Day in and day out, I see loads of athletes and regular fitness enthusiasts who have hit plateaus in their quest to get stronger, bigger, and leaner - or run into injury issues. Each situation is unique, but one thing that I am always especially attentive to is learning whether someone has recently altogether overhauled their approach to training.
As is the case in so many things in life, "Slow and steady wins the race," "Rome wasn't built in a day," and "Don't run sideways on treadmills while wearing jeans." Actually, that last one wasn't all that applicable to what I'm getting at, but it's probably still good advice to heed for some of our easily distracted teenage readers.
I come across a lot of "program hoppers" in what I do. These are individuals who might do four weeks of Sheiko, four weeks of 5x5 workouts, four weeks of Crossfit, four weeks of German Volume Training, and then four weeks of Tae-Bo DVDs in spandex. At the end of this five month journey, they are somehow more fit - but literally have no idea what training principles were key in them achieving that end. Everything was too muddled; they overhauled the entire strength and conditioning program rather than keeping the valuable stuff.
About 8,000 strength coaches before me have used the line, "The best program is the one you aren't on." Well, I would agree with that - unless, of course, it means that this new strength and conditioning program leaves out all the important stuff that you learned from previous training experiences.
I mean, honestly, I've heard of guys going to strength training programs where they only squat, bench, and deadlift. They don't even do warm-ups; nothing else stays! Then, after six weeks of this program, they email me to ask why their shoulders, back, and knees hurt. Uh, maybe become the only thing they kept from your old program was specificity? With no single-leg work, no horizontal pulling, and no mobility work, it's a surprise that they have only been diagnosed with a musculoskeletal injuries - because they probably should have been institutionalized for being so dumb that they're a harm to those around him.
For instance, rather than tell this individual to stop squatting (he actually kept a pretty good neutral spine on the way down), I'd encourage him to a) get a squat rack, b) get a training partner/spotter, and c) put on some clothes.
Major kudos for rocking "The Final Countdown," though; seriously.
Where am I going with this, and how does it apply to you? Well, the message is very simple: never overhaul. Instead, tinker, fine-tune, adjust, or whatever else your thesaurus recommends as a synonym. Good strength and conditioning programs all share certain things in common, and anything that deviates from those qualities isn't worth it. It's something that I really tried to take into account when I wrote Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better.
To take it a step further, I encourage you to be leery of those who encourage you to adapt an entire discipline and change everything that you're doing. I find that even in the most injured and hopelessly weak folks that come to me for help, I can always find several things that they're doing correctly that deserve to stay. This is something I've seen in some of the best physical therapists and strength and conditioning coaches with whom I've worked in the past, too. A good professional should work with athletes and clients to meet halfway on what works, not simply pass judgment on a strength training program and overhaul it altogether.
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Last week, I published a post on shoulder issues with overhead pressing, and got two good comments as replies:
1. In HS I separated my AC joint during the first game of junior year. I played the rest of the year with out letting it heal, and to this day I have still have shoulder issues (college ball didn't help the issue much either). It seems my shoulder allows me to overhead press/push press/jerk and incline press, but flat bench is out of the question unless I'm using DBs. Is this typical of this type of shoulder injury, or am I an outlier and most individuals show the same symptoms as yourself? Granted we each have different injuries but same local area.2. I have pain doing flat bench presses with barbell and upright rows. Decline barbell press is also sometimes uncomfortable, but incline press and overhead press is working fine.
This is actually pretty typical of acromioclavicular (AC) joint problems. Folks will have problems with exercises like full-ROM bench presses and dips, as they force full humeral extension. Decline bench pressing requires less humeral extension on the eccentric than regular bench pressing and dips, so that would explain the decrease in symptoms.
That said, overhead pressing will usually be okay because it doesn't require so much humeral extension (nothing past neutral). However, some folks will have other related problems (e.g., rotator cuff injury during the AC injury), so both horizontal and vertical pushing movements may become problems.
So, obviously, not all shoulder problems are created equal. However, a lot of the time, they can be treated with similar means: good scapular stabilization movements, a focus on thoracic spine mobility, and dedication to strengthening the rotator cuff and improving soft tissue quality.
Feel like swallowing some bitter truth today?
Okay Spunky, first strip down to your Power Rangers shorts. Now grab a compact from your girlfriend's purse and sashay over to the full-length mirror on the back of her bedroom door.
Face away from the full-length mirror and use the smaller mirror on her compact to eyeball your backside — your entire backside from the top of your shoulders to several clicks south of Glutesville.
Personally, I'd also use one of those cardboard boxes with a couple of pinholes in it, the kind that kids use during solar eclipses to keep from going blind, because what you see might scar you emotionally and physically.
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- Eric Cressey
Another day, another happy Maximum Strength customer!
