Check out the video below to learn more about Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better - as well as how you can enter to win a free copy.
As promised in my last video, here is another free video tutorial that goes over the techniques for both free squatting and box squatting - as well as a substitute exercise you can use if you just don't quite have the mobility you'll need to squat safely. I think you'll really like it and be able to put some of these tips into practice right away; check it out:
We'll be back soon with a final video that'll give you the low-down on just how comprehensive the Show and Go program really is.
Without a doubt, the chest-supported row is one of my favorite strength exercises. It is a great upper-back-builder and shoulder health exercise to include in strength training programs because it keeps folks strict with their rowing by forcing them to keep the chest in contact with the pad.
And, while I absolutely love the fact that we have a specific chest-supported row set-up at Cressey Performance, I understand that not everyone has access to one of these bad boys. Fortunately for those of you in that position, though, we have a few excellent substitute strength exercises for the chest supported row that you can use that offer similar benefits without the "cheating" you often see with a traditional bent-over barbell row.
First up is the chest-supported dumbbell row. While you can't use a pronated grip here, it still keeps you honest. The only potential problem is that some benches have cumbersome "leggings" on the outsides that get in the way of ideal range-of-motion. Most work out just fine, though.
Your second option is one you can do just about anywhere: the head-supported dumbbell row. While you don't have the chest in contact with anything, you do have to put the head in contact with the pad at all times (you can use an incline bench, glute-ham raise, or other set-up at that height). Just make sure that you keep a neutral spine and tuck the chin so that the cervical spine is in a neutral position.
Both these modifications are featured in the "Exercise Modifications" chapter and accompanying video database in my e-book, Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better. With over 175 exercises in this video library, one of the central pieces of Show and Go is that it's versatile - and I'll help you to make modifications to the program (2x/wk, 3x/wk, or 4x/wk) based on your equipment restrictions - whether you train in a commercial/university gym, at home, or in a souped up high-performance training center. For more information, check out www.ShowandGoTraining.com.
I'm happy to report that today officially kicks off the one-week pre-launch of my new product, Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better.
Today, I've got a real treat for those of you with cranky hips and ankles that interfere with squatting deeply and safely. Head over to www.ShowAndGoTraining.com to check it out for yourself. This video is 100% FREE.
Everyone likes to think that they bust their butt all the time in their strength and conditioning programs. The truth is that deep down, we all know that we dog it sometimes. Nobody can give 100% every single day (or 110%...ever; I hate that adage).
Along those same lines, here is a pretty amusing study that shows just how much your mind can get in the way of the efforts you SHOULD be putting out in your workout routine. Researchers had three groups each perform ten 6s sprints on a cycle with 24s rest between sets. The first group (control trial, or CL) knew they were doing ten before the session. The second group (deception trial, DC) was told they were only doing five - but then informed that they had five more to go after the fifth sprint. The third group (unknown trial, or UN) weren't told anything; they were just stopped after ten sprints.
When researchers examined the total work performed over the first five sprints, they found that the deception trial group was 6.5% greater than the control and unknown trials. The others had paced themselves because they knew the ending was further off. People are going to pace themselves and hold back a bit whenever you give them a reason to do so - so plan accordingly in your exercise prescriptions.
What's one way to work around this if you aren't being coached in-person? Make yourself accountable to a program. There is a tendency to want to skip the last set or strength exercise when you design your own programs, but when you're answering to someone else's program, you're more likely to stick to it. Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better is a great resource to check out in this regard. Just ask James Cipriani, a personal trainer who used the program to kick his own personal gains up a notch:
“I just read your recent blog post in which you mentioned sending Show and Go testimonials. Well…it would be a travesty if I didn’t give you a shout out.
“I’m a personal trainer myself. And after over 23 years of training myself and 16 years of training others, to say I grow “bored” with conventional weight training programs would be an understatement. I first trained to augment sport (football), then I got into powerlifting, and really became addicted to it when I started bodybuilding. I competed for eight years in the sport and did very well. But…I outgrew it. Yes…I was bored.
