Perform Better Summit (Providence, RI) Recap: Part 1

The Perform Better seminars are always a great time. Fantastic presenters and amazing people who are looking to become better trainers, coaches, therapists, or fitness enthusiasts. Speaking of the presenters, the line up was amazing. Here are just a few of them: Thomas Myers, Sue Falsone, Mike Boyle, Eric Cressey, Martin Rooney, Robert Dos Remedios, Chris Frankel, Todd Durkin, Grey Cook, and on, and on… I was really bummed that I didn’t get to see more of the lectures and hands on presentations.

Here are the ones I did get to:

Sue Falsone on the Thoracic Spine (Lecture and Hands-On): If you don’t know Sue, she is a highly regarded PT and works for The LA Dodgers and Athletes Performance. Sue talked about the importance of mobilizing the thoracic spine and how being locked up there can cause issues above and below. I feel like we have talked a ton about thoracic mobility on the podcast so I will keep it brief. Sue, gave us a few mobility exercises to do. Most if not all of them require a knowledgeable PT to perform.

Sue also emphasized that we need to also stretch the side of our body, here is one of the movements she gave us here:

Chris Frankel (Lecture and Hands-On):

You might remember Chris from Episode 151 of The FitCast. He is the go to guy when it comes to suspension training be it with a TRX or any other suspension device. Chris’ lecture was really good. It kind of surprised me how much there was to learn about suspension training and how it can be so valuable for us as coaches or fitness enthusiasts. his motto for suspension training makes a lot of sense: FLAC

• Unleaded, Focus on Movement
• Learn appropriate level of progression
• Apply training stimulus
• Challenge conditioning

Chris also went over some cool single leg exercises and progressions with the TRX that I will try to shoot videos of for you guys. Basically, if you still don’t have a TRX, you are really missing out.

That is it for Part 1. Part 2 will be all about Thomas Myers and Anatomy Trains. I am attending another one of Thomas’ lectures tonight so I should have some great stuff for you guys. And again, Anatomy Trains is one of those books that you must have to understand why we foam roll, and why foam rolling might actually be pretty ineffective…

Training Intensity Through Environment and Prowler Ownage

I have been trying to get back to Cressey Performance at least once a week to train with the guys there because it makes me push myself harder than I thought I could go. It is really a group of friends encouraging each other to reach their true potential. This is something that is almost impossible to do on your own.

Quickly, I want to give a shout out to Tony Gentilcore (very entertaining and education blog that is guaranteed to have scantily clad women), Brian St. Pierre (nutrition and training blog with tons of free recipes and cooking tips), and of course Pete Dupuis (Pete used to blog more…). Of course there is also Eric, but you most likely read his blog, and Chris Howard, who has no blog, but is the master of band training. And an honorable mention to Chris Pothier, intern, who did some mean GCB reverse lunges.

Now for the video:

And one bonus video of the the human version of Spike, George Abele deadlifting:

It’s All About Progression: Push Ups

Beginners make a lot of mistakes when they first start lifting and it isn’t their fault. They see a workout in FLEX or SHAPE magazine and just go at it. Then their form is poor, they are complaining of soreness, and they don’t see results. Why? Because they don’t use progressions. Why start with reverse lunges or body-weight squats when you could be doing back squats with German volume training that promises 100 lb increase in your 1RM in 3 months? Same think with push ups to benching. I don’t let any of my untrained athletes and clients bench until they have shown proficiency in the push up. I mean they should be able to do 15 body weight push ups before I put them under the bar. Dumbbells are another case, but hopefully you are picking up what I am dropping you.

The Push Up

The horizontal press is another one of those movements that people tend to progress to rapidly. Should you really be joining in with your buddies on Bench Monday if you can’t do 12 bodyweight push ups? Probably not. What about doing dips, dumbbell press variations, or dumbbell flys? Oh yeah, and that brings me to my next point, stay the hell away from machines unless you want to get into bodybuilding (and can eat and train for it) or have a specific reason for doing so (training for EXTREME hugging does not count, although I am all for it).

Now let’s talk about the push up a little more before we continue. Personally I think it is in the argument when you talk about the top three exercises you can do for optimal strength, performance, and overall health promotion. Just for discussion (in the comments) I believe the other two are the single legged squat (or lunge) and the pull up and its variations.

