Here's a list of recommended strength and conditioning reading for the week:
Strength Training Programs: The Higher Up You Go, the More Hot Air You Encounter - This is a reincarnation of an old post of mine that seemed fitting in light of a conversation I had with someone last week.
Metabolic Flexibility - This was a very well researched piece from Mike Nelson that I enjoyed reading.
Intimidate the Weight - More people need to get fired up about life in general, but especially lifting weights. My business partner, Tony, elaborates here.
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As I noted in my post earlier this week, I’m doing the Superhero Workout for a nice little change of pace in my training program – and simply because it’s nice to be able to outsource my training here and there to other qualified fitness professionals.
Yesterday’s strength training program included ten sets of three reps on a wide stance squat, and it was all going smoothly until the seventh set, when I started to get a little tight in my right adductor. It wasn’t too bad, but I’m a firm believer in “better safe than sorry,” so I cut back on the weight by 50 pounds, narrowed my stance, and finished my last three sets with no problem at all.
Sure, I deviated from the program, but I completed the session just fine, and have zero issues in the adductor today. I avoided taking an unnecessary risk that could have become a setback in my training, and as a result, I’ll be continuing with the program as-is today.
It got me to thinking about this question for my readers: what would you have done in this situation? It's a tough - and confusing - decision.
Would you have done what I did? Would you have simply dropped the weight and tried another set with a wide stance? Would you have canned the final sets and reps and moved on to the next strength exercise pairing? Would you have just pushed through it? Or, would you just have taken your ball and gone home altogether?
The answers to these questions – whether they are correct or not – parallel something called cybernetic periodization. I first came across the topic when Mel Siff wrote about it in Supertraining as he referred to programs not always taking “into account the athlete’s subjective perception of the intensity and overall effects of the loading.” Siff went on to say that with cybernetic periodization, “the original preplanned periodisation scheme is regularly modified by subjective and objective feedback obtained from the lifter’s current performance state.”
Traditionally, at least from what I have read, cybernetic periodization has referred almost strictly to load, volume, and training frequency. However, the question I pose today is: why can’t it also refer to exercise selection?
As an example, I’ve switched folks from conventional deadlifts to trap bar deadlifts or sumo deadlifts when they just couldn’t find their groove on the conventional version. And, some people can do feet-elevated push-ups when regular push-ups hurt. Exercise selection absolutely matters as much as any other strength training program variable.
I’m a firm believer that there is always something folks can do in a gym to get better, regardless of their injury or state of mind. Folks may be wildy excited to train, but have physical limitations that need to be taken into account on the fly in the context of exercise selection. To that end, I think it’s important to know what to watch for in this regard if you’re trying to determine whether you should change a day’s training program:
1. Is there a performance drop from previous weeks?2. Do warm-up sets feel heavier than normal?3. Do you find that you’re having a hard time getting warmed-up? 4. Did you get poor sleep quality the night before?5. Do you have unusual tightness, or something you’d term an injury?
These are all questions you can ask yourself on the fly in your strength training program to determine whether you need to change things up. The modification may be an exercise substitution or reduction in volume or intensity. Regardless of the change, it’s extremely rare that the answer is to push through it, as it’s your body’s way of telling you something is wrong – and the correct cybernetic periodization approach is the way to “get things right.”
On a related note, the early-bird special price on the Superhero Workout ends Saturday at midnight. Head HERE for more information.
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When it comes to corrective exercise programs, everyone simply wants to know "what" is and isn't included - and rightfully so. Picking the right strength exercises and mobility drills - and contraindicating others - is absolutely crucial to making sure you get folks to where they want to be.
However, very rarely will you hear anyone specifically discuss the "when" in these scenarios, and as I'll demonstrate in today's piece, it's likely just as crucial to get this aspect correct.
To begin to illustrate my point, I'm going to reuse a quote from an article I wrote a few weeks ago, Correcting Bad Posture: Are Deadlifts Enough?, on the Law of Repetitive Motion :
Consider the law of repetitive motion, where “I” is injury to the tissues, “N” is the number of repetitions, “F” is the force of each repetition as a percentage of maximal strength, “A” is the amplitude (range of motion) of each repetition, and “R” is rest. To reduce injury to tissues (which negative postural adaptations can be considered), you have to work on each of the five factors in this equation.
