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And, to add on the above points, you can ignore the value of that mobility and activation work when it comes to preventing injury.  Many times, form will start to break down with some of the longer time-under-tension prescriptions in more metabolically demanding resistance training protocols.  When you get things firing the way they should, you immediately make these complexes and circuits safer.

It’s time to think about fat loss as a separate goal in itself – instead of a side effect of other training.

EC: Those are fantastic points - and it even carries over to elite sport.  Having worked with national championship squads in both men's and women's basketball, I can say without hesitation that you're right on the money.  Female athletes are all about getting the job done; it's one of the reasons that they tend to race through programs (and we actually need to make a point of slowing them down a bit).  Male athletes, on the other hand, won't hesitate to drag their heels a bit if it means they can talk some smack to a buddy between sets in order to get each other fired up.  But let's move on...

Afterburn

EC

Product Review: Alwyn Cosgrove's Afterburn

If you aren't familiar with Alwyn Cosgrove's stuff, you're really missing out; here is a guy who has produced results time and time again.  If you're looking to get lean fast, but don't have a clue where to start, let Alwyn show you the way.  One of the best aspects of this product is that there's something for everyone.  Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned veteran, you'll learn some tricks of the trade to get you to where you want to be faster.  I've used a lot of Alwyn's ideas personally and with my athletes and clients; I would encourage you to check them out and experience the results for yourself.

Afterburn

Eric Cressey Interview

Yes, I'm really putting an interview with me in my own newsletter.  It's not what you think, though! Brian Grasso from www.DevelopingAthletics.com interviewed me for his newsletter last week; I hope you enjoy it!

Eric Cressey is one of the youngest and brightest stars in the conditioning world today.  He and I have forged a great relationship as of late and I wanted to bring his expertise to you... you WILL be impressed!

BG - Your newest DVD, Magnificent Mobility cites the importance of delineating the difference between "mobility" and "flexibility" in a training program. What is the difference and when do each apply?

EC – Those are great questions, Brian; very few people understand the difference – and it is a big one. Flexibility merely refers to range of motion – and, more specifically, passive range of motion as achieved by static stretching. Don’t get me wrong; static stretching has its place. I see it as tremendously valuable in situations where you want to:

a) Relax a muscle to facilitate antagonist activation (e.g. stretch the hip flexors to improve glute recruitment)

b) Break down scar tissue following an injury and/or surgery (when the new connective tissue may require “realignment”)

c) Loosen someone up when you can’t be supervising them (very simply, there is less likelihood of technique breakdown with static stretching because it isn’t a dynamic challenge)

However, the principle problem with pure flexibility is that it does not imply stability nor preparedness for dynamic tasks. As one of my mentors, Dr. David Tiberio, taught me, we need to have mobile-stability; there’s really no use in being able to attain a given range of motion if you can’t stabilize yourself in that position. Excessive passive flexibility without mobility (or dynamic flexibility, as it’s been called) will actually increase the risk of injury!

Moreover, it’s not uncommon at all to see individuals with circus-like passive flexibility fail miserably on dynamic tasks. For instance, I recently began working with an accomplished ballet dancer who can tie herself into a human pretzel, but could barely hit parallel on a body weight squat until after a few sessions of corrective training. She was great on the dynamic tasks that were fundamentally specific to her sport, but when faced with a general challenge that required mobility in a non-familiar range of motion, she was grossly unprepared to handle it. She had flexibility, but not mobility; the instability and the lack of preparation for the dynamic motion were the limiting factors. She could achieve joint ranges of motion, but her neuromuscular system wasn’t prepared to do much of anything in those ranges of motion.

We went to great lengths in Magnificent Mobility to not only outline mobility drills, but also what we call “activation” movements. Essentially, they teach often-dormant muscles to fire at the right times to normalize the muscle balance, improve performance, and reduce the risk of injury. Collectively, mobility and activation drills are best performed as part of the warm-up and on off-days as active recovery. We’ve received hundreds of emails already from athletes and ordinary weekend warriors claiming improved performance, enhanced feeling of well-being, and resolution of chronic injuries; this kind of positive feedback really makes our jobs fun!

