Lessons from the USA

To summarise, 9 weeks, 6 seminars, 9 gyms, 17 beds, 3 sofas, 8 states, 4 ghettos, 9 coaches, 6 planes and a serious amount of walking:

Freakin’ awesome – one of the best decisions I could have ever made.

Now that I’m settled back comfortably home, tearing things up at Strength London and the London Broncos, I’ve decided to write a final blog post concluding this series (although I will continue to write a blog once I have a website up and running in the very near future).

It has been enjoyable to write, and always nice to hear when people told me they’d been following, especially when a stranger I was sitting next to at the seminar in Connecticut told me he’d read it.

I now know what it’s like to be famous.

I’ve learnt more in those 9 weeks than I have done in the past 2 years and to take the opportunity to see some of the industry leaders talk and visit their facilities is one I will recommend to anyone.

Since I’ve been back, a couple of people have asked me about anything key that I’ve learnt. 4 things that immediately stand out are: 

1) No longer using the foam roller as part of the warm up (unless it will decrease pain in an exercise) -instead, I’ll use it at the end of the session or as a separate session all together.

Apparently, it’s better to use the foam roller when you’ve been thoroughly warmed up as the fascia is more responsive. Furthermore, nothing kills enthusiasm for a huge deadlift/squat session more than relaxing on a foam roller trying to remove a trigger point.

So far so good.

2) Ditching barefoot training and investing in a pair of weightlifting shoes. I thought Mark Rippetoe was going to have a coronary when I asked him if it was ok to deadlift barefoot. He kindly explained to me that if I want to destroy the arches of my feet, then I should continue to train barefoot, otherwise get some decent shoes.

At the PICP 2, Andre Benoit further added that he didn’t believe in barefoot training either. Since both of these guys have performed impressive feats of strength and coached others to do so, I’ll take their word for it. Plus weightlifting shoes make you look like you know what you’re doing.

3) Keep warm ups briefer. Get the client warm, address any key areas and then move on. I’m not a physical therapist, so no need to waste time with mountains of corrective exercise prior to training.

       Any additional corrective exercise can be integrated into the rest periods, which will be better because they’ll get more exposure to that exercise than just performing one set in the warm-up.  

4) Using tempo. I never liked using tempo with clients until I used it myself. Firstly, if a client can’t stick to a tempo, then it is likely that A) the weight is too heavy and/or B) the exercise may be too advanced. It also means you get the desired training effect.

Just last week, I timed an over ambitious client performing the seated row for 15 reps. I can’t remember the exact prescribed tempo, but it definitely included a pause at the end of the concentric and a 2 second eccentric, therefore, assuming it was a 2011, at 4 seconds a rep, it should have been a 60 second set. Well, the client smashed it in 18 seconds – not even approaching the hypertrophy threshold (the training goal).

By using tempo, you can ensure that every set looks the same and if you work in a facility where trainers share clients then there will be no difference between sessions. You’ll also train for the goal of the programme.

Writing this particular blog post has also given me the opportunity to go over a load of notes I’d taken, think about conversations I’d had and to have a look back over the blog and see if there was anything that really stood out.

So, on doing that, I’ve listed a load of key lessons that I learnt from the USA, with reference to who said it (some of which have been slightly paraphrased from their original context):

Tried, tested and fairly challenging nutritional methods for gaining mass:

1 gallon of milk a day (Mark Rippetoe) and 28 potatoes a week (Tyler Simmons)

Whilst a great tool, you need to adapt the FMS to the client (Nick Tumminello & Ed Williams) and it is also beneficial to add length-tension/joint ROM tests to it (Brendon Rearick)

Touching your toes is a fundamental human movement pattern and if you’ve lost your ability to do it, get it back (Eric Cressey)

The physios that blame the gluteus medius for the knee caving in are barking up the wrong tree as it is more likely to be a weak VMO causing the femur to re-position itself in order to get the correct line of pull from the vastus lateralis during single leg work (Andre Benoit)

In this industry, the idea of a 4 hour work weeks is bullshit. Don’t even think about trying it (Mike Boyle)

Phosphatidylserine is one of the very few supplements to have a 'qualified health claim' from the FDA (actually it has 2) in preventing cognitive decline, which essentially means it’s the balls (Mark Schauss)

