Happy Tuesday!

Happy Tuesday? I know, who says that.

Apparently, ladies who just gave birth.

I'm pretty low on sleep and have about a million work things to do before the next set of relatives join us for the rest of the week (t-minus 30-min, not looking good for me getting everything done).

So, I'm just going to do a short round-up of some miscellaneous posts and a personal update:

• Alex Hutchinson has the breakdown of an interesting study regarding diet and hydration relating to workload at Sweatscience. It's title says it all: Nutrition and Hydration: Science 1, Experience 0. Pretty cool info, especially if you think your body operates on some different plane than everyone else (it doesn't).
• This morning I received a link from Brian Levenson directing me to a Ted talk called Philippe Petit: The journey across the high wire. If you've got about 20-minutes to spare check it out, the main points are about magic (yes, like magic tricks), pursuing your passion, and doing the impossible.
• My new favorite equipment supplier for both commercial and home applications is Rogue Fitness. Their stuff is made is the USA, comes at very reasonable prices, and - best of all - they don't "bend you over" on shipping rates. Sorry for the imagery. I just ordered a few things for our backyard and anticipate using them heavily for SAPT orders in the future.

Personal update: I know most people who read Saptstrength.com also frequent Stronggirlswin.com, so you're probably aware of the "self-experiment" I've been running on myself throughout this pregnancy.

Now, that the birth is over, I'm beginning a new self-experiment that will last from Duke's birthday of May 23rd through the beginning of the fall semester at Mason (August 27th). That's just short of 15-weeks.

My personal goal is pretty darn simple:see if I can get myself into a BodPod measured and confirmed 14-16% body fat level. Why? Well, over the last 3-years I've been pregnant for a total of 20-months and spent the other non-pregnant 16-months learning how to balance being a mom with work.

But, another EXTREMELYimportant goal for me is to provide proof of success and, eventually, a framework for other new moms to gain motivation and direction from.

I simply don't agree with the idea that once you have kids you have to accept a body that you don't really want.

I'm quite excited and anxious to spend some serious and focused time working on ME. I'll be documenting this process and progress over at Stronggirlswin.com.

Whoooo Hoooo, Happy Tuesday!

The 10 Things Fitness Magazines Won't Tell You

I"m filling in for Kelsey this morning - teaching the women"s A.M. group class (these ladies are awesome!) - so I"m currently crunched for time in between two of the classes.

I thought I"d pass along a phenomenal short article I recently read by Adam Bornstein (former Fitness Editor for Men"s Health, and current Editorial Director for Livestrong.com):

The 10 Things Fitness Magazines Won"t Tell You

What? It takes online casino one hour to teach a great-looking fitness models to do a decent pushup? Muscle "Tone" is BS?

I found myself tipping my hat to Adam for stepping out on a limb (given that he"s the editor of a major magazine himself) and telling people the truth of what goes on behind the scenes of major fitness magazines. Give it a quick read, and share it with your friends.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

You Might Have a Bad Strength Coach or Trainer If....

I’ve had many conversations with family, friends, and random people about general fitness and what they should be doing.  For the most part people tend to be know-it-alls and really aren’t seeking my professional opinion.  All they really want is affirmation that what they are currently doing is correct.  When I go on to tell them that standing on a BOSU ball doing dumbbell curls actually does nothing for their physical fitness level they get very defensive with me. Maybe they’re actually angry about the fact they spent a bunch of money on a useless piece of equipment, who knows?  The other people who are actually interested in my advice tend to tell me they want to get a personal trainer or a strength coach to oversee their training.  This realization they come to is a mixed bag for me.  On one hand I’m excited for them that they are willing to invest their time and hard earned money in their personal health.  On the other hand I’m weary of their decision.  The reason being is that there are so many terrible trainers out there that these honest hardworking people are going to end up flushing their money away.  I refuse to sugarcoat things for anyone which is why I tell them exactly this if they tell me they want a trainer/coach.  They respond with “well, how do I figure out if the trainer/coach is good or not?”  Great question!  My answer USED TO BE to make sure they have a bachelor’s degree in something exercise related and to make sure they have their CSCS or CPT through the NSCA.  As I’ve gone on in my career I have come to understand how WRONG I was.  Since I’ve been a strength coach I’ve found that neither of these things mean you are a good trainer (it doesn’t mean you’re a bad one either, I myself have both).  This lesson has been learned through life’s greatest teaching tool, experience. Some of the best fitness professionals I know have neither of these.  So, what do I tell people now?  Honestly, I try and keep it short but the following are some things you should find out before enlisting the aid of a trainer or coach.  Without further ado; You Might Have a Bad Strength Coach or Trainer If….

