but nonetheless I had to regrettably say my goodbyes.
With no blender at hand, it didn't take me long before I spiraled into a perpetual state of sweaty palms, memory loss, and hyperventilation into paper bags every five minutes as I was beside myself with what to do for "in between meals."
Well, needless to say, I couldn't let this nonsense continue for any extended period of time, so I ordered (expedited shipping, of course) the Ninja Master Prep Professional Blender.
Let me tell you, this thing ROCKS. For a few reasons:
1) It's called the Ninja. Need there be any other reason for you to purchase it?
2) It doubles as a blender AND food processor/vegetable chopper. Time saved in the kitchen = 30 minutes a day.
3) The motor is pretty freaking strong. I think they used the same one that powers F-22 fighter jets.
4) While I can't prove it yet, I'm pretty sure that Chuck Norris, Gandalf, and Luke Skywalker all use/used this blender for their travels across the world/Middle Earth/galaxies. Now, I know you're sitting there shaking your head, thinking something along the lines of "Now Stevo, all of those figureheads don't need a blender to chop their vegetables and blend their smoothies. Chuck Norris can use his ninja-like hands and the other two guys....well, it's obvious why they wouldn't need a blender."
Don't be silly. Of course they used this blender. Even if they could dice their veggies and fruits using magical powers, why avoid using the Ninja blender if you have the opportunity?
Besides, when you're finished unpacking the blender, your fat cat can make her home inside:
(She totally needs to go Paleo. That, or Intermittent Fasting.)
I think I got a little off track, but the point is, I highly recommend this blender to everyone.
3. Four quotes I recently read from John Romaniello that I wanted to share here:
1. "Read as many books as you can. Reading often makes you more interesting, more intelligent, and though I can’t prove this, I suspect a more useful human being. It also makes you a better writer."
2. "Tipgenerously outrageously. Not because you have a lot of money, or because of the 1% chance a waitress might give you her number; but because at some point this week, some jerk stiffed her, and it ruined her week. You just fixed it. Karma will be kind."
3. "When explain your dietary habits, keep it simple. If you find yourself at a party and you’re 15 minutes into describing the difference between Paleo and Slow Carb, take a breath and stop talking. No one really cares about your endeavor to reset your insulin sensitivity."
4. "Floss your teeth for better fitness. I feel that you need to have the basics down before you start in adding things intended for ‘advanced’ reasons. I have friends who don’t floss but go out of their way to use whitening strips or see a dentist for teeth bleaching. This is stupid, to me—if you just took care of your teeth on a daily basis, you’d have to worry a bit less.In the fitness context, people ignore basic nutritional needs, but try crash diets or supplements; they can’t take the time to foam roll, but want the hottest training strategy.If you can’t make a habit of flossing your teeth, you shouldn’t bother with supplements—likely, you don’t have the basics figured out."
Good stuff, John.
4. Wow, I can't express how many men members of the male species need to read this. It's a letter that Ronald Reagan gave his 26-year-old son, Michael, right before his wedding day. He essentially lays it down for him, puts his Yoda hat on, and tells his son how a man should treat a woman.
I definitely found myself slow clapping for Reagan as I read this:
(^^^ Read Me ^^^)
5. That's it. Hope everyone has an awesome weekend
We All Need A Little Inspiration
It’s the times that you don’t want to train that will show your true desire and will to win… How often do you wake up and just do not want to go to the weight room, batting cage, football field, volleyball court? What do you do in those situations; do you roll over and go back to bed? Do you make compromises because you just aren’t feeling it today? Do you say “alright starting Monday I’ll get back after it?” We have all been in these situations but as I said these are the situations that define us. I’ve talked a lot about being average in past posts and how I refuse to be it and this is one of the ways I “beat” the average out of myself. I have to train no matter what and no matter how I feel because I know the average person just rolls over and goes back to bed, the average person makes compromises. I’m not trying to be high and mighty, there have been times when I’ve succumb to the state of averageness, and I absolutely hate it. So when I feel the average part of me trying to take over I have put things in place to make my better half overcome. This is usually in the form of watching a video or reading an article that really makes me want to get after it. I’m not really sure why doing these things work for me. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m seeing someone rise above their own feelings of being average and it makes me realize I need to do the same. For you it might be something different but it’s up to you to find something to make you conquer those bad days, to rise above your negative thoughts and feelings of inadequacy. We all have the ability to be great but it is only you that can unlock the potential. Am I being corny? Maybe, but corny is what we need sometimes to get through those rough days; and I’d rather be corny than average. This was a short and to the point rant, but a rant that was needed. If you’re like me and get jacked up watching inspirational videos and reading inspirational articles then take a look below at the things I currently look to when I’m having those lazy days.
