Today's guest blog comes from Pete Dupuis, my business partner at Cressey Performance. Pete might fly a bit under the radar with respect to the online scene, but as you'll learn below, he plays a huge role in the success we've had at Cressey Performance.
So you’ve decided to open your own strength & conditioning facility…
As any aspiring entrepreneur knows, there’s a considerably long list of expenses that come with getting your business off the ground. For those of us who’ve decided the right move is to open up our own gym, the obvious staples include: racks, benches, dumbbells, bands, mats, sleds, etc. Based on my experience, there are plenty more expensive surprises along the way.
Below, you will find ten quick examples that came to mind as I reflected on the time, energy and cash flow it took to get CP to where it is today. While I’m sure I could double or triple the number of bullet points on this list with a little time to run through my transaction records, the following collection represents the ten that either caught me by surprise, or simply slipped through the cracks as Eric and I sat at a local Applebee’s drawing up a business plan on a napkin during our “let’s start a gym” extravaganza. Enjoy!
1. The fine print on our insurance policy – Every business needs insurance. What every business does not need, is the anti-terrorism coverage built in to the policy that nearly went undetected on our radar before paying the year-one premium. A quick Google-search (or the application of common sense) told us that the terrorists of the world don’t seem to be particularly concerned with Hudson, MA, or the new gym that just popped on to the scene. We saved ourselves some money by throwing a check mark in the “no thank you” box next to anti-terrorism coverage.
2. Registering your LLC and maintaining it annually – I can’t speak for other states, but Massachusetts has devised a particularly profitable little policy that requires business entities in the Commonwealth to slap down a quick $500 LLC filing fee. Now, the filing fee wasn’t particularly shocking, but the realization that we’d owe an additional $500 on the anniversary of starting our business each July certainly stung a little bit when times were tight in the early stages of our operations.
3. Furnishings – Once you’re done with pulling together that list of equipment for your dream gym, you’ll probably realize that the key to keeping it full of clients is not only delivering results, but also demonstrating some level of professionalism. It’s pretty difficult to be taken seriously if you’re pitching your services from a poorly equipped office - or if Eric is passed out on a sketchy red couch after working a 20-hour day.
While a laptop and a cell phone will get the job done for a couple days or weeks, you’ll soon realize that printers, phones, chairs, desks, trash barrels, etc. can pile up to make for a pretty hefty bill at Staples.
4. Logo design – Since we have yet to spend a dollar on what most would call traditional advertising (newspaper/internet/television/radio), CP has been dependent on delivering noteworthy results and some memorable t-shirt designs to stay top-of-mind with the baseball community. Without a decent logo, we’d be struggling on the brand-recognition front. Since design work isn’t cheap, we recommend taking the trade-barter approach with any client who’s got the right skill-set - and you'd be surprised at how many there are. You make them strong, and they make you the next Swoosh or Golden Arches…everybody wins.
5. Website Design – On a similar note, writing HTML doesn’t come naturally to most of us. The “do-it-yourself” web-design tools might cut it for a little while, but the moment you begin working with professional athletes, their agents, or the organizations employing them, it becomes time for a website that reflects the same level of quality product you are promising on the training floor. Do yourself a favor and find a professional who is qualified to design an appealing site for you – and it’s especially nice if they’re interested in doing it in exchange for some of your appealing strength and conditioning programming and coaching.
6. Medicine Ball Wall – While some facility owners are fortunate enough to find space that incorporates cinderblock walls capable of handling the violence of a good med-ball session, many of us are not so lucky. In our case, the expansion from 2,000 sq. feet of gym space to over 6,600 came with the unanticipated $2,500 cinderblock wall installation. In our case, the 150+ feet of straightaway sprinting space outweighed the fact that brick/cinderblock walls were nowhere to be found upon our arrival.
7. Med-Ball/Equipment Replacement – The harsh reality of CP making baseball players better is the fact that we destroy medicine balls at an alarming rate. The same goes for wear and tear of exercise mats, bands, etc. Just because you managed to pull together the funds to outfit a facility on day one doesn’t mean you’re not going to be reinvesting in the business early and often.
8. Audio Equipment – In an industry where a mediocre training environment can singlehandedly kill your gym, loud music is a must. Unless you’re operating in a garage, it’s going to take more than a boom box to get the job done. Plan on investing in a receiver, some decent speakers, and an iPod to get the ball rolling on an environment in which people set PRs on a regular basis.
9. Memorabilia Mounting Fees – Assuming you’ve got a client or two that you’re proud to say you train, you’re going to want to hang a jersey, some photos, or the occasional newspaper story. Since thumbtacks are a little abrasive on game-worn MLB jerseys, professional mounting/framing is a must, and it isn’t cheap. The more successful your client roster becomes, the more expensive the gym walls become. It's a good problem to have.
