Here's this week's list of recommended strength and conditioning reading for you:
Research: Gaining Hip Rotation Without Stretching - My UCONN buddy Mike Irr wrote up this excellent research review, and did an equally solid job with discussing implications of its findings and recommendations for future research.
Scapular Stability and Push-ups - Dean Somerset wrote up an entertaining, video-packed post on how push-up variations fit in with your scapular stabilization programs.
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Here are some random tips to help you lose fat, get strong, gain muscle, feel better, and take over the world - compliments of Cressey Performance coach Greg Robins.
1. Swing it!
As a strength coach, you will be confronted by two big issues. One, you will most likely have a budget. Secondly, you will struggle to keep all your athletes consistently in the gym, or on track while in season. A recent study published in the NSCA's Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research provides us with a solution: kettlebell swings. "The results of this study clearly demonstrate that six weeks of bi-weekly kettlebell swings provides a stimulus that is sufficient to increase both maximum and explosive strength offering a useful alternative to strength and conditioning professionals seeking variety for their athletes."
Purchasing kettlebells for your program, or advocating the purchase of kettlebells by your athletes for at home use, is a low cost option to deliver a great training effect. The swing is a relatively easy movement to teach and safely prescribe to your athletes to keep up with, and improve their strength. The kettlebell swing has largely been touted as an incredibly efficient movement, most recently by the king of efficiency himself, Tim Ferriss, in his book, The 4-Hour Body. In this article he talks about his own incredible results, as well as links to a profile of another swinger, who garnered impressive results with as little as 10 - 20min of swinging a week. Not bad!
2. Make food taste better by adding...more food.
Chicken, turkey, and pork all taste great when you eat them right out of the oven or off the grill. However, everyone knows that "so dry that I'm coughing up dust" taste that you can get when you eat them as leftovers. To that end, try chopping the meat up and adding it to an omelet; it tastes great.
This is just one example of how you can "disguise" something that might not taste good. Don't like spinach? Blend it into your shakes. Don't like tomatoes? Grind them up and add some spices and fruit to make a salsa. Your imagination is the only limit.
3. Some small stuff is worth sweating.
More times than not, I am telling people not to sweat the small stuff. However, I would advocate locating small things, that are easily done, that can have a large effect on the bigger picture. When it comes to the gym I can think of a few examples:
Learn to, and teach your athletes / clients, to set up, un-rack, and re-rack weights properly. I like to see things done right, from the moment someone gets under the bar, to the moment they put it back. This isn't just the purist in me, these so called "little" things will have a big effect on the quality of the set, and the safety as well. Make sure that you, and those you teach, learn to do it right from the start. I don't usually make videos, but when I do, they are awesome:
Ask for spotters and hand-offs. It's always best to perform a lift safely and with a clear mind. If you have someone available to spot you, why wouldn't you ask? Furthermore, if you set up correctly in a bench press (uncomfortably tight, shoulder blades retracted, etc.) You will benefit greatly from receiving a good hand off that keeps you in position. Lastly, if you happen to train around people who know what they are doing, asking for an appropriate spot, or hand-off when they are not busy is a good way to grab a little sage wisdom
4. Always take the bar.
In sticking with the theme of the little things that make a big difference, here's a lesson I learned early in my training history: "Always take the bar." It means exactly what it says. Whether you are squatting, benching, lunging, or pressing always do a set with the empty bar. You don't pick up a baseball and throw it 200ft before you have thrown it 50ft do you? It is always best to ramp up to your working sets and get a gauge on how you feel. Furthermore, repetition is the principal of learning. Even as someone whose working sets are a good distance from 45lbs, I will take anywhere from 5 - 8 sets to get where I am going for that day's big exercise. In this time, don't just go through the motions, it is the perfect time to smooth out any form issues and build a habitual approach to each set.
