10 Rules to Keep Your Man Card
In the short time I’ve been a strength coach I’ve learned a number of lessons from mentors and co-workers.; one of those lessons being how to lose your “man card”. It’s important for us to understand that our man card is not a right, but a privilege. And trust me, if you’re not careful yours will get snatched away! Hence the reason for writing this post; follow these simple rules and I promise your man card won’t be going anywhere. Rule 1: Do not wear your clothes so tight that your girlfriend mistakes them for hers. Guys, there’s no excuse for this, either buy some bigger clothes or get bigger yourself.
Rule 2: Do not comment on how vascular another man is/don’t talk about how vascular you are. Is this something I really need to explain? Just don’t do it, it’s weird.
Rule 3: If your 140lbs soaking wet do not talk about wanting to gain mass and then complain about not wanting to lose your “six-pack”. MAN UP! Start pounding whole milk and peanut butter and start MOVING WEIGHT!
Rule 4: Do not lip sync to your awful music in the mirror at the gym in between sets with an angry look on your face. When I was in college I saw this entirely too often. Let’s keep that nonsense to yourself guy in the tiny Affliction t-shirt and Euro Puma shoes.
Rule 5: Bringing this back to the beginning, do not wear skinny jeans so tight that your girlfriend asks if she can borrow them. Much to my dismay, I feel like this happens more than it ought to. As a matter of fact just don’t wear skinny jeans.
Rule 6: Do not begin every sentence with the word “Bro”. Usually the sentence that follows goes something like; “Bro, can I get a spot on these Preacher Curls?”
Rule 7: Do not lift your shirt up to check out your abs in the mirror while at the gym. Put your shirt down and get back to your Smith Machine quarter squats.
Rule 8: Do not use a foam pad on the barbell when squatting or front squatting. Again, MAN UP! Get used to the bar, get some bigger shoulders, and get a bigger yoke!
Rule 9: Do not update your status on Facebook to “gettin’ swole at the gym”. Newsflash, no one cares that you’re at the gym. Unless your status is “attempting a 600lbs deadlift today” we don’t want to hear about your adventures on the elliptical machine.
Rule 10: Do not be the guy five years out of high school at the local gym telling everyone about the glory days and how “strong” you used to be. This is what I like to call the Uncle Rico syndrome. It’s over man, move on. And chances are you weren’t as strong as you thought you were.
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I know what you’re saying to yourself, “Ryan, you’ve never been guilty of any of these things?” And my answer would be nope, not a one. Come on, you seriously think I’d admit to any of these things? Anyway, be sure to follow these rules in order to keep doing those manly things we like to do such as, chopping wood, going on river boat gambling trips, making beef jerky, hunting bears with our bare hands, and wearing flannel.
Pre-Race Carbs Predict Marathon Performance
Welcome back from a long weekend! SweatScience has an interesting post up about carbohydrate intake and marathon performance. Marathoners aren't exactly SAPT's specialty, but I think there are lessons here for power athletes, too. Check out SAPT's newest hat and our newest hat model. Warning: this falls into the categories of gratuitous cuteness and random family update.
Some Pre-Christmas Shenanigans: Guam, Some Big Brother Love, and "Neat" Video
Some of my ramblings as I head out for the holidays.... 1. This weekend I travel overseas (to Guam) to spend Christmas with my wife and her family. I'm your quintessential creature of habit, and have spent every Christmas thus far at my parents house in Vienna, Va, in temperatures typically surrounding the 15-35° mark. As such, I was initially a bit hesitant to break out of my "Christmas comfort zone."
You know, same Christmas Eve and Christmas morning routine, complete with the right music, the right food, and the right holiday cookies. And how can it be Christmas if it's not cold enough to snow?!
This budding uncertainty lasted about a total of 30 seconds however, as it quickly sunk in that I'd be a fool not to give up one year of my typical Holiday traditions in order to spend a week in December walking around shirtless in 85° weather on a Guam beach:
Yup. 'Nuff said.
Taking this trip also gave me a good article idea, given that I was recently planning my training for while I'm out of town. A lot of people seem to inquire about working out while traveling, so I'm thinking of writing an article on good ideas for traveling on the road, whether you have minimal equipment or access to a so-so hotel gym. Keep your eyes peeled!
I should note, too, that this trip also wouldn't be possible without an awesome boss and co-workers, who (for the life of me I don't know why) are letting me do this. So, to Sarah, Chris, Ryan, and Susan: THANK YOU!!
2. My "little" sister graduates from the Radford School of Nursing today, and I'm fortunate enough to be able to travel to Radford to attend her pinning ceremony before Kelsey and I fly out to Guam. She has worked her freaking butt off these past few years (I'm not sure how many realize just how demanding nursing school is), and I couldn't be more proud of her. I've seen her in action, and let me tell you, she rocks it hard as a nurse.
