Q & A: High Intensity Continuous Training

Q: Hey Steve, I came across your post on HICT with step-ups, and I was wondering if you could answer some questions I have. I am 25-year old recreational athlete trying to improve my conditioning, mainly for basketball. 1. How do you use this type of training within a program? How many times per week? Do you use it in concert with other methods of conditioning as well? And do you perform this work separate from any other training, or before/after a strength session?

2. You mentioned doing HICT via a spin bike rather than step-ups, and I have seen Joel Jamieson and Mark McLaughlin also mention this. Do you use both methods, and if so, for what purposes would you choose one over the other? What are the differences?

Thank you in advance for any answers you may have. I am new to your site and look forward to exploring it more, keep up the good work.

(Note from Steve: For those unfamiliar with HICT step-ups, it is a conditioning protocol, probably invented by Satan, in which you load up your back with an extremely heavy weight vest or backpack and do step-ups for sets of 10-20 minutes at a time. Because of the high resistance yet long duration, it develops the oxidative capacity of the fast twitch muscle fibers. Brutal yet certainly effective.)

A: Good questions! With regards to Question #1, the answer is - as typical within the sphere of strength and conditioning - "it depends."  Let's break down each of your subquestions one by one:

How do you use this type of training within a program?

It depends on where the athlete currently stands with regards to his or her schedule, external stressors (ex. how many times a week is he/she practicing or competing), internal stressors (Girlfriend just break up with them? In depression because no one "Liked" their recent Facebook status?), what their physical condition looks like, and their goals. Are they currently inseason or offseason, what other "qualities" do they need to work on; for example, do they currently need to improve strength or power output? How many days a week do they have to train? Can they train 2x/day on some days but not at all on others? Answers to all the above questions will affect how to employ HICT within the program!

To simplify things a bit: If your PRIMARY goal is to improve aerobic conditioning, then you should prioritize something like HICT in your weekly training structure. Here are four different ways I recommend setting it up, depending on your schedule:

Option 1 (two-a-day workouts) - Strength or power work in the AM, and then HICT in the PM

Option 2 - HICT as a standalone training session

Option 3 - Sport practice immediately followed by HICT. The HICT would act as a pseudo "active recovery" and restorative tactic.

Option 4 - HICT and strength training in the same session. HICT would go first because your priority is aerobic conditioning. (Note: If you're someone who has a lot of strength and power to gain, you would train those qualities FIRST in the session.)

How many times per week?

One to two times per week. Begin with 1x/week, assess tolerance and recovery, and gradually increase the frequency to 2x/week.

Do you use it in concert with other methods of conditioning as well?

Yes, absolutely! While you certainly don't want to utilize everything and anything at the same time, something like HICT can certainly complement other conditioning modalities such as running or cardiac output circuits*.

To truly develop one's aerobic system, it takes more than just one or two haphazard sessions per week, or deciding to just "throw in" 10-20 minutes of aerobic training at the end of a resistance training session. I'd ensure you're undergoing some form of aerobic training 4-6 days a week, provided you remain prudent with the modalities and intensities you implement, of course.

However, don't neglect the fact that just playing basketball is aerobic training in nature! Thus, your pick-up games and competition games must be accounted for when analyzing your total volume of training in a given week.

*Note: These are actually one of my favorite methods of developing the aerobic energy system during the initial phases of training and/or during periods in which one has many competing demands outside the gym walls,  as the risk of overreaching is extremely low.

And do you perform this work separate from any other training, or before/after a strength session?

While I touched on this a bit during the answer to your first question, let's expound a bit further here.  The research is actually a bit mixed with regards to "mixing" aerobic training and strength training in the same session:

• This meta-analysis by Wilson et al. (2012) showed a loss in power when endurance training was trained concurrently with strength training, but no decline in VO2max when the endurance+strength group was compared to the endurance-only group.
• This paper by Want et al. (2011) concluded that endurance training immediately followed by strength training actually INCREASED mitochondrial growth compared to endurance-only training. (Mitochondrial growth will augment the muscles' oxidative capacity, thus improving one's endurance.)
• This paper by Hawley showed that conditioning before strength training blunts the anabolic effect of strength training, while conditioning after strength traning leads to greater amounts of inflammation and protein degradation.

