Here's this week's list of recommended strength and conditioning reading:
9 Reasons Pitching Velocity Increases Over the Course of a Season - One of the big stories of the first month of the MLB season is that Justin Verlander's velocity is down. It's to be expected, given that he he started his off-season throwing program later in light of the heavy workload during last year's season and playoffs. Still, it's good to know why some pitchers see their velocity go up during the season.
Not Your Average B.S. Core Training - Ben Bruno offers some great new core stability exercises you can incorporate in your strength training programs.
The Sagittal Plane Still Matters - Here's a great piece from Mike Robertson that'll teach you a ton about the knee, including a discussion of the "Should you train the VMO?" question.
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In fact, the entire program is already written, and a few lifters have already taken it for a test-drive with excellent results. However, I need to get my sample size up to ensure that results are "typically extraordinary."
In other words, I need some guinea pigs to put this program to the test!
Before I get an absurd numbers of email applications, here are a few things that “qualify” you:
1. You must be healthy – or at least very close to it! Some aches and pain in the past aren’t a big deal, but we aren’t going to be taking on anyone who is currently dealing with any injuries. This isn't a rehab program.
2. You must be at least 18 years of age, with at least one year of resistance training experience.
3. You must have access to a reasonably well-equipped gym that is at least equivalent to a commercial gym set-up. Those who train at home are welcome to apply only if they have access to a cable column at home.
5. You need to be able to train for four uninterrupted months for a minimum of three times each week.
6. You must be willing to take before/after pictures plus some performance tests.
7. Both men and women are welcome to “apply.”
8. You must have $199 to devote to this, because it is going to be a ton of work on our end to give you tech support for four months! That’s only about $50/month for full-on programming and tech support – which is markedly lower than my online consulting rates. And, you'll get a free copy of the product when it is released.
9. This isn't a program for baseball players; sorry!
10. I'd love to have a wide variety of people: folks who sit at desks all day, those or stand a lot, competitive athletes, weekend warriors, you name it.
If you’re interested, please drop me an email at cresseyproject@gmail.com with your name, age, and a brief background on your training history by April 30. I’ll only be accepting 20 guinea pigs for this project, and all decisions will be made by May 1. Those who are selected will be notified on May 2, with the program beginning shortly thereafter.
You won’t receive notification unless you’re selected, so please don’t take it personally if I don’t reply to your email; I’m just trying to save myself some extra work!
Thanks!
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It's been a while since I published a new installment in my "Coaching Cues" series, so here are three new ones you can put into action.
1. "Imagine I have a rope around your waist and pull it back."
It goes without saying that teaching a proper hip hinge is essential to get the correct posterior weight shift we need for good deadlifting and squatting patterns. Unfortunately, it can sometimes be much easier said than done, as lifters with poor kinesthetic awareness and body control might not even know what it feels like. Take, for instance, this example from my 15 Static Stretching Mistakes article; he has so much congenital laxity (loose joints) that he can perform an "extreme" toe touch without any posterior weight shift.
Just because he can do it doesn't mean that he should do it, though. Just saying "sit back" or "hips back" doesn't always correct this, though. I've spoken about the "touch your butt to an imaginary wall behind you" external focus cue here, but I also like the idea of telling folks to pretend like I'm tugging them backward with a rope, as this fits the correction into a scenario with which they're familiar.
2. "Ribs down, scaps up."
We work with a lot of athletes who have a heavily extended posture, and their overhead movements often look like this:
Essentially, they will substitute lumbar extension (arched lower back) in place of keeping a stable core so that the scapula (and, in turn, humerus) can move appropriately with respect to the rib cage. Most of these athletes lack scapular upward rotation, so we need to help them to get the scapula moving a bit while keeping the ribs down. Here's a great exercise for which this cue would be appropriate:
In other words, you can use this cue with your core stability exercises and shoulder mobility drills in this population. Keep in mind, though, that this cue probably won't be appropriate for folks who sit at desks all day and are really kyphotic.
3. "Push yourself away from the bar."