Never ever become complacent with your methods; constantly strive to improve yourself as a coach (Chris West)

There’s a lot of information out there and much of it is conflicting. You absolutely must develop a filter system to separate what you truly believe is good from bad (Ed Williams)

You need to do finger extension work to balance yourself if you do a lot of crushing work (Derek Woodske)

Regularly test your clients’ endurance capabilities for the low back as that it what correlates with back pain and not maximal strength (Ryan Faehnle quoting Stuart McGill)

The power clean may be the best exercise for bridging the gap between weight room strength and on the field explosiveness (Mark Rippetoe)

Sleep is ridiculously under rated – make it a priority (Martin Rooney)

Although deadlifts and squats do strengthen the core, it’s no good for a client with a history of back pain. Get them healthy first (or refer them) and then start working on the big lifts. (Mike Robertson)

The endorphin response from long distance running is a natural tranquiliser to prepare for an inevitable death, because in caveman times, you would never run for that long unless you were running from something that was about to kill you (Alwyn Cosgrove)

Sprinting increases leptin. Keeping leptin high helps to keep the body using fat for fuel (Alwyn Cosgrove)

If mobility is given, it must be enforced with stability (Gray Cook).

Using a skipping rope is self-limiting – most people can’t skip long enough to get shin splits. It’s easy to get shin splints, however, when you go jogging (Gray Cook).

A self-limiting exercise is one you can’t fuck up (Alwyn Cosgrove)

The most important exercise is the one you’re doing now (Martin Rooney)

You HAVE to be comfortable being uncomfortable (Martin Rooney)

If you use undulating periodization, ideally the weekly sessions would be power, strength and hypertrophy and should be performed in that order (Nick Winkleman)

Dehydration = stress (Robert Yang)

A lot of people don’t know this and will argue against it but pain during Olympic lifting is more often than not an ibuprofen deficiency (Charles Staley)

If you don’t eat breakfast, then you’ll have poor glucose control after lunch (Robert Yang)

Unless you’re dealing with a very skinny person, you won’t see the desired arch in the lower back during a squat or deadlift. That’s fine as long as the back is straight. The arch in the lumbar spine is there, but the space around in is filled in with muscle, which ‘hides’ the arch (Mark Rippetoe)

You’re still a beginner until you can squat 405 (Mark Rippetoe)

Having a coach to train you is more powerful than a training programme alone (Rachel Cosgrove)

The lima bean is a great source of potassium (Mark Schauss)

The more stress you’re under, the more protein you need to eat (Mark Schauss)

Test the squat first, if the client can’t even squat properly, there’s no way they’ll be able to overhead squat (Nick Tumminello & Ed Williams).

Hayley Atwell is the currently the hottest British actress and I should be ashamed of myself for not knowing who she was (Tony Gentilcore)

It’s been a pleasure folks.

Big love

x

PICP 2 practical assessment

My final learning experience in the states, and the second time visiting the Poliquin Strength Institute, was to complete the practical component of the Poliquin International Certification Programme Level 2.

My first visit to the PSI was completely classroom based, whereas on this occasion it was mostly oriented around being in the gym.

Course outline

The practical component of the PICP 2 focuses the assessment and training of the lower body. The assessment for the lower body, termed ‘structural balance’, differs from that of the upper body, which is detailed in level 1.

For the upper body, the structural balance assessment involved testing the strength around the shoulder and the elbows, looking for ideal strength ratios (e.g. the Scott curl should be 46% of close grip bench press). Whilst the level 2 does briefly mention lower body strength ratios (for example the front squat should be 85% of the back squat,) it is more concerned with optimal mechanics of the ankle, knee and hip joints first.

The lower body structural balance includes 4 tests (Klatt test, rocker board squat, wobble board split squat and sit-fit split squat). The idea is that when performing these movements under stress, significant imbalances reveal themselves, which can then be verified with length-tension tests. 

The results of the structural balance then dictate the training, stretching and where necessary, soft tissue therapy for the athlete.

During the course, several attendees performed the structural balance tests in front of the class and the instructors. Whilst the instructors made it look easy to be able to interpret the tests, it became apparent from doing them by ourselves that it is an acquired skill that will take time to develop.

