Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
This is a troublesome day for people. It's the start of a difficult period, too, with lots of holidays, parties, and seasonal foods.
This is just a quick reminder:
Thanksgiving is just one meal, one day.
Eat up, and enjoy the meal, the treats, and your friends and family. Don't stress, as much as you can avoid it.
But it's just one meal, one day. It doesn't have to turn into a weekend-long extravaganza of poor food choices.
Eat today. Eat until you're 80% full, or if you can't hold to that, until you're full. Not until, as Louis CK puts it, you hate yourself.
If offered leftovers, take the turkey, the veggies, the salad. If you have to take some dessert, pick one and take one piece.
Plan your breakfast for tomorrow and eat that. Get right back on track with healthy eating. Remember that health and fitness flows from consistency, and just get back to that after a great big meal today.
And it's the start of the holiday season, but it doesn't have to mean eating anything and everything until January - it just means the weeks will be punctuated with more food. Make good choices when you can control things and you'll be fine.
Bonus tip!
Find an eating buddy. Someone you can tell what you ate to - and report to each other after today, and better, after tomorrow. Keep on track by making yourself externally accountable.
Getting stronger, fitter, and healthier by sticking to the basics. It's not rocket science, it's doing the simple stuff the right way. Strength-Basics updates every Monday, plus extra posts during the week.
Thursday, November 24, 2016
Monday, November 14, 2016
An Example of Answering, "What Now?"
A few years back I wrote that one of the most important things a personal trainer does for you is answer the question, "What now?"
You plateau. You stop making progress - or make negative impacts on your fitness. You change your goals and don't know where to go. Or you get hurt.
That is when having a personal trainer and a coach helps.
You can see this with Ryan Nie and his client in the post below:
One of my Olympic Weightlifters hurt his ankle [. . . ]
Hurt ankle, but a sport that is exclusively performed on the feet?
You get lift variations that take the ankle out of it without sacrificing practice of the essential elements of his sport.
That's a perfect example of what we do - he with a weightlifter, myself and others with out clients. When everything is straightforward, you can wonder, why do I need a professional to tell me what to do? When things go wrong, that question is answered.
You plateau. You stop making progress - or make negative impacts on your fitness. You change your goals and don't know where to go. Or you get hurt.
That is when having a personal trainer and a coach helps.
You can see this with Ryan Nie and his client in the post below:
One of my Olympic Weightlifters hurt his ankle [. . . ]
Hurt ankle, but a sport that is exclusively performed on the feet?
You get lift variations that take the ankle out of it without sacrificing practice of the essential elements of his sport.
That's a perfect example of what we do - he with a weightlifter, myself and others with out clients. When everything is straightforward, you can wonder, why do I need a professional to tell me what to do? When things go wrong, that question is answered.
Monday, November 7, 2016
Joel Jamieson on Conditioning & Health
Joel Jamieson at 8 Weeks Out is launching a certification around his specialty: conditioning.
One of the articles he posted up about it is really worth reading for anyone who has talked themselves out of doing cardiovascular training:
How Conditioning May Save Your Life (And 3 Things to Start Doing Today)
I'd highly recommend taking the time to read the article. You may have no interest in MMA, or conditioning for athletics, or training methodology . . . but reducing the risk of stroke and increasing longevity? It's hard to justify not sparing a few minutes to look into how you can do that.
One of the articles he posted up about it is really worth reading for anyone who has talked themselves out of doing cardiovascular training:
How Conditioning May Save Your Life (And 3 Things to Start Doing Today)
I'd highly recommend taking the time to read the article. You may have no interest in MMA, or conditioning for athletics, or training methodology . . . but reducing the risk of stroke and increasing longevity? It's hard to justify not sparing a few minutes to look into how you can do that.
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
The one lower body exercise I can't live without
A client of mine posed a question to me - what is the one lower body exercise I couldn't live without?
Good question. I snapped off my top one, and numbers two and three, in order. And why. Let's look at them in reverse order:
3. Trap Bar Deadlift
When it comes to building lower-body strength, demonstrating lower-body strength, and building up a full foundation of muscular and neurological adaptations, the trap bar deadlift is hard to beat. It generally puts people in between a straight-bar deadlift posture and a squat posture. It's easy to coach. It forces you to provide your own stability and your own movement. It's easy to bail out on when things are going badly.
