In place of our normal "Random Friday Thoughts" blog, I just wanted to use today as an announcement of something I think is really cool, convenient, and forward-thinking.
Anthony Renna has done a great job with the Strength Coach Podcasts, and now he's taken it a step further with the introduction of the Strength and Conditioning Webinars. As the name implies, a webinar is a seminar done on the web. So, you view a speaker's Powerpoint presentation while he does the voice-over on it.
It's super-convenient for presenters because we don't have to travel anywhere to give it, and we can deliver it while in our boxer shorts and beat-up old t-shirts. And, it's convenient for the audience for that exact same reason, but also because it's a bit of a lower price point (no facility rental fees to cover) and because it's convenient as heck. You can watch it at your convenience and don't have to be there "live" - and you can rewind to listen to it again if there is something that doesn't quite make sense.
Essentially, Anthony has addressed a lot of the shortcomings of traditional seminars - yet still brings together a bunch of great minds. Thus far, he's recorded webinars with Mike Boyle, Alwyn Cosgrove, Tim Vagen, and Tim Yuhas. In the future, you'll see folks like Gray Cook, Mike Robertson, Mike Reinold, Lee Burton, me, and a whole bunch of other super-talented and smart strength and conditioning coaches, physical therapists, aned athletic trainers.
If you look around, most webinars are going for $25-30 each. Conversely, Anthony is only charging $29.99/month for a membership to StrengthandConditioningWebinars.com. It's even cheaper if you pay up front for the year!
Even better, if you sign up before Monday, June 8, you can get an unbelievable deal- only $19.99 a month for as long as you are a member, or again, even cheaper if you sign up for the whole year- only $199.
You'll get two webinars a month guaranteed from the world's top coaches, bonus webinars, and access to presenter forums, all for $19.99 a month.
This is seriously a great deal and it is truly a one-time offer. After June 8, the price goes up.
So go to StrengthandConditioningWebinars.com, sign up for the Special Pre-Launch Offer before June 8 and start watching webinars right away.
Sooner or later, you're going to tweak your back, and there's nothing you'll ever experience, perhaps shy of limb dismemberment, that'll put a stop to your training as cruelly or effectively. Of course, if you've already had some back problems, you know what we're talking about. Either way we recommend you bone up on the back. It's one complex little beastie.
Continue reading...
Some reading recommendations for the week:
Why You Don't Need Bottled Water - This blog post from my good friend, Cassandra Forsythe-Pribanic, will definitely make you think twice about the containers in which you keep your drinks.
Max Push-ups and Upper-Body Strength - A perspective on the use of the push-up in females.
Regaining Shoulder Mobility for Back Squatting - This recent newsletter outlines some tips for getting under the bar to back squat, if you've got flexibility deficits at the shoulder.
Another day, another happy Maximum Strength customer!
"Hey Eric,
Just wrapped up your Maximum Strength program and I was definitely more than pleased with the results. I know it's a little weird that I switched up the box height on the box squat. I switched because the pre-MS box squat was the first time I ever performed the box squat. Here are my numbers:
Starting Numbers
Body Fat: 16%
Weight: 178 at 5'9
Bench: 215
Box Squat (24 inch box): 315
Deadlift: 330
3 RM Chin: BW+35
Broadjump: 87 in.
Ending Numbers
Body Fat: 10%
Weight: 170
Bench: 240
Box Squat (12 inch box): 325
Conventional Deadlift: 403
3RM Chin: BW+50
Broadjump: 96 in.
Thanks Eric!
Mike Coval"
Q&A: Hip Injuries in Baseball
Q: On Sunday, The New York Times published this article that discusses the dramatic increase in hip injuries in Major League Baseball in recent years. I know you work with a ton of baseball players and was curious about your thoughts on the article. Do you agree with their theories?
A: As always, my answer is "kind of" or "maybe." I think they make some great points in the article, but as is the case with mainstream media articles, they're written by reporters with word count limits, so a lot of the most important points get omitted. For example, with respect to the hips, it isn't as simple as "weak or strong." You can have guys with ridiculously strong adductors that are completely overused, balled up, and short - but terribly weak hip extensors and abductors. So, part of the problem is that journalists don't even qualify as casual observers to exercise physiology, so the public only gets part of the story.
(Sorry, but that digression was totally worth it.)
First, I agree that one of the reasons we are seeing more of these issues is because doctors have become better at diagnosing the problems. The "corollary" to this would be that the issues are perceived as more severe because so few physical therapists, athletic trainers, and strength and conditioning coaches are comfortable treating and preventing the problems. That's not to say that hip issues aren't serious in nature; it simply implies that there is a divide between diagnostic capabilities and treatment/prevention strategies.
