If you liked Maximum Strength...
Then you'll love Jim Smith's Accelerated Muscular Development.
I often get asked what would be a good program to use following the Maximum Strength program, and while my first answer is always a resounding Show and Go! However, there is another excellent option out there for those who want to get outside the "Eric Cressey School of Thought." In creating Accelerated Muscular Development, Jim "Smitty" Smith did a fantastic job of introducing a thorough e-manual that includes strength training programming, flexibility training, nutrition, recovery protocols, and detailed explanations that put overly "sciency" concepts in an understandable and usable format.
Personally, I've always loved Jim's innovation and willingness to think outside the box. If you ask him about what makes this program so good, though, here's what he'll tell you are the top five components of a successful program:
1. Comprehensive - A good resistance training program teaches you what to do from the moment you walk into the gym, until the moment you leave. It does not just provide you with the primary strength exercises and a rep scheme. A progressive strategy must be incorporated so that by the time you are ready for your primary strength exercises, you are warmed up and ready to go.
2. Education - Do not just follow any resistance training program you get out of a magazine or on an internet forum blindly. You have to make specific and informed decisions based on your individual needs. A good program teaches you so that you can make these decisions.
3. Instruction of Proper Form and Full ROM - The strength exercises in a good resistance training program are demonstrated with proper form and instruction. It is not enough to teach the deadlift by saying "pick the weight off the floor."
4. Easy to Understand - The science behind building muscle and getting stronger is sometimes explained in a very complicated manner. These concepts are much easier to understand with visual diagrams and real world application.
5. Systematic Approach - A comprehensive strength program provides you with a systematic approach where each essential component is represented and input at the right times. This allows the lifter to make sure each activity is not forgotten or missed, which means he can concentrate on training.
I'd highly encourage you to check out this product if you're looking for something new - and particularly if you enjoyed Maximum Strength. For more information, visit www.AcceleratedMuscularDevelopment.com.
In the Trenches with Eric Cressey
I figured we'd go with a little change of pace this week and switch from written content to audio content, as Mike Robertson interviewed me for one of his recent newsletters. Mike and I talk about everything from shoulder assessment, to the possible future of shoulder surgeries, to strength development, to what's new at Cressey Performance, plus a whole lot more. You can listen to the entire audio interview HERE. Enjoy!
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Today's blog will serve as somewhat of a rant on how pro athletes and their training and nutrition are marketed to consumers. I'll talk about a few examples, but first I'll pose a question: does NASCAR really need an official laundry detergent? Anyway, I digress; let's get to the meat and potatoes.
About once a week at Cressey Performance, we get a sales pitch - either via email, phone, or in-person - from a supplement salesman. Generally, this person is not a regular exerciser, and almost all of the time, he/she shows very little knowledge of the product. However, this individual always has plenty of confidence in its efficacy - which shouldn't be surprising, as these folks are almost always involved in some kind of supplement pyramiding scheme. Needless to say, I get pretty tired of it.
Usually, these salesmen drop the "It's the official <insert product genre here> of <insert pro sports team here> and <insert popular athlete here> swears by it." An example might be "It's the official calf raise apparatus of Cressey Performance, and Tony Gentilcore swears by it."
Earlier this week, I heard that "XYZ is the official juice of ABC and JKL swears by it" - where ABC is a MLB team. I couldn't help but laugh, as 74% of my athletes are baseball players (many of them pros) - so you could say that I know nutrition at the pro level pretty well. If there is going to be an official drink of Major League Baseball, it's probably some kind of beer. If you think they are pounding this magical Kool-Aid, you've got another thing coming.
Perhaps my favorite marketing scheme is when a magazine publishes a workout program from some pro athlete - and I know it's just flat-out untrue. How can I be so sure? I know their strength coach! We've known for quite some time that editors write the programs for pro bodybuilders in some of the older muscle magazines out there, but nobody seems to grasp that they often do the same for the athletes they profile. About two years ago, I heard that a 6-10 NBA guy notorious for his long arms and defense and rebounding prowess could bench press 455 pounds.
First off, I knew his strength coach, who told me that he would be lucky to do half that amount.