BG – You certainly are known for you ability to get athletes stronger. What type of training do you use for adolescent athletes… let me narrow that down (i) a 16 year old with no formal strength training experience (ii) a 16 year with a solid foundation and decent knowledge with exercise form

EC - First and foremost, we have fun. It doesn’t matter how educated or passionate I am; I’m not doing my job if they aren’t having a blast coming in to train with me. With respect to the individual athletes, I’ll first roll through a health history and just run them through some basic dynamic flexibility movements to see where they stand. As we all know, there is a lot of variation in terms of physical maturity and training experience at these ages, and I can get a pretty good idea of what they need just by watching them move a bit. In your individual cases, much of my training would revolve around the following:

In the unprepared athlete, I’d go right into several body weight drills – many of them isometric in nature – to teach efficiency. We often see an inability to differentiate between lumbar spine and pelvic motion, so I spend quite a bit of time emphasizing that the lumbar spine should be stable, and range of motion should come from the hips, thoracic spine, scapulae, and arms. Loading is the least of my concerns in the first few sessions; research has demonstrated that beginners can make progress on as little as 40% of 1RM, so why rush things with heavy loading that will compromise form? The lighter weights will allow them to groove technique and improve connective tissue health prior to the introduction of heavier loading.

In the athlete with a solid foundation, I’ll run through those same preliminary drills to verify that they are indeed “solid” and not just good compensators for dysfunction. Believe it or not, most “trained” athletes really aren’t that “trained” if you use efficiency as a marker of preparedness – even at the Division I, professional, and Olympic ranks; you can be a great athlete in spite of what you do and not necessarily because of what or how you do it.

Assuming things are looking good, I’ll look to give them more external loading on all movements, as the fastest inroads to enhanced performance will always be through maximal strength in novice athletes. As they get more advanced, I’ll start to look more closely at whether they’re more static or spring dominant and incorporate more advanced reactive training movements. Single-leg movements are still of paramount importance, and we add in some controlled strongman-type training to keep things interesting and apply the efficiency in a less controlled environment. Likewise, as an athlete’s deceleration mechanics improve, we progress from strictly closed-loop movement training drills to a blend of open- and closed-loop (unpredictable) tasks.

In both cases, variety is key; I feel that my job is to expose them to the richest proprioceptive environment possible in a safe context. With that said, however, I’m careful to avoid introducing too many different things; it’s important for young athletes to see quantifiable progress in some capacity. If you’re always changing what you do, you’ll never really show them where they stand relative to baseline.

BG – Olympic lifts and adolescents… do you use them? Why or why not?

EC – Personally, I generally don’t for several reasons. It’s not because I’m inherently opposed to Olympic lifts from an injury risk standpoint. Sure, I’ve seen cleans ruin some wrists, and there are going to be a ton of people with AC joint and impingement problems who can’t do anything above shoulder level without pain. That’s not to say that the exercises are fundamentally contraindicated for everyone, though; as with most things in life, the answer rests somewhere in the middle. Know your clients, and select your exercises accordingly.

My primary reasons for omitting them tend to be that I don’t always have as much time with athletes as I’d like, and simply because such technical lifts require constant practice – which we all know isn’t always possible with young athletes who don’t train for a living. Equipment limitations may be a factor (bumper plates are a nice luxury). And, to be very honest, I’ve seen athletes make phenomenal progress without using Olympic lifts, so I don’t concern myself too much with the arguing that goes on. If another coach wants to use them and is a good teacher, I’m find with him doing so; it just isn’t for me, with the exception of some high pulls here and there.

BG – Basing off of the last question, do you teach Olympic lift technique to pre-adolescents?

EC – I don’t. It’s not to say that I wouldn’t be comfortable doing so with a broomstick or some PVC pipe, but when I consider the pre-adolescents with whom I’ve worked, I just can’t see them getting excited about all that technique work for one category of exercises. Olympic lifting is a sport in itself, and I think it should be viewed that way.

BG – My subscribers know that I believe as much in deceleration training as I do in any sort of speed enhancing-based work… How do you improve speed and deceleration habits?