5. Avoid paralysis by analysis.
There is a time for thinking, and a time for doing. Be careful not to let your thoughts interfere with your ability to execute. Additionally, remember that in many cases, "perfect" will be the enemy of "good." In order to achieve more from your training and sport practice, follow these two guidelines:
Separate planning and doing. I recently read a fantastic article from Dan John that speaks about managing options in your training. The article closes with a saying: "Plan the hunt, hunt the hunt, discuss the hunt." In other words take the time to formulate an intelligent plan, execute that plan with a full effort, and then review and revise based on the outcome. There are many different ways to achieve the same outcome, the difference maker will often be the effort put forward into whatever that approach may be. With that in mind, do not limit yourself by over thinking what you are doing while you are doing it. Just do it!
In the moment, redirect your thought process. In a recent discussion with one of our athletes at CP, I was reminded of something somebody had shared with me a while back. If you are in the "hunt," it is not a time to dwell on mechanical reasons for something not working right. Instead, technical changes and observations should be made during practice, or after the fact during review. While in the moment simplify your adjustment process. If you are throwing up, aim down. If you are coming forward in a squat, stay back. Easy enough, right?
Co-Author Greg Robins is strength and conditioning coach at Cressey Performance in Hudson, MA. Check out his website, www.GregTrainer.com, for more great content.
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Today's guest blog comes from Pete Dupuis, my business partner at Cressey Performance. Pete might fly a bit under the radar with respect to the online scene, but as you'll learn below, he plays a huge role in the success we've had at Cressey Performance.
So you’ve decided to open your own strength & conditioning facility…
As any aspiring entrepreneur knows, there’s a considerably long list of expenses that come with getting your business off the ground. For those of us who’ve decided the right move is to open up our own gym, the obvious staples include: racks, benches, dumbbells, bands, mats, sleds, etc. Based on my experience, there are plenty more expensive surprises along the way.
Below, you will find ten quick examples that came to mind as I reflected on the time, energy and cash flow it took to get CP to where it is today. While I’m sure I could double or triple the number of bullet points on this list with a little time to run through my transaction records, the following collection represents the ten that either caught me by surprise, or simply slipped through the cracks as Eric and I sat at a local Applebee’s drawing up a business plan on a napkin during our “let’s start a gym” extravaganza. Enjoy!
1. The fine print on our insurance policy – Every business needs insurance. What every business does not need, is the anti-terrorism coverage built in to the policy that nearly went undetected on our radar before paying the year-one premium. A quick Google-search (or the application of common sense) told us that the terrorists of the world don’t seem to be particularly concerned with Hudson, MA, or the new gym that just popped on to the scene. We saved ourselves some money by throwing a check mark in the “no thank you” box next to anti-terrorism coverage.
2. Registering your LLC and maintaining it annually – I can’t speak for other states, but Massachusetts has devised a particularly profitable little policy that requires business entities in the Commonwealth to slap down a quick $500 LLC filing fee. Now, the filing fee wasn’t particularly shocking, but the realization that we’d owe an additional $500 on the anniversary of starting our business each July certainly stung a little bit when times were tight in the early stages of our operations.
3. Furnishings – Once you’re done with pulling together that list of equipment for your dream gym, you’ll probably realize that the key to keeping it full of clients is not only delivering results, but also demonstrating some level of professionalism. It’s pretty difficult to be taken seriously if you’re pitching your services from a poorly equipped office - or if Eric is passed out on a sketchy red couch after working a 20-hour day.
While a laptop and a cell phone will get the job done for a couple days or weeks, you’ll soon realize that printers, phones, chairs, desks, trash barrels, etc. can pile up to make for a pretty hefty bill at Staples.
4. Logo design – Since we have yet to spend a dollar on what most would call traditional advertising (newspaper/internet/television/radio), CP has been dependent on delivering noteworthy results and some memorable t-shirt designs to stay top-of-mind with the baseball community. Without a decent logo, we’d be struggling on the brand-recognition front. Since design work isn’t cheap, we recommend taking the trade-barter approach with any client who’s got the right skill-set - and you'd be surprised at how many there are. You make them strong, and they make you the next Swoosh or Golden Arches…everybody wins.