10. City of Hudson Dumpster Licensing Fee – I saved this one for last because I find it to be both the most unanticipated and most obnoxious annual expense I’ve managed to come across since starting our business. Despite paying rent to the property owner and a dumpster rental fee to our trash-removal vendor, the city of Hudson “has enacted regulations to require licensing dumpster within the town” as of mid-2011. So if you potential gym owners are looking to open a S&C facility here in Hudson (which, by the way, would not be cool), you can plan on budgeting $75/year for the privilege of housing a dumpster on your off-street private property.
Like I mentioned earlier, these ten expenses are just the tip of the iceberg, and I could certainly go on all day with them. With that in mind, if you're a business owner who has walked a mile in these shoes, I'd be curious to hear what expenses surprised you along the way. You can post your replies in the comment section below.
For those of you looking to learn more about Fitness Business start-up, be sure to check out the Fitness Business Blueprint, which includes loads of business, relationship-building, assessment, program design, and training strategies you’ll learn to instantly help take your business to the next level.
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We have quite a few baseball coaches, athletic trainers, physical therapists, and strength and conditioning coaches who stop by Cressey Sports Performance to observe our training. While they are the ones visiting to learn, I actually learn quite a bit about the "norms" in the baseball strength and conditioning field by listening to them tell me about what surprises them about what they observe at CSP. Here are some of the areas that seem to surprise quite a few people:
1. They're surprised we don't do more sprint work and change-of-direction training.
The competitive baseball season essentially runs from mid-February all the way through early September, and during that time, guys are sprinting, diving, and changing directions constantly during fielding practice. They're also on their feet in cleats for an absurd number of hours each day. To that end, when the off-season rolls around, most guys want a few weeks away from aggressive sprinting and change-of-direction work. Once they get their rest, we typically go to 2-3 movement training sessions for October through December, usually on off-days from strength training. I prefer to break them up so that we can get more quality work in with our strength training program, and also so that the sessions don't run too long. Once January 1 rolls around, the volume and intensity of sprinting increases, while the strength training program volume is reduced.
Summarily, because we often separate our sprint/agility work from our resistance training, many folks get the impression that we don't do much movement training - but that couldn't be further from the truth. It's a big part of our comprehensive approach to baseball development; we just fit it in a bit differently than most coaches, and emphasize or de-emphasize it at different point in the year.
2. They're surprised how much medicine ball work we do.
One of the reasons there is a bit less movement training than you might see in other strength and conditioning programs is that we do a ton of medicine ball work, particularly during the months of October through January (for our pro guys).
Medicine ball drills are great for not only training power outside the sagittal plane, but also because it helps to iron out excessive asymmetries while maintaining pitching- and hitting-specific mobility. Our guys may do 240-360 medicine ball throws per week during their highest volume phases.
3. They're surprised that we don't Olympic lift our baseball guys.
On multiple occasions, I've written at length about why I don't like overhead pressing and Olympic lifts in light of the unique demands of throwing and the crazy adaptations we see in throwers.
While the Olympic lifts might have great power development carryover to the sprinting one encounters on a baseball field, the carryover to power in the frontal and transverse planes just isn't as pronounced. In other words, power development is extremely plane-specific. I'll take medicine ball work and non-sagittal plane jumping exercises over O-lifts for baseball players in a heartbeat.
4. They're surprised we don't do more band work.
It's not that I think bands are useless; I just think most guys use them incorrectly, and even when used correctly, they just don't really offer that much advantage other than convenience.
The fundamental issue with bands is that the resistance is generally so light that guys can quickly develop bad habits - poor humeral head control, lumbar hyperextension, etc. - while doing them. They'd be much more effective if guys would just slow down and use them correctly. I am also not a fan at all of using the bands to get the arms into all sorts of extreme positions; you're just using a passive implement to create more laxity in an already unstable shoulder. If you want (and need) to stretch a shoulder, do so with the scapula stabilized.
Additionally, I'll take cables over bands whenever possible simply because the resistance is heavier and it matches the strength curve for external rotations better. Throwers are generally weakest at full external rotation, yet the band has the highest tension in this position; meanwhile, the cable's resistance remains constant. Obviously, manual resistance is ideal, but bands are a distance third.
5. They're surprised how "aggressive" our throwing programs are.
The overwhelming majority of our guys long toss, and most of them throw weighted baseballs at certain points of the year as well. They pitch less and throw more. They all still get their 2-3 months off from throwing each year, but when they are throwing, they work hard.
