College signees and spring sport accolades…
Signees and spring sport accolades… College Signees:
Joseph Vanderplas (Baseball, Tennessee…okay this was kind-of old news, but whatever)
Red Dowdell (Baseball, VMI)
Ryan Dickt (Baseball, Randolph-Macon)
James Overbeek (Baseball, Randolph-Macon)
High-School Accolades:
Taylor Heasley (Softball; 1St Team All-Conference; 2nd Team All-State)
Kent Blackstone (Baseball; 1st Team All-District)
Joseph Vanderplas (Baseball; 1st Team All-District; 2nd Team All-Region; All-Met Honorable Mention)
Ryan Dickt (Baseball; Player of the Year National District; 2nd Team All-Region)
Shaun Wood (Baseball; 1st Team All-District; 2nd Team All-Region; All-Met Honorable Mention)
Red Dowdell (Baseball; 1st Team All-District; 2nd Team All-Region)
John Yoest (Baseball; 1st Team All-District)
Justin Snow (Baseball; 2nd Team All-District)
James Overbeek (Baseball; 1st Team All-District)
If you’re looking to for the most comprehensive, results driven, freakin’ awesome performance training…you can begin your journey by clicking HERE…
Big ups…
Chris
The Ron Reed Project
It's been awesome to see the number of adults training at SAPT consistently growing. I tip my hat to all those who work all day, drive their kids to every nook and cranny of NOVA, keep their kids from killing themselves on a regular basis, and still make time arrive at SAPT ready to get after it! It's very inspiring to see, and I'm excited to see more and more adults making vast improvements with us. One of our clients, Ron, recently went through an incredible body transformation that I wanted to share with you. Ron had been training with us for a little while already, but he told us that he wanted to enter a focused fat-loss plan as his health was beginning to suffer due to some weight he had put on.
We gave him an individualized nutrition plan, and tweaked his workouts so they would be a bit more "fat loss" oriented in nature. His results were nothing short of fantastic! See the video below.
I'd like to point out a few things that may be helpful to those of you reading:
- Ron works full-time, both in the business world and at home as a dedicated father and husband. So, a transformation like this is certainly possible if you consider yourself a busy person (and I don't know anyone that doesn't).
- Ron FREQUENTLY has to travel for work - often for 5-7 days at a time. So, even for those you that travel, you can definitely make worlds of progress with a schedule that demands regular travel. Ron would tell me what equipment he had available at the hotel (sometimes the hotels didn't even have a gym), so I would give him some "hotel room workouts" in which he could still get in some training with just his bodyweight, a chair, and a bed as his gym equipment. Your improvements in the physique realm will never depend on what fancy gym equipment you do or do not have available. It's the mindset that is going to be the difference maker.
- Honestly, most of Ron's success was due to his consistency in the kitchen. I've said it before and I'll say it again: You can't out train a bad diet. Ron was constantly emailing me to make sure something was "approved" before he picked it up at the grocery store or added it to his meal. When he was on the road, he was sure to pick items on the restaurant menus that were going to help his progress, not hinder it.
- He did not count calories, eliminate carbs from his diet, or partake in anything extremely complicated. It's important to note that nutrition plans really don't have to be as complicated or tedious as many may make it seem.
- We did not do any carb cycling or sodium depletion leading up to his "After" picture (or at any point in his program).
- Ron did not do a single crunch or sit-up throughout his program. Proof that you don't need to (in fact, you can't) sit-up your way to a lean midsection. It won't happen.
- He performed zero steady state running throughout his program. Again, it is unwise (and unnecessary) to prescribe long distance running for someone in need of weight loss. Considering that all of Ron's blood levels returned to healthy levels during his program, this also goes to show you don't need long distance running to improve the health of your heart. Can it help? Absolutely. But I wouldn't recommend it as a modality of choice for a weight loss client.
- He not only maintained, but increased his strength during this phase. I can't tell you how many times I talk to people (primarily males) that are frightened they're going to "lose all their muscle" if they enter a fat loss program. It's not going to happen if you design the program appropriately. As shown in the video, Ron hit a 40lb PR on his weighted chinup, a 30lb PR on his front squat, a 15lb PR on his close-grip bench press, and a 20lb PR on his trap bar deadlift. Note that these personal records occurred during this particular 16-week program (not throughout the few years he's been training with us).