• You don’t see any pull up, row, squat, deadlift, or pushup variations (because these aren’t functional movements right?)

• They use the word “functional” or “core” more than 5 times within the first 5 minutes of meeting them (“What we’re going to do for your first session is get you up on this wobbly lookin’ platform and have you squat for 2 sets of 15 reps to really help your “functional” balance and to really get you to engage your “core”.  Don’t worry about that pain in your knee, that’s perfectly normal.”)

• There is any type of bicep curl at the beginning of your program (just trying to sculpt the guns BRO!)

• They have you do a cable row while squatting on a BOSU ball (two birds with one stone right?)

• They have you perform a snatch without teaching you how to goblet squat correctly (DUDE! It’s all about being explosive.  Forget about the back pain, correct form is for SISSYS’!!!)

• They have never heard of a goblet squat (I feel like it has something to do with Harry Potter, am I close?)

• They have no idea who the following people are (comic book villains?)

-Mel Siff -Tudor Bompa -Leo Matveyev -Yuri Verkhoshansky

• They ever put you on a BOSU ball or wobble board and try to get you to pistol squat holding a med ball over your head (Hey guy! I thought I told you, we are trying to functionally engage your core)

• They look like this guy…

• Honestly, it’ll just save us some time if I just say… They have you do anything on an unstable surface (I know I know, we get it… It’s all about being functional and engaging your core)

• Their idea of a good deadlift looks like this… (We want to take your hamstrings and glutes completely out of it.  It’s all about using your lower back and lifting the bar with a jerking twisting motion.)

 [vsw id="YyhHDQ7X0dA" source="youtube" width="425" height="344" autoplay="no"]

• Your workout consists mostly of ladder drills and cone drills (It doesn’t matter that you can’t squat 15lbs correctly; it’s all about working on your AGILITY!)

• You get thrown on a bench press yet still can’t do a bodyweight pushup correctly (If you can’t bench press 315lbs you will never be a good athlete…. HAHAHA! Sorry, I couldn’t keep a straight face with that one)

• They coach you on how to turn your pinky up at the top of a bicep curl (FOR THE LAST TIME! We are trying to sculpt the guns!!!)

• They tell you that the only way to get fit is to get on the treadmill everyday (Strength? What do you need strength for? Lifting weights is just going to get you bulky and then that muscle will turn to fat when you’re older.  I see you have an awesome valgus collapse going on in your knees and your feet have no arch whatsoever… Sweet! Let’s go run for 30 minutes on the treadmill!)

I’m running short on time, that’s all I can think of for right now.  RELAX internet warriors; I’m only 99% serious, HA!

If anyone has any other ones they want to share then feel free to post it to the comments section.

Friday Musings 4/13/12: Powerlifting Meet, Baseball, Sheep Shipping, and Something You Can Help Me With

1. I'm really excited to head down to Richmond tomorrow morning to support Coach Ryan, as well as student-athlete Carson, in their powerlifting meet tomorrow as they throw some heavy things around. Ryan wrote a brief write-up on his meet prep, along with including a video of his opening attempts, HERE if you're interested. We're also really pumped to support Carson, who, as a HIGH SCHOOLER no less, has been training his butt off and will boldly be stepping out on to the platform for his first powerlifting meet ever. Carson trains more intensely than just about anyone I know, and I have no doubt he's going to do well.

There are also two other things that make me excited about my trip to Richmond. The first is that I'll have a chance to hang out with my older brother and his fiancee, to catch up and all that good stuff. With regards to the second reason I'm excited about my trip to Richmond....well, something that not many of you may know is that I have a little side business in the sheep shipping market. It will be interesting to see if I can gather any new customers (needing sheep for pets, bodyguards for the house, or training for the sheep fight club) during my stay outside my usual sheep-shipping  grounds of Northern Va.