Second, I agree wholeheartedly that early specialization at the youth levels can lead to injuries down the road. We're dealing with some significant rotational velocities at the hips. In previous analyses of professional hitters, the hips rotated at a velocity of 714°/second. This same velocity isn't the same with little leaguers, but with skeletally immature children, it doesn't take as much stress to impose the same kind of damage. So, I don't see it as at all remarkable that some pro ballplayers have hip problems after they may have played baseball year-round from age 9 all the way to the time they got drafted. They also have bad shoulders, elbows, knees, and lower backs that have taked years to reach threshold. It just so happens that folks are getting better at diagnosing these problems, so we now have an "epidemic," in some folks' eyes.
What I can tell you, though, is that it's borderline idiocy to think that strength training is responsible for these problems. Injuries don't occur simply because you enhance strength. In fact, muscular strength reduces the time to threshold for tendinopathies, and takes stress off passive restraints such as ligaments, menisci, labrums, and discs. Making this assumption is like saying that strength training drills to bolster scapular stability may be the reason we see more shoulder and elbow injuries nowadays. Um, no. Shoulders and elbows crap out because of faulty mechanics, poor flexibility (e.g., shoulder internal rotation ROM), bad tissue quality, and muscular weakness. Granted, the shoulder (non-weight-bearing) and hips (weight-bearing) have different demands, but nobody ever tried to pin the exorbitant amount of arm problems in pitchers on "the advent of strength training."
That said, injuries occur when you ignore things that need to be addressed: pure and simple.
To that end, I can tell you that a large percentage of the baseball players I see - including position players, pitchers, and catchers - have some signficant hip ROM and tissue quality problems. In terms of range of motion, the most common culprints are hip internal rotation deficit (HIRD) and a lack of hip extension and knee flexion (rectus femoris shortness). Pitchers are often asymmetrical in hip flexion, too, with the front leg having much more ROM. In terms of tissue quality, the hip external rotations, hip flexors, and adductors are usually very restricted.
This is has proven true of guys who lift and guys who don't lift. The latter group just so happens to be skinny and weak, too!
Done appropriately, strength training isn't causing the problem - particularly when we are talking about huge contracts that restrict how aggressive programming can be. Trust me; guys with $20 million/year contracts aren't squatting 500 pounds very often...or ever. The risk-reward is way out of whack, and no pro strength coach is going to put his job on the line with programming like that.
However, strength training may be indirectly contributing to the problem by shifting an athlete's focus away from flexibility training and foam rolling/massage. Pro athletes are like everyone else in this world in that they have a limited time to devote to training, but to take it a step further, they have a lot of competing demands for their attention: hitting, throwing, lifting, sprinting, stretching, and soft tissue work. So, they have to pick the modalities that give them the biggest return on time investment and prioritize accordingly in terms of how much time they devote to these initiatives. Some guys make bad choices in this regard, and hip flexibility and tissue quality get ignored.
Baseball is a sport that doesn't permit ignorance, unfortunately, and this is one of many reasons why it has one of the highest injury rates in all of professional sports. We are talking about an extremely long competitive season with near daily games - a schedule that makes it challenging to maintain/build strength, flexibility, and tissue quality. Throwing a baseball is also the fastest motion in all of sports. Rotational sports have the pelvis and torso rotating in opposite directions at the same time. And, as I noted in Oblique Strains and Rotational Power, most professional ballplayers have a stride length of about 380% of hip width during hitting. It is really just a matter of which joint will break down first: hip, knee, or lower back. Taking immobile hips with poor tissue quality out into a long season with these demands is like doing calf raises in the power rack when someone is around with a video camera: you are just asking for a world of hurt.
So, what to do? Well, first, get cracking on tissue quality with regular foam rolling and massage (the more an athlete can afford, the better). Here is the sequence all Cressey Performance athletes go through before training.
In many of our guys, we also add in extra adductor rolling on the stretching table.
Second, you've got to hammer on flexibility. We spend a ton of time with both static stretching and dynamic flexibility. Here are a few of the static stretching favorites (the first to gain hip internal rotation, and the second to gain hip extension and knee flexion ROM):
Third, as Dr. Eric Cobb has written, you use resistance training to "cement neural patterns." This includes all sorts of lower-body lifting variations - from single-leg movements, to glute-ham raise, to deadlifting and squatting variations - and multi-directional core stability drills. And, often overlooked is the valuable role of medicine ball training in teaching good hip (and scap) loading patterns:
For more information, check out my previous newsletter, Medicine Ball Madness, which describes our off-season medicine ball programs in considerable detail.
