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http://www.smartstrength.us

Contact me for Personal Training, Sports Performance, or Olympic Weightlifting coaching!

Keep Improving Yourself

I am a firm believer that you are either getting better or getting worse, getting smarter or getting dumber.  Rarely do we remain constant as time goes on.  Similarly to how we need to continue training to improve our bodies, we need to keep exposing ourselves to sound literature and teachings that will enhance our knowledge and improve us as athletes and professionals.

That being said, I’ve recently been exploring some strength and conditioning blogs and have came up with some good stuff.  MobilityWOD is a website centered around video posts by Kelly Starrett, DPT.  The tagline for his site is:  “All human beings should be able to perform basic maintenance on themselves.”  I have found this blog helpful and thought provoking.  Most of the video posts show new an innovative active release techniques and exercises aimed at improving joint mobility and promoting joint stability.  Check out the youtube video below (taken from MobilityWOD) for an interesting technique used to relieve patellar pain.  Voodoo bands can be purchased here.

2012 NOVA Open

Saturday, October 27

This is one of the few local weightlifting meets of the year, hosted by South Arlington Crossfit in Arlington, VA.  I entered the 94kg Senior Division and finished in third place.  I hit my first 2 snatches (84kg and 89kg) and got called on not locking out my PR attempt at 94kg (watch the video and judge for yourself).  Pressed out my first clean & jerk at 118kg, hit 120kg, and pressed out 125kg.  Looking forward to another chance to improve at the Baltimore Open early next year.

Sport Specific Training

“Strength is the most general adaptation. It is acquired most effectively through exercises that produce the most force against external resistance, and as such is always best trained with five or six basic exercises. The same exercises that are correct for weak football players and lifters are correct for weak volleyball and baseball players, because the best way to get strong will always be the same. Strength is NOT specific, and cannot effectively be acquired through exercises that mimic sports-specific movements, because these movements lack the potential to produce as much force as general barbell exercises, and therefore lack the capacity to make weak athletes as strong as barbell training. There are tens of thousands of Physical Therapists that do not understand this simple fact, and many of them have written books. Thus, your confusion.” – Mark Rippetoe

Coach Rippetoe makes some very valuable points in this argument for general strength training over specific training for sports.  As sport specific strength and conditioning “specialists” have come onto the scene, many athletes have been operating under the misinformation that different sports require different exercises to enhance performance.

1. Rationale

The reason strength is not specific is because maximal force can be generated using basic barbell exercises instead of exercises mimicking sport movements.  Having strong muscles that can generate large amounts of force allows you to generate more power (P = F * V).  More powerful athletes can jump higher and accelerate more effectively than athletes who are not as powerful.  The most effective way to enhance power in resistance training (for the vast majority of athletes) is to increase the amount of force the muscles can produce.  In order to best achieve these goals, utilize exercises that will help you generate the most force during the movements (barbell exercises).  Those who attempt to overcomplicate training by adding resistance to common sport movements threaten to change already learned motor patterns and sub-optimally benefit strength.

2. Know Your Sport

Different sports have different energy system requirements.  The capacity of production of energy by the body is important in developing a training strategy.  Anaerobic energy systems (creatine phosphate and glycolytic pathways) provide a high rate of energy for high-intensity, short duration activity.  Aerobic pathways provide a large capacity of energy available for low-intensity, long duration activities.

The energy systems for american football are approximately 90 percent creatine phosphate and 10 percent glycolytic, with negligible amounts of the aerobic system.  While some might think that soccer is primarily an aerobic sport due to the length of matches, soccer requires roughly 60 percent creatine phosphate, 20 percent glycolytic, and 20 percent of the aerobic energy system (adapted from Fox et al., 1993 and Mackenzie, 1997).  Although these differences in energy system demands exist, both sports require athletes to be able to generate high amounts of force during competition (as evident by the percent of creatine phosphate energy system).  Thus, although soccer requires high amounts of endurance, soccer players must not neglect anaerobic system to be able to perform at the highest level possible.

Knowing the energy demands of your sport is crucial for determining an approach to training.  If your sport relies on the body’s anaerobic energy pathways (basketball is 60 percent), training to increase maximal strength is crucial to achieving peak performance.