This is in stark contrast to some of the throwing models I've seen in professional baseball, where many organizations limit players to 90-120 feet with their long tossing, and the only time a baseball is "weighted" is when it gets wet on a rainy day. Guys take so much time off that they never have any time in the off-season to actually develop. I firmly believe that while you have to have strict limits on how you manage pitchers, you also have to stop short of completely coddling them.
These are surely just five areas in which we deviate from the norm with respect to baseball development, but important ones nonetheless.
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One of the biggest mistakes I think I've made in my career is believing that I would be able to leverage all of my knowledge all the time. In other words, early on, I assumed that if I learned something and wanted to apply it with my clients/athletes, it would be as simple as writing it into a strength and conditioning program (or nutrition plan).
This assumption (like most assumptions) was, of course, very flawed. You see, the concept of adherence was something I learned about through experience with a lot of people. Just because folks know that they should do something doesn't guarantee that they will do something. And, just because I was "Type A" and was always motivated to train regularly and eat right didn't mean that others were, too.
Adherence is a reason people hire personal trainers, recruit workout partners, make bets with their buddies, enter "Biggest Loser" competitions, participate on online forums, hire hypnotists, and employ a host of other strategies. They know eating right and exercising are important facets of their lives, but they need outside influences to help make these things essential priorities.
Enhancing adherence became a central strategy to the Cressey Performance business model, too; we wanted to make our facility an experience, not just a gym. We wanted folks to not just be accountable to their training partners and our coaches, but also be so damn excited to train that they wanted to kick the door to the gym down.
To that end, when I learned about Fitocracy, I became immediately intrigued at their approach to enhancing exercise and nutrition adherence.
They didn't just create an online social support network for exercisers of all ages and experience levels; they made tracking workouts fun and competitive (you earn points based on how challenging your workouts are). It is like a combination of:
1. Facebook (social support)
2. Twitter's (you pick what's applicable to you)
3. Words with Friends (compete against your friends)
4. Individual sports like powerlifting, distance running, etc. (compete against yourself)
5. Beer League Softball (bust your buddy's balls)
Now, here comes the full disclosure: I liked this company and the adherence advantage it provides so much that I invested in it. Likewise, there are loads of well-known fitness professionals with strong presences at Fitocracy (even if they aren't investors). And, I think that you'll like it, too, so I wanted to encourage you to check it out - especially since it's free.
In addition to what you see now (be sure to check out the iPhone app), there will be some cool stuff new coming in the months to come. For instance, I plan to start doing some live Q&A with followers on the site, and we'll be "bulking up" the exercise selection library.
To learn more, head on over to Fitocracy through this link (if you sign up through this link, it will automatically make you one of my followers so that you'll hit the ground running). I'd also love to hear your thoughts on the site and your experiences with it in the comments section below.
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I'm excited to announce that new Cressey Performance employee Greg Robins is going to be helping me out with this series moving forward. Greg brings a unique skill set to to the table, and I think that the two of us together will kick out some great content in this weekly post moving forward. With that said, here are five quick and easy ways to feel and move better to get you week off on the right foot:
1. Focus on less.
Too often I see people make the mistake of doing too much in the gym. Additionally, many folks jump from strength and conditioning program to program, or change strength exercises too often. Make it a point to do two things.
First, pick a few big movements that you can execute correctly, and continually work to become great at them. Second, settle on a specific outcome for your training. Are you trying to lose fat, gain muscle, or get strong? While your approach may have elements that address all of these, prioritize one or the other for an extended period of time. Allowing yourself time to get better with movement, and eliminating competing demands from your program, are both great ways to maximize your efforts.
2. Declutter your life.
"Spring cleaning" is a hackneyed expression, but that doesn't mean it isn't an incredibly worthwhile project to undertake! Let's just say that I filled a trunk with trash from my home office last week.
Considering that my home office is only 13'x13', I expect my productivity to increase quite a bit. Think about ways you can "declutter" your life; it should help you focus on the task at hand.
3. Carry heavy stuff with friends.
Dan John has put out some great content with respect to how valuable carrying variations can be. They are easily learned, don't make you ridiculously sore, and provide a great whole-body training effect. One thing we like to do as a staff is set up our farmer's walks in a group format. Our turf is 40 yards long, and each set is either one or two trips. One person goes, then the next person goes, and so on until everyone has finished all their sets. It keeps you accountable to strict rest periods, builds in the motivation of competition (who wants to be the one guy who can't finish his trip?), and distributes the loading/unloading responsibilities among several people! Here's an old video of us on this front:
4. Get every rep.
Nobody makes progress by missing lifts. Check your ego at the door, and take a more patient approach to your training. The most beautiful lesson in training is one of delayed gratification. To succeed in the gym, you need to do what is necessary in the training session in order to make the subsequent training sessions beneficial. Nobody can set personal records for themselves every day, so focus on executing each and every rep smoothly. Over time, add to the bar, add a rep, or do a little more work in the same time period. It will all add up, and a year from now you will marvel at what you accomplished. However, if you choose to blow it out every session, in a year, you will be lucky to have made minimal progress.