All taken together, my take is that the increase in hip injuries at the MLB level has everything to do with early baseball specialization and improved diagnostic capabilities. However, when you examine hip dysfunction under a broader scope, you'll see that this joint breaks down for many of the same reasons that lower backs and knees reach threshold: inattention to tissue quality and targeted flexibility training. Strength training works synergistically with these other components of an effective program just like it would at any other joint.
*A special thanks goes out to Tony "Explosive Calves" Gentilcore for being a good sport in the videos in this newsletter.
Sign-up Today for our FREE Baseball Newsletter and Receive a Copy of the Exact Stretches used by Cressey Performance Pitchers after they Throw!
I usually write my blog posts a few days in advance - and that's the case with today's blog, which I'm actually writing on Friday night, May 29. It's 10:31PM, and I'm not going to lie: I'm absolutely exhausted (and, I guess it technically should be called "tonight's blog," even if it's published four days after I write it).
My fiancee had a pre-graduation party of sorts to attend with some classmates, and because I was covering the gym until 5:30PM (and Friday traffic in Boston is a pain in the butt), I wasn't home in time to tag along. Since I'm pretty beat and I missed out on my chance to have some fun tonight, I decided to make lemonade out of rotten lemons.
Sure, I wrote a few programs for athletes and answered a few emails, but the "excitement" for my night was a chance to get better as a coach. You see, I delved into the folder I keep on my desktop entitled "Overhead Throwing Journal Articles." Essentially, this folder is full of PDFs of all sorts of studies relating to baseball - from injury prevention, to performance, to characteristics of successful athletes. Call me a dork, but it's a Friday night, and I'm psyched to be reading this stuff.
Why? Well, I want to be the best in the world at developing baseball talent - for my sake, my family's sake, and most importantly, for the athletes who trust their development to me. Baseball players account for 74% of the Cressey Performance clientele, and I feel it's my obligation to them to be as on-top of things as is humanly possible.
I don't want this to come across as a "hooray for me" post, so I'm trying to choose my words wisely - but I can honestly say that I HATE not knowing something. It's a hatred that's driven me to read everything I can get my hands on and make the most of the valuable experiences I've been afforded and relationships I've cultivated with bright minds in related fields of study.
A few weekends ago, during the Q&A section of the Perform Better Summit in Providence, Al Vermeil - quite possibly the best strength and conditioning coach of all time (has won multiple Super Bowl and NBA Championship rings) - came right out and said (paraphrased, as I recall it), "I'm tired of hearing about people in the fitness industry asking about how to make more money. The only thing I ever focused on was becoming a better coach. Get really good at what you do and then you'll make enough money."
It really rang true for me, as my mindset all along has always been to just keep getting smarter and smarter: something that's easy for me to work toward, as I genuinely love what I do. I often get asked how I have accomplished so much by age 28, and the answer is that I really love it, and work has never been about a paycheck. It's been about gathering, interpreting, utilizing, and disseminating information - to my athletes and reading/viewing audiences.
So, I guess you could say that a Friday night with a collection of journal articles isn't such a bad thing. I'm guessing Al Vermeil had plenty of "Journal Fridays" along the way to all those rings. When was the last time you set aside a Friday night (or several of them) to get better in your chosen field?
It was a great Sunday all around yesterday.
First, my fiancee officially became a doctor. Yep, I picked a good one.
Second, Cressey Performance athlete Dede Griesbauer won Ironman-Brazil, setting a course record by ten minutes in the process. Congratulations, Dede!
Third, Lincoln-Sudbury came from behind to win their D1 second round playoff game, 8-7. CP athletes Justin Quinn, Derek Lowe, and Erik Watkins all hit homeruns for LS, and Watkins won it with a single with two outs in the ninth inning.
Fourth, CP athlete Sahil Bloom got a win and a save in Weston's D3 playoff win yesterday. Sahil struck out nine and walked none in 6.2 innings of work - and went 3-4 at the plate.
Fifth, on Saturday, Wayland upset the #3 seed to advanced to the second round of the D2 state baseball tournament.
Sixth, Tyler Beede pitched a shutout in his team's opening round win in the D2 state tournament on Saturday.
