A post by Anthony Donskov on Mike Boyle’s blog called Not Everyone Gets a Trophy, and a discussion with some fellow strength coaches from Massachusetts inspired this.
Obviously building self-esteem is important with kids, and it is an important part of a strength coach’s job when you work with young athletes. I’ve seen parents come in our facility and flat out tell me their kid “suck at baseball”, or “runs like an idiot”. I am always amazed to hear those comments coming from THEIR OWN PARENTS!
“OMG, you suck at basketball!”
But quite frankly, I see both extremes. The other extreme being that some parents just simply reward too much! Again, I am all for improving kids’ self-esteem in sports and other areas of life because that will carry over to their adult life.
To me, there are core values that will shape your life forever that need to be transmitted at a young age: discipline, hard work, dedication, perseverance, etc.
To quote Anthony: “I miss the good old days! A time where hard work, commitment, discipline and positive attitude were expected, not rewarded, failure was not final and earning meant sacrifice.”
If you reward your kids for every single thing, they will never learn what it takes to succeed.
I understand that it can be tough for kids to lose, finish second, fail a subject in school, but guess what?! It’s normal! It’s part of something we call life! Not everyone wins all the time, we don’t succeed at every single thing that we try, and you know what? It’s OK. You’ll get over it, and if you learned a lesson, you’ll work even harder to succeed next time!
Kids do need to be rewarded when they do great things, when they win, when they get an ‘A’ in school, but they also need to learn what it feels like to fail, and learn that it’s normal. You can’t expect a reward every single time to act the way you’re supposed to!
When did boosting kids’ self-esteem came to the expense of everything else that’s important in life?!
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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.
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Being a successful person in this business is a hard thing to achieve. Being considered an expert in this field is a hard thing to achieve. It doesn’t happen over night. You need to put your time in.
Of course, getting a degree in exercise science or kinesiology is a pre-requisite, but understand that it doesn’t make you better than the rest of us as soon as you get out of school. The biggest mistake you can ever make is thinking that you know everything when you get out of school. A wise man once said: “the day you stop learning is the day you start dying”. It’s very true, and even more true in the strength and conditioning field. Theoretical knowledge is an important thing to have, and something that is important to keep gaining through continuing education.
But continuing education alone isn’t gonna make you better than anybody else. In our field IT IS probably more important than any other field because of the numerous gray areas and the fact that the body is complex machine. But no matter how much you know, how much you think you know or how much you learn through continuing education, that still won’t make you a successful person in this business. You need to put your time in. If you’re already familiar with these names, odds are you shouldn’t worry about not doing enough continuing education: Eric Cressey, Mike Boyle, Charlie Weingroff, Postural Restoration Institute, Functional Movement Screen, Precision Nutrition, Alwyn Cosgrove, StrengthCoach.com, Janda. The point is, if you don’t apply what you learn, it’s worthless. “Knowing and not doing is not knowing at all.”
Putting your time in means doing actual work. Coaching, teaching, running groups, being involved with athletes. Mike Boyle referenced the 10,000 hours rule to become an expert in any given field that Malcolm Gladwell talks about in the book Outliers. It’s true. That’s how it workd in strength and conditioning, just like in any other sphere of life; you can’t expect to have success or be considered an expert if you haven’t put your hours in. Is 10,000 a discriminatory number? I don’t think so. Malcolm Gladwell gives plenty of examples of highly successful people in their respective field in his book, and every single one of them reached success around that same 10,000 hour timeline.
Putting your time in also means making sacrifices, being hungry to work more. You’re not going to get a perfect job where you work 9 to 5, earning 50,000$ a year, with paid vacations and insurance, training only professional athletes in the first 5 years of your career. You can keep dreaming and think that you are that much smarter and better than most coaches out there, but that’s just not going to happen. Period. This year at the Perform Better summit in Chicago, Mike Boyle was saying how he had been working for free for Boston University for years and had to bartend during the weekends to pay his bills before they even offered him a job with a salary! And guess what? He was 30 years old when he got offered that job! He said that most people quit this field before catching their big break.
One of my mentors, Todd Hamer, strength coach at Robert Morris University, once told me he had to work for 3 years full time without being paid and part-timing as a pizza delivery boy before having his first paid job as a strength and conditioning coach. What did these 2 guys do? They put their time in.