One of the biggest bench press technique problems you'll see is that folks lose their "tightness" at the top of the rep by protracting the shoulder blades too much. This sets you up for problems - both in terms of shoulder health and strength - on sets with more than one rep.
With that in mind, one of the easiest ways to coach folks out of this bench press technique problem is to think about pushing themselves away from the bar, as opposed to pushing the bar away from them. It gets them into the "ground yourself" frame of mind and ensures that the upper back is a stable platform from which to press. It's not uncommon at all to see larger than normal dropoffs from 1-rep max loads to what you see on multiple-rep sets, and I firmly believe it's because a lot of lifters lose their tightness on the subsequent reps. So, if you find that you can bench 315 for one rep, but only 265 for three reps, this cue could very well be a solution for you.
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It's been a rough week up here in Boston, as I'm sure you all know. For those of you around the country and world that would like to help, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Tom Menino have announced the formation of The One Fund Boston to help the people most affected by the tragic events that occurred in Boston last week.
Additionally, Bob Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots has offered to match donations to The One Fund Boston, up to $100,000, if donated through the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation. This is a fantastic opportunity to double any donation you may want to consider giving.
Mike Reinold and I have decided to offer both Optimal Shoulder Performance and Functional Stability Training for the Core for 33% off today only, with all proceeds going to the One Fund Boston. This is the lowest price we have ever offered on both resources.
For more information go to either www.FunctionalStability.com or www.ShoulderPerformance.com. Be sure to enter coupon BOSTONSTRONG during the checkout process to get 33% off. We will donate all proceeds from today’s purchases. We'll be donating through the Patriots Charitable Foundation, so your purchase should go even further.
If you would also like to donate directly, head to the The One Fund Boston or click here to double your donation by having the Kraft Family match your contribution through the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation.
Thanks for helping to support our great city!
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Today, Greg Robins has five more tips to help you get your nutrition and strength and conditioning programs on track.
1. Clean up your unilateral deadlift technique.
If there is one exercise that I see butchered on a daily basis, it’s the 1-arm, 1-leg RDL. Furthermore, it makes coaches look like they are speaking French when they try to get people to do it right. It’s a great exercise, but here are the issues:
• It’s used right away in the majority of popular programs as the staple of unilateral hip hinging.
• It’s there because it’s difficult to hurt yourself doing, mainly due to the lack of weight in an effort to maintain some semblance of balance. Therefore, people just assume that over time people will figure it out and get better.
Just because doing it incorrectly with 5lbs is “safe” doesn’t mean it’s that productive; especially if you still can’t get the form right. It’s a hard exercise that I feel has somehow got the reputation of something easy.
Instead of getting frustrated, try doing the exercise to a dead stop every rep. You can use a KB, or elevate a DB on some mats. Allow yourself to reset every rep, just like a normal deadlift. Having two points of contact, albeit for just a moment, is enough to keep you in check.
2. If you’re stuck, evaluate your approach.
“Before I studied the art, a punch to me was just like a punch, a kick just like a kick. After I learned the art, a punch was no longer a punch, a kick no longer a kick. Now that I've understood the art, a punch is just like a punch, a kick just like a kick. The height of cultivation is really nothing special. It is merely simplicity; the ability to express the utmost with the minimum." -Bruce Lee
There are three types of people in the gym. The first is a group of people who don’t know a thing about training philosophy. The second is a group who know enough to understand what’s important and what’s not. The third is a group who knows just enough to completely twist up their training.
The majority of you are in the third group. The other two groups are the minority. The majority is making little progress. The minority is continually improving. If this was graph here’s what it would look like:
If you are making good progress, keep going. If you are stalling, you may be somewhere in the middle of my chart. In this case, really evaluate your training approach. Somewhere along the way you may have begun to acquire just the right amount of exercise variations, percentage schemes, and who knows what else to halt your progress.
At this point, do two things:
One, ask “why?” Why does jumping help, why does speed work help, why this and why that? You can’t go back to group one, so you have to try and get to group 2. This means you take something you read, and you look at where that person gets their information. When you do that, you might find that jumps aren’t doing what you thought they did, either is speed work, or that new exercise with all the bells and whistles.