5. Spend less time down at the bar.
It drives me bonkers when lifters spend too much time down in the bottom position of a deadlift. I always encourage people to get their minds right while they're standing around, and then get right to it when they get up to the bar. Spending too much time in the bottom position of your deadlift technique means that you'll lose any benefit of the stretch-shortening cycle, and run the risk of becoming an overly pensive, weak schmuck.
Co-Author Greg Robins is strength and conditioning coach at Cressey Performance in Hudson, MA. Check out his website, www.GregTrainer.com, for more great content.
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During my first ever live Facebook Fan Page Q&A last night, I received the following question, and wanted to use today's post to expand on it:
Q: How do you go about measuring volume in strength and conditioning programs? I feel like it's glossed over in a lot of textbooks and courses when it comes to programming.
A: This is an incredibly tough question to answer - and trust me, it's a question I've given a lot of thought!
Early in my career, I tried to come up with elaborate equations to calculate volume, but it was tough for a number of reasons (many of which I discuss in my e-book, The Art of the Deload).
First, not all exercises are created equal. A curl can't be weighted the same as a deadlift variation, for instance. The more joints an exercise involves and the greater the distance the bar travels, the more stressful it is.
Many people will make the argument that because one can use more weight on the deadlifts than the curl, the total volume (total reps x load) takes care of itself. The problem is that it doesn't take into account the distance the bar travels or the amount of muscle mass involved. Let's say a lifter can deadlift 500 pounds, quarter-squat 500 pounds, and barbell supine bridge 500 pounds. I can guarantee you that the 500 pound deadlift takes of a toll on the body than the other two because there is greater amplitude required and muscle mass recruited. The "total tonnage" argument is a sound one, but not a perfect one.
Second, all volume isn't created equal. Imagine having three crazy stressful training sessions back-to-back-to-back on Mo-Tu-We, then four days off. Then, take the exact same training loads, but space them out Mo-We-Fr. I guarantee you that the body's perception of the stress of the third session will be far greater in the first scenario - which to me is the important reason we consider volume in the first place. Timing and overlap matter.
Third, let's say that you go in to the gym fresh and squat on the first day of the training week. We'll say that you do four sets of five reps at 315 pounds for a total tonnage of 6,300 pounds. Then, exactly one week later, you go in and do 15 sets of lower-body training, and then go and squat at the end with the goal of getting that 6,300 pounds of "volume" again. Since you're exhausted, you need to do ten sets of two reps instead. Wouldn't that volume of squatting hit you like a ton of bricks? The duration of the session and your accumulated transient fatigue changed the game.
Fourth, not all lifters are created equal. At a body weight of 185 or so, I hit a 660 deadlift, and after I this lift, my entire body hated me for about a week.
My wife (an optometrist) freaked out when she saw that I'd bursted some small blood vessels in my eyes and face (it actually looked like I had freckles for about four days). As I recall, I did about two sets of lunges after this pull before realizing that I should shut it down for the day. I wasn't hurt; I was just exhausted.
Conversely, for a 1000-pound deadlifter who outweighs me by 150 pounds, this is speed weight.
And, to really exaggerate my point, imagine a brand new female lifter who is learning to deadlift with the training plates (10 pounds/side = 65 pound deadlift). If she does a whopping 11 reps (65lbs x 11 = 715 lbs), she'll have accumulated more volume than I did on this day.
In short, "appropriate" volume is 100% specific to the lifter's experience, age, gender, training goals, fatigue status, injury history, competing demands, and a host of other factors that I didn't even cover!
That said, when it really comes down to it, it's just something you learn in time by observing, writing, and trying out hundreds/thousands of programs. It's like a sixth sense for me by now.
I will, however, make one observation that never seeks to amaze me:
I'm always surprised at how much volume it takes to attain a level of fitness, but how little volume it takes to maintain that level of fitness.
To that end, most strength and conditioning coaches devote their entire career to finding a good mix of a number of factors to offer clients and athletes a great training effect, but we'll never know what an "ideal" mix of these factors is simply because factors like volume can be so cumbersome to interpret. For that reason, writing strength and conditioning programs will always be as much art as it is science.