And you can really load it up, letting you either build strength or - with enough on the bar - demonstrate the strength you've built up with a heavy single deadlift.
It's not by mistake that my trap bar - one of my best investments - is in the picture that heads up this blog (bottom left corner is the edge of the bar.)
Why is it #3? Unlike the next two, it's a bilateral (two-legged) exercise. If you've got an imbalance, it's going to cement that in. Plus, like all deadlifting, it has the potential to really beat you up badly in terms of soreness, aches, and pains. A good heavy deadlift gives you back a lot, but it also takes a lot out of you. You can use so much of your body's strength and you need to you so much of it that it has a high cost in terms of effort and recovery.
2. Pistol Squats
Also known as single leg squats. No matter how you do these - bodyweight or weighted. To a box or bench or all the way to the floor. Slow descents to the bottom and two-footed rising to standing or single leg both directions. There are many ways to do these.
They're single-legged, which means each leg has to get strong on its own. They're very forgiving when done with a box or bench - can't make it down, you just sit. You can stand back up and start over. They're great for people with any kind of side-to-side discrepancy. Much of this is true for other single-legged exercises, but I find these especially easy to coach and teach. I also find them easy to self-coach; you can feel when they're going well and when they aren't.
Plus, unlike the trap bad deadlift, you can do it anywhere. Grab something heavy or just grab a pole to make it easier, and single-leg squat. It takes no equipment to do bodyweight squats.
Why is it #2? Simple: loading issues. To load up a single-leg squat, you need to hold dumbbells, hold kettlebells, strap on chains, put on a weighted vest, etc. etc. This can get difficult, fast. To squat 160 pounds I've had to carry two 40 pound dumbbells and loop four 20-pound chains around my body like bandoleers. My upper body strained to hold the weights more than my legs strained to squat. I've had clients want to give up on these because they don't feel the leg strain but do feel the upper body strain . . . and even if their legs are improving they can't get past the feeling enough to trust the process.
Compared to #3 or #1, this is a much harder exercise to load up.
1. Sled Dragging
Load up a sled with weight, attach it to your body - hands on straps, a vest with a loading ring, a belt run through strap handles, whatever - and walk. Forwards, backwards, sideways. Shuffle step. Lunge backwards or forwards.
It's a very forgiving exercise. First, it's all concentric exercise - that is, you aren't lowering the weight. More precisely, you aren't having your leg muscles lengthen under a load. You step, drive your hip and knee straight, and then the rep is over for that leg. This minimizes muscle soreness and makes for great recovery exercise, too.
Second, if you stop walking, you stop training. If it's too much weight to move, bailing is so trivial it's not worth calling "bailing." You just stop taking steps.
Loading is easy. You can put 10-14 45-pound plates on most commercial sleds. You can tandem two sleds together if necessary (it won't be). You can put rocks on it, containers of water, or even have neighborhood kids ride on it - okay, that last one isn't recommended. But it's exactly how my own homemade dragging sled in Japan was loaded much of the time - by kids who wanted to ride the sled while I dragged it. You can always put more weight on the sled.
If you don't have enough weight, you can just walk further. You can run instead of walk. You can just do more round trips if your walking space is small. You can always move up from a sled to dragging heavy things, period - a loaded sled on hard-packed snow or grass. Pull a wagon. Pull a car if you're strong enough (and have a friend to steer and brake - critical safety tip!)
It's got a downside - you need space. You need a gym with turf or a parking lot (and some reasonable weather). This is critical - I can sled drag because of where I work, but I couldn't sled drag on the busy streets by my house or in a commercial gym. Still, it's the one exercise I refuse to live without. Every time it comes out of my workouts I regret the lack; every time I put it in and do it consistently I can see and feel the benefits.
Why is it #1? For all of those reasons I mentioned. Easy to load, easy to do, and useful for strength, conditioning, recovery, rehab. If I could only do one lower-body exercise, I'd take a sled and use that for a variety of drags. If I was stuck for space, I'd fall back on #2, and if I needed space and needed to maximize loading, I'd fall back on #3. But given a choice, I'll make choices that give me chances to drag a sled. It's just that good.
Good question. I snapped off my top one, and numbers two and three, in order. And why. Let's look at them in reverse order:
3. Trap Bar Deadlift
When it comes to building lower-body strength, demonstrating lower-body strength, and building up a full foundation of muscular and neurological adaptations, the trap bar deadlift is hard to beat. It generally puts people in between a straight-bar deadlift posture and a squat posture. It's easy to coach. It forces you to provide your own stability and your own movement. It's easy to bail out on when things are going badly.
