Nobody uses electroshock routines to try to "get through" to the puppy faster, and there aren't thousands of supplements out there to expedite outdoor crappy progress.  People are patient and trust in the system.

Wouldn't it be nice if those beginning strength training programs were like this???

I am fortunate to know a lot of people who have made ridiculous progress in the weight room and dramatically changed their bodies.  And, I can tell you that just about all of them chalk up a big chunk of their success to just consistently busting their humps - both in the weight room and the kitchen - for years.  I've never met a world-class bodybuilder, powerlifter, or other athlete that devotes a huge part of their success to a supplement they use, or radical training program they did in their first few years of training.  It's funny, though; when I meet an up-and-coming lifter or athlete (and particularly professional baseball players), the first question is "what supplements should I take?"  I generally recommend "Shut up and Train" in softgel form.

I've commented before on how I attribute a big chunk of my success to the fact that I didn't miss a single planned resistance training session in roughly eight years - and to end that streak, it took 32 inches of snow in 24 hours (and I made the lift up the next day).

Consistency is the most important thing – especially in beginners.  You don’t need reverse undulating cybernetic periodization with quasi-isometric inverted wave loading and contrast training; you need to shut up and pick up some heavy stuff, as anything will work as you begin as long as you are consistent.  Heck, I did garbage weight training programs straight out of bodybuilding magazines when I first got started and made great progress because there was no place to go but up.  All that mattered was that for two years, I went home after lifting and shoveled down about 1,500 calories of quality food each and every time.  My diet and training may not have been perfect (or even close to it), but they were damn consistent. So, the next time you think that you start thinking that you're super special and physiologically different from everyone else, imagine me standing out in my backyard at 5:30AM freezing my butt off while I wait for my puppy to drop a deuce so that he can take one more step toward awesomeness while you spin your wheels.  It might put things in perspective and have you back to the basics before you know it. To take the guesswork out of your programming, check out Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better.

Based on feedback on Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better, one of the most popular components of this strength and conditioning resource has been the exercise modifications section.  This section features recommended modifications for everything from mobility deficits (e.g., can't squat deep without rounding the back) to equipment limitations (e.g., no cables or squat rack).

That said, I know it's never possible to use a single chapter to cover absolutely every equipment modification one will encounter, so I wanted to get a series going here that highlights some quick and easy substitutions that you can use in your strength training programs.  To that end, here is the first installment of High Performance Training Without the Equipment.  Today's focus will be what to do in your home gym if you don't have access to dumbbells.

If we're talking about regular bilateral dumbbell pressing, the modification is quick and easy: just use a barbell, and get your variety by using a collection of floor presses, board presses, full range-of-motion presses, and various inclines and declines.

If we're talking about either unilateral or alternating dumbbell pressing variations, then try out the 1-arm push-up.  You can make the exercise easier by performing it off the pins in a power rack - and as you get stronger, gradually move the pin down lower.

On the "flip side," you can obviously use barbell rowing variations to replace dumbbell rowing variations.  One that I particularly like is the 1-arm corner row, in lieu of the 1-arm DB Row.  You just stick the end of a barbell in a corner.

Or, you can just do the 1-arm barbell row - which requires a ton more grip and forearm strength to keep the bar from tipping.

Of course, there are plenty more options in this regard; your imagination is your only limit!

For more exercise modifications like this - as well as a comprehensive program in which to include them - check out Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better.

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Like just about all lifters, I got a lot bigger and stronger in my first 1-2 years of training in spite of the moronic stuff that I did in my weight training programs.  In hindsight, I was about as informed as a chimp with a barbell – but things worked out nonetheless.  That is, at least, until I hit a big fat plateau where things didn’t budge.

Think I’m joking?  Sadly, I’m not; otherwise, I wouldn’t have spent about 14 months trying to go from a 225-pound bench to 230.  When you’re finished laughing at my past futility (or about how similar it sounds to your own plight), we’ll continue.

Ready?  Good – because self-deprecating writing was never a strong suit of mine.  I have, however, become quite good at picking heavy stuff off the floor – to the tune of a personal-best 660-pound deadlift at a body weight of 188.

My other numbers aren't too shabby, either, but this article isn't about me; it's about why YOU can't necessarily get strong as fast as you'd like.  Let's look at a few mistakes many people make in their quest to increase strength.  Sadly, I made most of these myself along the way, so hopefully I can save you some frustration.

Reason #1: You're only doing what's fun - and not what you need.

As you could probably tell, deadlifting is a strength of mine - and I enjoy it.  Squatting, on the other hand, never came naturally to me.  I always squatted, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that it took the back seat to pulling heavy.

