As of yesterday Endeavor Sports Performance has a new home. Some of you might have been aware that our facility was supposed to move, but most of you probably didn’t know anything about it. Originally we were supposed to move last November….yep, that’s right, November! Delays in the construction process were mostly responsible for this move that ended up being much later that we could all have expected.
Good news is, here we are 9 months later, and it finally happened. It’s been a long process, and everyone at Endeavor is pumped about this new move. We’re moving from a 13,000 feet facility to a 6,000 feet facility, which might not sound like a step forward, but in reality it is. We move from a half general member, half sports performance to a completely open space, completely sports performance oriented facility.
It’s still a work in progress, as we don’t have our turf yet and the offices still need to be finished, but by the end of the week we should be completely set.
Here are a couple pictures of the work in progress:
Stay tuned for more pictures (probably in the next few weeks) of the finished product. I’ll be back Thursday with some new content!
Don’t forget to get my 3 FREE reports on sports performance training and injury prevention; simply enter your info below!
I was thinking about this while writing my last post The Return of the Sit Up?. It’s funny how trends change in the fitness industry. One day HIIT (high intensity interval training) is the best conditioning method ever, the next it’s the return of aerobic training. One day crunches and sit ups are the best ab exercises, the next we realize that it’s the worst thing ever.
You get the point. Trends change.
One of the main reasons is because we’re learning a little more about anatomy and physiology everyday, which make us change our mind on what the best training and rehab modalities are. Because of that, some things have disappeared (or will disappear) from our training programs and will likely never come back. Machines for instance. We have enough knowledge now to understand that training on machines is counter productive for anything that involves functional training or sports performance.
On the other hand, some things just come and go. In my opinion, it’s the result of pendulums swinging too far in one direction. When all everybody is doing in gyms around the country is high rep bodybuilding style weight training, and low intensity long duration conditioning, a trend starts to develop. But more importantly your body adapts. And when you do the same thing for years, you plateau and your progress slows down.
Then, a study comes out on the benefits of HIIT and how it improves VO2 max, and decreases body fat faster than low intensity long duration conditioning. All of a sudden, low intensity long duration conditioning is garbage, it makes you fatter and it’s completely useless. You hear strength coaches say: “look at all the marathon runners, they don’t have any muscles and they’re fat.”
Yea…very fat
We saw the same thing happen with weight lifting for hypertrophy development. One day we realized that working on lower rep range, using heavier weights and moving away from body part splits was waayyy more efficient than the typical bodybuilding approach. Because, you know, the only reason bodybuilders ware so jacked is because they’re all on juice.
Have you heard of natural bodybuilding?
Trends change. I get it.
We learn and discover new things constantly. I get it.
But in a lot of cases, the reason trends change so drastically is because pendulums swing too far. HIIT became the new shit for conditioning because people have been doing nothing else but low intensity long duration conditioning for years no matter what their goal was. You want to lose fat? Run. You want to get in shape for hockey season? Run.
Same thing with the bodybuilding trend in the weight room. Everybody was doing body part splits, everybody was doing sets of 10. And one day we realized that when you lift heavier weights you’ll put on some weight faster. That’s probably not because you’ve never forced yourself to lift a dumbbell heavier than 45 pounds before…
In both cases, just like with so many other things, trends change because we do too much of one thing. Your body becomes very efficient at developing one thing. In the meanwhile, there’s a bunch of other qualities or systems that are sleeping somewhere in your body.
By writing this post, I’m not trying to take a stand on any of those trends. I’m trying to make a point that sometimes when a pendulum swings too far in one direction, our first reflex is to swing it as far as possible in the opposite direction….
To learn all the latest on strength and conditioning, make sure you sign up for my newsletter; it’s FREE and I’ll even send you my 3 reports on speed training and injury prevention!