Second, the risk-reward of that 455 bench press is completely out of whack, and I know there is no way a strength coach (at least one who would like to keep his job at the pro level) would even let an athlete with a huge contract attempt that weight.
Third, I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen anyone bench that much raw. In each case, they were shorter guys with short arms and big bellies to shorten the range-of-motion. A 455-bench press is a HUGE raw bench, and the chances of an athlete in a sport with such a huge aerobic component hitting it are slim to none.
Just some food for thought: buyer beware when you hear claims like these. Feel free to share some of your favorite examples below.
Let's get right to it.
1. First up, a few quick congratulations are in order for some Cressey Performance ballplayers. Justin Quinn (Lincoln-Sudbury) and Sahil Bloom (Weston) were named Dual County League Large and Small Players of the Year, respectively. They are also two of the three finalists for the MA Gatorade Player of the Year award. LS won the DCL Large, and Weston won the DCL - thanks in large part to the efforts of these two guys. Both were selected as league all-stars, as were CP athletes Garrett Moore (LS), Ryan Wood (LS), Derek Lowe (LS), Chris Conlon (Weston), Reed Chapman (Weston), Alex Hill (Wayland), and Scott Lueders (Newton-South). Congratulations, guys!
2. Padres prospect and CP athlete Will Inman jumped up to AAA from AA on Wednesday. If you're anywhere near Portland, OR, get out to watch him make his first start tonight (Friday) at 7PM. Will is 4-1 with a 3.05 ERA in eight starts on the year, having given up only 33 hits and eight walks in 44.1 innings pitched. Congratulations to Will on taking the next step in his baseball journey.
3. Check out this great video content today from Dr. John Berardi about The Key to Accidental Fitness. I can tell you that this is 100% spot on from my own experiences - and the thousands of clients and athletes I've seen over the years.
4. I got a question the other day about who I thought were the most important individuals to add to one's network in the field of strength and conditioning. My first response was "anyone who is smart, openminded, and willing to share ideas."
That said, I realize this individual was probably looking for a list of occupations in this regard, so here goes: doctors, physical therapists, chiropractors, massage therapists, athletic trainers, other strength coaches/trainers, radiologists, sports coaches, researchers, sports psychologists, equipment manufacturers/distributors, and loads others that I have probably forgotten. Basically, you're just trying to find people who have different areas of specialization to either add to, refute, or confirm your existing knowledge.
5. Had some car and computer issues earlier this week, so I got a bit sidetracked on the writing side of things this week. I submitted the third installment of Lower Back Savers a bit late, so it didn't run this week. For those who missed Parts 1 and 2, you can check them out HERE and HERE.
6. Just finished up my powerpoint for the Distinguished Lecture Series in Sports Medicine at Northeastern on June 5-6. This is an awesome event featuring guys like Dr. Stuart McGill, Mike Boyle, Dr. David Tiberio, and others (including some schmuck named Cressey). It's very affordable, and I can tell you that the last two years have been fantastic. Check it out HERE for more details.
7. Can we please get over this swine flu stuff, people? They are closing schools left and right in Boston - and as a result, ASYMPTOMATIC kids are having to FORFEIT games/matches - and now, potentially playoff games.
8. I'm most likely getting a new car tonight. I've never been a "car guy," so it's more of a chore than anything. Let's hear some of your favorite strategies for bargaining with car dealers (particularly when you've got a trade-in)...
I turn 28 today, so in hopes of distracting myself from the painful realization that I'm starting to go bald, I thought I'd focus on the positives of my existence in contexts that would appeal to you. Below, you'll find 28 of my favorite things - most of which are at least loosely related to fitness, nutrition, strength and conditioning, and sports.
1. Favorite Nickname: Power Alleys. This seemed like a good starting point, as power alleys are bald spots. Credit for this one goes to Mets pitching prospect Tim Stronach.
2. Favorite Thing About Cressey Performance: The camaraderie among the athletes/clients. I think the hard thing to appreciate about our facility without experiencing it first-hand and being there on a regular basis is that it's as much about the environment and attitude as it is about the expertise and programming. I'm psyched that we've not only created an environment where clients can improve physically, but one in which they can thrive socially, too.