ARTICLES
A Letter To My Younger Self by Jim Wendler
VIDEOS
[vsw id="V6xLYt265ZM" source="youtube" width="425" height="344" autoplay="no"]
By far my favorite video to get me jacked up to go train
Former SAPT coach Chris Romanow is one of the people who got me interested in powerlifting so seeing him smash heavy weight makes me want to do the same
SAPT client and friend Ron Reed inspires me to achieve goals, his work ethic is second to none
I have no idea who this guy is but he is dedicated
How to Improve the Vertical Jump and Agility of a High School Volleyball Player: Initial Assessment+Screening
Given that volleyball players make up a striking percentage of our student-athletes, I'm inevitably faced (and rightfully so) with questions from parents and coaches regarding our approach to "assessing" them when they first walk in our doors. They are often surprised - sometimes skeptical or even borderline enraged - that we don't have them perform a vertical jump test, speed-agility test, and/or arm swing test on Day 1.
Furthermore, it appears that, for the most part, we're simply running them through a normal session during their first day, as opposed to putting them on a table for forty-five minutes, breaking out the goniometer, and measuring every single joint ROM.
What gives?
The Assessment
While, to the outside eye, it may look like we're just running the players through a normal strength session, here is what we're actually assessing as we take them through their "Day One" workout.
- Jumping Mechanics (both the technicalities of the movement along with strength+neural control) - Closed-chain Ankle Dorsiflexion - Gross hip stability, including upper gluteus maximus and gluteus medius function - Extensibility of the posterior aspect of the lower extremity, along with hip flexor strength - Valgus collapse (or lack thereof) in the knees when jumping and squatting, and bounding - Thoracic Spine range of motion (specifically, in extension and rotation) - Glenohumeral (shoulder) range of motion - Squat pattern (gives a lot of feedback regarding flexor length, latissimus length, core strength, along with ankle and hip range of motion) - Hip hinge patterning (the foundation for all athletic movement) - Lunge pattern (brings potential asymmetries to light, along with providing us another "angle" for assessing their glute strength/function) - Global movements and strength levels (gives us a much more *realistic* picture of how they'll move in a game-like scenario)
Will we do more "table assessments" as needed, too? Yes. But as you can see, there's a deep well of information one can draw up, simply from analyzing the athlete in the context of movement, and I didn't even list everything we look at!
This is a win-win for both the athlete and the coach. The athlete gets to have fun moving around on their first day (rather than spending the majority of their time on a table), while we as coaches are able to assess the athlete at the same time.
One final note on this front: every session is an assessment. I constantly find myself discussing our clients and their programs with my fellow coaches at SAPT, fine-tuning and tweaking what we do with them. This makes sense as the human body can be very amoeba-like; what was true on Day 1 may not be true on Day 30.
The Vertical Jump and Speed-Agility Test
Regarding these two sacred cows, here are the reasons we don't test them on Day 1 with the majority of our high school volleyball players.
1) We don't feel they are appropriate tests for initial assessment.
To put it simply, 99.99% of people who enter our facility can not jump or change direction correctly. As such, we do not feel it is an accurate - or, more importantly, safe - action to take with them on their first day. Nearly all of them possess the motor control of a ham sandwich, as they allow their ankles, knees, and hips to collapse like crazy upon jumping, bounding, and/or changing directions. Naturally, this will:
A) Negatively affect their jump height/running mechanics, and, more importantly B) Place their lower extremity (knees and passive restraints) at risk. To have them perform a maximal jump, multiple times in a row, or an agility test for that matter, is downright foolish in our eyes. While many of the girls that walk through our doors are certainly great athletes and possess many strong qualities, very few of them are unable to leap, bound, and change direction without their ankles and knees collapsing in.
This being the case, we find it irresponsible, on our end, to force them into change-of-direction tests or standing vertical tests. While we certainly can't "bulletproof" our training sessions to make them completely 100% incident free, we do our absolute best to make it at least as close to this as possible. We haven't had any athletes seriously hurt themselves under our watch, or have them undergo a non-contact injury to date (knock on wood!), and we'd like to keep this track record going.
The safety of the athletes under our watch is, without question, our top priority when we design and implement our training sessions. While we do understand that these girls may be asked, on numerous occasions, by their club/high school coaches to perform agility drills and various vertical tests, we don't wish to play ANY role in putting their health at risk until they're taught (with our aid) how to perform these drills safely. It may not be common to take (what some would call) a "conservative" approach like this, but then again the injury rates of adolescent and high school athletes have never been higher....so we're doing our best to lower that statistic.