Sit ups and crunches are one of the most unproductive exercises you can do to work your core. If you think about the most important functions of the core muscles you’ll likely end up with these 2 answers:
- Stabilize and protect the spine from excessive movement
- Force transfer from the lower body to the upper body
That being said, you can now appreciate why exercises that encourage motion at the spine are not the most productive ones when you want to work your core for functional and sports performance purposes. That’s why exercises such as planks, belly presses, and chops and lifts variations are far better options.
But what if sit ups and crunches actually served a purpose?
Before you ask, no, I’m not crazy.
One of the big differences between exercises that recruit your trunk muscles isometrically (planks, etc), and crunches and sit ups is the shortening of the muscles during the exercise.
If you perform too many crunches and sit ups, there is a c0ncetric action on the rectus abdominis that will most likely shorten the muscle in the long run. Because of the rectus’ attachment on the ribcage, it might pull you into a bigger kyphosis.
The guy probably did too many crunches…
What might be beneficial with these exercises might be more in regards to the oblique muscles. During a sit up or a crunch, the obliques pull the lower ribs down via their upper attachment, and posteriorly tilt the pelvis via their lower attachment on the illiac crest.
For somebody who presents with a significant rib flare and an anterior pelvic tilt, it might not be a bad idea to include a low volume of these “evil” exercises with a rehab purpose to correct the issue. We’re not talking about doing 100′s of crunches per day here.
This really is the only situation in which I might consider using a couple sets here and there with an athlete, though.
For this purpose, I like the straight leg sit ups for the way it recruits the internal and external oblique.
But again, this is something I would use only for rehab or prehab purposes, and the bulk of my core work would still be variations of planks, belly presses, un-even carries, etc.
Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter; it’s FREE and I’ll send you 3 bonuses! Just enter your info below!
There are so many people in this industry that have something to teach. Every single one of them with unique background and experience that makes them very knowledgeable.
In my opinion the ones with the most valuable knowledge to share are the ones that have been successful for many years in this business training athletes. I always get pretty pissed off when I hear or read some “internet experts” talk shit on those that have far more real world experience than them, and that have been successful at what they do for such a long time. Charlie Weingroff once said something like “you can make research say whatever you want”. Meaning there will always be a study somewhere to support your opinion. So I hate to break it to you, but research is not the end all, be all of performance training. Yes it’s important, and yes it helps understand the science behind what we do, but don’t trust every single research paper ever written.
That being said, here are some of the guys, in my opinion, who have been the most successful in the fitness business for a long time. When these guys talk, I listen.
Mike has been coaching athletes for almost 30 years. That’s about as many years as I’ve been alive! For that reason alone, when coach Boyle talks, I listen. It’s funny how it works in the fitness business, as it seems like you’re either a “Boyle guy” or you’re not. By that I mean that there is a lot of people out there that believe what Mike does is the best way to do things and follow all of his ideas. On the other hand there are a lot of coaches out there who disagree with everything Boyle says. Regardless, Mike has been coaching high level athletes for a very long time, and has been sending more players to the NHL than anybody I know. Most of the guys that Boyle trains have very few incidences of injury, and usually have pretty long careers. So whether you agree that 1-leg squats are better than back squats, or foam rolling serves a purpose or not, you have to respect what he’s done. The other thing I really like about coach Boyle is that he is not afraid to change his mind and admit when he has been wrong. That proves his open-mindedness and his will to still get better. Even after 30 years in the business, he doesn’t sit on it thinking he’s the best.
It’s a shame that Mark doesn’t have a bigger internet presence to share more of his knowledge because he has so much to share. I’ve seen Mark present once at the Perform Better seminar last year, and before that I knew very little about him even though he’s been in the business for close to 20 years. His facility Athletes’ Performance, is one of the most successful companies in the business, and highly sought after by many professional athletes. That in itself tells me a lot. Building a successful company is just as important as being good at training your athletes, and Mark has proven himself successful in both. If you have a chance to see him in a seminar, jump on it! He is a very energetic guy that shares stuff that always makes a lot of sense to me.