Congratulations Jenny!!! The medical world is now a better place because of you.
3. For those of you sitting at your desks on this particular Friday looking for something to occupy your time, see the video below:
Here Dr. Mike Evans contrives a REALLY cool presentation on "what is the single best thing we can do for our health?" Is it a simple message he delivers? Yes. But still something that many fail to grasp and will go a long way in saving our country's annual expenses related to health care. I can only imagine the the artist in this video was questioning her sanity by the end of this!
4. I hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas, or Hanukkah, or Holiday, etc., whatever you celebrate in particular. It's easily my most favorite time of the year, and I hope all of you have a fantastic time celebrating "the Season."
Have some fun while you're at it, too. While yes, I'll be sure to pick up some heavy things and get after it while I'm overseas, I'm still going to get in my share of relaxing and enjoying holiday treats. As they say: it's not that important how you eat and exercise between Christmas and New Year's, but it IS important how you eat and exercise between New Year's and Christmas!
Cheers Everyone. In the words of N Sync: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays! (Yes, I just did that)
Pushup/Inverted Row Test + Feedback
My internet buddy, Ben Bruno, recently asked me if I could test out the push/pull experiment he's conducting. You can read about it HERE in case you haven't already. Essentially, what you have to do is test your max reps on inverted rows and pushups, in order to gather a rough feel of how your pushing strength compares to your pulling strength on fairly comparable exercises. I was happy to help him out, and I was also curious where I stood personally. Here were the ground rules for the test:
- Hands MUST touch your chest on each rep of the inverted rows.
- Full range of motion on the pushups.
- Feet have to be elevated for both the rows and the pushups. (This makes the exercises significantly harder FYI, thanks to physics).
- The strap height for the rows should be set so that your upper back is only a couple inches from the floor upon extending the arms.
- Don't flounder around like a fish out of water. (All too frequently I hear people touting their ability to do 100 pushups in a row, and upon watching them demonstrate I see them doing something like THIS that quickly makes my eyes bleed).
I wanted to film myself completing this experiment, given that tests such as these with a large sample size can quickly lead to skewed results due to the proclivity of humans to fabricate their results, especially with regards to something like a physical test.
Case in point: peruse any exercise-related internet forum or youtube page and you'll quickly find various cyber warriors writing about how they can bench 405 for reps. Sure you can. In related news - I once took out Mike Tyson in a sparring match.
Anyway, here is my test below:
A few notes:
- I certainly do not think my results are close to impressive. On the contrary, I consider my results to be "eh, that was okay" at best. This is not surprising, considering the last time I trained muscular endurance occurred right around the same time the US government was debt-free. (**ba-DUM-ching!!**)
- Following the point above, it should be obvious that this is really a test of muscular endurance as opposed to muscular strength. After all, once (or if) you get past the 10-12 rep mark you're, in essence, testing your musculoskeletal system's ability to delay fatigue as opposed to it's capability to produce maximal force. Ben did note this in his test, but due to the fact that not many people have weight vests or other means of loading these movement, the current protocol seemed to be the one that will work for the largest number of people.
- As I was performing the inverted rows it became quickly evident that my grip and biceps (specifically, the brachioradialis, due to the neutral grip wrist position) were on fire, and thus limiting the my ability to continue to row all the way up. I see this two ways:
- I was not using my upper back correctly, hence my lower arm musculature giving out before my back (or at least feeling like it). This could very well be true, telling me I still have some much needed work to do in the upper back department.
- If we're really seeking a true measure of upper back strength, and upper back strength alone, perhaps this test could be used in conjunction with something else that doesn't allow your body to cheat as much (ex. a chest-supported row), or an exercise in general that doesn't require you to hang from an apparatus the entire time, thus causing your grip to give way.
- During the test, I did my best to keep my reps controlled, while at the time time not executing the movements as I would in a normal training session. This was a test, after all, so I needed to break a couple rules. For instance, during a typical "rowing" movement, I like to squeeze at the top for a solid second to ensure I'm actually using my back and not cheating.
However, I still kept my elbows in on the pushups, chin tucked, core locked in, all that good stuff in an attempt to emulate a perfect pushup as much as possible. I stopped the test (especially on the rows) when I felt I was jerking too much instead of actually doing the movement correctly.
- I DO find it interesting that even though I rarely perform higher than ten reps in training, I was still able to hit 47 pushups and 28 rows. No, not impressive, but I think it still supports the efficacy of strength training even in something like improving muscular endurance. In fact, the Journal of Strength and Conditioning research published a study confirming the very fact that improving one's maximal strength will aid in a muscular endurance. To the distance runners and "feel the burn" fanatics out there: yes, this applies to you. So, even though I normally perform my pushups weighted and keep them at eight reps and below, the fact that may "1RM" pushup was improved helped me to score higher on an endurance test than I normally would have.