If you’re not willing to do that, maybe this job isn’t for you. It’s not easy and sometimes discouraging. Working in sub-optimal conditions, with groups too big, athletes too young, in a shitty facility (if in a facility at all) are all things that are part of the process. It’s called putting your time in, learning, gaining experience so one day you can reach a level of success that’s gonna make you say: “I freakin’ deserve it because I worked hard to get there!”. There are no Cinderella stories; ask any respected coach that are at the top of our business or anyone you wish you had their job. They all busted their ass to get where they are. They put their time in.
Who am I to tell you that? I’m no one special. I’m not trying to sound like I know everything or arrogant , and I certainly don’t pretend like I’m an expert or that I have reached true success in this business because the truth is that I am still working my way there. But I’ll tell you this: I’m putting my time in (note how I said that in the present time); I have worked with 8 years old group of kids, I had to make something out of nothing when I had to run sessions without equipment or any facility with my hockey players a couple years ago, I had to spend time as a personal trainer in a commercial gym for a couple of years because I had no other opportunities to train people at the time. But guess what? I learned a lot through every single one of these experiences and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
I have been in this industry for over 8 years at this point. I have struggled professionally and financially for a long time. Only for the last 1-2 years than I can say that I’m starting to be where I want to be. But I have been putting my time in. And I will continue to do so.
Stability is often perceived as a good thing; single-leg stability, core stability and scapular stability are all terms that are commonly referred to when we’re talking about functional training and we see those things as being positive outcomes we want to get out of our training program. Referring back to the joint-by-joint approach popularized by Mike Boyle and Gray Cook, some joints in the body should be geared more towards stability and some others should be geared more towards mobility.
The Joint-by-Joint Approach
But this doesn’t mean that those joints should have only one of the two (mobility OR stability). Every joint in your body needs a healthy balance of both; some just need more of one than the other. It’s also important to acknowledge that every joint in your body needs some sort of stability. As physical therapist Charlie Weingroff puts it: “you need stability before mobility”. In other words, if you can’t stabilize your joint, taking it into a full range of motion might not be a good idea.
When this guy talks, I listen
Stability is very important per se. But stability is not always good. Confused? Perfect! Let me explain: as I just mentioned, you NEED stability in every joint in your body, but if you can’t get stability with proper muscle activation and balance around a joint, most of the time your body will find a way to get that stability. This is when compensation patterns occur; you have the wrong muscles trying to stabilize your joints because the right muscles that should stabilize aren’t doing their job. Some other times, when the muscles’ contribution isn’t enough your body will look somewhere else to find stability. This is when passive structures like ligaments and bones are being used for stability purposes, and that’s when things start to get pretty ugly.
When a baseball pitcher throws a baseball at 90mph and his arm rotates at 7,000°/second at the shoulder, if the the rotator cuff and scapular stabilizer muscles can’t control the deceleration, something else in your body will, because I can guarantee you that his arm is not just going to rip off his body and go flying in the air!
That means that something somewhere is stabilizing the arm at the shoulder in the deceleration phase. And again if it’s not the right muscles doing it, it might mean some added stress on the ligaments of the shoulder, some irritation to the labrum, compensation patterns taking place by stabilization from the wrong muscles, etc. There are plenty of examples like this one in athletic performance.
Always keep in mind that stability will happen one way or another. We just need to make sure it’s happening at the right places with the right structures. Otherwise we’re setting ourselves up for injuries.
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Today I bring to you a guest blog post from my colleague Xavier Roy from Quebec. Xavier is a very smart guy, he has a no-nonsense approach to strength and conditioning, and he has the experience to back it up. This is a great post he originally wrote for his own blog, but since Xavier’s blog is in French I asked him if he wanted to translate his post and send it my way so I could feature it here for those of you who are not fluent in French, and he gladly accepted! So without further ado, enter Xavier:
This saying is used constantly by sport coaches and strength coaches in order to encourage athletes under their supervision to follow a training program and become more successful in playing the game (which is not necessarily a measure of success in sport by the way!). But does an athlete who is bigger, stronger and faster will have a marked advantage over his opponents and even teammates?
The answer is neither white nor black. It is certain that an athlete who spent the entire off-season lifting weights and running is more likely to see his performance improve compared with the previous year. However, it is possible that, despite all the effort he’s put in, he finds himself injured because of this training. Agreed, he’s bigger, stronger and faster, but was that done at the expense of his health? Does the athlete in question has self-limiting abilities that can negatively impact the long-term practice of his sport and that the training prescribed did not take these limits into consideration?