“I, like many others that I train, look to other sources to not only motivate me in my own training (mentally more than physically), but also to broaden my horizons as a trainer. That is what led me to purchase your Show & Go program. I have to say, Eric, it is the most comprehensive, integrated program I have ever used. From the warm-ups, to the strength exercises, to the stretching, to the cardio enhancement….my strength, flexibility, conditioning, and muscularity all improved ten-fold. And my bodyfat level went noticeably down without me tweaking my normal diet. I even had nagging shoulder and low back pain that inhibited me from doing certain movements that are now gone. I was able to deadlift weight I haven’t been able to use since my powerlifting days. Plus, a couple of the core movements you include are ones I have never seen or done and I loved them! I now use many of them with my own clients.
“One last thing to note…I very rarely get through a 16 week program. I tend to grow bored and need a different style of training. That never happened. Not only that…I am starting a second go-round this week of it with a few of my own personal tweaks to it. Great product, Eric! Thank you so much!”
James Cipriani - CFT, CSCS, NS
Brookfield, CT
My fiancée Anna and I just got back last night from a wedding weekend (not ours) in Halifax. We had a great time drinking Molson celebrating our friends' big day.
Anna was a bridesmaid, so I was largely left to be an American tourist flying solo, which left a bit of time for people watching. There weren't any Canadian celebrities - Nelly Furtado, Gordy Howe, Michael J. Fox, or even Keanu Reeves (who was stripped of his "celebrity" status thanks to years of anti-Reeve propaganda at tonygentilcore.com) - on hand, so my attention focused on a remarkably obese woman in the hotel lobby who had a couple of yappy little dogs with her.
While I'm a big-time dog lover, frankly, at that moment, I wanted to punt these little balls of worthlessness into the nearby harbor just to quiet them down. However, rather than doing so and getting myself deported back to the U.S., I turned my attention to these pups' "Big Mama."
This woman had two dogs that were obviously frantic to go outside, enjoy the sunshine, and essentially give her the perfect reason to exercise (take them for a walk). It wasn't happening, though.
It was like giving a young hockey player a stick and some skates - but having him refuse to use them while playing. Or, like offering employees a corporate fitness deal, only to have them ignore it.
Undiagnosed ADD guy that I am, this really got me to thinking about how so many people out there don't even realize that they have key resources right at-hand who could really help out on their fitness journeys.
Maybe it's a spouse who would love to exercise with you or help you to clean up your diet?
Perhaps your gym has new equipment that you haven't touched yet when what you really need is some variety?
Could there be a training partner at your gym right now on the same schedule at you who would be willing to give you hands-off/spots so that you can push yourself that little bit more in your weight training program to get strong?
Or, do you think it could be that you just need a new strength training program to get you out of a funk so that you're accountable to something?
You never know unless you stop to consider this, and evaluate what's going on around you. Chances are that there are people, places, and things out there that'll help get you closer to where you want to be.
Now, shouldn't you be finding a dog to walk?
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Here are a few blasts from the past that I think you'll like to kick off the week:
Peak Power or Vertical Jump - Which one should you test in athlete training programs, and why?
Back Squatting with a Posterior Labral Tear - This is a good follow-up to last week's post on shoulder mobility with squatting because sometimes, even good mobility won't matter.
5 Relative Strength Myths - I wrote this article back in 2005, and as I look back on it, in many ways, it helped to set the stage for my Maximum Strength book.
Here's this week's list of recommended reading:
Total Football Training - I just got an advanced copy of San Francisco 49ers strength coach Duane Carlisle's new product, and read it over this past weekend. There's some really good stuff in there - definitely a good fit for the football players reading this blog. It includes an eight-week off-season training program where all the drills are demonstrated on the accompanying DVDs.
Inverted Row Ignorance - Here's one from the archived that reminds us once again just how often this exercise is absolutely butchered.
The Right Way to Stretch the Pecs - Here's a T-Muscle article that gives you some practical suggestions on loosening up these chronically tight muscles without throwing your shoulders under the bus.
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Last week, I had three separate pitchers ask me what I thought about swimming between starts. My answer was pretty straightforward: I am not a fan at all.
There are several reasons for my contention with this as a useful modality.