- Yes, my number of pushups did significantly outweigh the number of rows I got, but this is to be expected on a test like this. I was at least glad that my personal ratio wasn't quite at a 2:1 (push:pull), and it was indicative to me that I need to continue to prioritize my pulling in my programs (which I'm already doing). Good to know things are moving in the right direction, as I'm sure my push:pull ratio would have been MUCH worse had I done this test six months ago.
- A lot of people view inverted rows as an elementary movement, but I think many would be surprised how tough they are when performed correctly. I think Ben made a wise move in subbing out the chinup as the standard measure of push-to-pull comparisons, given that it's much easier to cheat on chinups. I did laugh to myself after doing this test, as my max chinups and inverted rows are very similar. Guess I've got some more work to do in the rowing department, no?
That's all for now. It was definitely a fun test and I look forward to the conclusions Ben draws from this particular study. I encourage you to try it out for yourself, and then send your results over to him on his page HERE.
Random Friday 12/9/11
Here are some various links and videos you can use to entertain yourself until you break free of the office this afternoon... 1. First, in case you missed them, here the posts from earlier this week:
Chinup PRs and Newton's 2nd Law --> Here I discuss why focusing on the acceleration of the movement might just be the piece missing in your quest for strength. Also, you get to see my wife hit a +45lb chinup personal best, along with why F=ma helped her get there.
Elbow Pain? I've Got Your Fix --> Sarah does a great job discussing some causes-->solutions of the oh-so-pervasive elbow pain in our society of office workers and athletes alike.
Is Exercise Selection Really the Most Important Programming Variable? --> An understanding (or lack thereof) of this concept is definitely something that separates the men from the boys (or women from the girls, so to speak) when it comes to writing effective strength and conditioning programs.
My Attempt at Poetry --> If you're looking for some light Dr. Seuss-ish reading material, coach Romo wrote a fairly lengthy poem on an athlete achieving her first bodyweight pullup.
2. The Contreras Files, Volume 1
Some great stuff in here. Bret Contreras does a fantastic job taking research re: glute activation, hip hinging, bench pressing, you name it...and translating it in a way that makes it easy to understand for coaches and lifters alike. Check it out HERE.
3. Here is my awesome cat, Oops. As you can see, she is part polar bear, part tiger. The perfect crossbreed.
4. Wow. And I thought I was decent at pullups....
6. The more I use them, the more clear it becomes that people need to be doing Bulgarian Goat Belly Swings before they progress to anything else in the weight room. More on this later though.
Have a great weekend everyone.
My attempt at poetry...
I wrote this a long time ago after being inspired by one of our female student-athletes completing her first pullup. "Pull-UP"
My strength coach said to me as I entered SAPT;
“Miss, can you do a pull-up?”
“HAHA, yea rite, NO,” said me.
He asked me “why;”
I told him that;
“Pull-ups are impossible; why even try.”
“That’s gonna’ change he said with a smirk;
You will do pull-up;
Are you afraid of hard-work?”
“When hell freezes over,” I thought in my head;
It’s been 7 years of gym class and still no luck;
Each test I fail; I should just put this one to bed.”
He chuckled and said, “The funny thing about pull-ups,
You’ve got to work at’um for weeks;
Pull for every inch until your head erupts.”
He said, “I’ll help you map the way;
Are you onboard?”
“Aye coach; I’ll have my day!”
Weeks went by, and work we did;
We ran the gambit;
Partials; Iso’s, Ecc’s; Band assisted.
Most of time I just wanted to cry;
“Charge on,” he said; “A quitting attitude won’t cut it;
It simply won’t fly.”
So I fought tooth and nail, through the arm numbing burn;
Pull-ups I will own you;
This I will earn.
Finally, the day came, it was time to test;
“I’m nervous,” I said;
“Don’t be,” he said, “just try your best.”
So I chalked-up my hands, and pulled with all my might;
My chin….CLEARED THE BAR;
OH, WHAT A FIGHT!”
I triumphantly dropped from the bar;
Pull-ups, I had defeated;
Coach said, “You should be proud, you’ve come so far.”
It wasn’t the pull-up that meant so much;
It was what I had learned;
all the planning, trying and such.
This I will remember for the rest of my time;
Nothing is owed to me; plan, fight, execute, then fight some more;
Extract from for this rhyme.
Failing to do the above only will mar;
Anything worth doing in life;
Lift your chin above the bar.
Hope everyone is having a great week,
Chris