For my part, I often refer to a quote from Mike Boyle, who questioned whether it was better to have a Kevin Garnett with a vertical leap of 40 inches on his team (focus on performance) who is always injured or a Kevin Garnett with a vertical leap of 33 inches, but who is dressed for every game and contributing to his team’s success (focus on health). As a strength and conditioning professional and football coach, I’m in a good position to answer this question. My goal as a strength and conditioning professional is to enable athletes to optimize their preparation, which includes improving their movement health first to reduce the chances of injuries and then improve their performance. Often, the mere fact of restoring muscle balance and improving one’s performance in one or various motor patterns will be sufficient to improve performance. As a coach, I want to give the players under my tutelage a chance to learn and understand the game of football. If an athlete is sidelined due to a non-traumatic injury, I did not get to do my job.
In this regard. I think it would be more accurate to change the original adage Bigger, Stronger, Faster for Healthier, Stronger, Faster. Let’s define each component in detail.
* Note that in some cases, muscle mass can be useful and even essential. Take for example a football or rugby player looking a little frail. To successfully compete and go through a season during which he receives his fair share of hits, this athlete will increase his muscle mass to protect himself. A gain in muscle mass is also required for the aging population. Sarcopenia is a loss of muscle mass in favor of increased body fat that is present in aging people. These gains in muscle mass will therefore slow this process.
Healthier to characterize an athlete whose movements are fluid, an athlete who has no physical limitation which may result in compensation to other joints and body parts. The prescribed exercises are chosen based on the ability and level of skill of the athlete.
Stronger because I think it is a necessary step in the development of athletes and the general population. A stronger person will be able to produce more force in activities like weight training, she will be able to propel his body with greater ease when running and be able to perform her daily tasks without excessive fatigue (household chores, carrying bags, etc). Force development is also the prerequisite for the development of muscle power.
Faster in successfully completing movements like Olympic weightlifting. At even strength, the athlete who will move the load faster is going to express more power. Faster in a running a sprint, faster in his ability to accelerate his body while in a static position. An athlete being able to efficiently and rapidly transition from an eccentric to concentric action (i.e. ability to use the stretch-shortening cycle) will have a distinct advantage over the expression of muscle power. In technical and tactical sports like team sports, the ability to rapidly analyze the situation developing in front of you and react with an appropriate response to this situation will give the participant a clear advantage over his opponent.
So, Bigger, Stronger, Faster or Healthier, Stronger, Faster? My choice is clear. What about yours!
Xavier Roy (B.Sc, CSCS, HSSCS) is a strength and conditioning coach at Centre Performe+ Joel Bouchard and the owner of XR Performance. As a kinesiologist and strength and conditioning coach, he specializes in the athletic development of a vast array of athletes, ranging from teens to college players, who are engage in sports like football, basketball and lacrosse. Since 2009, Xavier has been the strength and conditioning coach, as well as defensive coordinator, for the Triades de Lanaudiere, a men’s CEGEP football team near Montreal. Starting in September of 2011, Xavier will also take charge of McGill University Men’s and Women’s basketball teams as strength and conditioning coach.
If your French is good enough make sure to check Xavier’s blog HERE!
For those who missed part 1, make sure to read it HERE first. I highlighted how easy social network tools like Facebook and Twitter have made our pursuit of continuing education in the fitness and strength and conditioning industry. You just have to “friend” or “like” the smart people in the industry that put quality information out here to easily access their material through your News Feed page.