Eventually, though, I smartened up and took care of the issue - by always putting squatting before deadlifting in all my lower-body weight training sessions (twice a week).

In addition to me dramatically improving my squat, a funny thing happened: I actually started to love to squat.  Whoever said that you can't teach an old dog (or deadlifter) new tricks didn't have the real scoop.

Reason #2: You're not taking deload periods.

One phrase of which I've grown quite fond is "fatigue masks fitness."  As a little frame of reference, my best vertical jump is 37" - but on most days, I won't give you anything over 34.5" or so.  The reason is very simple: most of your training career is going to be spent in some degree of fatigue.  How you manage that fatigue is what's going to dictate your adaptation over the long-term.

On one hand, you want to impose enough fatigue to create supercompensation - so that you'll adapt and come back at a higher level of fitness.  On the other hand, you don't want to impose so much fatigue that you dig yourself a hole you can't get out of without a significant amount of time off.

Good weight training programs implement strategic overreaching follows by deloads - periods of lower training stress - to allow for adaptation to occur.  You can't just go in and hit personal bests in every single training session - and if you try, you're going to wind up exhausted.

Reason #3: You’re not rotating movements.

It never ceases to amaze me when a guy claims that he just can’t seem to increase strength on his bench press (or any lift, for that matter), and when you ask him what he’s done to work on it of late, and he tells you “bench press.” Specificity is important, folks, but if you aren’t rotating exercises in your strength training program, you’re missing out on a wildly valuable training stimulus: rotating strength exercises.

While there is certainly a place for extended periods of specificity (Smolov squat cycles, for instance), you can’t push this approach indefinitely.  Rotating my heaviest strength exercises was one of the most important lessons I learned along my journey.  In addition to helping to create adaptation, you’re also expanding your “motor program” and avoiding overuse injuries via pattern overload.

I’m not saying that you have to overhaul your entire strength and conditioning program each time you walk into the gym, but there should be some semi-regular fluctuation in exercise selection.  The more experienced you get, the more often you’ll want to rotate your strength exercises (I do it weekly).  We generally rotate assistance exercises every four weeks, though.

Reason #4: You’re inconsistent with your training.

I always tell our clients from all walks of life that the best strength and conditioning programs are ones that are sustainable.  I’ll take a crappy strength training program executed with consistency over a great program that’s only done sporadically.  In my daily practice, this is absolutely huge for professional athletes who need to maximize progress in the off-season; they just can’t afford to have unplanned breaks in training if they want to improve from year to year.

If a strength and conditioning program isn’t conducive to your goals and lifestyle, then it isn’t a good program.  That’s why I went out of my way to create 2x/week, 3x/week, and 4x/week strength training options – plus various supplemental conditioning options and a host of exercise modifications – when I pulled The High Performance Handbook together; I wanted it to be a very versatile resource.

Likewise, I wanted it to be safe; a program isn’t good if it injures you and prevents you from exercising.  Solid programs include targeted efforts to reduce the likelihood of injury via means like mobility warm-ups, supplemental stretching recommendations, specific progressions, fluctuations in training stress, and alternative strength exercises (“plan B”) in case you aren’t quite ready to execute “Plan A.”

For me personally, I attribute a lot of my progress to the fact that at one point, I actually went over eight years without missing a planned lift.  It’s a bit extreme, I know, but there’s a lesson to be learned.

Reason #5: You’re using the wrong rep schemes.

Beginners can make strength gains on as little as 40% of their one-rep max.  Past that initial period, the number moves to 70% – which is roughly a 12-rep max for most folks.  Later, I’d say that the number creeps up to about 85% – which would be about a 5-rep max for an intermediate lifter.  This last range is where you’ll find most people who head to the internet for strength training information.

What they don’t realize is that 85% isn’t going to get the job done for very long, either.  My experience is that in advanced lifters, the fastest way to build strength is to perform singles at or above 90% of one-rep max with regularity.  As long as exercises are rotated and deloading periods are included, this is a strategy that can be employed for an extended period of time.  In fact, it was probably the single (no pun intended) most valuable discovery I made in my quest to get strong.

I’m not saying that you should be attempting one-rep maxes each time you enter the gym, but I do think they’ll “just happen” if you employ this technique.

To take the guesswork out of all this and try some programming that considers all these crucial factors (and a whole lot more), check out my resource, The High Performance Handbook.

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I've known John Romaniello for almost a decade now, and he's a guy who delivers great content and plenty of humor and entertainment.  Oh, and he also happens to be in pretty good shape.