5. Website Design – On a similar note, writing HTML doesn’t come naturally to most of us. The “do-it-yourself” web-design tools might cut it for a little while, but the moment you begin working with professional athletes, their agents, or the organizations employing them, it becomes time for a website that reflects the same level of quality product you are promising on the training floor. Do yourself a favor and find a professional who is qualified to design an appealing site for you – and it’s especially nice if they’re interested in doing it in exchange for some of your appealing strength and conditioning programming and coaching.
6. Medicine Ball Wall – While some facility owners are fortunate enough to find space that incorporates cinderblock walls capable of handling the violence of a good med-ball session, many of us are not so lucky. In our case, the expansion from 2,000 sq. feet of gym space to over 6,600 came with the unanticipated $2,500 cinderblock wall installation. In our case, the 150+ feet of straightaway sprinting space outweighed the fact that brick/cinderblock walls were nowhere to be found upon our arrival.
7. Med-Ball/Equipment Replacement – The harsh reality of CP making baseball players better is the fact that we destroy medicine balls at an alarming rate. The same goes for wear and tear of exercise mats, bands, etc. Just because you managed to pull together the funds to outfit a facility on day one doesn’t mean you’re not going to be reinvesting in the business early and often.
8. Audio Equipment – In an industry where a mediocre training environment can singlehandedly kill your gym, loud music is a must. Unless you’re operating in a garage, it’s going to take more than a boom box to get the job done. Plan on investing in a receiver, some decent speakers, and an iPod to get the ball rolling on an environment in which people set PRs on a regular basis.
9. Memorabilia Mounting Fees – Assuming you’ve got a client or two that you’re proud to say you train, you’re going to want to hang a jersey, some photos, or the occasional newspaper story. Since thumbtacks are a little abrasive on game-worn MLB jerseys, professional mounting/framing is a must, and it isn’t cheap. The more successful your client roster becomes, the more expensive the gym walls become. It's a good problem to have.
10. City of Hudson Dumpster Licensing Fee – I saved this one for last because I find it to be both the most unanticipated and most obnoxious annual expense I’ve managed to come across since starting our business. Despite paying rent to the property owner and a dumpster rental fee to our trash-removal vendor, the city of Hudson “has enacted regulations to require licensing dumpster within the town” as of mid-2011. So if you potential gym owners are looking to open a S&C facility here in Hudson (which, by the way, would not be cool), you can plan on budgeting $75/year for the privilege of housing a dumpster on your off-street private property.
Like I mentioned earlier, these ten expenses are just the tip of the iceberg, and I could certainly go on all day with them. With that in mind, if you're a business owner who has walked a mile in these shoes, I'd be curious to hear what expenses surprised you along the way. You can post your replies in the comment section below.
For those of you looking to learn more about Fitness Business start-up, be sure to check out the Fitness Business Blueprint, which includes loads of business, relationship-building, assessment, program design, and training strategies you’ll learn to instantly help take your business to the next level.
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Here at EricCressey.com, tonight marks the start of a new feature: live Q&A. Periodically, I'll post a blog where you can post questions in the comments section and get replies directly from me.
My only rule is that your question must be limited to five sentences or less. I'll answer the first 30 that are posted, so please don't bother posting questions if you come to this post days, weeks, or months after it was originally posted.
With that said, head on down to the comments section below and ask away!
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One of the biggest mistakes I think I've made in my career is believing that I would be able to leverage all of my knowledge all the time. In other words, early on, I assumed that if I learned something and wanted to apply it with my clients/athletes, it would be as simple as writing it into a strength and conditioning program (or nutrition plan).
This assumption (like most assumptions) was, of course, very flawed. You see, the concept of adherence was something I learned about through experience with a lot of people. Just because folks know that they should do something doesn't guarantee that they will do something. And, just because I was "Type A" and was always motivated to train regularly and eat right didn't mean that others were, too.
Adherence is a reason people hire personal trainers, recruit workout partners, make bets with their buddies, enter "Biggest Loser" competitions, participate on online forums, hire hypnotists, and employ a host of other strategies. They know eating right and exercising are important facets of their lives, but they need outside influences to help make these things essential priorities.