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One of the biggest concerns players have when it comes to in-season strength and conditioning programs is whether or not a particular exercise will make them sore. It's a valid point, when you consider the profound effect soreness can have on a baseball athlete's performance - both physically and mentally. As such, it's important to select exercises that provide a great training effect, but won't necessarily create a lot of soreness for a player.
The first important point to recognize is that strength exercise familiarity will minimize soreness. In other words, if an athlete has already done an exercise in the previous 7-10 days, it shouldn't make him very sore (if at all). This is one reason why I like to introduce new exercises in the week prior to the start of the season; we can "ride out" those exercises through the first 4-6 weeks of the season without worrying about soreness.
Of course, once you get past that initial stage, it's a good idea to change things up so that athletes will continue to progress and not get bored with the strength training program. One way to introduce new strength exercises without creating soreness is to minimize eccentric stress; so, essentially, you're selecting exercises that don't have a big deceleration component. This is tricky, as most athletic injuries occur from poor eccentric control (both acutely and chronically). So, we can't remove them completely, but we can shoot for a 50/50 split. To that end, we'll typically introduce our more intensive lower-body eccentric strength exercises (e.g., Bulgarian Split Squats) on a day when an athlete can afford to be sore (e.g., the day after a pitcher starts) for a few days. If that isn't a luxury, we'll simply go much lighter in that first week.
To that end, here are five "general" strength exercises I like to use in-season with many of our athletes.
1. Step-up Variations - I'm normally not a big fan of step-ups for off-season programs because they don't offer a significant deceleration component, but they can be useful in-season when you're trying to keep soreness out of the equation. Anterior-Loaded Barbell Step-ups are a favorite because they still afford you the benefits of axial loading without squatting an athlete.
2. Deadlift Variations - It goes without saying that I'm a huge fan of the deadlift (check out this tutorial if you need suggestions on How to Deadlift), as deadlift variations afford a host of benefits from strength, power, and postural perspectives. They're also great because there isn't much of an eccentric component unless you're doing stiff-leg deadlift variations. With that in mind, we utilize predominantly trap bar and sumo deadlift variations in-season.
3. Sled Pushing/Dragging - A lot of people view sled training as purely for metabolically conditioning guys, but the truth is that it actually makes for a great concentric-only strength exercise while helping to enhance mobility (assuming you cue an athlete through full hip extension on forward pushing/dragging variations).
Just make sure to keep the load heavy and distance short.
4.1-leg Hip Thrusts off Bench - This is a great "halfway" exercise with respect to eccentric stress. For some reason, even if you lower under a ton of control and with additional load (we drape chains over the hips), this exercise still won't make your posterior chain sore. A big shout-out goes out to Bret Contreras for bringing it to the forefront!
5. 1-arm DB Bulgarian Split Squats from Deficit - The asymmetrical load to this already asymmetrical (unilateral) exercise allows you to get a training effect without a ton of resistance (especially with the increased range of motion provided by the deficit). It'll still create some soreness, but it's another one of those "halfway" exercises where the soreness isn't as bad as you'd expect, especially if you phase it in a bit lighter in week 1 of the new strength training program.
These are just five of my favorites, but a good start, for sure. Of course, we still need to do a better job of educating "the masses" about how important it is to even do an in-season strength training program!
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I know there are a lot of fitness professionals who look to EricCressey.com as a continuing education resource. With that in mind, I wanted to discuss a few resources that have been tremendously valuable to me; hopefully you'll benefit from them (if you aren't already) as much as I have.
1. Video - Video is a powerful tool for coaching and monitoring progress in clients, and it's also very accessible nowadays, thanks to smart phones and digital cameras. Still, I'm always amazed at how few fitness professionals utilize it to help coach. I use it quite a bit in my evaluation process, especially with tough cases where I want to be able to monitor progress in movement quality. It's just as valuable on the training floor to back up coaching cues that you're giving.
Additionally, having access to the high-speed camera technology in our facility has been tremendously valuable in not only breaking down inefficient mechanics, but also demonstrating the powerful effects a good baseball strength and conditioning program can have on a pitcher's body control and power on the mound.
2. Related Professionals - A fresh sets of eyes and a new perspective can have a huge influence on your strength and conditioning programs and how you coach. We've learned a ton from rehabilitation specialists, other fitness professionals, sport coaches, business consultants, and folks from a host of other professions.
As an interesting aside to this discussion, have you ever noticed how doctors - who have a minimum of eight years of higher education - refer patients out all the time to other doctors for second opinions? Yet, how often do you see personal trainers - who are a profession with an absurdly low barrier to entry - ask for another perspective from an unbiased third party? Food for thought.