2. This past Tuesday, Kelsey and I had the privilege of getting to watch a lot of our high school athletes battle it out in a baseball game (Yorktown vs. Washington-Lee). The one frustrating component of working as a strength coach is the fact that you have to work evenings, which is the very same time that most of the (high school) games take place, so it's always tough to find a game one of our athletes are playing in that we can actually attend.

Last night, we were able to see a ton of SAPT athletes get after it:

• Red Dowdell (home run)
• CJ Herold (home run)
• David Palmer
• Bennett Nagurka
• Daniel Whitaker (3 for 3 and a two-run triple)
• Graeme Fineman (pitching as a freshman on Varsity)
• Lucas Dolan
• Andrew Long (pitching as a sophomore on Varsity)
• Justin Snow (two hits and four RBI)
• Seth Whitmore (doubled)
• Luke Fichter (two hits)

Needless to say, it was awesome to see the guys "in their element" outside the walls of the weight room, getting after it on the field. We look forward to similar/related opportunities in the future!

3. We recently started a newsletter for all our "in-network" SAPT people, and we're working on making it so that any of you reading can sign up for it on the website (I know I know, we're behind the ball a bit), so stay tuned! With this we're hoping to provide training tips, news updates, and content that we don't post on the blog.

4. Lastly, I've been experiencing a bit more "writer's block" than usual lately.

Normally, even though I definitely don't consider myself a "writer" per se, when I open my laptop to write, ideas flow to me fairly seamlessly (at least that's what I like to tell myself). Lately though, I've been in a rut where I just can't seem to get my thoughts together and/or choose a topic that I'm satisfied with.

As such, if any of you would like to see any particular topics covered here on the blog, please let me know!

Feel free to drop something in the comments section, or email me (steve@studentathletept.com) with anything.....no, really, anything.....that may interest you to see discussed on here.

An Outside Eye

This past weekend, my wife and I had the privilege of giving a presentation to a weight loss group at a local church in Fairfax. The group is made up of adults primarily in their 40s and 50s, and the majority of them haven't undergone a consistent resistance training plan in years (if ever). Needless to say, it was a rewarding experience to answer their questions and help guide them along, on top of the fact that it was a good chance for Kelsey and I to practice communicating some of the intricacies of exercise science in a SIMPLE manner. Anyway, one of the points we harped on was the power of having someone assess you and to guide you through exercise technique. This is true whether you're a grandmother or an elite athlete (or both?), by the way.

I say this because we've had professional athletes walk into the doors of SAPT that couldn't do a pushup or squat correctly. And if you are reading this, chances are high you are NOT a professional athlete, so yes: this especially applies to you, big guy.

I can't tell you how many times I coach someone - athletes and Joes/Janes alike - through a squat, seated row, pushup, plank, you name it, for the first time, and their immediate response is along the lines of:

"Ohhhh! THAT'S where I'm supposed to feel it?"

or

"Woah, I didn't realize how HARD this exercise is when I do it correctly."

I can't stress enough how important it is to do this. For the adults we were addressing at the church on Sunday, we suggested they do this in order to reduce the likelihood of injury during their exercise programs. For example, say we told the group they should immediately start doing planks every day in order to help alleviate/reduce their risk of back pain.

Because planks are good, right? Well....theoretically, yes. But what if you do them like this?

In fact, this is why it can be so hard for me when someone (who has never had someone assess them before) tells me to just "tell them what to go do on their own in the gym."

We don't think twice before having someone show us how to scuba dive, shoot skeet, or ride a motorcycle, so why is weight training any different??

I think it's because the majority of people have been doing pushups and bicep curls in their bedrooms since age ten so we feel it'd be silly to ask for someone to show us how. I mean, how hard can it be to do a good squat, deadlift, and lunge?

I don't care if you're a bodybuilder, athlete, runner, weekend warrior, or are aging and simply trying to stave off diabetes and osteoporosis. Get assessed and have someone look at your form!!