You perform soft tissue work – whether it’s foam rolling or targeted manual therapy – on the excessively short or stiff tissues (I). You reduce the number of repetitions (length of time in poor posture: R), and in certain cases, you may work to strengthen an injured tissue (reduce F). You incorporate mobility drills (increase A) and avoid bad postures (increase R).
What I failed to mention a few weeks ago, though, was that the sequencing of these corrective modalities must be perfect in order to optimize the training/corrective effect and avoid exacerbating symptoms. Case in point, we recently had a client come to us as a last resort with chronic shoulder issues, as he was hoping to avoid surgery. Physical therapy had made no difference for him (aside from shrinking his wallet with co-pays), and following that poor outcome, he'd had a similar result with soft tissue treatments twice a week for six weeks. In a single four-week program, we had him back to playing golf pain free. What was the difference?
In the first physical therapy experience, he'd been given a bunch of traditional rotator cuff and scapular stabilization exercises. There had been absolutely no focus on soft tissue work or targeted mobility drills to get the ball rolling. In other words, all he did was improve stability within the range of motion he already had. In the equation above, all he really worked on was reducing the "F" by getting a bit stronger.
In his soft tissue treatment experiences, he felt a bit better walking out of the office, but ran into a world of hurt when his provider encouraged him to "just do triceps pressdowns and lat pulldowns" for strength training. In other words, this practitioner worked on reducing "I" and increasing "A," but totally missed the boat with respect to enhancing strength (reducing "F") and increasing rest ("R") because of the inappropriate follow-up strength exercise prescription. Doh!
What did we do differently to get him to where he needed to be? For starters, he saw Dr. Nate Tiplady, a manual therapist at CP, twice a week for combination Graston Technique and Active Release treatments (reducing "I") at the start of his training sessions. He followed that up with a specific manual stretching, positional breathing, and mobility exercise warm-up program (increase "A") that was designed uniquely for him. Then, he performed strength training to establish stability (decrease "F") within the new ranges of motion (ROM) attained without reproducing his symptoms (decreasing "N" and increasing "R).
The sequencing was key, as we couldn't have done some of the strength exercises we used if we hadn't first gotten the soft tissue work and improved his ROM. He may have had valuable inclusions in his previous rehabilitation efforts, but he never had them at the same time, in the correct sequence.
This thought process actually closely parallels a corrective exercise approach Charlie Weingroff put out there much more succinctly in his Rehab = Training, Training = Rehab DVD set:
Get Long. Get Strong. Train Hard.
Keep in mind that there are loads of different ways that you can "get long." You might use soft tissue work (Active Release, Graston Technique, Traditional Massage, etc.), positional breathing (Postural Respiration Institute), mobility drills (Assess and Correct), manual stretching, or any of a host of other approaches (Mulligan, DNS, Maitland, McKenzie, etc). You use whatever you are comfortable using within your scope of practice.
When it's time to "get strong," you can do so via several schools of thought as well - but the important thing is that the strength exercises you choose don't provoke any symptoms.
It's interesting to note that this corrective exercise approach actually parallels what we do with our everyday strength and conditioning programs at Cressey Performance - and what I put forth in Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better. We foam roll, do mobility warm-ups, and then get cracking on strength and stability within these "acutely" optimized ranges of motion to make them more permanent.
Here's some recommended reading for the week:
BSPMG Review - Charlie Weingroff was one of the presenters at the Boston Sports Medicine and Performance Group's annual event, and in this great review, he summarizes many of the key takeaways from the weekend.
Want to Get Strong? Quit Switching Strength Training Programs Every Week. - This is a little blast from the past here at EricCressey.com. Even if you understand the key message without reading it, you should at least give it a look just to watch some funny YouTube clips.
Shapeshifter - Adam Steer and Ryan Murdock introduced this product yesterday. It's a good fit for those of you who need body weight training workouts exclusively because you don't have access to any equipment. Training without external load will never be optimal, but these guys do a good job of pulling together some innovative exercises in an organized format to provide a training effect for those who don't have all the amenities a gym offers.
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It's been a while since I sent out a few recommended reading ideas, so here goes...
Cracking the Code on Muscle Imbalances - Muscle Imbalances Revealed has become a continuing education mainstay for our interns when they start with us, and with a new class about to get underway, it made me realize that this recap of the product I wrote a while back has slipped into the archives of my site. There is a lot of good information here; check it out.
Why Bodybuilders are More Jacked than Powerlifters - Trust me when I say that the writing and research in this T-Nation article is far superior to what the title implies. Bret Contreras and Brad Schoenfield did an excellent job with it.