The least I can say is that there is a lot of controversy around Charles Poliquin. People take shots at him constantly, he disagrees with a lot of other successful coaches, he seems to have his own ways, and he has a very select group of followers. Charles has done a lot of great things for the strength and conditioning world, and a lot of his principles and training methods are widely spread across the world. He has been around for more than 2 decades as well. He was a little guy from Canada who grew into becoming one of the most sought after strength and conditioning coach in the world. He has trained a ridiculous number of athletes who succeeded at the highest level (Stanley Cup champions, Super Bowl champions, Olympic gold medalist, etc), and he owns many facilities across the country. He has his own supplement line, his own certification program, and spreads his disciples everywhere in the country, and they all train people according to the ‘Poliquin principles’; it almost looks like a cult in the fitness industry! I can’t say I agree with every single thing he says, but with all the knowledge and experience coach Poliquin has, along with the success he’s had developing his business and products, I have a lot of respect for him and I always look to learn from him.
Joe has successfully trained athletes and Hollywood stars for many years now. He owns the most successful gym in New York City, and has built a solid reputation in the fitness business. On top of that, I met Joe a couple years ago and he is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. He’s very down to earth and he is not afraid to share his knowledge. Joe has been training a lot of clients who have body composition goals, and have had tremendous results doing so. I worked with personal training clients who wanted to lose fat in the past, and it is never easy because there is such a huge psychological component to it, especially when it comes to sticking to a diet. Because of that I can appreciate the work Joe does with his clients, and I am very impressed at how ripped his clients get!
Dan John has been in the business forever. He has an incredible amount of experience under his belt and he has coached more athletes than I ever will. He has a TON of knowledge, yet his advice are always simple and to the point. I’ve interacted with Dan a little bit via the internet and he is very nice and available, which are very important quality to me for people you look up to. Dan John is a really good writer too as he always shares experiences, and anecdotes while sharing his knowledge. The simplicity of his methods are always good for people who over-complicate things too much to hear. And more than anything else, for me, is that he is the exact opposite of every internet expert with no real world experience; he doesn’t use any big words, he’s easy to understand, he’s very down to earth and his training advice are always very practical.
I think it would be fair to say that 5 years ago, no one knew about Joel Jamieson. Fast forward a couple years, he released a book that creates a lot of discussions, released a heart rate variability product, and he is surrounded by controversy for his beliefs about aerobic training. The bottom line is that Joel brings some fresh air to the “just get everybody as strong as possible” mindset that has been very present in the strength and conditioning world. He has a lot of knowledge in some aspects of strength and conditioning that most coaches don’t have. He has been successfully training top level MMA fighters, as well as athletes from other sports for more than a decade. His opinions on many topics are different than the ones of other well known strength coaches, but Joel’s experience shows you that he has been successful using a completely different system, which we can all learn from.
Unfortunately not enough people know Sean, as he is not too big into marketing himself over the internet. But Sean his one of the best strength coaches out there. He has been working for an NHL team, and every single season his team finishes in the top 5 teams of least men-games lost to injury. In a sport that is becoming increasingly fast, and where the epidemic of injuries is growing every year, Sean manages to keep the injuries to a minimum with his team, the Anaheim Ducks. When working for a professional team, this is probably the biggest impact you can have as a strength coach. Let’s face it: you’re not going to improve performance that much during the season with pro athletes playing 82 games in 5 months or so. And during the off-season if you’re lucky to have 20% of your team still in town, a lot of them need to nurse injuries and reverse the damage from the previous season. Sean probably understands that more than anyone, which explains his success at the professional level. There is always something I can learn from Sean.
I didn’t really know Dave until recently, but he is one of the most knowledgeable guys in strength and conditioning. His understanding of the energy system development is simply fascinating. And Dave doesn’t just speak with big words, he has been coaching athletes for quite some time. He also has a unique perspective working with soccer players. Dave was involved in some forum discussions following an article I wrote for StrengthCoach.com recently, and I have to say that I learned a lot just by reading his posts on the forum. He is definitely someone I will refer to a lot in the future when it comes down to energy system development.
Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter; it’s FREE and I’ll sen you 3 bonuses immediately! Just enter your info below:
I’m not a big supplement guy…but here I am making a top 5 favorite supplement. It’s like going into a candy store when you’re diabetic.
The perfect plan…
All joking aside, I like supplements exactly for what they are: SUPPLEMENTS. What I don’t like is when supplements replace real food. Supplements should be used to supplement your diet to make it more complete. That being said you should still try to include a variety of natural, unprocessed foods in your diet (meats, fruits, vegetables and nuts of all kinds). But even when trying to eat as healthy as possible, there’s a thing called life that gets in the way of our good intentions to eat well. To complement you diet you may want to consider using one of these supplements:
5. ZMA. There is not that many scientific proofs out there that support the claims that ZMA improves sleep quality and boosts your hormones. But if you talk to anyone who has ever tried it, they’re gonna tell you that it does provide a deeper sleep. Everyone I ever prescribed it to have reported the same effects; they all say they sleep deeper when they take it. Personally I like to take ZMA sparingly whenever I have a couple nights where I don’t sleep that great, or when I feel like my immune system is down. The zinc and the magnesium in ZMA help boost your immune system.
4. Protein powder. This is far from an essential supplement, but oh so convenient. Ideal for snacks or for post-workout recovery, a good protein powder is always good to have at hand. My personal favorite is to make a smoothie using a scoop or two of protein, almond milk, a banana, strawberries, peanut butter and flax seeds. It’s absolutely delicious and still very convenient to take on the go or when you “don’t have time to eat breakfast”. A big question that always comes up is: “what kind of protein should I get?” There are obviously hundreds of different protein powders on the market, and each company claims that theirs is “better tasting” or have “better absorption”, or whatever BS they claim. The truth is that there is no magical protein powder. The less ingredients added the better. My absolute favorite one is the Jay Robb Whey Protein.
Other than having the stupidest label, that brand is great because it is made from organic dairy, and they used stevia as the sweetener. This is THE MOST natural and healthy option I’ve ever found when it comes down to protein powder. It is not the cheapest one though…
3. Vitamin D. Although I’d much rather get my vitamin D directly from the sun, the reality is that most of us spend the majority of the day inside when we work. These are coincidentally the hours where you’d want to be outside enjoying the sun. That being said, a vitamin D supplement is almost essential if you live in northern regions because we don’t see the sun much, especially in the winter. With all the research coming out on vitamin D and stating its importance in depression, mood swings, hormone levels, and certain types of cancer, you definitely want to make sure you vitamin D levels are in check.
2. Fish oil. It’s not a breaking news anymore, fish oil plays an important role in the prevention of many types of cancer, it improves memory, it slows down aging, it lubricates your joints, it helps preserve lean body mass and decrease body fat, etc, etc, etc. The studies proving the importance of the omega 3′s DHA and EPA are accumulating by hundreds every year. We all need to take it. Period.
The only thing you want to be careful about when it comes to supplementing with fish oil is to make sure the quality is good. In recent years, there has been many cases of mercury poisoning with some types of fish. Because of that you want to make sure that your fish oil comes from a quality source that doesn’t extract its fish oil from cheap fish that have a higher chance of containing mercury. Carlson Lab Fish Oil is the best brand I know out there; the quality of their product is pharmaceutical grade.
1. Greens supplement. As time goes by this is increasingly becoming my favorite supplement. Even if we try hard, we rarely if ever get 12 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, which is the optimal amount we should eat. A greens supplement makes it much easier to reach that ideal 12 servings per day, and all you need is 1-2 scoops per day mixed in with some water. It might not be the best tasting supplement in the world, but it will help cover all your micronutrient needs and improve how you feel. I like the Greens+ company as they make a berry flavored product with additional antioxidants, but there are other companies out there that are just as good.
Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter; it’s FREE and you’ll get my 3 reports on sports performance training!
As time goes by and as I gain more experience as a strength coach, the 1-leg squat off a box or a bench is quickly becoming one of my favorite strength exercises for the lower body.