In last week’s post I mentioned that this post would be to give an list of good people to follow and “friend” on Facebook and Twitter to get access to good material. So without further ado, here it is:
“Friend” on Facebook:
Alan Aragon, nutrition
Anthony Renna, from StrengthCoach.com and StrengthandConditioningWebinars.com
Ben Bruno (also on Twitter @benbruno1), from Mike Boyle S&C
Bret Contreras (also on Twitter @ bretcontreras), writer for T-Nation
Brian Grasso, from S&C coach and IYCA founder
Brian St. Pierre (also on Twitter @BSPNutrition), nutrition
Brijesh Patel, S&C coach at Qunnipiac
Chad Waterbury, writer for T-Nation
Charlie Weingroff, S&C coach and PT
Craig Liebenson, chiropractor and ART specialist
Dana Cavalea (also on Twitter @danacavalea), New York Yankees S&C coach
Dan John, renowned coach
Dave Ruel, nutrition
David Tate, from EliteFTS.com
Endeavor Fit
Indy Fast, Bill Hartman & Mike Robertson’s facility
James Smith, from Diesel Crew
Jim Wendler, from EliteFTS.com
Joe Dowdell (also on Twitter @joedowdellnyc), Peak Performance owner and celebrity trainer
Joseph Heiler, PT and founder of SportRehabExpert.com
Juan Carlos Santana, renowned S&C coach
Kelly Baggett, speed and power training expert
Kevin Larrabee, from Mike Boyle S&C and the Fitcast
Kevin Neeld (also on Twitter @KevinNeeld)
Lee Taft, speed training expert
Leigh Peele (also on Twitter @LeighPeele), nutrition
Mark Young (also on Twitter @MarkYoungTrain), research expert
Matt Siniscalchi, S&C coach and speed training expert
Mike Reinolds (also on Twitter @mikereinoldblog), PT for the Boston Red Sox
Mike Robertson (@RobTrainSystems)
Nate Green (also on Twitter @nategreen03), from Precision Nutrition
Patrick Ward (also on Twitter @OSPpatrick), manual therapist and PT
Perry Nickelston (also on Twitter @laserdr), manual therapist and FMS, SFMA specialist
Sam Leahy, former intern from Cressey Performance and Mike Boyle S&C
Sean Hyson, Men’s Fitness editor
Sean Skahan (also on Twitter @SeanSkahan), Anaheim Ducks S&C coach
Sue Falsone (also on Twitter @suefalsone), PT at Athlete’s Performance
Tony Gentilcore (also on Twitter @tonygentilcore1), from Cressey Performance
Follow on Twitter:
Jaime Rodriguez (@Jrodstrength), S&C coach
Gray Coook (@graycookPT), PT and book author
John Romaniello, fat loss expert
Todd Durkin, pro athlete trainer and business owner
Diesel Crew (@dieselstrength)
Mike Roussell, nutrition
Jeff Cubos, chiropractic sports specialist and hockey expert
Anatomy Trains, Thomas Myers’ great work on fascia and the human body
Charles Poliquin, world famous S&C coach
Eric Cressey, world famous S&C coach
Mike Boyle (@mikeboyle1959), world famous S&C coach
Obviously there are probably 100s of professionals out there that haven’t listed or that I don’t know about, but this what I have on my Facebook and Twitter pages for now! And with the decent list I just gave you, you have a good place to start!
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It comes to no surprise to anyone who’s been successful enough in this business to understand the value of continuing education. Everything in fitness and strength and conditioning is evolving and we discover new things on a daily basis. What might be an optimal prescription for your clients and athletes today might be totally outdated in 5 years from now. Human anatomy and physiology is not an exact science; there are a lot of gray areas and researchers find new things about how the body works all the time. Bottom line is we don’t know as much as we might think.
These are the very reasons why continuing education is so important. For most people 5 years ago, doing continuing education meant buying books, going to seminars and networking with smarter people than you. Attending seminars and networking still have their place at the top of continuing education priorities; let’s face it, nothing is ever gonna compare to meeting new people and learning from them on how they view training and how they implement their knowledge.
Eric Cressey once told me “everyone has something to teach. They might not know as much as you do or have more experience, but there is at least one thing you can learn from somebody who’s been in the business for a while”. Whether it is something about anatomy, physiology, practical application, business, marketing, human relations, or anything else, you can learn something from everyone.
But the other continuing education mean, buying books might have lost some value in the last couple of years. Don’t get me wrong, I still buy books myself and the basic anatomy and physiology books are still essential to read.
Still a MUST read
But with the rise of the internet, books have taken a downfall. By the time an author has his book published, there is gonna be at least one thing that will have changed in his perspective. That’s mainly because by the time an author finishes writing a book, there might be some time passing by before the book finds its way on the shelves, sometimes up to 2 or 3 years! This is why the internet has came in so handy; information easily and quickly accessible. Of course with this great solution arises a major problem; the information you find on the internet can be, well, full of crap. Anyone can put information on the web, nobody controls it and we end up with so many self-proclaimed internet experts who actually don’t train anyone and are just good at selling themselves. But I digress. If you know where to look for for quality information, that pretty much eliminates the problem.
So the internet has brought us some easily and quickly accessible information that is more updated than books in general. But as I just mentioned, you need to know where to look for. Granted that it’s not always easy to find good websites and good blogs out there (I’ll come back to this later).
What has made our job even easier are the social networks. Good articles, blog posts, websites, videos, etc. just became so easy to find with Facebook and Twitter!
What first was a network to connect with old friends and stalk people, can actually be an amazing learning and networking tool. When Facebook first became popular, I was pretty much against it and saw it as a waste of time. But then I gave in to the social media wave that struck our entire society (seriously, who isn’t on Facebook in 2011?). But I still thought it was a little retarded and didn’t really see any use to it, other than posting thoughts that nobody cares about or stalking people.