EC: You were really active as a writer at T-Nation a few years back, and then took a little hiatus before returning with a vengeance - and some great content - recently.  Where the heck did you go?

JR: Ha! I guess I did kind of fall off the radar there.  I didn't mean to intentionally withdraw; I wasn't looking to make a statement.  In fact, I guess in retrospect my abscence was specifically because I didn't have much to say.  I never wanted to be the type of trainer or writer who rehashed other people's ideas; rather, I wanted to just gather as much information as I could from as many sources, and formulate my own ideas and theories based on that.  So in my early articles, you'll see that.

Then...I wouldn't say I ran out of ideas...it was more that I knew that the only way I could really develop my own theories was to dive in.  And that's really what I've been doing.  I've been developing and redeveloping my own strategies and methods of over half a decade, while watching what was going on in the industry from a modest distance and not really making any attempt to re-enter "the scene."

At the same time, I was of course working on other stuff. I did some fitness and underwear modeling for a while, and that took some focus; plus, of course, there is my actual training, which takes up most of my time.

EC: You built up a pretty big clientele in that time period, didn't you?

JR: You could say that. For about the past six years, I've built a hugely successful personal training company that works with a lot of athletes, actors, models, etc.

The great thing about working in (and more specifically, right outside of) New York City is the access you have to so many different types of clients.  Add to that the fact that I had been doing the modeling, and I made a lot of good contacts in the industry and was able to work with a lot of clients with very exacting goals.

So, while I haven't gotten away from my muscle-head roots, I seem to have become a bit of a fat loss specialist--which makes sense, because that is what so many people are after.  I obviously work with a lot of people looking to drop a lot of weight, but in large part, my in person clients are very often those looking for polish their physiques and take it to the next level.

EC: Along those same lines, let's talk about your new program, Final Phase Fat Loss.  I've read it and I like it a lot, but tell our readers about some of the details of it.  How is it different from some of the other stuff out there?

JR:Ah, I'm very excited to talk about this.

Final Phase Fat Loss (FPFL) really represents all the work I've put into my evolving theories over the past few years.  It draws from a good number of pre-existing ideas and methods, as well as much of my own original stuff, and blends it in synergistic way that makes the entire program work in an incredibly effective way.

There are a lot of great fat loss programs out there, but none of them really do what FPFL does.

The thing that makes it different from pretty much any program out there is the built in variety.  Now, as you know I'm not generally a fan of anything for its own sake, especially variety; but here, the variety makes everything exponentially more effective.

You see, one of the main facets of my fat loss programs is to include multiple training styles into the programming, usually within the context of a given training week.  Not to use muscle-mag clichés like "keep the body guessing," but the fact of the matter is that by constantly varying the training stimulus, you just increase the amount of metabolic disturbance and force you body to adapt more quickly.  It's as simple as that.

And, of course, every fat loss trainer will tell you that.

So, variety is one of the main things that makes Final Phase different.

EC: You're a big believer in metabolic resistance training (MRT), too, which certainly sits in agreement with some of the more modern fat loss approaches out there.  For those that aren't familiar, can you fill them in a bit more?

JR: Here are just a few reasons why MRT is better than general cardio:

1) Higher caloric expenditure when compared minute to minute

2) Increased stimulation of muscle, helping to hold onto LBM when dieting

3) Increased Excess Post-exercises Oxygen Consumption (EPOC)

So, MRT is really just fast paced lifting, right? Kinda. The best way to do metabolic resistance training is to use non-competing circuits—that is, set up a circuit of exercises during which you alternate opposing muscle groups.

Examples would include doing a chest exercise followed by a back exercise, or alternating an upper body exercise with a lower body one, you allow the opposing muscle group to rest. By setting your workouts up like this, you can move faster, rest less frequently, and get a great total result.

The great thing about MRT is that it’s more of a concept than a protocol. That is, it’s adjustable to nearly any type of training. You can get a great MRT workout with so many different pieces of equipment and styles of working out.

Kettlebells are a great tool for metabolic resistance training, and it’s easy to see how they’re great for fat loss. Another great way to start using MRT is with dumbbell or barbell complexes, which are exercises circuits using minimum space and equipment. With a complex, you transition smoothly from one exercise to another, never letting the barbell or dumbbells leave your hands. It’s fast-paced, effective, and brutal. You can even do metabolic resistance training fat loss using just your bodyweight, as the circuit below shows.

Or, if you've got some equipment at your fingertips:

Now, I won’t go so far as to say we should stop doing all other types of cardio in favor of metabolic resistance training—not by a long shot.  I don’t care for (or make) such absolute statements, speaking generally.