(Note: Credit to Patrick Ward for pointing a couple of those out.)

While I obviously don't prefer to allow solely on research to dictate what I do and do not do with my athletes - after all, most research subjects are woefully untrained, along with the fact that many of the research protocols (ex. machine leg extensions for the "strength" exercise) are a far cry from what I use in the real world - it certainly still helps things to take a look at what goes on at the molecular level with human physiology.

So, what to do? Personally, I think it's ideal to separate the strength and endurance sessions completely - either by 8 hours or 24 hours - but this assumes that you have nearly every day of the week to train, and are able to fit in these sessions OUTSIDE of your practice and game schedule.

If you can't afford to split up the training sessions, then train FIRST what you want to prioritize, and then scale back the volume and intensity on the other goal. So if your goal is improved aerobic function, then do HICT first and follow it up with low volume strength training; for example, 2-3 exercises for 2-3 sets at 75-80% intensity. If your primary goal is strength, then attack your resistance training and follow that session up with HICT or a cardiac output circuit.

2. You mentioned doing HICT via a spin bike rather than step-ups.....Do you use both methods, and if so, for what purposes would you choose one over the other? What are the differences?

I primarily use step-ups with our athletes, but that is more a function of the fact that we don't have a spin bike in our facility.  Not to mention, even if you do have a spin bike, it needs on the higher end of quality (ex. something you'd find in a good spin class) to be capable of cranking up the resistance so high that it's literally impossible to pedal quickly; you won't typically find these bikes sitting out in the cardio sections of gyms.

Here's a brief listing of the pros and cons of each:

Spin Bike

Pros - Less eccentric stress than a step-up, so theoretically less muscle soreness during the days following the HICT session; this also means a spin bike would probably be better suited for an active recovery and restorative tool compared to step-ups. No weight vest or heavy backpack required.

Cons - Requires access to a good spin bike. The "hunched" over position of biking forces a more flexed posture in general during the entire set: Kyphotic t-spine, shortened hip flexors, internal rotation of the shoulders, no hip extension achieved at any point (bad for glute function).

Step-Ups

Pros - No spin bike required. Achieve way more glute recruitment than on a bike, due to the glutes driving you up all the way to full hip extension at the top. Is much more of a total body workout than a spin bike as the bike will pretty much only hit the quads, but the step-ups will hammer the glutes, hamstrings, quads, not to mention the upper back+traps  will be blasted during the weighted step-ups as these muscle groups have work like crazy to hold the weight vest or backpack in place.

Cons - More eccentric loading on the knees/legs when compared to a bike, so need to be more careful about where you fit them (step-ups) into the training week. Possibly worse for those with knee pain issues. Requires a heavy weight vest or large, heavy backpack.

Hope this helps! There is no doubt that HICT is certainly effective, but caution must be adhered to when planning and progressing it. Start on the low end of frequency and volume, and don't be in a rush to progress too fast too soon.

Grip, Dip, and RIP!

Obviously, we’re talking about DEADLIFTS! If you haven’t heard it before, “grip, dip and rip” typically refers to the set-up and execution of picking up heavy barbells off the ground. Grip- Grab the bar and squeeze it tight. Dip- Dip your hips down, get your back flat. RIP!- RIP that bar off the floor!

I’m a big fan of the phrase. It takes an extremely technical lift like the deadlift and boils it down to three simple words that happen to rhyme. Awesome. Of course, when teaching someone how to properly pick up heavy things, more effective cueing is going to be necessary. However, if you’ve been deadlifting for a while and your technique is in check, sometimes you need to stop obsessing over the MILLIONS of details involved in the technique and just RIP that bar off the ground and into lockout.

The Dip

Although each cue deserves a blog post of its own, what I want to talk about specifically is that crucial point between the grip and the rip. That moment immediately before you pull when you set your position can make or break your lift. So what really goes on in that short duration in your deadlift set-up?

Bracing and Setting Your Lower Back

The moment you set your hips into position is also the moment when you should be bracing as hard as you can through your abs. With your hips in place and your abs as tight as possible, you set your lower back into a neutral position to protect your spine from the high sheer and compressive forces you’re about to hit it with.