3. Favorite Book I've Read Related to Fitness:Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes, by Shirley Sahrmann. This book got me thinking more about dysfunction and less about pathology. Quality of movement is often far more important than anything a MRI or x-ray can ever tell you.
4. Favorite Book I've Read Unrelated to Fitness: This is a top-up between The Tipping Point and A Prayer for Owen Meany. They might be taken over, however, by one of the gifts I just got for my birthday from CP Client Steph Holland-Brodney.
5. Favorite DVD I've Watched:The Indianapolis Performance Enhancement Seminar DVD Set. Bill Hartman's presentation on "Stiff vs. Short" alone makes this a fantastic resource, and the rest is just gravy. I reviewed it HERE.
6. Favorite DVD I've Co-Created: The Building the Efficient Athlete DVD set. I think I'm most proud of this resource because it's something that provided something I so desperately wanted - but couldn't get - during my college education. Effectively, it's a resource that blends book memorization with real-world practice with a focus on functional anatomy, assessments, and troubleshooting common exercises.
7. Favorite Seminar I've Attended:The Perform Better 3-Day Functional Training Summit. Each year, they get better and better. Check out Chicago or Long Beach this year if you missed Providence.
8. Favorite Athlete of All Time: Barry Sanders. I can't imagine an guy with better kinesthetic awareness, body control, or ability to turn a complete disaster of a play into a 90-yard touchdown run - while carrying two defensive linemen on his back.
9. Favorite Athlete of All-Time that you've probably never heard of: Jerry Sichting. He played for the Celtics from 1985 to 1988, and I'll always remember the night Sichting - at a heigh of 6-1 - got in a fight with 7-4 Ralph Sampson during the 1986 NBA Finals. At the time, I was a five-year old shadow boxing in my living room yelling at the top of my lungs.
10. Favorite Place to Visit: Fenway Park
11. Second Favorite Place to Visit: Gampel Pavilion at the University of Connecticut. It's an incredible environment in which to watch college basketball, and it's also where I spent just about all my time from 2003 to 2005.
12. Favorite Exercise: was this ever in question?
13. Favorite Sites I Visit Just About Every Day: T-Nation.com, MinorLeagueBaseball.com, ESPN.com, Sports.Yahoo.com, WilliamInman.com, 38Pitches.com, ShawnHaviland.Blogspot.com, MetrowestDailyNews.com, StrengthCoach.com, MikeReinold.com, RobertsonTrainingSystems.com, BillHartman.net, AlwynCosgrove.Blogspot.com, DieselCrew.com, PrecisionNutrition.com, BrianStPierreTraining.com, Tony Gentilcore's Blog, Boston.com, BarstoolSports.com, Facebook.com, EricCressey.com.
14. Favorite Kind of Injury to See (weird category, I know): Labral Tears (SLAP lesions), or really any kind of shoulder or elbow pain in pitchers. You've got so many potential causes that it's kind of fun (for me, not the athlete) to go through a process of elimination to see what combination of factors caused it. There are all the classic flexibility deficits in pitchers, plus scapular instability, poor thoracic spine mobility, plus faulty mechanics, plus inappropriate training volumes, plus weak lower bodies. It's kind of like peeling back the layers on an onion to see what shakes free. It's also a great scenario to illustrate what I talked about with respect to diagnostic imaging in #3 from above. All of these guys will have labral fraying and rotator cuff partial thickness tears at the very least; it's our job to fix them up and make them work efficiently in spite of these structural deficits in situations where surgery isn't warranted.
15. Favorite Class I Took in School: Gross Anatomy. Yes, I cherished the semester I spent with a bunch of cadavers.
16. Favorite Healthy Food: Apple-Cinnamon Protein Bars from John Berardi's Gourmet Nutrition Cookbook. Admittedly, I often just eat the batter before it ever gets cooked. Not good, I know.
17. Favorite Piece of Equipment We Have at CP: Giant Cambered Bar. Along with the safety squat bar and front squat set-up, this bad boy has allowed me to keep squatting even though my right shoulder decided a long time ago that traditional back squats weren't a good idea. It's also a great asset for working with overhead throwing athletes who should avoid the externally rotated, abducted position under load.