- Ron just turned 51 years old. 'Nuff said.
Here are his Before and After pictures (the before picture was taken while he was on vacation shortly before the start of the program):
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| Before |
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| After (front) |
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| After (side) |
Congratulations, Ron! Who is ready to join him? |
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Charlotte: Powerlifting, Golf, etc.
As most of you know, the SAPT staff traveled down to Charlotte, NC, for the weekend. It provided an awesome opportunity to talk shop outside the constant distractions of NOVA, get intense and "Do Work" at a USAPL powerlifting competition, and relax out on the golf course. Sarah, Ryan, Sean, and John all competed at the powerlifting meet, and I couldn't have been more proud of them. Sarah isn't even a year out from giving birth to her first child, so it was impressive enough that she was getting under the bar and compete postpartum. Ryan, Sean, and John all hit personal records in each of their lifts. Needless to say, I was proud to be a "SAPTer" on Saturday.
Getting right to it, below are a few highlights from the meet.
Here's a picture of Sarah at the bottom of the Squat. (Being the brilliant person I am, I didn't think to walk around to the front of the platform to shoot video footage until after the first wave, so I failed capture Sarah or John's squat on video.)
Next is Sean nailing his squat in the 3rd flight. My favorite part about the squat videos is that you can distinctly hear Chris yell his favorite coaching cue as they come out of the hole (hint: it starts with "H", ends in "s", and has "e-e-l" somewhere in the middle):
Sean easily wins the "Most Improved Squat" award of the weekend, as he made ENORMOUS advancements over his 12-week competition prep phase. I was with him when he squatted twelve weeks ago - helping him determine the weight to base his percentages off for the subsequent training cycle. I felt as if I needed to physically shove him down in order get his hip crease parallel because his hips were so tight. It was awesome to see him diligently attack hip mobility throughout the past few months - and also give himself an honest assessment of where he was at - so that he could make the most of his training. It paid off, to say the least.
Here is Ryan hitting another PR in his Squat. Ryan's body (and mind) definitely took a beating as he was finishing out his semester of grad school, so it was cool to see him remain consistent in training and come out strong with PRs on all his lifts.
Next we have John Delgado hitting a solid bench press.
For those of you who may not be familiar with powerlifting: your bench can easily be 20-50lbs LESS (depending) than your typical bench press in the gym, as you have to demonstrate control on the way down, pause on the chest, and then come up. Not to mention: your shoulders/head, butt, and feet (heels included) need to remain in contact with the bench/floor.
Moving on to the Deadlift, we have (in order): Sarah, John, Sean, and Ryan all killing it. I can confidently say we had some of the cleanest looking deadlifts of the competition (some of the pulls I saw made me want to crawl into a corner and curl up in the fetal position).
Sarah pulling a solid conventional dead (in the past she went Sumo):
Delgado hitting a big PR (and he sets the bar down as if he's holding a newborn. Love it.):
Sean "Sandbag" Healy breaking the big 400 barrier! "Easy" goes the moderator. He blasted through this one. And you'll have to ask Delgado about the nickname (which fit perfectly).
Ryan hitting a PR and then spinning around to watch all three white lights shining. Awesome.
And, just so we can prove we DO enjoy other things besides the weight room, here is the SAPT staff (me, Ryan, Chris, Sarah) getting some sun out on the UNC Charlotte golf course.
Chris still needs to take some lessons from me on the back swing, and the proper pendulum action in putting, but that's okay..... - Steve
2 Outside-the-Box Exercises (to do with as you may...)
My turn: Even if you're not a "tech-junkie," please consider following us on Twitter, watching us on Tumblr, and/or Like-ing us on Facebook to help spread the good word! Getting right to it, I thought I'd share two exercises you probably haven't tried before. The first is something I had toyed around with (and liked it) in the Summer of 2009, and the second is a tool we'll use with some of our wrestlers and combat athletes.