Applying Tension in the Hamstrings

Pulling your hips down into position while simultaneously flattening out your lower back will place a significant amount of tension on your hamstrings, which is a great thing to have happen right before your deadlift. By creating this pre-stretch, you will be able to take advantage of the stretch reflex that we humans so thoroughly enjoy. When the muscle spindles in your hamstrings are stimulated by the stretch they will freak out and wake up all the contractile units, who will all jump on-board the deadlifting train and say “alright boss, LET’S DO THIS!”

One thing to keep in mind regarding the pre-stretch on your hamstrings is that the longer you hold that stretched position the more the reflex potential will be diminished. Think about it in terms of another lift: what’s easier, a touch-and-go bench press or a bench press with a 3 second pause on your chest? So when you dip down into position on your deadlift and feel tight, PULL! Don’t hang out at the bottom for too long.

Setting Your Upper Back

Another key component in preparing for a nice deadlift is setting your upper back. This means shoulders down and back, sufficient t-spine extension, neck packed, and using your lats. During my “dip” on the deadlift, I also like to roll my shoulders from a shrugged position into a packed position while doing my best to extend through the t-spine. I also like to apply some external rotation torque on the bar with my hands because I feel like it helps me “turn on” my lats.

All of THAT in the Dip?!?

Yep, all of that happens in the dip. It’s a lot of detail, but as I mentioned earlier, don’t get caught up in trying to go down a HUGE technique checklist before every pull. Trust me, you’ll drive yourself crazy because you will always be able to find an aspect of the lift you didn’t do with absolute perfection. Just work on fixing a couple form issues at a time and keep on grippin’ dippin’ and rippin’!

Lessons of the Jaw: A Few Thoughts on the Body's Intradependence

As you read this, I'm either in surgery or in the recovery room. For those who don't know, I am having lower jaw surgery to correct a severe over (also called "open bite") and cross bite. That being said, blogging might be a bit spotty (more so than usual) over the next couple weeks, but I'm going to do my best. Seeing as this surgery has been on the forefront of my mind for quite a while, I thought I'd share a bit of the physiology connections I've learned over the past year or so. It's actually pretty interesting how dependent the body is on it's collective parts. So dependent that something up in my face affects the rest of my body rather dramatically.  We'll do bullet points because I really like them.

Lesson 1: Pain is sneaky. Sometimes the origin and/or cause is not where you think.

I've known I would need this corrective surgery at some point for quite a while now. About 3 years ago, I experienced severe and prolonged pain in my tempromandibular joint (TMJ), the hinge joint of your jaw that connects the lower to the upper. I didn't have the means to have surgery at the time and the pain receded a bit, so I put it on the back burner. Just over a year ago, I started having migraine/severe headaches in the front of my head that would last for days, even weeks. Medications didn't help. Then I started to have shoulder pain on my right side. This made me think something else was going on since I knew I wasn't doing anything that would aggravate my shoulder.

I popped over to this site and discovered that a tight sternocledomastoid can cause both pain in the head and shoulder. Sure enough, I had knots the size of marbles all along these muscles. Guess what? The SCM connects right up behind the ear, near the TMJ, thus a misaligned jaw (being used for thousands of reps per day) will definitely cause some tension in the poor ol' SCM.

Lesson 2: The suboccipital muscles are really, really important.

I also had pain in the base of my skull on a regular basis, thanks to irritated suboccipital muscles. I trolled around to find some information and perhaps home treatment to help manage the pain symptoms. I came across fellow strength coach, Patrick Ward's post here. Readit, seriously, it applies to everyone. It'll blow your mind how important those little muscles are to your overall health.  Patrick Ward goes into the implications of tight suboccipitals and their effect down the stream, such as posture in general and neural control over postural muscles. I found it interesting that "voluntary trunk control" was one of the muscle functions affected. Guess what? I struggle with bracing my right side. I know that sounds weird, but I can not get as "tight" on the right side without really thinking about it. Might be why I have a collapsed disc to the right side?...

Lesson 3: It's seriously all connected.