We take a very progressive and methodical approach to teaching sound jumping mechanics; all the way from showing them how to swing their arms/move their hips to strengthening them via resistance training. Once the girls make headway in these areas (the time frame is different for each individual), then we can administer these tests.
2) To help our athletes mentally.
Given that the Vertec tends to be the "bane of existence" for volleyball athletes, we don't want to throw them under the thing on Day 1 at SAPT. Our aim is that it will help promote a more positive environment for them, and a haven if you will, from the usual demands of volleyball.
Does this mean we don't push them, and refuse to help them strive to perform better? Absolutely not. However, we've found that having them learn to conquer challenging drills other than the ones they typically perform outside the SAPT walls, gives them a break mentally, and, ultimately, improves their performance on the court.
We will certainly have them test their vertical as they get further along in training (and after we've helped them with sound+safe jumping mechanics), but it's not something we'd like them to experience the first day they are in with us. We've found it crazy how the simple removal of the Vertec, yet still having them jump and leap appropriately, makes a HUGE difference with the experience they personally receive from SAPT - and ultimately, their skills on the court improving.
3) Performing an closed-loop (predictable) test is an extremely inaccurate indicator of how the athlete will perform during their actual event (an unpredictable, "open-loop" environment).
Our end and ultimate goal is to improve their performance on the Volleyball court. Not to obsess over a particular test. Sometimes I feel we forget to keep the goal, well....the goal.
For example, currently, in High School Football, there is a player who is ranked Top 10 on the East Coast for the high school football combine testing battery (obviously a HUGE accomplishment). However, you know what's surprising? He doesn't even start for his own team! He can slam dunk the tests and knock thousands of other players out of the park when it comes to the combine tests, yet his on-the-field performance is lacking.
The sad truth is that many people place superfluous emphasis on the testing protocols, yet often fail to acknowledge the "intangible" skills the athlete possesses (spatial awareness, court/field awareness, adaptability, quick decision making, etc.) that, in the end are what will help an athlete make a college (or high school, or professional) team and actually get to play during the games.
4) Their "strength numbers" (quantifiable), along with their biomechanics/motor control (less hard to quantify in numbers/metrics) are the primary scale we use to monitor improvement.
Why? Rather than reinvent the wheel, here's a quote from strength coach Tony Gentilcore that I hope will elucidate this concept:
Maximal strength is the foundation for every other quality imaginable.
In terms of any plyometric and/or jump training – it comes down to strength. Simply put: you can’t have things like agility, power, endurance, strength endurance, and the like without first having a base of strength to pull those other qualities from. Strength is the basis of everything. Without it, you can perform all the ladder drills, sprinting drills, jumping drills, and agility training you want, but it’s not really going to mount to much until there is a strength foundation.
It would be akin to giving your 1994 Honda Civic (as an example) a sweet paint job, some spoilers, Mag tires, and a sound system that causes your ears to bleed in the hopes that, by doing so, it will win the Daytona 500. Unless you actually do something about increasing the horsepower of the car, you can add all the bells and whistles you want, but winning that Daytona 500 won't happen until the horsepower/engine of the car is improved.
And this is especially true with the high school athlete population.
'Nuff said there.
Arm Speed Tests
I'll be blunt: this is something that we don't measure, and it would pretty idiotic to do so.
Coach Sarah is also the strength coach for the Division I women's volleyball teams over at George Mason, and she doesn't even have them do an arm swing speed test. Frankly, it would be insanely dangerous to the shoulder joint (to put it mildly) to have them perform a maximal swing like that, without having anything (ex. a ball) to slow their arm down. The girls swing speed will improve as they strengthen the structural integrity of the shoulder girdle, maintain mobility in that region, and continue to practice sport-specific skill.
And that's a wrap.
Coke Exec Answers Questions
Everyone's heard of the ban on sugary drinks NYC Mayor Bloomberg wants to implement. But, what does a Coca-Cola executive have to say about it? The interview is quite entertaining, but here's a highlight:
Q: What sugary drink limits do you place on your kids?
A: My job as a parent is to guide them through the day to make the best choices. If my son has lacrosse practice for three hours, we go straight to McDonald's and buy a 32-ounce Powerade.
Thank goodness for McDonald's! Personally, I'd rather stop at a convenience store to pick up Powerade rather than "guide" my children to look to McDonald's for anything - even if it is just a drink.