Second, get back the secret of group 1. When you are in the gym, shut down your analytical side. Work hard, have fun, and trust your gut.
3. Utilize benches for better push-up regression/progression.
4. Do more complexes.
Maybe it’s me, but complexes are not talked about or used nearly enough. They had a stint three years ago or so where they were all the rage, but are slowly becoming worthy of a spotlight on VH1’s “Where Are They Now.”
I can assure you they are not hung over, face down in a pillow like 70% of the other people on that show. Instead, they are alive and well and deserve a spot in your training.
A complex is any series of exercises, done in sequence, with the same weight, preferably without putting the weight down.
Why I like them:
• Limited equipment
• Time efficient
• Helps groove form on major lifts
• Time Under Tension
• Doesn’t involve running
• Sucks in just the right way
• Tension, again
Things to remember:
• They are taxing. I prefer to see them used at the end of a training session.
• If used on off days, I prefer to see them done at a conservative intensity OR done all out if you are not lifting the next day. For example, if you take the weekend off lifting, Saturday would be a good spot to hit complexes.
Here are two of my favorites:
Barbell:
Barbell RDL x 6-10
Barbell Row x 6-10
Barbell Squat and Press x 6-10
Barbell Reverse Lunge w/ Front Squat Grip x 6-10/leg
Kettlebell:
Double KB Swing x 5–8
Double KB Clean x 5–8
Double KB Press x 5–8
Double KB Front Squat x 5-8
5. Consider another variation of the "plyo push-up."
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Here's this week's list of recommended strength and conditioning reading:
Elite Training Mentorship - My in-service this month talked a lot about the business of fitness and how we developed our baseball niche. I also uploaded a few articles and exercise demonstrations to complement the contributions from the rest of the ETM crew. If you aren't checking this great resource out yet, do so!
Fascinating Facts About Sleep - This was a fantastic piece by TC Luoma at T-Nation about the importance of sleep - and you'll definitely learn something.
Foam Rolling and Increased Joint ROM - This was a study summary from Patrick Ward. It's a great read for those who are skeptical of the benefits of foam rolling.
Also, in light of this week's tragedy in Boston, I'd call this a must-view video. It's the moment of silence, video tribute, and national anthem from before the first Boston Bruins game after the event.
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Barbell shrugs have been labeled a "meathead" exercise by a lot of people, but with some quick modifications, you can make them really valuable inclusions in a strength training program, as not all shrugging is created equal. Check out this exercise of the week video to learn more:
As I mentioned, if you're looking for another variation that's unloaded, try including wall slides with overhead shrug in your warm-ups; they are a great teaching tool.
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One of Yogi Berra's most enduring quotes is: "When you get to a fork in the road, take it."
While the quote is certainly a comical one, it has a great underlying message: you're going to have to make decisions in life. You can't just stand still and wait for someone to get things done for you, or life to magically unfold before your eyes. In other words, you create your own destiny.
The word "create" is what today's post is all about. There are a lot of things that have to take place for you to even get to those forks in the road that'll shape your life - and certainly the ones pertaining to fitness. Whether it's your journey to get/stay fit or your aspirations of being successful with a career in the fitness industry, what you do now is setting you up to be in a better spot when those opportunities (forks) come up in the future.
There isn't a single path, though. Let me elaborate with a story about John Romaniello, one of my best friends in the fitness industry. It's especially timely, as he is released a new book today that will likely end up on the New York Times Best-Seller list.
Roman and I met back in 2001 and immediately hit it off. We were both guys who'd struggled with being overweight as teenagers, and had found fitness as something that didn't just help rescue us from those frustrations, but also gave rise to the possibility of a career in the fitness world. We'd push one another with everything from training logs, to what we were doing in continuing education. Eventually, with a few other fitness friends, Roman and I helped co-found Rugged Magazine (now retired) to get more opportunities to hone our writing abilities. We though we were so cool that we wore sunglasses inside, too.