Then I came across this paper (you don't have to read the whole thing unless you're super-into-science and research papers) that linked symptoms of TMJ dysfunction and jaw pain with the suboccipital muscles. Check out pages 13 (yup, I have all those symptoms, including impaired vision) I should also note that I've suffered from vertigo since I was 13, so perhaps, once my jaw/bite is corrected and those muscles are no longer strained, I might see a decrease in symptoms.  Page 15 which connects hypertonic (too tight) neck muscles with TMJ muscles dysfunction and pain, and 17 describing short cervical muscles and posture and how they research has found correlations... craziness. Upper cross syndrome, a posture <--- description used by those in the health field, is either a creator of tight neck muscles or the result of tight suboccipitals. It's a bit of chicken-egg questions, but either way, they tend to coexist. So, if you have a hunched posture, try massaging the base of your skull, that might help loosen some things up!

Lesson 4: Pain eventually conquers proprioception

We recently had an in-service where we learned about the neuromuscular implications of injuries in regards to training athletes. The main point I retained was, if muscle tissue is acutely damaged, such as a sprain, or chronically irritated, such as repeated spraining of said ankle, the muscle spindles, which reside in the tendons, will no longer respond accordingly, much like Ariel responding to her father's command to stay away from land... Poorly.

Muscle spindles are proprioceptive organs that control the stretch-reflex, for example when the doctor taps your knee and your leg kicks forward a bit, the muscle spindles are rapidly stretched (when the mallet hits your patella tendon) and they respond by sending a signal to your brain to flex the quads (thus, pulling your knee into a bit of extension).

So, damaged muscle tissue, specifically the muscle spindles and especially chronically damaged tissue ("damaged" doesn't necessarily mean an acute injury, but a chronic posture, like your shoulders slumping and your neck protruding forward as you peer at the computer screen) tend to lose their ability to provide valuable feedback to the body in the form of proprioception (where your body is in space i.e. balance). Instead, pain signals are sent. This is bad on two fronts: 1) it hurts 2) lack of proprioception means loss of muscular control, be it voluntary or involuntary.

I don't know too much on how to restore muscle spindles and transfer them back to being proprioceptive and not pain oriented, but I do know that a) removing the irritaing stimulus (in my case, setting my jaw in the correct alignment) b) improving tissue quality through manual therapy (professional or at home) and c) retraining the muscles to move how they should (i.e. standing up straight instead of slouching, or going back to the ankle example, walking without a limp or favoring the ankle).

Lesson 5: Implications for training.

Another random fact, there's a correlation with a cross bite and scapular winging (the shoulder blade sticking up instead of laying flat on the rib cage). Winging impairs overhead movement, messes up the rhythm of the humerus and shoulder girdle and makes picking and lifting heavy things a bit problematic. I've done just about every exercise under the sun to fix my wing, to no avail... maybe surgery?

Anyway, as a coach, just by looking at my own situation helps me work with our athletes here at SAPT. If at first the basic, usual cues don't fix a problem, like "pulling yourself to the floor" during a push up to fix a winging scapula or "crack a walnut" to prevent knee pain during the squat, then, maybe there's an underlying issue that demands a different approach. Maybe some dedicated soft tissue work is in order to correct a nagging pain or it might be severe enough to refer out to a physical therapist or doctor. Whatever the case, if after working with an athlete diligently doesn't solve the problem, probably time to delve a bit deeper. (and check their bite! Kidding.)

10 Reasons You Should Swing Heavy Bells

So, I forgot to post on Wednesday. Sorry folks! To make up for it, I present this: As the title states: Swing. Big. Bells.

Me and Natasha, just swinging around.

1. Glute strength- Do you want a strong butt? Of course you do, that's why you read this site. Swings are fantastic glute builders. The glutes are the most powerful hip extensors so it makes sense to perform exercises that force the glutes to extend the hips... hmmm, sounds like swings huh? The powerful snap of the swing carries over into other lifts such as the deadlift and squat. The glutes also play in vital role in sprinting and jumping. So if you want to be the Athlete-Of-Steel, you needs buns of steel. Swing it baby!

Gotta build the wheels if you want speed!

2. Upper back strength- During the swing, the upper back is essentially holding an isometric contraction to maintain the "chest up" postion throughout the swing. The lats are working hard to keep the bell close to the body (so it doesn't go flying away and pull you with it). The rhomboids and the teres major and minor are doing their duty of keeping the shoulder blades down and back and keeping the humerus in it's socket (kinda important). Guess what? Chin/Pull ups require those muscles too.