Like pitchers, swimmers have some of the most dysfunctional shoulders in the entire sporting world; they have glaring scapular instability, big internal rotation deficits, and insufficient dynamic stability.
Sound familiar? These are the exact same things we work to address too keep our pitchers healthy.
For me, cross-training is about getting athletes out of pattern overload - not finding a similar means of reinforcing imbalances. Telling a pitcher to go swim is like encouraging a distance runner with a bum Achilles tendon to go jump rope instead. It's an epic fail waiting to happen.
When it really comes down to it, I’d rather have guys actually throwing if they are going to develop imbalances. Pattern overload might as well give you improved motor control and technical precision if it's going to increase your susceptibility to injury!
Speaking of specificity, the energy systems demands of swimming (longer distances, usually) don't reflect what we see in pitching (short bursts of intense exertion). So, the arguments are in many ways similar to my contention with distance running for pitchers.
And, more anecdotally, while incredible athletes in the pool, most of the swimmers I have encountered have been far less than athletic on solid ground, presumably because the majority of their training takes place in the water, where stability demands are markedly different. I'd much rather see supplemental baseball training take place with closed-chain motion on solid ground - just like it does in pitching.
Finally, I'd like to see pitchers lift more - because they simply don't do enough of it during the season. With limited time between outings, it's important to get in the most important stuff first - and I just don't see swimming as "important" when compared to flexibility training, soft tissue work, the throwing program, and strength training.
I'm sticking to my guns here. I'd much rather see pitchers doing what I outlined HERE between starts, as it keeps them strong, gets them moving in ways that don't further ingrain imbalances, and avoids conflicting with the metabolic demands on pitching.
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I have to admit: when I first saw this subject line for an email, my mind was a bit in the gutter!
However, as it turns out, it was an awesome review of the Maximum Strength program from a female exercise enthusiast who had undertaken the program from start to finish. Check out what she had to say:
"My name is Alison Minton, I'm a 25 year old 'recreational' lifter. I was given your book, Maximum Strength, about 5 months ago by a friend at my gym (who happens to be one of your guniea pigs for your next project). I just finished the program today and I wanted to share my thoughts with you. A little background: former avid runner, sidelined by unsuccessful bilateral fasciotomies for compartment syndrome in my lower legs 3 years ago, which lead me to really hit the weights. My workout routines were getting pretty stale in the last year or so and I was getting frustrated and bored from circuit after circuit of moderately heaving lifting. I had exhausted everything I knew from years of reading about fitness/running/lifting and realized every female fitness magazine I received was going straight to the trash. I begged my friend at the gym for help and he gave me your book for guidance. I've since read your and Tony Gentilcore's blogs religiously!
"I know you have gotten tons of very well deserved feedback by satisfied guys who have read the book/complete the program. I wanted to write to you because when I was thinking about starting it, I searched high and low for any information about women doing the program, and I found very minimal material in the way of feedback, tips or special considerations (if there even are any). Even after that, I figured, what the heck, if some random guy at the gym can do this, then so can I! So, I had my friend help me with packing day and the rest is history! I absolutely loved the program, stuck to it like glue and got some decent results:
Broad Jump: 72 inches --> 78 inches
Bench Press: 100 lbs --> 115 lbs
3 RM Chin Up: BW + 7.5 lbs --> BW+17.5 lbs
Deadlift: 175 lbs--> 190 lbs
Box Squat: 130 lbs --> 135 lbs
"I would loved to see the DL and squat go up a little more, but I did do a bit more cardio than prescribed (in the form of sprints and technique workouts, mostly) and wonder if that hindered me a bit. My body composition also changed significantly for the better and my before and after pics totally rocked.
"Just wanted to tell you that as a female 'lifter' I loved your program and the ideas/concepts that come out of the CP team blogs. I would LOVE to see a little more encouragement to all the ladies out there! It didn't intimidate me to find minimal feedback regarding women attempting Maximum Strength, but some women need a little more persuasion to get over the apprehension of starting a program in a book geared towards men.
"Definitely looking forwards to your next book/program! Thanks again!"
-Alison Minton