Coaching Neutral Neck, Spine, andWrist - This three-part series by Mike Robertson was very well done, as it includes a lot of valuable coaching cues for your strength training programs. It includes several videos for those of you who are visual learners.
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When we first got him, my wife and I didn't allow him to come upstairs, as we wanted him to gradually adjust to the downstairs of our house and slowly introduce him to more space. Accordingly, to him, upstairs became the "great beyond," a place where unicorns played and milkbones rained down from the heavens. He would try like crazy to get up there when we took our eyes off him.
Then, one weekend in January of 2011, my wife and I were out of town to visit friends in Florida, so one of my minor leaguers and his wife watched Tank and the house. With us gone, he barked and cried at night - so they let him come upstairs to sleep with them in their bed. When we returned home, there was no turning back; he now sleeps in our bed - a change that he's made very clear is for good.
What's more interesting, though, is the fact that he's still infatuated with the upstairs portion of the house. He'll go up and take naps on the bed when my wife and I are downstairs, and if either of us goes upstairs to grab something, he'll race up after us to ensure that he doesn't miss a unicorn sighting or the opportunity to score a treat. Meanwhile, all the cool stuff - food, treats, his toys, cool scents of other people, stuff to chew, things to pee on, space to run around (including the door to the back yard) - are all still downstairs. If I was a dog, upstairs would be pretty boring - and the downstairs would be "where it's at." Puzzling, huh?
In case you couldn't tell from the title of this piece, there is a strength and conditioning parallel to this story. A lot of lifters start with the basics (the downstairs) and make great progress - only to abandon the "staple" strength exercises in favor of something new, unproven, and gimmicky (the upstairs). Then, even when they realize that the flavor-of-the-week stuff isn't all that it's cracked up to be, they don't go back to what worked in the first place. Why? They've convinced themselves that novelty is more important than efficacy, and that it's easier to do the fun new stuff than it is to get good with the basics. It's the kind of logic that makes me wonder if a lot of people eat paint chips.
The question, of course, becomes "How can we 'sell' the basics to a beginner who appreciates variety and novelty?" My response would simply be that variety and novelty can be synonymous with progression. I'll give you an example.
On the first day at Cressey Sports Performance, just about every new client learns the trap bar deadlift (assuming no injury that would contraindicate the exercise). As I outlined previously, it's an entry-level teaching progression that best allows lifters to grasp the concepts of hip hinging, vertical shin, neutral spine, and optimal hip extension patterning in spite of their mobility restrictions. It's the basic arithmetic before we get to calculus.
Once they've sufficiently learned the lift and progressed in the weight they've lifted, we can transition them to other deadlift variations, including sumo deadlifts, rack pulls, and trap bar with chains. Then, eventually, they may graduate to conventional and snatch grip deadlift technique. This set of progressions and regressions are combined with other strength training program variables - sets and reps, training frequency, exercise pairings, and the like - to give them the novelty they need - but without compromising the training effect.
I've seen football strength coaches who use the squat, bench press, and clean as their primary lifts for years on end. Do kids get stronger? Absolutely. Do they get bored as hell and absolutely disinterested in their less-than-optimal training programs? Absolutely. And, do they miss out on the rich proprioceptive environment that all young athletes should have? Absolutely.
So, there is a balance that must be discovered. On one hand, you need to stick to the basics so as to not compromise the training effect. On the other hand, you need to implement variety so as to not bore folks to death. The solution is to use variations of the basics.
To that end, at CSP, we change the strength training program every four weeks to modify exercise selection, regardless of a trainee's age and experience level. In our eyes, it provides the best balance of the basics and the novelty to keep folks motivated and progressing in their strength and conditioning programs.
Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better - This was obviously my biggest project of 2010. I actually began writing the strength and conditioning programs and filming the exercise demonstration videos in 2009, and put all the "guinea pigs" through the four-month program beginning in February. When they completed it as the start of the summer rolled around, I made some modifications based on their feedback and then got cracking on writing up all the tag along resources. Finally, in September, Show and Go was ready to roll. So, in effect, it took 10-11 months to take this product from start to finish - a lot of hard work, to say the least. My reward has been well worth it, though, as the feedback has been awesome. Thanks so much to everyone who has picked up a copy.