3. Your Clients - I'm sure you'd love to think that you know your clients' bodies better than anyone else, but the truth is that those clients know themselves and how they're feeling much better than you ever could! I made the mistake early in my career of assuming too much and asking too few questions; I was talking 70% of the time and listening for the other 30%. Nowadays, I'm listening 70% of the time (at the very least) and I am a much better coach as a result.
As an example, now is a quiet time of year with all of our baseball guys in-season, so I'm using it as an opportunity to follow up with all our clients from this past off-season. I want to know how they felt during spring training, and how the transition to the start of the season went. All the feedback I get is valuable for not only next off-season, but helping them to tinker with things as needed right now.
4. New Training Equipment - Variety in a strength and conditioning program isn't just important to ensure optimal progress, but also to make sure that clients remain interested. Do you need to go out and buy all new equipment every other month? Of course not! However, adding some new training implements - or even just new uses for old equipment - can provide some variety. And, it's an opportunity for you to teach your client, as they're sure to ask: "What is this and what does it do?"
5. Business Partners/Assistants - When I first got started in Boston, I was doing all the scheduling and billing. While swiping credit cards and watching your schedule fill up is fulfilling at first, it eventually becomes a huge drain on your time, energy, and productivity. I'm a much better coach than I am a business logistics guy - and that's why the first person I contacted to help me start Cressey Sports Performance was my buddy, Pete Dupuis.
Pete's become a fantastic business director (and vice-president) at CSP, and we've had double digit growth every year since we opened in 2007. He's managed my schedule, handled phone calls, done all our billing/invoicing, and become a liaison between coaches and clients when the clients aren't in the gym. In short, his efforts have made me more efficient so that I can evaluate, program for, and coach clients; review research; interact with other coaches; and do more staff/intern education.
Additionally, business partners, staff, and interns are great for asking the challenging questions that make you rethink the way you're doing things - and often provide suggestions and solutions that help make things more efficient and effective.
These are only five resources to get the ball rolling, but there are certainly many more available to fitness professionals in their quest to deliver a great client experience. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below on what resources have helped to make you better at what you do.
And, while we're on the topic of continuing education, I want to give you a heads-up that many of our products are on sale for 25% off as part of Cyber Monday right now. The sale ends tonight, though, so don't delay in checking it out HERE.
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We are creatures of habit - not only psychologically and socially, but physiologically as well. If you need proof, all you have to do is read up on shift work disorder, which shows that simply changing one's sleep and work schedule can have some profound consequences for our health.
With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that changing the time of day when one's workout routine takes place is a huge deal for everything from mood to performance. Perhaps the most common adjustment that takes place is when someone decides to exercise in the morning. It may be because a long day at work is too exhausting to be 100% when you hit the gym after it's over, or you may just not want to wait for equipment access in a crowded gym at 6PM. Or, it could be because a parent is super busy with kids' after-school activities, so first thing in the morning before they wake up is the best bet for getting in a strength and conditioning program.
Whatever the reason, the adjustment to exercise in the morning is without a doubt the toughest "time change" one could make. With that in mind, here are five keys to making it a smooth transition:
1. Get to bed earlier.
This seems like a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised at how many people complain that they can't get results from exercise in the morning without realizing that they're still going to be far too late at night.
If you're someone who is accustomed to sleeping 12AM-8AM, then racing to be to work at 9AM, it's going to be an adjustment if you want to start training at 6AM before you head to work. You're only making it tougher if you decide that you're simply going to sleep 12AM-5AM. It's also going to crush your productivity for the rest of the day, as you'll be sleep walking rather than enjoying the post-exercise energy boost most people experience. If you want to be up at 5AM or 6AM to train, you've got to be in bed by 10PM. In fact, I always tell my athletes that an hour of sleep before midnight is worth two hours after midnight.
2. Stand up for a bit.
Dr. Stuart McGill has made some fantastic observations on spine stiffness first thing in the morning. In a nutshell, when we lay down to sleep at night, our spine is decompressed, so the intervertebral discs actually collect water. This increased hydration status builds annular tension within the discs, and makes the spine stiffer overall. This isn't a good kind of stiffness, though; more stress is placed on the ligaments and discs than the soft tissue structures that typically protect them.
Simply standing upright and moving around decreases the hydration status of the discs - and, in the process, actually makes us shorter as the day goes on! While I don't know of many people that want to get shorter, the good news is that this height reduction reduces the spine stiffness and allows us to move the spine more safely and effectively. While disc hydration diminishes over the course of the entire day, the majority of it occurs in the first hour that we're awake.
With this in mind, you're someone with a history of back pain, you're probably best off not incorporating exercise in the morning, especially if your workout routine includes a lot of bending and rotating. If you're going for a walk or light jog, though, it's probably not a big deal.