Single leg training was a big component of the seminar and was shown to be a useful tool for ironing out imbalances and preparing athletes for bilateral exercises. However, the technique for performing the single leg exercises was different from how the majority of coaches use the exercises, in that greater knee flexion in the front leg is demanded.

Furthermore, the exercises aren’t just thrown into the programme willy nilly – a continuum of exercises exists and the athlete can only move onto the succeeding exercise once mastering the current exercise. 

For example, the walking lunge is more advanced than most people give it credit for and should only be given to an athlete who has a good level of strength at the ankles, knees and hips.

Prior to being in the gym, we had a lecture on the area that was to be trained. The training covered step-ups, split squats, lunges, squats, deadlifts, posterior chain, hamstrings (as knee flexors), abdominals and calves.

For each group of exercises, we were taught how to progress the exercise, variations of the exercise and different methods that can be used to perform the exercise.

For example, take the leg curl. There are 4 different machine (lying, kneeling, standing and sitting) and 3 different variations (toes out, toes in, toes neutral), which equals 12 variations. Furthermore, you have the option of doing 2 legs up and 1 leg down, ¼ rep + 1 full rep, double barrell, feet plantarflexed, feet dorsiflexed and the list goes on…

The point here is that the more variety you have as a coach, the easier it is to make small changes to the programme whilst ensuring progression. It also teaches you to have a more options when equipment is limited and also when athletes display different requirements.

A great new addition to the course was Stuart McGill’s work on maintaining lower back health. Essentially, the key is to have endurance in the low back and not just huge strength, thus if you can’t hold a back extension for 2 minutes, you need to work on it!

The workouts

The part that made the course most enjoyable and brought everyone together was lunch time.

The second most enjoyable part of the course that brought everyone together was the training. At the end of each day, we were all given workouts, designed by one of the instructors that had to be completed in groups of 4.

Day 1 was high-volume structural balance. Straight forward stuff but we were all criticised for not looking lively.

Day 2 was high intensity and all the groups had 10 sets of deadlifts. One group had sets of 1 with a 10 second eccentric (one guy did 200kg at a body weight of ~77kg), others had to put 8 second pauses in the eccentric/concentric and our group had 3-5 reps with a snatch grip. At around set 6 I lost a big chunk of skin and made a small mess.

Day 3 had been built up over the past couple of days as being nasty and we were not let down. All the groups had a different death circuit to complete. Our circuit was 4 sets of the following:

A1) Rear foot elevated split squat 8-10 reps 3010 60 seconds rest

A2) Seated row supinated grip 12-15 reps 3012 60 seconds rest

A3) Leg press 15-20 reps 2010 60 seconds rest

A4) Incline press 8-10 reps 3010 2 minutes rest

The rest periods and tempos had to be strictly adhered to and the instructors were on the prowl to make sure everyone complied.  If you completed all the reps, the weight HAD to go up on the next set.

After finishing set 2, a small part of my soul died.

All you could hear during the session was effort. No talking and no time wasting. Exactly how training should be. At the end of set 4 no one was standing. Everyone was trying to remain as still as possible so as not to be the first one to trigger an explosive vomcano.

Full credit to Andre, Derek and Ryan – they pushed everyone to their limit and it was great to be subjected to their years of coaching experience.

5 things I learnt 

1) Training the hamstrings in knee flexion will increase stability at the knee. Training the hamstrings exclusively in hip extension won’t do this. 

2) When the rear leg becomes sore during a split squat, then it’s most likely because the muscles are too tight and contracting as a result of being unable to tolerate the stretch. 

3) If a muscle on one side appears tight (for example, hip rotators), it might actually be the muscle on the other side that’s tight and is causing the problems. 

4) If the client/athlete can’t stick to the tempo you’ve prescribed them then the weight is probably too heavy. Furthermore, if they can’t stick to the tempo as you need to keep addressing technique, then the exercise is too advanced. 

   

   5) There are currently no videos on youtube of anyone performing the Peterson step-up correctly - get taught by someone who knows how to do it properly.

The PICP 2 was a great way to finish the trip as it was highly enjoyable, run by great instructors who were passionate and loved what they do and full of great, highly motivated attendees.

Additionally, I think that for further insight into exercise technique (in particular the squat and deadlift), Mark Rippetoe’s Starting Strength Seminar complements this qualification perfectly.