Read the story, you'll get a chuckle.
Q & A: How to Begin A Running Program
Q: "My son, a lacrosse player, would like to try out for High School Cross Country this upcoming Fall. Any suggestions on how he should prepare? He currently has very little endurance so I thought it would be best for him to get started before the actual season begins."A: Great question. While my recommendations will vary depending on the individual (injury history, running history, other sports they may be playing currently, how much time they have to prepare, are they an elf, dwarf, wizard, or human, etc.), here are some general guidelines for the healthy, human, individual:
1. Start NOW
You hit the nail on the head when you mentioned it would be best for your child to start now.
Too frequently I see people wait until the last minute to begin a running program, and then, one week before the season (or a race), they have a moment of "Oh crap I haven't been running but practice starts 5 days from now, how about I go jump into a thousand mile run to prepare" and then they jet off down the neighborhood.
This concept may work when applied to a procrastinating college student who crams for exams at the last minute (not that I would know anything about that), but not so much with regards to running. Attempting to shove in last-minute, high volume, running sessions one week before the season as a sure-fire way to accrue an injury (not that I know anything about that, either...), which obviously doesn't help your son's chances of making the cross country team.
Slow and steady really does fit the bill with regards to running (and lifting) programs. Don't delay any longer in getting started, and start with a very short distance. Resist the urge to do too much, too soon.
2. Begin with "Rectangle Sprints" on Grass
This is my all-time favorite way to ease people, including myself, into running. It's easier on the joints compared to running on concrete, it's not terribly taxing, and it sets the stage quite nicely for future training.
How ToDo It
Find a soccer field (roughly 100-110yds long), and "sprint" the straights, then walk the sides. The sprints should NOT be a maximal effort run, but around 85% top speed while focusing on good technique and steady breathing. After you walk the endline, you'll then run down the other sideline. Walk the endline, and.....congratulations, you've just discovered why these are called rectangle sprints.
If, upon walking the endline and arriving at the next corner, you find that your heart rate is still jacked up through the roof, take some time to let it slow down. Ideally it will be back to 140bpm before you initiate the next sprint.
Frequency: 2-3x/week
Repetitions: 4-12. Begin by performing no more than four total rectangles, which would be eight total sprints (not kidding, that's all you need for Day 1). Increase the total rectangles by one each session, capping it out at twelve.
3. Next, Add Hill Sprints
Hill sprinting has to be my favorite form of conditioning. Super easy on the joints, challenging, and won't leave you feeling too banged up.
You can typically find a good hill near a lake, reservoir, or school. Google Maps is your buddy in this department. Try your best to find a GRASS hill, and one that is relatively steep. Don't worry if it's a super long hill; you can always start partway up it if the hill is crazy long (you don't want the sprint to last longer than twelve seconds).
I actually wrote out my guidelines for hill sprinting HERE, so click the link for the "How To."
Begin these roughly 1-2 weeks after initiating the rectangle sprints, and start with a frequency of 1x/week, never exceeding 2x/week.
Also, of note: Just because hill sprints are easy on the joints and don't tend to affect recovery as much as other "cardio" modalities, they are downright brutal, and not for the faint of heart.
4. Begin Steady State Running, Following the Rule of 20%
Finally, add steady state running. There are so many strategies one can use here, but to keep it simple, start off with a 20-30 minute run. This can be done 3-5x/week, starting on the low end and carefully monitoring recovery.
The 20% rule is a MUST when it comes to designing and implementing conditioning programs.
Never increase the total time, or distance, by more than 20% each session. So, for example, if you run for 30 minutes on Day 1, don't run for more than 36 minutes on Day 2. Or, if you perform 750 total yards of shuttle runs on Day X, don't do more than 900 total yards of shuttles on Day "X+1." (How bout that algebra, hmmm?)
This will allow you to improve quite a bit while minimizing the risk of injury.
Closing Thoughts
- What about HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)? This is a topic for an entire other post, but in the meantime, don't worry about it. HIIT certainly has its place, but, for now, stick to the three modalities listed above.
- Once you move into your steady state work, feel free take a break on the days you feel particularly "beat up" and do some rectangle sprints instead. Personally, I love them for "in-between" days and often find that they invigorate me for my subsequent sessions compared to taking the day off completely.
- You can still supplement your steady state running with hill sprints 1x/week to give the joints a break (in fact, I recommend this).
- Take at least two days off a week from running, during which you can......see the next point.
- Be sure you're involved in a quality resistance training program. Amongst the running world, this this has to be one the most underappreciated components of a quality running program.