Strength coaches aren't excluded from this, by the way. I can't tell you how many times I'll ask one of the SAPT coaches to step out of the office while I'm training to check out something I'm doing to ensure I'm remaining honest with myself. Heck, Kelsey and I drove up to Boston in October to have the staff at Cressey Performance assess us and coach us through all the major lifts.

You won't regret it.

Complete and Utter Randomness

Just a few random thoughts that have been running around my mind and some training videos for everyone out there. Random Thoughts:

• I’ve been struggling as of late when it comes to high school weight training either as a class or after school for sports.  It seems to be very few and far between that you have sport coaches/weight training teachers who know what they’re doing in the weight room (I’m not saying all of them).  Just talking to athletes about what they do in there blows my mind such as maxing every three weeks with terrible form, crumpling under the barbell during a squat or rounding their back and hitching a deadlift just to get the weight up.  Most of these kids can’t do a bodyweight squat correctly, why are they maxing with a barbell on their back?  I’m not trying to make people angry but it just seems ignorant when there is so much good/free information everywhere that would help these coaches and their athletes immensely.  I attribute this to one of two things, they are to prideful to admit they don’t know what they are doing or they just don’t care to find out that what they are doing is wrong and harmful.  Either way it’s unacceptable.

• The previous thought kind of led into the idea of being average. I’ve heard people for as long as I can remember talk about how they are better than “average” or that they don’t want to be just “average”.  I always thought that thinking like that was arrogant, or that they felt they were superior.  I used to be of the mindset that in order to be above average you had to be something like an astronaut, sports superstar, movie star, bill gates, you know things along those lines.  I’m assuming I thought that way because from the time I was in elementary school to the end of high school that’s what I felt I was, just average.  Why? Because I was led to believe that’s what I was by OTHER people. It wasn’t until college when I started taking my physical education and exercise science classes that I started to realize that I wasn’t “average” and that I never want to be “average”.  I started becoming more confident in my intelligence and through weight training I became more physically confident, and most importantly I stopped listening to negative people.  This all lead to me understanding that it’s OK to NOT want to be average.  Nobody should want that.  Whatever it is that you are currently doing you shouldn’t be satisfied with being average at it.  Whether you are a student, strength coach, teacher, sport coach, attorney, grounds keeper, etc. you should STRIVE to be better so you can look back when it’s all said and done and be able to say you left your mark.  Anyways the reason why this all got sparked was because I’ve been hoping this is the message that I am instilling in the athletes I work with.  There is enough negativity in the world and I REFUSE to be a negative influence when it comes to working with these kids.

• My last thought as of late is that I want to buy a truck. Really not for any other reason than to buy a Prowler to leave in the bed of the truck just so I can always have it on hand in case the mood strikes to push it.  Weird right?

Videos:

And without further delay, here are some videos to take your mind off the incoherent rant you just read….

Here are two of our female high school volleyball athletes.  I think they are just realizing that they are really strong.  SAPT is really proud of all their progress…

[vsw id="FMDHzp6vgNQ&feature=plcp&context=C39b8df5UDOEgsToPDskI-__JGpLasMaUzxmWGNmtC" source="youtube" width="425" height="344" autoplay="no"]

[vsw id="M3Jig0E03yU&feature=plcp&context=C3727b68UDOEgsToPDskJwFc4CjK0PS3YH-jm0Cqxe" source="youtube" width="425" height="344" autoplay="no"]

The next video is of one of my training partners and GMU’s S&C graduate assistant John Delgado.  He’s currently doing Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 and he decided to get real squirrely with this 315 deadlift for what I believe is 13 reps…

[vsw id="z0_LQz4Ozpc&feature=plcp&context=C33ca6c3UDOEgsToPDskKWenvTSjHpaQLelmwS-4Da" source="youtube" width="425" height="344" autoplay="no"]

The last video is of me getting in some work for my upcoming powerlifting competition.  My training is going really well and my squats and pulls feel really fast and smooth (bench is still feeling a bit weird and wild).  I’m about 7 weeks out from the Richmond Open and I am getting all sorts of jacked up about it.

[vsw id="2wf2bLXjho0&feature=plcp&context=C3685becUDOEgsToPDskJylwT4GGTupMIdgICEXRTC" source="youtube" width="425" height="344" autoplay="no"]