How to do a perfect push up

Keep these things in mind when performing the push up:

• Keep a straight line from the back of your head to your heels.
• Keep glutes tight (will help you keep that straight line
• Chin tucked
• Don’t lead with your head
• Hands shoulder width apart (or more) and under your shoulders (don’t have your hands past your face when you are on the ground.
• 45-70 degree angle at the armpit
• Bring chest all the way to the ground for proper scapular retraction

Phase 1:

• Elevated Push Up (hand elevated)
  • If someone can not do push ups from the ground the best place to start is with their hands on a box or an elevated barbell in a rack. This way you can progress them by moving the bar in the rack closer to the ground or a shorter box.

Phase 2:

• Bodyweight Push Up
  • You should be able to complete a minimum of 12 push ups correctly before moving on

Phase 3 (Where the Fun Begins):

• 1-Legged Push Ups (Great for core and shoulder stability, I am a big fan of this as the first progression after bodyweight push ups)

• T-Pusp Ups
  • These are great for also addressing thoracic mobility as well.

• Feet Elevated Push Ups (12 inch box)

• Clap Push Up

Phase 4:

• Spiderman Push Up

• TRX Push Up
• TRX Atomic Push Up
• Slideboard Push Ups

• Valslide Push Ups

• Renegade Row

Spicing it Up

Now what if you have become a master of all of the push up variations and now you need more of a challenge that is where these come in play.

• Chains
• Band Resisted Push Ups

Now what are your favorite push up movements? I could go the rest of my lift just doing push ups… But I won’t… Because I love benching…

Random Tips of the Week: Desk Jobs and Fat Loss Methods

Sometimes I have some cool things to talk about, but they wouldn’t justify a whole blog post. That is where the random tips posts come in. I am not going to go too in depth on these, just some thoughts on diet, nutrition, training, and rehab.

1. If You Work a Desk Job, Do 2:1 Pull to Press.

This one should be pretty obvious. A large majority of people today have desk jobs, and for the guys, still tend to do too much horizontal pressing. You know the whole “Bench Monday” thing? And this is not just a postural thing. Many people wonder why their bench never goes up while their back and lats are proportionally weak compared to their chest. So, maybe do your barbell bench in the beginning, but throw in two row variations later on in the workout. Push ups are great too as it promotes scapular retraction and you can do some many progressions (coming up on Monday I will have an article on it). You can even super set the BB bench with a 1-arm DB row or a facepull. BONUS: A little thoracic mobility work wouldn’t hurt either.

2. Fat Loss: Train More to Eat More? Or Train Less, But Eat Less?

I don’t think we discuss this subject enough. Yeah, you have heard that, “you can’t out train a bad diet” a thousand times, but what about what is optimal for fat loss? A program where you are lifting 3-4 days a week with high intensity interval training along with a calorie deficit around 3500 cals/week? What about a 3-day full body program with some steady state walking on off days and a 7,000-8,000 Calorie deficit? Would we be able to retain most if not all of our muscle mass?

Do we have the answer? Has it been researched? Personally, I think it depends:

• How quickly do you want to lose weight?
• How important is it to train at a high intensity when it comes to your enjoyment?
• How much time do you have to dedicate to training each week?
• What have you done in the past and has it worked?

It is just a case of different strokes for different folks. Both will work if you have the calories, workout nutrition, macronutrient partitioning, and training down. Does one work better all things equal? In my experience with clients and personally, I would go with the lower calories, 3 day lift, and some steady state work on off days if they have their nutrition locked in. BUT!!! Remember, it does depend on their goals. I am just talking about looking good naked. Not deadlifting 400 pounds, or doing 40 pull ups, or having a 30 inch vert, or the ability to run a 6-minute mile.

Some of my clients just don’t want to eat protein at every meal and count calories. For them I take a little harder approach with the lifting and conditioning because I know they are fueling themselves to recover from it. For some of my male clients at least I can promise that they will put some muscle mass on and drop some bodyfat, it is just going to be a little slower.

I understand that everyone has their own different training and body composition philosophies. There is more than one ways to skin a cat, I guess I think we need to evaluate our clients and ourselves to determine which method will garner the best results.