EC – We’re definitely on the same page on this one. In a nutshell, I just slow everything down for the short-term – starting with isometric holds. Every change of direction has a deceleration, isometric action, and acceleration; I’ve found that if you teach the athlete how his/her body should be aligned in that mid-point, they’ll be golden. My progressions are as follows (keep in mind that you can span several of these progressions in one session if the athlete is proficient):

Slow-speed, Full Stop, Hold > Slow Speed, Full Stop, Acceleration > Slow Speed, Quick Transition,

Open-loop > Closed-loop (predictable > unpredictable)

With respect to reactive training methods (incorrectly termed plyometrics), we start with bilateral and unilateral jumps to boxes, as they don’t impose as much eccentric force (the athlete goes up, but doesn’t come down). From there, we move to altitude landings, and ultimately to bounce drop jump (depth jumps), repeated broad jumps, bounding, and other higher-impact tasks.

Finally, one lost component of deceleration training is basic maximal strength. All other factors held constant, the stronger kid will learn to decelerate more easily than his weaker counterparts. So, enhancing a generally, foundational quality like maximal strength on a variety of tasks will indirectly lead to substantial improvements in deceleration ability – especially in untrained individuals.

Another week in the books!  Thanks for checking in.

Until next time, train hard and have fun!

EC

We’re five newsletters in, and while the feedback on our interviews has been fantastic, I’ve actually received several emails from people wanting to hear more from me.  In my infinite wisdom, I guess I never realized that people would actually sign up for an EricCressey.com newsletter to hear from Eric Cressey.  With that said, I figured that since I receive hundreds of emails on a weekly basis, I might as well pick a few from the pile and respond for everyone.  There will be some information, some sarcasm, and the occasional rant; I guess that’s part of the beauty of having your own newsletter.  As always, if there is something you’d like to see in the newsletter, just say the word; I’m all ears.

“1) They're willing to work out in excess of 5hrs per week (sometimes up to 8 hours/week).

A:

Those are definitely some statements with which I agree wholeheartedly, and I think that the more people that check out JB’s Precision Nutrition products, the less often I’ll have to encounter questions like this!  Once people start to adopt these ideals, I really think that we’ll see a paradigm shift in the world of training-nutrition interaction for body composition improvement.

I, too, get really sick and tired of the “bulk and cut” mentality to which so many people adhere.  And, as a competitive athlete myself who has to maintain reasonably strict control over my body weight – yet has still seen consistent improvements in body composition over time – I feel that I have a solid frame of reference from which to speak.  In fact, as I look to drop a few pounds prior to APF Senior Nationals (June 2), my overall training and nutrition strategies aren’t changing much at all.

With that said, I've got several problems with what has seemingly become the “traditionalist” approach:

Now, put a natural lifter in the same scenario, and you’ll see right away that he’s immediately at a disadvantage.  Drop calories too fast, and your endogenous testosterone and thyroid levels fall.  You get tired and weak, and your body has to find energy wherever it can – even if it means breaking down muscle tissue.

I’m not trying to get on a soapbox here; I’m just trying to make people realize that they’re comparing apples and oranges.  You need to do what’s right for you.

And what does that entail?  Adopt admirable dietary, training, and lifestyle habits, and you’ll build a strong body that moves efficiently and just so happens to look good.  Leave the quick-fix approaches for those with “assistance” and anyone silly enough to watch a fitness infomercial from beginning to end.

*Note to readers: This reference was spurred on by my good friend, Tony Gentilcore, who was responsible for the quote of the week:

“There are two kinds of people that irritate me: people who use the leg press, and Ben Affleck.”

(For your information, Tony has a bit of a crush on Jennifer Garner, and it tends to make him a little biased when the time comes to review Affleck movies)

Q:

I was wondering what your thoughts on “finishers” to workouts are.  You know, tough stuff to test yourself at the end of a lift.

A:

Truthfully, I rarely add "finishers" to the end of sessions. In my opinion, this brings to light an amazing "phenomenon" that exists in the performance enhancement field. Those who make frequent use of finishers are the very same individuals who don't know a thing about volume manipulation for optimal supercompensation. If the finisher was such a valuable inclusion, then why wasn't it written into the program initially?