18. Favorite Thing About Having a Blog: I can write a lot more casually than in my newsletter, which tends to be more geeky. And, I can post videos of this kid rocking out:
19. Favorite Mobility Drill: Walking Spiderman w/Overhead Reach. I love this drill because you're covering so many things at once. You'll get thoracic spine extension and rotation from the reach, and hip flexor and adductor length in the lower body from the lunge angle. Keep an eye out for more new movements along these lines in the months to come as we film the sequel to the Magnificent Mobility DVD.
20. Favorite Pastime I Had to Give Up: Fantasy Baseball/Basketball. During my sophomore year of undergrad, I finished fourth in the world in NBA.com's Virtual GM contest. Long story short, if you want to be really good at fantasy sports with that kind of set-up, you've got to put a lot of time into it - and realize that it won't make girls like you. You'll also find yourself watching games in which you'd otherwise have absolutely no interest. I couldn't do it half-ass (aside from the CP Fantasy Football League), so I gave it up.
21. Favorite Inedible Toy: Rubber Steak.
Suffice it to say that Fire & Ice wouldn't allow us to eat a birthday cake inside their restaurant on Saturday night in celebration of my awesomeness. So, in celebration of their suckiness, none of us (16 in all) will ever eat again - and I was reduced to gnawing on dog toys.
22. Favorite Birthday Excitement: Apparently, it's going to be taking my car in to get work done, buying a new laptop, and then coaching 'em upat CP. There will also be a dominant upper body lift at CP that will undoubtedly feature Kevin Larrabee missing 300...again...and again).
24. Favorite Strength and Conditioning Coach Who is Having Surgery on my Birthday: Josh Bonhotal, Chicago Bulls. I talked with Josh yesterday and he informed me that he was finally having his ACL fixed today in celebration of my birthday. Nothing says "Happy Birthday, Buddy" like taking a chunk out of your patellar tendon and turning it into an anterior cruciate ligament. It's kind of like planting a tree on Earth Day. What a nice gesture.
25. Favorite Article Series I've Written:A New Model for Training Between Starts (Part 1and Part 2). These articles were actually picked up by Collegiate Baseball Magazine as front-page features, and I received a lot of great feedback about them. If there is one thing I do before I retire, it's convincing the world of the evils of distance running for pitchers. I'd put the Shoulder Savers series in a close second
26. Favorite Supplement: Fish Oil. It's followed closely by Vitamin D. You need both - and probably a lot more than you think. I'm a simple guy when it comes to this stuff.
27. Favorite Random Website a Buddy Texted to Me Last Week: www.EasyCurves.com. This thing is hilarious. A special thanks goes out to Jesse Burdick for making me just a little bit dumber with that.
28. Favorite Sign of Athlete Dedication for the Month: We have two college pitchers up here fromPennsylvania for the month to work on getting bigger, stronger, faster, and more flexible in hopes of a nice velocity jump on the mound, and the obvious injury prevention benefits of such training. That's all well and good - until you hear that they got an unfurnished apartment in Hudson, MA. These guys are sleeping on mattresses on the floor, and all they brought were a few lamps, a TV, some books, and a whole lot of enthusiasm and motivation. That's committment to training - and just the kind of guys we like to have around Cressey Performance.
What kind of sacrifices are you making to get better and move closer to your goals? I'm not sure that sleeping on a mattress on the floor is necessary, but it says a lot.
With that in mind, I'm not taking today off. There is work to be done and I love to do it, birthday or not.
It's been a while since I last published one of these guys, and here are a few recommendations:
The Don't Squat Recommendation - We've all heard it, but only some of use have questioned it.
Inefficiency for Fat Loss - Sometimes, you've just got to get outside your comfort zone.
Outliers: The Story of Success - This book got about six recommendations when the panel of presenters at last week's Perform Better Summit were asked what they were reading. I was one of the six; I'm reading it now and it's fantastic. And, if you haven't read any of Malcolm Gladwell's other stuff, check out those, too.
1. It's a fun time of year around Cressey Performance, as all the college guys are starting to roll back in, and the high school baseball playoffs are nearly at hand. Brian St. Pierre was so excited about it that he tried to high five on of our power racks with his forehead. He (and his three stitches) will be featured in the next episode of "When Power Racks Attack."