Speaking more specifically about metabolic resistance training, I’ll say that while MRT seems to be the most effective single option, I strongly believe that everything has benefit and you can enhance your results even further by doing a combination on of MRT, High Intensity  Intervals, and even a slow walk on the treadmill (as recovery after workout that taxes your lower body pretty heavily).

EC: Got it. What else makes this resource unique?

JR: The other thing that makes is that it unique is that it was designed to address a lot of the hormonal reasons for fat storage.  As an example, we know that if you're insulin resistant, you're going to store fat in your love handles.  So, given that insulin resistance (and therefore love handle fat) is extremely common, FPFL was designed with that in mind--the workouts (some more than others) are drawn from training styles that elicit certain hormonal responses--or increased production of certain hormone--and helps to combat difficulties like insulin resistance - and in part some of the problems that causes, like chronic love handular fattitude.

Pretty awesome.

The great thing about it is that it's really intended for a few very specific purposes--it's called "Final Phase Fat Loss" and that obviously carries certain implications.  We all know someone struggling to lose the last 5-10 pounds; whether it's a mom trying to get into some pre-baby jeans, a 30-year-old guy looking to see his abs for the first time, or an athlete trying to drop a weight class (in actual fat, not water manipulation).  FPFL addresses those things.

No other fat loss program available specifically addresses the needs of people who are trying to get past that barrier between good and great.  Those programs simply don't have the components organized the way I do, and aren't ideal for losing the last bit of fat.

Final Phase fills that gap, and it's going to help a lot of people do what my models and actors need to do all the time--get into lean, hard, photo-ready shape.

Of course, it's also a great general fat loss program, and it's proven itself to be exceptionally valuable for those who are just trying to bust through a fat loss plateau--so there's that, as well.

EC: Intriguing stuff - and it's backed by an excellent product that I've had a chance to review.  The training sessions are absolutely brutal, and anyone who is up for a challenge (on top of the benefits you already outlined) ought to check it out: Final Phase Fat Loss.

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Q: I've read a lot from you, Robertson, and Hartman about including push-up variations in strength training programs is really important for shoulder health.  Unfortunately, whenever I do them, I have pain in my bum shoulder.  Any ideas what to do?

A: Well, obviously, there are two things we need to rule out:

1. You may simply have a really irritated shoulder, which (in most cases) means that any sort of approximation or protraction movement could get it angrier, even if it is a closed-chain movement like the push-up that is normally pretty shoulder-friendly.  Likewise, if you have a significant acromioclavicular joint injury, the extension range-of-motion at the bottom of a push-up could exacerbate your symptoms.  So, obviously, the first step is to rule out if something is structurally wrong with your shoulder, and if so, if the push-up even belongs in your strength training program.

2. Your technique might just be atrocious.  If the elbows are flared out, hips are sagging, and/or you're in a forward head posture, simply changing your technique may very well alleviate those symptoms.  In a good push-up, the elbows should be tucked to a 45-degree angle to the body, with the hips, torso, neck, and head in a straight line.  The muscles of the upper back should essentially "pull" you down into the bottom position:

Once you've ruled out those two issues and still have some annoying issues, there is one more thing you can try: simply elevate the feet.  Looking to the research, Lear and Gross found that performing push-ups with the feet elevated significantly increased activation of the serratus anterior (SA).

If we can get more SA recruitment and less pectoralis minor contribution, it keeps us out of a position of scapular anterior tilt, which mechanically decreases the subacromial space through which the rotator cuff tendons pass.  In the picture below, think of the area just below the word "acromion" being smaller, and then picture what would happen to the tendons that pass through that region; they get impinged.  Serratus anterior (along with lower trapezius) can help prevent that.

That said, I've seen quite a few folks with persistent shoulder pain with bench pressing variations (barbell and DBs) and regular push-ups who were able to do the feet-elevated versions completely pain free in their strength training programs.  Obviously, begin with just body weight and see how it goes, but over time, you can start to add resistance and use the single-leg version.

Related Posts
High Performance Training without the Equipment: 5 Pushup Variations
High Performance Training without the Equipment: 6 More Pushup Variations

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You're asking the rectus femoris to go on a huge stretch there - and under very high velocities.  With a squat, you're not putting it on full stretch, as the hip and knee are both flexed.  So, with that in mind, it's not surprising at all that sprinting would bother your "quad" when squatting doesn't - especially since we know the overwhelming majority of folks out there are tight in the rectus femoris.  Why?