While we had similar goals of being successful in the fitness industry, and certainly enough in common to be good friends, our experiences in the early 2000s were dramatically different. I got my undergraduate degree in Exercise Science and Sports Management, and my graduate degree in Kinesiology. Roman's undergraduate degree was in English/Psychology.
As we entered the real world as business owners, we went to working with different populations. I became a shoulder/elbow geek and specialized in baseball strength and conditioning, and Roman went to the trenches with the general population and focused his attention on helping people improve body composition (lose fat, gain muscle).
I caught the powerlifting bug, and Roman competed in bodybuilding and did some modeling.
I had one girlfriend in my four years of undergraduate studies, and one during my graduate degree. Roman probably made out with more attractive girls than I even spoke to over those 5-6 years.
My writing is more "sciency," and at times very technical. It's also rated PG. Roman's approach has a more conversational tone; he isn't shy about throwing in an F-bomb here and there, or using modern cultural references - movies, for instance - to make his point. And, he'll even cover some controversial topics.
We’re both workaholics, but via different methods. I like to work consistently; I’m someone who fidgets when I don’t have something to do. Roman’s a guy who works in bursts, logging an absurd number of hours over a few days, and then does a better job of decompressing and enjoying life when the work is done.
In spite of these differences, we've both managed to turn out okay, both socially and professionally. I've been married over two years to the love of my life, and Roman is engaged to his. We've both had successful in-person and online businesses. We've both written a ton of articles and books, and done some angel investing in start-up companies. We might have been great friends who supported one another, but our successes have been via remarkably different paths.
At risk of sounding narcissistic, I am often asked "How do I get to where you are?" It's a hard question to answer, as I'm 31 years old and still have a lot of things I want to achieve in life - so I guess you could say that I don't really know exactly where I "am." More challenging, though, is getting up-and-comers to realize that the correct path is going to be different for everyone.
While I can certainly give some suggestions on how to best prepare for the knowledge side of things, the truth is that everyone will respond best to a different course of action. They all have unique personalities, learning styles, and specific goals. That’s what it’s so important to encounter a lot of people to determine your way in the working world - or to simply fine-tune your nutrition and strength and conditioning programs.
You read EricCressey.com because you like the perspective I offer, but it’s important to recognize that what you might learn from me should be supplemented by what you can learn from others, including guys like Roman. It’s just like coaching different clients/athletes; in the quest to get them to all have good technique, you’ll need to use different cues to figure out which works best for that individual. The single-most important thing you can do to get to want to be in any aspect of your life is get out of your comfort zone and seek fresh ideas that’ll challenge your status quo.
That’s why I’m so excited to throw an endorsement to his new book, Engineering the Alpha.
This project, which was co-authored with another good friend, Adam Bornstein, highlights ways to make your life more awesome. It covers fitness, nutrition, psychology, career development, and even interactions with the opposite sex. This book talks about a lot of the mistakes Roman (and I) made in the late 1990s, and can save you a lot of headaches and wasted time. It's extremely well researched on the training, nutrition, and social behavior sides of things. And, for under $20, it’s a pretty darn good bargain for such an entertaining and educational (“infotainment”) resource. Oh, and the foreword is written by some guy named Schwarzenegger; you may have heard of him.
In the past, I’ve written about how fond I am of the writing of Chip and Dan Heath, brothers who’ve written best sellers like Made to Stick and Switch. These books have provided insights about why certain ideas are accepted while others are rejected, and outlined strategies to implement paradigm shifts effectively. Effectively, they analyze how people behave and process information in order to help readers make effect positive changes in business and in life. On my recent vacation, I read their newest release, Decisive, which discusses all the factors that affect whether we make good or bad decisions. I stumbled upon a gem in this great read that I think applies heavily to folks’ fitness programs.
In reference to a meta-analysis of the psychology literature, the Heaths write: “In reviewing more than 91 studies of over 8,000 participants, the researchers concluded that we are more than twice as likely to favor confirming information than dis-confirming information.” Furthermore, the brothers note, “The confirmation bias also increased when people had previously invested a lot of time or effort in a given issue.”
