Home Blog (Page 276)

Weekend Warriors: The Off-Season

Q: Eric, I have a question about your Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual. Knowing who wrote this manual, I know that it's going to be a great product! I realize that this would be geared more towards the high performance athlete, but could the "Weekend Warrior" realistically utilize this manual?
A: Good question - and I've actually received the same inquiry from a few people now. Here's my (admittedly-biased) take on things: If you've read stuff from Mike Robertson, Alwyn Cosgrove, Kelly Baggett, and me (among a few others), I hope one message you've taken away from the articles is that the ordinary weekend warrior would be a lot better off if he'd train more like an athlete. The strength work athletes do helps you move bigger weights and build more muscle while burning more calories to stay lean. The movement training keeps you functional and helps you with energy system work to keep your body composition in check. The mobility work keeps you healthy and functional so that you can stand up to all the challenges in your training programs without getting injured. This manual shows you how all those pieces fit together at different times of year, and it also provides a lot of "stuff you just ought to know" if you train. Another cool thing is that you'll actually start to watch sports on TV in a different light; you'll begin to pick up on the little things that make each athlete unique. And, if all that isn't enough, you've got 30 weeks of sample programming to keep things interesting! Again, great question! Eric Cressey
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Isometric Elevated Push-Ups

Q: Had a couple questions on the isometric elevated push-up holds. How do you structure this exercise into your training programs? Is this something you will do in the warm-up or after other movements? What have you found to be the most effective scheme as far as the hold is concerned? Meaning, do you have your athletes go for time/until fatigue/reps/multiple sets, etc. Have you utilized unstable surfaces with this exercise as well? I would be using the holds mostly with my softball players as they prepare this upcoming fall and am always looking for various shoulder exercises to reduce the risk of injury. Thanks so much for any help you can give.
A: With beginners, it may be the first movement. Generally, though, I'll include it later in the training session. It's also great for back-off weeks; I actually include it as part of regeneration phases if an athlete is worn out post-season (maintain muscular activation with lower joint torques). I go into more detail on this in The Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual. We always do at least two sets, and sometimes as many as four. I generally won't go longer than a minute; many athletes won't be able to go much longer than 15-20s (especially female athletes). As far as unstable surfaces are concerned, there's not much reason to use them for this; you can train proprioception pretty easily at normal speeds. One of the inherent benefits to using upper body unstable surface training is the maintained muscular activation with lower resultant joint torques (prime movers become joint stabilizers - see JSCR research from David Behm and Ken Anderson). You can get this same benefit from isometric holds, so doing them on unstable surfaces would be overkill, IMO – especially in a female athlete population who is likely too weak in the upper body in the first place. Eric Cressey I’ve seen the mistakes they commonly make, and I’ve seen how tremendous the results are when they get things right.
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Bulletproof Athletes

Nick Grantham: I like to develop what we call 'bulletproof' athletes - men and women that can take to the field and cope with what the sport and their opponents throws at them. What would be your main tips for making a 'bullet proof' athlete - what areas should we focus our attention on and what exercises could we use? Eric Cressey: 1. Adequate hip mobility. 2. Stability of the lumbar spine, scapulae, and glenohumeral joint. 3. Posterior chain strength and normal firing patterns 4. Loads of posterior chain strength. 5. More pulling (deadlifts, rows, and pull-ups) than pushing (squats, benches, and overhead pressing) 6. Greater attention to single-leg movements 7. Prioritization of soft-tissue work in the form of foam rolling, ART, and massage 8. Attitude (being afraid when you’re under a bar is a recipe for injury) 9. Adequate deloading periods 10. Attention to daily posture (you have 1-2 hours per day to train, and 22-23 to screw it up in your daily life) Eric Cressey
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Training and Coaching

Competing has completely changed me as a coach and a writer; I never realized how much better I am at what I do when I share a competitive mindset with my athletes. My decision to compete was one of the wisest choices I ever made. In fact, this decision had such profound implications that I think I could go on all day. However, a few things that I have come to appreciate in a whole new light: 1. Planned overreaching is tremendously valuable when used correctly. 2. You need to appropriately schedule back-off/regeneration phases. 3. Success rests with attention to detail. Imagine putting in an entire 12-week training cycle and then bombing out because your squat technique was off on just one day…this hasn’t happened to me, but it does happen. 4. Train for performance, eat clean, and things will almost always fall into place. I couldn’t care less about “the pump” anymore. 5. Attitude is the single-most important factor that determines your success or lack thereof. I’ll take a guy with a great attitude on a garbage program over someone with a lousy attitude and the best program in the world anyday. 6. The value of a good training crew cannot be overstated. It changes your attitude completely. They pick you up when you’re dragging, and you do the same for them. They pick up on the little things that make the big differences and help you get personal bests when you don’t realize you have them in you. I could go on all day, but you get the point. If you don’t have a goal, it’s hard to view exercise as anything more than “working out.” Anybody can “work out;” you need to train. Eric Cressey
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Cressey on Professionalism

It doesn’t cost a thing to be punctual, professional, and polite. I credit a ton of my success to the fact that my parents instilled these values in me at an early age. Write thank you notes to people who help you. Shake people’s hands firmly and look them directly in the eye. Show up on time. Dress up for seminars that warrant dressing up. Spell-check everything. Say “please” and “thank you.” You’d be amazed at how far these things go – seriously. Dale Carnegie's book How to Win Friends and Influence People should be required reading in every high school for this very reason. Eric Cressey Have you ever wondered what separates the average coaches from the best of the best?
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Off-Seasons: Year Round Sports