Conversely, if you're someone who plans to use some of these more challenging compound movements and have to exercise in the morning, I'd encourage you to get up 30 minutes early and just focus on standing up, whether it's to read the paper, pack your lunch, or take the dog for a walk.
3. Take a hot shower before exercise in the morning.
One of the biggest struggles a lot of folks encounter is getting warmed up in the morning. Folks usually turn the heat down at night while they're asleep, and it's obviously colder outside at nighttime. You might think I'm nuts, but hopping out of bed and into a hot shower is a great "body temperature transition" strategy that bridges the gap between bed and exercise. And, since you'll be standing in the shower, it also helps to accomplish tip #2 from above!
It only has to be 25-30 seconds to get your body temperature up a bit, and then you can take your "real" shower after you sweat up a storm. As an alternative to shower #1, you can always splash some hot water on your face and drink a cup of coffee. There's no way you're getting out of shower #2, though, Smelly.
4. Extend the warm-up.
In line with points #2 and #3, it's a good idea to add a few more dynamic warm-up drills to your pre-exercise routine. Typically, our athletes do between eight and ten drills, but those who exercise in the morning are better off with as many as 15. It might add five minutes to your dynamic warm-up, but that's far better than spending far more than five minutes in physical therapy for an injury you got from insufficiently warming up!
In line with tip #2 from above, you likely want to focus on more standing variations in your mobility exercise selections.
I've heard thousands of different nutritional strategies outlined for those who want to exercise in the morning, but the truth is, everyone is different. I have known folks who will throw up anything solid that they consume prior to exercise, and others (myself included) who could eat a giant breakfast and keep it down just fine. For most, I think sipping on a shake as you start the training session is a good place to start. If you handle that fine, you can consider having some solid food before the training session, if you find that you're hungry in the middle of the training session.
6. Recruit a training partner.
A training partner is almost always a good idea, but this is especially true when you're up at the buttcrack of dawn and not necessarily in the mindset to really push yourself. Plus, when you're awake for exercise before the sun rises, you're far more likely to hit the snooze button if someone isn't waiting for you at the gym.
While training first thing in the morning isn't exactly ideal, it may be your only option for staying consistent with your workout routine - and consistency is the name of the game. Implement these strategies to get the most out of your early morning training sessions.
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Earlier this week, Cressey Performance athlete Ryan Flaherty was named to the Baltimore Orioles opening day roster for today. Ryan and I share a common trait in that we were both born and raised in Southern Maine, so we've had some good conversations about what it takes to compete on a national scale when you start out from what isn't exactly known as a baseball capital of the world. When I heard the great news about Ryan, the logical first choice for reading about it was our hometown newspaper, the Portland Press Herald, in this article.
One of the things that stood out for me about this article was the quote about how Orioles manager Buck Showalter still got so excited to tell guys they made the big league roster - because, unfortunately, it's a conversation he gets to have much less often than the "You're cut" interaction.
Being successful - and, even moreso, world-class - is very difficult.
Only 3% of guys ever drafted into professional baseball ever make it to the big leagues. When you factor in free agent signings, it's likely a 1 in 50 success rate. Taking it a step further, if you look at the 118 first-round draft picks between 2004 and 2007 who actually signed, only 84 (71%) of them ever made it to the big leagues. In other words, even if you are among the most coveted 30 prospects in all of the U.S. and Canada, you still have a long way to go, and a lot of time to fall flat on your face.
I hear it all the time from kids:
I want to make varsity.I want to play in college.I want to get drafted.I want to make it to the big leagues.
While the goals are certainly incremental and far apart, the response needs to be the same: "It won't be easy, and you need to be willing to work for it - not talk about it."
Ryan was no exception. He was one of the best athletes - football, basketball, and baseball - in the history of the State of Maine. Then, he was a three-year standout at Vanderbilt, one of the best college baseball programs in the country, before being drafted in 2008. Three years of hard work in the minor leagues later, he's getting his shot in "the show" today. Tim Collins was a great example from last year - and Tim had to work his butt off to keep his roster spot in the big leagues going in to 2012.
It would have been very easy to be one of the 98% who failed, though. There are thousands of ways in which kids go astray from their goals today, whether it's due to apathy, poor coaching, overassertive parents, drug use, behavioral issues, or simply not being honest with themselves about how much they need to improve. And, it's getting worse with every participation trophy that's handed out, and every time that a parent races in to school to contest a grade on a report card.