It is a very challenging exercise to perform even without weights. It requires a decent amount of relative strength (strength to bodyweight ratio) to only be able to do it correctly.
If you have been following my blog for a while, you should know by now that I’m a huge advocate of single leg exercises. Of all the lunges, split squats and others, I believe that the 1-leg squat off bench can give you the most benefits. Compared to a lunge or a split squat, you don’t have any support of your non-dominant leg. That makes it very hard to compensate or use too much of a push with the support leg.
Also because of the lack of support from the non-working leg, it makes it pretty challenging on your stability. I am not a fan of unstable surface training, but I’m all for improving stability on a stable surface. If an athlete can’t keep his balance trying to perform a 1-leg squat that tells me a lot about his stability.
The lack of stability in single leg support may lead to a host other problems. Think about it for a second, all sports are played on one leg at a time with actions such as running, jumping, skating, cutting, etc. If an athlete can’t be stable when performing an unsupported 1-leg exercise, he’s setting himself for injury.
The 1-leg squat usually requires little external loading compared to exercises such as a reverse lunge or a RFE split squat. I am not saying that external loading is necessarily bad, and I do use these exercises myself with my athletes. But even if you can load lower body exercises safely, it still adds compression to the spine. According to research, axial loading (as in this case) is not what causes injury; repetitive and excessive flexion, extension and torsion combined with loading is what causes spine injuries. However, even if axial loading doesn’t translate into injury there is still some wear that accumulate on the spine if you lift weights for years. In the case of a pro athlete or an athlete trying to maximize the longevity of his career, it would be smart to lean towards exercises with less axial loading on the spine more than just once in a while.
Since the 1-leg squat can be a difficult exercise to perform for some athletes who’ve never done it before, you may be facing a couple problems.
One thing very common with young athletes performing the exercise is that they won’t be able to go all the way down and touch the ground. An easy fix for that is to lower the box or stack plates on the ground, so the distance the athlete needs to travel to touch his heel down is less.
Shirt optional…
Another common problem with a lot of athletes is the inability to control the valgus collapse (the knee going in). Some coaching cues can help solve the problem, but if it doesn’t seem to be working too well, you can use a technique called reactive neuromuscular training (RNT). The idea behind RNT is to force the body into its natural compensation pattern to make the brain automatically correct it. In this specific example, you would wrap a band around the athlete’s knee and pull it towards the valgus collapse. The brain will naturally want to resist the tension, which will also correct the problem because you’ll be activating the muscles that actually prevent that valgus collapse.
Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter; it’s FREE and I’ll send you 3 bonuses!
It might just be because of a long cervical spine. But often times this long neck appearance is caused by down sloped shoulders.
This appearance is usually the result of a problem originating at the shoulder blades called downward rotation syndrome. This is something Shirley Sahrmann talks about in her book Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes. The shoulder blades are rotated downwardly and this, in turn, changes the angle of the clavicle and the whole shoulder joint, making the shoulders look down sloped and the neck look longer.
When attempting to fix this, you want to attack the problem from different angle. You’ll want to do soft-tissue work and stretch the short/stiff muscles, activate the muscles that perform the opposing action and add some strength to those muscles. In this specific case that would mean:
- Soft-tissue and stretching of the downward rotators of the scapula- pec minor, levator scapula, rhomboids.
- Activation of the upward rotators of the scapula- serratus anterior, upper trap, lower trap. (The lower trap also contributes to scapular depression which is sometimes associated with downward rotation, so in those cases the lower trap might not be a weak link).
The wall angel is one exercise I like a lot to improve upward rotation of the scapula.
As far as strengthening, I find that a decent amount of upper trap work usually help correct the problem. There are 3 exercises I really like that help accomplish that:
- Overhead shrug
Putting the arms overhead forces you to get into upward rotation of the scapula, but most importantly takes the levator scapula (which is a downward rotator) out of the equation.
- Reverse grip face pulls
The face pull with a reverse grip is another exercise that will put your scapula in upward rotation while emphasizing the upper traps. You wanna make sure that you’re pulling the rope towards your forehead.