1. The 1-Minute Chinup
I forgot how brutal this really was until I went to try it again. As the name implies, it's a chinup that takes you one minute to complete. That's one rep, performed for 60 seconds. Take 30 seconds to pull yourself up, and then immediately transition into a 30-second eccentric. I wouldn't try this unless you're already fairly proficient at chinups (able to execute 12-15 bodyweight reps with perfect form). See the video below for a demonstration (fortunately, you can't see my face...):
I would say this exercise is good for 3 reasons:
- A variation to improve your chinups (crazy, huh?!). My guess, however, is that this variation will help improve your chinup endurance as opposed to maximum chinup strength. Thirty seconds is a loonnng time to be moving through the concentric portion of the lift, and an equally long time to be controlling the eccentric portion of the chinup. It's also pretty widely accepted that isometric training will help to improve strength and neural control for the given joint angle involved in the contraction, and with the 1-minute chinup you essentially receive a "mini-isometric" throughout the entire range or motion (and thus, each joint angle) of the chinup.
- To the gents in the crowd seeking to Sculpt 'da Gunz: you can't go wrong with some time-under-tension to elicit some growth in the biceps. I honestly don't think there is one particular exercise that is superior for increasing arm size. However, rotating exercises will almost always elicit a favorable response from the body as you have to adapt to that new stimulus. Given that very few people I know have tried this, it will probably be a solid catalyst for growth for you Broz out there.
- To make you hate life. Don't think I need to explain this one.
Again, to reiterate: don't try this unless you already possess pretty solid chinup proficiency. Also, I would suggest keeping the frequency of the 1-minute chinup to one day a week in training.
2. Scramble to Tire Flip
I realizemany of you reading probably won't be able to do this due to equipment limitations (although you can always pick up a tire FOR FREE at your local tire supplier....just sayin'). However, it's just plain fun, which is enough reason for me to share it. Below is SAPT athlete, Greg (state runner-up and seven-time all-American wrestler), demonstrating the movement as he prepares for his college wrestling career:
Given that wrestlers - and fighters - frequently need to quickly reset their spatial orientation/focus (from rolling around, or being flipped over) and push back on an opponent, we'll often add these "scramble to tire flip" variations in their training program. You can perform a number of drills before flipping the tire: rolls (as Greg displays), side crawls, up-downs, etc. You're limited by your own imagination.
If you're not a competitive wrestler or fighter, you can always give these a shot to make you feel good about yourself, or if you're simply feeling pumped up after watching a testosterone-infused movie like gladiator.
Off to go find some Maca root to add to my smoothie recipe.... - Steve
Diminishing Pushups
These are great for athletes who are in-season or for anyone looking to improve strength-endurance. Here’s how Diminishing (or Depletion) Pushups work: Do… 3xAMAP – translation: 3 sets of As Many As Possible repetitions
Rest… :90 between each set
What will happen… set 1 will be a high repetition set, the second set will be approximately 50% of set 1, and set 3 will be the lowest at about 30% of set 1.
Why do them?... For athletes in-season, depletion pushups are a great way to end the training week. They are tough, but do not cause any big time fatigue or CNS drain. The big upside is that, via the total body bracing that occurs throughout, the lower body muscles will actually get stimulated and encouraged to maintain strength simply from the main working muscles. Please note that what I’m suggesting here is only appropriate for very high level athletes who are nearing the end of their competitive season. In no way am I suggesting this is an appropriate long-term way to maintain strength during the season.
For everyone else, they can be added to the end of an upper body training session to encourage upper limb conditioning, better core bracing/strength, and to achieve a pretty sick pump.
Distance coaching success, and social media announcements!
I received the following email last week from one of our adult distance coaching clientele, Frank. His email and accompanying picture say it all… “310# on the bar... it's my entire Olympic set(!).... I'll be at 400# by the end of the summer... just need to get some more weights...
PLUS... I pulled 45# for three sets in the NG pullups (35# for the remaining 2 sets). I can remember not being able to do a single lousy bodyweight pullup. I'll be at 90# by the end of the summer...
I'm pretty stoked!”
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Also, please check-out SAPT’s new social media outlets! You can find us on tumblr at saptstrength.tumblr.com, where we’ll be sharing up to date training photos. Poke us at our facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/SAPT-Student-Athlete-Performance-Training-Inc/37943878495. And, enjoy our twittery-tweets at @saptstrength!
Always a good day when you outgrow your current weight set….
Chris