2. After I mentioned last week that Mike Robertson, Bill Hartman, and I had something in the works, I got several emails (and a stand-up question at the end of my talk at Perform Better last weekend) from people wanting to know what we were scheming up. Suffice it to say that it's a sequel to Magnificent Mobility and Inside-Out, but on a whole new level. If those DVDs were little league, this is going to be big league stuff,
We'll have detailed assessments, progressions, and sport-specific protocols. I guess you could say that it's somewhat of a "choose your own adventure" book where you can take multiple paths; and, in the case of trainers/strength coaches, you can help your clients/athletes out individually. And, there will be a nice tag-along manual. We are hoping to get this kid to sing on the soundtrack, but his agent won't call me back.
Anyway, we've got over three years of accumulated "add-ons" from the initial MM DVD, and it's also the first time the three of us have put all our heads together on a project. Should be very cool - and we are hoping for a mid-summer release date. If you aren't already subscribed to my newsletter, definitely do so (with the feature over to the right of this page) and we'll make sure you're notified right away. You can view a sample of this newsletter by checking out the one from earlier this week: Newsletter 154.
3. Mike Reinold has an awesome blog post series going about Anterior Knee Pain. Whether you're a strength coach, personal trainer, physical therapist, garbageman, orthodontist, or lazy wanker who just lives in his parents' basement, I'd highly recommend you check it out at MikeReinold.com.
4. One of the things I love the most about training pitchers is when they go out in the spring - after a winter of training to improve throwing velocity and prevent injury - and start hitting bombs at the plate. Obviously, it's awesome for their confidence, but just as importantly, it's proof in the pudding that simply enhancing overall athleticism will carry over to just about anything.
If a kid only goes from 78 to 88mph on the mound, he tries to attribute it solely to a change in mechanics or lots of rubber tubing drills for his rotator cuff. However, if he starts hitting 400-foot shots alongside that velocity increase, you know he'll start to appreciate that the extra 20 pounds of meat on his butt, hamstrings, and upper back - and the big strength increases - are all playing a part in that improvement.
That's all. Have a great weekend!
In Part 1 of this series, we outlined several crucial prerequisites to understanding the nature of lower back pain.
In this installment, I've got a few more thoughts in this regard, and then we'll get to work on strategies for preventing these problems in the first place, and working around them once they're in place. You don't need me to tell you that back pain - any chink in your armor, for that matter - will prevent you from making progress in the gym.
Continue reading...
I was the guest on Mike Robertson's newsletter podcast last week. We discuss shoulder dysfunction in regular lifters and overhead throwers and a whole lot more. Check it out at the link below:
In the Trenches with Eric Cressey
A topic of interest that seems to get thrown around quite a bit nowadays is whether front squats are a "safer" exercise than back squats. We don't do much back squatting at Cressey Performance, so a lot of people automatically assume that I'm against the idea of back squatting. This couldn't be further from the truth, as my answer to the question "which is safer?" is a resounding "IT DEPENDS!"
At last check, 74% of the Cressey Performance clientele is baseball players. The majority of these athletes have acquired actual structural changes to their shoulders that make the back squat set-up more of an at-risk position than in non-overhead-throwing athletes. To make a long story short, in this externally rotated, abducted position of the shoulder girdle, the biceps tendon pulls awkwardly on the superior labrum. This peel-back mechanism is exacerbated in the presence of a glenohumeral internal rotation deficit (GIRD) and scapular instability - two features extremely common in baseball players. So, for these folks, the front squat is a much safer alternative. We also use giant cambered bar and safety squat bar squat and lunge variations.
Conversely, take an athlete with either traumatic or chronic acromioclavicular joint problems, and the front squat will really irritate his shoulder because of the bar's position atop the shoulder girdle. Move this bar to the upper back, and the pain is avoided altogether. So, for AC joint pain suffers, the back squat is a safer bet.
Let's be honest, though; the entire front vs. back squat argument is about lumbar spine health. So, we'll attack it from that perspective. To kick things off, I've got a little announcement that may surprise you: I haven't back squatted in almost two years, and my back squat form isn't very good.