- Shrugs
The classic meathead exercise might not be THAT useless after all
Shrugs are usually just a typical meathead exercises, and there is some level of levator scap work. But done in moderate amount in combination with the exercises above I find that they can strengthen the upper traps and help get rid of the down slopped shoulder look.
Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter; it’s FREE and you’ll receive 3 bonuses on sports training!
Chest up. Belly tight. Finish with your hips. Stay on your heels.
The most common coaching cues are pretty much the same ones for a lot of exercises. The reasons are pretty simple; people in general have a tendency to be quad dominant, to use their lower back instead of their hips, and have a hard time maintaining a neutral spine. So the same coaching cues come back constantly, no matter what clientele you’re working with- whether they’re athletes, weekend warriors or just soccer mom.
There are other coaching cues that are less common, or very exercise specific. One of them that I use with all kneeling and half-kneeling exercises is the “toes under shin” cue.
This might seem like an unimportant cue in the tall kneeling or half kneeling positions, but to me it makes a huge difference.
There is a lot more stability in those positions with the toes pulled under the shin. If you’re toes are pointed back there is basically no anchor to the ground. Your down knee(s) are not really an anchor; it will only serve as a pivot for what is happening at the hip. With internal or external rotation torque at the hip and no anchor at the foot, the lower leg will only follow the lead of the hip.
External rotation at the hip can transfer to the lower leg if there is no anchor at the foot
The toes under allow the big toe to anchor the whole limb to the ground. You’ll have a greater proprioceptive feedback to the brain, and therefore more stability.
Don’t underestimate the importance of the toes in stability and proprioceptive control. In 2012, conventional shoewear make our foot very lazy, so training gives us a good opportunity to re-establish some of this stability and control of the toes and feet. Coaching the “toes under shin” for all half kneeling and tall kneeling exercises is a good place to start.
Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter; I’ll send you 3 bonuses on sports performance training…and the best of it all?? It’s all FREE! All you need is to enter your info below:
Concussions are quickly becoming an epidemic in sports, especially in fast-paced sports like hockey and football. It seems like the number of players suffering from concussions is growing at an alarming rate; the scariest part about that is that there is so much we don’t understand about concussions. One of these things is the long-term effects of the concussions on the brain. Many former NFL players have reported having psychological issues even after retiring; depression, mood swings, memory loss, and constant headaches have been reported.
The short-term effects are pretty scary too. If you just think about the return-to-play process after a concussion, there is nothing that allows you to know how long it will take to get back on the field, or the ice. Some athletes have had a mild concussion with symptoms that have lasted months.
All we know is that to return to play, you basically need to be symptom-free. But what dictates why you’re having those symptoms and how long they’re gonna last are some of the aspects of concussions that are still greatly misunderstood. Take Sydney Crosby’s case for example; he was out for almost a year with concussion-like symptoms. Although he was diagnosed with a concussion, it was later found out that most of his symptoms were coming from a neck problem.
Are concussion-like symptoms really all concussions? That’s another part of the puzzle that we need to figure out.
Problems around the cervical spine and the neck muscles can create symptoms very similar to the ones of a concussion. When you think about it, most concussions also involve some kind of whiplash, or violent neck movement, which could damage the cervical spine or strain the neck muscles.
Disruption of the visual system has also been associated with symptoms similar to the ones of a concussion. If your eyes are not aligned properly, or if you can’t focus well on objects with both of your eyes, this could be something else that might create concussion-like symptoms. Dr. Michael Peters, optometrist for the Carolina Hurricanes, mentions in his book See to Play how a disrupted visual system can create such symptoms.
The only thing we know for sure is that we don’t know enough about concussions and concussion-like symptoms. Hopefully the next couple of years will give us clearer answers. In the meantime I would strongly suggest you watch the 4-part video series below that my friend Kevin Neeld made a couple months ago about concussion-like symptoms; it’s really an eye-opener.
Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter; it’s FREE and you’ll receive 3 bonuses on speed training and injury prevention!!