It’s All About Progressions: Core

Beginners make a lot of mistakes when they first start lifting and it isn’t their fault. They see a workout in FLEX or SHAPE magazine and just go at it. Then their form is poor, they are complaining of soreness, and they don’t see results. Why? Because they don’t use progressions. Why start with reverse lunges or body-weight squats when you could be doing back squats with German volume training that promises 100 lb increase in your 1RM in 3 months? Same think with push ups to benching. I don’t let any of my untrained athletes and clients bench until they have shown proficiency in the push up. I mean they should be able to do 15 body weight push ups before I put them under the bar. Dumbbells are another case, but hopefully you are picking up what I am dropping you.

The Plank

This post I want to focus on the plank,  the most basic core stability exercises. I have a hierarchy of goals the athlete/client needs to meet before moving on to further progressions:

Phase 1

• 30 second front plank/15 second side plank (Per Side)
• Ability to do Pallof Presses properly in the tall kneeling position (weight will vary, I just want them to be able to stay tall and squeeze their glutes)

Phase 2

• 60 second Plank/30 second side plank (Per Side)
• Ability to do half-kneeling and standing Pallof Presses properly
• 12 kneeling rollouts on an exercise ball or TRX.
• Half Kneeling Cable Chops/Lifts

Phase 3

• 30 Second Feet elevated (FE) Plank (on 12″ box)/15 second FE Side Plank (per side)
• Ability to do 1 Legged Pallof Press
• Crawling Planks
• Rollout on Ab Wheel
• Landmines/Extreme Core Trainer
• Standing Cable Lifts

Phase 4

• Feet supported Side Plank
• Standing TRX Rollout
• Landmine/Extreme Core Trainer with Handles
• Band Resisted Rollouts

Phase 5

• Use your imagination

This is just what I go by and it can change based on other variables. But for the most part this is what you should go by for your own training and your clients.

Off Season Soccer Training

On Episode 167 we got a question from Hannah about training for soccer. Jon and I had a little bit of a disagreement about what she should be doing. If you haven’t already, check out the podcast and let us know your opinion. Anyways, here is the article I told Hannah I would write.

When it comes to female high school soccer players, or high school athletes in general (just females more so because of their higher rate of ACL and MCL injuries) they tend to lack the lateral stability and endurance that is necessary for optimal performance and injury prevention. Mike Boyle wrote in his article titled, “ACL Injury Prevention Is Just Good Training,” that, “estimates run to over 100,000 ACL tears per year, with 30,000 of them high school age females.” So 30% of ALL ACL tears happen to high school females. That is a pretty astounding statistic. All thanks to the Q-Angle of the female hip.

Building a Solid Off Season Program:

During the podcast I argued that Hannah (the listener) should be focusing some of her time on lateral work. This includes

• lateral warmups
• ladder drills
• and lateral plyometrics

Of course she should also be focusing on a solid weight lifting program. Do your lunges, single legged squats and deadlifts, glute activation, and upper body work. My point was that if she has 75-90 minutes 2-3 times per week to train, she should have plenty of time to do all she needs to do.

I would only recommend you focus on the lateral aspect of the warm up and plyos every other session to make sure you still do some linear work. For example:

• Session 1 (Lateral)
  • Foam roll
  • lateral dynamic warmup: forward lunges, lateral lunge/squat, 3 direction SLDL, along with her upper body warm ups
  • Active warm up: side shuffle, carioca, ect
  • Ladder work
  • Lateral plyos (heidens, 1-leg later hops, ect)
  • medball/LIFT
• Session 2 (Linear)
  • Foam roll
  • Linear dynamic: walking lunges, toe touch squat to stands, and upper body (push ups, scap wall slides, reach roll and lift)
  • Linear Dynamic (part 2): butt kick pull backs, knee hugs, walking lunges, spiderman lunges, inch worms
  • Linear Active High knees skips, high knee run, butt kicks, back pedal, ect)
  • Linear plyos (box jumps, depth drops, ect)
  • medball/Lift
• Conditioning
  • Shuttles will be great for improving lateral movement speed and (when done correctly) teaching your body to decelerate.

I am not saying to do all of this, pick and chose and make a recipe that fits your training level, time of the year, and time you have for the session. Try to limit the hops to 20 each session. Also, keep in mind, this is just a basic outline for ideas, not a program.

Here are some videos of exercises and warm ups you should use:

(in regards to the video of me, make sure to land softly, toe then heal and stick the landing. You should be able to hold that position.