3. Keep It Simple (Exercise Selection)

Exercises that have been shown to result in maximal force production are barbell exercises targeting large muscle groups.  Squats, the deadlift, bench press, clean, jerk, and snatch all accomplish this goal.  Naturally, these exercises should be supplemented with auxiliary exercises aimed to promote joint strength and stability while reinforcing technique.  Any exercises aimed at training muscles or movements unique to individual sports can be included in the auxiliary exercise portion of the lift, but only after the main movements have been finished.  Be careful to not become too creative with sport specific movements, even as auxiliary lifts.  There are plenty of safe, effective resistance training movements that are commonly used today.  Consider using exercises that have proven to be effective instead of experimental movements mimicking sport movements.

Make sure to consider total training volume when designing a program as well.  Coming into the weight room and performing plyometrics after 2+ hours of playing pickup is too many ground contacts and may result in overuse injuries.  Similarly, the last thing a rowing athlete should do after a day on the water is perform high repetition barbell rows in the weight room.  Exercises that mimic sport movements should be used sparingly and with caution for these reasons.

Understanding why barbell exercises are more effective than other exercises is important because it optimizes force production in training.  Sports that require anaerobic pathways to supply a high percentage of energy during competition place a premium on maximal strength.  When training for maximal strength to increase performance, don’t stray too far from the beaten path.  Simple, barbell exercises may just be what you need to get stronger.

Frederick Open 8/25/12

On Saturday I had the opportunity to compete at the Frederick Open Weightlifting Championships in Frederick, MD.  This was my first meet since undergoing thumb surgery and my second meet altogether.  I entered the 94 kg Novice Division with the goal of improving on my 213 kg total from last year’s meet.

Is Unstable Surface Training Worth It?

Walk into any commercial gym, country club, or general exercise facility and you’ll see people standing on inflatable dome-shaped balls or unstable boards while performing resistance training exercises.  The common argument behind training this way has been that incorporating this additional aspect of balance + lifting has been deemed “functional,” because you can theoretically increase core activation while simultaneously training any given muscle group.  Squats, bicep curls, overhead presses, and RDLs begins the list of exercises that are most commonly attempted on unstable surfaces.  While it is no secret that exercises performed on unstable surfaces can be challenging, does that make them as (or more) beneficial as doing resistance training exercises with your feet on the floor?

I want to spend some time discussing the word “functional” (and in doing so, go off on a tangent for a minute).  This is the most abused word in the exercise/strength and conditioning realm, with many people not realizing what functional truly means.  An exercise is functional if it improves performance in everyday activities or sporting events, or if it can be used to improve strength in movements or activities that are functional.  Many people would agree that the back squat is a functional exercise.  It involves large muscle groups, multiple joints are utilized, and it is a movement that strengthens the hips to aid in acceleration and power development (see Why You Should Squat).  What about squats on an inflatable half-ball?  Do they help to improve squatting strength?  Do they improve activities of daily living (better than traditional squats)?  And lastly, is the proposed benefit of improving core strength and lower body strength simultaneously while squatting (on an unstable surface) even legitimate?

As mentioned above, there is a common perception that exercises that incorporate balance and resistance training train multiple muscular effects (muscular strength and core strength) simultaneously.  The problem with that line of thinking is this.  For individuals with previous training experience, muscular benefits will rarely be seen while lifting less than 60% of your 1RM.  Because strength gains are more commonly seen in the >80% 1RM range (and an even higher % for power), you can see how resistance training on an unstable half-ball can have a limited effect on building strength, because most humans cannot lift enough weight to break into the >80% 1RM range while standing on a wobbly surface.

Worried that you aren’t training your core while your doing traditional lifting exercises?  Worry no more.  Try a heavy deadlift or front squat workout, and pay attention to how your core feels afterward.  Training the core in a total body fashion this way is a productive way to get a total body in while doing some of the most functional exercises known to mankind.

The bottom line is this:  If you want to increase your core strength and stability, do core exercises.  If you want to improve your strength, do strength exercises.  If you want to improve your balance, do balance exercises.  Performing one exercise in an attempt to train all of these effects is not being creative, it’s being naive.