Optimal Shoulder Performance - This was a seminar that Mike Reinold and I filmed in November of 2009, and our goal was to create a resource that brought together concepts from both the shoulder rehabilitation and shoulder performance training fields to effectively bridge the gap for those looking to prevent and/or treat shoulder pain. In the process, I learned a lot from Mike, and I think that together, we brought rehabilitation specialists and fitness professionals closer to being on the same page.
Why President Obama Throws Like a Girl - A lot of people took this as a political commentary, but to be honest, it was really just me talking about the concept of retroversion as it applies to a throwing shoulder - with a little humor thrown in, of course!
Overbearing Dads and Kids Who Throw Cheddar - This one was remarkably easy to write because I've received a lot of emails from overbearing Dads asking about increasing throwing velocity in their kids.
What I Learned in 2009 - I wrote this article for T-Nation back at the beginning of the year, and always enjoy these yearly pieces. In fact, I'm working on my 2010 one for them now!
The Skinny on Strasburg's Injury - I hate to make blog content out of someone else's misfortune, but it was a good opportunity to make some points that I think are very valid to the discussion of not only Stephen Strasburg's elbow injury, but a lot of the pitching injuries we see in youth baseball.
Surely, there are many more to list, but I don't want this to run too long! Have a safe and happy new year, and keep an eye out for the first content of 2011, which is coming very soon!
As you probably know, when I come across high-quality products that I really enjoy that I think will be a good fit for my audience, I am thrilled to be able to write up thorough reviews for you. This way, it not only gives some love to these products’ deserving creators (and learn myself!), but also gives you more background to make sure that it’s a good fit for you if you opt to purchase it.
To that end, I wanted to use today's post to highlight the top seven products I reviewed in 2010. Considering that I receive literally dozens of products in the mail each year to review (I still have a stack left to cover), these represent not just the cream of the crop, but the ones where I actually had the time and inclination to write something up. Check them out by category:
For the Fitness Professionals:Muscle Imbalances Revealed - This set of six webinars can be viewed conveniently from the comforts of your own home. No travel or shipping charges to ruin your day! Check out my review Product Review: Muscle Imbalances Revealed.
The Single-Leg Solution - Mike Robertson is a great friend of mine - but that's not the only reason I liked this product. It was very thorough, well-researched and written, and offered some excellent coaching cues that any fitness professional would be wise to study up on. My review is The Single-leg Solution: Detailed Product Review.
Movement - I just realized that I never got around to writing up a review of this great book from Gray Cook, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't an excellent read. I HIGHLY recommend it.
For the Fat Loss Enthusiasts (then again, can you really be enthusiastic about having to lose fat?):
Body of Fire - This fat loss resource from Chad Waterbury was great for the masses - especially if you only have minimal equipment at your fingertips. I loved the focus on movement rather than just crazy high volume training. Check out my interview with him: Waterbury on Why Most Fat Loss Plans Fail Miserably - and a Better Approach.
That wraps it up for the best of 2010 product reviews; hopefully you can reward yourself with some late holiday shopping by picking up one or more of these items; you won't regret it. I'll be back tomorrow with the best videos of 2010.
Based on feedback on Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better, one of the most popular components of this strength and conditioning resource has been the exercise modifications section. This section features recommended modifications for everything from mobility deficits (e.g., can't squat deep without rounding the back) to equipment limitations (e.g., no cables or squat rack).
That said, I know it's never possible to use a single chapter to cover absolutely every equipment modification one will encounter, so I wanted to get a series going here that highlights some quick and easy substitutions that you can use in your strength training programs. To that end, here is the first installment of High Performance Training Without the Equipment. Today's focus will be what to do in your home gym if you don't have access to dumbbells.
If we're talking about regular bilateral dumbbell pressing, the modification is quick and easy: just use a barbell, and get your variety by using a collection of floor presses, board presses, full range-of-motion presses, and various inclines and declines.
If we're talking about either unilateral or alternating dumbbell pressing variations, then try out the 1-arm push-up. You can make the exercise easier by performing it off the pins in a power rack - and as you get stronger, gradually move the pin down lower.
On the "flip side," you can obviously use barbell rowing variations to replace dumbbell rowing variations. One that I particularly like is the 1-arm corner row, in lieu of the 1-arm DB Row. You just stick the end of a barbell in a corner.
Or, you can just do the 1-arm barbell row - which requires a ton more grip and forearm strength to keep the bar from tipping.
Of course, there are plenty more options in this regard; your imagination is your only limit!
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.