Enhancing adherence became a central strategy to the Cressey Performance business model, too; we wanted to make our facility an experience, not just a gym. We wanted folks to not just be accountable to their training partners and our coaches, but also be so damn excited to train that they wanted to kick the door to the gym down.
To that end, when I learned about Fitocracy, I became immediately intrigued at their approach to enhancing exercise and nutrition adherence.
They didn't just create an online social support network for exercisers of all ages and experience levels; they made tracking workouts fun and competitive (you earn points based on how challenging your workouts are). It is like a combination of:
1. Facebook (social support)
2. Twitter's (you pick what's applicable to you)
3. Words with Friends (compete against your friends)
4. Individual sports like powerlifting, distance running, etc. (compete against yourself)
5. Beer League Softball (bust your buddy's balls)
Now, here comes the full disclosure: I liked this company and the adherence advantage it provides so much that I invested in it. Likewise, there are loads of well-known fitness professionals with strong presences at Fitocracy (even if they aren't investors). And, I think that you'll like it, too, so I wanted to encourage you to check it out - especially since it's free.
In addition to what you see now (be sure to check out the iPhone app), there will be some cool stuff new coming in the months to come. For instance, I plan to start doing some live Q&A with followers on the site, and we'll be "bulking up" the exercise selection library.
To learn more, head on over to Fitocracy through this link (if you sign up through this link, it will automatically make you one of my followers so that you'll hit the ground running). I'd also love to hear your thoughts on the site and your experiences with it in the comments section below.
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Here are this week's random tips to get you headed in the right direction with your workout routine and nutrition program, with assistance from Cressey Performance strength and conditioning coach Greg Robins.
1. Take a preventative approach.
Often times nagging pain, injuries, and adverse health effects are an issue of negligence. It is is important as a coach, athlete, or weekend warrior to take a preventative approach to keeping your body healthy. There is no shortage of information on how to deal with various joint pain, or why its important to do "this" to prevent "that". At Cressey Performance, we take a preventive approach to keep our athletes on the field, but the ball doesn't stop there.
A common example is resistance training among older women to prevent bone degeneration. A recent study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology found that younger women, in their mid twenties, who participated in a 12-week resistance training program showed significant increases in the hormones responsible for new bone growth. This isn't revolutionary, but the take home point is to promote heavy lifting long before signs of degeneration begin to present themselves.
Similarly, anterior knee pain is a hot topic with active individuals. This pain can be debilitating, especially as an athlete or someone with a more active job / lifestyle. Another recent study conducted at The University of Cincinnati found that an intervention with four daily close chained kinetic exercises among military recruits (undergoing rigorous training) greatly reduced incidents of knee pain when compared to a control group who did not. Military personnel underwent daily physical training for 3-4 hours per day, including endurance marching, military field exercises, running, weapons and foot drill, and strength and conditioning. If as little as four exercises were able to help these individuals, imagine what they can do for you.
2. Eat more fish - and preferably ones that did cool stuff like this while they were still alive.
3. Wear a pedometer for a day.
If you talk to a lot of people "in the know," non-exercise physical activity (NEPA) is an often overlooked factor contributing to fat loss success (or failure). Some people just move all the time, whether it's because of their occupation (e.g., manual laborer) or the simple fact that they are constantly fidgeting. It might surprise you, but this NEPA can really help get you lean - or keep you there.
One quick and easy way to get a feeling of where you stand on this front is to simply wear a pedometer for a day. I did this about two years ago and discovered that I actually walk about four miles in eight hours of coaching at Cressey Performance. That's a lot of calories burned!
Just like writing down everything you eat can force you to consider what you're putting in your mouth, wearing a pedometer can motivate you to take some extra steps each day. Give it a shot; you may be surprised at how many or few steps you take each day.