The week gets off to a good start today, as I'm picking up my new car, and a host of the college guys start training today as the New England Collegiate Baseball League kicks off. And, we've got two CP athletes (who also happen to be good buddies and off-season roommates) going head-to-head in a AAA match-up. Will Inman (Portland/Padres) will be facing Steve Hammond (Fresno/Giants) in Fresno tonight; I will be pulling for both to go eight innings of shutout ball and get no-decisions!
1. It's a big weekend around here with lots going on. First off, my lovely fiancee Anna is graduating from the New England College of Optometry this weekend. That's right, folks; in spite of eight years of schooling that culminates with her becoming "doctor," she was still clueless enough to marry a bonehead like me. I guess they can't teach you everything in school.
Just kidding, honey; I know I'm awesome in every way. And really proud of you.
2. Saturday, there are pre-graduation ceremonies. Unfortunately, out of fear of "poking an eye out," these ceremonies will be devoid of pin the tail on the donkey, darts, wiffleball, Hungry Hungry Hippos, and Twister. Instead, the future eye docs will participate in staring contests and heated "Corneal Abrasion Bingo" contests.
3. Saturday also happens to be a big day for Massachusetts high school baseball playoff games. We've got loads of guys participating, so I'll just say good luck to everyone.
4. Tony Gentilcore is moving to a new apartment this weekend, too. I just checked the Vegas odds, and after today's 58 complaints about packing, the over-under on Tony's instances of pissing and moaning about moving this weekend is 847.5. I am feeling frisky, so I'm going with the over.
5. In my newsletter on Wednesday, I raved about Jim Smith's new product, Accelerated Muscular Development. I actually received three emails from folks thanking me for the recommendation; they all loved Jim's new product. This is quality stuff; I encourage you to check it out.
6. A big thanks goes out to everyone who offered car-buying tips in last Friday's blog. I picked up a new car at the beginning of this week and definitely put some of the advice to use in saving me some cash, time, and hassle.
This post is a continuation of a guest submission from Eric Talmant. In case you missed it, be sure to check out Part 1.
No two people are alike. Enter Metabolic Typing®, or what I like to call common sense. In the 1930s, Weston Price discovered, by visiting many parts of the world, that there was a link between modern eating habits and the degree of chronic degenerative illness. He also concluded that there was no such thing as a uniform, "healthy" diet (1). Due to a myriad of variables including climate, environmental conditions, common food supplies, etc., different cultural and ethnic groups have developed different kinds of dietary requirements.
Over the years, Price's initial research began to demonstrate more and more clues as to the optimal way to eat for improved health and well-being. In the late 70s and early 80s, William Wolcott made a revolutionary discovery by proving that the body's Autonomic Nervous System and the oxidative system were connected. This discovery allowed Wolcott to very accurately predict what kinds of foods each person needs to establish a balance between these two aforementioned systems. Once given the proper nutrients, Wolcott was able to show the body's true capacity to regulate and heal itself.
It is all about balancing body chemistry, which is unique for each one of us. We all process foods and utilize nutrients differently. It is these differing genetic requirements that explain why broccoli may be fine for some of you, not affect some of you, and cause some of you to feel not so good (1).
In the "average" person, every cell in the body is designed to be healthy and effectively carry out its specific job. If our cells are not given the proper nutrients, they can lose the ability to do their specific job, which results in a low production of energy. They also lose the ability to repair and rebuild tissue. Powerlifters and athletes would read this as the ability to recover from training. Sickly ones replace healthy cells, which begins a cascading effect upon your entire body. The worst case scenario is that the cells of an organ become so weak that the organ itself becomes inefficient.
A good example is the pancreas and its ability to produce insulin. We learned that the more insulin resistant a person becomes, the more insulin the pancreas must produce in order to carry out its functions. Eventually the pancreas will not produce enough insulin and the result is that some type 2 diabetics end up having to inject insulin. Therefore, rather than focusing on debating macronutrient consumption (protein, carbs, and fats), we will first identify our unique body's proper nutrients.
In order to identify these nutrients that our bodies have a genetic need for, we need to first figure out what our needs are. This is the main reason behind figuring out your Metabolic Type.
Remember in the last article when I mentioned the shortcomings of treating insulin, high blood pressure, and cholesterol? We always want to treat the underlying causes, not the symptoms. Stress, illness, lack of endurance in the gym, inability to put on muscle mass or get stronger, high body fat, etc. are all symptoms. What we eat, however, is one of the causes.