And then, when I started my blog last year, I started posting links to all of my blog posts on Facebook (hey, that might just be how you heard about my blog in the first place!), and slowly realize that a lot of strength an conditioning and fitness professionals did the same thing. So I created myself a Twitter account and did the same thing and link to all my blog posts on there too. And at this point, Facebook and Twitter have pretty much became professional tools for me, and I know they are for so many other people too (I would say that 60-70% of the time I use Facebook is for professional use, and for Twitter it’s literally 100% of the time). I’m friends on Facebook and follow on Twitter over 100 strength and conditioning professionals who want to network or who post links to good continuing education material, whether it’s their own blogs and articles they wrote or just some other peoples’ material.
Honestly, it is so easy to access quality information and network with reputable professionals with Facebook and Twitter. You don’t even have to browse every individual website or google everything, once you’ve built your network on Facebook and Twitter. Follow the people you like, friend them on Facebook, “Like” their company or their product; it is THAT easy (and by the way, they will all accept your friend’s request even if they don’t know you; they understand how it works). Once you’ve established that, it doesn’t get any simpler than that. Just log in to Facebook and/or Twitter and check your “News Feed”; you’ll have plenty of quality information to read from!
The other cool thing is that you can tag these same people in your posts and send them direct messages. It’s an easy way to get in touch with them. Even if most of them are super busy people, most of them are very accessible will almost always answer your messages (if you’re polite relevant, of course).
Stay tuned for my next blog post, I’ll tell you who to follow on Twitter and who to “friend” and “like” on Facebook for quality information!
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Debatable, I know…Putting up a title like “the greatest exercise ever” or “the best exercise” label on something is hard and can brings you a lot critique because there is just so many factors to account for depending on who you train, the set up of your facility, clients’ injuries, etc. And let’s face it we all have different opinions. But before I start to elaborate on the hows and whys we may have different opinion, I’ll get back to the essential of today’s post! (and I assume you get the point!)
The Belly Press (also called the Pallof Press) is, in opinion, the most versatile core exercise out there because it has so many uses and so many variations. The standard Standing Belly Press is typically an anti-rotation exercise for the core muscles. The exercise is so simple and at the same time so effective, that it really is one of the best exercise out there. Usually, the exercise needs very little coaching cues, and people feel very easily in the right place. Mike Boyle has mentioned before that an exercise that requires little coaching and gives you the outcome you’re looking for is basically something that should be in your program. And depending on what variation you use, you can use more component than just anti-rotation for the core.
If you’ve been using the Belly Press for a little while, use the following variations to add some variety in your programs. And if you don’t use it, start using it today!
- Standing Belly Press (the basic exercise):
- 1/2 Kneeling Belly Press:
- Tall Kneeling Belly Press:
- Split Stance Belly Press:
- Belly-to-Overhead Press:
- Belly Press Iso-Hold Walk Out:
And if you want to add more challenge to any of these variations, try the perturbations, which creates an unpredictable environment and require more stabilization:
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I will be the first one to admit that this is something I’ve been fighting against for years. We all know that it was common practice among lifters and athletes through the 70s and the 80s to static stretch before a training session or playing a sport.
This was almost a whole warm up right there!
And that was accepted as a typical injury prevention strategy before an activity. That concept has been challenged a lot in the last decade and a half or so. Many researches came out suggesting that static stretching may negatively impact force production output (read: strength and power). The idea that static stretching by itself as a warm up procedure was a good injury prevention strategy has also been challenged a lot. The result of this being that strength coaches and fitness professionals alike who stay current with the literature have abandoned the static stretching concept as a warm up procedure almost completely. I, myself, have been supporting this theory that static stretching as a warm up is not appropriate.
But in the last couple of years, different strength coaches, like Mike Boyle have been trying to re-introduce the concept of static stretching as being part of a warm up (as opposed to being a whole warm up in itself). Knowing what we know now about static stretching it seemed kind of counter-intuitive to me to do that.
After resisting to the concept, I finally gave it a shot. Now I embrace it.
There’s a couple of things to take into account though, when using static stretching before training or sport:
Even if there might be some benefits to doing static stretching before training, it cannot be used by itself as a complete warm up. Soft-tissue work, mobility, dynamic stretching and movement preparations are all important parts of a warm up, as well.
You don’t want to stretch for too long. It’s called a warm up, not a cool down, so try to avoid spending over 10-15 minutes static stretching where your body might fall in sleep mode.