In the former case, the rewards should be the excitement of competition, the outstanding feeling that comes from being part of a team, the physical activity that comes with participating, and the character development that comes from dedicating oneself to a goal and working toward improvements to make it a reality. What are we saying to a kid when he busts his butt and looks the coach in the eye every time they talk, yet we hand him the same participation trophy that we gave to the kid that shows up late to practice, refuses to pick up equipment, gets in the coach's face, and dogs it through drills?
In the latter case, the parent has missed a valuable opportunity to teach a valuable, yet dwindling characteristic in today's young kids: accountability. When parent could be teaching a kid that "you reap what you sow," instead, he/she instead chooses to show that you can cut corners in life because there will always be someone around to clean up your mess. I'm all for standing up to your kids - but I think a lot of people today need to stand up TO their kids, too.
It isn't just about showing up. It's about genuinely caring about what you do, honestly evaluating where your abilities are, having a passion to become a better person and make the the world a better place, and acting accordingly - while being humble, punctual, diligent, and respectful.
Don't get me wrong; we absolutely, positively need to encourage all kids, not just athletes - and overbearing parents absolutely crush kids' confidence. However, there is a happy medium between the two; I think we do them a disservice when we aren't realistic with them about what it actually takes to be successful. Only then can they appreciate the day-t0-day behaviors and practice they'll need to be successful: the process for their ultimate destination.
Along these lines, over the years, I've had dozens of parents come up to me and say that one of the reasons they love Cressey Performance so much is that young athletes get to interact with and train alongside professional athletes so much. The hard work they see from the pro guys does a better job of demonstrating what level of commitment it takes to succeed better than anything a parent could ever put into words.
I love seeing college and professional athletes involved with clinics for younger athletes, as well as charitable endeavors. It doesn't just help the kids and charities, but also the athletes themselves. It gives them not only a chance to give back and an opportunity to reflect on how far they've come and the hard work it took to get to where they are.
It's important to not just discuss the drive and character it takes to succeed, but give kids visual examples of it. What better day than opening day, when dreams are coming true all over Major League Baseball? It's a great starter to a conversation you ought to have with your kids and the players you coach; why not today?
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I was introduced to the bowler squat originally by Dr. Stuart McGill at one of his seminars back around 2005. Beyond the endorsement from one of the world's premier spine experts, the fact that it's been a mainstay in our strength and conditioning programs for about seven years should prove just how valuable I think this combination mobility/activation exercise is.
Before describing it, though, I should mention that the name is a bit misleading. While it does look like a bowler's motion, the truth is that it's more of a "rotational deadlift" than it is a squat. There is some knee flexion involved, but the shin remains essentially vertical, and most of the motion occurs at the hips - and that's what makes it such a fantastic exercise. Have a look:
We talk all the time about how important glute activation is, but most folks simply think that a few sets of supine bridges will get the job done. The problem is that this exercise occurs purely in the sagittal plane, while the glutes - as demonstrated by their line of pull - are also extremely active in the frontal and transverse planes. The gluteus maximums isn't just a hip extensor; it is also a hip abductor and external rotator.
As such, the gluteus maximus is essential to properly eccentrically controlling hip flexion, adduction, and internal rotation that occurs with every step, landing, lunge, and change-of-direction. You can even think of it as an "anti-pronator."
A bowler squat effectively challenges the glutes to both lengthen and activate in a weight-bearing position in all three planes. And, for the tennis and baseball players out there, check out how closely the bowler squat replicates the finish position from a serve and pitch (I noted this in a recent article, Increasing Pitching Velocity: What Stride Length is and How to Improve It).
To perform the exercise, push the hips back as if attempting a 1-leg RDL, but reach across the body with the arm on the side of the non-support leg. The "hips back" cue will get the sagittal plane, while the reach across will get the frontal and transverse plane. Make sure to keep the spine in neutral to ensure that the range of motion comes from the hips and not the lower back. Keep the knee soft (not locked out), but not significantly flexed, either. Be sure to get the hips all the way through at the top, finishing with a glute squeeze.
A few additional cues we may use are:
1. Tell the athlete to pretend like he/she is trying to pick up a basketball with the support foot; it can help those who keep tipping over.
2. Provide a target - a medicine ball or dumbbell - that the athlete should reach for in the bottom position (this keeps folks from cutting the movement short, or making it too sagittal plane dominant).
3. Encourage the athlete to keep the chin tucked (to keep the cervical spine in neutral).
4. Put your hand a few inches in front of the kneecap and tell the athlete not to touch your hand with the knee; this keeps an athlete from squatting too much when he/she should be hip-hinging.
Typically, we'll perform this drill for one set of eight reps per side as part of the warm-up. However, in a less experienced population - or one with very poor balance - this may serve as a great unloaded challenge that can be included as part of the actual strength training program.