And you can really load it up, letting you either build strength or - with enough on the bar - demonstrate the strength you've built up with a heavy single deadlift.
It's not by mistake that my trap bar - one of my best investments - is in the picture that heads up this blog (bottom left corner is the edge of the bar.)
Why is it #3? Unlike the next two, it's a bilateral (two-legged) exercise. If you've got an imbalance, it's going to cement that in. Plus, like all deadlifting, it has the potential to really beat you up badly in terms of soreness, aches, and pains. A good heavy deadlift gives you back a lot, but it also takes a lot out of you. You can use so much of your body's strength and you need to you so much of it that it has a high cost in terms of effort and recovery.
2. Pistol Squats
Also known as single leg squats. No matter how you do these - bodyweight or weighted. To a box or bench or all the way to the floor. Slow descents to the bottom and two-footed rising to standing or single leg both directions. There are many ways to do these.
They're single-legged, which means each leg has to get strong on its own. They're very forgiving when done with a box or bench - can't make it down, you just sit. You can stand back up and start over. They're great for people with any kind of side-to-side discrepancy. Much of this is true for other single-legged exercises, but I find these especially easy to coach and teach. I also find them easy to self-coach; you can feel when they're going well and when they aren't.
Plus, unlike the trap bad deadlift, you can do it anywhere. Grab something heavy or just grab a pole to make it easier, and single-leg squat. It takes no equipment to do bodyweight squats.
Why is it #2? Simple: loading issues. To load up a single-leg squat, you need to hold dumbbells, hold kettlebells, strap on chains, put on a weighted vest, etc. etc. This can get difficult, fast. To squat 160 pounds I've had to carry two 40 pound dumbbells and loop four 20-pound chains around my body like bandoleers. My upper body strained to hold the weights more than my legs strained to squat. I've had clients want to give up on these because they don't feel the leg strain but do feel the upper body strain . . . and even if their legs are improving they can't get past the feeling enough to trust the process.
Compared to #3 or #1, this is a much harder exercise to load up.
1. Sled Dragging
Load up a sled with weight, attach it to your body - hands on straps, a vest with a loading ring, a belt run through strap handles, whatever - and walk. Forwards, backwards, sideways. Shuffle step. Lunge backwards or forwards.
It's a very forgiving exercise. First, it's all concentric exercise - that is, you aren't lowering the weight. More precisely, you aren't having your leg muscles lengthen under a load. You step, drive your hip and knee straight, and then the rep is over for that leg. This minimizes muscle soreness and makes for great recovery exercise, too.
Second, if you stop walking, you stop training. If it's too much weight to move, bailing is so trivial it's not worth calling "bailing." You just stop taking steps.
Loading is easy. You can put 10-14 45-pound plates on most commercial sleds. You can tandem two sleds together if necessary (it won't be). You can put rocks on it, containers of water, or even have neighborhood kids ride on it - okay, that last one isn't recommended. But it's exactly how my own homemade dragging sled in Japan was loaded much of the time - by kids who wanted to ride the sled while I dragged it. You can always put more weight on the sled.
If you don't have enough weight, you can just walk further. You can run instead of walk. You can just do more round trips if your walking space is small. You can always move up from a sled to dragging heavy things, period - a loaded sled on hard-packed snow or grass. Pull a wagon. Pull a car if you're strong enough (and have a friend to steer and brake - critical safety tip!)
It's got a downside - you need space. You need a gym with turf or a parking lot (and some reasonable weather). This is critical - I can sled drag because of where I work, but I couldn't sled drag on the busy streets by my house or in a commercial gym. Still, it's the one exercise I refuse to live without. Every time it comes out of my workouts I regret the lack; every time I put it in and do it consistently I can see and feel the benefits.
Why is it #1? For all of those reasons I mentioned. Easy to load, easy to do, and useful for strength, conditioning, recovery, rehab. If I could only do one lower-body exercise, I'd take a sled and use that for a variety of drags. If I was stuck for space, I'd fall back on #2, and if I needed space and needed to maximize loading, I'd fall back on #3. But given a choice, I'll make choices that give me chances to drag a sled. It's just that good.
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