Our dietary needs are very much determined by heredity. As previously mentioned, various cultures have developed distinct nutritional needs as a result of elements such as climate, geographic location, and what types of edible plants and animals their environments had to offer. For example, many of the indigenous people who live at or near the equator have a strong hereditary need for diets high in carbohydrates i.e. fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes. In contrast, the ancestral diets of Eskimos consisted primarily of protein and fat in order to keep warm and allow them to survive.
Enter the United States, where we are a melting pot of many different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Simply put, because of the endless combinations it is just not possible for most of us to accurately identify what our ancestral diet might be; not to mention that our nutritional requirements are also determined by our lifestyle, environment, activity level, body composition goals, etc. Although important, there are many other factors that identify our nutritional needs. Enter the science of Metabolic Typing®.
Remember the breakthrough that Wolcott discovered between the Autonomic Nervous System and the oxidative system that was mentioned in the opening paragraph? The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) controls all involuntary activities of the body. Immune activity, breathing, heart rate, digestion, body repair and rebuilding, etc. are just a few of the many functions.
It is our auto-pilot system because it keeps us alive without our conscious efforts or participation. As such, it is often referred to as the "master regulator of metabolism". There are two opposing but complimentary branches that make up the ANS, the sympathetic branch and the parasympathetic branch; yin and yang if you will. The sympathetic system controls those bodily functions that pertain to energy utilization such as the adrenals, thyroid, and pituitary. Thus, it is known as the "fight or flight" branch.
For example, when Togo the Caveman is suddenly startled by a T-Rex (or a mugger, as the contemporary case may be), his sympathetic system immediately stops digestion, gets blood out to the muscles, and speeds up his heart rate. The parasympathetic system controls those bodily activities that relate to energy conservation such as repairing and rebuilding, digestion, waste elimination, etc. It is known as the "rest and digest" branch.
In most people, one branch has stronger neurological influences over the other, which results in a metabolic imbalance. If the imbalance becomes too great, it has been discovered that diseases are more prone to develop. Conversely, if the ANS is in balance (or close to) then health is more prone to be vibrant. Researchers Francis Pottenger and Royal Lee discovered that people have many different physical, psychological, and behavioral characteristics that match up with either sympathetic or parasympathetic dominance. In addition, certain foods and nutrients have the ability to strengthen whichever side of the ANS is weaker (Wolcott's aforementioned colossal discovery), but I am getting ahead of myself. Therefore, with the help of all these factors, Metabolic Typing enables us to identify which system is more dominant and then recommend those foods that will be more likely to establish balance. Since the ANS is the master regulator of metabolism, proper food recommendation is very important. This is pretty cool, huh (1)?
While the ANS is concerned with the upkeep and regulation of energy, the oxidative system addresses the rate at which food and nutrients are converted to energy within the body. It involves three important processes: Glycolysis, Beta Oxidation, and Citric Acid Cycle/Krebs Cycle.
Roughly one-fifth of the energy created from our food comes from the oxidation of carbohydrates in a process known as glycolysis. Glycolysis is the metabolic breakdown of glucose and other sugars that release energy in the form of ATP (Adenosine triphosphate). The other four-fifths come from the Citric Acid Cycle or Krebs Cycle. Simply put, energy is produced in the Krebs Cycle from a combination of the right amount of oxaloacetate (from the oxidation of carbohydrates in glycolysis) and the right amount of acetyl coenzyme-A (from the metabolism of fats in a process known as Beta-Oxidation). The glycolysis simply concerns the metabolism of carbohydrates. Beta-oxidation is involved in fat metabolism. These two components produce energy in the Krebs Cycle, and they are needed in the right amounts. If there is too much oxaloacetate and not enough acetyl coenzyme-A, or vice versa, then energy production will be lacking. This determination of how our bodies execute energy production is known as cellular oxidation. (1)
In 1981, George Watson published Nutrition and Your Mind. After extensive study, he came to the conclusion that biochemical imbalances were at the root of many psychological problems. He accidentally discovered that certain foods and nutrients increased adverse emotional states in some people, while the same foods and nutrients could lessen emotional problems in others. Again, different people required different foods to promote health and wellness. Instead of using the ANS as the basis for classification, he used cellular oxidation. (Now that we know what it is and how it works, we can follow Watson's process.) He conclusively discovered that there is a direct and profound correlation between a person's emotional and psychological characteristics and the rate at which their cells convert food into energy. He observed that some people burned food too slowly, while others burned it too quickly. More importantly, this rate of cellular oxidation, which is determined by heredity and environmental influences, can be significantly altered by diet. Here was another piece of the puzzle in balancing body chemistry, which is conducive to optimum health and wellness. Now we need to figure out whether you are a slow oxidizer, a fast oxidizer, or a mixed oxidizer by determining which characteristics (individual to you) apply to each. (1).