Try to avoid static stretching the areas/muscles you’re going to involve in your training activity, because of the possible force production loss linked to static stretching. Mobility and dynamic stretching drills might be better suited for these areas.
The whole reason to re-incorporate static stretching in the warm up, in my opinion, is because we spend so much time sitting in a day that there are many muscles and joint that suffer from that. Therefore it’s important to give them length back before a training session; the last thing we want is to feel stiff and restricted from sitting all day before an activity.
Personally, I have been feeling so much better since re-incorporating some static stretches in my warm-up, and I definitely don’t feel as stiff when I train. Here’s how you might want to incorporate static stretching in your pre-workout routine:
Soft-tissue work (foam rolling, stick, lacrosse ball, etc)
Static stretching circuit (4-5 stretches that don’t target muscles involved in your training for that day)
Dynamic stretching/mobility (6-8 movements that will target joints involved in your training for that day)
Movement preparation (If you do any kind of sprint/plyo/power exercises you’ll want to do movement prep)
After fighting against the concept of static stretching as part of a warm up for so long, I now embrace it. You should definitely give it a shot if you’ve been in the same boat as I was for the last couple of years.
As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m a huge fan of random thoughts posts, both when I write for my own website and also when I read other people’s blogs. I think it’s a great way to transmit many different ideas/topics while keeping the read short. So without further, here’s my newest edition of random thoughts!
1. I just had my first article published on SportsRehabExpert.com last week. For those of you who don’t already know the website, it’s an amazing resource for fitness professionals from physical therapists, to chiropractors, to strength coaches. The website brings you THE MOST up-to-date information on sports and orthopedic rehab and injury prevention available on the internet. It is a membership site, but you can join today for only 1$! With names like Gray Cook, Mike Boyle, Eric Cressey, Mike Reinolds and Charlie Weingroff contributing to the website, you’d be crazy not to take advantage of this offer! Needless to say that I’m really excited about writing for SportsRehabExpert.com ; it is quite an honor for me to be lined up next to those big names! You can join today by clicking on the banner below.
2. A while ago, my colleague Eric Cressey posted a picture of his med ball graveyard.
Upon seeing that picture, I was like:”How is that possible to have this many cracked medicine balls?”. At the time, we had yet to have one pop at Endeavor! But that was almost a year ago. A hockey off-season and a baseball off-season later, we’re catching up!
We’re nowhere close to where Cressey Performance is yet, but it feels good to know that our athletes too can pop medicine balls!
3. I have only a couple spots left for my online program design services. If you’re looking for a quality program that will bring you the results and make you feel better than ever (read: pain and injury free), shoot me an e-mail and I’ll take care of you. Don’t settle for the cookie-cutter program you’ll find in a fitness magazine that won’t do anything for you anyway. Save yourself the hassle of writing your own program, and have someone write a smart, no B.S. program geared toward your specific needs and your specific goals. You’ll achieve your fitness goals way faster than you ever thought possible! Visit my Services page for more details.
4. I’ve been food shopping at Whole Foods for a little while now, and I must say it is the smartest nutrition related decision I could have made. For those who live outside the US, Whole Foods is a mostly organic grocery store that carry the freshest produce and the highest quality food. It’s simply amazing! You won’t see this kind of sign in any other grocery store:
Not only do they carry the best quality foods around, by they also encourage people to eat healthy and they make proper recommendations (like this one on the sign) about the basics of healthy dietary habits.
5. A big shout out to the Comcast U-18 AAA hockey team who qualified for the Nationals this past weekend by winning the USA Hockey Atlantic District. Jared, our boss at Endeavor is the head coach of the team and we train most of the players on the team in the off-season and some of them throughout the season as well. They won a best of 3 series with their biggest rivals, the Junior Flyers. They won the first game 5-1, lost the second 5-4 and won the decisive game 9-2 in an amazing game! Congratulations guys!
6. I set a new deadlift PR yesterday! I haven’t been deadlifting very heavily lately. To make a long story short, I messed up my back a couple weeks ago and it’s been bothering me ever since and one of my knee is pretty banged up. Despite the fact that my whole body is a mess right now, I managed to pull 445, and did it totally pain free! Needless to say that I’m pretty excited about that new PR…and even more about the fact that my body’s feeling great with heavy loads again. 445 might not be that much, but in my situation right now, I’m pretty pleased with that. And the next couple of weeks are looking pretty good!
“OMG, you suck at basketball!”