Other Thoughts/Take Home Points:

The only time that unstable surfaces should be deemed functional is if the sport is played on an unstable surface (for example, a field constructed out of inflatable half-balls).

Beginners may be able to lift more than 60% of their 1RM while standing on an unstable surface.  This is due to the fact that many beginners have very low 1RMs.  While most all beginners will see vast physical improvements with any type of training, I think it is much more beneficial to have beginners develop strength by learning basic movements and doing exercises that are actually functional (squats, deadlifts, etc).

You may need to utilize unstable surfaces for redeveloping proprioception motor skills while rehabbing an injury.  Remember, the goal of unstable surface training in this circumstance is to improve balance and proprioception, and not maximal strength.

Inspiration

I came across this video recently.  Any athlete who has had to rehab a serious injury knows some of the pain this guy went through to return to competing at the highest level.  Check it out:

By the way, I do not recommend cleaning with straps.  Use a hook grip if you need to, but locking yourself into the bar with traditional straps is an accident waiting to happen.

 

The Strength Blessings

A Strength Blessing

May God bless you with mountains of strength today

May your power flow like the wild honey of the promised land

May the strength of 100 lions always be with you

May your hammer be mighty and your yolk be light

May your abdominals be as fortified as Stonehenge walls

And may your PRs always be 10 pounds away

Rúndaingne

Neart

More Training

Here are some videos from last week.  Cam Williams (click here for his blog) and I were the first to “lap” the 375 pound stone at Georgetown University.  Enjoy.

And yes, Cam does do everything in hyper-speed.  It’s just who he is.

Deadlift. Do it. Now.

It’s been awhile since my last post.  I am back from my mental vacation and ready to rumble.

When I first entered the Strength & Conditioning field in the summer of 2008, I knew I had a lot to learn.  There were so many unfamiliar exercises, and while I had been an athlete for the majority of my life, I didn’t have the first idea of how to actually coach somebody through a training session.  Over the years, my coaching abilities have developed, as well as my knowledge of exercises and program design.  While I had a relatively late start with “real” weightlifting exercises (I didn’t squat until after my freshman year of college), it wasn’t until graduate school that I performed my first deadlift.

I can’t really tell you why I was a late bloomer with deadlifting.  I had heard of the deadlift in college, and had even seen athletes use it as a part of their training programs.  But I figured it was the same thing as a leg press or squat, being a multi-joint exercise involving triple extension of the hips, knees, and ankles.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Yes, the deadlift is a great exercise for developing power in triple extension movements.  However, there are a few key differences between the deadlift and squat that are worth discussing.

1.  Deadlifts start with a concentric muscle action, squats begin with an eccentric muscle action.  Barring the use of safety straps and very creative use of spotters, the eccentric portion of the squat is unavoidable.  This is perfectly fine, and is beneficial for muscular development.  However, the deadlift begins with the bar on the floor.  Therefore, the weight can be lifted up to the finishing position and dropped, avoiding the eccentric part of the lift.  While I would not suggest using this style of deadlifting primarily, it can be very beneficial for training exclusively for power.  Because muscle protein breakdown is much greater during eccentric muscle actions compared with concentric muscle actions, muscle soreness will be significantly less using this method of training.

2.  Deadlifts train grip strength.  While grip strength increases typically mirror increases in maximal strength, the added benefit of holding the bar in your hands while undergoing triple extension is beneficial.  Don’t use chalk until you need to, and don’t alternate your grip until you need to.  And absolutely don’t use straps until it is imperative.  I can perform my deadlift 1RM without straps and you should be able to as well.

3.  No matter what your lifting ability is, options exist for beginners (trap bar deadlift), or advanced (axle bar deadlift).  The greatest aspect of the deadlift is that it is one of the most functional movements you can do.  Essentially, it is picking up something up off the floor and setting it back down again.  Want to get good at moving couches?  Deadlift.  Want to pick up cases of beer…er…soda, 2 at a time?  Deadlift.  Want to have that powerful handshake that will impress your girlfriend’s dad?  Deadlift.  Want to have ridiculously strong glutes, hamstrings, and lower back?  Deadlift.  Are you convinced yet?