Fast oxidizers depend too much on the oxidation of carbohydrates in glycolysis for energy production. They have a tendency to burn carbohydrates too quickly, which results in an excess production of oxaloacetate (explained above). Obviously, a high carbohydrate diet will only make the problem worse. However, since proteins and fats are dietary sources of Acetyl Co-A, which is lacking, they will help stimulate and sustain beta-oxidation, which is needed. This will help balance the body chemistry and stabilize energy production. (1)
Similar to fast oxidizers, slow oxidizers have the same problems with energy production but for the opposite reasons. They are poor at carbohydrate oxidation in glycolysis and thus are inclined to be lacking in the production of oxaloacetate. In their case, a higher carbohydrate diet will benefit the slow oxidizers by giving them dietary sources for oxaloacetate. Since they also require lower amounts of Acetyl Co-A to balance their body chemistry, as well as different nutrients to stimulate and sustain glycolysis, slow oxidizers benefit from a diet that involves less protein and fat than the fast oxidizer. (1)
Each oxidizer requires different types of foods and different mixes of those foods in order to optimally and efficiently convert nutrient into energy. With sufficient available energy, your body's cells can properly carry out their genetic roles of repairing and reproducing maximally. For example, let's say that you are a slow oxidizer but you are not eating sufficient amounts of carbohydrates. Some of your food will not be converted to energy and will become prone to being stored as fat. You will probably experience fatigue and hunger following meals, as well as indigestion and a lack of stamina. Finally, your body's immune system will become weakened and you will be susceptible to colds and infections. Being sick is certainly not my cup of tea.
Mixed oxidizers are not that complicated. Because of their "balanced" oxidative systems, proper energy production comes from relatively "equal" amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and fats.
Each oxidizer requires different types of foods and different mixes of those foods in order to optimally and efficiently convert nutrient into energy. With sufficient available energy, your body's cells can properly carry out their genetic roles of repairing and reproducing maximally. For example, let's say that you are a slow oxidizer but you are not eating sufficient amounts of carbohydrates. Some of your food will not be converted to energy and will become prone to being stored as fat. You will probably experience fatigue and hunger following meals, as well as indigestion and a lack of stamina. Finally, your body's immune system will become weakened and you will be susceptible to colds and infections. Being sick is certainly not my cup of tea.
Now we understand the Autonomic Nervous System and the oxidative system. These are the key homeostatic systems that determine our metabolism or our Metabolic Type®. However, the fun is just beginning! We have defined these two big powerhouses that influence our metabolism, but how are we to know which system is more prevalent? We will discuss system dominance and the actual Metabolic Types in the next article. We will be discussing macronutrient ratios for each type, as well as some fascinating stuff on exactly how a single food can alkalinize the chemistry of one person, while acidify the body chemistry of another. Finally, we will discuss which specific foods are optimum for each type and why. Sit tight, as the rubber is about to meet the road...
About the Author
Eric Talmant is a top lightweight powerlifter and has a "passion for all things nutrition." A 1996 graduate of the University of Evansville, Eric is a certified Metabolic Typing® advisor http://www.mt-advisors.info/EditIndex.php and Functional Diagnostic nutritionist. Talmant is certified to offer the Advanced Metabolic Typing® Test as well as order blood work (the Signet MRT Test, U.S. BioTek ELISA IgG allergy test, the High Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein heart health test, and the BioHealth Diagnostics Adrenal and Hormone Profiles to name a few) and dispense hormones.
Eric has competed in the ADFPA, NASA, AAPF, APF, APA, the WPO, and the Raw Unity Meet. He holds the APF Florida state men's open equipped squat record of 678 pounds. He has been ranked in the top in the 75K class among all raw lifters in the United States for the past two years and he was a top equipped lifter in the two years before that.
His best equipped lifts are a 683 pound squat, 391 pound bench press, and a 650 pound deadlift in the 75K weight class. His best raw lifts to date are 485 pound squat without knee wraps, 290 pound bench press, and 635 pound deadlift.
He is also the founder and contest director of the Raw Unity Meet, which experienced great success in 2008 and 2009. Talmant brings a unique skill set of 16 years of nutritional experience to his sponsors BMF Sports, Ultra Life, Inc., Critical Bench, and Titan Support Systems. He lives in Spring Hill, FL and can be reached through EricTalmant.com.