4. Count your blessings.
Being happy, and finding fulfillment in your life and training, can be as easy as remembering all that you already have. Stop stressing about what you don't have, and focus on the many things you do have. Take five minutes and write down everything you are grateful for. Every morning start your day by reading through your list, and add to it as you see fit. Doing so will give you a positive start to each day. Try it out!
5.Be more specific with your "conditioning."
The term conditioning is grossly misunderstood. The lack of understanding, in consideration of the demands of an individual within their chosen sports or activities, has led to many asinine training protocols developed by misinformed coaches and general people alike. An elite powerlifter may not be able to run a six-minute mile, but they are perfectly conditioned for their sport. Likewise, a baseball pitcher has no business doing extensive distance running when they a play a sport that involves covering as little as 100ft of total ground per outing (if that). More appropriately, they need to develop the energy systems conducive to producing explosive movements repetitively for the amount of time they spend on the mound. This will differ within the position as well: Starters, long relievers, closers, etc.
Using resources such as "time motion analysis" is a great place to investigate the actual demands placed on an athlete in a given sport. You can access A LOT of these through a basic google search. As a team sport coach, take a critical look at what you assign as "conditioning" work to your athletes during practice. In this day and age, many kids are participating in strength and conditioning programs outside of their practice and game schedules. Assuming that they are receiving intelligent programming, you do not want to interfere with their training by having them do additional work that is detrimental to their progress. Solutions: stop the ridiculous amounts of distance running and "suicides," and instead form a relationship with their strength and conditioning coach.
For you weekend warriors: Your approach to conditioning will be as specific as your main goal. Many general fitness people are kind of across the board on what they are trying to accomplish. With that in mind, try to keep a similar stimulus in your conditioning work to what the rest of your training for that day is. For example, place sprint work with adequate rest on heavy lifting days, place more aerobic work on off days, and include a day of high intense intervals with shorter rest later in the week after training.
Co-Author Greg Robins is strength and conditioning coach at Cressey Performance in Hudson, MA. Check out his website, www.GregTrainer.com, for more great content.
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Here's this week's list of recommended strength and conditioning reading:
The Coming Meltdown in College Education and Why the Economy Won't Get Better Anytime Soon - I stay away from politics with this blog, but this post from Mark Cuban was too good to resist - particularly because it was a great follow-up to my series, Is an Exercise Science Degree Really Worth It? In case you missed my previous articles, be sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2 of the series. I think it's a really important consideration in our field, where the average personal trainer makes less than $30,000, yet an exercise science degree can cost well over $200,000 even before student loan interest is included. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
The 10 Things Fitness Magazines Won't Tell You - I have gotten to work with Adam Bornstein quite a bit through both Men's Health and LiveStrong, and I like doing so because he isn't just a bright guy, but also a straight-shooter. This article demonstrates both!
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I'm always surprised when I see "arm care" portions of baseball strength and conditioning programs that attempt to break rotator cuff exercises and scapular stability exercises into different categories. In my eyes, while you can certainly prioritize one over the other, treating them as mutually exclusive means that you're missing out on a great opportunity to educate an athlete on "positional stability." Here are a few examples to demonstrate my point:
In Band Distractions w/Rhythmic Stabilizations, you'll see that Orioles prospect (and Twitter phenom) Oliver Drake, actively counteracts the distraction force created by the band by pulling the scapula back onto the rib cage. Then, we challenge the rotator cuff with rhythmic stabilizations.
Likewise, in this Half-Kneeling 1-arm Manual Resistance External Rotation, Sam needs to make sure to position the scapula appropriately on the rib cage to make sure that he's in the best position to create eccentric strength for the cuff. This is of particular importance in guys with low shoulders who may be very lat-dominant; gravity will have an additional downward pull on the scapula, so many guys need to intentionally activate upper trapezius prior to starting the set.
Or, consider a Prone External Rotation (one of our old Strength Exercises of the Week). This is definitely viewed as a rotator cuff exercise, as the goal is to learn to externally the humeral head in the socket without the "ball" migrating forward (preventing anterior instability). However, you also have to appreciate that gravity is forcing the scapula forward into anterior tilt, so the lower trapezius must be turned on to counteract it.