"Hey Eric,
Just wrapped up your Maximum Strength program and I was definitely more than pleased with the results. I know it's a little weird that I switched up the box height on the box squat. I switched because the pre-MS box squat was the first time I ever performed the box squat. Here are my numbers:
Starting Numbers
Body Fat: 16%
Weight: 178 at 5'9
Bench: 215
Box Squat (24 inch box): 315
Deadlift: 330
3 RM Chin: BW+35
Broadjump: 87 in.
Ending Numbers
Body Fat: 10%
Weight: 170
Bench: 240
Box Squat (12 inch box): 325
Conventional Deadlift: 403
3RM Chin: BW+50
Broadjump: 96 in.
Thanks Eric!
Mike Coval"
If you liked Maximum Strength...
Then you'll love Jim Smith's Accelerated Muscular Development.
I often get asked what would be a good program to use following the Maximum Strength program, and while my first answer is always a resounding Show and Go! However, there is another excellent option out there for those who want to get outside the "Eric Cressey School of Thought." In creating Accelerated Muscular Development, Jim "Smitty" Smith did a fantastic job of introducing a thorough e-manual that includes strength training programming, flexibility training, nutrition, recovery protocols, and detailed explanations that put overly "sciency" concepts in an understandable and usable format.
Personally, I've always loved Jim's innovation and willingness to think outside the box. If you ask him about what makes this program so good, though, here's what he'll tell you are the top five components of a successful program:
1. Comprehensive - A good resistance training program teaches you what to do from the moment you walk into the gym, until the moment you leave. It does not just provide you with the primary strength exercises and a rep scheme. A progressive strategy must be incorporated so that by the time you are ready for your primary strength exercises, you are warmed up and ready to go.
2. Education - Do not just follow any resistance training program you get out of a magazine or on an internet forum blindly. You have to make specific and informed decisions based on your individual needs. A good program teaches you so that you can make these decisions.
3. Instruction of Proper Form and Full ROM - The strength exercises in a good resistance training program are demonstrated with proper form and instruction. It is not enough to teach the deadlift by saying "pick the weight off the floor."
4. Easy to Understand - The science behind building muscle and getting stronger is sometimes explained in a very complicated manner. These concepts are much easier to understand with visual diagrams and real world application.
5. Systematic Approach - A comprehensive strength program provides you with a systematic approach where each essential component is represented and input at the right times. This allows the lifter to make sure each activity is not forgotten or missed, which means he can concentrate on training.
I'd highly encourage you to check out this product if you're looking for something new - and particularly if you enjoyed Maximum Strength. For more information, visit www.AcceleratedMuscularDevelopment.com.
In the Trenches with Eric Cressey
I figured we'd go with a little change of pace this week and switch from written content to audio content, as Mike Robertson interviewed me for one of his recent newsletters. Mike and I talk about everything from shoulder assessment, to the possible future of shoulder surgeries, to strength development, to what's new at Cressey Performance, plus a whole lot more. You can listen to the entire audio interview HERE. Enjoy!
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In Part 1 of this series, we outlined several crucial prerequisites to understanding the nature of lower back pain.
In this installment, I've got a few more thoughts in this regard, and then we'll get to work on strategies for preventing these problems in the first place, and working around them once they're in place. You don't need me to tell you that back pain - any chink in your armor, for that matter - will prevent you from making progress in the gym.
Continue reading...
Sooner or later, you're going to tweak your back, and there's nothing you'll ever experience, perhaps shy of limb dismemberment, that'll put a stop to your training as cruelly or effectively. Of course, if you've already had some back problems, you know what we're talking about. Either way, we recommend you bone up on the back. It's one complex little beastie.
Continue Reading...
Rethinking Interval Training
I love interval training, but one of the problems we commonly run into - particularly if someone isn't prepared physically to sprint, or doesn't have a place to do it because of weather restrictions - is that repetitive, low-amplitude motions are our only options. In other words, it has to just be cycling, elliptical, or stairclimber. While slideboard work, medicine ball medleys, barbell complexes, and sled pushing definitely help to work around these problems, when it comes down to it, many of them still don't give certain folks the variety they need in their exercise programming.
In our Building the Efficient Athlete seminar, Mike Robertson and I spoke about the law of repetitive motion: I = NF/AR
In this equation, injury equals the number of repetitions multiplied by the frequency of those repetitions, divided by the amplitude of each repetition times the rest interval. While you can attack each of these five factors differently (and I will in a future newsletter), the take-home point with respect to today's discussion is that simply increasing the amplitude - or range-of-motion - in one's daily life can reduce (or eliminate) the presence or severity of overuse conditions.
For that reason, I often substitute one or both of two different training modalities for client's interval training.