All my ButtKamp Ladies are swingers (the G-Rated kind, not the other kind) and ALL my ButtKamp Ladies' have improved in the pull up/chin up. We now have 2 women who are able to do a body weight chin up...(Suzanne, above, is one. The day after this, she nailed it!) pretty awesome! Personally, I've noticed an marked difference in my pull up strength, both my 1-rep max (weight on my waist) and my total rep max (how many I can do) have increased. With all the work the lats and upper back do in the swing, I don't think it's a cowinky-dink. Once again, the upper back strength also carries over to the big girl/boy lifts: squats and deads. Try performing either with a weak upper back and you'll find yourself stapled by the weight.

3. Injury prevention/rehab for lower backs- I professed my love and belief in swings for back rehab on Wednesday. The nature of swings, strengthening glutes, upper back, the spinal erectors, and core muscles, perfectly align with the needs of most back-pain sufferers. Most of us have, weak glutes, upper backs, cores, and spinal erectors. I know mine were (thus part of the reason I have injuries). While I can't claim that swings will heal any injury, they can at least prevent further injury (or injury if there isn't one present) and build up the muscles that protect the injury.

4. Grip strength- When your forced to grip a heavy weight while it's moving, you're going to build up some pretty strong hand and forearm muscles. One of my weak links in the deadlift (and pull ups) was my grip. I found this out pretty quickly once I started doing high rep, heavy swings. My forearms were on fire and my grip often gave out before the rest of me did. If you like picking up heavy things and walking around, swings will help build up an iron grip so you can pick up heavier things and walk around even more.

Keep on walkin'...

5. Cardiovascular and muscular endurance- Don't like running? Me neither. I do love to swing though. Swinging is excellent for building up cardiovascular endurance and muscular endurance (the ability for muscles to produce sub-max force over an extended period of time). Don't believe me? Try this: do a ladder of 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. Take a breath for every swing you do. How do you feel? Oh wait, I can't hear your over you pounding heart and labored breathing...

I see too many people talk while using this...

6. Core strength and function- During the swing, the midsection must remain tight not only to protect the spine, but also to transfer the force of the glute contractions into the bell to swing it. The core has to also be able to relax slightly so you can breathe throughout the workout (pretty important piece of exercise, that breathing. Generally, you inhale on the way down, brace on the way up, and breathe out forcefully at the apex of the swing.) and immediately brace for the next cycle of contraction as the bell swings forward. For those with back pain, sometimes the core muscles aren't firing in the right order. Swings help retrain the muscles in this sense.

7. Joint-Friendly conditioning- As mentioned, swings are pretty safe for those with back injuries (most of the time anyway). They're a perfect conditioning tool for those with cranky knees, ankles, and shoulders (mostly). They're also good introductory training for deconditioned individuals as they're scalable to individual strength and fitness levels. Unlike running, which essentially is thousands of one-legged hops, swings have very little negative joint impact (the elbows can take a beating if the upper back isn't doing it's job though so be prudent!) so it's less likely that you'll sustain an injury and want to quit exercising.

Done...

8. Leanness- This is more anecdotal than factual, but swinging promotes leanness better than any other form of conditioning I've run across (outside of regular sprint sessions, which can take their toll on the system physically as they're pretty stressful). Coach Dan John has spoken of the power of the swing to help athletes/trainees maintain a lower body fat percentage and I've noticed in myself as well. It's not going to be the magic bullet, but for those who train hard and eat pretty well, the addition of swings can help pull the body fat down a bit without too much stress to your system.

9. Overall strength- Swings involve the whole body, in case you couldn't tell from the above points. If you want to increase your strength, add some of these in and you'll be amazed at the carry over into the rest of your workouts/activities.

Hagrid-like strength in a little body

10. Self-Defense- If swings help build up the glutes and hamstrings, which are the primary movers and shakers of sprinting, should you be attacked by zombies or some other terrifying creature, you'll be able to scamper away pretty darn fast. Or, if you're brave, just swing your bell at them and let go. 60+ pounds to the face will mess any body up. Pretty sure Kathy could take down any foe.

If those didn't convince you then, well, I have no words.

When You're Feeling Beat Up

If you’ve been training for a while, you’ve surely had those days, maybe even weeks, where your joints are crankier than usual, your shoulders and back are sore, and you get out of bed to realize gravity turned it up a notch.