I have gone through your book and it is very good. I am however confused as to how I can apply the phases to year round sports like BJJ. Our tournaments are not to often and I do not find out about them until 2 months before. I love the static template as it is just what I need. Any help with organizing this into a yearly plan would be great. Thanks. A few options: 1. Give it up and take up checkers. :) 2. Plan several mini off-seasons. That is, go into off-season mode, and then just kick in the metabolic conditioning work 4-6 weeks out from your tournament. 3. Set aside 4-5 months out of the year when you won't compete; you'll just train. Eric Cressey Step-by-Step what it Takes to Become a Superior Athlete
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Basketball Ball Handling

Q: In light of the information in your Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual, i.e. minimizing sport specific training in the off season, how would you train a basketball player with a dire need to improve his ballhandling skills and jump shooting? A: You're actually in luck, as these are skills that aren't as hard on the system as actual gameplay. That is, you might get some accumulated fatigue from loads of jump shooting, but it really won't detract from your weight room work. We always just tried to get our guys to do the two in separate sessions - or even use the shooting in small sessions to help warm them up for lifting. Eric Cressey
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Cressey on Demeanor


If you don’t love what you’re doing, find something else. Be enthusiastic; you can't teach passion. If you love this, act like it and have some fun! You’ll be amazed at how your athletes and clients get excited when YOU get excited. And, if you're just training for you, you'll be amazed at how much better you progress when you find something that excites you. Going to train should never be an undesirable experience; if it is, you need to shuffle things up.

Eric Cressey

Have you ever wondered what separates the average coaches from the best of the best?
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Layman or Lazy-Man

Honestly, the word “core” has become so hackneyed that it makes me kind of ashamed that our profession. I mean, let’s face it: “Core” can essentially be translated as “The rectus abdominus, lumbar erectors, obliques, and all those other muscles between the knees and shoulders that I’m either too lazy or misinformed to list.”


Everything is related; our bodies are great at compensating. As such, it’s imperative that the approach one takes to “core” training be based on addressing where the problems exist. The most common lower back problems we see are related to extension-rotation syndrome. We most often get hyperextension at the lumbar spine because our gluteus maximus doesn’t fire to complete hip extension and posteriorly tilt the pelvis; we have to find range of motion wherever we can get it. Having tight hip flexors and lumbar erectors exaggerates anterior pelvic tilt, so this hyperextension is maintained throughout the day to keep the body upright in spite of the faulty pelvic alignment.

The rotation component simply comes along when you throw unilateral dominance into the equation. It might be a baseball pitcher always throwing in one direction, or an office worker always turning to answer the phone on one side. Lumbar rotation is not a movement for which you want any extra range of motion, and the related hip hiking isn’t much fun to deal with, either.

The solution is to get the glutes firing and learn to stabilize the lumbar spine while enhancing mobility at the hips, thoracic spine, and scapulae. You just have to get the range of motion at the right places.

Unfortunately, thinking this stuff out isn’t high on some people’s priority list. It’s “sexier” to tell a client to do some weighted sit-ups, Russian twists, and enough yoga to make the hip flexors want to explode. I’m not going to recommend sit-ups to anyone, and if an athlete is going to do something advanced, he’s going to have shown me that he’s prepared for it by successfully completing a progression to that point. You can get away with faulty movement patterns in the real world, but when you put a faulty movement pattern under load in a resistance training context, everything is magnified.

Eric Cressey

Start with the right plan.
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Cressey on Work Ethic

This is the foundation for everything. I’d like to be able to give you a quick-fix answer, but the truth is that nothing will ever go as far as elbow grease and perseverance. It sucks, but work long hours - longer than you could even imagine. I have regularly worked 80+ hour weeks for as long as I can remember; at times, it has been 40 of athletes/clients (some for free) and 40 of writing/online consulting/forum responses. I did it in the past so that I could get to where I am now, and I do it now to capitalize on the foundation I put down in the past and so that I can spend time with my family when that day comes.

I had a conversation with Mike Boyle on this back in December, and asked him flat-out where I should draw the line on work and play. His response: "At your age, you don't. Sleep in the office if you have to. It'll all pay off." You won't find someone who works harder than I do, and when one of the most sought-out performance enhancement coaches in the history of sports gives an overachiever like me that kind of encouragement, you not only pay attention; you go from really productive to crazy productive.

So, in short, the truth is that I have busted my butt from day one and wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t done so. I didn’t spend a penny on alcohol in my college career; it was better spent on resources such as books, DVDs, seminars, and quality food and supplements to make me the lifter and coach that I am today. I never went on Spring Break; I worked in gyms and with athletes at universities for every single one of them through my six years of college education (undergraduate and graduate).

I didn’t abuse my body with excessive late nights – or any alcohol or drugs – because I knew how such behavior would affect my training, coaching, and writing. I haven't even watched an episode of Survivor, 24, American Idol, Lost, Alias, Will and Grace, The Apprentice, or any of a number of other popular shows I'm forgetting to mention; I'd just rather be doing other things. Don't get me wrong; I've still had fun along the way, but I've gotten better about finding a balance. Life is all about choices, and I chose to be where I am today.

Eric Cressey

Have you ever wondered what separates the average trainers from the best of the best?
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