Some people claim that these are an ideal means of enhancing mental toughness.  I can’t disagree, but I do think that your mental training stimuli should already exist in your programming.  If you need to search around for things to haphazardly incorporate at the end of a session, then you need to take a look at program design abilities.  I’d rather see a “finisher” just be considered an appropriately-planned “last exercise.”  Believe it or not, there should even be times when you leave the gym feeling fresh.

I will say, however, that finishers have their place with younger athletes where you’re just trying to keep the session fun.  If you find something productive that they’re enthusiastic about doing, by all means, deviate from your plan a bit and build on that enthusiasm.  When they start getting more experienced, though, you’re going to have to know when to hold back the reins on them a bit.

Q:

In December of 2001, I was rear-ended going about 30mph; five cars were involved, and I was the first car hit from behind. My knee hit the dashboard when I was hit from behind and my head was jerked backwards when I hit the car in front of me.

My knee started hurting soon after, although I never got it checked out.  It’s now become a sharp pain and a constant, dull ache as well with weakness on stairs and squatting-type positions especially.  In addition, there are tender areas, on the outside and top of the knee, that cause extreme pain when I am bending, squatting, lying down, or sitting down for too long. My hip has also been affected, also aching constantly. My right leg and knee also hurt and knot up easily.   The surrounding muscles are very weak with several knots in them, and I also have a very tight iliotibial band.  Any ideas what might be going on?

A:

I thought "PCL" (posterior cruciate ligament) the second I saw the word "dashboard;" it's the most common injury mechanism with this injury.  I’m really surprised that they didn’t check you out for this right after the accident; you might actually be a candidate for a surgery to clean things up.  Things to consider:

1. They aren't as good at PCL surgeries as they are with ACL surgeries, as they're only 1/10 as common.  As such, they screw up a good 30%, as I recall – so make sure you find a good doctor who is experienced with this injury to assess you and, if necessary, do the procedure.

2. It's believed that isolated PCL injuries never occur; they always take the LCL and a large "chunk" of the posterolateral complex along for the ride.  That would explain some of the lateral pain.

3. The PCL works synergistically with the quads to prevent posterior tibial translation.  As such, quad strengthening is always a crucial part of PCL rehab (or in instances when they opt to not do surgery).  A good buddy of mine was a great hockey player back in the day, but he has no PCL in his right knee; he has to make up for it now with really strong quads.

4. Chances are that a lot of the pain you’re experiencing now is related more to the compensation patterns you’ve developed over the years than it is to the actual knee injury.  For instance, the tightness in your IT band could be related to you doing more work at the hip to avoid loading that knee too much.  Pain in the front of the knee would be more indicative of a patellar tendonosis condition (“Jumper’s Knee”), which would result from over-reliance on your quads because of the lack of the PCL (something has to work overtime to prevent the portion of posterior tibial translation that the PCL normally resisted).

5. From an acute rehabilitation standpoint, I think you’d need to address both soft tissue length (with stretching and mobility work) and quality (with foam rolling).  These interventions would mostly treat the symptoms, so meanwhile, you’re going to need to look at the deficient muscles that aren't doing their job (i.e. the real reasons that ITB/TFL complex is so overactive).  I'll wager my car, entire 2006 salary, and first-born child that it’s one or more of the following:

a) your glute medius and maximus are weak

b) your adductor magnus is overactive

c) your ITB/TFL is overactive (we already know this one)

d) your biceps femoris (lateral hamstring) is overactive

e) your rectus femoris is tighter than a camel's butt in a sandstorm

f) you might have issues with weakness of the posterior fibers of the external oblique, but not the rectus abdominus (most exercisers I know do too many crunches anyway!)

Again, your best bet is to get that PCL checked out and go from there.  If you’ve made it from December 2001 until now without being incapacitated, chances are that you’ll have a lot of wiggle room with testing that knee out so that you can go into the surgery (if there is one) strong.

Good luck!

That’s all for this week; I hope everyone enjoyed it!

All the Best,

EC