I know what you're thinking: "You're a strength coach, Cressey; you must really suck at what you do if you can't even back squat."
Well, I guess that would depend who you ask. I regularly squat well over 400 pounds with the giant cambered bar. Front squatting isn't a problem, and I can use the safety squat bar, too.
The issue for me with back squats is a bum shoulder from back in my high school tennis days - similar to what I outlined earlier. Because my shoulder doesn't like the externally rotated, abducted position, the only way I can get under a bar pain-free is to use an ultra-wide grip - which means my scapulae are winged out and my upper back is rounded over. My shoulder range-of-motion is just fine, but the structural flaws I have (partial thickness tear, bone spurring, and likely labral fraying) means that if I want to back squat pain-free, I have to do so like someone who lacks external rotation.
Who lacks external rotation? Well, just about everyone who sits at a computer all day, and every athlete who has spent too much time bench-pressing. Combine this with poor scapular stability and a lack of thoracic spine extension, and you realize that a large chunk of the weight-training population simply can't effectively put a bar on the upper back, let alone actually stabilize it.
Let's be honest: if you have poor hip and/or ankle mobility, both your front and back squats are going to look pretty ugly. You'll go into lumbar flexion or come up on your toes to get your range of motion, in most cases. You'd think that one potentially protective factor would be that in the back squat, the lifter can better utilize the latissimus dorsi (in a more shortened position) to help stabilize the spine.
The main problem with the back squat, in my eyes, is that not everyone has sufficient upper body mobility to position and stabilize the bar properly. As a result, it can "roll forward" on people - and that's where more of the forward lean problems come about. More forward lean equates to more shear stress, and an increased risk of going into lumbar flexion under compressive load. The front squat - even under heavier loads - keeps a lifter more upright, or else he'll simply dump the bar.
So, with all that in mind, while it may be a bit of a bold statement, I'd say that for individuals with excellent whole-body mobility and no upper extremity pain, a back squat is no more dangerous than a front squat. While the extra stabilization contribution from lats may reduce some of this risk, the simple fact that one can move more weight with a back squat probably "cancels out" this advantage in this comparison.
All that said, regardless of whether you front or back squat, I'd encourage you to regularly get video of yourself lifting - or find an experienced coach - to give you feedback on your technique.
Today's guest blog comes from Joseph Leff. It's short and to the point, but I love the message.
When I was in graduate school I had a notecard with "112" written on it taped above my desk. If people asked what it meant (and they usually did) I was happy to explain. 112 is simply 16 x 7, or the number of waking hours available for someone sleeping eight hours a night to get done what they need to do. Do you really "not have enough time" or is it you? I'm betting it's you. Or, of course, me as well more than I'd like to admit.
Three quick things to think about regarding "112":
1. Get enough sleep. There are 112 hours for you to do what you need to do after sleeping eight hours a night. If you feel you do best on nine hours of sleep, that still leaves 105 hours. That's a lot of time.
There are a very few people who legitimately have a right to be sleep-deprived. Soldiers. New parents. (If you have a new baby and blissfully sleep through the night every night you should be a better husband.) But probably not you.
2. Don't multitask. It's a silly word and a silly idea. By this I don't mean texting, watching Sportscenter, and eating at the same time. That's multirelaxing, not multitasking. It's okay to do, as long as you never use the word multirelaxing. But don't try to set up the refinancing on your condo while you're making a business call. Do each separately and perfectly rather than at the same time and, at best, adequately. Oh, and speaking of multitasking, stop using your phone while you're driving. Keep it up and eventually you're going to hurt somebody.
3. Train. Hard and regularly. You can make decent gains training two hours a week. If you say you can't do everything else you need to do in the remaining 110 hours I'm going to have my doubts. Training a more-optimal six hours a week leaves you 106 hours. You get the point.
That's enough for now. I'm going to make a notecard, put it over my desk, and then start planning the remaining 111 hours and 59 minutes left in the week.
Joseph Leff lives and writes in Santa Monica, CA. He has competed in powerlifting and strongman and trains at the Weight Pit at Venice Beach. If you've never lifted heavy things outside with a view of the ocean and a cool Pacific breeze blowing, give it a try as soon as you can...