Well, first, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to know that, as a society, we sit far too much.  Second, though, is the fact that most people never really get above 90 degrees of hip flexion in anything that they do.  Mike Boyle has done a great job of outlining how we can develop imbalanced hip flexion patterns; essentially, we never use our psoas, the only hip flexor active above 90 degrees of hip flexion. The picture below is kind of rudimentary (and somewhat awkward), but it shows what I'm getting at with respect to the advantageous attachment points for psoas with respect to hip flexion above 90 degrees:

How many of the folks at your gym are getting 90+ degrees of hip flexion with their treadmill, stairclimber, and elliptical work?  None.  So, we underuse psoas, and overuse rectus - and it shortens up over time.  Take a short muscle through a maximal stretch at high-velocities, and it's going to hate you.  So, what to do?

Well, first, I'd recommend running through some warm-ups from Assess and Correct, and that'll cover a lot of the fundamentals (especially if you go through the assessments to figure out what else is going on).  One important thing that'll cover is activation work for psoas; Kevin Neeld demonstrates one option here:

Second, just add in some targeted static stretching for the rectus femoris a few times a day using this stretch (don't start using it until the "pulled quad" has settled down, though).

Third, and most importantly, ease your way into sprinting.  Not everyone is prepared to just jump right in full-throttle.  I discuss this in further detail in my contribution to the most recent Mythbusters article at T-Nation.  Basically, just get out there twice a week and do some 60-yd build-ups at 80% of your best on a grass field.

Just a few days ago, a friend of mine passed along the link for a Reuters article reporting on a study that found that a 12-week Tai Chi intervention did not reduce the risk of falls in the elderly.

This might be surprising to some, as one would think that any sort of physical activity would benefit untrained elderly individuals.  However, I wasn't surprised at the results at all, given all the research I'd done to prepare for The Truth About Unstable Surface Training.  And, I wasn't surprised at all when I realized that this had significant parallels to how we train balancing proficiency in athletes.

It's important to understand first and foremost that balance and proprioception (and, therefore, stability at a certain point in time) are skill-specific.  In particular, one must appreciate that static balance - which is typical of Tai Chi - is markedly difference from dynamic balance, which we encounter all the time in everyday life and in the world of athletics.

For proof, one mustn't look any further than when Drowatzky and Zuccato (1966) found little carryover from static to dynamic balance (1).  Tsigilis et al. confirmed this finding 35 years later (2). And, it's one reason why I feel so strongly that we have to qualify our unstable surface training (UST) recommendations.  UST necessitates a significant amount of static balance that may not transfer to sporting movements, which typically are more dependent on dynamic balancing proficiency.

From my e-book on the subject, "Previous research has demonstrated that scores on static balance tests are not useful information when attempting to predict inversion ankle injuries in soccer players (3). This lack of correlation implies that methods to improve static balance may not be effective training approaches to prevent injuries in dynamic sporting contexts - especially when dealing with athletes with no recent history of lower extremity injury."

Now, we know that we can't train complete specificity 100% of the time.  Otherwise, in the elderly, we'd be trying to simulate every kind of fall that is possible.  And, in a football player, for instance, we'd be trying to simulate every kind of tackle a running back could possibly encounter.  So, what do we do?  Once again, we look to the research!

In a study by Bruhn et al., a high-intensity strength training group actually outperformed the unstable surface training (static balance training) group on measures of static balance (4).  In other words, one group trained static balance, and the other didn't - and the one who didn't train static balance directly actually improved the most overall.  Maybe muscle cross-sectional area played into it?  Maybe it occurred because of increased stabilization via enhanced intra- and intermuscular coordination that would allow for more rapid and effective force production (strength and rate of force development)?  Maybe true specificity isn't as important as we thought?

Click here to purchase The Truth About Unstable Surface Training.

References

1. DROWATZKY, J.N., AND F.C. ZUCCATO. Interrelationships between selected measures of static and dynamic balance. Res. Q. 38:(3) 509-510. 1966.

2. TSIGILIS, N., E. ZACHOPOULOU, T. MAVRIDIS. Evaluation of the specificity of selected dynamic balance tests. Percept Mot Skills. 92(3 Pt 1):827-33. 2001.

3. KONRADSEN, L. Factors Contributing to Chronic Ankle Instability: Kinesthesia and Joint Position Sense. J Athl Train. 37(4):381-385. 2002.

4. BRUHN, S., N. KULLMANN, AND A. GOLLHOFER. The effects of a sensorimotor training and a strength training on postural stabilisation, maximum isometric contraction and jump performance. Int J Sports Med. 25(1):56-60. 2004.

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