The first is dynamic flexibility circuits with little to no rest between sets. In this scenario, we program 2-3 different mobility/activation drills for each inefficiency the athlete displays, and then combine them in a series of drills. Ideally, as many of these drills are done in the standing position as possible. Let's say a client has poor thoracic spine mobility, a horrific Thomas test, bad glute function, and poor hip external rotation. Here's what his circuit might look like:
a) 1-leg supine bridge
b) wall hip flexor mobilizations
c) 3-point extension-rotations
d) cradle walks
e) overhead lunge walks
f) walking spiderman with overhead reach
g) yoga push-ups
h) 1-leg SLDL walks
(you can find videos of many of these exercises in the Assess and Correct DVD set, and I'll have more information on the rest down the road)
Is this circuit going to completely "gas" an athlete? Absolutely not. However, it is going to make him/her better in light of the inefficiencies I outlined above - and you don't have to leave the gym exhausted to have improved.
The second option is to simply take a series of resistance training exercises with a corrective emphasis (sometimes integrates with the drills outlined above) and put them in a series of supersets. For these exercises, the load utilized should only be about 30% of 1-rep max. I outlined this option a while back in my article, Cardio Confusion. Here's an example I used with an online consulting client recently:
A1) Overhead broomstick walking Lunges (3x10/side)
A2) Push-ups (3x12)
B1) Face pulls (3x15)
B2) Body weight only reverse lunges (3x10/side)
C1) 1-leg SLDL Walk (2x6/side)
C2) Band external rotations - arm adducted (2x15/side)
D1) Behind-the-neck band pullaparts (2x15)
D2) Bowler Squats (2x10/side)
This series is preceded by foam rolling and a dynamic flexibility warm-up, and can be followed by more "traditional" interval training.
Like I said earlier, I'm still all for both traditional and non-traditional interval training. Initiative like I outlined above, though, can serve as a nice change of pace and work in corrective exercise while keeping the heart rate up. Be as creative as you'd like and you'll see great results; the sky is the limit in terms of the combinations you can use.
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I figured I'd start up a mini-series of sorts here where I discuss some of the little changes you can make to programs to get big results.
Many intermediate lifters get stuck in a middle ground with respect to heavy loading in their quest to build strength. Obviously, they know that, as a general rule of thumb, they need to use some heavier loading at least once a week in the 1-5 rep range to build strength. And, a lot of them (at least those who have read my stuff and other articles at T-Nation and EliteFTS) know that dynamic work - in this case, speed squats, deadlifts, and bench presses - is a great way to train bar speed and rate of force development - all while improving technique with submaximal weights.
So, here you have two separate training sessions out of the week: one for maximal loading, and the other for speed. That said, a lot of these intermediates also are still new enough to the iron game that they can handle a bit more loading in the 85-100% range.
With that in mind, I'll often plug in heavy "work-ups" following speed work. So, a lifter might do eight sets of two reps on the bench press, and then work up to a heavy set of 1-3 reps after those eight sets. This not only serves as a way to add in some extra volume in the traditional strength rep-ranges, but also allows a lifter to build in some testing to the program and continuosly monitor progress.
I'll typically only do this 1-2 times a month, and as a general rule of thumb, it will come in a higher volume week that follows a lower volume week. So, in my high-medium-very high-low set-up, it would take place during weeks 1 and/or 3.
For more strength building strategies like this at a great price, check out Maximum Strength.
I got this email over the weekend from a recent finisher of the Maximum Strength Program:
"Eric,
Here are my results on the Maximum Strength program.
Packing Day
Standing Broad Jump: 80 inches
Bench Press: 225 lbs
Box Squat: 295 lbs
Deadlift: 385 lbs
------------------------
905 lbs total for the big 3
3-Rep Max Chins: BW (230) +10 lbs total of 240 lbs
------------------------------------------
Moving Day
Standing Broad Jump: 90.25 inches (+10.25 inches)
Bench Press: 275 lbs (+50 lbs)
Box Squat: 365 lbs (+70 lbs)
Deadlift: 405 lbs (+20 lbs)
-------------------------------------------
1045 lbs total for the big 3 (+140 lbs)
3-rep Max Chins:BW (220) +35 lbs total of 255 lbs (+15 lbs)
"Thoughts on the program:
"This is the first program I have ever completed from start to finish in the few years that I have been lifting. I always got burned out or got training A.D.D. and did something else. Not with yours.
"This program was incredible. Not only did it feel great to do a specifically designed program, but it felt great to see my progress as I was doing the program. The gym I worked out in didn't have a power rack-only a squat rack- so I had to do some McGuyver rigging for rack pulls and pin presses. I wasn't able to do the Anderson Front squats and had to go light on the floor presses, but all in all, I was able to stick with the program 100%.
"I missed about a week total of workouts due to a couple serious, family emergencies, but I didn't use that as an excuse to fall off the wagon. I pushed through and loved my results.
"Thanks for such a great program, and I look forward to the sequel.
"David"
5o pounds added to a bench press in 16 weeks? Not too shabby!