Likewise, just about every time you do any exercise that involves holding weights in your hands, your rotator cuff is firing reflexively.
With all these examples - and surely many more - in mind, we realize that "categorizing" arm care exercises can be pretty difficult, as we're always looking to find a balance between doing enough and doing too much.
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Here's this week's list of recommended strength and conditioning reading:
Elite Training Mentorship - I just had some new content loaded here for one of our twice-a-month updates. My two in-services, Progression and Regression and Understanding and Managing Acromioclavicular Joint Issues will be of particular interest.
Trunk Stability for Young Athletes - Mike Robertson did a great job with this post on preparing today's young athletes without skipping steps.
Understanding USA Hockey's American Development Model (ADM) - This is an excellent post from my friend (and former CP intern) Kevin Neeld. I love how Kevin has sought out to be "the guy" when it comes to hockey much like we have done so in our work with baseball players. I also really enjoyed this post, because I think we can learn a lot on long-term development models by looking to the successes and failures encountered in other sports. In particularly, I loved his quote, "We're winning the race to the wrong finish line."
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I'm excited to announce that new Cressey Performance employee Greg Robins is going to be helping me out with this series moving forward. Greg brings a unique skill set to to the table, and I think that the two of us together will kick out some great content in this weekly post moving forward. With that said, here are five quick and easy ways to feel and move better to get you week off on the right foot:
1. Focus on less.
Too often I see people make the mistake of doing too much in the gym. Additionally, many folks jump from strength and conditioning program to program, or change strength exercises too often. Make it a point to do two things.
First, pick a few big movements that you can execute correctly, and continually work to become great at them. Second, settle on a specific outcome for your training. Are you trying to lose fat, gain muscle, or get strong? While your approach may have elements that address all of these, prioritize one or the other for an extended period of time. Allowing yourself time to get better with movement, and eliminating competing demands from your program, are both great ways to maximize your efforts.
2. Declutter your life.
"Spring cleaning" is a hackneyed expression, but that doesn't mean it isn't an incredibly worthwhile project to undertake! Let's just say that I filled a trunk with trash from my home office last week.
Considering that my home office is only 13'x13', I expect my productivity to increase quite a bit. Think about ways you can "declutter" your life; it should help you focus on the task at hand.
3. Carry heavy stuff with friends.
Dan John has put out some great content with respect to how valuable carrying variations can be. They are easily learned, don't make you ridiculously sore, and provide a great whole-body training effect. One thing we like to do as a staff is set up our farmer's walks in a group format. Our turf is 40 yards long, and each set is either one or two trips. One person goes, then the next person goes, and so on until everyone has finished all their sets. It keeps you accountable to strict rest periods, builds in the motivation of competition (who wants to be the one guy who can't finish his trip?), and distributes the loading/unloading responsibilities among several people! Here's an old video of us on this front:
4. Get every rep.
Nobody makes progress by missing lifts. Check your ego at the door, and take a more patient approach to your training. The most beautiful lesson in training is one of delayed gratification. To succeed in the gym, you need to do what is necessary in the training session in order to make the subsequent training sessions beneficial. Nobody can set personal records for themselves every day, so focus on executing each and every rep smoothly. Over time, add to the bar, add a rep, or do a little more work in the same time period. It will all add up, and a year from now you will marvel at what you accomplished. However, if you choose to blow it out every session, in a year, you will be lucky to have made minimal progress.
5. Spend less time down at the bar.
It drives me bonkers when lifters spend too much time down in the bottom position of a deadlift. I always encourage people to get their minds right while they're standing around, and then get right to it when they get up to the bar. Spending too much time in the bottom position of your deadlift technique means that you'll lose any benefit of the stretch-shortening cycle, and run the risk of becoming an overly pensive, weak schmuck.
Co-Author Greg Robins is strength and conditioning coach at Cressey Performance in Hudson, MA. Check out his website, www.GregTrainer.com, for more great content.
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