Think about how this applies to the fitness community. There are a lot of folks who go to the gym and do what they’ve always done because it’s comfortable. It’s much easier to just go and do an exercise that you already know than it is to have to learn something new. And, beyond just the comfort factor, being willing to adopt new ways also means that you may have to accept that your old ways weren’t up to snuff – and that can be a bitter pill to swallow when it means thousands of hours at the gym may have been used inefficiently.
People want to confirm their awesomeness, not refute it.
One of my most important roles as a strength and conditioning coach is to help people embrace change when it comes to exercise. This generally means that I make a living “dis-confirming” what others are doing in their own exercise programs; otherwise, I wouldn’t be needed.
While there are certainly exceptions to the rule (in powerlifting, for instance, you want to be as efficient and consistent as possible with the three main lifts), change means creating a disturbance that least leads to greater fitness adaptation. It may be a richer proprioceptive environment to better prepare someone for life's demands, a different metabolic conditioning stress to drop body fat, an exercise variation to help someone avoid an overuse injury, or a new warm-up to improve movement quality on the way to achieving a goal.
Change must, however, be implemented differently for each individual. Some folks are ready to jump right into the deep end, and others are more reluctant and need to be eased into adjustments. Some folks may really need a complete program overhaul, while others might just need some tinkering.
How, then, do you know where you stand without someone like me there to help you? I’d ask yourself these five questions to determine if you’re getting too comfortable:
1. In the past four months, have you been moving toward your goals or further away from them?
2. What have you sacrificed to make this progress? This may be time, energy, money, or allowing a different fitness quality to detrain (e.g., losing metabolic conditioning as you put on muscle mass and strength). Are you comfortable with this sacrifice?
3. Are you motivated to get to the gym when the time comes to train?
4. Have you remained healthy during the program, or does it hurt to do certain exercises?
5. Can you do the things you want to do in life? Can you walk up the stairs without getting out of breath? Are you capable of putting your own luggage in the overhead compartment on a plane? Does it bother you that you can’t fit into some of your clothes? Will you make up an excuse to not play catch with your son because your shoulder is killing you?
If any of these questions left a bad taste in your mouth, then you need to evaluate how you can better structure your workout routines. And, in order to do so, you need an unbiased perspective, because we’re all wired to simply agree with ourselves.
1. Get a training partner. – Training partners aren’t just about offering spots, carpools, or accountability to show up for all your training sessions; they’re also there to give you brutal honesty when you need it. Find someone who can tell you when you’re spinning your wheels or being an idiot.
2. Outsource your training. – It might mean you buy a book or DVD and follow the recommended program or hire someone to work with you in person. At CP, our staff members write programs for each other and we all train together so that we can all work toward our individual goals with impartial feedback along the way. Interestingly, we have many fitness professionals who have looked to us for their own training. We have several clients who are personal trainers and strength coaches who appreciate outsourcing things to us in the same way that their clients do to them. Additionally, Show and Go has been very popular with fitness professionals not only because they can look at how the programs are structured, but also follow the program to shake up their own workout routines.
3. Think up alternatives. – The Heath brothers talk extensively about how the best way to come to a good decision is to realize that there is an “And” and not just an “Or.” In other words, not all questions are “yes/no” or “A/B” in nature – even if we try to make them that way. It’s important to brainstorm and investigate alternative solutions that could work best.
As an example, think of a lifter whose shoulder hurts and thinks he needs to stop training until it’s healthy. He might wonder, “Should I train through pain or stop?” The alternative answer is to train around pain, finding exercises that help one maintain a training effect without exacerbating the injury. I know: it sounds logical to assume one would pursue this third option, but you’d be amazed at how many people shut it down altogether. They avoid comprehensive decision-making processes, and you can imagine how this may apply to decisions they encounter in other aspects of their lives.
There are surely many other ways to determine whether you’re getting too comfortable and, if so, what to do about it. However, these were a few ideas to get the ball rolling and make you consider if you’re really heading in the right direction with your training.
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