When you load the bar up with 70% as you work up you get confused because it’s heavier than it should be. Did you miscalculate? Is it the wrong bar? Wrong plates? Are you using 70% of your deadlift max for your single-arm bottoms-up kettlebell floor press?

When you rule out all other factors, you may come to the conclusion that you’re probably just beat up from the training you’ve accumulated. This is especially true if you’re an athlete. It’s important to train hard at practice and train hard in the weight room, but you also have to remember to take note of how your body is reacting to all of it. Here are some tips for those dark times when your body is beaten and walking up the stairs feels like max effort step-ups.

Deload

I don’t believe that everyone needs to schedule a strictly consistent deload in their programming (e.g. every 4th week) but they certainly have their place. I see more benefit in scheduling a deload with specific regards to competition. However, sometimes an unscheduled deload is necessary if you feel super banged up. Rather than stay at home drag yourself to the gym and hit a few movements with lighter weight, for a FEW sets of a FEW reps (50%-75% for 3-5 sets of 3-5). You don’t have to hit 10x10 just because you’re going light. Deload weight AND volume.

Cut Back on Assistance Work

Does your training log tell you to do 4x8 Bulgarian split squats after your back squats? Cut it to 2x8. Or 2x5. Or 0x0. Rest assured, your beloved assistance work isn’t going anywhere, so cut back on it for a session or two and hammer it hard when you come back fresh.

EAT

Eat.

Epsom Salt Bath/Contrast Shower

Try some new recovery techniques! The idea behind an Epsom salt bath (basically soaking in a tub of magnesium sulfate) is that magnesium will soak into your body through the skin, restoring a huge list of body cell functions in the muscles, nerves, and other soft tissues. Magnesium is also inhibitory to the muscle cells, which will help you relax.

Contrast showers are (in my opinion) not as relaxing. I think they are actually pretty brutal. Enjoy a few minutes of a nice warm shower, then quickly slam the dial from H to C and suffer through 30 seconds to a minute of an ice-cold blast. Repeat several times. It takes some discipline, but you will be rewarded with increased blood flow and recovery throughout your whole body.

Soft Tissue Work Whip out the foam rollers, PVC pipes, lacrosse balls, and go to town. Or pamper yourself with a visit to a reputable ART practitioner. Or do what I do and go to Brookstone to sit in one of those super massage chairs until somebody kicks you out.

With Spring sports starting up, all you athletes know what you're in for: Months of hard training, tough competition, lots of fun, and your body taking a pounding!  Just keep a handful of strategies to help you dust off your shoulders and get back in the game when you get beat down.   Those of you with try-outs this week, best of luck!

50/50 Video Highlights: American University Wrestling and Georgetown Prep Lacrosse

Over the past couple months I've had a tremendous opportunity to partner up with mental coach Brian Levenson through providing day-long "camps" for athletic teams looking to take it to the next level with respect to their physical AND mental performance. These camps are appropriately titled "The 50/50 Challenge," as they encompass a grueling combination of physical and mental challenges to help teams improve cohesion and learn to handle and overcome adversity. Brian is extremely good at what he does - he has a tremendous track record with amateur and professional athlete alike - so these events are particularly rewarding for me, being a "physical preparation specialist," as I get to work right alongside an accomplished mental coach to help athletes improve not only the physical component of their sport, but the mental element as well.

In general, what we've been doing with the teams thus far is pairing up series of physical challenges with mental ones, and sitting down to "debrief" after each pairing in order for the athletes to see how what they just learned/accomplished can help them improve in their sport, both as a team and as individuals.

The primary themes we focus on are:

1. Focus and Concentration
2. Team Cohesion
3. Preparation/Routine
4. Energy Management
5. Controlling Controllables

Just yesterday Brian decided to get his Quentin Tarantino on and compile some video highlights from two of the teams we've worked with: American University Wrestling and Georgetown Prep Lacrosse. It was super enjoyable to work with both these teams as each team was made of not only athletic, but also intelligent and extremely driven individuals. Enjoy!

American University Wrestling Team

Georgetown Prep Lacrosse Team

**Note: If you'd like to schedule a 50/50 Challenge for your team, please don't hesitate to contact either Brian (Brian@capeperformance.com) or me (Steve@studentathletept.com)**