Sports Are Healthy Right? by Tadashi Updegrove
Continuing from my last post about the do’s and don’ts of an intern, SAPT received someone who exemplified pretty much exactly what I felt a good intern should be. For the past semester Tadashi has made an impact on SAPT through his knowledge, coaching, and ability to learn and apply. In his brief time here he became a colleague and a good friend. Unfortunately, his time at SAPT has come to an end and he has decided to take his talents to South Beach and by South Beach I mean College Park, Maryland to pursue an internship with the S & C department. With that said, here is Tadashi’s final task for completing his time at SAPT.... As a Kinesiology major, I was required to enroll in a “Senior Seminar” class this past semester, where we basically got in a big group and discussed health. Most discussions were centered around the importance of health, how we can inspire others to be healthy, and the future of health in the United States and the world. As many of my fellow classmates declared their own personal mission statements to become soldiers in the war against obesity, or how to combat the big tobacco companies, I sat quietly in the corner, hoping I didn’t get called on. Then I got called on:
“Tadashi, why are you so interested in health?”
After stumbling over my words I finally managed to utter something like “err… I, um... I’m not.” I went on to explain that health was not my primary interest. What I was interested in was sports and sports performance. I wanted to understand how the human body adapts so I could understand how to manipulate the applied stimuli to make someone stronger, jump higher, hit harder, and pick up heavier things.
Then I was approached with a follow up question:
“Well, sports are healthy right?”
I don’t know how I feel about that one. Sure being physically active and exercising is healthy, but after looking through countless research articles it’s hard to ignore the high percentages of participant injury in sports. Competitive lifting, both powerlifting and weightlifting, ranks at the low end of participant injury with something between 40%-50% (Yup, ½ of participants getting injured apparently is low compared to other sports). The NFL is under scrutiny right now because of the concussion rates and the violent nature of the game. I know the NFL is easy to hate on when discussing health and safety because… well it’s football, and the game involves Hulk-Smashing people against their will.
But football players aren’t the only ones getting hurt. Even the concussion rates in girls’ lacrosse are high enough to raise concerns about helmet requirements. Take a look at ACL injuries and you’ll find that the overwhelming majority of ACL tears occur because of non-contact situations. ACLs tend to rupture during a sprint, a jump landing, decelerating, or change-of-direction task. Athletes in sports that demand a high volume of these tasks are placed at a higher risk of injury. Think soccer, volleyball, basketball, etc.
During my experience working with the SAPT coaches and athletes, I began to realize more and more that training for performance is training for health. Learning to squat with the knees out and the hips back makes you more of a beast because you get more recruitment of the glutes and your legs are placed in a structurally ideal position to produce force into the ground. This also happens to be the healthiest position for your knee joint by reducing the load to the medial compartment. Bracing the midsection during a lift will increase performance because of an improved transfer of force between the upper and lower body. This ability to create a rigid torso also happens to be the best way to keep your spine from folding in half under load. Similar performance and health benefits can be said about keeping the scapulae retracted during rows or tucking the elbows during a pushup.
I played lacrosse and ran track in high school, and now compete in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu/submission grappling, and like many athletes in other sports, have come to understand that injuries are just part of the game. Most athletes can expect to get banged up here and there. Sometimes, unfortunately, they’ll get hit with a more serious injury that takes them out for a length of time that really puts their patience (and sanity) to the test. For me it was a back injury that occurred during a grappling session which required surgery last September. Looking back it’s easy to say I should have done more soft tissue work, anterior core exercises, mobility drills, and gotten more rest but… hindsight’s always 20/20. What is it going to take for me to get healthy? Strengthening the right muscles, mobilizing the right joints, and training the neuromuscular system appropriately. Sounds eerily like training for performance...
I realize now that I am interested in health (specifically musculoskeletal health), because it goes hand in hand in optimizing athletic performance, but I still have to disagree with a blanket statement like “sports are healthy.”
Even a sport like distance running boasts a participant injury rate upwards of 70%! The next time you watch a baseball or softball game watch the pitcher’s shoulder as he/she pitches. Try and convince me that they throw this way to improve their health.
However, despite the risk of injury there are many reasons why I believe sports are awesome, and most of these reasons are not necessarily health related. Growing up my Dad always told me that I would learn more from playing sports than I would learn in the classroom, and I’m pretty sure he was right (but I went to class too…). I learned what it meant to work hard towards a goal, work with others, and make sacrifices for the benefit of the team. Not to mention it’s FUN, and I’ve had some of my most memorable moments on a lacrosse field or a grappling mat.
